“This has nothing to do with the fact that she’s been giving you the cold shoulder since you came back, and you can’t fucking stand it? Right?”
Yeah maybe it stung my ego a little, but that wasn’t it. I was pretty sure of it. “No. She’s good with people and she’s smart, so she won’t just use this as an opportunity to drape herself all over me.” Unfortunately. Matt stared at me as he drained a bottle of water and tossed it in the trash bin. After a while, it unnerved me. “What?”
“You still like her.”
“I do not!”
Matt shrugged. “I wasn’t asking. You do, but you’re too stupid to see it yet.” Then he smiled. “This is going to be fun. Want me to vouch for you?”
“Asshole.”
“I’m a regular customer at her shop, and a law man.” He wore that boyish grin that worked like magic on his wife.
“You’re something all right,” I told him, pulling off my filthy, sweaty shirt and tossing it behind me.
“What in the hell?”
I froze and turned around to see Kenzi peeling my shirt off her body, revealing a pretty green dress that made her tits look like a work of art.
“Sorry.”
“Forgiven, but only because you’re pretty to look at.” She didn’t say it like she wanted me, but like a fact. It still felt like a compliment, and my cock stirred. “I’ve reconsidered and I agree to be your,” her gaze flickered to Matt and she swallowed hard, like she was trying to get a lump of sawdust down her throat, “fiancée.”
“Great! Can I ask what made you change your mind?”
“No,” she grumbled and turned on her heels, giving me a nice peek of her round ass and shapely legs as she marched off.
“I’ll find out anyway.”
“Over my dead body!” She called back.
“Seven o’clock, sweetheart. Your place.” She paused and turned to me. Her expression unreadable because of the distance between us, but I’d give anything to know if it was arousal. Because it sure as shit felt like she was aroused. “I’ll bring the steaks and the booze.”
“I’ll bring the arsenic,” she said with a sarcastic smile. “Hypothetically of course, Officer.”
“Of course,” Matt said and chuckled when the door shut behind her. “Oh man this is going to be so much fun!”
“Still an asshole,” I grumbled and that only made Matt laugh even harder.
It was still early in the day, but the porch was done and Matt had gone to spend the rest of his day off with Amber, leaving me to amuse myself until later. And my date with Kenzi.
I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face. She said yes. This deal with Sterling was as good as done now. But there was no reason to wait until later to see her. I could go now, get some answers out of the way, so that later, we could enjoy each other. Before I finished the thought, my feet were moving towards Kenzi and my hand knocking on her door.
“In the back,” she called out.
I went around the back and found her in the kitchen, rinsing and chopping vegetables. “Hey, babe.” She glared up at me and I laughed, already feeling that I had made a good choice with Kenzi. “What are you doing?”
“Rinsing off my garden pickings. What are you doing here?”
“I figured we should talk a little.”
“About?”
I frowned. “The whole engagement farce?”
“Right,” she grinned innocently, cheeks flushed from the heat of the day, she looked young. Hot. “Yes, we should set some rules. First rule, no touching.”
I leaned back in a chair at the kitchen table and got comfortable. “We are in love and planning to spend our lives together, I think we’d touch a little.” And I couldn’t lie and say I wasn’t looking forward to letting my hands glide all over those soft curves of hers.
“If you’re such an expert on love, why don’t you have a real fiancée?”
That was the same question my mother had asked at least once every time I spoke to her. I kept my gaze on the shiny red mixer on the counter until it became a blob of slick red.
“Women don’t like it when you spend more time on the road, than with them.” And I hadn’t met one who’d made me want to change my ways.
“Fine,” she plunged her hands into a sink filled with water and some type of green leafy vegetable. “Touching is appropriate for public consumption, but only enough to sell this thing as real. No ass grabbing and titty flicking.” She pointed at me and I could only laugh.
“What the hell is titty flicking?”
“Let’s just leave it at no boob play in public.”
