Chasing the Runaway Bride (11 page)

He took the gloves and grinned at Piper. “Sure, darlin’.” He deliberately used the endearment if only to watch her face turn scarlet. “Never let it be said I don’t pull my weight.”

Her shoulders squared. “Good. Excellent. Let’s go.”

She turned and led him to the coolers in the back. He followed, watching the sway of her hips in her worn jeans, figuring if he had to scrub, he should at least take that small pleasure.

When they reached the coolers, he frowned. “How’d we end up with the first section being empty?”

“I came in early. Shoved some things into the next section down. This way, we clean a section, then move everything to the section that’s done and wash the one we emptied. We keep doing that until we get to the last section.”

She smiled and handed him a sponge before she pointed at a bucket of water. “Have at it.”

“Where’s your bucket?”

She displayed a roll of paper towels. “I’m drying.”

“Ah. So this dirty work of which you speak is actually all mine?”

“You did say you had experience with dirt on the ranch.”

“I also butchered cattle. Next week are you going to put me in the meat department?”

She considered that. “Maybe.”

Bending to put his sponge in the water, he said, “We are equals. You are not the boss. I’m only helping you this morning because I saw how Jen was looking at me.”

A thundercloud raced through her green eyes before she said, “Enjoying the rush of popularity?”

“Apparently more than you enjoy being jealous over it.”

She sputtered, “I—I’m not jealous.”

He slid the sponge over the racks and along the inside walls, as he’d done when he was a kid. It was interesting how grocery store tasks kept coming back to him as he completed them. Still, that didn’t make them any more fun—but teasing Piper did.

“Oh, come on. You’re hot for me.”

“I am not hot for you.”

But the righteous indignation that rattled through her voice couldn’t cover the little quiver that also seeped in.

He laughed. “Come on. You all but admitted it the day we talked about our meeting in the drugstore.”

She said nothing.

“Denial is a terrible thing. Not only is lying to yourself wrong, but you’re potentially missing out on something great.”

He finished the section and stepped back so she could use the paper towels to dry it. “I see someone has an inflated opinion of himself.”

“Oh, sweet cheeks, there’s nothing inflated about me except the one thing you’d want inflated. And, trust me, it does not disappoint.”

Her face flushed to the point that it almost turned purple.

His face scrunched in confusion. “Why do you always get so embarrassed? I can see you getting mad. But embarrassed? That doesn’t make sense.”

Shifting to the next section, Piper opened the door and began removing goods and shelving them in the clean section.

When she said nothing, he said, “I get it. You’re one of those girls who doesn’t like to talk dirty.”

“Shut up!”

“Or you do like to talk dirty and me taunting you brings back memories.”

Ignoring him, she took another armload of goods out of section two and put them into section one.

“That’s it, isn’t it? Devon told me you’ve been engaged twice. You probably know all the tricks.”

She still said nothing. Section two empty, she simply pointed at the bucket. He bent, filled the sponge with water, and applied it to the section he was supposed to clean.

“Come on. This is boring. At least liven it up by telling me about your two fiancés.”

“No.”

“Ah. She does speak.”

She said nothing.

“Just not about her fiancés.”

“I’ve embarrassed them enough already.”

“So you feel bad?”

“Wouldn’t you?”

Even as she said the words, Cade could see her suddenly remembering that he actually had left someone at the altar—her friend. But, hey, what the hell? Maybe it was time they talked about this.

“No. I didn’t feel bad at all.”

“You’re disgusting!”

“Nope. I had a good reason for leaving Lonnie.” And the fact that Piper didn’t seem to know that caused him to wonder if Devon wasn’t correct. Maybe Lonnie
hadn’t
told her Hunter wasn’t his son? He glanced around, didn’t see many customers and could see Jen at her register, too far away to hear, but somehow he knew this wasn’t the place or time to suggest her friend might be a big, fat liar. “How about your reasons?”

She flushed again. “Just scrub.”

“No. I wanna hear.”

“If this is so boring for you that you have to talk about things that are none of your business, maybe you should handle it yourself.”

He caught her arm when it looked like she would turn to go. “But it
is
my business. The rumor is you left your grooms because you don’t want to be hurt like Lonnie. If I’m taking the blame I want to hear the story.”

