His Buttercup (The May Flowers Series)

by Laney Powell

  Copyright © 2019 by Laney Powell

  His Buttercup

  The May Flowers Series

  Spar Island #9

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Epilogue

  The May Flowers Series

  The Flirt Club

  The Spar Island Girls

  Also by Laney Powell

  About the Author

  Elspeth

  I looked around at work, sighing. Another boring day.

  I worked in the IT department of a bank, and while I was good at my job, it was very routine, and right now, boring as could be. Most of my co-workers are men. Married men, or older men, or men that were not my type.

  Although, as I’ve been told more than once by some of the single men who asked me out, I didn’t really have the right to be picky.

  I was short. Like, five feet four inches. Curvy. I wore a size ten in pants, but I definitely had junk in my trunk. Another comment that a guy had made to me. I did have a chest that was proportionate to my backside, which was a royal pain. Men looked at my boobs long before they looked at me.

  And when they looked at me, they seemed to sigh with disappointment. I wore glasses, and my long light brown hair in a ponytail. Sweaters and slacks made up my normal work attire. Usually baggy sweaters. I didn’t like the guys staring at my chest.

  Not to mention, my last boyfriend had dumped me. I was, according to him, “too clingy.” Which was weird. I didn’t need another person to fill my life. But when I was with someone, I was all in. They were a priority. Not the priority, because that’s heading to crazy town. They, the mystery ‘they’, were one of my priorities. According to Will, that made me clingy. I didn’t agree, so it was probably better that we weren’t together. I didn’t like it, though. My life was in a rut. I didn’t see any way out. I had ideas, and my ideas, when they weren’t lifted by my bosses, were pushed aside. I needed to get out of here.

  My phone buzzed, and I leaped on it like a cheetah on a gazelle. It was my friend Mariah, wanting to go out tonight.

  I’m in, I texted.

  I’m coming over to get you ready, she texted back.

  No. Why is that necessary?

  I knew where this was going.

  Because. I got us an invite to Go, which is new and hot. So you’re going to look new and hot.

  I sighed, causing David, who sat next to me, to look over. I ignored his questioning gaze. David had asked me out recently. I didn’t need to share anything personal, because he’d take it as me changing my mind.

  All right, I texted back.

  I’ll see you right after work. Don’t worry about eating. Food is happening at some point. But get your contacts out Mariah replied.

  K. I sent back.

  Then I tucked my phone away. There weren’t a lot of rules about phone use, but if we stared at our phones too long, the supervisors would have a talk with you. I didn’t want that. I had a good reputation with my bank; I wanted to keep it that way.

  I turned back to answering tech requests. It was my turn today. We took turns, so that each of us had a day of answering every two weeks.

  * * *

  After I got home, I went and took a shower, toweling off my hair. I knew my best friend would want to start with a blank slate. I put in my contacts as I’d been directed and wondered what she had in mind.

  The doorbell rang, and I went to answer it, looking out the peephole before I answered. Mariah came in, arms full of a couple of bags.

  “I found the best dress, and I got it, and it looked like absolute hell on me, so I brought it for you,” Mariah announced.

  “We don’t really share the same style,” I said tactfully. Which was my way of saying she was a lot more adventuresome with clothing than I was.

  “I am well aware of that,” Mariah said with a sigh of the put upon. “But you need to look gorgeous to go to this club. It’s not just the corner bar. Like, I had to really work to get invites. So you are not going to embarrass me, and you sure aren’t going to embarrass yourself.” She glared at me as she set down her bags.

  “Let’s see it,” I said. “You want me to drive?” I asked casually.

  “No,” Mariah said promptly. “I’d like to get there without dying of fear.”

  I smiled. No one got my car. That was all right. It was one thing that was totally mine. “OK,” I said.

  “We’re taking Uber,” Mariah said. “You keep your keys away from me,” she added, laughing.

  Kane

  I ran my fingers through my hair as I leaned back in my chair, completely overwhelmed. The finances involved in a start-up were nearly insurmountable.

  Nearly.

  I didn’t let anything defeat me, and this column of numbers wasn’t going to break my record. But I wanted to get this done. My friend Darius was coming tonight, bringing his girlfriend, Harper. As Darius had a rep for never having a girlfriend while always having a girl, I was interested to see who the woman was who’d made an honest man out of him.

  Well, not entirely. But that’s the way they were heading. I recognized the signs and words of a man in love. And he’d gushed about her when we’d spoken last night.

  Since he was one of my best friends, I didn’t give him any shit. I was glad for him. It just made the emptiness of my personal life even more stark.

  I steeled myself. I didn’t have time for a personal life. Opening a new club was hair raising under any circumstances. When you were floating your own loan, it was even worse. I had two months before I had to pay on it. So I had to make the most of every single night I was open and build a club that would last.

