Sweet but Sexy Boxed Set

by Maddie James

  Finally, he gave up on the whole mess. He did some internet research and headed to Legend, Tennessee, along with Dave, who had even less going for him. They were talented at their work, but had rotten breaks so far in life. Maybe, they’d thought, Legend would be different. Maybe the mountain burg that was trying to reinvent itself would give them the chance to do the same.

  It had turned out pretty well so far. Dave had a girlfriend and was living with her in a little place a few miles outside town. Greg… Well, Greg had almost had a girlfriend and had definitely suffered his first broken heart. He sighed. At least business was good.

  Jobs were plentiful for him, and he always had a waiting list. This is what he’d wanted. He was successful and the future looked bright. Plenty of business here if he didn’t mind doing mostly renovation jobs. And his reputation—his real reputation, that of being an excellent craftsman—was spreading to surrounding counties. He could afford a nicer place to live, a better office. He’d already bought a great truck. What more could a man want?

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Chloe? It’s Betsy.”

  “Hey. What’s wrong?” Chloe stifled a yawn and pulled the cell phone away from her face so she could see the time.

  “Sorry to bother you, but I’ve got a mommy emergency here. I’m heading to Knoxville with Martin for a real estate seminar. We’re on our way now, and I’ve left LizBeth Ann with Mike for a few minutes. Marie was supposed to have her today, but she just called the house and she’s down in her back. I can’t ask her to go ahead and babysit with that going on.”

  Chloe knew that the relationship between Betsy and her mother-in-law Marie was still touchy at times. Betsy and LizBeth Ann’s two-year absence from Legend had left some wounds that hadn’t yet healed. And to be honest, Marie with a bad back wasn’t someone Chloe would inflict on her worst enemy, unless he happened to be a chiropractor.

  “Sure. Not like I’m swamped with people…”

  “I know it’s an imposition, but I’ve called around. Anna, Maureen, and Janelle went on a hiking trip.”

  “Right.” She’d been invited but had used the shop as an excuse. Truth was she was still in duck and cover mode. She did need to have the shop open, but LizBeth Ann was a well-behaved child.

  “I can’t ask Midnight, because she gets busy with the coffee bar in the mornings. Plus LizBeth Ann would drink her weight in foamy milk. Uh… She can bring dolls and whatever. Mike can help you pack things to keep her occupied. She’ll love seeing Little Legend again.”

  “It hasn’t changed since last time she saw it.”

  “Hey. It’s Legend. It isn’t supposed to change, is it?” Betsy giggled a little nervously.

  “Chill, Betsy. This is fine. I’ll get dressed and go pick her up. She’s home, right?”

  “Yes. Mike was supposed to be on this new job site, but he’s hanging at the house ‘til somebody comes to rescue him. You’re really helping us out, Chloe. We owe you.”

  “You know better than that. This is what family does.”

  “Maybe Marie will feel better by lunch time. Or maybe Dorothy…”

  “Betsy. I’ll check with Dorothy later if you want. It’s early yet for her to be up. If not, LizBeth Ann can stay here with me. Maybe we’ll take a long lunch and rent a paddle boat on the lake.”

  “She’d love that. Thank you so much, Chloe!”

  “Sure thing. Now I gotta get going. Learn lots at your seminar, and give Martin a punch in the arm for me.” She heard Martin groan in the background and knew Betsy had done just that. She was the perfect business associate for Martin, because she didn’t take any stuff off him.

  Chloe had a quick shower, dressed in jeans and an orange University of Tennessee t-shirt, and ran down the stairs and out the door to her Jeep. A few minutes later, she was knocking on the door of Mike and Betsy’s little stone house on Alexander Avenue. Mike opened the door when her fist was in the air for the next barrage.

  “Hey! Am I glad to see you!”

  Chloe strode into the room and came to a full stop when she saw what was going on at a small table on the other end of the room.

  “Um. Betsy called me.” The words were for Mike, but she wasn’t looking at him.

  “Great! I know she was almost out of cell range when I talked to her last about Mom being down in her back.”

