Calling Kupid (Kupid's Cove Book 1) (4 page)

“So you insulted me to get my big heifer body off you.”

He jumped up and leaned on my desk. “For the record, I never called you a heifer. I never said being thick-waisted was bad, either. I happen to like a woman who isn’t all bones. You just took it as an insult.”

I threw my head back and laughed, “Gee, I wonder why. Maybe because immediately after you said it, you put all my clothes back on and nearly pushed me down the stairs to get me away from you.”

He nodded. “Yeah. I did. I had to get you out of my room quickly if I stood any chance of letting you leave without ravishing your body first. There I said it!” He threw his hands out to his sides before letting them fall again. “I wanted you like I’ve never wanted another woman in my life, but I wasn’t about to take advantage of someone who didn’t have the wherewithal to make that decision for herself.” He lowered his voice and looked at me under the rim of his glasses. “Add to it you were a virgin, or at least you told me you were a virgin, and I came to my senses. I couldn’t let you give yourself to someone on a whim when you were that drunk.”

“I wasn’t that drunk,” I huffed, crossing my arms across my chest.

“Yes, you were. You were six sheets to the wind.”

“The saying is three sheets to the wind.”

“Exactly. You were that drunk. I don’t have sex with drunken women who can’t remember important details about their health.”

I scratched my temple. “I couldn’t?”

He shook his head, “You couldn’t tell me how old you were, much less anything else.”

“I’m twenty-seven and yes, I have taken care of birth control.”

He motioned around the room and then slipped his hand back in his pocket. “Well, thanks. That’s good to know, now.”

I leaned back in my chair and looked anywhere but at him. “I’ve believed for the past eleven months that my body disgusted you.”

He shook his head and looked to the ceiling, bouncing on his toes. “Oh, so not the case. Your body has haunted my dreams for the last eleven months. I was beginning to think I would never see you again, but here we are.”

I felt liquid warmth run through me when I heard his words. I’ve haunted his dreams the last few months? While I was angry with him, he was imagining me naked under him. I scoffed. Okay,
that
might be taking it a little too far.

“For the record, I didn’t just tell you I was a virgin, I was a virgin.”

“Are you still a virgin?” he asked, his voice going down another octave.

“Maybe we should just move on?”

He nodded, giving me that half smile that made me fall into lust with him all those months ago. “You don’t want to answer my question?”

I stared at him in stony silence until he grinned even wider. “You can run, but you can’t hide, Katie. For now, we’ll move on, but you will answer my question before I leave Snowberry.” He settled back in the chair and motioned to the file. “Since you’re the lead attorney on this one, tell me what we need to do next.”

I stared at the paperwork while he rested on the edge of the seat. I needed time to collect myself because his presence here was messing with my perfectly ordered life. Work, dinner, bed, repeat. Something told me that he was taking my perfect order with him when he left my office.

He was waiting patiently with a satisfied smirk on his face when I looked up. He knew he had me.

I sighed because I didn’t have a good answer to his question or to the situation in general.

“Your mother was surprisingly light on the details about anything other than the six-month stipulation,” I said. It was frustrating that I didn’t have an easy solution to this problem.

He laughed and his eyes crinkled at the corners. I wanted to take his glasses off to rub the lines away, but I folded my hands instead.

“That’s not surprising to me. She clearly had some greater plan which she failed to mention to anyone except Graham.”

“Graham?”

“My assistant in Chicago. Apparently she told him things she didn’t tell me.”

“I see. Do you think Graham would have more details about this?” I asked, motioning my hands over the folder.

“Nope.” He looked at his watch then back to me. “How about I take you to lunch? We can decide over a nice glass of wine what our next move is.”

I closed the folder, leaning on the desk. “You’re assuming I don’t have another client after you.”

He stood and straightened his lapels, then snapped each sleeve, adjusting them to the exact inch, before twisting his very large, very gold, very expensive watch on his arm. When he was finished with his show of dominance, he addressed me. “Darling, I never assume.”

I moved the straw around in my Diet Coke contemplating my next move. I looked up from my drink to lock my eyes with his as he walked towards me from the restroom. I fought against the full body shiver that threatened as he came at me like an ocean wave. I had to get out of here as soon as possible. Spending time with him was not on my current agenda. Unfortunately, he’s a very good lawyer so before I knew what was happening, I was at Wes’s ordering lunch. He seemed more than a little surprised that it was the only place in Snowberry that you could buy a drink at this time of the day.

“So much for that glass of wine,” he said, slipping into the booth.

I smiled somewhat self depreciatively. “I don’t normally drink. That’s probably why I was so out of it that night. I’m pretty sure that was only the second time in my life I’ve ever had more than two glasses of wine.”

