by Susan Meier
Chapter Seven
Piper got into her car after closing the store at the end of her shift. She headed for her apartment, but on second thought took a right and drove to her mom’s.
She didn’t exactly want to tell her mother she was hot for her partner. But she didn’t want to be home alone for the rest of the night remembering the way he’d trapped her against the filing cabinet. The moment had been too intense, too wonderful, to forget.
And the feelings. All those things she’d never felt for either of her fiancés. All those things she’d never even known existed.
As if she could outrun her thoughts, she scrambled up the walk, the steps to the back porch, and through the kitchen door. “Mom?”
“Back here.”
She made her way to the family room where her mom sat in her recliner watching one of her favorite shows. As Piper walked in, she muted the sound.
“What’s up?”
She sat on the ugly flowered sofa. “I don’t know.”
Karen laughed. “It’s not easy working with your enemy, is it?”
Piper winced. “I knew it was going to be challenging. But I just didn’t realize how challenging.”
“That’s because the guy’s two steps away from being a criminal. Come on, Piper. If the stories those brothers tell about their dad are true, that he beat them and their mom…Cade’s cut from the same cloth. He’s a tough guy who always thinks he’s right. And he’s not afraid to hurt people. Look at Lonnie.”
She frowned.
Her mom’s voice softened. “He doesn’t support his own child, and by working with him I feel like you and I are supporting him, saying what he did in the past doesn’t matter…that his son doesn’t matter.”
“I’m just trying to get my share of the store.”
Her mom shifted on her recliner. “Yeah, well, I’ve been thinking about that too.”
Piper’s gaze flew to her mother’s. “You think I should quit? Lose half the store?”
“Just the opposite. I think you should make him quit.”
“What?”
“The day of the will reading, you told me that if Cade left, the entire store went to you.”
Piper nodded.
“Well, I think there’s a reason Richard put that in. I think deep down he knew the store belonged with us.”
“Really?”
“I think he left the other half of the store to Cade, the Donovan from out of town, because he knew Cade wouldn’t stay.”
Cade had told her he wanted to buy the ranch where he worked as foreman…as soon as his commitment to the store was done. “You think Richard wanted O’Riley’s to go to us?”
“I think leaving half to Cade was his way of saving face. He didn’t out-and-out leave the store to you, because that would be admitting he cheated your dad. So I think he put in that clause for Cade to get a shot at owning half of it, knowing Cade would leave, saving face even as he made things right.”
“I don’t know, Mom.”
“Does Cade seem like he belongs?”
“He never comes out of the office.”
She leaned back in her recliner. “I rest my case. He doesn’t want to be here. He works on a ranch in Montana. He’s a cowboy. Hell, he still wears that obnoxious hat.”
Piper held back a grimace. Her mom thought the hat was obnoxious. She thought the hat was sexy. Really sexy. Hot, hot, sexy.
Oh, Lord. She really had to stop thinking about him.
“Give him a nudge, Piper. The boy wants to go. We want him gone. Even Richard knew he’d run.”
“It sounds possible.”
Karen patted Piper’s hand. “Sleep on it. In the light of day you’ll realize you’re doing Cade a favor.”
After a glass of milk and twenty minutes of a television show about a murder, Piper left her mother’s and drove home. In her quiet living room, she checked her phone and found a text from Lonnie. How’s it going working with Cade?
And everything clicked together in her head. Poor Lonnie had to be worried about her to keep asking. Richard Hyatt couldn’t possibly have believed she and Cade would make it an entire year. As a lifelong resident of Harmony Hills, she had no reason to leave, which meant he did think Cade would leave. He probably wouldn’t care if she nudged Cade out.
But the only thing was…
She had no idea how.
How did somebody nudge out her enemy?
Kick him to the curb?
Make him so angry that he left…
Hmm…that one had possibilities.
…
Cade cautiously walked into the grocery store the next morning. Though this wasn’t Piper’s shift, he’d seen her car in the parking lot. Normally, he wouldn’t give a horse’s behind if she chose to work all thirteen hours the store was open. But after his conversation with Devon the night before, discovering she was a runaway bride? He should have had all the ammo he needed to corral his hormones. Instead, they’d decided that her inability to commit was directly compatible with his lack of desire to commit and they should have some fun together. And nothing he could say about feuds or her beliefs about his leaving her friend at the altar could dissuade them.
He walked through the front of the store, past the coffee station and Karen O’Riley, who tossed him a confusing smile. But he didn’t see Piper.
Having the sneaking suspicion she was in the office, he unlocked the cage and headed there. As the door opened, he saw her standing by the filing cabinets.
Her head snapped up when she heard the door, and she grinned at him. “Hey, partner! What’s up?”
Today she wore low-rise jeans and a clingy shirt that all but advertised the perfection of the curve of her waist. A waist so small his hands tingled with the knowledge that they could span it.
He cleared his throat. “It’s not your shift.”
She laughed cheerily. “I know! But you’ve been stuck in this office since we opened. I thought I’d see what the attraction is for you. Why you won’t come out and socialize.”
