Kori turned the key, and as she twisted the knob, put her shoulder into the back door of the store. It wasn’t early by a power-suit-wearing professional’s standards, however, she and Layla took turns working until well after dark each evening. Last night had been her turn. Not that it mattered, she couldn’t sleep anyway. Hell, she might as well work every night. After all, the shop was where she saw him, maybe it’d increase her chances of another run-in.
Damn it Slade Rockers.
She blew a strand of hair from her eyes as she recalled the now familiar scent of his cologne. He was tormenting the hell out of her, coming in at random times, but his trips in were becoming more and more frequent.
Layla hadn’t said anything, but if he was going to ask her cousin out, Kori wished he would just do it. Until then, there was still a tiny bit of hope that wouldn’t leave her mind.
Layla was the poised business woman, Kori was the quiet one. Her cousin was her polar opposite on every level, except through their differences, their shared love for their grandmother and flowers made them a great team, and best friends.
Her cousin was also the pretty one. The one men did a double-take over, despite holding flowers for their wife, girlfriend or significant other. And Slade Rockers was no different. Except for the first time they’d been alone. Kori had felt a strange tingle run over her the night they met. Each time he walked in the store, those feelings hit her again, stronger and stronger with every meeting. She tried to pretend he had no effect on her, tried to convince herself it was Layla he was trying to catch and visit with.
It never failed though. Slade would come in, and Kori would turn to mush. The sound of him clearing his throat was engrained in her mind, he’d force her to look at him, to speak to him. And every time, she’d make a total ass of herself.
One month. It had been one month since she met him. A month of daydreams, delicious, yummy daydreams. And one long month of restless nights. Her thoughts were haunted by the smoldering looks, his deep voice, commanding presence, together making her dry spell all the more intolerable.
She was going to lose it. Layla told her she needed to get laid—by a certain store patron. Then they’d argue about Slade. As much as Layla swore Kori was the reason he kept reappearing, Kori knew better. Her cousin was sweet to say otherwise and was humble, but Kori wasn’t stupid.
“Get a grip,” she berated herself and braced herself for another twenty-four hours to add to the Slade Rockers torture count, as she had started calling it.
Normally she would have had a couple of more hours to sleep, but Layla had begged a favor, so Kori found herself yawning as she put her keys back in her purse.
Though she’d run through a half pot of coffee already this morning, it was apparent it was going to be a long day. She went through the motions of switching on lights, unlocking the front door and then bringing up the computer linked to their register. She walked back to the office to grab the cash drawer from the safe. Her brain was on autopilot as she shoved it in its spot, then checked their website for orders placed overnight.
“Good morning.”
“Ah!” Kori screamed, gripping her shirt above her heart.
His large palm engulfed her shoulder. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. Are you all right?”
“Slade,” she whispered. “Yeah, I guess I’ve just become too used to the small chime on the door. I don’t even hear it anymore.” In her head, her voice sounded high-pitched, squeaky and really, really stupid. She was totally acting like an idiot in front of him, like a flirty sixteen-year-old.
“How have you been, Kori?”
Damn that grin of his. She did her best to calm her breathing before answering. “Fine. And you?” There. That almost sounded normal. If cardboard cutouts could talk. She glanced away to roll her eyes. Where was Layla when she needed her? Her cousin was calm, cool and collected. She could talk to men. Customers were fine, Kori wasn’t a shy person. But this particular customer sent her into a spiraling freefall of nerdom.
“Been fine. Working. You know, nothing exciting,” he said.
He could have just recited a love poem by the way his voice sent her pulse spiking. The low tone, husky and flirty without trying, was about to push her over an imaginary cliff. “You’re exciting.”
What the hell?
Seriously, that’s what her brain signaled her to answer with? She was just going to go ahead, excuse herself to the backroom and die a slow death from embarrassment.
“I was going to see if you happened to have my flowers ready?” he asked.
Reality slap. She thought back to yesterday. He didn’t comment back, so she prayed he hadn’t heard it because if he was just ignoring it, that stung way too much. Kori pulled in a breath and tried to act somewhat professional. “Did you order them late? Maybe Layla took it and they’re in the fridge?”
