Chapter One
“Seriously, Anais, you’ve got to let me set you up with someone. After all, you did find Stuart for me.”
Anais Heart unpacked the last jar of her homemade, all natural hand cream onto the shelf and turned the jars so that their labels faced front. Only then did she direct her attention to her best friend and employee. “I didn’t find Stuart. He just walked into the shop and I introduced you.” He’d been shopping for his mother. Through the course of their conversation he had mentioned that he liked shopping for antiques. Since she knew that antiques were one of Nicole’s favorite topics, she had quickly introduced the two. Personally, she hated antiques. They gave her the creeps. Why would she want someone else’s old crap?
Nicole and Stuart had hit it off right away. That was six months ago. She sometimes missed her friend, but there was no denying the happy glow dating Stuart had given Nicole. Plus, this meant she no longer had to spend her weekends with Nicole dragging her to yard sales, flea markets, antique shops, and estate sales.
“Anais, you can’t tell me you don’t want someone special in your life. I mean, when was the last time you had a date?”
Anais folded the box she’d used to transport her goods from her home to the store. “Ha, I’ve got you there. It was three weeks ago.”
Nicole frowned. “What was his name?”
Anais’s brow furrowed as she struggled to recall his name. She’d met him through an online dating site. They’d met for ice cream at the mall a few towns over. Their date didn’t last long since he’d lied about his age. Instead of being thirty-two as he’d claimed, he was actually fifty-four. He’d used his son’s picture in his profile. Apparently, since he’d dyed his hair black, he thought he could pass for a man twenty years his junior. It was a real shame, too, because he’d seemed like such a gentleman in all the messages they had exchanged. He had been her first and last foray into online dating. None of the other men she’d talked to had even sparked her interest as it was clear that they were only interested in hooking up for sex. “That’s not important. But it was a date.”
“Couldn’t have been that good if you can’t remember the guy’s name. You should let me find you someone. I know you better than anyone else.”
Anais flipped the sign on the door to declare that A. Heart Natural Cosmetics was open for the day. She paused in the act of unlocking the door, grinding her teeth and wincing at the noise coming from across the street. “What exactly was the point of going through the process of beautifying the town and then letting that shop open right in the middle of it?” She had tolerated the months of renovation the old building had undergone with the understanding that the noise would stop once the construction was complete. Little did she know they were opening an auto body shop. The noise was fairly loud and pretty consistent.
Nicole came to stare out the window though there was little to see. The garage doors were down. “I don’t suppose there is anything they can do about the noise. It’s a small town. Sound carries—especially in the morning. And we’re not in the middle of town. We’re at the end of town.”
She ignored that bit of logic. “I have half a mind to go over there and-”
“Anais, please, don’t. I’m sure there’s nothing they can do about it. We don’t want to start off on the wrong foot with them. The mayor was just over there this weekend for their official ribbon cutting.”
“How do you know that?”
“I was driving by. The Chamber of Commerce was giving out hot dogs and all sorts of paraphernalia with their logo and phone number on it.”
Anais grumbled and unlocked the door. She went behind the checkout counter and Nicole followed her. “I’m telling you, I don’t know how long I can put up with that noise. Maybe I should look into relocating the store.” Her location wasn’t paramount to her business. She did a fair amount of online sales.
“Not if you don’t want to have to live through renovations. You know most of the buildings in town are falling in on themselves. That’s why the mayor was so thrilled to have them move in across the street. And I would think you would have enough construction going on at home that you wouldn’t want to have to deal with it at work as well.”
She sighed. “You’re right.” She’d been bequeathed a Queen Anne style Victorian house by her great aunt. The house was beautiful but unfortunately her aunt had been unable to afford the upkeep and much of it was in a shambles. Despite her dislike of antiques, Anais loved the house and decided to keep it. And it was a gift. It would be poor taste to turn around and sell the home. In the year that she had owned it, she had managed to make it safe. The remaining changes were largely cosmetic.
“Now that you’ve managed to change the subject for ten whole minutes, what is your objection to me setting you up? I think I know the perfect guy for you.”
Anais groaned. She couldn’t come up with a good excuse. It wasn’t that she had given up on dating. She was close to thirty. Twenty-eight to be exact. All of her friends except Nicole were married with kids. And as close and Nicole and Stuart had become, Anais could sense that marriage wasn’t far off.
She was looking for something serious. She was tired of wasting her time dating. She wanted to meet someone she could spend her life with. She didn’t even want to think about her ticking biological clock. As an only child, she wanted more than one kid. She didn’t want to panic, but she saw no reason to believe that she would suddenly meet someone special now any more than she had the previous five or so years. Unfortunately, she lived in a small town. She knew most of the eligible African American men already and she couldn’t think of a one with whom she was compatible. “Who is he?”