  “Uh huh. So. What are you guys up to?”

  “We’re havin’ a tea party!” LizBeth Ann’s little face was pure bliss.

  “Ah. Looks like fun.”

  “Tea parties are the best!” She turned to her companion who was holding a rather sad looking brown teddy bear. “Aren’t they, Mr. Bear?”

  “Uh, yeah. I’m all about tea parties,” said Greg Andrews’ voice, soft and gruff all at once.

  LizBeth Ann frowned slightly and leaned toward him, speaking quietly. “Mr. Bear haves to say it, Grayg. ‘Kay?”

  “Uh. Okay.” Greg moved the bear’s head while he said, “I’m all about tea parties. Especially if there’s honey in the tea.” He smiled lopsidedly at LizBeth Ann, who laughed in delight.

  She turned toward Chloe. “Bears like honey, Chloe. Did you know it? Do you want to do the tea party? Cuz you can do Mrs. Rabbit. Daddy’s doing Mr. Fuzzy Dog. Aren’t you, Daddy?”

  “I was doing Mr. Fuzzy Dog, but now Mr. Bear and I need to go to work, Princess.” Mike leaned down and kissed his daughter’s cheek.

  Chloe stepped further into the room, stifling a laugh. “LizBeth Ann, you and I are going to have girls’ day at the art gallery today. Do you want to bring some toys along?”

  “Yay! Girls day at the artgalley!” She clapped her hands and jumped up from her chair at the little table.

  “Let’s get you some toys to take along, Princess,” said Mike. She dashed into her room, a blur of pink shorts set and blonde curls. Mike, shaking his head and smiling, followed to help her.

  Greg uncurled his long legs and stood up from the tiny tea party chair.

  “Whoa. Tea parties are hard work when you’re over three feet tall.” He reached both arms over his head and stretched. It was quite a sight.

  “And over thirty years old?”

  “Uh, yeah. I kinda forgot how to play somewhere in there. I kinda… Started to take myself too seriously. That sound about right?” He smiled at her, and the lock on that beautiful painted box that held her heart was in danger of falling open.

  Chloe glanced toward LizBeth Ann’s room, where she could hear father and daughter discussing the merits of taking the large versus the small backpack full of toys.

  Chloe took a couple of steps toward Greg. “It sounds right if you’re talking about me taking myself too seriously. I’ve been so consumed by everything that has to do with the gallery, that I forgot how important people are. Especially people who were helping me. I took you for granted, Greg, and I’m so sorry.”

  “Should be me apologizing. I kinda got you mixed up with somebody else. I know that doesn’t make sense to you, but it’s what happened. I expected you to treat me like garbage, the way somebody did a while ago, and instead of letting that happen, I treated you like garbage. Not sure you can forgive me for that, or if I can forgive myself.”

  “What made you decide I’m not like that other person?”

  “Driving past your gallery the other day and seeing the sign—my sign—posted in the front window. Doesn’t go with your classy décor, but it sure made me feel good. Then I saw the new flyer Daniel made and the gallery website with a big plug for my business right on the front page. Mike and Betsy pointed those out to me. I never would’ve seen them. Made me think, look back, realize that what I’ve thought of you was messed up. Because of her—this other person—”

  “She hurt you a lot.”

  “Yeah. Taught me not to take people at face value, but in Legend people are mostly what they seem. I was real jaded when I first moved here.”

  “Maybe we can just forget about what we’ve done wrong, and remember instead how we
ll things have gone for our project together. Thirty days to turn a derelict old building into a beautiful art gallery, and you did it. You are a wonder, Greg Andrews.”

  “Wow. Praise. Hey--my guys are pros.” He took her hands. “And your design was easy to follow. You are easy to follow. Easy to get addicted to,” he whispered. “I’ve been having some serious withdrawal symptoms.”

  “You too?”

  He cleared his throat. “Yeah. Big-time. I need a fix. The kind that includes giving you some serious bed-head, or if not, then the kind where I show up at your door at six a.m. with donuts, and pretend I gave you the bed-head.”

  Chloe laughed. “Maybe we could start with Option B and eventually work up to Option A?”

