“So you found the elusive candy?” he asked, knowing darn well she had.
“I did.” She smiled. A sweet, sweet smile. “It’s just a matter of time before I find the person who has the other one.”
Every motion she made, everything she said drew him to her. Not able to stop his uncontrollable desire, he slid his fingertips along the curve of her profile, from her temple to her neck, and lowered his head.
Her eyes widened and glistened, shock evident, but something more shined from them, something he couldn’t describe, yet something which held more meaning. His analytical mind couldn’t decipher it, nor did he want to pick it apart. Their lips met. Soft and gentle. He slid his hand through her long locks, enjoyed the soft hair dancing across his arm, and took the kiss deeper.
Ice cream never tasted so good. She smelled better than any flavor, which said a lot since he worked to achieve the perfect mouthful of cream. But this—his tongue swirling and mating with hers, coffee essence mixing with her own personal taste, sweet honey—put all other flavors second.
Hands tightly fisted in his shirt, she hung onto him. The act snapped deep emotions inside and oozed an ache into his veins, squeezing his heart. “Whoa!” He diverted his attention to the wall, saw her garment bag on the bed, and sighed. Sweat beaded his forehead, and the room spun.
“Are you okay?” She shoved her bag aside not giving care to what was inside, and patted the bed. “I’ll get some water,” she said. “Have a seat.”
He did, dragged a hand over his face before bracing his palms on his knees. “Holy fucking shit.”
She poked her head around the door of the bathroom. “You’re telling me.”
“I meant to speak low enough you wouldn’t hear me.” He braced his elbows on his knees and pressed his palms to his forehead.
“Why? Never stopped you from cussing before.”
She returned with a bottle of water and a moist towel then dumped a couple of aspirins from a container into his hand. “I don’t know what’s going on, but take them. It can only help.”
Again, he did what she said, knowing they wouldn’t. Nothing would. Only one thing could possibly—getting rid of his guilt. To do so, he would have to tell the truth. Telling Lyse he’d tricked her into coming to the class reunion for financial gain would be like a kick to his balls.
This was exactly the type of scenario he wanted to think about before she arrived. Though he never expected to kiss her.
Liar. I’m a damn liar!
Since the day asshole Wallace asked her to the Valentine’s dance, he wanted to kiss her. “Thank you,” he said and set the water bottle on the nightstand.
She patted the towel to the back of his neck. “Care to explain what happened?”
Her touching him was not a good idea. “I don’t know.” He stood, and when he regained his balance, he strolled onto the balcony. The air turned cool, dense and stung his lungs.
“Spill,” Lyse said following him and sat in one of the two chairs. “We were best friends and you withdrew.” She folded her arms over her chest, no doubt to ward off the chilly air.
“Would you like your sweater?”
“No, thank you. What I’d like is an explanation.”
He hung his head at the pain in her voice.
What he did, while drastic, had been necessary. He spent all his spare time in his basement working, creating the perfect cream.
If he hadn’t focused, he wouldn’t have gotten his parents out of hock, and paid for his siblings’ education. All excuses, but real.
“I deserve an explanation.”
She did. Explaining what happened probably would smooth over the rough edges between them. Lyse, a godsend, understood human nature and saw sincerity in people. Even if they messed up, as he had, she was the type of person to forgive. If she did, where would their relationship go? He knew exactly where he wanted it to go. No doubt, his underhanded maneuver stuck a monkey wrench into a possible relationship. He needed to take this slow, feel her out, and ease into telling all. “Some things are better left alone.”
For a smart man, he was one messed up dude. As soon as he returned to the office, he would instruct Yaci to schedule a meeting with his marketing department to tell them to forgo the Nashville location, and have her burn his box. He’d rather have Lyse upset from not finding the other person with the FIND ME candy than to have her think less of him than she already did.
That decided, he could get to know her without guilt…he hoped. “Let’s talk over ice cream tomorrow. I have a meeting I need to attend.” Lame, yet time away from her would help him get his thoughts together.