Nicole bounced on her toes and clapped her hands. Her thick blonde hair floating about her face. “He’s new in town. He’s handsome. This is going to be so good.”
***
Kyle Gray couldn’t believe he’d agreed to this shit. How had he let Stuart talk him into this? Oh, that’s right. He owed his cousin a favor for letting him know about the grants available for renovating buildings in town. He’d needed the opportunity since his life seemed to be going nowhere up north. He’d been working at the same place for almost ten years and he’d known he would be working there forever without ever advancing if he didn’t make a change. The only other thing holding him there had been his mother and they weren’t close.
He smoothed a hand over his head. He’d gotten a buzz cut recently because it was low maintenance. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the text from his cousin again. The lady’s name was Anais and she would be wearing an eggplant dress. Kyle almost shook his head at his cousin’s attention to detail. Why couldn’t the man just say purple?
They were meeting at the town’s one and only bar/restaurant. It didn’t exactly qualify as fine dining, but the only other options were fast food and a family restaurant. The idea was to keep it casual and share a drink.
Kyle supposed he had no true objections to the set up. Since turning thirty-two last year he’d begun to think seriously of getting married and starting a family. Unfortunately, women took one look at him and assumed he wanted nothing but sex. That might have been true when he was younger, but he was tired of casual hook ups.
The timing was a bit difficult for him. He was still settling into a new place and opening his own business. For the moment, making his business a success had to be his top priority. He’d sunk all of his savings into the endeavor and he had no room for failure.
Kyle scanned the barstools in search of a woman in eggplant. He was causing a bit of a stir. He’d met quite a few of these people already. He returned nods of welcome and a spattering of hellos. He walked deeper into the bar and spotted a flash of purple in one of the padded booths at the back.
The first thing he noticed about Anais was her curly hair. It fell in shining, riotous spirals over her neck and shoulders. She had lovely brown sugar skin and a nice rack that made his breath hitch and his palms curl in anticipation. He tamped down on the sudden surge of lust, reminding himself that this was something that could lead to more. He’d let his dick lead way too often. He needed to get to know her. Then he could fuck her.
Besides, he still hadn’t seen her face. She had her head tilted down, her thick curls blocking her features as her finger skimmed over the touchscreen of her phone. He cleared his throat. “Anais?”
She stopped and looked up at him, her dark brown eyes meeting his for a moment before they scanned him from head to toe and then back up again, her lovely plump lips opening more and more as though she could not believe what she was seeing. Her shocked reaction reminded him of something that he’d forgotten. He didn’t exactly blend in with the small town look.
***
Anais was going to kill her best friend. Nicole was nice and had the tendency to believe the best of everyone, but that was no excuse for this mess. She’d set her up with a fucking serial killer!
His dark brown hair was buzz cut, emphasizing his high cheekbones and sculpted facial features. Long dark lashes framed chilling, downright eerie pale green-gray eyes. His jaw was shadowed with stubble. The tattooed tail of some animal was visible just beneath the collar of his leather jacket. If she had to venture a guess, she’d say it was a dragon. Beneath his cuffs, she thought she might detect a dagger on one wrist and a serpent’s tail on the other.
If he had been just a little less inked up or if he didn’t have that ice cold gaze, she might be a little less judgmental. But the two combined were just too much.
She consoled herself with the thought that serial killers did not look like serial killers otherwise they would never be successful. But that thought didn’t help much since despite being scary, he was a handsome bastard. Some women would be drawn to his bad boy looks. Just not her. She was interested in getting married. She wondered how Nicole could have gotten this so wrong. This guy was not marriage material. He was a walking one night stand.
She wet her lips and nodded, seeing no way out of this at the moment. Her gaze flicked about the full bar. A number of people watched them curiously. He couldn’t very well kill her here in the midst of the other bar patrons. She just had to make sure she was never alone with him. “You’re Kyle?”
He nodded and slid into the other side of the booth. He was very tall so she still had to look up at him. He placed his palms flat on the table. Anais couldn’t help but note how large his hands were. Perfect for wrapping around unsuspecting necks she thought with a gulp.
Beth, their waitress, came over to take their drink orders. He ordered a beer and Anais took the safe route and asked for water. That way if he tried to drug or poison her she’d be more likely to detect it. “So,” she said, attempting a smile, but she suspected failing miserably. A suspicion that was confirmed when he merely arched an eyebrow curiously. “Um, Nicole, didn’t tell me much about you. Just that you were new in town. How did you and Nicole meet?”
