“Wanna really fog up these windows, sugar cube?” he asked without even the slightest grin.
Tierney couldn’t speak; she was too overpowered by her attraction to him. So she simply smiled and nodded.
Rome sighed, as if he’d been expecting her to refuse. “All right then. Let’s get to it,” he said. Tierney smiled and leaned toward him once more, but his index finger pressed to her lips stopped her from kissing him.
She frowned, not understanding why he would whisk her away, ask if she wanted to make out, and then pause.
“But first,” he began, “there’s something I want to ask you.”
“Yeah?” Tierney asked tentatively. What could he possible mean to ask her? Naturally, her wildest hopes and dreams screamed for want of a marriage proposal—but Tierney knew how ridiculous a hope and dream it was. In fact, he seemed so serious-minded in that moment that she began to fear whatever it was he meant to ask.
Rome smiled then and shook his head as if suddenly amused with himself. “It’s just that I’ve had the damn song playing in my head constantly for more than a week.”
Tierney frowned. “You mean…you mean ‘Silent Night’?” After all, it was the most recent song Tierney had heard.
Rome did smile then—even laughed. “No…not ‘Silent Night,’ ” he explained. “The other one.” Pausing, he exhaled a long breath and then sang, “If I was your boyfriend, I’d never let you go.”
Tierney smiled, asking, “You mean ‘Boyfriend’…by Justin Bieber?”
“Don’t act so surprised,” Rome said. “The little dude really kicks it.”
Tierney giggled. “I know, but…I just never expected that you’d be a fan.”
“I’m not a fan,” Rome defended himself, frowning. “But I can appreciate his skills.” He shook his head, adding, “But that’s not the point. The point is…how about a full-on, committal make-out session, baby?”
As understanding slowly began to wash over her, Tierney breathed, “A committal make‑out session? You mean…you mean like—”
“When are you gonna let me be your boyfriend?” Rome mumbled. “When are you gonna officially think of yourself as my girlfriend? You see what I’m getting at here?”
Tierney felt the tears beginning to brim in her eyes. “I-I think you’re getting at the word commitment…in regard to you and me…unless I’m dreaming.”
Rome’s handsome grin reappeared then. “You ain’t dreaming, baby,” he said. “So? Can I officially be, you know, your boyfriend?”
Tierney smiled. Reaching up to take hold of Rome’s whiskery, square chin, she answered, “Well, the truth of it is…you’re hardly anywhere close to being a boy, Rome.”
Rome smiled, kissed the corner of Tierney’s mouth, and asked, “Then what am I?”
Tierney sighed as Rome gathered her into his arms. “How about…”
He laughed. “Let me guess…your classic Latin lover?”
Tierney giggled. “Can’t you be both?”
Rome smiled—the naughty smile of mischief Tierney had come to adore so much. “Of course I can, bootylicious babe of mine. I can be anything you want.” He chuckled, adding, “Girl…you know it’s true.”
Tierney laughed—but only for a moment—because it was only a moment before Rome said, “Now let’s get busy and fog up these windows with a little committal making out,” and then mingled the warm, moist flavor of his mouth with hers.
It may have been cold outside the pickup cab—new frost may have been falling through the starry night sky—but Tierney was entirely unaware of it. As her dream-borne classic Latin lover boyfriend endeavored to help her fog up the windows of the pickup, Tierney’s mind was void of anything else. Nothing could dampen her bliss over Rome’s revealing his desire they be an exclusive couple. Nothing—not the weather, not her worries over Alec’s happiness, not even the emotional red flags Elias Potts stirred in her mind. Rome Novak wanted her—her—Tierney O’Brien! Unfathomable? Of course! But apparently very true. And that night, Tierney swore to herself that nothing would ever keep her from holding onto his Latin lover’s heart. Nothing.
Chapter Twelve
“Rome Novak’s girlfriend,” Tierney whispered to herself as she added more greens to the arrangement she was working on. Smiling, she whispered, “Me? Yes, I’m Rome Novak’s girlfriend. Why do you ask?”
Tierney giggled, delighted at how good it still felt to say the words, even after almost three weeks—three glorious, wonderful, fabulous, magnificent weeks since she and Rome had become an official couple.
