The Seduction Request (14 page)

So if Matt wasn't the cause of her trepidation, what was the problem? That's when she'd realized, she wasn't unhappy about having a flower shop. She was unhappy about leaving Marlette. As stressful and crazy and frustrating as it could be at times, she loved her job. She worked nutty hours, not just for the money, but because she took so much pride in keeping the nursery on its feet. She was happy there, and even if she wouldn't be the one at the helm, she didn't want to leave until she knew they would open their doors for another season.

And Alex didn't seem to give a damn.

“Think big,” Alex said, leaning closer. “If you could have anything in the world,
any
job, what would it be?”

She said without pause, “I would want a nursery like Marlette.”

“Suppose you had a chance to buy Marlette? Would you?”

She could only dream it. It was completely out of her financial realm of comprehension. “I could never afford it. And even if I could, I'd be out of business before I started. We just don't have the clientele we used to.”

“Suppose you had enough contracts lined up to keep you in business?”

“Alex, we both know that we've lost practically every bid this year. There are no guarantees.”

“What if there were?”

He was leading her somewhere, and she wanted to know what he had up his sleeve. “Okay, what's the deal? What are you getting at? Do you know something about the lost bids?”

Alex grinned down at her. “Think about it, Em. How do you suppose I knew your millionaire didn't go to any other nursery. Who had access to all that information in those bids we lost?”

“It was you?” she asked, feeling as if she'd been poleaxed. “You were the one leaking the information?”

“I can't believe you didn't figure it out before this.”

The betrayal she felt was so stark, so deep, she was numb with it. “Why would you do it? I worked so hard—”

“A business is always a better buy when it's about to go under. My mother is fed up and she wants to sell. You'll get it for a steal.”

“Me?”

“Yes,
you.
You're going to buy Marlette.”

“Are you telling me that you deliberately almost bankrupted the business just so
I
could afford to buy it?”

“I told you, I'm not as incompetent as you think.”

“Are you nuts?” Emily could barely comprehend what he was telling her. And she couldn't believe he would do that for her. Marlette was his livelihood. His legacy. “What will you do? Where will you work?”

“Anywhere else. I've hated this God-awful business since the day my mother bought it. The only thing that kept me here this long is you and your passion for keeping it going. But I've had enough. I'm ready to move on.”

She didn't know what to say. She couldn't even believe it was real. “But, is that fair to your mother?”

“My father left her a fortune when he died. She's not going to be hurting for money.”

“But, what about clients?”

“I've got a dozen new clients contracted for the spring,” he said. “So, what do ya' say?”

“Yes,” she said, but it came out more like a squeal. She covered her mouth to contain a bubble of laughter. “Yes, I'll buy it.”

“I'll let my mother know and get the ball rolling.”

She was going to own Marlette Landscape. It could be Douglas Landscape or anything else she wanted to call it. It would be all hers. She could barely suppress her excitement. Her office walls were the only thing keeping her from going in a dozen directions at once. She could hardly wait to tell Matt—

And just like that, her bubble burst. She wouldn't be seeing Matt again. Not even as friends. It would be too hard, hurt too much. She'd already decided it would be best for them both if they cut all ties. Even if she could forgive Matt, which she was sure she could, they would never have any kind of life together. She had a business tying her to Chapel and he had a life—superficial as it was—in California. Business would forever dominate his time, and she would always feel as if she were in second place. She was finished compromising herself. For once in her life, she wanted to be number one.

There was no point in dwelling on it any longer. She had a nursery to run. From this day forward, Matt was out of her life.

“I'll have to call my parents, tell them I won't be needing the property—” She gasped and shoved herself up from her chair. “Oh, no!”

“What?” Alex shouted, nearly falling off the edge of her desk. “What's wrong?”

“I don't need the property. Oh my God, what time is it?”

Alex checked his watch. “Three-fifteen.”

She fumbled in the file cabinet for her purse. “I have to hurry. I have to stop them.”

“Stop who?”

“The demolition crew! They're going to tear it down today. Matt can buy the property!” She found her purse and rummaged through it. “Oh, where are my keys?”

