Hard to Handle (6 page)

She stomped to the front door. It was unlocked, but the store didn’t open for another fifteen minutes.
Good.
She could use a few minutes to pull herself together. Her anger was burning off and if she wasn’t careful, would turn into tears. She may as well have eaten an estrogen sandwich this morning for how emotionally off-kilter she felt.

This
, she could not allow.

She took a few deep breaths, sealing her emotions behind a brick wall of confidence. She could do this, could ignore the shake working its way down her arms to her fingers and causing her pen to rattle. Or so she thought. It was hard to write legibly when her body shook like she’d mainlined a triple espresso.

Giving up her note-taking, she propped her elbows on a shelf. She was grateful the store lights were off, and sucked in a clarifying breath. She visualized her anger ebbing, but it didn’t recede. It persisted, simmering just under the surface. How had Perry found out about Aiden? They didn’t know each other. She hadn’t shared her heartbreak with anyone at work. Unless…

She had several phone conversations with Crickitt last year, especially after Aiden left for Oregon. Many of them were made from the faux privacy of her open-air cubicle. Anyone could have heard. Perry could have easily eavesdropped and mentally logged the conversations for later…to throw her off when she was getting ahead.

“Bastard,” Sadie growled as the overhead lights winked on.

“Hope you’re not talking about me,” Aiden said, strolling down the aisle in her direction.

Sadie faced him. He looked as warm and welcome and familiar as Perry did standoffish, undesirable, and douchey. She shook her head. “Not you.”

Aiden assessed her before offering her the mug in his hand. “You look like you need this more than I do.”

“Only if there’s whiskey in it.”

“Like I said.”

She couldn’t help it, she smiled. And at Aiden’s insistence, she accepted the mug and took a sip. No whiskey, but it did have some sort of flavored creamer in it. “Thank you for this,” she said.

“You’re welcome.” He put his hands in his pocket. Boy, could the man fill out a pair of jeans. “Who’s giving you trouble?” She dragged her eyes from his muscular thighs to his face. “I’ll beat him up for you. Unless it’s Axle, then you’re on your own.”

“Just some jerk I work with.” Her smile remained. She couldn’t call up her anger at Perry. Whatever fury saturating her bloodstream earlier had evaporated, fleeing with Aiden’s arrival. He watched her with those sparkling green eyes of his, half his mouth quirked into a sideways smile. There had always been something about him that calmed her, eased her from the ledge of emotions she sometimes teetered on.

The night she met him at the club, she’d attempted to be mean. He didn’t let her. Simply took her hand and dragged her onto the floor, matching her step for step to “The Electric Slide.” She didn’t know what was more ridiculous: the stupid line dance or that the worst song ever recorded was linked to one of her most cherished memories. The thought made her pause, caused her smile to drop.

Aiden didn’t notice. He’d already started toward the back of the store. “Gonna get more coffee,” he called over his shoulder, reaching up to tap the doorway over his head as he walked under it. “Since somebody is drinking mine.”

Giving Sadie his coffee hadn’t completely erased the devastation she’d hauled into the shop with her this morning. Not that he’d expected miracles, but he made really,
really
good coffee. She’d snapped out of her bad mood for an hour or so, but after, there’d been a constant frown marring her features.

Watching her dash back and forth to the warehouse, take things off of the display tables only to put them back on, and switch out the mannequins clothing in the front window three times (that he’d seen) was wearing
him
out. Normally she’d have left by now, to run more sales calls or go back to her office and finish out the day.

Not today, though. Today, she was avoiding something. If he had to guess, the office, and her insulting coworker.

Just some jerk I work with.

Aiden could meander on over to Midwest Motorcycle Supplies and find said
jerk she worked with
. He could have a talk with him. Or hit him. Whichever came first.

An hour before Axle’s closed, Aiden spotted Sadie at the window, fretting over what geometric shape to stack the Midwest boxes on the table. She darted past him and went outside, scowling through the window at her display. Unhappy, she came back in and started dismantling the pile. Again.

