The next morning, as Marney walked out of her office to give Claudette a new box of bracelets to display in the main case, a small crowd of people raced by her shop window. She didn’t think much of it, until the wail of the ambulance echoed around her. From the sound if it, it stopped only a few feet up the street.
“What the heck?”
Claudette, a university student with brown hair and big blue eyes who worked a few hours every day to earn tuition, almost bounced out of her skin. “Let me go find out what’s happening!”
“You’re busy.” She ambled to the window just in time to see an elderly woman on a gurney being rolled into the street from the little grocery store a few doors down. She stood on tiptoes. “I think it’s Mrs. Baker.”
“Oh, go find out!” Claudette cried. “Be nosy for once!”
Marney stayed at the window a few minutes but really couldn’t see over the crowd. And she was as curious as Claudette. She pushed open her shop door and stepped onto the street.
“He just dropped to his knees and started giving Mrs. Baker CPR.”
Marney listened to the chatter around her, not surprised a Good Samaritan had jumped in to save the town’s favorite church lady.
“He always goes above and beyond the Sheriff job.”
As she realized it was Dell they were talking about, she noticed him standing by the ambulance.
“You’ll be fine,” he crooned, patting Mrs. Baker’s hand as the crew shoved the stretcher into the vehicle. With an IV in her arm and an oxygen mask over her face, it was clear she’d been in real trouble. “I’ll check on you later.”
The ambulance doors closed, and Dell turned away. Several people patted his back and offered congratulations. He brushed them off and headed down the street.
Marney bit her lower lip, turned back to her shop and shoved open the door. “It was Mrs. Baker. She must have had a heart attack because Sheriff O’Neil gave her CPR and she’s on her way to the hospital.”
Claudette sighed dreamily. “He’s such a good guy.”
She absently said, “Yeah, he is,” as she picked up Charlie, who’d trotted over, apparently done with his morning nap. She walked into her office and closed the door.
She scratched Charlie’s head lightly. “There is much, much more to that guy that meets the eye.”
Charlie barked.
“It’s too bad he’s so bossy.”
Charlie barked in agreement.
…
Unable to stop thinking about Dell O’Neil, Marney left work early and indulged in her other passion after jewelry design: cooking. Specifically, making her own pasta.
She worked for hours preparing sauce from scratch and perfect fettuccini noodles. After the first ten minutes of sauce prep, Charlie had deserted her, scampering away, she presumed, for another nap. But that was fine. She needed to be alone, to clear her head, to stop thinking about Dell O’Neil. He might be good-hearted, but he was bossy and controlling. And she’d had her fill of that with Doug. Everything he wanted came first. Everything she wanted came second. She’d be an idiot to give up her freedom for that.
As she finished straining the noodles, her doorbell rang.
She kissed a finger which had gotten in the way of some of the steam and called, “Just a minute!” With a quick wipe of her hands on an available dishtowel, she raced to the front door. She looked through the peephole, and there stood the very man she’d been thinking about all afternoon.
She groaned, but she couldn’t very well pretend she wasn’t home. The lights were on. Plus, he had Charlie in his arms. She opened the door.
“What’s up?”
He scratched Charlie behind the ears. “I think your dog likes me.”
She frowned.
“He was on my front stoop when I got home.”
“Oh! Sorry. I’ve been cooking all afternoon by myself, and I didn’t even notice him leave.” Fear shot through her. Good Lord, what the devil would they tell Mr. Bonaparte, one of the richest men in the world, if they lost his dog?
Dell smiled, his pretty blue eyes crinkling at the corners. “And here I just thought you’d sent him over to do reconnaissance.”
Irritation warmed her blood. Was he always going to accuse her of trying to get him to her house? After the way he’d behaved the day before and especially after he’d kissed her at the fund raiser, he still thought she was attracted to him?
Okay. The second argument didn’t work because she’d kissed him back. But he’d started that kiss. Still, what difference did it make? She’d lived in Chandler’s Cove for years and had never known him beyond his name, but suddenly she was seeing him every day.