Seconds ticked by as she studied him, apprehension on her face, the trust he used to see when she looked at him was gone.
“I’ll find Rill for you,” he said, hoping the gesture would help relieve some of the tension. When she remained quiet, he knelt in front of her and grasped her hands. “No person has ever known me the way you do.”
“Did,” she growled.
“Did,” he agreed. “Give me a night, and I will come clean. I promise.”
The ache behind her eyes tore at his gut. “Please,” he whispered, finding he never wanted something so much or so deeply in all his life. “We can go for ice cream after lunch.”
“Why did you kiss me?”
He brought her hand to his lips, kissed it then rubbed a circle on her skin with his thumb. “I couldn’t help myself.”
She didn’t even blink.
“Tomorrow. One chance. That’s all I can give.”
Chapter Three
If you share myths with people, they will dream.
~Rill Babcock
“A freaking lie!” she yelled at her bedroom mirror the next afternoon. She could give Coop a million chances, and she’d come back for more. When it came to him, she lost all sense. Otherwise, why in the hell would she have kissed him the way she had or want him to strip her naked?
All night she replayed their conversation, her weakness in his presence, how she couldn’t stand her ground, and all night she wanted him. During her run, she thought of him. In the shower, she…well…she didn’t want to think about her fantasies in there. They’d just add ache to her misery.
A knock sounded on the door.
“Just a second.” She slipped on a pair of jeans and a lavender blouse, and pulled her hair into a ponytail then opened the door to Coop.
His gaze washed over her in sheer male appreciation, and her insides shimmied. “Come on in.”
“I’ll wait out here.”
“O-kay,” she said and eyed him over her shoulder as she retrieved her cardigan.
He propped a shoulder against the door and watched her move through the room, want and desire swimming in his eyes. She almost tripped from the intensity. No words could explain the thoughts and confusion playing a loop de loop in her mind, except Coop had grown up, gloriously so. “I’m ready.”
He stepped out of her way and closed the door. With a hand on her lower back, he walked with her down the stairs and outside before she could assemble a cohesive thought. “Why do you live here?”
“I don’t have to worry with shopping or fixing meals. Usually, I have the whole upstairs to myself.”
“Oh, you use my room, too?”
“When I can.” He grinned. “Felicia lets me know when guests are arriving so I can move my things before housekeeping gets to it.”
“Sweet deal.”
“It is. One day, I’ll build a house when I figure out where.”
The cool air seeped beneath her blouse, and she shifted to slip on the cardigan. Coop took it from her hands and held it up. “Thank you,” she said as she found the armholes.
Valentine’s décor lined the streets. Hearts adorned every streetlight, several red and pink streamers stretched across the road, high enough no trucks would hit them. Each storefront was decorated. Everyone geared up for the big day.
Coop grabbed her hand and moved across the street. Much to her dismay, she didn’t jerk her hand away. No, in fact, she liked it just as everything else Cooper Schmidt did.
They approached a white two-story building trimmed in pink. “Heathercream”
was stenciled in Kelly green, shined from the board above the door. Two sets of pink wire tables and chairs covered the brick patio. A cutout of a six-foot ice cream cone with a cherry on top stuck to the wall between the door and grouping of windows. The modest store screamed notice me amongst the rest of the storefronts, which equally had their own appeal, but this store held more than the rest—it had heart.
“This is my first ice cream shop,” he said and opened the door.
Stepping inside, various aromas filled her lungs, mints, vanillas, baked cakes, and a few others. On the left, the ice cream display. Red bar stools, the swivel kind kids loved, filled the back wall, and on the right side, tables with red-vinyl cushions.
“It smells delicious in here.”
He didn’t seem to hear. He eyed the line and then the lone person behind the counter. Had someone called out sick? Having a travel agency, she understood the inadequate feeling of not having the right customer to worker ratio.
“Hi, Cass!” Coop waved at the dark-haired girl. “No school today?”
“No, sir. It’s closed for the rest of the week to get ready for this weekend.” She rung up a customer, accepted their money, and handed them their change. They promptly put the five-dollar bill and a few coins in the tip jar at the corner of the counter.