With a shake of his head, Aiden returned to the chore he’d been avoiding all week. Stocking key chains wasn’t exactly the pinnacle of stimulation, but it was a necessary part of running the store. He knelt and opened the box and pulled out several bags filled with assorted plastic key fobs. Each had a funny saying on it, but he’d since stopped reading them with comprehension, losing track of time in the task of filling the pegs on the shelf he’d assembled.

“‘You look like I need a drink.’”

Aiden looked up to find Sadie standing at the counter, a key chain dangling from her finger. “Is this supposed to be funny?” she asked, waving the square of plastic.

Aiden stood and unhooked the keychain from her finger. “Well, not when you read it like that.” He returned it to the display and handed her another. “I do like this one, though.”

“‘I pray God’s not too picky,’” Sadie read. Her glossed lips tilted, but more in a show of indecision than amusement. She spun the rack before pulling another off the peg and holding it up for him to see.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, make him rich and make him tall.

“Well, I’m tall.” He took it from her and returned it to its peg. “But Shane’s the rich one.” Aiden leaned in a little closer, watching Sadie’s eyes darken despite her attempt not to react to his nearness. “Sorry, he’s married.”

A smile tickled the corner of her mouth but rather than comment, she pulled another keychain and handed it to him.

Aiden raised an eyebrow at her. “‘Never miss a good chance to shut up’?” It was a small laugh, one she recovered from quickly, but he was making progress. He turned the stile, choosing his comeback carefully. “Ah,” he said when he landed on it. He slid it across the counter in front of her.

She leaned over it and read, “‘Remember this face; you’ll see it in your dreams.’”

He mirrored her posture. “So true,” he murmured softly.

Her smile faded and her cheeks went pink.

He held her gaze. “What’s his name?”

Her eyelashes fluttered as she regrouped. “Who?”

“The jerk at Midwest I need to have a chat with.”

“Perry,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “He thinks I sleep with my clients.”

Aiden narrowed his eyes. “And by
chat
I mean
force feed a knuckle sandwich
.”

“Easy, tiger.” She put her hand on his arm and Aiden felt a tiny bead of sweat prickle his upper lip. If she did sleep with her clients, he’d be first in line…and pummel anyone else who dared get in line behind him.

Sadie bit her lip. “Can I ask you something?”

His eyebrows shot to his hairline, his mind still on Sadie sleeping with him. He licked his lips. “Sure,” he croaked, inappropriate ideas popping in his head like a string of firecrackers.

“Do you think I muscled you into signing the Midwest contract?”

“Yes,” Aiden answered.

Sadie winced.

Aiden caught her hand when she started to walk away from him. “I’m glad you did. It’s fair. And the work you’re doing is beyond what anyone else would have offered.”

“Perry wouldn’t have had to swindle you. He would have bought you an expensive gift and taken you out for drinks,” she grumbled.

“You can take me out for a drink,” Aiden said, suddenly wanting that more than anything.

Sadie didn’t bite, pulling her hand free. “Ha-ha. You know what I mean. He would have wined and dined you. Wooed you. I offered to clean out your warehouse.”

Aiden’s thoughts were stuck on the wining and dining part. Or, more accurately, the one dinner date he’d taken Sadie on last year. The date had continued through morning. After breakfast, he’d sneaked her to the back of his parents’ property and led her up to his childhood tree house. Since his parents had no idea he was divorced, he had to settle for introducing Sadie to his mother from afar. Sadie had leaned against him, golden sunlight filtering in her hair, and watched his mother prune her prized rosebushes. Neither of them spoke. Neither of them had to.

It was a memory he’d never, ever forget. Sadie may not have met his mother, but she’d seen her. He considered how special that was, how anyone he dated in the future wouldn’t have the same opportunity. Sharing those precious minutes with Sadie made her uniquely qualified to understand what he’d been through. Some of the tension knotting his chest loosened.

The way it always did when she was around.

He opened his mouth to ask her out to dinner. Out for a drink. Out, hell, anywhere for a few stolen minutes, but Sadie backed away from him before he could.

“I should get out of here,” she announced. “Lots to do.” She muttered something about finishing the display window later.

Her loud farewell was such a departure from his thoughts, Aiden simply watched as she gathered her things and walked out the door.