Oops.
“Plus, the cashiers tell me you’ve never been on the sales floor.” She closed the filing cabinet drawer. “I thought today might be a great day for you to learn how to stock shelves.”
“Very funny.”
She pointed at her face. “Do I look like I’m laughing?”
She wasn’t laughing, but she was definitely smiling. As if she was enjoying this. He thought back to his conversation with Devon. If she’d truly left two guys at the altar because she feared she’d be left the way he’d left Lonnie, she probably thought she owed him a little revenge.
Especially after the way he’d tormented her the day before.
Casting a longing glance at the computer, he stifled the need to find his grandfather’s proof and caught her gaze as he rubbed his hand along the back of his neck.
“You know what? You’re right.” He walked toward her. “We are partners. And I guess you’re thinking I’ve been leaving you with all the dirty work.”
He stopped in front of her, directly in front of her, and smiled. If she was going to torment him by making him shelve canned vegetables and hemorrhoid cream, then he was going to do a little tormenting too. To hell with worry over his attraction. He’d always been able to control himself sexually, even if it was in the last second. Let’s see how she could control herself.
“Sorry, darlin’.”
Her chin rose defensively, but Cade looked at the base of her throat for her real reaction. Her pulse beat like a war drum.
“It’s fine.”
He trailed his finger along the line of her chin. “Really?”
She tried to step back, but again, the filing cabinet stopped her. And this time she’d put herself there. “You’re not supposed to touch me.”
He tilted his head. “Did I touch you?”
“Your finger slid along my chin.”
“Huh. Didn’t even realize I did that.” He smiled again. “Sorry, darlin’.”
“Why? Most women like that.”
“I’m not a woman.” She shook her head as if clearing a haze. “I’m not one of your women. Or you’re not supposed to think of me as a woman.” She gave him one quick shove to move him out of the way, and he accommodated her. “I’m your partner.”
He laughed. “And you want me to shelve canned goods.”
She drew in a breath and exhaled. “Yes. Just go!”
“Sure, sweet cheeks.”
“OMG! That’s worse.”
Feigning innocence, he shrugged, making his western drawl as thick as peanut butter when he said, “Sorry. It’s just the cowboy in me.”
A thought occurred and he faced her again. “Hey, think I should wear my hat on the sales floor?”
“I think you should just go.”
He left her red-faced, standing in front of the filing cabinet, and strode to the stockroom. She was so uptight that it was insanely fun to tease her. His whole body tingled with the joy of it. But he also knew she was right. His not being on the sales floor did look suspicious. And he couldn’t do anything to alert his dad something was off. So if he needed to be on the sales floor, he would be on the sales floor.
He yanked open the stockroom door. He’d worked summers with his grandfather, so he knew the new inventory sat on the floor in cardboard boxes, waiting to be opened and put on a shelf. In fact, while he was in the stockroom, he grabbed a feather duster, because cleaning empty shelves was part of the drill.
He looked at the canary yellow and hot pink feathers and laughed. Good God, the thing was hideous. But his grandfather had been a stickler about keeping the store clean. Cade had spent many a shift dusting, sweeping, washing the big windows out front.
And those were good days. Happy days. Days when he didn’t have to fear being beaten. He was in the public eye now. Even if his father came into the store, he couldn’t touch him.
The thought rolled around in his brain a bit, and he wondered if his grandfather had done that on purpose. Had he known things were bad at home? Had he guessed? Was that why he’d brought Cade into the store every summer after Devon left for the Marines and when Finn had football camp? To keep him safe?
Hoisting a box of canned veggies on his shoulder, he decided to think about that later.
He set the box on the floor and remembered that he should have rolled it out on a cart. Considering that he’d have to walk to the back of the store to get the cart, he chose to simply shelve these cans of corn and get the cart next time.
After pulling forward the stock that was on the shelf, so it would sell first, he slit open the box with his own penknife, realizing he’d also left the box cutter behind.
Bending, he grabbed four cans, two for each hand, and rose to put them on the back of the shelf. Then he did four more and four more and four more before he suddenly noticed the store sounded weirdly quiet. He glanced down the aisle to see Karen O’Riley filing her nails at her register. When he turned to the right, Bunny Farmer gave him a little wave.
“What are you doing here? It’s not your shift.”
She smiled. “That’s why I’m not wearing a smock.”
Twirling her hair around the fingers of one hand, she pointed at her chest with the other as if showing him her lack of a smock, and his eyes narrowed.
What was she doing?
Flirting?
She couldn’t possibly be flirting. No woman in Harmony Hills would want him.
He bent again to pick up some more cans and Myrna Feodore suddenly appeared. She said, “Hey, Cade,” then giggled and raced down the aisle.
He frowned. He understood that Bunny would shop here on her day off for the 10 percent discount given to employees. Myrna was also more than happy to shop here because she’d won the lettuce fight. But he’d never actually seen the woman laugh, let alone giggle.
Rolling his eyes, he bent for another four cans of corn but when he rose, Piper stood in front of him, pushing the two-shelf stock cart.
