Neal (Golden Streak Series) (7 page)

“Did you know? About the money? Did you
know that your brother was going to get it for me? What did he do? Threaten him
with his cat, or did he just tell him what was going to happen and he did it?
And why is he suddenly giving me the building project? Because you fucked me in
the front seat of his car, or is it because of me being there when his kid
decided to make an appearance? Either way, I’m not taking it.” Neal pulled into
a large drive and waved to the man at the gate as it open. “This is not going
to work out.”

He stopped the car and turned in the
seat to look at her. “Okay first question, yes I did know that he’d gotten the
money owed to you by Sanders, and I told him after the fact when I found out
that you’d be pissed. He said that he wanted to help you, and he’d done it
before I knew it. And he wants me to be your accountant. Secondly, if you’re
going to blame everything on you and I having sex on the front seat of this car,
I’m going to bend you over my knee and beat that luscious ass of yours until I
come all over you. He was already going to give you the project before any of
this. The others hadn’t worked out the way he’d wanted them to, and after
looking over your drawings, he could see what you’d come up with, and they both
decided to give it to the person who had what Ryland and Bronwyn wanted in mind,
not what the florist wanted.”

Her mind had stuttered to a stop when he
said he was going to beat her butt. She looked at him, realizing what else he’d
said. “How did he get my drawings?”

“I don’t know. Your mom maybe?” He
looked out the window and then back at her. “This is my home and I’d very much
like for you to come inside and meet Carl while I get some things gathered up.
I shouldn’t be more than twenty minutes.”

“I’m sorry.” He nodded and got out. She
had hurt him, but it didn’t keep him from coming around to her side of the car
and opening the door for her. She looked up at him. “I am sorry.”

“It’s fine, Rayne, I promise. But you
need to trust me, and when you fly off the handle like that, I have to work
hard not to pull you over my knee and….” He took a deep breath. “It’s me. I
should have told you when Ryland told me what he’d done. I think he spoke to
the others as well. You might be happy to know that he’s a good man and his
heart is in the right place, but he’s a pain in my ass too.”

They went into the house by way of the
kitchen. She was overwhelmed when they entered the biggest room she’d been in
besides her showroom. She was just looking at the double-wide refrigerator after
Neal had left her there when a man stepped out of what she thought was a
pantry.

“Well, hello there, miss.” He was as
wide as he was tall, but he didn’t frighten her like a lot of big men did. “I’m
Carl Winchester, cook and chief of this place. You’re the new mate.”

She flushed, knowing just how he’d
figured that out. Neal’s scent would be all over her right now. She wanted to
take a long shower but was pretty sure from what her mom had told her a long
time ago that the scent of a mate would never wear off.

“Rayne Morrow and yes, I guess I am. Neal
went to gather some things to wear at work in the morning. He said he’s going
to work for me, but I don’t really need him because my mom said she’d be there,
but there is no telling him that because he….” She took a deep breath and he
smiled at her. “I’m nervous.”

“I can see that too. Are you hungry? I
was just about to toss together some dinner for me and the rest of the staff.
We thought that Mr. Neal was going to his mother’s for supper.”

“He was, but Bronwyn had her baby and
they all went to the hospital.” He nodded as he put something on the counter. He
started pulling things from the refrigerator she’d been admiring.

“I’d heard she’d had the baby. She’s a
lovely woman.” He handed her a knife and a head of lettuce. She sat them both
down. “You don’t wish to help?”

“I know nothing about cooking. My mom does
but not me. I can barely open a can of soup without nearly cutting my fingers
off.” She took a step back as he laughed. “I’m not kidding. I will hurt
something if I try.”

He handed her the lettuce. “Then tear it
up. No bigger than an inch and a half. I’ll do the rest of the cutting. Then
when Margaret comes in, we’ll put her to work with you. Shouldn’t be any more
than a minute or two.”

A woman of about fifty came into the
room and smiled at her. Carl introduced her to the woman and she took over the
lettuce and gave her a peeler to do the carrots. In no time she had several
large carrots ready and was peeling two cucumbers when Neal walked in. She set
everything down only to have Neal hand them back to her and stand behind her as
she cut up the carrots and other vegetables. He laughed with Carl when he told
him about her inability to cook.

