A Moment on the Lips (A Whistle Stop Romance, #3) (9 page)

“Okay.”

What? Had he heard her correctly? “You’re okay with that?”

She nodded. “How about you choose ten off my list, and I’ll choose ten from your list?”

So she could be reasonable when she wanted to be. Perhaps this compromise thing wouldn’t be too painful.

“You’ve got yourself a deal.” He held out his hand to her across the table.

Her gaze moved to his hand, and then hesitantly she slipped her hand into his. He hadn’t noticed until then how delicate her hands were next to his. He liked the way her fingers slid across his palm, sending the most stimulating sensation coursing through his veins.

When her gaze rose to meet his, he noticed her eyes appeared to be a different color at different times. It was kind of like the mood rings some of the girls wore back when they were kids. Each color represented a different mood.

Piper’s eyes had a bluish-gray tint now. What mood would that be? Had their physical connection roused a need within her? His gaze dipped to her lips. He longed to pull her toward him and claim her mouth with his own. It was torture wondering night after night if her kisses were sweet or spicy. What exactly was Piper like when she let her hair down?

All too soon, she pulled away. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Her words jarred him from his fantasy. He didn’t like it, but she was right. It was time he got back to work. “Tomorrow it is.”

J
oe tossed and turned all night.

After he’d gone over Piper’s list and made a bunch of notes about the ways they could meld his economical ideas and her excessive ones, he couldn’t turn his mind off. Thoughts of Piper plagued him. Knowing she was just on the other side of the wall, since they both lived over their businesses, was quite disconcerting.

In the darkness, his mind had wandered into the dangerous territory of imagining what she might be wearing to bed. An old T-shirt? A frilly nightie? Or was she bold and bare? The torturous thoughts kept him wide awake.

He punched his pillow and flopped over onto his stomach. He assured himself that Piper wasn’t what had him so rattled. It was this monk-like existence that he’d exiled himself to that was taking some adjustment. He’d get used to it. Eventually.

When the alarm beeped at five thirty the next morning, Joe pressed the snooze bar not once, not twice but three times before he dragged himself from the bed. Instead of his normal six o’clock run, he headed out at seven. Usually, a few minutes into his run, the adrenaline started to flood his system, and he felt charged up. But today, all he could think about was how to face Piper after he’d fantasized about her the night before. The thought had him groaning and pushing himself faster, harder on his jog around the still-quiet town. The residents who were up and about waved and greeted him. It helped lift his spirits to know some people were willing to give him a second chance.

After a quick shower, Joe pushed open the door to the bakery, not the least bit surprised to find a line of people at the counter picking out pies, cookies, and pastries. He’d only been in town a day or two before he figured out just how popular the Poppin’ Fresh Bakery was with the town’s residents. And if it wasn’t for his father’s premature death and the doctor cautioning Joe about his own risk for developing heart disease, he’d love to sample each of Piper’s amazing creations. The delightful smell made his mouth water, but he’d refrain. He promised himself. Still, they looked better than any pastry had a right to.

And so did the owner.

Piper glowed as the customers raved about her pumpkin gobs and cinnamon rolls. The smile on her face reached up and made her eyes glitter. A stab of jealousy plunged into him when he realized she never smiled like that for him.

Then he recalled their first meeting, when he’d wanted to replace the wounded look on her face after her mother’s insensitive comments. When he hadn’t been able to resist complimenting her, she had in fact smiled like that. Her whole face had glowed. Maybe he should do it again. What would it hurt? The reward would be that brilliant smile of hers. It was much better than being at odds with her. Most definitely.

When Piper noticed him staring, her smile faded. Ouch! He really had fouled things up with her. He needed to do better. He wanted to show her that he could be a nice guy.

She waved him over to the side, where she handed him a frosting-free bear claw as well as a stiff, black coffee just the way he liked it. A fuzzy, warm feeling grew in his chest. The fact that she’d remembered and taken time to make him a pastry without the frosting touched some part of him that he’d thought had died along with his marriage.