She gaped at him. “
That’s
what people say?”

“You didn’t know?”

“I just figured they thought I was crazy.”

He grinned. “Oh, darlin’, they think that too.”

Her spine stiffened. “Great.”

“Ah, sweet cheeks, you’ve gotta get a sense of humor.”

“The entire town laughs at me!”

“Who cares? I certainly don’t.” But at least now he knew what drove her, what he could use as leverage if they ever got into a serious disagreement. “You’re a hard worker, a good partner. That’s what counts.”

“You like working with me?”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” But he did like her. Sort of. She wasn’t anything that he’d imagined she’d be. Still, that was irrelevant considering he had no intention of spending an entire year here. He grinned at her. “Though I will admit to liking that little lust thing we have going on.”

With a sigh of disgust, she turned to go, but he stopped her again.

“Oh, no. You’re not stomping away and leaving this whole cooler clean-up to me. If I’m up to my elbows in soapy water, so are you. In fact, maybe you should scrub this section and I’ll dry?”

He tossed the sponge at her. Because she wasn’t ready, it thumped against her breasts then bounced to the floor. Horrified, she glanced down at the wet spot on her T-shirt, then up to his face.

He couldn’t help it. The combination of her horrified look and the wet spot on her T-shirt just did him in, and he laughed.

She swooped down and grabbed the sponge. As she dipped it in the soapy water, he assumed she was taking him up on the suggestion that she scrub this time, so it surprised him when she lobbed it at his chest. It bumped against him and fell to the floor.

“Do not ask me about things that are none of your business and then throw a sponge at me!”

He gaped at his shirt and burst out laughing. Before she had a chance to realize what he was doing, he grabbed the sponge, dipped it, and tossed it at her chest again. But this time her reflexes kicked in and she caught it, dipped it, and threw it at him.

“What was it you said about me needing a sense of humor?”

Staring at his now sopping shirt, he said, “I said sense of humor, not vindictive water battle.”

“What’s the matter? Can’t handle getting a little wet?”

He chuckled evilly. “Oh, it is so on.”

He expected her to run. Instead, she ripped off a hunk of paper towels, dipped them in the soapy water, and threw the blob at him.

“Hey!”

She grabbed for more paper towels. “You said it was on. You said I needed a sense of humor. Let’s settle this once and for all.”

He leaned out of the way of her next glob of wet paper towels. Before she could grab more, he soaked the sponge and pitched it at her. The force of his throw caused it to land with a splat. A big, wet splat that threw water in all directions, soaked her shirt, and sent her glasses flying.

She bounced back. Her shirt dripping. Her jeans wet. Her glasses gone.

Laughing, she lunged for the sponge, but before she could reach it, he did. He dipped it and threw it at her again. She sputtered a gasp as she tried to back away and ended up slamming into a row of canned goods.

“Not quite as good at a water battle as you think?”

“I’m blind without my glasses! But I can still beat you!” She scurried back, groped for the paper towels, ripped off a bunch, and went for the bucket. But she slipped on the wet floor and landed face first.

He laughed.

She didn’t. “Damn it! I hurt my foot!”

At the mention that she was hurt, all the fun zapped out of their game. “Oh.” He glanced around for the black frames and saw a small crowd had gathered. The older women grinned. The mom in the group appeared confused. Two men leaned around the women, trying to get a closer look.

“All right.”
Ah, Harmony Hills, your people just can’t step away from anything that might turn into gossip.
“Since everybody’s here anyway, let’s find Piper’s glasses.”

Without leaving their spots, everybody peered around.

He sighed. “That’s not looking! Spread out!” He pointed at the two men. “You and you, check the next aisle over. Jen, how about looking under those shelves?”

The group fanned out and within seconds Jen found them. “They must have slid on the wet floor.”

“No. They flew.”

“No. They hit the floor then slid.”

Cade tossed his hands in the air. “What the hell difference does it make whether they slid or flew?” He shook his head. “Show’s over. Go back to shopping.” He gave Piper her glasses then reached down to offer her a hand up.

She slid her glasses onto her face but didn’t take his hand.

“Truce?”