She’d thought nothing would ever be more romantic or make her more happy than the moment on Thanksgiving night when Rome had dragged her out to his father’s old pickup, driven off to park in an isolated part of the neighborhood, and asked her when he could be her official boyfriend. But what she knew now, three weeks later, was that every minute spent in Rome’s company since then was nothing short of magical! Tierney was so much more relaxed around him, more comfortable. She hadn’t even realized how nervous and uptight she’d always been before, even when they were kissing. But after Rome had played “Silent Night” so beautifully—after Tierney had been able to shed every one of her inhibitions and allow him to know just how strong her feelings were—well, all she could think most of the time was, Wow!
“You and Rome doing anything fun tonight?” Jessica asked as she stepped out of the floral refrigerator carrying several roses.
Tierney’s smile broadened. “Everything is always fun with Rome,” she answered.
Jessica laughed. “Oh, I can imagine!” she said.
Tierney smiled, delighted by the obvious compliment to her boyfriend’s good looks. “But we are going out to do a little Christmas shopping,” Tierney added. “You know how guys are…always waiting until the final moments.”
Jessica nodded. “Oh yeah! I’m lucky if Elias gets his shopping done anytime before noon on Christmas Eve.”
Tierney’s smile didn’t fade, even for the mention of Elias, and she nodded. “My brother is the same way—always running around like a nutcase two days before Christmas, stressing himself out over trying to find the perfect gift for everyone.” Glancing up to where Jessica was arranging the roses in a bud vase, she asked, “How about you? Any fun plans for tonight? Only six shopping days left, you know.”
“Oh, I know,” Jessica admitted. “But I’m all finished. And, nope, nothing exciting planned. Though I do have to leave early today to meet with a client and get an idea of how much she wants to spend on her daughter’s wedding on Valentine’s Day.”
“Ooo! A Valentine’s Day wedding—how romantic!” Tierney offered. Secretly she wished to herself that she could be having a Valentine’s Day wedding. Actually, she’d marry Rome any day he asked her to—but she squelched the thought for the moment. She may be Rome Novak’s girlfriend, but that was a far cry from being Rome Novak’s wife. Still, the thought of one day being his wife gave her goose bumps all the same.
“Very romantic indeed,” Jessica admitted. “Yeah…so I’m leaving about three. Don’t worry though. Elias volunteered to come in and work the counter so that you can keep up with any new orders placed at the last minute.”
Instantly the goose bumps thoughts of being Rome’s wife had raised disappeared. In their place were the thoroughgoing sensations of trepidation and nausea. Tierney hadn’t told anyone her feelings where Elias Potts was concerned—her anxiety, unease, apprehension, and constant sense of foreboding. The emotional red flags that unfurled in Tierney’s mind and sixth sense had quadrupled in number over the past couple of weeks. Anytime Elias lingered in the shop—whether or not Jessica were there—Tierney was fearful. She always felt sick to her stomach and had to fight the urge to run out into the street and cry for help. There was definitely something not right about Elias, and Tierney often wondered why in the world Jessica didn’t sense it—wondered how she could be married to him, live with him, be intimate with him.
But Tierney didn’t just want her job; she n
eeded it. Self-reliance was just over the horizon, and Tierney knew she couldn’t up and quit because her boss’s husband was a creeper. Anyway, every job had a downside. Alec and Rome had been sleep-deprived for over two weeks due to the constant snowstorms. Even if new snow didn’t fall on any given day or night, the wind blew it into high drifts that had to be removed from parking lots, driveways, and school bus routes. It was the downside to their business—to their jobs. Snow was a steady little dickens in the winter months of Leavenworth. But it was what it was, and Tierney understood it. Besides, she liked to snuggle up next to Rome on his sofa and listen to his steady breathing as he snoozed through whatever movie they might be watching. Sometimes Tierney would drift to sleep too, waking up and finding herself wrapped in his arms—held protectively against his broad, muscular chest.
The point was that every job came with irritations and frustrations, and for Tierney, Elias was that part of her job—the yucky part. Therefore, what was to be done but to deal with it and try to avoid being isolated in the back room with him? So that’s what she had learned to do. Anytime Elias Potts was in the shop, Tierney made sure she was in whatever room of the shop that he wasn’t in.