S
adie sat at her desk, fingers nested in her hair, and stared at the invitation on the screen. Rick Hammond’s Summer’s Passing party happened every year. She’d attended
every
year
for the last four years.

How had she forgotten?

Now she stared at the colorful website and debated which of the responses to click. There was a
YES
, a
MAYBE
, and a clever
NO, I’M LAME
. She considered clicking the latter. That would be the most honest response. She
was
lame.

Perry’s words needled her all over again. She
had
dated a client. Granted, she didn’t date Rick to secure an account, and she certainly hadn’t
slept
with him. Last December, Rick had asked her to go with him to a fancy hotel party and ring in the New Year. Sadie should have told him no.

She didn’t.

After Aiden had gone to Oregon, after she’d cut all communication off from the man, Sadie gave herself twenty-four hours to recover and move on with her life. Problem was, her emotions hadn’t heeded her timetable.

Reminders of Aiden cropped up everywhere, when she least expected it. For months to come. And without him, she felt empty and sad. Putting on a front was brutal and, during the holidays, nearly impossible.

Seeing people at their happiest, watching Celeste and Trey snuggle by the Christmas tree, made Sadie want to hang herself with tinsel. Add the idea of spending New Year’s Eve alone, spending
every
New Year’s Eve alone since she’d banished herself to the kingdom of eternal singledom for her remaining years, and it wasn’t any wonder why she’d accepted Rick’s invitation.

She figured she could get out of the house, have some free drinks, and pretend to like the kiss at midnight. And she did. Pretend, that is. When Rick asked her out again a few weeks later, she told herself she was okay with the idea of dinner and a movie with a man she wasn’t attracted to. Look where attraction had gotten her with Aiden: riddled with holes and leaking emotion like a worn garden hose.

Rick, on the other hand, was safe. Predictable. There was no passion, but he could hold a conversation, and they had motorcycle supplies in common…

Wow. That was a really sad justification, Sadie thought, reaching for her coffee mug and taking a sip.

Almost as sad as the day she realized she’d let their casual dating go too far. Rick extended an invitation for her to join him on an out-of-town weekend trip. When he mentioned the shared room at the Bed and Breakfast, Sadie knew she had to end it. Right there in his car, her eyes fixed on her black Michael Kors platform heels, she let him down as gently as she could. He didn’t like it, but he didn’t argue. Maybe he’d known all along she was holding back.

She hovered the mouse over the
MAYBE
response and chastised herself for being indecisive. If she replied
MAYBE
, or
NO
for that matter, it would look like she was avoiding the party because of the awkward breakup all those months ago. Which, of course, she was.

Rock, meet hard place.

Rather than debate any longer, she clicked
YES
and typed out a response before she could overthink it.

It read:
Wouldn’t miss it!

She added a smiley face. It mocked her. She backspaced, deleting the closed parenthesis, dash, and colon, and clicked
SUBMIT
before she changed her mind.

There. Done.

She shut her computer down and gathered her things, nearly bowling over Perry on her way out. Of course she’d run into Perry on her way out. This was the way her life was working out lately. She wanted to shake her fist at the ceiling, but with her luck, a fluorescent light fixture would come loose and crash onto her head.

“Do you live here?” She was still seething from earlier and hated how her sharp tone gave her away.

Perry smiled. The bastard. “Can’t wait for Rick’s party. You planning on”—he winked and clucked his tongue—“renewing that account?” He elbowed her. “If you know what I mean.”

Unwilling to show that he was getting to her, Sadie pulled her shoulders back and skated a derisive look down his average frame. “Why, planning on fighting me for him? I don’t know if he’s into cocky brownnosers, but you could certainly give it a shot.”

Perry flinched, struck speechless.
Hallelujah.

She brushed by him and walked to her car. She ought to introduce Aiden to Perry; that’d get him off her case for a while.

Her lips curved.

That wasn’t a bad idea…

Aiden finished scrawling a note for Axle and taped it to the cash register. A knock sounded at the front door, and even though they were closed, he half expected to see a customer standing there. It wasn’t uncommon for one of Axle’s buddies to swing by after close to shoot the shit. It was the kind of business Axle had built—more of a hangout than just a retail space.

