Falling Star (3 page)

Jade handed her current customer her change and a receipt, and thanked her with a smile before turning her attention to the woman speaking, whose jowls dragged her cheeks down into a permanent frown.

"That is an Aurora's Kiss Dahlia, quite unlike any other for sure."
Kindly purchase it
. Jade liked to add that silent suggestion at the end of every conversation with a customer. Alfred always told her to add a positive ending silently to the end of every conversation with another, and it would show through her eyes. Jade wasn't sure he meant for her to use her powers of suggestion to perpetuate sales, but she'd been doing it for so long, it was now just part of who she was.

"I absolutely love it," the bulldog lady said with what must be a smile behind those ruddy cheeks. "I'm going to need five hundred of these for my Gala in December."

Thank you, Alfred
. As she wrote up the order, Dean squeezed by to assist the other customers. Good lord, this would be a record-breaking day, Jade grinned. It wouldn't take much to shatter that ceiling. They'd only been in business six months. Perhaps the word of mouth advertising was panning out. Three more hours of this, and she'd be tempted to call Adam and cancel their date. If she had his phone number.

And as if she really would.

* * * *

"Your corsage will be ready by noon on Saturday." Jade slammed the cash drawer shut for the third time until it finally stuck.

"Thanks." Her customer grinned, showing a mouthful of braces. The young man was accompanied by what looked to be an older sister.

"If I don't see you, have a good time at your dance."

 "Come on. Now's the fun part: shoes." The sister all but dragged the poor boy behind her, and Jade leaned over the counter smiling after them. The door was held for the couple by another man walking in.

So much for a break. She stood upright and wiped off the counter before facing him.

It was him. Adam. She checked her watch. Five minutes until six. She looked back up, and he stepped away from the glare of the early evening sun behind him. It was him alright. Even with those dark sunglasses on, she remembered him. He wore roomy blue jeans, not baggy like the kids were wearing, but certainly not tight—enough—and a plain white oxford shirt, tucked in but unbuttoned at his neck, and rolled up at his sleeves. She had described his hair as brown to Dean, but now she could tell that the intentionally messy thick strands were a multitude of shades of dark blond. Oh yeah, this was the same man she daydreamed about last week, down to the sexy smile.

He pulled off his dark glasses. One of his eyebrows arched higher than the other, and the irregularity gave him a teasing air. "Hello Jade." The greeting was innocent enough, but he had a way of speaking with that well-modulated voice that made her think of phone sex. His dark blue eyes seemed to be as busy as hers. "Remember me now?"

"Hello." Her breathy response was a bit embarrassing. She cleared her throat. "Yes, I remember you Adam. I guess I just didn't recognize your voice. I'm sorry…I'm not quite ready."

"I'm a little early." He walked toward the counter. He looked at her like a starving man would eye a five-course meal. It seemed the closer he got, the higher the temperature in the room.

"Let me get my purse. I'll be right back." She spun away and through the swinging doors.

Come on, Jade. Pull yourself together. It's just a man, and this is just a dinner date.
Her brain knew the score, but her internal organs seemed to pay no mind. Who knew they could vibrate like that? She fanned herself, stopping by the tiny cubicle that dared to call itself a restroom to fix her hair, and wash the dirt from her hands. Her nipples poked through her shirt. She might as well hold a neon sign up to her chest advertising her aroused state. She pressed her palms against them to force them back into submission. That didn't really help. Like naughty children, they only enjoyed the attention she gave them, and hungered for more. She studied her reflection. The slipping barrette was easily fixed, and she ran her fingers through her waves, making a face at their unruliness. What she would give for straight hair like the models wore these days. A spritz of perfume, and oh, the smudged eyeliner…there. Not bad. It was just too late for drastic changes. Her blue jeans and Earth Scents polo shirt would have to do. She'd warned him, right? She picked up her purse from the tiny office behind the bathroom, then worked her way down the narrow hallway to the back room, where she took off her green apron and hung it on a hook by the door.