“Whew!” Jessica breathed, drawing Tierney’s attention back to her. “It’s going to be good to have some time off, isn’t it?”
“Absolutely,” Tierney agreed.
“Are you doing Christmas Eve and Christmas with Rome’s family? Or just Alec?” Jessica asked.
Tierney smiled, the thought of Christmas with the Novaks lightening her mood a little again. “Alec and I are going to the Novaks’ Christmas Eve party and then spending the night over there with everyone. I guess Rome spends the night there too…and of course Celeste. So we’ll all be together Christmas morning too.”
“Sounds like so much fun!” Jessica said. “Makes me wish I knew the Novaks better so that Elias and I could make the guest list to one of their parties.” She paused and then added, “Celeste Novak worked for me one summer—not for very long, though. And she was really young, so I never really got to know her parents very well. Mr. Novak comes in and picks up an arrangement or some stems now and then for his wife, but other than that, I guess we’re just in totally different social circles.”
“And they’re very happy just staying home most of the time,” Tierney offered. She wondered for a moment if Rome and Celeste’s parents felt the same way about Elias that Tierney and Celeste did—just plain creeped out. If they did, it would explain why a friendly couple like Edward and Nikki hadn’t made an effort to get to know Jessica and Elias better. Celeste had once mentioned that even Heidi Svensson steered clear of Elias Potts, so it made perfect sense that people like Rome’s parents would do the same.
“Well, I really like Celeste,” Jessica said. “She still says hi to me whenever we run into one another. She was a great employee. I would’ve liked to have kept her on part-time back then.”
Celeste—Tierney adored her! The more she got to know her, the more she adored her. Alec was head-over-heels, irrevocably, desperately in love with Celeste. In fact, just after Thanksgiving, Alec had confessed to Tierney (during one of their late-night sibling chats) that he knew Celeste was the woman he wanted to spend his life with. Tierney giggled a little when Alec had mentioned that he thought he and Celeste would have cute kids too—her thoughts being drawn back to Celeste’s confession that night in the hot tub, about wanting to have Alec’s children (so to speak).
Tierney had instantly encouraged her brother not to drag his feet. Celeste was a go-getter and a very passionate woman who wouldn’t fare well being dragged along for an extended period of time. Alec assured her that he knew it all too well and explained that he didn’t plan to wait much longer before “stepping things up,” as he put it. Tierney knew exactly what “stepping things up” meant too—a marriage proposal! She could just imagine it—Alec kneeling before Celeste on one knee, opening a little red or black velvet ring box, and asking Celeste to marry him. No doubt Celeste would accept Alec’s proposal by nearly mauling him, no matter who might be around to witness it. Then there’d be the wedding, and Celeste would be the most beautiful bride the world had ever seen.
Tierney smiled, thinking then that she could create the arrangements and bouquets for Celeste, if Celeste would allow it. And if she did allow it, Tierney would create the arrangements of her life for her friend, and soon-to-be sister-in-law.
Imagining Celeste and Alec’s wedding sent Tierney’s thoughts streaming back to her own ill-fated (thankfully ill-fated) bridal shower. All over again, she felt the butterflies whirling in her stomach, the goose bumps rippling over her arms, just at the memory of the first time she’d ever seen Rome Novak. Oh, he’d been so gorgeous that day! Not that he wasn’t gorgeous every day—he was—even more gorgeous with every passing hour. But it was that moment Tierney reflected on then—that moment when Rome stepped out of the box and blessedly changed her life forever.
“You’re grinning like a Cheshire cat, Tierney,” Jessica laughed, once more pulling Tierney’s attention back to the present and the floral shop. “I’m guessing you’re thinking about your handsome boyfriend, huh?”
“Always.” Tierney sighed and then giggled.
“Well, I don’t blame you,” Jessica admitted. “That man is one tasty piece of beefcake.”
Tierney laughed. “That’s sure one way to put it.”
Trying to keep her attention on the arrangement she was working on then, Tierney hummed “Boyfriend” for the rest of the morning. She didn’t stop humming (or grinning either) until Jessica left at three pm.