“Pity,” I told her as my gaze lingered on the gentle sway of her large breasts. She moved her hands in the water, making them bounce beautifully. “But I agree.” To no boob play in public.
“No sleeping with other people until this thing is over. Just because we both need this, doesn’t mean I’ll let you humiliate me.” The ‘again’ hung in the air between us, unspoken.
“You got it. The only person I’ll sleep with while we’re engaged, is you.” She grinned and rolled her eyes as she moved on to rinsing the tomatoes. “So, tell me, my love, why do you need a fiancé all of a sudden?”
“Do we have to talk about this?”
“Yes, we do.”
“You’re a pain in the ass, you know that?” She dried her hands and brought me water.
“Tastes like cucumber.”
“Funny how cucumber water tastes that way, right?”
“Smartass.” She was a smartass, but I liked it. She wasn’t trying to be mean or laugh at my expense, she was showing she wouldn’t be what Amber charitably called, my groupies. “Get on with it, darling.”
She shook her head and took a deep breath. “Frank Phillips owns the Farmer Frank grocery chain. He has more than one hundred markets and specialty shops throughout North America, and I want him to carry a few of my products. He loves them, and now he wants to meet, but his wife is out of town and that means we can’t meet until she gets back from her vacation. But we both know that’s code for he won’t meet with a single woman. So, I told him I’d see if my fiancé was around.”
“Why honey, I’d love to join you. Just tell me when and where.”
“Okay, tone it down lover boy.” Her words were stern. “I told him I’d get back to him, so we’ve got some time.”
I nodded and looked around the kitchen. Everywhere I looked there were pieces of Kenzi. The sunflower and cherry dotted towels and oven pads, the big ass stainless steel fridge had all kinds of travel magnets on it. “This place is so you.”
“Thanks, I think. After Gran died, I had to do something to make it mine, or I’d have lost my mind.”
“I was sorry to hear about Bettie.” The woman was different, but she was kind and always looking to help where she could. The kids mocked her, but I’d always loved her colorful skirts and long pale hair.
“Thanks,” she answered, but her voice was soft, tight with emotion. “It’s still hard, but she was so sick at the end…, anyway mostly everything in here is new because the kitchen definitely got plenty of use. But I kept the setup the same, plus her ever growing tin of recipes,” she said and gestured to an old time looking aluminum flour tin.
“It’s nice in here. Very homey.” I stood with what I knew was a satisfied grin. “I can’t wait to see what you make. Impress me, sweetheart.”
“Well impress me and don’t forget the booze.”
I laughed, keeping the smile on my face as I made my way home to write out a list before I went to the store. Kenzi still had a way about her, that made me laugh. Back in high school, I smiled for days after spending just a few minutes in her presence.
And that meant I needed to be careful. Kenzi was the kind of woman who could make a man forget everything in his pursuit of her. But I wasn’t in pursuit of anything. Anything other than Sterling’s land.
Definitely not a sinfully curvy girl next door who smelled like flowers and baked
goods and sex.
If I said it enough times, eventually I’d start to believe it.
Kenzi
Dammit, I was running late and I never run late. But tonight, Chase is coming over so we can plan out our fake engagement. I was running around in nothing but lingerie and a robe. I snorted because that sounded like the beginning of a very average porno. But I’d gotten sidetracked after he’d left earlier with some new products I’d been meaning to get started on, and had simply lost track of time.
After a quick shower, and a far too brief moisturizing session, I slipped a robe over my bra and panties, purposefully only mildly sexy which was the best I could do since I had a thing for sexy lingerie, and headed to the kitchen. I cranked up some Janis Joplin and got to work, peeling and chopping potatoes and turnips for mash, avocado salad with mint and garlic and bulgur. It was a little bit of everything and probably too much, but at least there would be plenty to reach for if the conversation took a wrong turn. With twenty minutes left to spare, I put together a quick blueberry crumble, shoved it in the oven and ran upstairs to change.