Imagine Aiden’s surprise when he found a petite blonde dressed in jeans and a pink hoodie peering through the glass. Damn, she looked good in pink—like a cupcake with too much frosting. Guaranteed to make his teeth ache.

“Sadie. Didn’t expect to see you today.” He opened the door, catching the first honest-to-goodness whiff of autumn. Soon the air would be mild, smell of browned leaves, and be best complemented by bonfires, haunted hayrides, and mugs of warm cider.

He couldn’t wait.

Sadie breezed past him, interrupting his fall fantasies with the soft fragrance rolling off her hair. He didn’t know what it was, but it always turned his head and shifted his thoughts to a time when he’d had her in his arms. A predictable, answering ache speared his heart.

“I…left something…” She trailed off and vanished behind a shelf, emerging waving a paper in the air. “Kind of hard to put in the order on Monday without my order sheet.”

“Not if you had telekinesis.”

“True,” she said. “But then I’d just use my ability to set buildings on fire from afar.”

“A valid point.”

She flashed him the briefest smile and he considered maybe Sadie did have the ability to set things on fire with her mind. The longer she looked at him, the warmer he got.

“Well, good night.” Sadie rushed for the door and Aiden followed. She’d been running away from him a lot lately. She didn’t walk out right away, however. She paused at the door, rolling and unrolling the paper in her hands before opening her mouth only to close it again.

Aiden could see she had something else on her mind; he waited for her to say more. Finally, she did.

“Are you…done here?”

Aiden glanced around at the store, to the dark showroom beyond. “Yeah. Just have to make sure everything is locked up.”

“Oh.” Sadie rolled the order form again.

“Did you need anything else?”

“Um. Not really. I mean, not…especially. I guess I’ll see you Monday.”

“Sure, see you Monday.”

Aiden waited until she got into her car and reversed out of the lot before turning from the door.
Well, that was odd.

He did a final walk-through. Mack always locked up the showroom, so Aiden’s double-checking was hardly necessary, but he did it anyway. Soon, if everything worked out, this place would be his. And he didn’t dare leave anything to chance.

With his mind on a late-night ride, cool breeze on his face, road speeding by beneath him, Aiden walked toward his bike parked at the corner of the lot. Sadie’s car pulled in when he’d gotten halfway to Sheila, stopping beside him. The driver’s window slid down, revealing Sadie chewing her lip and looking as indecisive as she had a moment ago.

“You’re back,” Aiden said. She offered him a tight smile. “Forget something?” Funny how she’d left minutes ago and he was already glad to see her again.

She’d turned him into a damn golden retriever.

“Yes,” she said, followed by…nothing.

He raised his eyebrows and lowered his chin, prompting her to speak. She didn’t. Only turned her head and stared in the opposite direction down the road. “Okay,” he said. “Have fun doing…whatever it is you’re doing.”

He turned his back on her and counted to three, unable to keep the smile from spreading his lips when she spoke.
Right on cue.

“Do you think I could talk you into going to a party?”

“You’re inviting me to a party?” Aiden looked confused.

That made two of them.

This was why she hadn’t asked him yet. She couldn’t decide if she should play the angle of him setting Perry straight, or mention she needed him to run interference in case Rick asked her out again. Maybe she should admit the underlying truth. That she kind of, sort of wanted to hang out with him. Aiden was fun. And good in uncomfortable situations. She could hide behind him tonight while he charmed everyone within earshot.

“Every year a client of mine has a Summer’s Passing party,” she started.

“‘Summer’s Passing’? I like that.”

“Yeah, me, too.” Sadie found herself giving Aiden what might be perceived as a shy smile. Suddenly it was so important for him to say yes. Which put her at a disadvantage. She didn’t like that but plowed forward anyway, her eyebrows pinched together in concentration. “There’s a big bonfire and beer. I just need you for a few hours.”

Aiden rested his palm on the edge of the open window. He had such nice hands. Strong, slightly rough. He was good with his hands.

“What was that last bit?”

