“Raeann,” a male voice calls. He peeks around a door in the back. “Colby’s on the line for you.”
He trails off when he sees me.
I grin at him. “You must be Jace. The guy Micah doesn’t like.”
Jace’s face falls, and he cuts his gaze to Raeann’s. “You said he was getting over that.”
“It’s all good, buddy,” I try to tell him. I didn’t realize I would be stepping into something when I said that. “If it makes you feel better, he hasn’t mentioned you in a while.”
Tab swats my arm, and Raeann blinks at me.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper to her.
She gives Tab a look, and then turns to walk toward Jace. “Sorry, Levi, I’ve got to take this. That’s one of our suppliers.”
“Take your time. I’ll ask Tab to give me a tour.”
When Raeann and Jace are behind a door and the other girl is somewhere in the front of the store, I lean over the counter and give Tab a grimace. “How much did I just blow shit up?”
“He’ll be fine. Raeann is just a people pleaser running around trying to make sure people don’t dislike each other.” She leans forward and whispers, “We both know Micah is over-the-top jealous of anyone with a penis who gets within a foot of her.”
I lower my voice to match hers. “I think I know the feeling. Maybe I don’t like Jace either.”
She rolls her eyes, then talks in a party voice as if she’s trying to talk over a room full of people. “So you want a tour, huh?”
I chuckle. She really can’t act, can she? “Yeah, preferably someplace private.”
“You know what you might find interesting,” she says even more loudly, “our stock room. We didn’t have one in the old store.” She walks around the counter. “Be right back, Katya.”
“You got it,” a feminine voice calls out.
Before I follow, I lightly touch the lilies that are still at the front counter. “Wow, these are beautiful. Someone must be special.”
“It’s me,” Tab says, beaming. “I’m special.”
She walks me toward the back of the store and beyond a door labeled Employees Only. The space is pretty large, actually. I wouldn’t have guessed it.
Once the door is closed, Tab hisses, “What are you doing here?”
“Checking on my girl.”
I take her hand and pull, maneuvering so her back is against the door and crowding into her space. “I thought about you all practice.”
She peers from my lips to my eyes. “You did?” Then she shakes her head. “I thought I told you to back off.”
“Is that what you said? What I heard was that I needed to prove my feelings for you.”
“And you think flowers and money will do that?”
“Actually, I was thinking telling you all of my darkest, deepest thoughts would help. I thread my fingers through the hair at the nape of her neck. “Tab Riley, I can’t stop thinking about you. I nearly dropped a pass today because I was wondering what it would be like to kiss you.”
“Really?”
I peer at her plush lips, then into her searching blue eyes. “You want to know what I think? I think you’re wondering the same thing.”
I press my body against hers. Her flesh yields to me in the best of ways, like molding together to become a complete whole. My heart pounds in my chest. An upbeat rhythm of all the things I want to say to her.
You’re gorgeous.