When the doorbell rang I smiled, relieved I’d at least gotten the dress over my head. Since the pink and yellow maxi dress hung to the floor, I didn’t bother with shoes and my hair was half dry, but that was good enough for me. I did a few deep breathing exercises on my way to the door and slapped a polite smile on my face. Thank goodness I did, because the man did dirty things to jeans and a checked shirt. The brown, blue and gold made everything about his face seem hotter. Ugh.
“Come on in.”
“You look great.”
He said it so simply, like we didn’t have all kinds of history between us. I hated that my skin tingled at his compliment.
“Thanks. What did you bring?” I checked the oven and a pot on the stove, all in an attempt to avoid looking at him.
“Not much, just beer and steak. Tequila and mint chocolate chip ice cream.”
“That’s a pretty impressive stash you’ve got there. I love mint chocolate chip ice cream.” It was my favorite. There were two pints in my freezer now.
“Yeah, I know.”
Damn him. “Yeah, you’re just a regular Olivia Benson, aren’t you?”
His laugh was deep and rich. “I’ve seen Law & Order: SVU in at least forty different languages.”
“No way! That’s kind of cool.”
“Yep. I swear, that show plays once a day everywhere on earth. I’ve fallen asleep to it more than any other show.”
“Where was your favorite place to visit?” If we were going to do this right, we needed to know each other. That was it, I wasn’t really interested.
“I loved Morocco and New Zealand, best. The cultures are so rich, the food was delicious and the scenery was magnificent. I’d love to show you some photos.”
I would love that too actually. “What did you do in Morocco?”
His skin blushed red, but he puffed his wide chest out. “Camel racing.”
I cracked up laughing. “No way! Is it as fun as it looks, because I’ve seen it on YouTube and it looks wicked scary.”
“It’s hella scary. They’re not like horses. At all. It’s like a roller coaster, but without all the safety features.”
That got another giggle out of me as we switched spots so he could take care of the steaks. “Sounds terrifying, but it also sounds like you really enjoyed it.”
“I did.” I watched his ass move as he bent to pull the tray out and place the steaks on them. He’d marinated them and I hated that I was impressed. “Even the things that I didn’t enjoy, had their moments. What about you, how’d you get into the all-natural thing and the store?”
“I came home because Gran was sick and needed someone to take care of her. My mother wasn’t going to be that person, so I quit my job at SkinFactor and came home. She’d gotten a bit better for a while, so I figured I needed to find a way to support us here in town.”
“And you thought you’d make natural skin and hair products?”
I shrugged. “That’s what I went to school to do. I have degrees in biology and chemistry for that reason. It’s a natural fit, actually.”
“It definitely is a natural fit. I wasn’t all that surprised to see your store, but I just thought you’d do it in a big city.”
“Make plans and see what life has to say about it.” I’d learnt very early in my life to just roll with the things you couldn’t change. I did it when my mom dropped me off with Gran, every time I couldn’t get something because we didn’t have the money, and every day at school. “What about you, how’d you get into travel writing?”
He sighed, shoulders relaxing with the reprieve offered by the timer as he stood to remove the steaks from the oven. “It’s funny you should ask. Remember that night?”
“We don’t need to talk about that.” I cut that train of thought off immediately, because I didn’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to hear about that night. Not ever again. “Seriously, Chase. We don’t have to go there.”
“We do and we will, sweetheart. All you have to do is listen.” He brought the steaks to the table and took his seat. “We talked about a lot back then, but there was one thing I didn’t tell anyone about. Ever. My writing. I’d applied for this writing gig that I had no chance in hell of getting because I didn’t have any professional experience and an unused passport. I was so giddy about the possibility, even though it was a long shot, that when I saw you that night...I just couldn’t help myself.”
“Clearly,” I snorted.
He rolled his eyes, a smile ghosting around his lips. “Anyway, after that, you were curled in my arms and my phone rang. The writer they’d picked broke his leg and they needed me on an overnight flight. I didn’t want to-,”
I couldn’t hear anymore. “That’s enough.” We finished our meal in a tense silence that made me sick to my stomach. “We can do this together, this fake engagement thing, but we should leave that night where it belongs.”
