Love Under Two Jessops (3 page)

“She’s absolutely right. We’re going to offer relaxation massage, which is beneficial for both men and women.” Chloe wouldn’t try to sell any of the men on manicures, at least not yet. She knew that in some of the big cities, some men enjoyed having their nails groomed and neat. She didn’t think that would play out very well here in Lusty—at least not until she got her business well established. “But I’m also looking to hire someone who’s trained in the holistic art of therapeutic massage.” Then she grinned, because there was nothing she liked more than talking about her spa. “Anyone with a host of conditions—chronic pain, muscle strain, arthritis—well, they can get a doctor’s note, receive treatment, and some insurance plans even cover that.”

Gord nodded. “Now that’s the thing. I can’t lie. There are days when my back tells me just how much older I’m getting. Doc Jessop mentioned a couple months back that I should consider getting massage therapy. Couldn’t see the sense when I’d have to go clear into Waco for it.” He shrugged and looked a bit sheepish. “But heck, local’s a whole other story. I’ll give you a call and set something up, soon as you’re up and running.”

“Thank you, Gord. That would be great. You won’t be sorry.”

“You’re welcome.” Then he tipped his ball cap to her, and turned to her sister and repeated the gesture. “Miss Carrie.”

Chloe and Carrie both stepped back to allow the man to get into his vehicle. Moments later he carefully edged his truck away from the curb, and with a final wave, he drove off.

The few people who were out and about on this cool January Saturday stopped and offered admiring comments about the sign, and asked Chloe when she’d be open for business.

“The second Monday in February,” she said. And then she mentioned that she would be beginning booking appointments the week before she opened.

Oh my God, that’s just a month from now!

Carrie put both hands on her shoulders and ducked her head as she met Chloe’s gaze. “You look a little green, Chloe. Are you all right?”

Well, at least she’d managed to distract her sister from all that crazy cow-eyes talk. “I’m fine. I just realized that there’s really not a lot of time left before opening day.”

“But it sounds like, once the spa is open, you’re going to be busy.”

“God, I hope so.” There was, of course, a part of her that worried about that more than a just a little. Folks were showing a lot of interest now, but it could very well be they were just being polite.

“One thing I remember Kelsey saying when she told me about how she started up
Lusty Appetites
,” Carrie said, “she expected business to be slow, but it wasn’t. There hadn’t been a restaurant in town in more than a decade—no one had wanted to run one after the last one closed down. So when she opened her doors, it was like folks wanted to make sure she felt her venture was successful, so she wouldn’t change her mind about it. And do you know what?”

Chloe couldn’t keep the smile of her face.
This
was the grown-up version of the Carrie she’d known before their family tragedy. This young woman standing before her appeared happy, carefree, and yes, self-assured.
All those things because she landed here in Lusty and hooked up with those cowboys. Because she reached out and accepted what was being offered to her.

Chloe would forever be grateful to this town and those men for helping her sister to heal. The transformation was an answer to a long-held prayer. She swallowed the lump in her throat. “No, what?”

“I think it’s going to be the same for you. You open a relaxing day spa, with a good staff that makes the ladies feel like princesses—and the same thing is going to be true for you, too.”

“Maybe so.” Maybe her new business
would
thrive. And maybe—just maybe—her heart would thrive here, too. Maybe the miracle her sister had found in this small Texas town could be repeated, for another of the Rhodes girls.

The only real question was whether or not she had the strength and the courage to put the past behind her and start living in the moment—whether or not she had the courage to dare to reach for her heart’s desire—to accept what
she
was being offered.

Her thoughts trailed to those firefighters just down the street. They
had
been making cow eyes at her, and she had felt the power of those looks deep inside her, body and soul. Maybe, the next time they flirted with her, she’d not only flirt right back, she’d take them up on that offer.

The only thing that Chloe sometimes missed, living in the quiet community of Lusty, was the sparkle and noise of a big city. There really wasn’t any nightlife in town. Sure,
Lusty Appetites
stayed open until ten on most Saturday nights, and folks gathered there. If anyplace could be called the “center” of town, then this restaurant was definitely it. Beyond that, the community center held dances once a month, and they were fun, but that was about the limit of what was available for outside entertainment.

There certainly was no place like The Dancing Pony—a very nice nightclub over in Divine—here in Lusty. There were a couple of nightspots—bars—out on the state highway. A night out there involved a drive of about a half an hour each way. She’d indulged in partying with a few of her new friends a couple of times since moving to town. And while she’d had a good time, it just wasn’t the same as being able to go out, party hearty, and then get home in a just few minutes.

Not that she was a party girl, because really, she wasn’t. But as she settled down at her chosen table in the restaurant, getting ready to order dinner, Chloe just thought it was a damn shame that most evenings—and tonight in particular—she had no place to go after dinner, but home.

Of course, home these days was a lot different than the generally nondescript, often too-small apartment she’d become used to since she began living on her own nearly fourteen years ago.

The first few nights she spent in Lusty, before officially moving here, she’d stayed in the apartment her sister had rented on
her
arrival in town.

Now Chloe had her own place, though it wasn’t an apartment. Chloe was living in a
house
.

It was the first house she’d lived in since she left her foster family when she’d come of age, and Chloe still wasn’t certain exactly how it had come about.

After the incident last fall, the Town Trust—or, more specifically, Kate Benedict and Samantha Kendall—had decided she ought not to have to return to the bad memories that might be waiting for her at that particular apartment building.