Maybe fate kept throwing them together for a reason…
“Why don’t you stay for dinner?” The words were out of her mouth before the thought had fully formed. Fate or no fate, she didn’t want Dell O’Neil thinking she was an idiot. If it killed her, she would prove to him she was just as decent, as nice, as normal—if not more normal, given that he had a secret—as he was.
“I’ve made enough for an army.” She gave him a self-depreciating smile. “Because I love to cook. Made the sauce from scratch and the pasta.”
“You made pasta from scratch?”
She presented her hands, wiggled the fingers. “I’m multi-talented.”
He frowned. “I am hungry.”
“I made extra.” She paused then said, “I heard about you saving Mrs. Baker this morning.”
“It’s part of the job.”
“Some people might say that. But it still takes a selfless person to do the job you do. And even though I’m just a humble jewelry designer, I’m not so bad, either. We got off on the wrong foot.”
“And you think spaghetti can fix that?”
“Fettuccini with Alfredo sauce that will make you weep and thank your maker.”
“Really?” His voice had taken on a more accommodating tone. He set Charlie down and followed her into the kitchen.
She grabbed some plates from the cupboard. “We’ll just eat at the center island, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind at all.” Shrugging out of his jacket, he sniffed the air. “Smells like heaven in here.”
They set the table companionably. He helped himself to a beer from her fridge. After she set his plate of Fettuccini Alfredo in front of him, he took a bite and groaned. “Wow.”
“See. Could a wicked, evil, secret-telling woman cook this well?”
He laughed. “Probably not.”
She dug into her pasta. “So tell me how a guy who loses all his money decides to become a small-town Sheriff?”
“It’s sort of a funny story…on me.”
“You’ve already got me sworn to secrecy.”
“When I graduated from college, my father said I had to do one of the four e’s … employment, education, enlist, or evacuate the family home.
She laughed. “Evacuate the family home?”
“My dad can get a bit theatrical.” He chuckled. “Anyway, being a smart ass and wanting to drive my dad crazy, I enlisted. After my dad exploded and I’d had my fun, I wanted to take it back, but the army wasn’t so accommodating, and they wouldn’t let me out of the commitment. They made me an MP and that got me through my time in Afghanistan okay, but it also taught me a lot. MP training was a lifesaver when I needed a new career. Now, I like the life I’ve built and don’t want to complicate it.” He caught her gaze. “Especially not with a relationship.”
There were so many questions she could have asked him—about his family, his ex—but since they were trying to get on a normal footing as neighbors, she ignored them in favor of a response that would make it clear she wasn’t a love-stuck idiot who intended to follow him around.
“Interesting. And fairly normal. Everybody’s life has something odd in it.”
“Oh, really? What’s your story?”
“Pretty much the same as yours. Crappy first marriage. And though we didn’t have a lot of property,
Doug managed to get the condo. Still, my freedom was worth it.”
He laughed and clanked his beer glass against her wine glass. “To first marriages that teach big lessons.”
She raised her glass in toast. “Here, here.”
The whole conversation was fun until she caught his gaze to smile at him and their smiles faded simultaneously. She wasn’t exactly sure why his smile had faded but hers had disappeared because she realized why fate kept throwing them together. She liked him. They had enough in common that they understood each other. And unless she missed her guess, he now liked her, too.
Charlie trotted into the kitchen, his little paws making a clicking sound as he ambled over to her chair. He stopped, plopped his bottom on the floor and barked once at her. “Woof!”
Accustomed to talking to the dog as if he were a person, she almost answered him. Luckily, she caught herself and simply rose to get him some doggie treats.
Dell stood, too. “You cooked. I’ll clean up.”
Handing Charlie a treat, she shook her head. “I can’t let you do that. That wouldn’t be very hospitable.”
“What do you say we do it together?”
