by Linz, Cathie
Leena pretended not to hear her. But Sue Ellen never took a hint. Sometimes even a hammer over the head didn’t make any impression. Such was the case today as Leena’s sister followed her inside the mobile home.
“You know what today reminded me?” Sue Ellen asked.
“A million reasons to get out of this town?”
“No. All those people gathered around your car reminded me that we haven’t had your welcome-home party yet.”
“That’s fine by me.”
“Well, it’s not fine by me.”
“I’m not going to be here that much longer.”
“What do you mean?” Sue Ellen asked.
“I mean once I have enough money saved, I’ll be heading back to Chicago.”
“I thought you might be reconsidering that now that you’re settling in here in Rock Creek.”
“I don’t consider being hauled into the sheriff’s office as settling in.”
“Nathan was just trying to be helpful.”
“I don’t need that kind of help.”
“Well, I’ll need your help with the party.”
“I don’t want you to make a big deal out of it, okay?”
“Okay, sure. Did I ever tell you about the totem party that Skye threw for me? I discovered that my spiritual totem animal is a toy poodle. Skye and Angel seemed to think that was unusual, as if they should talk. I wore a toga. They were surprised by that too.”
“You’re not wearing a toga to my welcome-home party though, right?”
“Of course not. When should we have the party?”
After the toga talk Leena knew better than to trust her sister when she said she’d keep things low-key. Sue Ellen’s idea of low-key never matched anyone else’s. Leena’s best chance was to limit the amount of time Sue Ellen had to make a big production. “This Friday would be perfect.”
“But that doesn’t give me much time to get ready.”
Exactly. “If you think you can’t do it . . .”
“Of course I can.” Like Leena, Sue Ellen was a sucker for a challenge. “Is there someone special you want me to invite? Besides Cole, of course.”
“Why Cole of course?”
“Because you were just making out with him. Which made me figure that you like him.”
“Talking about me again, ladies?” Cole said from the other side of the screen door.
“Don’t you have someplace else you need to be?” Leena said.
“Yes. Inside your house instead of outside of it.”
Sue Ellen, the traitor, let him in. Then she made matters worse by saying, “We were just planning Leena’s welcome-home party. You’re invited, of course. Who else do you think we should add to the guest list?”
“Isn’t that a question you should be asking me?” Leena said.
“I did ask you and you didn’t answer. So, Cole, who else should we invite?”
“Mindy and her husband.”
“Here.” Sue Ellen handed Leena the magnetized SNOW MUCH TO DO notepad from the fridge. “Write this down.”
And so Leena became the menial note taker to her own party.
“We need a theme,” Sue Ellen said.
“I thought welcome home was the theme.”
“No, that’s the reason, not the theme. How about celebrities? You could come to the party as your favorite celebrity. Of course, since you already are a celebrity you could come as yourself,” Sue Ellen told Leena.
“What are you doing here?” Leena asked Cole.
“I wanted to make sure you were okay after the incident in town.”
Which incident? Leena wondered. The one in front of the mini-mart? Or the one in the middle of Barwell Street? Or the one in the sheriff’s office? There were so many to choose from. And she wasn’t okay about any of them.
She was ready to toss him out when he reached out and gently tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. For once he wasn’t trying to seduce her with his touch. Instead she sensed an underlying element of caring in his gesture that made her heart ache.
“I’m okay,” she muttered as much for her own benefit as his.
“Hey, Cole, do you think your cousin Butch would be willing to cater the party?” Sue Ellen asked.
“Sure.”
It wasn’t until much later, when the conversation turned to what to wear, that Cole finally had enough and left. But only after he’d whipped up a surprisingly delicious meal from the leftovers Leena had in her fridge.
“A man who can cook and looks great. You should grab him,” Sue Ellen said the minute he was gone.
“He’s my boss.”
“So get another boss.”
“Jobs aren’t exactly growing on trees around here.”
“Guys like Cole for sure don’t grow on trees . . . anywhere.”
“I don’t want to talk about Cole.”
“Fine. What do you want to talk about?”
Leena looked down at her feet and the shoes she’d just kicked off. “Shoe love.” Sighing, she wiggled her bare toes. “I used to suffer big-time from shoe love. The thrill of finding the one meant just for me. The excitement of bonding together. The uncomfortable moments forgotten in that initial thrill of infatuation. Then the disappointment of things going wrong, of my expectations not being met. Which was eventually followed by the buzz of finding a new shoe love. Do you want to know how I broke this vicious cycle?”
Sue Ellen nodded.
“Two years ago I broke my foot, thrown off balance by a platform shoe who’d done me wrong. That’s when I vowed to forsake shoe love for . . . bag love.” Leena held up her Coach bag. “Because bags aren’t fickle like shoes. They don’t care what size you are. They always fit you. Not like shoes that can squeeze the life out of you. Shoes that can tempt you into thinking they are the perfect fit only to turn on you and torture you. Bag love is much better than shoe love.”
Sue Ellen nodded sagely. “Bag love is better. Especially pink-bag love.”
“You love anything pink.”
“Wait until you see my redecorating plans for my kitchen. You will absolutely die! Think pink and white. Think Good & Plenty.”
