Careful What You Kiss For (35 page)

Her inner guide, now unleashed, had better not let her down.

As Tensley stepped through the door of Madame Claire’s, a blinding explosion of light caused her to cover her eyes. A second later, a powerful gust of wind swept her hair backward.

She barely had time to register it as a repeat experience before she shot up in bed, gripping a pillow to her chest and struggling to catch her breath. It took a few minutes to regain a shaky hold on her composure before she could brave looking down. Her favorite Victoria’s Secret pajamas, silky smooth on her skin. Her 1500-thread count Egyptian cotton bed sheets, soft and reassuring. The king-sized bed she’d spent months picking out.

She was in her condo.

Slowly, she pulled the pillow away from her chest.
Hello! Ye-e-s-s.
Her smaller, unenhanced, all-hers, one-hundred-percent original boobs.

She flopped back down on the bed in relief and stared up at the ceiling, giggling. Must have all been a dream. A crazy, wild dream. Wait until she told Kate.

Then she realized she held something in one hand, clutched in her fist, as though afraid to let it go. She opened her fingers one by one and stared at the business card that floated from her open, outstretched hand onto her chest. Didn’t even have to look at it. She saw the police department logo, knew whose card it was.

There was only one reason she would have the card. She’d held it in her hand when she went through the door of Madame Claire’s shop. All of this insane crap had actually happened. Her giggle dried up and disappeared, replaced by a knot of panic. What had happened to Max, to Kate? Had Madame Claire ignored what she’d said — because she wouldn’t put it past the bitch — and done the emergency spell, anyway, without permission?

Oh no, oh no … please, no.
She fumbled for her cell, lying on the nightstand next to her and began dialing. She knew Max’s office number by heart, had memorized it as soon as he’d first given it to her. The phone began to ring. She’d caught a flash of the time on her cell display. Three
A.M.

The ringing stopped. Voicemail clicked on. Tensley held her breath. A male voice. “You’ve reached Detective Carl Cole in the midtown precinct,” the man growled in her ear. “Leave a message and I’ll get back to you.”

Tensley’s heart sank as she pushed the button to end the call. No Max. She stumbled out of bed to find her laptop. The few seconds it took to wake up felt like an eternity. With trembling fingers, she did a search for “Detective Max Hunter.” Nothing.

She put her head in her hands. It was all her fault.

This time, she crept back to bed, trying to make as little noise as possible with her presence in the world, and pulled the sheet over her head. Max could be anywhere, doing anything. She’d never looked for him before because she had been afraid of how hard she might fall again. Now she was afraid to look for him for an entirely different reason.

After several minutes, she used both hands to uncover her eyes, then her chin. There was someone else she needed to call.

She picked up the phone and dialed another number. A sleepy female voice answered. “Ten?”

“Kate.”

Her best friend mumbled something indistinguishable.

“Please tell me you’re a vet.”

A sleep-laden sigh on the other end. “How much have you had to drink?”

“Tell me.”

“Of course I’m a vet. What’s wrong with you?” The words were clearer now, and so was the irritation.

“Madame Claire.” She couldn’t say any more than that, for fear recounting the story somehow made it more real.

“Oh.” She had Kate’s attention now. She heard the covers rustle as Kate apparently tried to shake off her sleep. “Did you go? How was it?”

So they were back at the beginning, where Tensley must not have made the mistake of going to see the psychic in the first place. At the word “mistake” her mouth twisted into a grim smile. She lay back against her luxurious pillowcase, eyes wide open. She might as well get up and get some coffee. There was no going back to sleep now.

The new life gone. The old one back.

Madame Claire hadn’t invoked the emergency spell, after all. Tensley had learned her lesson. Her … lesson.

For once in her life, she hadn’t second-guessed herself; she’d listened to herself and what she thought was the right thing to do. She’d stood up for herself, despite what other people thought.

She’d followed Jane Austen’s advice and listened to her inner guide.

While the love she’d thought impossible to find had crumbled as fast as Madame Claire’s alleged psychic abilities.

She finally knew what learning a lesson the hard way meant. With a sob, she pulled the sheet back over her face.