They stacked the dishes in the dishwasher, chatting a bit more. He made her laugh a time or two, and Marney’s stomach clenched. He was smart, funny, and very good looking. Not only that, but they shared a lot of similar experiences. Families who suffocated them. Exes who’d dumped them. And he really wasn’t bossy as much as incredibly sure of himself, confident in a way that was more sexy than manipulative. He really wasn’t like Doug at all.
But he didn’t want to get involved again. She’d invited him to dinner to rectify their former misconceptions. Wouldn’t it be counterproductive to try to start something that might make her look crazy again? Especially since he’d made it perfectly clear he didn’t want a relationship?
Of course it would.
Still, when they stood at her front door, close enough to touch, but not touching, her hormones sat on the edges of her skin, breathlessly awaiting a kiss that she knew wasn’t going to happen.
“Thank you for dinner.”
His soft, sensual voice sent goose bumps down her spine. “You’re welcome.”
He turned to open the door, but stopped and faced her again. His gray-blue eyes sparked with confusion. “I meant what I said about not wanting a relationship.”
“I know.”
“Neither of us should want a relationship anyway after our first failures.”
“I think my ex cured me of that.” But suddenly she didn’t feel like that. Her divorce had been nasty, but she was surprised to realize she was ready for another relationship. Plus, she and Dell had fun together when their attraction didn’t make them both nervous. She wouldn’t mind exploring where this would go.
He stepped close to her, slid his hand down her hair. “The hell of it is I like you.”
The breath that lodged in her throat prevented her from replying. He liked her? She’d guessed that but she never thought he’d admit it.
“We’d probably be perfect lovers.” He laughed. “God knows I’m attracted to you.”
Before she could even think of a response to that, he lowered his head and kissed her. His lips rubbed across hers, coaxing them open. Just like at the fund raiser, her head spun. Her bones dissolved. Her heart thundered in her chest.
His hands slid from her neck to her shoulders and down her back to her butt, sending rivers of molten need through her. He squeezed once, twice, then his hands drifted up her back, massaging until one drifted around front and found her breast.
Her nipples instantly hardened. Her breath stuttered out of her mouth, into his. Their kiss shifted from hot to super nova, their tongues mating frantically.
And then he pulled away.
The world vibrated around her for thirty seconds before she realized he stood there staring at her.
“I want to sleep with you.” He sucked in a breath. “But you wouldn’t like my terms. No strings. No commitments. It’s awfully hard to have that in a small town unless both of us are ready to be so discreet even our friends don’t know what we’re doing.”
Then he opened the door and left.
She combed her fingers through her hair. What the hell was that? How was she supposed to sleep now? Every hormone she had was on red alert. The man was potent. Like a drug. And ninety-nine-point-nine percent of her wanted to throw caution to the wind and spend a glorious night in bed with him.
What was left—a tenth of one percent—saw his point. Basically, they were incredibly attracted strangers, people who lived in the same small town where gossip could ruin a person who wasn’t careful. Plus, he didn’t want anything beyond a sexual relationship. And she didn’t jump into bed just for fun.
No wonder he’d stopped. There was no way in hell they’d be able to have a relationship.
So, if her mind was so sure, why did her body still tingle from that kiss?
Chapter Four
The following afternoon, waiting for Claudette to arrive for her shift, Marney stood behind the display case, rearranging pieces of her jewelry. Like a little bodyguard, Charlie dutifully sat beside her. Gabby had called that morning and told her she could keep the adorable pup indefinitely as she and T.J. would soon be moving T.J.’s office from California.
Marney was abundantly glad to have Charlie’s company. She needed someone to talk to. She’d fallen asleep believing Dell had given her a brushoff, but this afternoon her mind had spun off in a whole new direction.
“I want to sleep with you. But you wouldn’t like my terms,” she recited verbatim what she remembered him saying, as she glanced down at Charlie. “What if he wasn’t giving me a brush off, but actually asking me to sleep with him, long-term, like a lover? And he left because he wanted me to think about his terms?”