"Dean, I'm heading out. I'll flip the sign and lock up behind me."

Dean was elbows deep in roses. "Alright beautiful." He winked. "Your date is here?" His wavy black hair fell over his brow, proving he had been just as busy as she. Rarely did Dean let a strand of hair fall out of place.

She nodded, but put a hand up to stop him when he shook his hands off, and made toward the door to the sales floor behind her. "Dean don't."

"Don't what?" He picked up a towel and continued walking.

"I don't think the poor guy is ready to meet the family."

"I'm hardly family."

Jade blocked the doorway with two stiff arms on the doorjamb. She raised an eyebrow meaningfully.

"Oh, I get it. Family. Very funny Jade."

"Let me at least have dinner with the guy before you have the chance to turn his head, okay?" She kept her voice low. This Adam guy would be Dean's dream come true. He always was a sucker for tall-blond-and-handsome.

"That good?" Dean's eyes widened and glittered in interest. He craned his neck, as if he could see through the dark hallway into the shop.

"That good, but not gay, remember? Get over it Dean. Some of the good ones belong to us women you know."

"Only the scared ones." He winked, which earned him a solid punch in his arm. "Fine. Don't share." He smiled mischievously. "Unless you think he might go for that?" He laughed at her scowl, and sidestepped another slug. "Go on then. Sneak away with your hottie. But don't forget the code."

"How could I forget the code?" Jade kissed Dean's cheek. Ever since meeting Dean she'd had to excuse herself from her date in order to text him the address where she was, a freakiness rating between one and ten, a turn-on rating, and any request to be rescued. Jade's last nightmare date was four months ago, and her "1543 Central Ave, 10, 0, omg please!" text brought Dean to the movie theater with an affected jealous rage. Everyone should have a friend like Dean Chambers.

"Thank you, big brother." She dusted her jeans once more before emerging to the showroom. Adam…
what was his last name? Hmm, well…anyway
, Adam stared out the front window at the traffic beyond.

"I'm ready." She reached the door, and flipped the old-fashioned "closed" sign over on its suction cup.

Adam turned to face her, and pulled his hands out of his pockets to open the door. "So you really do have someone in the back room."

Jade glanced up at him curiously before locking the door with her key behind them. "What do you mean?"

He put one of those strong lean hands on her shoulder and led her down the sidewalk. "I thought you were making up your help that day. To be cautious."

"Oh, well I have help on most days, and a delivery driver every day, but there are times it's just me. I guess I'll leave you to wonder if I was alone when you stopped in." She was alone. Ella had only worked a few hours that morning, and since it had been so slow, Jade had sent her home about an hour before he'd walked in. Jade remembered wishing Dean were there to see the Adonis of a man who she assumed was gay. Dean had snickered about that for days afterward, and even bought her replacement batteries for her "gaydar".

Adam opened the door of a silver sedan parked on the street. In an outdated gesture, he politely held it for her and closed it after she sat down. The car smelled of cleaning chemicals, like it had just been detailed. She smothered a smile at the thought of the man cleaning out his car before a date. He walked around the hood, but paused to type into his cell phone. By the time he got in the driver's seat, he'd put on those opaque glasses and flashed her a toothy grin. "Buckled in?"

"Oh…right." She fumbled for the seatbelt.

He snapped his belt, then pulled the car into traffic. Jade was entranced by his shoes. Strange, she'd never thought of herself as having a foot fetish, but even this man's shoes were sexy. Nothing fancy, just brown leather, square-toed things, but she had an irrational desire to see his bare feet.
Good lord, Jade. Get a hold of yourself!

"Looks like you had a busy day at Earth Scents, if your empty coolers are any indication."

Jade pulled her eyes away from her first foot-crush, and swallowed. "It was. I'm so glad Dean was there today, or I would have lost it on some poor unsuspecting customer."

"Dean?"

"My business partner. We both studied plant science at Berkeley. He even went with me into the jungles of Colombia where we spent the last six years studying and collecting rare plants for development in the States."