But when Elias Potts walked through the front door of the floral shop, such a wave of emotional red flags unfurled inside Tierney, she actually began to tremble.
❦
“Four thirty,” Tierney mumbled to herself as she stared at the clock on the wall of the design room. “Only thirty more minutes.” Surely she could endure thirty more minutes in the shop. In thirty minutes, Tierney would be finished for the day and could flee from Elias’s presence.
Surprisingly, Elias hadn’t bothered Tierney too much. He’d kept to the counter in the front of the shop, being that there’d been nearly a steady stream of customers since Jessica had left. Meanwhile, Tierney concentrated on her work—finished up existing orders for the next day and even completed a few smaller arrangements for the impulse case at the front of the store. But she still had thirty minutes before she could leave, so she kept busy cleaning up the back room and storage refrigerator.
She felt somewhat safe too—until four forty-five pm, that was. She happened to look up from where she stood dethorning a few roses to see Elias quietly move to the front door of the shop and turn the open sign on the front door to closed. Tierney’s eyes widened as she watched him lock the deadbolt. Tierney always left by way of the front door—never through the back door or delivery entrance—and Elias Potts knew it.
Wave after wave of red flags began flapping in Tierney’s mind and heart. Something was not right. Elias was not right. Quickly she retrieved her phone from her apron pocket, staring at it as a state of panic began to envelop her. She’d escape through the back door, but something told her to call for help first—an enormous, red, flapping flag. But who should she call? Fear was muddling her thoughts. Quickly she sent a universal text to every number in her phone—even though there weren’t many anymore.
“911 at the Floral Shop!” she mumbled as she pressed send. Then quickly she headed for the back door.
Taking hold of the doorknob, however, she found that it was locked, and it required a key to unlock—a key that only Jessica and Elias owned copies of. Gasping with horror and sudden realization that she should’ve just left the shop at four thirty and taken the heat for leaving early instead of lingering until closing time, Tierney raced to the delivery entrance. But to her further horror, it was not only closed, of course, but also padlocked. She knew only Jessica and Elias had keys to the padlock as well, and as she turned
around to see Elias Potts standing behind her, Tierney knew she’d waited too long to heed her instincts.
“What’re you doing, Tierney?” Elias asked.
“Leaving,” she spat. Knowing the front door was deadbolted from the inside and didn’t require a key, Tierney determined to push past Elias and run to the front door. With any luck, she’d be able to scramble her way out of the peril she knew she was in.
“But it’s only quarter to five,” Elias said, reaching out and catching hold of Tierney’s arm as she tried to move past him. “You can’t leave early.”
“I can leave whenever I want to. And let go of me,” Tierney growled, wrenching her arm free of his grasp.
“You’re not leaving until I say you can leave,” Elias bellowed.
Tierney wasn’t even sure how it had happened—how Elias had managed to get his hands around her throat before she’d had a chance to run. But he had, and he was squeezing.
“Let me go!” Tierney demanded as tears filled her eyes. She wouldn’t pass out—not yet. So far, Elias was just strangling her enough to make breathing difficult—enough to hurt her and cause her body to stiffen with fear.
“I’ll let you go…when we’re finished here,” he mumbled.
“Don’t you dare touch me!” Tierney gasped.
But Elias simply laughed. “I’m already touching you, honey,” he told her. “Now quit struggling, and let’s just have a little fun. That’s all I’m after…just some fooling around.”
Tierney blinked, sending tears trickling over her cheeks. “Let me go,” she breathed.
“Settle down and make yourself cooperative, and I will,” Elias responded.
Tierney tried to think clearly—tried to think—tried to think. The thought then occurred to her that if she did settle down (or at least pretended to), Elias might loosen his grip enough on her throat to allow her to kick him in the crotch and render him momentarily weak. Maybe he’d even release her throat altogether, and then she could really hurt him and bolt for the front door. If she could make it to the front door before he took her down, Tierney knew the sidewalks and streets of Leavenworth were crowded with holiday shoppers, and surely she could scream or break a window in order to draw attention to the shop and get help.
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