Charlie barked, as if saying she’d hit the nail on the head.
She laughed. “Of course, you agree with that. You’re a man. But I have to think this through. I agree the guy is gorgeous. But he’s trouble. Anybody keeping a secret is trouble. I just don’t know what kind yet. Worse, I can’t talk to my friends because I can’t tell them who he really is. It isn’t just a matter of my promise to him. I’m not the kind of person violates another person’s privacy.”
She switched the necklace tray back to the left with a sigh. “No strings attached. No commitment. Basically, sex for fun. I’ve dated since my divorce, but deep down I’ve always been looking for Mr. Right. This would just be about sex.” She shook her head. “My reputation-conscious parents would be horrified.”
Charlie tilted his head.
“Right. They’re an hour’s drive away. There’s no way they’d find out unless I told them…and, frankly, why would I tell them?”
Charlie barked.
She sighed. “Oh, Charlie, you see the world so simply. It’s not so simple for humans.”
Charlie just looked at her.
“And it’s not like me to be so easy.” She shifted the display case of earrings back to the right, thinking how childish the term ‘easy’ sounded. She was an adult. Technically she was considering taking a lover. Not a boyfriend. Not a potential mate. But a lover.
A thrill ran through her at the thought. A lover. It was the ultimate proof of maturity. Of independence. Of stability. She didn’t need a man. She wanted a man.
She squeezed her eyes shut. She really wanted this man.
“I wish I knew what he’d meant last night. If he was making a proposition or giving me the brushoff.”
She paced away from the display case, tapping her fingers on her chin. “Even if he was making a proposition, I’d need more time with him, getting to know him, before I decide what to do.”
Charlie grabbed the leg of her trousers and coaxed her toward the door.
She laughed. “I’m not going to the sheriff’s office to chat. That would be ridiculous.”
But when Claudette arrived, she retreated to her office and foun
d herself with nothing to do. The shopping network took care of the administrative work that used to bog her down in red tape. All she had to do was design new pieces, take the plans to the manufacturing plant that now made her jewelry and show up at the studio on the days they were taping her show.
It was no wonder she was overthinking the situation with Dell. She was bored.
She glanced down at Charlie. “I don’t have to stay here. With Claudette to handle customers, I could go home. I could cook again. Take supper to Dell’s house. He wants no-strings-attached sex. I want to make sure choosing him for a lover is a good idea. Why shouldn’t I go to his house?”
Charlie barked approvingly.
…
Four hours later, she showed up on Dell’s doorstep with homemade vegetable soup and bread. He answered the door with wet hair, wearing only blue jeans that hung low on hips lean hips, as if he’d jumped into them after a shower.
Her mouth watered.
“What’s this?”
She had to look down at her crock pot because the sight of him had knocked rational thought out of her head. “Soup. Bread. I made too much for myself and I thought I’d share again.”
He opened the door a little wider, granting her entry. She stepped inside, surprised to see how simple his home was. Unlike her grand foyer with its marble and curving staircase, his entry was nonexistent. His front door opened onto his living room. Though nicely decorated with hardwood floors and a modern black leather and chrome sofa and chair in front of a tile fireplace, it wasn’t the kind of home anybody would expect an O’Neil to have.
“Set the food on the coffee table and toss your jacket on a chair. I’ll get some bowls and spoons.”
“You’d eat in your living room?
He laughed. “I do anything I want.”
Watching him leave, she swallowed. With a backside like his, she didn’t doubt he did whatever he wanted.
Another thing to consider. If she decided to sleep with him, she’d want to be exclusive sexual partners. A guy like him probably didn’t do exclusive.
He returned with the bowls and spoons, and she still stood by the door like a ninny. After setting the utensils on the coffee table, he took the crock pot from her hands and set it beside them. She quickly removed her jacket and tossed it to the chair as he sauntered over to her again.
The Billionaire's Matchmaker: An Indulgence Anthology (Entangled Indulgence) Page 9