  I’d built Go with that in mind. A restaurant, a bar in the middle of the space, and then a dance arena on the other side. From a square footage point of view, it was a nightmare. But I’d found that people like to eat, then drink and dance. They liked to move back and forth between the drinking and dancing, and despite earlier ideas, people liked to snack while they were out. When I’d found the large warehouse that was vacant and had been so for six years, it seemed like the perfect space.

  I’d only been open a month, but we were packed every night. Tonight was a VIP night. Local celebrities sort of thing. An equal mix of women and men. When the women came to your business, the men followed.

  None of this left time for a relationship. I’d broken up with Adrianne four months ago, when the construction and renovation was going badly. She told me she didn’t like being ignored and that I was going to need to change things up if I wanted to be with her.

  I remember just looking at her.

  She’d moved out that night.

  I supposed I could have been kinder, but really? I was opening a business. A big one. With a lot of cash at stake. If she couldn’t understand that, she didn’t need to be a part of my life.

  I sighed and returned to my books. So far, I was cautiously optimistic. We’d been showing a profit every night. I just needed to keep this up for… oh… the next five years. Preferably ten.

  Later that night, I leaned against the bar and watched people file in. The VIP party would officially start in two hours, which gave me time to have dinner with Darius
and Harper, and then squire my VIPs around.

  Darius came in, his arm around a tall, stunning woman who looked every inch as confident as he did.

  “Kane! Man! It looks amazing!” Darius looked around. He was in finance, and understood what I was trying to do, the risk I’d taken. He’d advised me. He’d offered to back me, but I’d turned him down, even as much as I appreciated his offer. I wanted to do this on my own.

  I hugged him. “Thanks, man. So far, so good,” I stood back.

  “This is Harper McKay. Harper, one of my good friends, Kane Raventon.”

  “It’s nice to meet you. This place is great. I’ve heard good things from my friends who’ve been here.”

  “Well, that’s great to hear,” I took her hand, shaking it, but not too long. Darius looked very protective, which was another first. “I need more people to think that.”

  “The cry of the businessman,” Darius said wryly.

  “And the investor,” I shot back, raising an eyebrow. I’d heard him sweating and bitching a few times.

  “Right you are. So let me be the ass and say what do you have to give me tonight?”

  I laughed and led them to a table in the restaurant. It was our VIP table, meaning it was the one that I ate at every night. No sense in going anywhere else when I had an amazing chef here. It also gave him the chance to test the menu on me. I’d made my way through it twice now.

  It was all still delicious.

  We talked generally, and about Go in detail. After listening for a bit, Harper smiled. “You sound like a man with a crush.”

  In that moment, I envied Darius with a white-hot envy. In that one sentence, Harper demonstrated that she got it. It—Go—was a crush. It would eventually be a mistress, comfortable and sultry, and worth every penny. But right now, she was a crush.

  “I am. I’m not sure if she’s crushing back on me,” I said, grinning at Harper. “Which is the reason for my constantly accelerated heart rate.”

  Darius and Harper laughed. I liked hearing people enjoying themselves in my place. I looked around, pleased to see nearly every table full.

  One of the advantages of my table was that I could see the door. Because there were three venues in the building, I’d put the entrance in the center, so that everyone had to come in one door, and then they veered off from there.

  Two women had come in, one tall and dark-haired, and one, smaller and petite with light brown hair that she flipped over her shoulder in what looked like a nervous action. She wore a warm yellow dress that made her stand out like sunshine on a dark day. Spaghetti straps kept it on her, but it was light, sparkly, and it moved as she walked in with her friend. She was what I’d called stacked if Harper wasn’t sitting here. She had curves in all the right places.

  Then she stopped, and I gazed right at her heart-shaped face.

  My heart stopped even as my cock leaped to attention.

  Elspeth

  I looked around. My hand crept up to tug at my barely there spaghetti strap.

  “Stop it!” Mariah hissed.

  My hand stilled and slid back down. At least the hem was longer than my fingertips, which had been a concern when Mariah pulled the dress out of the store bag, kind of like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

  “I can’t wear that!” I’d exclaimed. Even though Mariah was taller than me, I knew this would be way short on me. Way shorter than anything I’d worn… ever.

  She’d badgered me and made me wear my hair down as well. I flipped it over my shoulder nervously before Mariah had time to scold me.

  Mariah gave her name to the hostess who brought us to a table in the restaurant. “Mr. Raventon insisted that you have dinner before the party,” the cool blonde woman said. Her lips lifted in a thin smile.

  “That is very kind. I’ll be sure to tell him thank you,” Mariah beamed.

  “He’s over there,” the hostess nodded carefully.

  Both of us followed her gaze to a table that sat apart from the rest of the dining room, on a small riser. Two men, both strikingly handsome, and a gorgeous girl with reddish hair were talking over dinner. Something about the girl caught my eye, but I didn’t want to stare, so I looked away before I could figure out what it was.

  “His pictures don’t do him justice,” Mariah said.

  “No, he’s quite handsome. I’ll let him know you’re seated. I’m sure he’ll want to say hello.” Without waiting for an answer, Miss Tall, Blonde and Cool glided away.

