Читать книгу One Mistletoe Wish - A.C. Arthur - Страница 11

Chapter 2

“Here’s the fuse box,” Morgan stated about two seconds before Gray’s hands brushed over hers.

“I’ll take care of it,” he said, moving her hand to the side.

“You don’t know anything about this building,” she snapped. Her hand was still warm from where he’d touched her and Morgan rubbed it against her thigh as if she thought that would erase her reaction to his touch.

He was holding his phone, with its glaring light, pointed toward the fuse box, but Morgan could see the shadow of his face as he turned to look at her.

“I own this building,” he replied.

Morgan huffed. “That doesn’t mean you know your way around it, or how much it means to the people of this town,” she quipped.

It was really hot in here. They were in the basement and Morgan tried to take a step back, but there was only a wall behind her. To her right was a door that led to the crawl space. To her left, the wall with the fuse box. Directly in front of her, the man with the flashlight and delicious-smelling cologne.

“But I do know how to turn on,” he began, still watching her and, if she wasn’t mistaken, moving a step closer.

Morgan tried to shift to the side, but she stumbled on some cords that were lying on the floor and ended up against his chest, again. The light from the phone wavered as his hands dropped to her shoulders, sliding down slowly as he kept her from falling. Embarrassed and irritated by the heat that had spread quickly from the hand that he’d touched moments ago to the rest of her body, Morgan tried to pull away from him. She slammed her back into the wall.

He shone the light in her face at that point, then looked at her as if he was going to...no, he wasn’t, Morgan thought quickly. He wouldn’t dare.

“It’s the last circuit breaker,” she said, hastily pointing over his shoulder. “That’s the one that usually blows. It’s been doing that for the past couple of months. Harry said he was going to look at it, but he hasn’t had a chance.”

Harry Reed owned the hardware store and worked part-time at his family’s B and B. He also did handiwork around the town in his spare time, for which Morgan knew a lot of people were very grateful.

Now Grayson looked confused, which was just fine because that’s exactly how Morgan was feeling.

“You just open the box and—”

He backed away from her and said, “I know how to flip the circuit breakers and turn on the lights.”

The phone’s flashlight moved and she could see him opening the box now.

“You’re right,” he told her as he began flipping the first breaker off and then on. “I don’t know about this building, but I do know about fuse boxes. Turn everything off and hopefully, when you turn it back on...” He let his voice trail off as that last fuse clicked off and then...

“All power is restored,” he said the moment the tight hallway they’d been standing in was once again illuminated.

Behind him, the kids who they couldn’t leave in the dark room alone cheered.

“Great,” Morgan replied. “Thank you.”

She let out a whoosh of breath as she hurriedly slipped past him. It was a weird move, she knew, as she flattened against one wall and shimmied around the spot where he still stood, but Morgan didn’t care. She simply needed to get out of that corner with him.

“That was fun,” Ethan said immediately as she approached. “Can we do it again?”

“I’m hungry, Ms. Hill,” Daisy Lynn added with a baleful look.

Morgan had a headache.

She looked at her watch and let out a sigh. “It’s almost time for your parents to pick you up anyway. So let’s get back upstairs and clean up our props. We’ll rehearse again tomorrow after Sunday services,” she told them.

She led the group up the basement steps and through the double doors. When they’d come down moments ago Morgan had instructed them to hold hands and onto the railing. This time, since the lights were on and probably because Morgan’s thoughts were somewhere else, she hadn’t instructed them to do the same. The lights were brighter in the upstairs hallways and the children ran to the main hall, where they’d been rehearsing. She was walking and thinking about him, but somehow completely forgetting that she’d left Grayson Taylor down in the basement.

“Considering running away before giving me the tour of the place?” he said from behind her.

“What?” Morgan said as she spun around to face him. Her feet almost twisted as she did, but luckily she was able to right herself. Why had she become so clumsy around this man? “I’m not running anywhere. I have to tend to the children first,” she told him.

He nodded, but didn’t seem to believe her. That irritated Morgan and her headache throbbed more insistently.

“Look,” she said with a sigh, “I may not be the right person to give you this tour. I’m pretty attached to this building. And to the hospital, since I was born there. That means I’m going to be pretty irritated when you knock down the buildings or sell them off to some developer who’ll knock them down to build a strip mall or some other big-city franchise that we don’t need around here.”

Damn. She hadn’t meant to say all that, at least not to his face. He slipped his hands into the front pockets of his pants and watched as she wondered what to say next. Nothing about her personal feelings, she decided. Temptation was her home. These buildings, the landmarks and the people all meant something to her. She understood that it would be difficult for outsiders to understand that connection, but Grayson Taylor wasn’t an outsider. At least, he shouldn’t have been.

“Millie Randall works with the chamber of commerce. Her office is in city hall. She’ll be the better person to show you around. They open Monday at nine,” she said with finality and turned to walk away.

“It’s not my intention to knock anything down,” he told her. “I plan for a quick sale.”

“That’s your business, Mr. Taylor,” she replied without turning to face him.

“I’m not your enemy,” he said when he’d easily caught up with her.

“And you’re not a friend,” she replied. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go.”

She did have to go. The children were waiting for her. Their parents would arrive soon and she needed to clean up the hall and then get Lily and Jack home to feed them dinner. She did not have time to hang around at the community center with the man who could single-handedly take the building away from them. She definitely did not have to like how he looked and smelled, and damn, how it felt whenever he touched her. No, she didn’t and wouldn’t like any of that. Morgan promised herself she would not.