She wrenched her gaze from his hand to his face, where she was greeted by those depthless sea green eyes. She managed to speak, albeit through a lump of lust. “Um…I need you…for a few hours?” She wasn’t sure if that’s what he was clarifying or not.

“You need me,” he repeated, holding her gaze. The cool evening breeze sent his short hair over his forehead, and that irresistible dimple dented his cheek. Seeing it made her remember how she’d kissed it once, darted her tongue into the groove and back out again. Her heart fluttered. She did need him. In more ways than one.

“I guess I do.” She forced the haze from her brain. It was only fair he knew the truth, knew what he was walking into. “The host, Rick, and I dated. Briefly,” she added.

Aiden nodded but said nothing, his handsome face unreadable.

“I ended it. I don’t even know why I let it get as far as I did.” A flash of something lit Aiden’s eyes. Anger? Hurt? She couldn’t tell. “I mean, it didn’t get
that far
, but I definitely went to more two-for-forty-dollars dinners than I wanted to. This is the first time I’ve seen him since I dumped him. And I can’t
not
go, since he’s my customer,” she said, unable to stop rambling. “I guess I’m asking you to come with me because I need…”

“A buffer.” Aiden finished.

She bit her lip. The definition of irony was asking Aiden to be a buffer when Aiden was the one she needed a buffer
for
. She nodded.

Hand still on her car, Aiden leaned his head through the open window. Sadie held her breath, watching his lips draw closer to hers. He stopped short of brushing her nose with his and she licked her bottom lip.

His voice was a low rasp when he spoke. “Why didn’t you say so?”

Before she’d succeeded to pull air into her deflated lungs, Aiden was in the car, belt buckled. “I’ll even let you drive,” he said with a wink.

Sadie pulled onto the street, utterly distracted by the heat emanating off her passenger. Woodsy-smelling, toothpaste-commercial-worthy Aiden Downey. Right next to her. Her hands grew damp on the steering wheel. He was sitting too close, was too distracting. Operating the gas pedal and steering wheel simultaneously wasn’t normally an issue she struggled with.

Maybe she
should
let him drive.

His bare arm brushed hers as he turned down the radio, sending goose bumps to the surface of her skin and her thoughts into dangerous territory. She jerked her arm, nearly veering into a cornfield.

“I was planning on taking the bike out,” he said, sounding terribly calm. Being near her hadn’t robbed him of his faculties. “It’s the perfect night for doing something outside.” He glanced her direction. “I’m glad you invited me.”

Sadie flinched. She could picture him weaving along a dark ribbon of unlit road on his motorcycle. She refused to get on one. That hadn’t changed since last year.

“I can’t believe you still hate Sheila,” he teased, picking up on her thoughts. Or maybe he noticed her absently rubbing her arm with her free hand.

“If she weren’t
lethal
, I might give her a chance,” Sadie mumbled.

“Maybe you should give her a chance anyway.”

She spared him as long a glance as she could before returning her eyes to the road. His loaded statement seemed to be about more than her motorcycle phobia.

When Sadie knew she was getting close to Rick’s house she pulled out her cell and studied the GPS on the screen. They passed a sign, then another, but Sadie couldn’t read the street names despite her squinting, straining, and bending over the steering wheel.

“Keep hunching like that and I’ll have to find you a bell tower to live in.”

She sat up. “You’re hilarious.”

He grinned over at her, attractive even in the eerie blue lights emanating from the dashboard. Her pulse skittered. “Did you consider asking for my help?” he asked.

She hadn’t. And it wasn’t like she could forget she had a copilot. His presence clogged the very air she breathed. But asking for help hadn’t occurred to her. Not once. Why was that?
Because I never ask for help
came the swift but sure answer.

Rather than examine the reasons behind her actions, she handed him the phone. “Here.”

Aiden dropped it in the cup holder. “You have a ways to go.”

“You know where we are?”

“Friend of mine used to live out here—Peachpine Road.”

“Peachpine?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Berrymaple? What kind of weird neighborhood is this?” His chuckle sent another wave of goose bumps over her arms. She liked talking to him. Even about nothing.

“All the lanes back here are a mash-up of fruit and tree names,” he told her.