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And I hadn’t dated at all since my husband passed away. First, I was too grief-stricken, and then, I was raising my kids.
Could Deacon and Adam teach me how to meet a guy? They knew what men their age liked. I didn’t want a younger man. Not that the two of them were that much younger, but eight years still seemed like a lot…
And now I was picturing all the yummy things either of them could teach me about relationships. When did I become such a horndog?
“My point is, my life is status quo. Yeah, maybe I’ll start dating again—not that I’ve had any luck so far.” Why did I say that?
“How are you not having any luck dating?” Adam’s question sounded sincere rather than taunting.
Me and my big mouth. I sighed. “First of all, I’m looking at the town’s two most eligible bachelors.”Keep talking before one of them grabs that and runs with it. “Where am I supposed to meet someone? I’m not a bar person. Or a church person anymore.” I still had my faith, but it wasn’t attached to the religion I’d grown up in, and I wasn’t always on the best of terms with Him. “Dating apps? I had one of those installed for about two weeks. Swiping right… Do you know how many dicks are out there, messaging with inane and trite lines?”
“Enough to make you use the worddicksapparently.” Adam sounded amused.
He was earning my full supply of withering looks today, but he had a point.
“I’m not surprised every guy wants to know you.” There was Deacon again with the kind of boldness I rarely knew how to respond to.
This time, I did. “It’s like this for every woman on a dating site. I’ve had it confirmed.”
“Or your friends are almost as hot as you are,” Adam said.
My cheeks heated. “Or I’m more of an antique than half the things in this shop, so I look like an easy target.”
“Hey.” Deacon’s voice was sharp. He reached across the counter to loosely grasp my chin and looked me in the eye. “I would put you on any display shelf, but you deserve better. And you arenotan antique.”
The power in his voice stole my thoughts and my breath.
I reluctantly pulled away from his touch. “You can’t lose your shop. We have to find a way to save it.” I needed this conversation on anything but me, my lack of a love life, and the faint scent of Deacon’s cologne mixed with wood and sunshine.
“There’s not a way. Adam and I have been brainstorming for days,” Deacon said.
“And I’m super creative when it comes to new ideas,” Adam added.
He was a brilliant idea guy, but that didn’t mean he’d thought of everything.
“You didn’t brainstorm with me.” Why was I pushing this so hard? Right, because I loved this shop, and Deaconwasa friend.A few daysof brainstorming wasn’t enough. “I could help you find a solution.”
Deacon worked his jaw, and Adam looked between him and me.
“Give me a good reason why the three of us shouldn’t at least try.” I forced the challenge into my voice.
TWO
DEACON
I didn’t wantto lose my antique store. I loved my little corner of rural-burbia.Rural-bania? Rural-banalia?
Besides, the shop had been in the family for generations in one form or another. If I lost it now, I’d never forgive myself.
Brooke was brilliant—and far more stunning than she realized, though that was beside the point—but I had no idea how anyone could get me out of the fact that this shop barely stayed solvent. It wasn’t like I could justtry harderto make enough to comply with the new building codes.
I’d be doing myself, my shop, and Brooke a disservice, if I didn’t keep looking for answers and hear her out, though. “Give me at least one good reason why you don’t deserve to find a man who loves you for who you are,” I said.
What was I doing?
Based on the twin looks of shock staring back at me, Brooke and Adam wondered the same thing.
“Because your shop is an amazing and wonderful thing, and my love life has been non-existent for more than a decade. I don’t even know how to date anymore,” Brooke said.