“Is that because you’re Mormon?”

I wasn’t able to stop the snort that escaped. “I’m about as Mormon as Wes over there,” I said, hooking my thumb in the direction of the bartender.

“Then why don’t you drink more than two glasses of wine at a time?”

I squirmed uncomfortably in my chair and twirled the napkin around on the table.

He finally reached over to still my hand. “Are you a recovering alcoholic?”

I started to giggle. I put my hand over my mouth and shook my head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh. That’s just funny, because to be a recovering alcoholic I would have had to be drunk more than twice in my life.”

He leaned his elbow on the small, round table resting his chin in his hand. He looked so out of place in the saloon wearing his expensive suit and Rolex watch, but his masculinity made up for it.

“Good point. You just looked so nervous I wondered what the heck you were thinking.”

“I was thinking that I don’t need to tell you why I don’t drink, considering we only almost had sex once.”

“Touché, but you are my lawyer. I like to know everything I can about the people who work for me.”

I set my glass down very slowly onto the table. My blood pressure went up measurably, which wasn’t smart in my condition. I leaned in close to him, sucking in a breath. “Let me make something terrifically clear here, Gideon. I do not work for you. I do not work for anyone. I represent your deceased mother. Do you understand me?”

He lifted one brow and sipped his beer before replying, “Perfectly.”

“Most excellent. To address that matter, I need to talk to Hank. If he is agreeable to continue running the pharmacy for another six months, before buying it, then I will get the paperwork in order. Once it’s ready, we will sit down for a meeting together. I’ll head over to the pharmacy after lunch. Are you onboard with that?”

He set his beer down, leaning in to meet my face, nose-to-nose. “Like the president on Air Force One, baby.”

“Don’t call me baby.”

“You’re fun, Katie. It’s been a long time since I’ve met a woman who can, and will, hold her own with me.”

“Why? Because you’re God’s gift to the women of the world or because you have enough money to buy the women who won’t talk back?”

His smile widened. “Oh, I really like you. For the record, I don’t have to pay for it. Usually I have more socialites at my door than I know what to do with, but it’s so not my thing.”

“Socialites or women?”

“Socialite women, and the idea that I want a new one every night. I’m thirty-seven and it’s time to stop the playboy lifestyle. Regardless of what my mother believed in her heart before her death, I wasn’t avoiding a committed relationship. I simply didn’t have the time to devote to it.”

“And now you do?” I asked, sipping my Diet Coke while praying the food would come soon.

“I’ve made my fortune. All I have to do now is continue to manage it, so yes, I have more time to devote to my personal life. In fact, it appears I have six months to spend in Snowberry.”

I waved my hands so hard I almost knocked my glass off the table. He caught it right before it tipped. He moved it aside then lowered my hands, holding them in his own. They were warm and soft, something I knew was the result of his spa days. “You’re so jumpy, Katie. Relax.”

“I can’t relax around you. You’re like a wolf in fancy, expensive sheep’s clothing. That said, there is nothing in the will that requires you to stay in Snowberry. As long as Hank is willing to manage the business for the next six months, you can go back home. You may even want to sweeten the pot by giving him a percentage off the asking price for those six months.”

He raised one brow. “Expensive sheep’s clothing, huh?” He shrugged out of his suit coat, unbuttoned his sleeves then rolled them to mid-forearm. “Better?”

I groaned and he laughed easily. “I’ll take that as a yes. Anyway, Hank’s buying the place for a buck.”

“Excuse me?” I asked, surprised by the turn of events. “You, the mad corporate shark of a lawyer, are selling it to him for a buck? I’m not sure that’s acceptable. I’ll have to reread the paperwork.”

“Reread it all you would like. I told my mother I was selling the place to Hank for a dollar when she died. She didn’t have a problem with that. I think the six-month stipulation thing was her way of forcing me to stay in Snowberry, or at least take a break from my big city life to find someone to make a life with.” He raked my body with his eyes until they came back to my lips. “My mother was well aware that I’m a lawyer, not a pharmacist.”

I tried to keep my wits about me while his eyes drilled holes in me. “I guess if you want to sell him the business for a dollar that’s your right. I really don’t care as long as the pharmacy stays open. Rochester is too far to drive for a lot of Snowberry residents, and the hospital pharmacy isn’t open to the public. We need to keep it in the family, so to speak.”

He looked up at Wes as he brought our burgers to the table and gave him an appreciative nod.

“These look fantastic,” he said, picking up the burger snuggled in a pretzel bun.

“Be careful, they’re addictive.” I picked mine up, ready to take a bite. “But then you aren’t staying in Snowberry, so you’ll be okay.”

