He pulled up to the employee entrance and she looked around, seeing the store with fresh eyes. It felt like it had been much longer than three days that she’d been away. Three days she’d managed to pack a lot of action into.
“Wait there,” he said as he put the shifter in park. He came around and opened the truck door and lifted her down to the asphalt, bringing her full circle with Saturday night, when he’d lifted her into that big truck. She felt like a completely different person. She realized she was.
“Thank you for the ride.”
“I’ll see you at lunch, honey,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes and a smile on his sexy, kissable lips.
“That’s okay. You don’t have to do that. The rental company should be here soon with a car for me.”
He leaned down to her and tilted her chin up with a finger. “I know I don’t have to. I want to. See you then.” He pressed his lips against hers and slid a hand behind her head. He licked her lower lip tentatively and went deeper when she responded to him, parting her lips. A soft groan came from him as he wrapped his other arm around her waist and held her to him, not tightly, but as if she was precious to him. It took a few seconds for her eyes to focus after he pulled back and her soft sigh brought a chuckle from him.
He removed her rolling suitcase and the cardboard box from the truck and asked, “Need help with these?”
He was always thoughtful like that. “No, I think I can manage, but thank you.”
“See you at lunch, honey.”
“Uh-huh.”
She waved at him as he backed from the parking space and headed to the station.
“Good morning, boss lady, and welcome back,” Evelyn said in greeting as Leah came in the side door. Evelyn was one of a tiny handful of other people in Divine who were actually shorter than Leah. “I just finished brewing a pot of coffee and I made a coffee cake and brought it with me this morning if you’d like some, dear.”
Leah’s bookkeeper was one of a kind. She’d worked at the store longer than anyone else and even though she was tiny as all get out, she’d done every job in the store at one point or another, even receiving manager. She’d tried retirement briefly before boredom had set in and she’d come back, mainly on a part-time basis but since the spring she’d been around more often. Her duties included her work in the cash office and managerial oversight in Leah’s absence. She’d been an absolute godsend when Patterson’s accident had occurred in March.
“Thank you, ma’am,” Leah said, giving her a hug. “And good morning to you, too.”
“Sleep well?” Evelyn asked, eyeing her critically before lifting her steaming coffee mug to her lips with tiny hands that hinted at her age.
“Very well. I’m ready for the day.”
Evelyn’s grin lit up her face. “Wonder if it has anything to do with that handsome police officer who dropped you off.”
“A girl shouldn’t kiss and tell. I remember hearing you say that when I was a teenager.”
“So I did. But now you’re old enough to know your own mind. How are you feeling? Really? As I recall you were racking up the injuries while you were in Abilene.”
“My finger throbs a little but my head and posterior are fine.”
“Good. Your rental car should be here soon.”
“Evelyn?”
“Hmm?” Evelyn said as she sipped from her coffee mug and walked with Leah.
“Just give it to me straight. Do I stink like a skunk?”
“Not in the least, dear.”
“Good, because I’m tired of all those skunk odor remedies.”
“I can just imagine. Let me tell you what’s been going on around here,” she said as Leah stowed her suitcase and the box in the corner of her office and dropped her purse in its drawer. Then they went out into the still semi-darkened store to start their day.
Chapter Twelve
“Don’t worry, Vince. She’ll be here,” James said, clapping Vincent on the shoulder as they walked through the glass doors of the Divine Community Center. The scents of floor wax and Pine-Sol reminded Vincent of school days.
“We don’t know that for sure. She didn’t come over last night, either.” He couldn’t shrug off the feeling she was avoiding being alone with him.
James stopped him under the basketball hoop on the other side of the gym from where the group attending the self-defense class was growing as more arrived. “You’re still feeling guilty?”
“A little.” It wasn’t like him to forget a condom.
“Remember, just give her space. She’s compartmentalizing everything, trying to make that decision. I wasn’t surprised that she didn’t come over last night. I don’t imagine it’s any easier for her but you need to remember that’s how her mind works. She hasn’t been in touch with me since yesterday at lunch either. I don’t think her intention was to cut us out. She just needs a little room.”