  We sat down, Mariah still looking over where Kane Raventon sat. “He really is a hottie mctottie,” she said.

  “Which one is he?” I asked.

  Mariah’s head whipped around. “What am I going to do with you, El?”

  I shrugged. “I thought it might be nice to know who our benefactor is this evening,” I said.

  “He’s the one not glued to the girl,” Mariah whispered.

  The hostess had moved over to the table, and it was apparent she was letting Kane Raventon know we were here. He looked over, and I caught a glance of green eyes flash in our direction. I looked down, feeling my cheeks flush. I didn’t know what color his eyes were. I just knew that with his skin, green eyes would look fabulous, and melt me right into my socks.

  A waiter came over, and we ordered mules. As he walked away, the man himself, Kane Raventon in the flesh, strode to our table.

  He reminded me of a pirate. A gentleman pirate. A second son that had to go into piracy because he got nothing from the family estate and his elder brother framed him for some social disgrace and he was banished from society. Lonely, seeking his everything on the open seas. Tall, dark hair, dark eyes that weren’t green, but that did glint dangerously, and swarthy, like he spent time in the sun. His skin had a dark tone to it that made me want to stroke him.

  I shook my head. My imagination was getting away from me in the worst possible fashion, at the worst possible time.

  Which didn’t negate the fact that he strode toward our table like a conquering hero.

  Mariah’s breath caught. “Holy shit, El. This guy.”

  “Yes,” I said, equally breathy.

  “Ms. Barrington?” His voice was low, smooth, like whispering silk.

  Mariah stood up. “Yes. Please call me Mariah. This is very kind,” she indicated the table. “I wasn’t expecting dinner.”

  “You should always expect dinner, Mariah,” he said. His eyes crinkled when he smiled, and his teeth were very white, made whiter looking by the tone of his skin.

  What was going on? I never reacted to men like this. Of course, I’d never met anyone who looked like this, sounded like this, ever.

  Kane Raventon lifted Mariah’s hand and kissed it gently.

  Jesus Mary and Joseph.

  “And who is your friend?” The intense gaze turned to me.

  “This is my friend Elspeth Crandall.”

  He reached for my hand, and I gave it to him. The gentle brush of his lips sent a flood of heat from my neck up to my face. It also sent a warmth between my legs. Instinctively, I tightened them together.

  “Elspeth is a lovely name. Positively… medieval,” he breathed on my hand.

  “My parents are old-fashioned,” I stammered.

  Kane set my hand on the table. “In the best way.” His smile flashed again. Our eyes met, and it was as though everything else fell away.

  I couldn’t speak. I wanted to keep falling into his hot, intense gaze until I was burned to a crisp.

  And then the spell broke as he turned his attention back to Mariah. “Mariah, please enjoy the meal. We’re delighted you’re here. I’ll see you at the party later.” With a nod of his head, and one flash of those eyes to me, he walked back to his own table.

  Mariah sat down. “Whew, that guy is like dynamite!”

  “What do you mean?” I asked to cover my own state of disarray.

  “He looks like the type who devours women for fun. Not in a bad way,” she added. “I doubt any of them complain. Too much for me
,” she finished.

  “What? Are you kidding?”

  Mariah stopped opening her napkin to look at me. “You didn’t think so?”

  “I think he’s intense,” I said.

  “That’s one way to put it.”

  “He’s the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen,” I sighed, risking a glance to where Kane sat with his friends again.

  His gaze met mine, and I was caught again. The spell broke when Mariah laughed, pulling me back to earth.

  “Wow. You’ve got the insta-crush thing going for Kane Raventon. You’ve liked guys who were a lot dumber and less worth your time.”

  “Mariah!” I turned to her, laughing in spite of her words.

  “Well, it’s true. You love the hard luck cases. We need to get you out and dressed like this more often,” she appraised me visually, satisfaction radiating off her. “I’m so proud of how you look, I feel like a dance mom or something.”

  That made us both laugh, and just in time, the waiter returned with our mules.

  Kane

  I watched her out of the corner of my eye. She was gorgeous. I could tell that her friend Mariah, who’d gotten the invitation, was far more forward. Not that Mariah was unattractive, but Elspeth was radiant. I think her beauty increased because it was so apparent that she had no idea how gorgeous she was. The color of her dress was perfect. It brought out all the warm tones of her pale skin, of her light brown hair. The gold of the dress made her hair warm like the afternoon sun. The shape of her body made my hands ache to run along her curves.

  The two women laughed as they ate, their long friendship apparent. While Elspeth had seemed shy as I met her, with Mariah she was easy, comfortable, and open. She tossed her hair, but it seemed more than a method to get her hair away from her face than any ploy. It didn’t have the tinge of nerves that she’d showed when she walked in the door.

  “Listen, we’re going to head out,” Darius said. He smiled at Harper. “We both have to work in the morning.”