His eyes never left mine as he chewed and swallowed. “I don’t know about that. Every minute I sit here with you makes me want to stay another minute. I’ve booked my room for a week. I have plenty of time to enjoy more burgers, and other Snowberry exclusives.”

I took a bite of my burger to avoid responding and hoped that he didn’t consider me a Snowberry exclusive.

Gideon was wrong, I did have another appointment. I just couldn’t tell him what it was. Making the decision to have lunch with him was surprisingly easy. Whenever he’s in my space, I feel comfortable, as if we’ve known each other forever. I should be mad as hell at him, but I’m not. He may remember that night differently, but I can hardly remember it all. Who’s to say his version isn’t the correct one.

I watched him pull away in his rental car while I idled at the curb. Unfortunately, the decision to break bread with him left me with less than ten minutes to get to the hospital to see my doctor. I turned left at the end of the block, grateful that Snowberry was a small town. The hospital was only three minutes away by car, so I would still make it in time. I guess the rest of my day was going to involve seeing people in the medical field. When I finished at the doctor, I would go see Hank at the pharmacy. Something told me I would need to get another prescription filled anyway, so I could kill two birds with one stone.

Lunch with Gideon Armstrong was an adventure. He was bossy and pushy in the most ridiculously cute way. I hated the way he looked at me from behind those glasses I loved. I had him pegged as a businessman who would fight for every last penny, but I was wrong. What surprised me the most were the morals Gideon had, morals that I didn’t get to see while drunkenly sexing him up on the beach. His simple explanation about what really happened that night made sense. The whole night was foggy. It was getting harder to recall what actually happened with each passing week. All I remember clearly was how enamored I was with him. Maybe I wanted to believe his harmless flirting, and tender handholding, were genuine, but his history didn’t lend itself to that notion. Part of me wanted to grab onto his explanation, so I didn’t feel like I was losing so badly at the game of life. The other part of me still heard the words he said that night, and how deeply they cut me.

When he wanted to come with me to see Hank I flat out told him no. Hank had to be open with me about whether he really wanted the business after another six-month waiting period. Hank has been the manager at the pharmacy for five years, but he hadn’t dealt with Gideon much, at least to my knowledge.

I found a parking place close to the door and hurried through the cold January wind to the front of Providence Hospital. It was small, but surprisingly modern. In fact, one floor of the hospital housed nothing but researchers for diseases of the neurological system like multiple sclerosis. It seemed odd to have such a talented group of doctors working in this tiny little town when Mayo was a short trip up the road. But, they were making great strides. The lead researcher, Dr. Snow Alexander, had invented and brought to the market a voice recognition wheelchair. It was cool Star Trek kind of stuff.

I was fortunate that my cardiologist visited Providence Hospital once every other week from Mayo in Rochester, which afforded me the opportunity to see her here without having to travel there and miss work. That was a bonus when you had to see her once a month. I stopped at the front desk and the receptionist looked up as I approached.

I waved at her shyly. “Hi, Patti. I’m here to see Dr. Sawyer.”

“Hi, Kate, how are you doing?” Patti asked, typing into the computer.

I bounced on my toes and looked around the room before I answered. I was hoping no one I knew was here. “I’m doing okay. I guess I need a checkup on the old ticker.” I smiled easily, knowing that wasn’t the truth. It wasn’t even close to the truth.

“This cold air is surely keeping our tickers going today.” She laughed as she pointed down the hall. “You know the way. You’re all checked in.”

“Thanks, Patti.” I waved again, heading for the main floor clinic waiting room.

I barely sat down to open my book when I heard my name.

“Katie,” the assistant read from the chart. I tried hard not to roll my eyes. No one called me Katie except my mother and well, now Gideon.

I followed her through a door to a scale where we went through the routine of weight, height, and temperature. I was pleased to see I had lost more weight, but unfortunately, hadn’t grown any taller.

She settled me into a larger consult room and assured me Dr. Sawyer would be in soon, then pulled the door closed behind her.

I heard a beep on my phone, so pulled it from my pocket. There was a text message from a number I didn’t recognize. I swiped it open to read it.

I forgot to tell you where I’m staying. I’m at the new Lakeshore Inn. This is my cell number. Call me after you finish talking to Hank. P.S. Thanks for having lunch with me. I was getting kind of lonely. P.P.S. I think you’re beautiful, in case you noticed me staring at you and wondered why. G.

I smiled against my will as I typed back.

I’ve made a note of both your address and phone number. It will be another hour or so before I can get to the pharmacy. I have an appointment I almost forgot about. P.S. You’re welcome. P.P.S. I just thought I had lettuce stuck between my teeth. K.