“Yes, sorry, I was working, pulled the late shift so I did it online after I got home. It’s okay if they’re not. I could always just come back for them. If you want to call me when they’re ready, Kori?”
Call him? Oh yeah, she wanted to call him…to come over.
She was looking through the orders on the screen. Her pulse spiked as his name came across the screen. The eighth order in less than a month.
Kori really needed Layla to walk through the back door—or the front, she wasn’t picky. Her cousin had been practically shouting at her to wake up and smell the very roses they sold. Layla called Slade transparent as shrink wrap and told Kori to take the bait.
Except…she still couldn’t talk to him.
“I do see it. Um, I’m sorry, it’s not even close. It came in after midnight, well after we were gone. I can hurry if you want to wait?”
He leaned forward, placing his forearms on the counter. “Or…I could come back?”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
Oh my God. She’d spoken aloud, again. What the hell was wrong with her? Why did her thoughts instantly become verbalized around this man? She pondered the problem for exactly two seconds before she was distracted. His cologne was woodsy, very masculine, and despite the fresh florals she was surrounded by, it made Kori acutely aware of just how close he was.
“You want to know…?”
His voice was light, teasing without being malicious. The night she’d met him for the first time jealousy had reared its ugly head. Until this man, she had prided herself on being compassionate, kind and loving. When it came to picturing his so-called “blind date”, Kori wanted to beat the girl with one of the white roses he’d ordered, one with the thorns still intact.
“Collins,” she spit out. “Again?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
He seemed damn proud of himself, but Kori knew several of the family members well, or had at least met them all. Since the night they’d met, every order had been for married women or ones in serious relationships. Did he not know their husbands or boyfriends? Did this now-frequent customer of hers not realize they were probably going to kill him at some point for flirting with their women?
Kori happened to catch a glimpse of Slade behind Pat’s bar working a couple of nights after meeting him. Since then she’d been very careful to sneak in to the Sunday’s side and avoid the bar at all costs. The thought of him possibly flirting with other women who were sitting across the bar from him made her feel ugly and mean, yet, her stomach demanded Riley’s cooking from the restaurant side.
The corner of his mouth quirked upward again, accented by the small white scar. He was as beautiful as he was rugged. His light brown eyes appeared almost mischievous, the lines crinkling at either side with each of his grins, and more so with his wide smiles. Slade Rockers knew he was gorgeous, he had to. And if his scent hadn’t intoxicated her into a zombie-like state, she’d move away, putting more space between them.
“You want to ask?”
“Ask you what?”
Slade tipped his head, clearing his throat. “You’re asking why I ordered for yet another woman of the Collins family.”
He rolled his lips as if he was trying really hard not to laugh at her expense. Kori appreciated it, but she still felt the sting of acting like a total idiot in front of Mr. Too Hot.
He motioned between the two of them. “I seem to be blowing it badly because you aren’t responding to what I thought were pretty blaring signs.” He winked. “The repeated visits, coming in again and again, even when I know like today, the order isn’t ready? You might be an amazing florist, but you’re not a magician, Kori. I knew damn well you probably had no clue you had an order waiting. But I wanted to see you—needed to.”
His voice was husky, teasing, but his words drew her in, a moth to a flame. And she was going to risk the burn. Kori blinked. And blinked again. She pulled in a deep breath, his scent taking her under even more. “What? Me?” She looked behind her, to the large canvas of her and Layla standing in front of the store. A marketing ad they’d run, but the photo shoot had produced a picture they both loved. “But Layla?”
Slade blew out a deep breath. She really hadn’t gotten the signals he’d been trying to send, but not because she wasn’t interested. Each time he had come in, placing fictitious orders for several of the women he cared for in the Collins family, he’d fallen bit by bit for Kori. His ego had taken a few shots though. The entire family and regulars at the bar were all giving him a ration of shit over his very heartfelt floral deliveries. They saw through the sham, all the way to the chase he was on. Until now, he figured Kori had too, and was put off by his need to have a reason to come see her.
