All I could do was hope Tony's investigation would uncover something that let me know what had her so frightened. Something that would explain why Blossom looked at me like she loved me one second and feared everything the next second.
"Sir," she started with her customer service voice back in place. "Which flowers would you like?"
Fuck the flowers. Tell me what you’re afraid of. Tell me how to make you smile again.
"Um..." I cleared my throat, trying to get my mind right, not wanting to scare her more than she already was. "I think... I think I'll take the red tulips."
Your favorite.
Her gaze drifted toward the display beside us.
"How many?" she asked.
Enough to fill my beach house with.
"Three dozen," I answered. "And some nice vases for them also."
"Certainly. Please wait near the register while I prepare your flowers."
I didn’t want to wait near the fucking register. I wanted to stay by her side. I wanted to go back to a moment ago, when she was talking to me and smiling at the flowers, explaining what form of love each one represented.
I hated this cool, calm persona of hers. I hated this mask. It was worse than having her retreat behind Juliet’s mask again. Worse than having her speak to me through a voice modulator again.
It had felt so good to hear her real voice, to have her laugh with me, talk to me, stare at me as if she longed for me the way I longed for her. No one had ever stared at me that way before. No woman had ever yearned for me with an intensity that left me breathless before.
Damn it, I wanted this woman! All of her. Every part. The good that was right before me and the bad that she was running from. It was killing me to be this close to her and still unable to hold her in my arms.
For the first time in my life, wanting something wasn't enough to make it mine. I had more money than I’d ever need, yet I couldn’t buy her trust. I couldn’t force it. There was nothing I could do.
I felt useless in the face of her fears. I wouldn’t be okay until I figured this shit out. She was focused on the flowers now, carefully arranging the tulips inside the vases I'd purchased.
It had to make her uncomfortable having me standing there, staring at her. But I didn’t want to take my eyes off her. I was afraid she’d disappear somehow if I looked away.
“Please wait at the register,” she said again, and I noted the tremble in her voice.
Just tell me what's wrong. Tell me who you're afraid of. Tell me who's keeping you from telling me who you are, and I'll take care of them.
But saying that would only frighten her more. Or, worse, it would make her think I was an insane killer. And then I’d become the one she feared. It was best if I found out what the problem was on my own and took care of it without her knowing.
Not wanting to make her more uncomfortable, I turned and walked toward the register. Each step I took away from her felt like a knife stabbing through my heart. As I waited where she’d told me to wait, my gaze drifted behind the counter.
A closed laptop sat on the small workspace beside the register. I stared at it for a second. Had she ever chatted with me from that laptop while standing in this very shop? Had Juliet flirted with me in between helping customers pick out flowers?
Is this where she’d been when she’d been hacking me? My eyes were still on the laptop when she walked behind the counter, pushing a cart that held my vases of flowers on it. Following my gaze, Blossom looked toward the laptop.
"Don't worry," she said quickly. "I don't slack off at work. That belongs to my employee."
“If you say so,” I muttered, irritated at her for continuing to lie in my face.
I didn't believe her for a second. Something about the way she'd rushed to explain it only made me more suspicious.
“Give me a second to prepare Care Cards with tips on how to care for your flowers,” she told me.
Tell me how to care for you, Blossom.
Those were the kinds of tips I needed. Even so, I remained silent, watching her work. Soon she'd ring me up. Then she'd hand me my flowers and thank me for shopping at Blossoms and Vines.
After that, she'd expect me to leave. I couldn't just leave. Not this time. I needed to do something. Something that made her understand I wasn't her enemy. She didn’t have to fear me. She didn’t have to fear anything when she was with me.