“She’s dating my cousin Stuart.”
“Stuart is your cousin? You look nothing alike,” she blurted before she could help herself.
His firm lips quirked a little at the corner. “No, we don’t.”
“So…you’re new in town. I hope you’ve received a warm welcome.” He nodded but did not say more. Before the lapse in conversation could become awkward, their waitress delivered their drinks and asked if they were ready to place orders for food. Kyle ordered a burger. Anais was reluctant to order anything since she didn’t want anything to slow down her escape from this date from hell. She finally ordered a grilled chicken salad.
“So,” she said again to fill the awkward silence. Kyle watched her with a steady gaze. Anais fought the urge to shiver. “Um, what do you do for a living?” She managed to dredge up a genuine smile. “I own A. Heart Natural Cosmetics in town.” She was proud of her store.
He sipped his beer. “We’re neighbors. I own Gray’s Auto Body Works.”
Her eyes narrowed on him. “You do.” She was so going to kill Nicole. Slowly. Maybe she should sic this serial killer on her.
“You don’t sound happy to meet me.”
“That’s because I’ve been dealing with the noise pollution from the repairs to the building for months. Then I finally thought it was over and you move in and start making noise again. Only this time there’s no end in sight!”
“I’m sorry. Right now we have to keep the back garage doors open. I’m looking into a ventilation system that will enable us to close the doors.”
“And how long will it take to get it installed?”
He shrugged. His voice was a deep, sexy baritone. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like he was much of a talker. When their food arrived, he didn’t waste any time picking up the large burger and digging in. By comparison, she picked at her salad, shifting the lettuce around and taking occasional bites. Conversation ground to a halt.
Kyle finished his burger and took a long drink from his beer. “This isn’t going to work, is it?”
Eyes wide, she shook her head in a quick, frantic set of jerks. Had he ever been under the impression that this was going well?
He nodded. “Didn’t think so.” He stood and dug his wallet out of the back of his jeans. “It was nice meeting you.” He dug out enough money to cover the bill and leave a tip. “See you around, neighbor.” He dipped his head and walked away.
Anais released a sigh of relief. Then she picked up her phone and called her former best friend. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“Anais? Why are you calling me? Aren’t you still on your date?”
“Nicole, are you crazy?” Anais stood and shrugged into her wool coat. It was cool out this evening. She picked up her purse and made her way to the door. “You set me up with a serial killer.”
“What? He is not. He’s not, is he, Stuart?”
She could hear Stuart talking in the background but she couldn’t make out his words. “You have to ask? How long did you know this guy before you decided he’d be perfect for me?” She walked outside and pulled the keys to her car out of her pocket. It was after five and the sun was well on its way to setting. Fortunately, she’d parked close. She pressed the button on her fob to unlock her car. She opened the door and tossed her purse into the passenger seat.
“He’s Stuart’s cousin and he’s really nice. He’s just the sort of guy you’re looking for. He has a job. He has no kids and no ex-wives.”
Anais settled behind her wheel with a huff. “Nicole, did you not notice that he was covered in tattoos, has the eyes of a serial killer, and hands that could snap a woman’s neck without trying?” She closed her door behind her. “And he’s white. What were you thinking?” They lived in a small town. She could count on one hand the number of interracial couples in town and have fingers to spare. There was just the black guy married to the woman he’d met in the Philippines and the white guy married to the woman who’d moved to town from Venezuela. And that was it as far as she knew. There might have been some hook ups amongst the younger generation, but teen relationships didn’t count.
“Hey, I’m white.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not dating you.”
“Are you saying that you wouldn’t date me if I asked you out?”
Anais laughed at Nicole’s offended tone. “No offense, but no matter what color you are, you’re missing some parts that I consider pretty essential in a mate.”
“Oh. Right. Well, Kyle has those. And he’s good with his hands.”
She recalled the sight of his large hands spread on the table. She’d bet he was good with his hands. She could imagine those big hands stroking over her curves and…and wrapping around her stupid neck. What was she thinking? Did she really want those creepy, serial killer eyes staring down into her face while he was fucking her? No, thank you. “How would you know? Have you been cheating on Stuart?”
“That’s not what I meant. Get your mind out of the gutter. I meant that Stuart says he’s good at fixing things. He’d be a great guy to have around if you have, say, an old house in need of some repairs and fixing up.”
“Do you think those are my only requirements in a man?” she asked, locking her doors and starting her car.
“I think those are a good start. Anyway, are the two of you going to see each other again?”
“Are you kidding? Not if I can help it.”