With his treat in hand, he moved to the table next to the window that had
Poppin’ Fresh Bakery
in large white letters in the center of the plate glass. The same table he’d shared with her yesterday. Today’s meeting was definitely starting on a much better note. He eyed the pastry. When he bit into it, he couldn’t stop himself from moaning in delight. The woman was definitely talented. He finished it in a few bites. He licked his lips. Delicious.

As he dusted off his hands, he glanced over to find Piper giving him an expectant look. The warm feeling in his chest wavered and disappeared. He knew that look. He’d been on the receiving end of it many times in the past—back when he was married. Piper hadn’t done any of this out of the goodness of her heart. She wanted something...

♥♥♥

S
everal minutes into their meeting, Piper stared down at her handwritten list of events for the fundraiser. With every item Joe had scratched off, she could feel her blood pressure climbing. The urge to give him a piece of her mind grew with each passing second. He was being utterly unreasonable.

But a logical, reasonable voice told her a fight would only hinder their plans for the fundraiser, and she had too much riding on this event. She was so tired of the pitiful looks about her broken engagement and the well-meaning words about her finding someone else. It was time she gave the people of this town something else to talk about.

“You can’t mark off all of the entertainment,” she said firmly, doing her best to keep her outrage in check. “What will people do to have fun?”

“Didn’t we already have this conversation?”

He was right. They had. There was no point in wasting time. “Okay, there’s only one thing we can do. Compromise.”

A smile pulled at his lips and eased the stress lines marring his face. “That’s the first thing you’ve said that I totally agree with.”

Her insides fluttered. “I think between the two of us we should be able to come up with an event that’s fun but cost-efficient. So are you ready to bend a little on the bottom line?”

“A little, but we need as much of the revenue as possible for the town’s revitalization. Have you looked around the town square? Really looked around? The place is in shambles. And I was shocked to see the gazebo has rotten wood. It’ll have to be taken down to the studs and rebuilt. Then again, with that amount of decay, I don’t know if any of it can be saved. They might have to start from scratch.”

This is one area where she was ahead of him. “We’ll have an estimate soon enough.”

“What? But how?”

“While I was feeding your work crew, we were talking. I mentioned the upcoming fundraiser, and the men were interested in helping out. The foreman said he’d give us a quote on the repairs needed. I also called the local nursery to get a quote on the various shrubs and trees that need to be replaced as well as some flowers, just because.”

Joe leaned back in his chair. “I had no idea you’ve been so busy. It would seem that I’ve been slacking.”

“I didn’t mind doing it. I know you have a lot on your hands with starting your business and looking after your mother.”

“Still, I volunteered for this project. I want to do my part.”

“Then let’s start negotiating these activities. It seems neither of us was able to come up with the designated ten activities without a lot of notes.”

With a clean piece of paper, Piper sat with her pen poised to start listing the not-going-to-happen, the has-potential, and the must-have events. When he pointed out the various costs involved with some of the games, she started to see where he was coming from.

She’d stick with the games they could build themselves and where the materials were inexpensive. Joe acknowledged her effort to cut costs, and soon he was finding ways to make her list of games work.

A couple of hours later, Piper smiled as she glanced over the list of must-haves. “So the Autumn Fest is going to have food, bingo, a cake auction, a gold fish game, a couple of dart games, a couple of pick-the-lucky-number booths, a Ping-Pong ball into the fishbowl game, a basketball toss, a hot-dog-eating contest, a milk-bottle toss, a birthday game, a sack race, tug-of-war, the lucky rubber ducky game where everyone’s a winner, and, of course, a live band and dance. Best of all, everything can be created inexpensively and easily, and it’ll be lots of fun for all ages.”

She took a breather after reading the long list. Her gaze wandered across the table to find Joe grinning at her. Her stomach fluttered again.

“And don’t forget that we’re kicking off the festival with a 5K run.”

She placed an asterisk next to an item on her list. “I’ll make sure to move it to the top of the list. In fact, we can get flyers up right away and get the sign-up process started. It’ll be a good way to get people talking about the festival.”

