He could see movement in the back where the kitchen probably was and rapped on the door. A few seconds later, Blake came out of the back, wiping his hands on a towel. He saw Alex and grinned.
“Rush,” he said, throwing open the door and pumping Alex’s hand. “Come in. Come in. I was wondering when you’d get around to stopping by.”
“You knew I was coming.”
“There are no secrets among Sockeyes players, former and current.”
“You talked to Ice.” Ice and Blake had been close when Blake was still playing hockey.
“Sure did. I guess you’re in deep shit with management, and they’ve sent you here hoping there’s not much trouble you can get into on this island.”
“Something like that. So far, they’re right.”
Blake snorted and grinned even wider. “Sara wants to have you for dinner as soon as you’re ready. How does tomorrow night sound?”
“Fantastic. In fact, I could use a good meal now. You have time to join me?”
“I could spare an hour. There’s a nice place just a block down the street.”
Alex waited while Blake locked up, and they walked side by side down the street.
As they passed the bookstore, Alex couldn’t help glancing in the window. Rosalind stood at the cash register. She was hot in a good-girl way. He’d never been attracted to the sweet ones, but she might be the exception.
She glanced up and glared at him. Alex winked at her and was rewarded with a dark scowl. Suddenly, she smiled and waved, her face transformed from a hot wicked witch to the sweet girl next door. Alex frowned, not sure what brought about the sudden transformation until he realized Blake was waving at her.
“You like her?” He couldn’t help but sound incredulous.
“Rosalind? Of course, everyone loves her. She helps Sara with animal rescue, and she’s a stellar person.”
Alex grunted his disagreement and mumbled a few not-so-nice words.
Blake shot him a quick look. “You don’t like her?”
“She kicked me out of bookstore,” Alex admitted.
Blake threw back his head and laughed so hard he was wiping his eyes. Alex was not amused.
“What’d you do? Come on to her? Damn, Rush, not all women respond to your playboy lines.”
“I was just reading book, and she got pissed.”
“Oh, come on. There’s more to it than that.”
Alex shrugged. “That woman is she-devil. Very mean.”
Blake rolled his eyes as he entered the small café. They took a seat by the window and ordered coffee and breakfast.
“I bet she thinks you’re a douchebag.”
Alex should have been offended, but he wasn’t. He could be a douchebag, and he could be a charming sweetheart. Whatever the situation and woman called for. He was all about getting their clothes off and having a wild time in bed. He frowned at the thought of not having sex for a month or two. He wasn’t sure he could do it. “I’m an artist.”
“Artist?” Blake was laughing again. “That’s too much. I’m amused you’ve met a female who’s immune to you.”
“I do not care. She is not nice.”
“Whatever you say, buddy. Did you ever think it might be you, not her?”
“No. Never. I am woman magnet. Irresistible.”
“To a certain type of woman.”
“To all women,” Alex argued.
“In your dreams.”
“What type you think attracted to me?” He was curious what his former teammate considered to be his type. Alex himself didn’t have a type. He loved all women, young, old, large, small, tall, short. He wasn’t even averse to a woman old enough to be his mother.
Before a grinning Blake could answer, the door opened and two women walked in. Alex did a double take and frowned. It was Rosalind the cranky owner. Following her was a tall and willowy dark-haired hottie. His frown turned to a grin. Now that was better. Their gazes met, and she smiled back at him, while Rosalind glowered. Alex waited for that tug of sexual attraction he usually felt with just about any willing female, but it never came. Maybe this isolation affected his sex drive. He shuddered at the thought.
They had to pass Blake and Alex’s table to get to the only other empty table. Rosalind tried to ignore Alex, but Blake spoke to her, leaving her no choice but to be polite and speak back.
“Roz, are you ready to adopt a kitten yet? Sara knows of a litter looking for homes.”
Alex turned his attention to Rosalind and almost barked out a laugh at the look of horror on her pretty face. It didn’t shock him in the least that cats wouldn’t be on her list of favorite roommates. She probably hated the mess they made and their resistance to following her rules or allowing her to organize their lives.
