Sweet Seduction Shield (6 page)

Black
overstuffed sofas with hot pink piping and a mixture of hot pink
and white throw pillows, dotted the dark polished wooden floor.
Interspersed with tables and chairs in a similarly dark colour,
haphazardly placed as though creating a maze for the customers to
traverse. In one corner was a lowered section of flooring inundated
with copious amounts of oversized floor pillows. People were
actually lounging in the space in their high street fashion
clothes. Steam rose from a behemoth coffee machine over by two
large counters, the sound of beans grinding and the loud bang of
the porta filter being emptied by the barista made my heart leap
into my throat. Chocolate permeated the air from a chilled, glass
fronted cabinet under the main counter, various shades and shapes
of cocoa morsels were displayed on identical sized white trays.

People were
everywhere. Lounging, sitting tapping away on laptops at tables,
perusing CDs towards the back in a darker lit alcove which must
have stored the music, or just chatting while sipping their
take-away coffee cups, which matched the décor colouring to a T.
All of them looked relaxed and happy and content. The whole place
screamed comfortable.

And strangely
safe.

The Exponents'
Why Does Love Do This To Me?
was playing on the stereo, louder than I would
have expected, but somehow blending in with the cacophony of
conversation, whilst drowning out the mechanics of making large
volumes of espresso. When Jordan Luck reached the chorus, as though
they were at a cricket match cheering from the stands, the
customers all stopped what they were doing or saying and sang the
words.
"
I don't know. Why does love do this to me? I
don't know. I don't know."

Once the
chorus finished they went back to their drinks and chocolate and
conversations.

A small amused
sound escaped my lips. My office was not far from here, yet I
hadn't even known this place existed. Daisy tugged on my hand,
making a beeline for the chocolates and sticking her hot little
hands on the glass frontage, while her nose almost flattened itself
against it too. Mist coated the glass as she exhaled, her big
beautiful brown eyes lifting to mine.

"Please,
Mummy. Can I have the penguin?"

I glanced down
at which treat she was pointing to, surprised to see a penguin
shaped chocolate complete with yellow coloured "feathers" on its
head and breast. Just like a King Penguin.

"Oh good
choice!" the woman behind the counter announced. "We call him Percy
the Princely Penguin. What do you say, Mum? A prince for a
princess?"

"He's not a
prince!" Daisy exclaimed.

"Daisy," I
warned, offering the blonde behind the counter an apologetic
smile.

"He's a King
Penguin from the Antarctica. I'm going to study them one day,"
Daisy announced with an air of finality.

"Oh," the
woman replied, lifting a hand to her mouth and tapping a finger
thoughtfully. "Well in that case, we'll call him Kenny the King
Penguin."

"I prefer
Keanu the King Penguin," another blonde behind the counter chimed
in. This one had curly hair, as opposed to our server's longer wavy
hair. Both girls had stunning, mischievous blue eyes and wore
identical uniforms.

I did another
quick scan of the shop, noting the carefully outrageous colour
scheme, delightfully quirky furnishings and well thought out
presentation of all the staff. I was stunned to find myself falling
for the place. Literally within minutes of walking through the
door.

Even the
randomly placed furniture didn't set my OCD off. That urge to
straighten the chairs and tables so they were all at right angles
to each other, was placated by the prim and proper appearance of
the staff, the meticulously displayed chocolates under the counter,
and the unique, but uniform look to the front of the shop.

"Shall we let
the Princess decide?" Blonde number one suggested.

"You spoil all
my fun, Gen," Blonde number two replied, making a show of poking
her tongue out at the one she'd called Gen.

Gen, short for
Genevieve I suppose. My eyes returned to her face, wondering what
her connection to Pierce was. She delicately tapped a finger on the
top of the glass case, bringing my attention to her rather large
diamond engagement ring. Ah, maybe that explained it.

"So, what do
you think, Princess...?" Gen left the question open.

"Princess
Daisy," I found myself saying from out of nowhere.

