“This the back room?” Ronan headed back, notwaiting for her response. Stopping fast, he narrowly missedtripping over the box blocking the narrow hall to reach the backroom. “Shit, doesn’t the fire department ever audit aroundhere?”
Cussing the whole way, Ronan made it to theback miraculously unscathed. Hands on his hips, he surveyed theroom. It wasn’t huge, much smaller than the large retail space. Awarped old 3x8 foot folding table sat in the middle and was coveredwith boxes. Several feet of walkway surrounded the table. Aneclectic assortment of plastic shelving lined the walls, housingeven more boxes and trinkets draped with old sheets.
Watching as Ronan scrutinized the space,Payson stayed silent. He didn’t look impressed. She found herselfbiting the inside of her cheek, anticipating his insults.Surprisingly, he didn’t outrightly insult the disorganizedstoreroom. Not that he needed to. They both knew it looked awful.“Do you have the new shelves yet?”
Well, he wasn’t exactly complimentary,either. She shrugged, overwhelmed just looking at the dauntingtask. “No, not yet. I keep meaning to pick them up, but I don’teven know where to start. You know when something spirals so farout of control, you don’t even want to face it?”
Ronan nodded grimly. “Yeah, yeah I do.” Hewalked around the room, pushing at shelves and boxes, testingstability. “Mind if I head to the hardware store to pick up somematerials? I’m not much of a carpenter, but I can throw togethersome decent shelving units, maybe a sturdier table, with shelvingfor supplies. Do you have any tools?”
Again, she shrugged, adding a sheepish smile,“I have a hammer and a few screwdrivers, but I don’t know where Ileft them. Maddy was going to fix it last summer but got a bit…busy, with falling in love. And the whole abduction business.”
Ronan winced, “Yeah; she sure had a uniquesummer. She’s probably a much better carpenter than I am, but I’vegot the time so you’re stuck with me. Mind if I pick up some toolswhile I’m out? I can use my dad’s table saw at his place to save oncosts.”
For all his crankiness, and the stories she’dheard about him - mostly that he was a loner in high school, heclearly cared about his sister and felt terrible about what she’dgone through. Which, almost, endeared him to her.
Nodding in agreement, Payson started to headfor the front. “Let me grab you some cash. How much?”
A rusty laugh passed his lips. When did helast have a carefree, hearty laugh? He sounded out of practice. “Ihave no idea. I haven’t been to a hardware store in quite sometime.”
Payson smiled. “Well, neither have I. I don’tusually open for another hour, and it’s looking to be a quietmorning. Why don’t I go with you and bring the credit card?”
If she wasn’t mistaken, Ronan visiblystiffened before responding. “Sure. My truck’s out back.”
…
Just what he needed. Miss Prim and Proper ina long, flowy dress following him through the hardware store. Hewasn’t even sure what all he needed but had planned to make it upas he went. He watched as she pulled a pink wool sweater over herhead as they went out the back door. The wind was bitingly coldagainst his bare arms as they walked to his truck.
Pulling herself up into the truck easily, shebuckled then sat silently. Her eyes wandered everywhere, exceptthat she avoided looking directly at him. He was fine with that.He’d rather not chat anyway. On the drive to the hardware store, hequickly calculated what they would need. He’d always been able tothink quickly on his feet.
Through the hardware store, she sashayedalong behind in her little heeled boots. He almost said something…almost. Although, he had to admit, he liked the way the dressswayed with her hips. It had too been a damn long time since he’deven noticed a woman, work had been so busy tracking the fuckingmercs that ruined his life. Now he was fantasizing about Payson andcouldn’t get her out of his brain.
At least it hadn’t been a night riddled withnightmares every time he closed his eyes. That was a plus in theinsomnia department.
He shook off the invasive thoughts; she stillwasn’t his type. Leave those thoughts at home. Pissing her offdidn’t seem to be buying him any space, but at least it was a goodreminder for himself that touching her was a downright terribleidea.
7
It took days to organize the backroom so he couldeven get started on the new shelves. Each day he’d find a newreason to piss her off, and she’d find new, creative ways to snipeback at him. They’d picked up some storage bins so he couldre-organize the stock on the shelves, while stacking the surplusstock against one wall while he cleared out the flimsy shelvingshe’d had before. It was a miracle she hadn’t had a major collapseand destroyed what must be thousands of dollars in antiques, maybemore.
Which she hadn’t been pleased to hear.“Payson, are you insured?” he asked as a box filled with glassfishing floats slid down the shelf toward him. Luckily, he caughtthe box just before it crashed to the ground. Delicately balancingthe flimsy container, he set it neatly on the floor next to her soshe could re-package it into a sturdier bin.
“Of course I’m insured,” she glared fiercelyin his direction, pulling the box closer toward her. Gently, sheloaded the glass balls into one of the wooden crates they hadpicked up.
Shaking his head, he pulled down the rest ofthe boxes a bit more gingerly. If he didn’t start from the top andwork his way methodically down, ensuring the weight distributionwas even, she’d lose half her stock in a collapse. “Where did youget these flimsy shelves?”
Payson looked up briefly to shoot daggersfrom her eyes in his direction. Exasperated, she snapped, “Ifyou’re going to be judgmental, you don’t have to help. I got themsecond hand to save on start-up costs.”
“I’m seeing the job clear through from startto finish, so don’t think you’ll get rid of me that easily,” hefired back.
Furious, she tossed her silky auburn hairover her shoulder and wiped the early beads of sweat from her brow.She pulled the heavy knit sweater off and tossed it on the alreadyoverloaded table, then bent forward to pick up the next bin.Moronically, Ronan glanced over, ready to keep firing out insults,but got distracted when he caught an unexpected glimpse down hertop.
Locked onto the prize, his eyes couldn’t movefrom her incredible breasts, just barely held in by a white lacebra. She was right, it was hot in here. His heart and lungscompletely quit functioning as he got lost in the vision, hopingthe flimsy lace would bust… then she glanced up.
Luckily, she mistook his lustful gaze for ascowl and glared right back. He abruptly turned away and continuedto clear the shelves, his scowl now becoming quite real. Angry athimself for losing his historically unwavering control.
Regardless of the state of her storeroom, shedidn’t seem to shy away from hard work. Quite the opposite. Despitethe long dress she’d worn at the hardware store, she hadn’thesitated to jump in and grab heavy items. Had given him the evileye when he had even implied that she might need his help. Hecouldn’t help the smile that formed when he pictured the dirtylooks that she’d given him over the last week since they first met.Had some serious fire behind it.
She operated a nice little shop too. As withits owner, he’d been pleasantly impressed by the shop. In contrastto the cluttered mess of a storeroom, the front of the shop wasneatly organized, welcoming, and quite charming. She cleaned dailyand had fresh flowers displayed throughout the shop, with fresh airwafting through regularly so the shop had a fresh smell rather thanmusty.