“I’m not ready. I’m gone from the house too much.”
“A cat would be good for you.” Alex couldn’t help chuckling at the image of a kitten unrolling her toilet paper and running around the room with it.
She turned her attention to him and once again scowled, which was her expression of choice when he was in the area. He snorted, thoroughly enjoying her annoyance.
“I’m sure it would,” she said through gritted teeth, most likely trying to be polite for Blake’s sake.
“Join us for lunch. My treat.” Alex was needling her, knowing sitting with him was the last thing she’d want to do, but Clarissa was already pulling out a chair next to Alex. With a sigh, Rosalind sat down across from him and next to Blake.
“This is my friend Clarissa. She’s just moved back to the island after several years on the mainland.”
“Welcome back, Clarissa,” Blake said easily. “I’m Blake, and this is my buddy Alex. He’s new to the island.”
Alex blew out a breath of relief, glad Blake hadn’t mentioned they’d been teammates. For some reason, he was enjoying the anonymity of the island, which was odd, since he usually loved the attention he got as a pro hockey player.
“You’re Alex Markov, a.k.a. Rush,” Clarissa gushed. So much for anonymity. It’d lasted all of one morning. He glanced at Rosalind, who was folding and unfolding her paper napkin.
“Yes, I am,” he sighed.
“You played great in the finals. I caught a few games on TV.”
“Thank you.” Normally, he’d be all over this woman as his next conquest, but something held him back.
“Maybe we could explore the island together,” Clarissa said, ducking her head and shooting him a coy look from underneath lowered lashes. Her behavior was like so many other women. Normally, he loved the game, but he wasn’t craving it so much right now.
“Great idea,” Blake said before Alex could conjure up a lame excuse.
“I would enjoy a sightseeing partner.” Alex wasn’t sure why he said that since Clarissa didn’t appear to flip his switch, but the deep frown on Rosalind’s face was reward enough.
“We’ll have fun.”
“Great. Give me your number, and I call you.”
Alex watched as Clarissa scrawled out her name and number on a napkin, then he took it and tucked it into his jeans. He’d call her, eventually, just to piss off Rosalind, though he wasn’t sure why it mattered—to either of them.
~ ~ ~ ~
The last thing Rosalind needed was to be subjected to this infuriating man for one second more, but she was stuck. She couldn’t be rude to Blake and Clarissa. They wouldn’t understand. She usually liked everyone, and everyone liked her. Alex was an outlier and the worst kind of scoundrel, and he deserved that status in her book.
“Roz, you really should go by and look at those kittens. Sara has them in the clinic,” Blake said.
“Oh, Roz, let’s do that. Maybe I’ll take one home for Mia. That’s my five-year-old,” Clarissa added as an aside to Alex.
His eyes grew big, and he glanced at Clarissa’s hand. At least he had the decency to check if she was married. Or maybe he preferred married women. Less strings that way, and he’d be that type. Dang, but she w
as judgmental when it came to this man.
“Do stop by and check them out. You’ll fall in love. I guarantee it.” Blake winked at them.
Blake’s wife, Sara, the town veterinarian, was a good bookstore customer, and often spoke to Rosalind about getting a pet. She didn’t want a pet, especially a cat. Cats shed and left hair all over. They slept on the bed and scratched the furniture. She couldn’t imagine living in the chaos a cat would create. She wasn’t much for pets, even though she did love all living things, just not in her house.
She was aware of Alex watching her with interest, almost like a scientist dissecting a frog. Not a good feeling. He should be staring at Clarissa after he’d asked her on an almost date, but he wasn’t. She glanced at her friend, who’d always been a sucker for a pretty face, but she wasn’t looking at him either. She was texting someone on her phone. Not exactly a good start to a great love affair.
“We’ll go by at five when the bookstore closes. Is that too late?” Clarissa asked, ignoring the kick under the table from Rosalind.