"Oh, that explains it." Adam nodded slowly.

Jade replayed the last few seconds of their conversation, but couldn't see what she missed. "That explains what?"

Adam shot a sideways glance at her, almost as if he was embarrassed at speaking aloud. "I…just thought that you were pretty smart. I should have known you had a college degree."

She didn't believe for one second that was what he meant, but couldn't pursue it. She didn't know this man from Adam.
Oh that's funny
.

"So is this Dean guy a boyfriend or something?" His eyes were on the road, but she couldn't read anything anyway behind those dark glasses.

"Dean is my best friend," she said honestly. She was always up front about Dean with the men she dated. Not that she'd dated a lot. Or even seriously, but whoever wanted even a small part in Jade Graham's life had to take Dean with it. "But he's not my boyfriend. I'm not his type."

"I can't believe that." Adam faced her seriously for a small moment, before returning his attention back to traffic. "You're every man's type."

Jade's blood thickened with his words. Thickened and simmered. She felt the heat in her cheeks, and looked away before he saw her embarrassing blush.

"Well, thank you…but I'm definitely not Dean's type." She waited until her face was back to a normal temperature before facing him again. He stopped at a red light. "But you certainly would be." She smiled naughtily.

 "Oh. I see." He returned her smile with one equally mischievous. "I'm flattered, but uninterested."

"Well that's good. You just saved me from asking the awkward 'are you gay' question that inevitably pops up during dinner."

He laughed. Out loud. The sound was so unexpected, and so full and rich, that Jade caught her breath. She was still reeling from its effect on her when he pulled into the parking lot of Buster's.

"Is this okay?" He unbuckled his seatbelt and checked the view from each tinted window.

"This is just fine." She wasn't sure he heard her; he scanned the parking lot one more time, and even turned in his seat to look behind them before opening his door and stepping out. Jade lifted an eyebrow curiously. She had no idea what he was looking for, but she found herself looking as well. He waited on the sidewalk to offer his hand.

Somewhat surprised, she placed her hand in his, and he blessed her with another one of those sexy smiles. If only he would take off those dark glasses.

"Welcome to Buster's!" A cheerful twenty-something blonde greeted them. This girl looked practically giddy with excitement, and couldn't take her eyes off either Adam or Jade. Well, mostly Adam. What a perfect person for the hostess job. She led them through the dim restaurant to a corner booth, below a wall collage of memorabilia in tribute to Elvis. The chatter from a sportscast reached their table from the television hanging near the bar in the center of the floor. Adam waited for Jade to sit down before he slid into the booth across from her.

"I'm really glad you chose Buster's tonight. We've got some great specials. We've got a fifteen-ounce house steak…"

Jade couldn't concentrate on the specials. She was too enthralled by watching the hostess. She'd bent over just enough to give Adam a view of her cleavage. Subtlety was a lost art. Jade laughed, she couldn't help it. Maybe he was used to the treatment, being the way-too-adorable man he was. She watched him carefully, to see how he would handle it.

He gave the girl a smile, thanked her, and then dismissed her by leaning across the table and speaking to Jade with a grin. "I hope you're hungry. I hear they've got a great cheesecake."

It was a little rude, but the hostess, without having a reason to stay, walked away with a long backward glance.

"I think you have an admirer." Jade leaned over the table.

"So it seems." Adam looked around the restaurant. His eyes stopped at each tableful of customers. The restaurant was filled to about half-capacity, but no one seemed to notice the newest customers in the corner booth.

"Do you get that kind of attention wherever you go?" she teased, hoping to draw him back out of the pensive mood he now seemed to be in. He didn't answer her, but he did lift his dark eyebrows and relax just a bit. He even leaned against the wall, and bent one leg, propping a foot on the booth. His body language said casual, but his eyes remained busy. Maybe he was studying the veritable flea market nailed to every exposed surface. Wasn't The Beatles'
White Album
cover too precious to be affixed to a restaurant wall? Jade shrugged. What did she know?