Alex hopped off her desk and yanked his keys out of his pocket. “I have no idea what you're talking about, but it sounds exciting. I'll drive you there.”

S
he was too late.

By the time she got there, Touchdown was gone. The only thing left was an enormous pile of rubble. And even that was fast disappearing as a crew dumped the remains in enormous trucks to be hauled away.

“That's one big heap of garbage,” Alex said, shaking his head. “What a waste.”

“You missed the show.”

Emily turned to see Ty walking up behind them. “When did they do it?”

“Noon.”

“How is Matt taking it?”

“Why don't you ask him yourself? He's at his hotel packing.”

Emily squelched the sudden rush of panic rising
up in her at the thought of Matt leaving Chapel forever.

It's over, she reminded herself yet again. He couldn't stay and she couldn't go with him. It was hopeless.

Ty nodded to Alex. “How's it going?”

Alex returned the nod, adding a touch of flair. “It's been better, and you?”

“You know,” Ty said with a shrug, then added, “So, you're gay?”

Alex's brow quirked up with surprise at the blatant question. “Why, you interested?”

Ty's eyes widened and he took a step away. Emily had to bite her lip not laugh.

Alex rolled his eyes. “A homophobe. Great. Don't worry, fly boy, my heart belongs to another.”

“Behave,” Emily said, and turned to her brother. “When is he leaving?”

“When is who leaving?”

“Matt.”

Ty frowned. “Matt's not leaving.”

“But you said he was packing.”

“He is packing, to move into his rental house.”

Emily suddenly felt dizzy, as if the world had shifted on its axis. “Rental house?”

“I found him a place this afternoon. He's decided to stay in Michigan for a while.”

It doesn't mean anything, she told herself. Not a single thing. He would leave eventually. He had a business to run. A life in California.

When she didn't acknowledge him, Ty added, “He's even talking about selling the Touchdown chain and taking some time off.”

“Oh.” She tried to swallow, but all the moisture in her mouth had evaporated.

“Is that all you can say?
‘Oh.'
”

Right now, she couldn't say anything. Her heart was beating way too hard and fast for her to think straight.

“It's been five days,” Ty said, draping an arm over her shoulder. “Don't you think you've tortured the guy enough? He wants a reason to stay. He loves you for cripes sake.”

“But what if he decides to go back? What then?”

Ty shrugged. “You'll work it out.”

“Though it pains me to say it, I'm afraid I have to agree with your brother,” Alex said. “At least go talk to him.”

Matt might not be going back to Los Angeles. He might be selling his restaurants. He'd told her he loved her, that she was what was missing in his life.

Could the message be any clearer?

“Alex,” she said. “I need your keys.”

 

Matt dropped his bags in the doorway and looked around the foyer of his rental house. Rental cars, rental houses—he really needed to get some permanence in his life. Tomorrow he would go out and buy a car. And if anyone gave him a reason to stay in Michigan permanently, he might look into having a house built. Something that
wasn't
a mansion.

But as rental houses went, this one wasn't too bad. When his furniture arrived, it would be downright livable.

“Kind of small, isn't it?”

Matt spun around and almost tripped over his luggage. His heart did an end-to-end flip when he saw
Emily in the doorway, a potted fern hanging from each hand.

“You think it's too small?” he asked, following her gaze up the vaulted ceiling in the great room, over the stone fireplace and slate mantel and beyond to the formal dining room.

She took a few steps in, looking around. “Are you kidding, I have closets bigger than this.”

A twenty-two-hundred-square-foot closet? Even he didn't have one
that
big. He nodded to the ferns. “Friends of yours?”

“Oh.” She looked down, as if she'd forgotten she was holding them. “These are for you. I heard you might be in town for a while and thought you might like the company. You know, someone to talk to.”

She was fishing, big-time. Pumping him for information. Let her sweat a little, he decided. God knows she'd made him sweat his share this past week. “Thanks. They'll look great in the kitchen.” He took them from her, his fingers brushing hers in the process. It was all he could do not to drag her into his arms and never let go.