She shoved it at him. “Are you trying to give the old ladies who do shop here a heart attack?”
“What?”
“Oh, come on, Cade. You’re bending over like you’re Channing Tatum in Magic Mike! The only people who shop here are the ones with no cars because they’re too old to drive. And if you keep giving your little show, at least one of them is going to die.”
He chuckled at that, realizing he had inadvertently been displaying his butt, then his eyes narrowed. “So you were watching me from the office?”
Her face blossomed like a red rose. “No.”
“Then how’d you know?”
She pulled in a breath.
…
Cade burst out laughing, and white-hot anger raced through Piper. She couldn’t tell him she’d been watching him because she was trying to come up with a way to edge him out. But she had seen his little display. And it had made her chest tighten and her breathing stutter. Still, she’d already figured out their attraction was pointless, ridiculous.
So she backed away. “You could just use the cart like everybody else does.”
“And I could give you a private show later.”
She huffed out a sound of disgust and marched away. “Or you could do your job.”
The sound of his laughter followed her down the aisle, and she cursed her lack of experience. If she’d had one wild relationship in her life instead of always dating the safe guys, she could probably deal with him much better.
But the attraction also reinforced the fact that she had to get him out. Out of her store. Out of her life. Before she made a total fool of herself.
As if to highlight that fact, she met Bunny Farmer on her way to the checkout. Taking advantage of her employee discount, she had a cart full of groceries. She grinned at Piper over the top of a box of chocolate cereal.
“You should just let him keep shelving without the cart.”
Leave it to Bunny to want to watch the spectacle. “He’s fine with the cart.”
“I don’t think so.” Bunny glanced around. “You don’t exactly have a boatload of customers in here. Letting word get out that our gorgeous Cade with his lickalicious butt was bending over to shelve canned goods could be nothing but good for business.”
“Are you forgetting no one likes Cade?”
“Oh, you don’t have to like a guy to want to see his butt from a few different angles.”
Piper gaped at her. “That’s pathetic!”
“Nope. That’s human nature.” She smiled and shook her head. “And I think you’re wrong about no one liking him.”
“Oh, because he’s good-looking everybody forgives him?”
“No, because he’s back in town people are starting to think things through.”
That gave Piper a bad, bad feeling, so she asked, “What things?”
“Like why a guy would leave a woman and a six-month-old baby at the altar?”
“Because he’s a jerk?”
Bunny shook her head. “He’s not a jerk. From what we’ve seen of him here, he’s kinda quiet. And when he does come out of the office, he’s a nice guy.”
“That doesn’t excuse him for not supporting a child.”
Bunny winced. “I know you’re friends with Lonnie and all, but Cade was excited for that wedding. Then, poof, he just didn’t show. Makes you wonder if he had figured out something the rest of us hadn’t.”
Piper crossed her arms on her chest. “Such as?”
“Such as maybe that little boy wasn’t his.”
Piper’s jaw dropped. The fury that skittered through her was so intense she couldn’t speak.
“Anyway, with twelve years to speculate, everybody is starting to wonder.” She smiled at Piper. “Which is good for you. Especially if you let him bend over to shelve beans. You could have customers in here twenty-four/seven.”
“Not that way.”
“Suit yourself.”
Piper turned and
huffed away, her anger so bright she could have lit the store. Just because Lonnie wasn’t here and Cade was, people were beginning to side with him?
It was insane. Disgusting.
Now she had reason number three to get Cade out of her store. First, she did not want to work with a guy she didn’t like, let alone trust. Second, she didn’t want anyone noticing her attraction. And, third, she could not let the rumor start that Cade wasn’t Hunter’s father.
If it killed her, she would send that guy packing.
Chapter Eight
The next morning, Cade wasn’t at all surprised when he saw Piper’s car in the parking lot when he arrived at O’Riley’s for work. The day before, he’d stayed for her shift, the way she’d horned in on his. So now she was back. If this was a competition, he had no idea what they were competing for. He just knew he had to keep up with her.
He strode through the store, past the cash registers where Bunny Farmer winked at him, not quite sure what was going on. Women were not supposed to like him. But Barbara Beth Rush, who worked for Finn and Ellie at McDermott’s Funeral Home, and had been his partner for their wedding, didn’t hold the Lonnie thing against him. He suspected she knew there was more to the story, but she wasn’t a gossip, so she didn’t probe.
But Bunny Farmer? Could she and her friends be figuring things out? Could his grandfather be right? Had enough time passed that people were looking at his situation with Lonnie objectively and realizing he’d never run out on his own child?
His thoughts took him to the cashier’s cage and into the office, where Piper sat at the computer studying the screen as if she were preparing to take a test on its contents.
He stopped. Since they’d opened the store on Tuesday, he’d alternated between learning the ropes of the accounting program for the business—because he really did have to run the grocery store with Piper at least until he found the proof that his grandfather didn’t cheat her dad—and looking for the proof. His own inability to find it had lulled him into not worrying about it.
But what if Piper had stumbled on it? Would she destroy it?