“Truce, hell! I beat you!”

“Just how do you get that?”

She laughed and peeked up at him. “First, I got you to stop throwing water at me. Second, I got you to find my glasses for me.” She grinned. “I am the queen.”

He gaped at her. “That whole foot thing was an act?”

She sniffed a breath. “I like to think of it more as a tactic.”

“You know, I could pick up the sponge right now and throw it at you.”

“I can be off this floor in ten seconds and have a wet paper towel in my hand in another five. So, give it your best shot,
sweet cheeks
.”

He burst out laughing, really laughing, really enjoying her, and that very thought made him stop. Part of him wanted to lunge for the sponge, keep the game going to just enjoy her, and that brought him up short. Which caused the other part of him to decide he’d better retreat and think some of this through. In their thirty seconds of real conversation, he’d learned she wasn’t just sensitive, she had every right to be. She hated being a laughing stock. She couldn’t even talk about her two prospective grooms. And, most importantly, she might not know he wasn’t Hunter Simmons’s father.

When he didn’t answer, she said, “We’re not done cleaning the coolers.”

He wiggled his hand at her, insisting she take it. Recognizing he needed some time alone, he said, “I’ll finish.” She took the hand he’d extended, and he helped her to stand. When she was on her feet, they were suddenly only a few inches apart. Her pretty green eyes searched his darker ones, and something really odd floated through his veins. A feeling so weird he couldn’t name it. With her T-shirt vacuum-sealed to her breasts, all he should have felt was the glorious arousal that overtook his common sense. But he felt something more. Something that went beyond their red-hot attraction and somehow made it more intense.

“I’d like to go home.”

He sighed. And it seemed grouchy Piper was back. “Really? Because the water battle embarrassed you or because you don’t like this little thing between us?”

“How about because even my underwear is soaked?”

Again, her unexpected answer made him laugh. In that second, he got a mental picture of the sedate white panties and bra she undoubtedly wore. Though that should have calmed him down, it only revved his engines. So he took a step back.

“We can’t have you running around in wet undies all day, can we?”

She bobbed her head as if in agreement before she started down the aisle, but only two steps away she stopped suddenly and faced him. “Not everything that happens at the store between you and me is about our hideous attraction.”

“Sorry, sugar.” He grinned at her. “I think you’re wrong. I also think if we’d do a little something about the hideous attraction, it might just go away.”

“Yeah, well, I guess we’ll never know.”

But he did. And he finally figured out that maybe she didn’t. Maybe those engagements of hers weren’t as much fun as a few good flings? Maybe she’d never really had a good fling?

And maybe that was why she always acted so confused? She’d never had a good old-fashioned, no-strings-attached screwing, where they licked and touched and did it until they were so tired they collapsed…

He groaned. He really had to stop speculating about her.

Chapter Ten

Piper left the store, sort-of-dirty soapy water dripping from her shirt. She should have been fuming, but the way Cade had helped her up had taken the angry wind out of her sails…

No. That wasn’t right. And it also wasn’t right to lie to herself. She wasn’t upset over the water battle… She’d loved goofing around because the stupid thing had been fun.

He was fun. Damn it.

And he shouldn’t be.

She thought of what Bunny Farmer had said the day before. That everyone was beginning to think about why he’d left Lonnie at the altar, and righteous anger with him filled her again. It seemed that all she had to do was remember Lonnie, and how she’d had to leave town to escape the embarrassing gossip, and she could mentally distance herself from Cade.

But she suddenly pictured his brown eyes laughing when he tossed a wet sponge at her, and her brain sizzled with confusion. Her thoughts jumped back to when they were kids. Two years ahead of her in high school, he’d been a sad loner. How’d he get so funny? So happy? It couldn’t have been in the Marines… So it had to be the ranch. Were ranches funny?

How the hell would she know? She’d never been out of Harmony Hills except for Ocean City vacations and shopping.

Almost at her apartment, she tried to force her thoughts away from his childhood, away from pondering his life and how he’d gotten so happy, especially considering that he’d been beaten, but she couldn’t get herself to stop thinking about him. So as she climbed the rickety stairs to her apartment, she pulled out her phone and speed-dialed Lonnie’s number.