Chase
A week had passed since Kenzi and I had dinner, and I hadn’t seen or heard from her since. I thought dinner had gone well, at least until I tried to apologize and she’d shut that shit down. Fast. But now I knew, she had no desire to learn why I’d slept with her and vanished without a trace. For the next decade.
Those damn wooden chimes though, I could hear them loud and clear. Too bad they weren’t attached to her door, so at least I’d know if she was home or not. But, where else would she be aside from her store or the factory on the edge of town? Hell, I knew she hadn’t been at the store because my not so casual strolls in front of Organics by O’Brien had produced not one glimpse of her.
It was a damn shame, really. Because Kenzi had managed to do something that hadn’t happened to me since I was a naïve twenty-year-old traveling all over the world and taking advantage of every option and woman available to me. She intrigued me.
Instead of the slightly chubby girl she’d been, she was now gorgeous and lush, with creamy skin, and that whole earth mother hippie thing she had going on, it made my blood hot and my cock twitch in my jeans. Every time she’d licked her lips, her pink tongue tantalized me, sent my mind to places it shouldn’t visit. But I couldn’t help it. Everything about her reminded me of that one hot night we shared. Her tongue in my mouth and all over my body.
I was daydreaming about her, like I’d been doing for days, when the phone rang. It was Sterling. “Good to hear from you, Pete. What’s up?”
“The wife and I are coming for a visit. We’ll be staying at the Saloon Inn and I think it’s the perfect time for an introduction to your intended.” Of course he did, because this was the third time he called this week and each time he’d tried to weasel a bit more information from me about Kenzi.
I swallowed and nodded even though Sterling couldn’t see me. “Sounds good. In fact, we’d love to have you both over to dinner.” Shit, why did I say that? More importantly, what in the hell was I thinking?
“We
ll, that sounds even better. Nothing tastes better than a home cooked meal,” he said, sounding wistful and eager.
And that meant I was in big trouble. But I smiled, because it also meant I would see Kenzi sooner rather than later. “I need to run it by Kenzi, so I’ll let you know the date?”
Sterling laughed, and it was thick and hearty. “A bit of advice son, always check with the wife before you make plans. Happy wife, happy life as they say.”
“I’m learning that.” And I planned to make full use of that knowledge to make the most of our time together. “I’ll get back to you as soon as my woman pulls herself away from business.” And I had to get her to agree to this meal. And to cook it.
After the call ended I shoved my feet into a pair of sneakers, and made the short walk to the center of town. The benches on Main Street were the perfect place to sit and just watch the town and people. The diner was busy during the lunch hour, turning the tables three or four times in the two hours set aside for lunch. The Town Hall workers were the first wave in their suits and heels, then the blue collar workers from the various construction sites and factories that made up the bulk of employment for the town of Truly. It was great to watch. This time of day it was like a damn postcard with the colorful awnings, brick paved sidewalks, lamp posts that looked like they were still run with oil.
I missed this damn town.
But now that I was back, I was determined to enjoy it properly. Starting with Kenzi. If we were going to host Sterling and his wife then we needed to make it look real. Really real. Which meant it had to look like we lived together. Like a couple about to make a lifetime commitment. With that in mind, I knew I had a lot to do.
My first stop was the diner where I placed a lunch order for Kenzi for delivery, wherever in the hell she was. I figured everyone but me knew where she could be found. “Peaches, I’m begging you to make it just like that even though you hate it, and it’s blasphemous.”
She huffed unhappily but I caught that laughing gleam in her eye. “Avocado on a sandwich, whoever heard such nonsense?” She rolled her eyes once again just to make sure I knew how unhappy this was making her. “Fine, only because I can’t wait to see how this all turns out.”
Fake Fiancé Next Door_A Small Town Romance Page 2