A week into his infatuation with the dark auburn beauty, her cousin had caught him by the arm in passing on the sidewalk between the pub and the shop. Layla had told him to keep after her, that Kori was worth the chase if Slade could get passed the doubt and insecurities her cousin possessed. At the time, her words had stunned him, then Kori had become a mission. She haunted his dreams at night, and floated through his mind over and over during the day. He hadn’t given much thought to the push her cousin had directed him with. Until now.
She was so flustered at the moment, it took Slade a few seconds to gather his own wits. He didn't understand. Kori was the most beautiful woman he'd ever encountered. Surely, she had dates lined up for the next six months, probably longer. He was just a washed-up hockey player, yet something about her had him coming back, spending fortunes on gifts for friends when he’d rather be spending his hard-earned money on her.
When she glanced upward at the picture of her and her cousin, it hit him like a ton of bricks as she lowered her head.
Though Layla was very kind, very at ease in talking to customers, she was not the one who’d stolen his heart several weeks prior. It wasn’t Layla who made him smile throughout the day for no reason. Layla was very pretty, but it had been Kori who consumed him, though she didn’t know it. Maybe the Irish in the Collinses’ blood was rubbing off on him after all these years, because all their talk of fate and destiny made sense finally.
“Kori.” He ducked his head, trying to see through the cascade of auburn hair blocking her eyes from him. He reached out, tipping her chin upward. Her skin was so soft, the contact from the slight touch drew him behind the wooden counter before he could stop himself. Slade slid his palms across both her cheeks, brushing away the shield she’d been hiding behind. “I’ve had to see you, and I didn’t want you to think I was a nuisance, so I kept placing orders. But…it was you I wanted to come talk to. It was you I wanted spend as many minutes with as possible.”
Lines came and went across her forehead, he could read her blue eyes; the self-doubt someone had left behind was evident. He tamped down the anger suddenly brewing inside him. There was something about Kori, about her soul, that left no doubts she was innately sweet, good and kind. What he read in Kori’s eyes told him someone had taken her for granted and it gave him the proverbial green light. Something roared to life inside him. A darker need for the woman he was holding. He was drawn even more toward her, not only to have her, but to protect her.
Slade leaned in, placing a very delicate kiss on her lips. More than a peck, but not enough she’d have a reason to slap him if he’d misread the entire situation.
When he pulled back, he was entranced watching the tip of her tongue run across her lower lip, right before she pulled her lip between her teeth, worrying it. Though the kiss had been slight, it was more than enough to tell him the chemistry pulling him through the shop’s front door on a regular basis was real.
“I hope I’m not misreading this situation, I do feel something for you, Kori, more than just attraction. Would you like to—”
“Yes.”
Her interrupted answer forced all the air from his lungs. “Oh, thank God.” He chuckled, his nerves betraying him. “You have no idea how hard it's been for me to work up the courage to ask you out.”
Kori blinked at his admission. “You? Nervous?” She was still having trouble believing someone like Slade was interested in her, simple Kori, not her beautiful blonde bombshell cousin.
“Are you kidding? I don't think I could have shown my face again on this side of town if you'd have shot me down. Think about it, you realize that every member of the Collins family is watching me. Do you know what kind of tales of love and folklore Patrick Collins has been very happy to tell me all about? It’s been more than obvious as I come in to work with flowers from here two or three times a week. So you see, the longer it took me to get you to notice me, the more hesitant I was becoming in flat out asking.”
“Me shoot you down? You are freaking crazy.” She slapped her palm over her mouth again. The man had been coming in their shop regularly, and it was as if she’d inadvertently lost more and more brain cells with each sale. Slade Rockers was the first man to make her feel like she was going to self combust.
“Well, I think we’ve officially worked out that we like each other—though neither of us knows what to say to the other. So, I'm going to man up—would you like to grab dinner with me? I mean, would you like to go on a date…with me? Sorry, I got excited and forgot to at least pretend I have good manners.”
Kori was mesmerized by the timid grin forming, moving the faint scar with it. “Dinner?” she asked, then glanced around, looking everywhere but at his face. His request felt surreal, as if she had hit her afternoon slump and actually fallen asleep behind the counter. Dreaming of a certain bar-back who worked down the sidewalk.
