Each day, he’d opened the door to the houseand blasted heavy metal, enticing Ronan out without any pressure tointeract. He had quickly accepted the no-conversation-requiredinvitation and was enjoying their routine. All while burning theedge off the temper he’d developed since getting shot.
Ronan started to relax. Chase continued,making friendly conversation to put him at ease. “Maddy’s pickedout half the gallery to go in the beach house; she finally settledon one of Natalie’s lighthouse black-and-whites.” They brieflychuckled, in a manly way of course, at Maddy’s expense. Like atrooper, she took the teasing, knowing he needed a distraction.
Green eyes shining brightly, Payson pasted ona polite smile and tried to carry the easy conversation. “Settlingback into town?”
Ronan managed a tight, ironic smile, “Notreally trying.”
Maddy tried to re-direct, but Paysoncontinued, “Is Seaview not meeting your expectations?” The smilewas there, and he could hear the tease in her voice, but he sensedshe was baiting him.
“Seaview’s fine.”
Before Payson could fire back, Chase jumpedin to diffuse what he must have noticed was already a tickingtimebomb of a relationship, “It’s hard coming back. If it hadn’tbeen for Maddy, it would have been a hell of a lot rougher.”
Ronan understood. Chase must have had a roughreturn, the local bad boy and son of the town drunk, returning totake a lead position at the biggest business in town.
Maddy linked arms with Payson. “Let’s get youa fresh drink, bet you could use it. How’d your date with Gregorygo? Soothe your dry spell?”
Payson’s blush was unmistakable, as was herelbow’s direct hit to Maddy’s ribs. Before he could hear theanswer, they strolled off toward the bar together. He didn’t careanyway. She could sleep with whoever the hell she wanted.
6
Lying flat on his back, fat snowflakes falling allaround, Ronan drifted on an open Viking ship. Not alone. Above him,a goddess with silky auburn hair and fairy green eyes, rode himlike an avenging warrior. He grasped her breasts as her back archedin glory and cried out in spectacular orgasmic bliss.
Beep, beep, beep. Ronan jerkedawake.
What the hell? Sealing his eyes shut, hetried to ignore the obnoxious alarm, holding on to the dream.Stupid, he knew. But, for the first time in months, he hadn’tawoken screaming in horror.
Not that he’d slept great, but this was apleasant change. Hadn’t slept last night for imagining peeling offthat black satin dress she’d been wearing at the gallery. Over andover again, stuck in an indulgent erotic loop.
7:00. Shit. He couldn’t stall any longer. Norshould he dwell in that little fantasy, at least, not now. His newboss wouldn’t exactly appreciate it if she found out where hissubconscious had lingered. Hopefully his imagination might stray inher direction again tonight…
~
Payson locked up her apartment and dasheddownstairs at 7:45 Monday morning. Why was she so nervous?Something about Ronan unsettled her. Every time she closed her eyessince meeting him, even to just blink, he’d take over herimagination, in many, many forms. Searching those wounded eyes forthe source of his pain… peeling that tux off of him…
Why? From the neck down, yeah, he thoroughlyfulfilled the 007 fantasy. Pure muscle under that tux. But he was ascowling, classless, unkept mountain man from the neck up. Andrude.
Ok, time to dump the judgments. He’d beenthrough a lot; experiencing a train wreck couldn’t be easy. Sheknew he’d need the money having lost his income as well. Shakingoff the annoyance with Ronan, Payson turned her irritation inward.She hadn’t exactly been friendly either, which was not at all likeher.
She’d give him the benefit of the doubt.Unlocking the back door to the shop, Payson let herself into thestoreroom and disengaged the alarm. Let’s hope Ronan at least has asense of order, as she apparently didn’t. Not in any practicalsense, anyway.
The sales area of Flotsam Antiques wasmeticulously laid out, both welcoming and drawing buyers in toexplore every last treasure. The back room, however, wasembarrassing. If an item didn’t sell, she might store it in theback for a few months, then return it back to the sales floor witha different collection. Other times, she might hold an item beforeshowcasing it up front when the time was right.
Hiking up her black and pink flowered maxidress, she stepped over the flotsam and jetsam that blocked thehallway to the salesroom. She fired up the sales register up front,did some light dusting and organization while she waited. At 8o'clock sharp, the expected knock at the front door interrupted hersolitude.
Ok, she told herself. Be nice. RonanMcAllister stood outside the door, dressed in a faded, loose blackt-shirt, threadbare jeans, and sturdy hiking boots. He must behandsome underneath everything; his family sure was attractive. Itwas just too hard to tell under the terrible-fitting, wornclothing, the fierce scowl and all that hair.
Pasting a polite smile on her face, Paysonhoped she looked happy to see him. “Good morning. Sleep well lastnight?”
He snarled as he brushed past her, throughthe narrow opening as she held open the glass door. Pressing hisbody against hers, again. Damn, he smelled so good. Was he doingthis on purpose? She tried to be irritated, but found herselfnoticing that he was quite a bit taller than she was, and shewasn’t short.
“Yeah, fine. What do you need?” He didn’tbother hiding the bad temper in his voice.
Payson glared at him, hands on her hips. “Canwe try to get along? I need help, and you need a job. If you can’tbe civil, maybe we can just not speak to each other while we work.I’ll post a daily checklist for you on the door, so we don’t evenhave to look at each other.”
Ronan shrugged, sarcasm dripping from hiswords, “Fine. I slept great. Did you have a nice weekend?”
Payson found herself growling like a derangedgrizzly herself. This was already a disaster.