  “I’m up for that.”

  “I’m up for that!” said LizBeth Ann, bouncing into the room. Mike followed her, carrying a small but very rounded backpack.

  “Sorry, guys,” said Mike. “Back to the real world.”

  ****

  Chloe put the morning’s conversation out of her mind and kept busy with LizBeth Ann. She was a well-behaved child, but, still, an energetic two and a half year old made a huge difference in her day. No wonder Marie didn’t feel up to it with a bad back. The morning went relatively well, with a few tours around the perimeter of the gallery talking about each Little Legend building and the people the little girl knew. LizBeth Ann also made plenty of suggestions for buildings and people that needed to be added.

  After bologna and cheese sandwiches on a Lake Legend paddle boat, Dorothy McClain arrived to pick up her great-niece. Accustomed to doing so, the two women quickly moved the car seat from Chloe’s Jeep to Dorothy’s sedan, and LizBeth Ann cheerfully climbed in. “I read with Aunt Dorthy. Her liebarry.” She grinned and pulled a board book from the backpack beside her on the seat, clearly looking forward to an afternoon in Charles and Dorothy’s beautifully renovated library.

  The rest of the afternoon was quiet. A couple from Nashville who had read Damien Phillips’ review stopped in en route to Washington, DC. They didn’t buy anything, but promised to stop again on their way back. They also took a few of her new flyers. Greg knew about the changes to the flyer, the sign in the window, and the updated website, and they mattered to him. She was glad she’d made the effort.

  Chapter Fourteen

  After the brief discussion “over tea,” Chloe felt better about the way things stood with Greg. She thought he might call her or drop in. She even considered the possibility that he would simply show up early one morning with a sack of donuts and two steaming cups of coffee. Days passed, and none of those things happened. It was okay, she told herself, she’d been happy before Greg came into her life, and she’d be just fine now. The only problem was, she had had a taste of something good, and she wanted more. How to get it without looking like a junkie? She didn’t want to be obvious, after all.

  Two weeks passed without any word from Greg. She hadn’t even seen him in town. Enough of this. My pride is going in the dumpster. She went through her cell phone statement and got the number that had called her the first day the guys had worked on her building.

  “Hello?” A loud male voice answered, but there was a lot of background noise.

  “Greg?”

  “Yeah. Who is this?”

  “Um. Chloe. Chloe McClain. Sorry, but it doesn’t sound like you.”

  “You just calling to give me grief about the way my voice sounds on the phone, or do you want something?”

  She wasn’t going to admit how much she wanted something. Him in particular.

  “I just called to…” Why hadn’t she made up a story? She had mistakenly assumed he’d be happy to hear from her, and would just ask her for a date. Stupid, since they’d never had a date. And since when had Chloe become so passive?

  She cleared her throat and stood up a little straighter. “Um. Just called to ask you for dinner tomorrow night. Sort of a post-project celebration. I’ll bake bread.”

  “Dinner? Well. Why not? Can I bring something?” He certainly didn’t sound overly enthused.

  “Um. Sure. A bottle of wine?” There. That made it a little cozier, didn’t it? A strictly business post project celebration surely wouldn’t include a bottle of wine. She might as well send the right signals to Greg, so he’d have an idea that she was planning to seduce him. She sincerely hoped he wouldn’t make it difficult, because she was out of practice. His reaction to the invitation didn’t seem to bode well.

  ****

  She worked on dinner off and on throughout the next day, mixing up the yeast dough, letting it rise, and then putting it into the oven at about six o’clock. The rest of the meal was nice, but not too expensive. She was lucky to have family members with gardens, and she hadn’t been shy about sponging off them. Money would continue to be tight for the foreseeable future. It was nice to live where she worked, because she still had the shop open while she fixed dinner. Of course she had always lived where she worked, just not so fancy. Or so expensive. Every day without a sale, like today, was disheartening. Maybe tomorrow would be better.

  Greg arrived right at seven o’clock. She had left the gallery door unlocked so he could let himself in. “Hey, Chloe! You in here?”