"Um," Daisy
said, big, wide eyes flicking between both women. She started
biting her bottom lip.

My daughter
had been through hell the past twenty-four hours, and being asked
to name a chocolate penguin sets her insecurities off?

I crouched
down next to her and whispered, "You don't have to name it,
Daisy-girl. But you can have one, if you like."

She leaned
forward and whispered in reply, "I don't wanna hurt their
feelings."

I felt the two
women still on the other side of the counter.

"How would you
hurt their feelings?" I asked.

"'Cause I
don't like either of those names."

"Ah," I said,
knowingly. "What name do you like?"

"I like
Kelly."

I smiled.
Kelly for Kelly Tarlton's of course.

"I think they
might like Kelly too, baby. Why don't you try them?"

She shuffled
her feet and then looked up at them from under long brown
lashes.

"I seen the
penguins at Kelly Tarlton's yesterday," she mumbled.

"Hey, I know!"
Blonde number two said with over the top enthusiasm. "How about
Kelly for a name?"

Daisy's head
shot up.

"You know
what?" Gen replied, finger tapping on her lips again. "That is
utterly brilliant. In fact, I'm writing a sign up now and placing
it in the display."

Daisy smiled
winningly at them. And received two beaming smiles back.

"And for Mum?"
Gen asked.

"Trim Flat
White and a Kelly King Penguin chocolate too, please."

"Coming right
up!" Gen announced, ringing the total up on the cash register. I
handed over the right amount, thanked them both profusely for
making my daughter's day, and took an order number on a small
chrome stand. I spun around to locate a place we could hide in for
a while.

And came face
to face with Detective Pierce.

How the hell
did he know I was here already?

His eyes
scanned my face, then swept down my body. I saw a flicker of
recognition there, no doubt cataloguing the fact I was wearing the
same outfit as yesterday's. I stifled the urge to shift my feet,
feeling decidedly unworthy of his attention. He spotted Daisy and
immediately crouched down on his haunches.

"Hello," he
said softly. Daisy clung to my leg, half hiding her face behind my
thigh. "My name's Ryan. And you are Princess Daisy."

She smiled a
small smile at him and then turned her face up to mine, waiting for
me to give her permission to talk to the stranger. I couldn't give
her a reply, I was still so stunned he'd found us here so
quickly.

"How did you
know we were here?" I asked the detective instead.

Pierce stood
back up to full height again, which made him slightly taller than
me.

"Let's grab a
table and have a talk," he suggested, placing a hand on my elbow
and leading me away from the counter, where we had started blocking
other customers' view of the chocolate display.

I wanted to
pull my arm from his grip; it was second nature for me to not
touch. But Daisy was watching everything with childlike curious
eyes. I couldn't make a scene in front of my daughter. And as I
followed mutely behind the detective a strange thing happened. He
made sure there was no one in our way, no obstacles for us to
avoid. He took a-round-about path, ensuring we wouldn't bump into
anyone or anything. Ensuring I didn't have to jerk out of their
way. He offered himself as a buffer. As if he instinctively knew I
couldn't abide touching anything without preparing myself
first.

The only thing
he hadn't allowed me to prepare for, was him touching me.

He pulled
Daisy's chair out first, making a fuss about seating a princess,
then before I had a chance to recover from his sweet behaviour with
my daughter, he had mine out as well. His eyes met my own in a
challenge. Would I accept his gallant actions?

I let a small
breath of air out and sat myself down in the offered seat. His
smile was one of complete male satisfaction. I was tempted to roll
my eyes at him, like Daisy rolls hers at me.

"Are you both
all right?" he asked, after sitting himself down in the chair
closest to mine.

My eyes
automatically sought out Daisy's, but she was too busy dancing in
her seat to the music and people watching. I returned my attention
back to the man before me.

"We're here,
aren't we?" I offered as answer. He just nodded, as though that
made complete sense.

"And where to
after this?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned for our next
move.