“You want a kitchen the color of candy?”
“I thought you’d approve.”
“Why? Because I’m a candy addict?”
“Not just candy. Cake and cookies too. I can’t believe you gave those Sara Lee banana cakes to Sister Mary.”
“I know better.”
“You’d think so. You’d think you would know better than to give away Sara Lee.”
“I mean I know better than to stuff my face and use food as a crutch.”
“Russ thinks I’m fat,” Sue Ellen abruptly said.
“What?”
“He wants me to run laps around the track with him. I tried before belly-dancing class today, but I couldn’t do it.”
“He’s an idiot.”
“No, he’s not. He’s got a college degree. That’s more than you or I have.”
“So? That doesn’t make him smart.”
“Sure it does.”
“Trust me, it doesn’t. Johnny had a law degree. He was still an idiot.”
“Is that the guy who broke your heart back in Chicago?”
“Yeah.”
“Was he shoe love or bag love?”
“Johnny was shoe love. Fickle.”
“And what is Cole?”
“My biggest nightmare.”
“Why?”
“How many times do I have to say this? Because he’s my boss.”
“And you’re afraid that if you have sex with him, he’ll fire you?”
“No.”
“Maybe he’d give you a raise.”
“I am not sleeping with him to get a raise.”
“It was just an idea.”
“A bad one. It would make things very awkward.”
“You can handle awkward. You’re a supermodel . . . okay, a regular model. A regular plus-size model. You’ve got flawless
skin, a gorgeous face and smile, and naturally impressive boobs. I’m telling you, awkward is a piece of cake for you. Maybe it wouldn’t be awkward. Maybe Cole is the man meant for you. Maybe you’ll get married and move into that huge monstrosity of a house of his and I can help you decorate. Or I could find you both a new house. I’ll pass my realtor’s test soon, I’m sure.”
“I am not staying here in Rock Creek forever.”
“Of course not. Not forever. You and Cole could retire somewhere warm—”
“No, no, no!”
“You and Cole could retire somewhere cold?”
“There is no Cole and me.”
“Uh, yes there is. Remember earlier this evening? In Nathan’s office? When you and Cole were kissing?”
“That was a mistake.”
“You’re not still thinking of killing him, are you?”
“Of course not.”
“Well, that’s a relief. You wouldn’t look good in one of those prison jumpsuits.”
“Let’s get back to you and Russ. Did he actually say you’re fat?”
“No, of course not. He just sort of insinuated it. I probably was being too sensitive. Things are going fine with us.”
“I’m glad. That means you can ask him for help. I was talking to Bart about ways to improve Rock Creek, and I suggested that the football team could help out as a community project. You know, do stuff like pull the weeds from the cracked sidewalks and paint the peeling lampposts. You could suggest that the businesses on Barwell Street put out whiskey tubs of flowers on the sidewalks in front of their storefronts. Maybe use the school colors or something to tie it all in to the high school. I said you could talk to Russ about it.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, you. Why? Is there some problem with that?”
“No, no problem. Russ and I have no problems. I don’t mind that we usually meet at the Dairy Queen. I like the Dairy Queen. And I don’t mind that he always fondles my left boob and ignores the right one even when I wear my lucky bra. Honestly, I don’t mind any of that.”
“O-kay. So you’ll talk to him?” Leena said.
“About fondling my right boob?”
“About the team volunteering for community improvement projects.”
“Why don’t you talk to him?”
“Because he’s your guy, not mine. And if I were you, I’d bring up the boob thing too, while you’re at it.”
“Well, you’re not me! And you never will be!”
“Which is fine with me.”
“And what about kids, huh? What if I want to have a baby? My eggs are getting older in front of my eyes. Not that I can really see them. The eggs, I mean. They’re in my ovaries or someplace like that.” Sue Ellen blinked away sudden tears. “What if they all dry up before Russ makes a move? What then?”
“Don’t wait for him to make a move. You take charge. You can do it, Sue Ellen. You’re great at taking charge.”
Sue Ellen’s tears disappeared before they fell and her huge smile broke through. “Yes, I am. I am great at taking charge.”
“Yes, you are.”
“So now I’ve got a plan.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Thank you.” Sue Ellen gave her a huge hug, cutting off her oxygen flow.
“Can’t . . . breathe,” Leena wheezed.
“Oh, right.” Sue Ellen quickly released her. “Sorry about that.” She did a happy dance around the kitchen. “I’ve got a plan; I’ve got a plan.”
Watching her, Leena wished she could feel half as confident about her own plan to return to Chicago and her modeling life there.
Chapter Thirteen
TO talk or not to talk? That was the question facing Leena the next morning as she entered the animal clinic.
As luck would have it, Cole was the only one there. No sign of Mindy. Great. That meant that Leena would have to talk. Or give him the antifreeze cold shoulder.
Hard to do considering she’d spoken to him last night when he’d come to her place. And the guy had cooked for her.
No, she refused to be charmed by food. She’d woken up this morning totally irritated with him. She had a right to feel that way. Thoughts of him had kept her up half the night. The rest of the time she’d had X-rated dreams about him satisfying her better than any MegaMax vibrator ever possibly could.