  Suddenly Chloe’s palms were cold and sweaty. She wiped them on her jeans as she went downstairs to meet her guest.

  “Hi, Greg.” She smiled, or at least tried to. “I’m so glad you could make it tonight.”

  “Not like my social calendar is that busy. Thanks for the invitation.” He held out the bottle of wine. “This okay? I’m more of a six pack of beer kind of guy.”

  She took the bottle. “Yes. This is wonderful.”

  “You can thank Midnight. I figured she has good taste, so I asked her what kind to get.”

  “She definitely has excellent taste, and this is the best you can buy in Legend. I’ll be sure to thank her.” She turned and headed back up the steps. “Come on upstairs—oh, do you mind to lock the door first? We’ll turn off the shop lights when you get upstairs.” Did that send a message that she wanted privacy? She definitely wanted privacy, and wanted Greg to know it.

  Was she acting like a complete idiot? It sure felt that way.

  “Door locked, lights off.” Greg flipped the switch at the top of the stairs. “You’ve got the place looking nice up here. Homey.”

  “Thanks. I spend a lot of time here.” Okay, yeah, that was pathetic. I have no life, so basically it’s my apartment or the shop. Unfortunately, it was also true.

  “Curtains are closed. As I recall from our conversations on the topic, you’re a natural light kind of girl. It’s still plenty light outside.” He turned from the window and faced her, his arms crossed. “Chloe McClain, just what’s going on here? Did you ask me here for something other than dinner?”

  He certainly didn’t look shocked or unhappy about the possibility. But there wasn’t a knowing smile or lopsided grin either. Basically, he was just staring at her without much expression. So… He was bored with the idea?

  “Dinner. With bread and wine. You want more than that, you’ll have to ask nicely.” Even though her plan had been to seduce him, she didn’t want to talk about it. She didn’t feel like getting into a conversation about it, for goodness’ sake. If you’re seducing someone, you just do it, right? Obviously, Greg wasn’t going to make this easy. She took in his appearance—a green pocket t-shirt nearly the color of his eyes, jeans without holes in them and deliciously snug. He hadn’t dressed up, but she was sure he had showered and put on clean clothes after finishing his workday. She could even see a little dampness of the blonde tendrils around his face. He was growing a goatee, and it looked terrific on him. His attitude might not make it easy, but the way he looked was helping. And the way she felt when she looked at him. Still, she needed to ease into things a little.

  “I like the facial hair,” she said, stepping closer and smoothing one finger down the goatee.

  He caught her hand. “Thanks. Harder to kee
p this thing looking neat than to shave clean every day, but I thought I’d give it a try. Do you think it makes me look mysterious?”

  She laughed, a little breathlessly. “Not sure about mysterious, but it will go great with that pirate outfit at Halloween.” Chloe got busy in her tiny kitchen, but Greg didn’t lounge in the living area.

  “Need help?” he asked, leaning against the doorframe.

  “Like taste testing?”

  “I’ll do what I can. It smells out of this world.”

  ****

  Having the wine with dinner and eating more than usual made Chloe feel cozy and a little sleepy. Maybe too much wine? Hm...

  In spite of her protests, Greg helped clean up, and they even washed dishes together. There was something intimate about performing this simple task. Was it the proximity? The fleeting touches of their hands in the rinse water? By the time she had put away the dried dishes, Chloe was on edge. On edge, slightly tipsy, and very hungry for that fix…

  Greg poured another glass of wine for each of them and carried it to the living area. He sat in the exact center of the short sofa, so Chloe could sit either next to him or in one of the chairs. A seducer would not sit in a chair. She sat next to him and picked up her wine glass.

  “Mmm. This is delicious. You’re a good sport to drink wine when you’d prefer beer.”

  “There’s one point for me. Hey—I like it fine. Goes better with the evening anyway. If we go to my place sometime and I grill burgers, there might be beer instead.”

  That sounded promising. He was almost saying he might invite her over sometime.

  Chloe leaned back into the couch, cradling her glass in both hands. She closed her eyes and sighed, happy with the way the evening had turned out.