“Not at all. The receptionist stays until about five thirty.”
Clarissa focused her attention finally on Alex, almost as if he were an afterthought. “Do you like animals?”
“I love animals, especially cats. I have black cat. He is with me on vacation.”
“You brought your cat on vacation with you? Oh, how sweet,” Clarissa said. Even Rosalind had to give him points for that.
Alex looked down at the menu, but not before Rosalind caught the red flush on his face.
They ordered lunch and chatted until their meal was delivered, but Rosalind said very little. She listened as she usually did. People did too little listening and too much talking. Alex was a talker, a fact which didn’t surprise her in the least. He liked being the center of attention, but she grudgingly had to admit he was entertaining rather than boring like most of the talkative people she knew.
At one point, their eyes met, and her heart did a hard thump against her rib cage. She looked away from him, pretending he didn’t exist, even though her lady parts were well aware of the virile male sitting across the table.
Her body’s attraction to him was ludicrous. She was waiting for Mr. Right, not Mr. All Wrong, and someday he would come. She had faith in the power of love. Without love, where would the world be?
Rosalind had her life planned out, with goals listed in her journal in increments of one, five, and ten years. She’d achieved quite a bit in her twenty-five years, and her list was currently on track.
David had blown her plans off the rails two years ago, but she was recovering nicely. A little worse for wear, but she’d moved on and so had he.
She’d started dating David their senior year of high school. They’d gotten close via their church youth group, and she’d fallen fast and hard. She’d lost her virginity to him at twenty-one, even though she’d always planned on saving herself for marriage. He’d convinced her not to wait, and she’d believed he was the one. How wrong she’d been. She would not be bitter though. She’d learned a lot about relationships from him—good and bad—and it’d taken her a long time to recover.
She wanted a white-picket fence, a good husband, and a couple of kids; she was traditional like that. She had a list of qualities she had to have in a man, and she wouldn’t settle for less. Nor would she fall for the wrong man again. She wasn’t a teenager, and she’d be better equipped to recognize her true soul mate this time.
In the meantime, Rosalind was content with her life. She lived on a beautiful island with little to zero crime, had loving parents, and knew everyone. She’d never aspired to live anywhere else. While many islands in the San Juans grew and developed, Madrona Island stayed the same, not drawing the tourists the other islands drew. The one resort on the island had gone out of business and been sold to a private party. There were a few bed-and-breakfasts and a small marina, but mostly the island belonged to the locals.
Alex was David’s polar opposite, and he wasn’t her type. Her body might be interested, but she was, after all, a female, and he was the hottest man she’d ever seen, despite his arrogant personality.
Now she was being pressured to look at kittens. She did not need a kitten or any other kind of animal. The animals in her woods were plenty of animals. She fed the birds and squirrels and spent countless hours on her back patio watching them, but an animal in her house wasn’t an option.
She wolfed down her lunch, claiming she needed to get back to the store and relieve her mother, anything to get away from this too pretty man with his disturbing blue eyes.
She thanked Alex for lunch, said goodbye to Blake and Clarissa, who was going to hang around with them for a while longer. She was currently picking Blake’s brain on possible job opportunities.
Rosalind hurried out the door and down the sidewalk, relieved to be away from Alex and back in her comfort zone.
Chapter 5—Dinner Date
Rosalind spent the next few days avoiding Alex. She spotted him a few times walking down the street. Madrona Island was a small island, and it wasn’t unusual to bump into people on a regular basis. She resisted the urge to Google him, because, as she told herself, she didn’t care one bit about him, so why research who he was? Only her fingers were itching to type Alexander Markov into the search bar every time she sat down at her computer. This physical attraction to him was annoying and ridiculous.
Clarissa informed her that she’d made plans with Alex to go sightseeing on Saturday. Rosalind couldn’t resist warning her friend about the man, but Rissa just laughed at her.