“You’ll stay to eat then?” Neal looked
at her when Carl asked. She was having fun, and the smells coming from the pots
on the stove made her mouth water. She nodded and told him if he didn’t mind,
she didn’t either. Forty minutes later she and Neal were sitting at the large
kitchen table with all of his staff, all eight of them having the best
spaghetti and marinara sauce she’d ever eaten.

“We try and have a meal together at
least once a week, but lately I’ve been a little too busy to enjoy this.” Neal
asked her if she wanted more pasta and she shook her head as he continued. “Carl
has been working for me since I bought this house. Actually, he came with the
house when I bought it, as did his wife, Margaret. Then over the ensuing years
the rest of his family joined us.”

Neal grinned around the table, and she
looked at them all as he introduced them all to her. They were very nice, all
of them were. When Carl started to clear the plates, she stood up and gathered
a few as well. He told her to have a seat, that he’d made dessert for them. She
was surprised when he pulled a smallish cake from the deepness of the refrigerator
and presented it to her and Neal. It had so many flowers on it that she knew
that he’d done this for them.

“We’d heard, you see, that he’d taken a
mate. We were to have a dinner for you tomorrow night when he brought you by,
but you turned up tonight. Bronwyn warned us you might be coming and I hurried
through this one.” He handed her a knife. “Don’t cut anything but the cake,
mistress, and welcome to the Golden family.”

She was so touched by what they’d done
that she had to swallow several times before she could speak. They had done
this because she was Neal’s mate. Looking around the room at them, she wondered
how they would treat her if they knew what she was, and tried her best to shrug
it off. Neal kissed her wrist as she held the knife and took it from her. He
was serving the others their cake when she found her tongue.

“Thank you all so much. I…I don’t know
what to say. This was the kindest thing you could have done for me.” Carl
nodded as he took a healthy bite of his cake. She opened her mouth when Neal
told her to and moaned when he put a piece of the cake in her mouth. She could
get used to this kind of treatment.

Chapter 7

They were pulling onto her street when
they noticed the line of cars the next morning. Neal was almost afraid to ask
her if this was her usual Saturday morning rush when his cell phone rang. He
handed it to her and she answered it.

“It’s your brother, Ryland. He needs to
speak to you.” He took the phone from her as he navigated through the traffic
to where she was telling him to go at the back of the shop near her apartment. He’d
never seen so many cars.

“Are you on your way in to work?” He
told him he was going to the shop with Rayne. “That’s what I mean. I’m here
now. I thought you said you guys would be in at six.”

“We got sidetracked.” He looked over at Rayne
and smiled when she blushed. “I think you’ve been sidetracked a few times
yourself since you took a mate.” He wouldn’t tell his brother that having sex
in bed was by far better than he’d ever had before. As well as the tub, the
office, and also his closet for that matter. Hell, any place was a good place
to have sex as far as he was concerned. He couldn’t wait to try out the other
rooms in the house.

“Well, I’m here along with the rest of
the family. Bronwyn is home, of course, but we…can you please get your asses
here before there’s a riot?” He heard Rayne say his name and he turned to look
where she was pointing. The cars were lined up in front of her little shop and
there were at least fifty people standing in line to get in. He asked his brother
what he’d done.

“I just told a few people. I swear. I
did take out the ad in the paper, but it wasn’t a whole page. Bronwyn said that
would be for later. Then there were the calls mom made. Not that many, just to
her garden club and her quilting club.” Neal relayed the information to Rayne,
who nodded.

“How am I going to help this many people
today? I have two trucks coming in this morning and another this afternoon
after I close. If I can close. What am I going to do?” He was suddenly panicky
because she was.

He said everything to his brother,
trying really hard not to upset the woman who was currently gripping the handle
so tightly he was sure she was going to break it off. He could run the register
a little but not like her or her mom did. He almost missed what his brother was
saying.

“What do you mean one is there now? At
the shop?” Ryland said he and Brock were unloading the truck but were running
out of room to put things in her showroom. Could they please hurry? Neal pulled
up behind the building and saw them all standing there with Ryland on his cell.
As soon as he hung up, he made his way to them.

“I had to break in to help out. You need
a better security system.” He grinned. “We didn’t know where you wanted things.
I’m thinking you should just have the sale out here, but I think that you might
run out of room here too.” Rayne glared at him and walked to the driver, who
was still helping them pull things off. “I think she’s pissed at me. Is it
because I broke in or because of the lines of people coming in?”

