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Did Way Too Amused Guy ask if she was trying to seduce them? She wasn’t, clearly not… but… hmm…
It wasn’t like she was fondly attached to her virginity or anything. It had become a thing she had to take care of to tick off her list. So… she might as well do it for a good cause, right?Right?
She had possibly already blown her one chance to salvage the meeting, and she had already made a very poor impression on them for all her good intentions. She had nothing to lose.
She awkwardly crossed her legs and put her hand on her hip, jutting it out a little.
“Will seducing you work?” she asked softly, aiming for sultry but came off as a little too breathy. Flirting was not her strongest suit. She usually just smiled and men fell for her. But something told her they were different. She had smiled at them. And really, everything that she had done so far would've been called adorably funny if this were a movie. Endearing. A meet-cute even. Yeah, no, this felt more like a B-grade horror movie.
They didn’t answer her immediately. Instead, they took a long moment to share a deep and private look among themselves. But their enigmatic faces gave nothing away.
“No,” Unimpressed Guy said with such severity she felt offended.
“Why not?” she cried. What? How was this even happening? She had just offered herself to three men and they rejected her. And not even with a polite no thank you, ma’am. Unimpressed Guy basically growled his answer at her as if she had offended him by even suggesting she was up for seducing them.
“Miss King, we’ve entertained whatever this was for long enough. We agreed to this meeting out of courtesy to your father. Nothing you say or do will change our minds. The demolition process is set to begin on the fourteenth of the month.”
“You can’t. I won’t let that happen. Please, just listen to me. Full disclosure. I thought Marjorie had given me a toy shop and not a sex shop, so of course, my presentation was based on appealing to your inner child. And of course, I was under the impression that when Marjorie referred to you as three old grouches you actually were three old grouches. I mean you seem grouchy but you aren’t old.”
“We’re leaving.”
Before she knew it, she had slid into the path of Unimpressed Guy and held her hand out to his chest. That was the second time she had touched him and he seemed to hate it.
He seemed to hate her. Fine.
She turned her attention to Penetrating Stare Guy and Way Too Amused Guy. She really did need to learn their names. Or not. She could call them Enemy One, Two, and Three.
“This place has so many memories for Marjorie Brown. It’s where she met her beloved husband. He proposed to her right here, in this very place, decades ago on Valentine’s Day.” And also consummated the engagement right there, too, she thought. She shook her head to get back on track.
“This entire store is what is keeping the smile on an old woman’s face. Do you really want to take a wrecking ball to a dear old sweet woman’s face and smash her memories? Because that’s exactly what you’ll be doing if you tear down this iconic place. This shop has been in existence since the fifties. Think of all the lonely people who come in here, a place they feel safe and welcome, where they know Marjorie by name, and then they buy a toy that would give them hours of pleasure.
“Think of the many couples who get to strengthen their physical bond when they walk in here. Romance and love, and yes, sex lives here. Don’t take it down. Changing the location of this shop will not be the same. It has to stay where it is, right here where the Browns grew their love both emotionally and physically and where they extended that goodness to the rest of their clientele. Please, don’t take it down. You’ll be removing not only a piece of history but also the whole of one woman’s heart. A woman who is eighty-two years old and only has her memories to keep her warm.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
She did the best she could with what she had, and still, she knew it wasn’t enough. Tough crowd.
“Our decision remains.”
And fuck, one more time.
“You have until the fourteen of February to clear out your stock, or it goes down with the building. You don’t want to take us on.”
They began to file out.
Ansley glared at the retreating backs of the three tall men. And to think she thought they were the most gorgeous male specimens she had ever encountered.
They were not.
They were mean and unfeeling. She had poured her heart out to them. Yes, it had been unrehearsed and a little disjointed, but it was true. When Marjorie spoke of her little toy shop, stars shone from her eyes. She loved everything about it, and she had constantly spoken of her regular customers as well. So what if Ansley had thought they were parents or aunts and uncles and grandparents, and of course, maybe they were, but they were now just buying toys for themselves. She could get behind that.
But they, the three men who were exiting the building, taking with them all the heat and air and life, were cold-hearted bullies. They deserved to be put in their place, and she was the girl for the job.
Oh, they had no idea what a little monster they had unearthed. But they were soon going to find out. She wasn’t going to let them win. Not without fighting tooth and nail and nipple ring, since that seemed appropriate now.
It was happening.
The Shlykov brothers were going to be in for the shock of their lives and in the end, they would be most humbled to tell her the shop can stay.