"I don't
know," I whispered with a shake of my head, and then jumped when
Gen appeared at my shoulder.

Pierce's hand
came out and settled on my knee, helping to still the trembling
that had started there. The intimate move, which was so out of
character for a police officer to make, coupled with the plethora
of stimulation this café provided, made me push my chair back
suddenly and come to my feet. Chest heaving as I sucked in much
needed air.

I closed my
eyes, as I closed my fists at my side, and vaguely heard Gen say to
Daisy, "I need your help, Princess Daisy. I'm too busy to make a
sign up for Kelly the King Penguin. Would you help me out and draw
a picture, please?"

My eyelids
slowly opened and standing before me, also up from his chair, was
Pierce. He held my gaze with a steady look in his eyes. Offering a
form of grounding as Genevieve distracted my child.

What was happening to me? Where had my shields all gone? This
behaviour was hardly confident, was it? I was a mess and I didn't
think I could get a handle on it any time soon. But I needed to.
For Daisy.

"Are you ready
to sit down again?" Pierce asked, no judgement in his tone. Just a
simple question, as though he was asking my opinion on the
weather.

I nodded
shakily, and he reached around to pull my chair back into place. I
sat while his hand was still on the back of it, so his arm brushed
the sleeve of my shirt.

Fuck. I'd done
that on purpose. I hadn't waited for him to move, my body had just
acted, hoping I'd feel the brush of his arm. Seeking the contact, a
form of casual contact I usually shunned.

My hand came
up and covered my mouth, as I breathed heavily through my nose.
Pierce watched me, leaning back in his chair and giving me a
semblance of space. But I had the impression he could see right
through me. Could see every internal battle my body and mind were
currently having.

My eyes jerked
to Daisy, finding a set of crayons and a few sheets of paper set
out in front of her. She was already carefully outlining a shape
that could generously be called birdlike. I turned back to
Pierce.

We needed help.
I
needed help.
At this rate I could not do this alone.

"What
happened?" he asked, leaning forward to murmur the words quietly,
in an effort to not have Daisy hear. With the loud music, and
barista banging, and happy chatting of the customers, I was sure
Daisy was in a world of her own. Especially now she had a penguin
masterpiece to create at the request of her new best friend behind
the counter.

This was it. The moment I let another person into my world.
And in all honesty, he is a policeman, it is his job to help people
like me. But this was such a dangerous tightrope to walk. I could
only ever let Detective Ryan Pierce know part of my story. I could
never,
ever
, let him know the
entirety of my regretful acts.

So, I needed
to be at my best, to manoeuvre this conversation where I needed it
to go, and away from where it must never be.

Just then
coffees were placed in front of both of us, a glass of water in
front of Daisy, and three Kelly King Penguins on a single
plate.

"
Bon app
é
tit
and all that jazz!" Blonde number two announced
cheerfully from over our shoulders.

"Thanks,
Kelly," Pierce said just as cheerfully, and I cringed.

"Your name is
Kelly?" I asked, mortified we'd named a King Penguin after her.

"And what a
super name it is," she said with a wink at Daisy, who was giggling
as she nibbled on Kelly's namesake.

The young
woman sauntered off with an exaggerated swing to her hips. I spun
back to see if Pierce was watching the show, but his eyes were on
me.

"Drink up," he
ordered softly, head nodding towards the coffee before me as if I
didn't understand the command. And it was a command, he expected me
to follow his instruction.

I crossed my
arms over my chest and stared back at him. He might be a police
officer, a detective in the Police Force, but he was not the boss
of me.

Oh God, too
much alone time with a five year old. It was beginning to rub
off.

He lifted his
own coffee to his lips and smirked, as though he was enjoying my
immature defiance.

But damn it,
the coffee did smell good. I shifted in my seat and then reached
out and snatched up the cup, downing a good portion before I
managed my next breath. Pierce actually let out a laugh, hiding the
response with another sip from his own cup.