• • •

Tensley matched her mother’s stare with an unblinking one of her own, a move so unusual, she could tell it caught her mother by surprise.

“You are clearly mistaken,” Esme Tanner said. “It never serves one well to repeat gossip. I would have thought you, of all people, would be aware of that.”

Verbal knife stick to the ribs. Yes, Tensley was aware of that. The office gossip had apparently run rampant about her taking off after Bryan. The latest story she’d heard had her pregnant and running away so the baby would have Canadian citizenship.

“This is not gossip,” she said firmly. “Mark Dorlan is either mixed up with fixing City Council votes for our franchise or he’s about to be. Either way, you need to be asking him about his association with Digman’s campaign manager.”

“Really, Tensley. I know you don’t like him, but you’re taking things a bit far, don’t you think — ”

“I think you’d better not be in on it with him, Mother.”

Esme Tanner’s face froze, her eyes huge. “I cannot believe you would say such a thing.” She hurled the words at her daughter one by one.

“I’m asking. Warning. Whichever one is appropriate.” Tensley kept her voice level. “The police know about it or they will soon and if you’re in it with him, this company will come down around your ears.”

The door opened with a creak. “Ms. Tanner — ”

“Not now, Christine!” Esme thundered.

The door closed with a thud.

Esme directed her attention back to her daughter. “You may say goodbye to your position here.”

“I already said goodbye to my position here.”

Her mother looked taken aback. “I had assumed you were here to ask for your job back after behaving so foolishly going after that — that man.”

Tensley nodded. “It was foolish going after Bryan, but it would be even more foolish to ask for my job back.”

“So you’re hoping for another position. Mark Dorlan’s, perhaps.”

“Seriously?” Tensley laughed. “I have no interest in Mark Dorlan’s job. Trust me. You need to look into what Mark’s doing and if what I told you is true, you’d better get someone else in there.” She rose from her chair. “But it isn’t going to be me, Mother. That’s one thing I’m sure of. Me and my inner guide.”

“Your what?” Esme also rose, looking confused. “I don’t understand.”

“It’s simple. This isn’t for me.”

Esme’s entire body began to shake in fury. “What do you mean, ‘it isn’t for you’? This company is your legacy and without it, you don’t have anything. You’d damn well better come crawling back in here asking for your job back.”

Tensley put a finger to her chin, pretending to give it thought for a moment. “No,” she said. “I have a much better idea.”

“Don’t be an imbecile. There is nothing better.”

“But there is.” Tensley grinned. “I’m buying a bookstore. Talked to the owner today and it turns out she wants to spend more time with her grandkids than she does working in the store.”

“A bookstore.” Esme made it sound like a porn shop.

“Yes. A bookstore.” Tensley had her hand on the door now, ready to leave.

“Wait!”

She did.

Esme’s mouth worked for several seconds, as though she had to force words from her mouth. “Come back. Please.”

Though her heart melted at the request and what she knew it had cost her mother to make it, her instincts told her that would be the worst thing she could possibly do. “I can’t, Mother. But thank you.” She hesitated, then suggested, “Dinner next week?”

Esme sat down hard. “I’ll have to think about it,” she said.

“Good. I’ll call you with a time.” She couldn’t pinpoint the feeling she had, the lift in her soul, the cheery jump in her outlook. Oh, wait. She’d never before left any kind of meeting with her mother without feeling like a bug squashed under designer heels.

She loved her mother, but with this new approach, she might also find some things to
like
about her. There was always hope.

With a smile, Tensley left. She called a greeting to everyone she passed on the way to the elevator and once she’d reached the lobby, she made sure to seek out Arthur, the security guard. He put a finger to his forehead when he saw her, ready to begin the casual banter.

“How are the kids, Arthur?” she asked.

He looked surprised by the question, but recovered quickly. “Doing fine, thank you.”

“And your grandchildren?”

Pride spread across his wrinkled face. “The oldest one just made the Dean’s List. His first year in college.”

“That’s great. You must be so proud of him.”

The older man’s eyes sparkled. “That’s for sure. Though I don’t know where he got his smarts from.”