Joe nodded in agreement. “Looks like when we put our minds to it, we can come up with some good ideas. Don’t you think?” When she nodded, he continued. “We still have to line up volunteers and arrange for the supplies.”

“But we’re still missing something.” For the life of her, she couldn’t nail down what they’d forgotten. It was just a nagging feeling that wouldn’t leave her.

“I don’t think so.” Joe glanced at the list. “The only thing missing are carnival rides, and we just can’t swing that.”

“No. Not that.” Her lips pursed as she continued to feel as though she’d overlooked something. The thought was lurking just out of her reach. “We need something special, something that will be a big draw.”

Joe shook his head. “We can’t afford anything else.”

She frowned at him. “I haven’t even told you what I was thinking.”

“Doesn’t matter. You know the council didn’t allot much money for this venture. As it is, we’ll have to see how much people and businesses will be able to donate, especially the lumber for the game booths.”

“A dunking booth.”

“What?”

“We need a dunking booth. I was at a fair last year where tons of people lined up to listen to the guy in the cage making colorful comments. And they’d roar with laughter when he fell into the water. Men were laying down a lot of cash to dunk the obnoxious guy. And frankly, I couldn’t blame them.”

Joe paused and gave her an are-you-serious look. “You do know that you’d need to rent a dunking booth, right? And we have no money left in the budget.”

She refused to let him rain all over her good idea. This event would be a huge success that people would talk about for a long time. “Fine. I’ll rent it with my own money.”

“What? But why?”

“Why not? It isn’t like I’m going to buy your shop, so I have some extra money.”

“And you think this dunking booth is going to be that big of a draw?”

She nodded. “And you can be the first volunteer.”

“Whoa there.” He held up his hands and shook his head. “Not me. I’d rather face down a scorpion or a rattler than get in my swim trunks and make a fool of myself in front of the whole town.”

What was up with this guy? Didn’t he ever let his guard down and have some fun? He was far too serious. He needed to loosen up. Besides, she’d love to see him with his shirt off, wearing nothing but some board shorts. What she’d spied of him this morning in his running shorts and sleeveless shirt had left her mind spinning and her screwing up order after order.

He’d be a huge draw for the ladies. Uneasiness churned in her stomach. Suddenly, the idea wasn’t quite as appealing. Was it possible she was jealous? No, of course not. She had no vested interest in him. None at all.

“Come on, Joe. It’s for a good cause.”

He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “It isn’t going to happen. I’m not going to shout out ridiculous taunts while sitting over a pool of cold water. I volunteered to help organize this event, and that’s as much as I’m willing to do for this town. If you want someone to sit in your dunking booth, you’re going to have to look elsewhere.”

She refused to give up on him. Whatever had happened to this man had certainly hardened him. What had him living within a protective shell?

She planted her elbows on the table and leaned forward. “And if your name just happened to show up on the list of volunteers for the dunking booth—”

His eyes flared. “Don’t you dare.”

She couldn’t help but smile. “You know life is way too short to be sooo cautious. Sometimes you’ve just got to learn to laugh at yourself in spite of it all.”

Piper made a mental note to add his name to the dunking booth list. She was certain he’d spy it before the festival. It’d be a fun gag. And who knows? Once he spotted it, he might actually change his mind about participating. Stranger things had been known to happen.

She glanced across the table at him as he answered a text message. He wore his serious expression like a badge of honor. What had him tied in so many knots? And what would it take to get him to let down his guard?

W
here had the weekend gone?

Monday showed up unceremoniously.

And with a large dose of exhaustion.

Piper yawned and stretched. She wanted to convince herself that her inability to sleep soundly had everything to do with the rush to plan the upcoming festival and nothing to do with her sexy co-chair. But even she wasn’t that naïve.

Ever since the day he’d shaken her hand and gazed deep into her eyes, something had changed between them. It wasn’t something she could put a name to. It was something subtle, yet it was significant. She inwardly groaned. She was so confused.