Neal glared at his brother. “You think? What
the fuck were you thinking? She’s terrified. She’s not used to this sort of
help, and, frankly, I’m a little terrified myself. I said I’d help her.”

“We all are. I already sent Jules in,
and he’s working with her mom to get the register down pat. Mom and Ally are
walking around the floor so they can find things. Those maps she had on the
counter helped out a lot.”

Neal walked away from his brother. It
was that or kill him. Rayne was just loading up a stack of ceramic pots to take
inside when he found her. She looked ready to cry. He took her into his arms.

“I’m going to be swamped and all I can
think about is how badly I want to kill Ryland. Or maybe hug him. This is going
to help me pay off my mom sooner if I can manage to sell anything today.” He
told her she would do fine and his family was going to help them. “I need to
get this in and open up. I guess two hours early isn’t going to hurt me.”

The floor flooded with people as soon as
she unlocked the doors. He had suggested that they open a second register, and
she told him she didn’t have one. Ryland sent someone to get one against her wishes,
but he had a feeling they were going to need it. Rayne was finishing putting
the first truck on the floor as the second one, this one with flowers and soil,
pulled in. Christ, he didn’t realize how much inventory you could get on one of
those suckers. And not only that, but the amount of inventory she needed to run
just a flower shop like this one.

By nine thirty she was up to her elbows
putting together planters that were selling as fast as she got them completed.
He was helping as best he could, but sometimes she’d move faster than him and
he’d miss a flower or two. But it didn’t seem to matter. If it wasn’t nailed
down and had a price tag on it, people were buying it. By eleven there didn’t
seem to be an end in sight, and that’s when Carl and the rest of his staff
showed up with lunch.

Sandwiches were passed out among the
family, and everyone ate while they worked. He was sure that he’d eaten dirt a
couple of times, but he didn’t care. He loved what was going on now that he had
a chance to see that it was working. When the next truck pulled in, he went out
to unload the trees and another round of flowers and soil. He asked the man
where he was taking the rest of the merchandise he had on the truck. He said it
was a back haul. He told him that the last stop didn’t want it and he had to
take it back to where he’d picked all this up at. After a few calls, Neal was
able to get the company to sell him all that was on the truck for twenty-five
cents on the dollar. The driver was so thrilled he didn’t have to drive it back
that he helped unload it and even hung around to help load a few cars with
their purchases. Said he didn’t want to fight that traffic again if he didn’t
have to.

Things started to slow around two, and
by four, they were finishing up with the last customer. Rayne had been working nonstop
on several planters that were going to be picked up in an hour, and he went
back to help her. Her mom was sitting there talking to her with his mom.

“I don’t care, sweetheart, but we should
really consider it. Even if my calculations are even half right, you’ve done
more business today than you did all of last year. You can afford to hire some
extra help.” His mom nodded as she picked up the thread.

“And think of the business you’ll have
once the front lobby is finished. My goodness, there will be people lined up
the door.” Rayne looked at her. “Okay, that was a bad reference, but I for one
had a blast today. Who knew that so many flowers could be put together in one
little vase and look so lovely?”

“I did. And I can’t expand yet. I still
owe more on this place than I can afford during the off months, and in a few
months no one will want planters. They’ll want to see fall things…then Christmas.
I don’t know how to do that.”

“I can.” They all three looked at him.
“I know a great deal about marketing, and there is no reason you have to close
for any more than a month, like in January. I think with the right merchandising,
you could do a great business year round. Especially if you wanted to bring in
live Christmas trees, as well as cut ones.”

She looked up at him. “You have your own
business to work at. And this is…today was a fluke, people coming in out of a sense
of duty because your brother told them to.” He shook his head. “Are you telling
me that most of these people here don’t have some sort of connection to the
Golden family?”

“Most of them did, yes. I won’t argue
with that, but no one asked them to spend as much as they did. And I’m sure
that’s what they came here to do when they pulled up too. Fulfill a request
from a very powerful and rich family and nothing more. But no one told them to
spend hundreds of dollars like they did. Mrs. Patterson, a friend of my mom’s,
spent nearly a thousand dollars and gushed about it the entire time. Mr. Gable
told me he’d never seen this place before the ad came out in the paper and only
came out to shake your hand and to buy a posy or two for the missus. He left
here with over five hundred dollars worth of posies as well as the order you’re
doing now for his law office.” Their moms left, and he sat down in front of
her. “And I made a deal with your distributor when the last truck came in. He
said that he’d sell you all the back load merchandise you could handle for a
quarter of the price he was selling it for just so he won’t have to haul it
back. Not to mention he said he’d give you a thirty percent discount if you
were to pay net thirty.”