Chloe sighed as her thoughts circled around in her head. She really was sick of thinking euphemistically. Today had already been a day for daring to think she might actually take the chance to begin to live again. Perhaps it was time to face reality straight on, and see if she couldn’t, finally, put things in their proper place. And she’d start with what, in her conscious thoughts, at least, she’d dubbed “
the incident
.”

Incident, hell. That was no incident.

The word “incident” brought to mind a minor event, something that may or may not have emotional linchpins. It was time to acknowledge what had really happened. Chloe mentally nodded to herself and dared to form the thought in her mind.

I blew a man’s fucking brains out.

Yes, she had. That wasn’t really news at all because the realization that she’d killed a man had been with her, lurking in the shadows and hanging over her head like a dark cloud twenty-four seven since it had happened. This was, however, the first time she’d really
owned
that thought, and the action. Now it was time to accept the rest of the truth. Inhaling deeply, she finished her mental summation of the event.

I really had no choice.
If I hadn’t fired my gun, George Lockwood very likely would have killed Sheriff Adam Kendall.

Chloe was sorry,
very
sorry that she’d taken a life, and she sincerely hoped to God she would never have to do anything like that
ever
again.

But right now she accepted as truth for the very first time that her actions had been
completely
justified. She closed her eyes and went one step further.

Killing Lockwood had been the right thing to do.

It
had
been the right thing to do. Of course it had. Her emotions crystallized and Chloe felt a bit of a loosening of the tension within her.

“Hell of a time and a place for an epiphany.”

“What was that, Chloe?” Emily Anne Bancroft, one of the two waitresses working the evening shift on this Saturday night, gave Chloe a smile as she handed over a menu.

Chloe hadn’t realized she’d spoken aloud. “Nothing, Emily Anne. Sorry, I was just talking to myself.”

The waitress nodded. “I do that all the time. And usually, not only within the hearing of other people, but the
wrong
other people. I get the strangest looks sometimes.” Emily Anne blinked, and Chloe was reminded of an anime character like the ones that were so popular these days. Emily Anne could have been the model for them.

She nodded her head to let Emily Anne know she wasn’t alone there. Actually, talking out loud was just one more thing they had in common.
Neither one of us could be called slender, either.

Chloe said, “It’s a trial, isn’t it? I don’t know about you, but half the time I don’t even realize I’m doing it. The words just come out without my permission. It can be embarrassing.”

“I know! But one thing I can say for sure, since coming to Lusty, I get a lot fewer strange looks when my mouth overrules my brain. This town just takes me as I am and makes me feel okay about myself.”

The woman’s grin was infectious. Chloe felt a kinship for Emily Anne because they’d hit town within weeks of each other. “Amen to that,” she said.

Emily Anne comically cleared her throat, and then asked, “Do you need a few moments to scan the menu, ma’am, or are you ready to order this evening?”

What Chloe
wanted
to order was a big juicy hamburger with fries on the side. Carrie, who was manning the kitchen tonight, made some of the best burgers Chloe had ever tasted. Unfortunately, sometimes just inhaling the aroma of a good burger and fries put the weight on. She handed the menu back to Emily Anne. “I’ll have a house salad, no dressing, please, and an order of the low-fat chips and salsa. I’d like a little of that fat-free sour cream on the side, too.”

“Gotcha. Do you want sweet tea, or a Coke?”

She could order a Diet Coke, but the soft drink didn’t go with salad, in her mind. “I’ll just have a glass of water, thanks.”

“Gosh, you’re easy to please.” Emily Anne followed that cheeky comment with a huge grin, and Chloe couldn’t help but laugh.

Chloe felt more tension desert her. Thank God. It was probably just as well there was no place to go after dinner
but
home. The mood she’d been in since calling it a day at the spa wouldn’t mix well with the availability of alcohol.

With her luck she’d go somewhere, have too much to drink, and run into those two deliciously handsome Jessops who’d been making “cow eyes” at her. What she might say or do under the influence of a couple of stiff drinks just didn’t bear thinking about.

At least not out in public, away from her bedroom and her private toy drawer.

If she was going to start heading in a different direction, it would be better all around if she did so stone-cold sober.

Movement caught her eye and she looked to her left. The door to the restaurant opened and two hungry and hunky-looking men stepped in.

Both hunks were built with muscles to spare. Blond hair, blue eyes, the older one’s features slightly more edged, they were enough to make any woman melt into a pile of hormonal goo. Their images were in her mind, morning, noon, and night. She knew, for example, that the younger one’s hair was a lighter blond, his face almost cherubic, but his older brother’s eyes were a shade darker and far more piercing in their stare.

Oh my God, I just thought them into coming in here.
Of course she knew she hadn’t, but that wasn’t how it felt. As those two minor mountains surveyed the restaurant, she knew their gazes would land on her.
Check
. And then, likely, they would exchange a look she couldn’t read and then head right over to where she’d so recently set herself down. They’d think nothing of simply strolling over and joining her at her table.

Check and double check
.

I’m not ready for this! I need more time!
As they drew near, she fixed a scowl on her face and told her inner imp not to ask why, if she truly
wanted
to be left alone, she’d chosen to sit at a table that could seat four, instead of one of the smaller tables scattered throughout the restaurant that would only seat two.

“Hello there, Chloe, love.” Andrew sat down beside her and gave her one of those heart-melting smiles he seemed to have in endless supply.

Grant simply sat across from her and said nothing. But his laser-like blue eyes stared at her, arrowing straight to her soul, while stoking her fires and stroking her feminine parts in passing.