“I have a pretty good idea.” She squeezed his arm. “Take care.”

“Yes, ma’am. Good to have you back.”

“I’m not coming back to work,” she explained. “I’m buying myself a business.”

“No kidding. Good for you!” The guard put his hand out to shake hers.

“Thanks. Here’s the name of the place. Come see me, okay?”

“I sure will.”

“I’ll still come in once in a while to visit my mother. Make her go out to lunch.”

Arthur chortled. “That woman doesn’t like anyone trying to take care of her.”

“All the more reason to do it.” Tensley lifted her hand. “See you soon, Arthur.”

• • •

Patsy had agreed to let the woman in the expensive tailored clothing watch the store for her while she drove off for a visit with her grandkids. Due diligence, Tensley Starbrook had called it. More like a trial run, Patsy figured.

Patsy was still mystified how the woman had known she was thinking of selling the bookstore; Patsy had not even quite come to the conclusion herself.

But it had sounded like such a good idea, now she couldn’t let go of it. Time with those little ones that she hadn’t been able to have with their mothers because she’d always been running the store. Time was one thing you couldn’t get back, Patsy decided.

You only got one chance to do things right, so you’d better make the most of it. Retirement was sounding better and better all the time. Good thing, since Tensley Starbrook’s offer had been made and accepted so fast, Patsy’s head was still spinning.

The woman’s certainty and clear love of books, though, made Patsy think the store would be in good hands.

She started up the Buick, checked behind her, and drove off, the passenger seat piled with books for her grandkids.

• • •

Tensley had finished going through Patsy’s records for the last year and was walking through the bookstore’s aisles, jotting down her ideas for changes, when she heard the front door open. A customer. She put on her best smile and turned.

Then she saw him. Standing before her. “Max.” Her knees turned to jelly at the same time a thrill of excitement shot up her spine.

“Tensley.” His voice caressed her as his smile washed over her, wrapping her tight with its warmth and visible relief. “I wasn’t sure you’d remember me.”

“Not remember you.” She walked to him, laying a hand on his arm. “I don’t know how you could even think that.” Then she realized that, as far as Max knew, he hadn’t seen her since high school. “You’re back in town,” she said.

His blue eyes held hers. “I’m back in town.”

She became lost in his gaze, the scent of his cologne, the nearness of him. Neither one of them said anything for a minute. Then the coal-black cat Tensley had just adopted from the pound brushed up against her legs with a meow, startling her. “Oh!” She pulled away from Max.

He looked down. “Yours?”

“Yes. Um.” She felt awkward all of a sudden. Possibly because she was remembering that amazing, incredible night they’d had. The one he
didn’t
remember. Because to him, it hadn’t happened. “His name is Gemini Too.”

Max tipped his chin, then looked back at Tensley. “Split personality?”

“It made sense at the time.”

He nodded. He looked hotter than ever, Tensley decided, dressed in a blue T-shirt and jeans, with sunglasses tucked into the neck. The kind of self-confident, gorgeous, dangerous guy women would turn to look at. And lust after.

What he didn’t look like … was a cop.

“So what are you doing now?” she asked casually, leaning on the wide wooden counter for support, since her knees continued to betray her. She leaned in too far, though, sending papers and pens scattering.

“Let me help,” he said easily.

They kneeled at the same time, knocking their heads together.

He laughed, rubbing his head. “And here I was trying so hard to be super cool.”

“You don’t have to try,” she said softly, picking each pen up carefully and trying, but not too hard, to hide her grin. “Comes naturally to you.”

“Must be the cop side.”

She straightened too quickly and fell on her butt on the wood floor. “You’re a cop?”

“Was a cop,” he explained, “for several years. Then I went on to something different.”

Tensley scrambled to her feet. He put out a hand to help her. And left his hand in hers, warm, strong, gentle.

She could hardly think, but managed to put together a question. “What’s the something different?”

“That’s why I’m here,” he said. “I went to see you at the Tanner Cable office, but the security guard told me you’d moved on. That I could find you here.”

Arthur
. Thank God she’d given him that card.