“I don’t have that sort of money, Neal.
Do you have any idea how much all this cost me already? If it wasn’t for net
ninety, I couldn’t make this work at all right now.” He took her hand as she
continued. “I only wanted to do this to be able to live. Those sorts of terms,
net thirty and buying merchandise that I can’t afford, will make it so I
can’t.”

“I was going to talk to you about this later,
but now seems to be a great time. You need a partner, one with money to spend
and a great deal of personal interest in your business.” She looked at him. “As
much as I would like to say it’s me, I can’t do that. We’re going to be a
couple and I don’t want money to be an issue with us over a business deal. I
was talking about Golden Enterprises. I would be a part of it, but not as close
as I would normally.”

“I don’t want a partner.” She moved her hand
through the dirt, and he watched the plants she’d put in it seem to grow as he
watched them. “I would love to make this business bigger than it is, but taking
on a partner like your brother would make me have to do things I don’t want to
do.”

“Like what, love? You can pretty much
write your own ticket here as you’re going to be the one doing most of the work
while all he does is rake in the profits with you.” She snorted, and he leaned
back in the chair and pulled the last two pots toward them as she moved the one
she’d been working on out of the way.

“I can’t do this from a prison cell, and
I’m sure that’s where I’d be if he were to try and boss me around.” Neal
lowered his head and tried hard to hide the smile. “Not to mention your
sister-in-law is bossy. I don’t need another mother.”

“Good thing, too, since I don’t want to
be your flipping mother. And you should also know that as your partner, I’d
expect a big discount too.” Bronwyn moved in the room and sat down. “Hello,
Rayne. I heard you had a good day. Wanna do it again Monday?”

~~~

It was nearly seven o’clock before they
all moved out to their cars. They were going to the diner to eat and her mom
was nervous and excited to have them there. Rayne was so tired that she just
wanted to sit down and eat anything that was put in front of her.

She’d placed another order, too, while
Neal and his brothers cleaned up. Her mom and Mrs. Golden watered what little
was left in the show room as well as the trees. Ally helped her count out the
deposit as well as double checked that all the orders had been fulfilled and
gave her a list of what needed to be done and where it had to go. Ally was very
organized.

“I could do this. I could help you get
your orders in line and do the paperwork for you. I’m driving our cook insane
being at home all the time. I worked for Alistair for a little while, but that
didn’t work for us.” Rayne asked if they fought a lot, and Ally grinned. “No,
we were constantly having sex on the desk, in the break room, anywhere we could.
We weren’t getting a damned thing done working together.”

Rayne blushed. She thought about this
morning and how hard it had been to get out of the house. Every time he touched
her, she wanted to throw Neal down and have her way with him. Ally laughed as
if she could read her mind.

“Wait until he changes you. Christ, sex
as a tiger is amazingly wonderful.” Her skin tightened over her body, and she
looked up to see Neal coming toward them. Ally laughed and left the room,
telling her that she would love to come in and work for her starting Monday.

He sat down next to her in the
restaurant just as their dinner was being served. She looked down at her plate
and wondered what she’d ordered when he kissed her neck. She looked up at him,
dazed.

“I think we can assume that you’re more
tired than you’ve ever been, but you need to eat.” She had nodded at him while
he picked up her fork and handed it to her. “Ryland had a locksmith come by and
fix the door he’d broken. He said that you can make him feel better by putting
in a better security system.”

“I don’t have a security system at all,
and I think he knows that.” He laughed. “Did you tell him I don’t need a
sitter? That I know what I’m doing?”

“I think he figured that out today. You
impressed him and the rest of my family by what you managed to accomplish
today. He said he’d have you work for him if he wasn’t afraid of you murdering
him in his office one day.” He took her fork and cut off a piece of…it smelled
like curry chicken…and put it in her mouth. It was definitely curry chicken,
and she moaned as the taste exploded in her mouth.

His own fork stilled halfway to his
mouth, and he turned to her slowly. “Do you have any idea how many times I’ve
wanted to find you and take you to the floor until you screamed my name?”