A warm hand slid across her cheek and down her neck. “So, what do you say, sugar?”
Dinner. She’d forgotten all about his question. Kori swallowed hard and nodded, not trusting her voice, or her mouth. Something about Slade made her inner dumbass fly free, and she was afraid he’d rethink his decision.
“If you’re up for it, maybe we could do more than dinner? Maybe a movie or something? What do you do like to do in your free time?” he asked.
“You mean, for fun? You’re a comedian. When I’m not working, I catch up on sleep, then if there’s a half hour or more left, I work up the energy to go out and buy a few groceries. Very exciting, I know.” Kori hated how much her life sounded consumed by the store, but she wouldn’t trade it for the world, not when she was surrounded by so much beauty. She expected him to balk or roll his eyes, but he was quiet, then he glanced behind her to the glass refrigerator doors.
“I get it. When you love what you do, it’s not work.”
“If you’re trying to aim for brownie points, damn, did you just earn them.” She chuckled.
He wiggled his brows. “Good. I’ll be cashing them in now. When is your next early evening? Or even late morning?”
She stifled a grin, the pride across his face evident. “Oh, you work nights, I forgot.”
“You know when I work at the pub?”
Busted. His voice changed, something darker, not anger, but more of a teasing pride, laced his words. The corner of his mouth moved upward, the small scar she’d become fascinated twitched. He tipped his head. “You know I work there, you haven’t been in that I’ve seen, trust me, I’d have been very excited to see you. Have you been avoiding it…because of—”
“Oh my God yes. Yes, I couldn’t face you.” She swallowed, a weight pushed her shoulders down, embarrassed she’d spewed more facts out.
Slade’s demeanor, his build, the way he carried himself with an air of confidence wasn’t something she was used to. It didn’t intimidate her, she was the opposite around the man. Near him, she felt safe. Apparently so safe she could rattle off any thought in her head.
He was still holding her close, scooting away or hiding wasn’t an option, so she stared at the snap on his heavy jacket instead. With his knuckle he edged her chin upward, kissing her again. Deeper than before. Kori melted into his hold. Sparks zapped inside her, he was making every dream she’d formed of him come to life. If he had been toying with liking her and wanting to ask her out, and had been nervous as he claimed, his confidence seemed just fine now.
“Don’t avoid the pub anymore, sweetheart,” he said against her lips.
Kori nodded.
“Good. Glad we got that worked out. Okay, so schedules are going to be a bit of a puzzle, but nothing we can’t work around and figure out. Are you going to work Sunday with the holiday coming, or go ahead and stay closed like normal?” he asked.
“You know we’re closed on Sundays?” He only winked to answer. “We should, but no, we’ll need the sleep. Especially for next Tuesday and Wednesday. I don’t get it. Growing up, we never had special flowers around for a day that revolves around food, and it was our grandmother who was the gardener. By then, that time of year, her flowers were gone. But damn, these days if we don’t get a shit ton of single men in here. A few women, too. Layla and I have tried to guess why they all come in, it’s not as if we advertise for Thanksgiving. I don’t want to jinx the amount of business, but, well?” She shrugged.
“Simple. The women are apologizing for not coming home to help cook. Either they can’t, or…more likely—they don’t want to. And the men are trying to impress family they’ve never met or hardly know.”
“Son of a bitch. That makes so much sense. Oh my God, I’ve got to call Layla. She’s going to freak out, we finally have an answer to our mystery.” Kori grinned to herself. “And, now she’ll really be all over me, pushing me to call you even more than she already does—” Kori stopped mid-sentence. She’d done it again. He scrambled her senses and made her forget to monitor what she said around him.
“Layla’s been trying to…?” he urged, smiling. “Get you to call me? To talk? Not just tell me an order I placed is ready?”
Kori let her head fall forward, her hair cascading with the motion, hiding her again. “I tell her I don’t know your number.”
“Which isn’t true.”
Kori shook her head. “And she keeps telling me to just go to Pat’s.”
Warm arms embraced her in a strong hug, his palms rubbing her back. She felt his breath before he whispered in her ear.
“Listen to your cousin…please.”