“Excuse me,” Coop said to her, and moved around the ten-people-deep line to behind the counter.
She waited, wondering how he’d handle the situation—yell, scream, or dive into helping. To her, it said a lot about a person.
An older man standing in line accepted the cone he ordered and tried a sample. “Great cream,” he said. “Worth its weight in gold.”
Coop chuckled. “You’re trying to butter up the owner.”
“I’m telling it like it is.” The man laughed on his way out the door.
“Have a good one,” Coop said and turned on the spigot over the industrial size sink on the back wall and washed his hands
“What can I get you?” he asked the next person in line as he snapped on plastic gloves.
He would help. Of course, he would. It was Coop.
As if he sensed her watching, he slid his eyes beyond the customer, held her gaze, and winked before drawing his attention to the person in front of him.
The door swung open and a group stepped inside, bringing a gust of cool air with them.
Lyse edged out of their way and found an empty seat near the wall. She really wanted to get into their conversation, find out why he disappeared years ago and figure out what this unexplained chemistry was that flowed between them. Sitting here watching him talk easily with his customers, confident, gave her more insight into the man he had become. She enjoyed sitting there, focusing on nothing but him and learning him.
Cass handed someone a cone, and released it before he had his hand tightly around it. Ice cream splattered onto the counter.
Coop handed the customer a towel for his hand, said a few words she couldn’t hear, and then turned his attention toward the nervous teen whose face turned red. She wiped the counter and fixed another one. This time she eyed the customer’s hand before she released it.
“On the house,” Coop said. He turned toward Cass, patted her shoulder, and whispered in her ear.
Cass beamed.
Coop was happy, in his glory behind the counter.
She knew Coop, knew the real guy behind the nerdy glasses, at least she thought so until he withdrew and left her with unbelievable emptiness. Still, his interaction with people was nothing short of amazing.
As teens, his family not having money had bothered him, made him feel inferior, and caused him to think he couldn’t be more. She never doubted it. Observing him in his first store, his product putting smiles on people’s faces, her heart swelled. She wanted to do the same in her mom’s shop and contribute to making people happy.
Dad did the same at Haynes Travel Agency. He helped clients with vacation arrangements and found affordable rates when the client didn’t think they had enough money to take a trip. While she enjoyed working for her father, she didn’t feel the excitement or fulfillment he did nor did she have the inner glow Coop possessed. Like right now, his grin consumed his face as he handed the next customer in line a banana split.
A bus stopped along the street and people filed into the store. “Oh, wow,” she muttered, went behind the counter, and repeated the act Coop had done to prepare to help customers. “Tell me what to do,” she said as she slipped on gloves.
The world stopped. That sounded so over the top, but it happened. When he turned toward her, his eyes dilated and moisture filled them. Had he thought she’d sit idle while he worked?
“Thank you,” he said and brushed a kiss on her cheek.
Cass, a girl she didn’t even know, came up behind her, and rested a cheek on her back. “You’re the best.”
The sweet sentiment filled her with a different kind of appreciation. For once, gratitude for what she chose to do, not what she should do, filtered into her life. At the travel agency, she received “thank yous” all the time, but this was different. “You’re welcome.”
Lyse scooped, drizzled chocolate, sprinkled candies, and anything else that came with serving ice cream. People were gracious, waited patiently even though she spilled ice cream on the counter, and had to clean it up before helping the next person. Her punishment for the mistake didn’t come in the form of a dirty glare. It came as a pat on the shoulder and a kiss on her cheek she couldn’t help but lean into.
By the time the space between her fingers hurt to the point where she didn’t think she could dish another scoop of ice cream, the shop had cleared.
“What happened to your help today?” Coop asked as he removed his gloves and tossed them into the trash.
“I messed up. I told the other scheduled girls I could handle the customers so they could get ready for the Valentine’s dance at school.”
He arched his brows.
“Remember the high school dance date changed because of your reunion.”
“That’s right,” he said. “You should have called Yaci, so she could have found help.”