He set the plants on the brick floor leading into the kitchen. “I heard from Ty that you talked with your parents. How did that go?”

“As well as can be expected, I guess. I've promised to be honest with them and they've promised not to nitpick and stick their noses in where they don't belong. It may take some time, but I think they're coming around.” She took a few more steps in, wedging her hands into her shorts pockets. “It's really beige in here, huh?”

“Yeah, rentals are funny that way. I figure I won't
be here long enough to paint, though, so I'd better get used to it. I only have a three-month lease.”

That wasn't what she wanted to hear, though she was trying damned hard not to let her disappointment show. She took a step back toward the door. “So, you'll be going back to California?”

“Maybe, maybe not. It just depends on whether or not I have a good reason to stay.”

“Like…a job?”

“Maybe.”

She nodded, looking thoughtful. “I hear they're hiring at the Dairy-O on Main Street.”

“Really. Sounds…challenging.”

“Of course, that's only seasonal. They shut down during winter.”

Grinning, Matt took a couple of steps toward her. “I was thinking of something a little more permanent than that. Something with an emotional attachment.”

She took a few steps in his direction, her brow crinkled in thought, then she brightened. “I know. You could get a dog. Or a cat.”

“I could do that.” He closed the last few spaces between them, and gently pulled her to him. She just about melted into his arms. She smelled so good and felt so right, he didn't know how could have missed it before. “Or, I could get a wife.”

Head against his chest, she nodded. “You could get one of those.”

“And maybe a couple of kids?”

She looked up at him, eyes narrowed. “I don't know about that.”

“Not necessarily right away,” he added.

“So there's no confusion here, you are talking
about us, right? Because I'm going to feel really stupid if some supermodel pops out of the kitchen.”

He couldn't stop the goofy grin from spreading over his face. He'd be damned if this wasn't exactly where he wanted to be. “I'm definitely talking about us.”

“What about L.A.?”

“California just isn't where I want to be anymore. I don't know if it ever was. Everything I could want—have
ever
wanted—is right here, in Chapel.”

“I thought you hated it here.”

“So did I. But it's who I am, and I realized, you can't run from who you are. I'm staying, and if there's anyone who doesn't like that, it's too damned bad.”

She squeezed him harder and sighed. “You should know, I have a career to think about. You're looking at the future owner of Marlette Landscape.”

There was no mistaking the satisfaction in her eyes, or his own feelings of pride. “Congratulations.”

“I'll be really busy, so don't get any ideas about keeping me barefoot and pregnant.”

“If we did—have kids I mean—maybe I could stay at home with them part of the time.”

Her brow crinkled. “You? What about work?”

“In another couple of weeks Touchdown is going to belong to someone else. We're negotiating the contracts right now. I figured it was time I tried something different. Something a little less demanding on my time. I've got all this money, I might as well enjoy it. Right?”

“What would you like to do?”

“I've been thinking about that a lot. I got a degree
in physical education as a fallback, and I hear the coach over at the high school is talking about retiring. I've really missed the game, so I thought, what the heck, I could apply for the position.”

“A high-school football coach?”

He frowned. “You don't think so?”

“No, I think you'd be a great coach. You'll be good at whatever you choose to do because that's the kind of man you are.”

He hoped he was good enough for Emily. Good enough to keep her happy. This was all new to him. He didn't want to screw it up. “I can't promise that I won't say or do something dumb and hurt your feelings every now and then, even if I don't mean to. I'm going to make mistakes, Emily.”

“And I can't promise that I won't lock you out of the bedroom and make you sleep on the couch for a day or two. But I'll forgive you eventually.” She looked up at him, his entire future shining in the blue of her eyes. “I'll always forgive you, because I love you, Matt.”

“I love you, too, Em.”

He couldn't hold back any longer. He cupped the back of her neck with one hand, nudged her chin up with the other, and proceeded to kiss her socks off.

This is it, he thought as he savored the sweetness of her mouth, the silky softness of her hair in his fingers. This was his for the rest of his life. He'd finally found it, that feeling of utter contentment he'd been searching for.

Hard to believe, it had been waiting for him all this time, right in Emily's arms.