Alex must have taken her seriously when she’d kicked him out of the store. Thank God for small favors. The less she saw of the man, the better. He not only annoyed her, but he woke up her dormant sex drive, and she didn’t like that one bit. She controlled her body and her destiny. No one else.
On this particular day, she wasn’t quite so lucky. Alex sauntered into the store a few minutes before lunch.
Standing at the cash register, her mother welcomed him as if he were a long-lost relative rather than an annoying pain in the butt. Her mother helped her in the store every Friday when her parents weren’t off island on their latest adventure. Her presence allowed Rosalind to run errands and do the paperwork she did on Friday as part of her scheduled tasks.
“Welcome. You must be new to town?” MaryAnn Newcomb said with a brilliant smile. Her mother loved everyone, and usually, so did Rosalind.
“I am Alex.” He shot her mother an award-winning grin, and Rosalind could see her mother falling for his act just like everyone else had but her.
“Welcome to Madrona Island, Alex. I’m MaryAnn Newcomb. Rosalind is my daughter.”
“You do not look old enough to be her mother. I thought you were sisters.”
“Oh, you silver-tongued devil, thank you.” Her mother giggled like a schoolgirl. It was disgusting. Rosalind wanted to gag. “Rosalind, have you met this nice young man?”
Rosalind could hear the wheels turning in her mother’s head already. She knew where this was going.
“We’ve met.” Rosalind side-eyed her mother, hoping she’d get the hint. She didn’t, or more likely she ignored her daughter. Mom was always on the lookout for eligible men on the island. She wanted grandchildren and did whatever was in her power to hurry those future babies along.
“Rosalind kicked me out of store earlier this week.” Alex winked at her mom.
Her mother turned to Rosalind with one of those expressions she’d used when her daughter had been a naughty little girl. “Why ever did you kick this sweet man out of your store?”
Alex watched her with a smirk on his face. The jerk was enjoying her discomfort.
“He was a little loud.”
“Oh, honey, you need to loosen up a little. This isn’t a library or a morgue. People are allowed to discuss books and make a little noise.”
Rosalind sighed. She wouldn’t win this one. Mom was already on Team Alex.
�
�Do you have friends on the island, Alex?”
“Yes, Blake Daniels. He was teammate.”
“Oh, he’s wonderful. So is his wife, Sara. Teammate? Did you play hockey?”
“Yes, I still do.”
“I admit I don’t follow sports like my husband does. He’d be thrilled to meet you.”
Alex merely smiled, not committing to anything. “Blake and Clarissa are trying to convince Rosalind to get kitten.”
“What a splendid idea. Roz, you could use the company.”
“Mom, I don’t have time for a kitten.” Rosalind glared at her mother, but she was playing the clueless card. She knew her daughter hated messes and chaos. A kitten would introduce both into her life, along with a litter box. She shuddered at the thought.
“Of course you do.” Her mother dismissed her concerns with a wave. “Alex, how would you like to join us for Sunday dinner?”
“I’m sure Alex has better things to do.”
“I would love home-cooked meal. I do not get many.”
“Perfect. In the afternoon about threeish?”
“I will be looking forward.” He flashed his full-wattage smile, and her mother was putty in his hands. Roz rolled her eyes and harrumphed. The man was infuriating, obnoxious, and disingenuous. Her mother might not be able to see through him, but Rosalind could.
“And Rosalind, you’ll be there, too.”
“I, uh…I have other plans.”
“No you don’t. We always have Sunday dinner as a family. You’ll be there. Bring one of your fabulous desserts.”
“You bake? That is good. I love chocolate cake.” Alex smirked at her, while she glowered back at him. He knew she didn’t want to be around him any more than necessary.
“I’m not baking a cake.” She wanted to ask him what he didn’t like so she’d be sure to bake it, but that would be mean, and she wasn’t a mean person.
Her mother chastised her with one of those looks, and Rosalind expected a lecture on rudeness as soon as Alex left. Only Alex wasn’t leaving. He grabbed another book from the display of new releases and settled in on the couch in front of the fireplace.
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