She was surprised to find he’d made the coffee since that was one of her duties. She almost said something before reminding herself she was not speaking to him. Instead she poured herself a cup of coffee and dumped a packet of sugar in it. Just one packet.
She’d eaten a healthy breakfast of bran cereal and skim milk. The frozen blueberries she’d added were guaranteed to give her plenty of antioxidants. Or antisomething. What she really needed was an antidote for Cole.
Why wasn’t he saying anything? Did he even notice that she wasn’t speaking to him? He was a guy, so he probably was totally obtuse about the entire thing. He was probably thinking about some pit bull he was going to neuter.
She sneaked a peek at him through the cover of her lashes. It had taken her a few weeks as a teenager to perfect that technique. She was now a pro.
Cole was looking at her as if he’d like to kiss her again.
The knowing gleam in his blue eyes told her he remembered their kisses. That he wasn’t thinking about any pit bull. That he wanted her. And that he knew she wanted him.
Did he think she was going to throw herself at him just because he gave her “the look”?
The man was entirely too confident. He clearly had no idea that he was dealing with a woman in command here. Probably because her confident self had been dormant since coming back to her hometown.
But fake-it-till-you-make-it Leena could handle a commitment-shy charmer like Cole in her sleep. She got right to the point. “I saved you fifty dollars, you know.”
“How do you figure that?”
“You’d have lost the bet you had with Algee and you would have had to pay him the fifty.”
“You seem pretty confident that I would have lost.”
“Totally confident.”
“You doubt my powers of persuasion?”
“You couldn’t have persuaded me.”
He just smiled.
“You couldn’t. Go ahead. Give it your best shot. How did you plan on convincing me that going out on a date with you was a good idea? Especially given the fact that you’re my boss and that you’d already given me the warning that you’re not the settling-down type.”
“I wouldn’t have been asking as your boss. I would have asked you as the man you kissed with such . . . enthusiasm.”
“Maybe that’s the way I kiss all guys. With enthusiasm. Ever think of that?”
She could tell by the aggravated look on Cole’s face that he hadn’t and now that she’d brought it up, he was not pleased by the possibility.
“Is it the way you kiss every guy?”
“I’m not answering that question.”
“Does your mouth tremble every time a guy brushes his fingers over your lips?”
“My mouth does not . . .”
He caressed her bottom lip with his thumb.
Tremble, shiver, tremble.
Traitorous mouth. She’d been able to fake smiles in photo shoots. She could look cool modeling winter coats in the midst of a July heat wave. So why couldn’t she hide her response to him?
“I’m ticklish.” A lame excuse, but the best she could come up with at the moment. She had no idea she’d be that vulnerable to his touch.
“Ticklish? Really?”
She nodded vehemently, which should have dislodged his thumb. But he just cupped her chin with his big hand. A gentle yet incredibly powerful hand. A work-roughened hand.
“Are you ticklish here too?” He ran his index finger over the bow of her top lip.
Tremble, shiver, shake.
“I guess so.” His voice was rough and sexy as he answered for her. He always spoke in a low drawl that wrapped its w
ay around her and pulled her in. Sometimes he added a dash of laughter or, like now, a dose of sensuality. “How about here?” His hand moved so that he could slide a finger around the curve of her ear.
Her resistance was in serious jeopardy here. She really needed to do something about that. Like step away. Laugh it off. Something.
But Leena couldn’t seem to rally the strength to do anything but stand there and enjoy the pleasure sifting into her system.
“Or here?” He trailed his fingertips down the curve of her throat. “I can feel your pulse. Your heart is racing. And you’re shivering. Are you cold?”
She nodded, doubting her ability to form words.
“Yet your skin feels warm.” He brushed his fingers back and forth. “Very soft and very warm.” He paused to lift her chin and stare into her eyes. “Still think you’d say no?”
His words served like an alarm, waking her instantly.
So he thought he could play her, did he?
“I don’t think I’d say no.” She deliberately kept her voice husky and kittenish.
“You don’t?” He sounded entirely too pleased with himself.
“No, I don’t.” She lifted her hands to his chest and shoved him away. “I know I’d say no.”
Leena was very proud of the way she walked away, adding a bit of catwalk hip swivel to her walk. Score one for fake-it-till-you-make-it Leena.
Power walking down Barwell Street in Rock Creek did not have the same feeling as power walking down North Michigan Avenue in Chicago. For one thing, the window-shopping couldn’t possibly be more different. On the Magnificent Mile she could check out the new arrivals at Chanel. One memorable morning she’d stood in front of Tiffany’s eating a danish a la Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s complete with sunglasses and little black dress. Well, not exactly little. A classy, elegant size-sixteen black dress. And the Kate Spade vintage-inspired sunglasses she’d worn were awesome. Unfortunately she’d had to sell them on eBay in order to pay off bills.
Rock Creek wasn’t a place where you’d wear vintage-inspired sunglasses. Here she looked at empty storefronts with FOR LEASE signs behind dusty windows. She crossed to the other side of the street to head back to the clinic. After eating a healthy salad for lunch, she’d decided she needed some fresh air.