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A bump of her hand sent the teetering stack of papers, folders, and mail on the left side spilling to the floor. She cursed under her breath as she knelt to scrape everything back into a pile, then dug around in her desk drawers a good ten minutes before she found her spare keys. Karma was really bitch-slapping her with the need to get more organized.
“I’m listening, Universe,” she muttered. “I promise. I’ve learned my lesson.”
But first, she wanted to get her Jeep, and she really wanted to see what was left of the apartment building. She snagged a wool poncho sweater from the front, pulled some cash from the register for the much needed bra, then went to pour a cup of coffee for the two and a half mile walk.
After an odd moment of hesitation, she found herself turning back to add a dash of cream and sugar. She didn’t usually add the extras, but black seemed too bracing this morning. Too much like the soot she was sure to find at the apartment. She gave the lighter liquid a brief stir, then skimmed her fingers over the beads strung across the door of her reading room as she headed out with her keys.
She was pulling the door closed behind her when Loyal came through the door from the second floor stairway.
“Hey,” he said conversationally. “I wondered where you went to.”
Since he had to wonder no more, she didn’t bother to respond past a tight-lipped smile. His dark pants, white shirt, and a charcoal suit coat were tailored to perfection for his broad shoulders and tall, athletic build. He should’ve looked stuffy and uptight with the starched white collar and pressed lines in his pants, but he’d left the top button undone, and wore the clothes with an effortless confidence that made her pulse speed up.
He’d combed his stylishly cut dark hair, but he hadn’t bothered to shave the stubble lining his strong jaw. The ruggedness only added to his sex appeal. You’d think his years-long animosity toward her would make her immune to his handsomeness, and yet the man’s beauty still took her breath away every time.
His gaze dropped to the cup in her hand and his expression turned hopeful.
“Is there more where that came from?”
She wanted to say no. Be the jerk to him that he always was to her and tell him to take a hike to the coffee shop three blocks away. Instead, she sighed inwardly and stopped her door from latching. She had made a full pot in anticipation of serving customers who now wouldn’t be drinking it, so no need to let it all go to waste just for spite.
“How do you take it?”
“A little sugar, a little cream.”
The jolt of that reveal made her swallow hard as she extended her cup to him. “Take this one and I’ll get myself another.”
He accepted it with a curve to his mouth that made her pulse skip. She wasn’t used to being on the receiving end of his genuine smiles. The mocking ones? Those she was all too familiar with.
“What do I owe you?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
He lifted the cup in salute. “Thank you.”
“Yep.” Before she got lost in that unexpected smile and the yummy scent of his cologne slowly infusing the hallway, she pushed the door open and slipped back into her shop.
“Roxanna—”
Nope.
She shut the door on whatever he was about to say. Her heart might be blind when it came to Loyal Diamond, but she wasn’t stupid. She was too emotionally vulnerable to let herself get drawn in when all it would take was one caustic remark from him to slay her wide open. The man had a knack for saying just the right thing—or the exact wrong thing, as the case may be.
After pouring herself a cup of black coffee, she exited Lift Your Spirit through the front door and turned east into the bright sunshine. While the afternoon temps usually climbed to around sixty degrees even in late October, the mornings were frosty, and the warmth on her face was welcome.
She’d
fully expected to spend her walk mentally going over everything she needed to do after the fire, but instead, her thoughts stubbornly remained on Loyal.
When it came to him, Idiot was her middle name. She’d been pining for the guy from the first time Asher introduced her to his older brother—all because of a stupid vision she’d had when she was nine. These days, the details were fuzzy save for the distinct voice saying, “The love of your life will be loyal and true.”
Hearing Loyal’s name for the first time, foolish, twenty-two year old, stars-in-her-eyes Roxanna decided Fate had led her to her soul mate.
Her soul mate, however, hadn’t quite felt the love. Far from it.
Granted, he’d been engaged and days from the altar at the time, but when Asher mentioned she was a psychic, his older brother had first laughed, then snorted with open disdain. She found out later his fiancé had been a frequent caller to the psychic hotline she used to work for. The woman had spent thousands, then left him on their wedding day. Asher told her one of the psychics convinced his fiancé he wasn’t the right guy for her.
After that, Loyal’s remarks became more direct. More scathing and hostile. The worst was four months ago, when he’d called her a whack-job in front of his entire family and guests at his parents’ thirty-fifth anniversary party. Usually, she could shake the words off, but that night, he’d reawakened a whole host of insecurities she thought she’d managed to bury in her past.
