Summer's Indiscretion(Divine Creek Ranch 7)(6)
He paused for a moment then replied, “No, of course not. Grace offered to set us up on a blind date, but we weren’t so sure about it. It’s rather intimidating for a woman to find out two men are both interested in her, and we didn’t want to scare you off. We decided to reach out to you together instead. Shortly after, we had to leave to follow the one we were watching. So you liked the song?”
Summer smiled and flicked a curl over her shoulder. “Yes, until Taylor ruined it.”
The voice grew serious as he replied, “What did he do?”
Summer curled her lip in distaste. “He asked me to dance to it. Made me is more like it. Jack must’ve fussed at him for ignoring me because the next thing I knew he had me by the arm, dragging me to the dance floor. At least he didn’t pull me close.”
“Sorry, kitten. We’ll request it sometime when we’re there with you. When we dance, you’ll know we’re doing more than fulfilling an obligation. I didn’t mean to keep you so long on the phone. I didn’t feel like texting back and forth this morning. I wanted to hear your sexy voice instead.” Summer smiled, thinking she’d definitely identified “Man Number One” as the flirt of the two.
“Sweet talker. Are you headed to work?”
“I sure am, but I wanted to tell you good morning first. Know what I’d do if I was there?”
Her voice caught in her throat, and she croaked, “What?”
“Give you a sweet, long, good-morning kiss.”
Caught up in the fantasy, all she could get out was, “Wha…”
“Talk to you soon, kitten.”
The phone shifted, and the other voice said, “Have a good morning, darlin’.”
“Um, all right. I will,” she replied, still in a bit of a daze. “Wait! What—” She groaned when the line went dead.
Summer wanted to scream because she still didn’t even know their names.
Grace had better be on the money with those two. This cloak-and-dagger nonsense is going to make me crazy.
She shook her head as she started the car, wondering what would happen next. Would they call again? At some point would she meet them? Grace hadn’t described them to her at all. Were they concerned that she’d find them unattractive and wanted her to have a chance to get to know them first? They certainly didn’t have to do that for her sake. She knew how it felt to be judged for her appearance and wouldn’t have judged them on theirs. Looks were fleeting and only skin deep. True beauty resided in the soul of an individual.
As she drove the short distance to the shop, she debated once again about moving into the apartment upstairs. The fact that Discretion had been vandalized several times in recent weeks was the only reason she hesitated. Her older sister and business partner, Margot, had already agreed that they would put in a security system, and there was the added bonus that it would save her the cost of her rental every month.
When they’d had a dream of starting a business, there were few people in their family who had approved. Summer and Margot had never quite fit into the straitlaced expectations their parents had for them. That was nothing new.
The Victorian house Discretion was located in was left to them by a favorite great-aunt, who Summer knew would’ve loved the little shop she and her sister co-owned if she’d known about it.
Once they’d secured funding and Discretion had opened its doors they’d had only themselves to rely on. It had been rather lonely until Grace and Teresa had walked in one day a couple of years before. Their interest and subsequent investment in the shop had begun a new chapter in Summer and Margot’s lives, and they’d made several great friends along the way.
Their friends had stood by them in the last few months as the shop had drawn unfavorable attention from anonymous and downright hostile sources, the latest being the attempted arson on the shop a few weeks before.
A carpenter was already contracted to do the repair work. He’d given them an estimate to just fix the damage then had also given a price for completely refurbishing it. Summer and Margot loved the back porch area and rose garden, so they had decided to fund the project and paid the difference to have the extra work done. The contractor was supposed to start early the following day.
Grace had told Summer she knew of someone who could install the best in security systems at a very reasonable price. Summer had an appointment with them that morning, which was the reason she needed to get to the store early—to get her work done before they got there.
She parked in her spot and climbed from the car, juggling all her belongings. Once inside she laid everything on the oak-topped lingerie cabinet they used as a sales counter. She was particularly fond of that huge oak display case. She’d found it at an estate sale, recognizing it for what it actually was. She and Margot had repaired and sanded it down, then refinished it themselves. After the glass in the numerous small panels on the front was replaced it looked like it had when it had graced a ritzy 1920s department store.