* * *

Gray ran fast and hard across the field of crisp frost-tipped grass. The air was cool and the sky a dull gray. The scents of nearby animals and the sounds of early-morning farm life wafted all around. This wasn’t the NordicTrack he used in his home gym, or the three-mile track that looped around the top level of the condo building where he lived. Gray ran on either of those on a daily basis. When he was out of town on business, the five-star hotels where he stayed always had state-of-the-art gyms with top-of-the-line equipment, including pools where he could indulge in slow leisurely laps to relax his muscles after a hard workout.

The brochure on the table in the room had called it the Owner’s Suite, but to him, it looked like a top floor had been added to an old horse’s stable.

Gray had been out for more than an hour and he was sure he’d run well over five miles by now and seen more grassy hills and fog-covered mountaintops than he had in all his life. It would have been a breathtaking view for someone who didn’t prefer the city life of bright lights, fast cars and hot women.

The latter, Gray thought as he made his way back to the portion of the Haystack Farm & Resort he’d rented, was what had him up at the crack of dawn. A hot woman camouflaged in a baggy running suit and surrounded by a circus of kids. He’d thought about her all night long. To the point where what sounded to him like someone strangling a rooster woke him just before he’d embarrassed himself with only the second wet dream of his life.

His feet crunched over the graveled walkway that led to the stables and Gray slowed down to a brisk walk. Stretching his arms above his head as he continued to move, he inhaled deeply and exhaled quickly, hoping the immediate slaps of cool air would erase the memories. All of them.

It didn’t work. As he approached the steps Gray stopped. He did a series of three quick squats, then lowered his back leg and began stretching. She wasn’t tall, he thought as he switched legs, his hands resting on his thigh as he lunged. Five feet and two or three inches tall, tops. She wasn’t built, either. Her clothes had been loose but Gray had always been able to spot a great female body. Hers was tight, compact, curvy in all the right places and trim in the others. She had intelligent eyes and a stubborn chin. Her hair was short, styled but not overdone. Her face was cute, not gorgeous, but stick-in-the-mind pretty.

Gray sighed and stood up straight. He put his hands on his hips and let his head fall back as he looked up to the sky. No clouds, no sun, just a blanket of slate. Only one day in this small town and he missed Miami already.

He ran up the steps and let himself into the loft suite that carried the faint smell of the air fresheners that were plugged into every electrical socket in the space, and the earthier scents of hay and horseflesh. There were no five-star hotels in Temptation. Only two bed-and-breakfasts and this fully functional farm, which also billed itself as a resort. There were no televisions, either. No internet connection and no phones. The signal on his cell was weak, but the electrical outlets worked well enough so at least they kept his phone and tablet charged.

The shower worked, he thought with a frown. Thank the heavens for that. Stripping as he made his way back to the bathroom, Gray reminded himself why he was here.

To inspect the buildings and put them on the market.

That was all.

When he stepped beneath the spray of hot water, he whispered again, “That is all.”

But the moment he closed his eyes and tipped his head beneath the water, he saw her face. Big hazel eyes, a pert nose and small, very kissable lips. He’d wanted to kiss her as they’d been standing in that dark hallway. When he’d stepped closer to her it had been his intention to lean in and touch his lips to hers. It wasn’t going to be gentle, rather demanding, hungry and needy. Gray dropped his head at the thought. He didn’t need anyone. He never had.

If it was for sex, which his body was telling him with no uncertainty that it was, then he could call any number of women the moment he arrived back in Miami. He did not need to acknowledge his arousal around some small-town woman with a chip on her shoulder. Except that when she’d brushed up against him, his erection had come quick and hard, both times. Just that brush of her soft body against his had made him want her. Gray cursed. It had been a very long time since he’d wanted anything, or anyone.

He picked up the bar of soap and used the cloth he’d grabbed before entering the shower. Building a thick lather, he placed the soap back into the vintage silver tray and began to wash the sweat from his body. Only each stroke of that warm and sudsy cloth over his skin had him aching more with need. After the first few seconds Gray wanted to drop that cloth and wrap his hands around his burgeoning length. He wanted to stroke and stroke until there was a blessed release. His eyes opened quickly with that thought as he gritted his teeth and fought like hell to keep his hands on any other part of his body aside from his throbbing arousal.

When she’d looked up at him he’d wanted to whisper her name.

Morgan.

Morgan Hill.

She was just a woman.

Just a woman that he wanted to sink so deep inside of that everything about this dismal small town and what it had done to his family would be washed from his mind, once and for all. Gray had no idea if that would work, or if he even wanted to bother. Morgan had children, which meant there was most likely a father to those children in the picture somewhere. That was another entanglement Gray did not have the time or the inclination to manage.

With jerking movements he continued to wash and then rinsed beneath the steamy water. Once his shower was complete he dressed and sat at the little desk that faced the window. The view was breathtaking, if one liked such a thing. Gray did not. A country setting, simple living—neither was for him. He reached into his leather bag and pulled out the files he’d brought with him. Without internet access in this room, he would have uninterrupted time to go over his most recent sales projections and R&D reports. There was no doubt that once he logged into his email there would be numerous issues for him to address. Even on a Sunday morning.

His mother used to love Sundays, Gray thought as he stared down at the papers, then up to the window. She loved walking in the sand and watching the tide roll in just outside the house they’d lived in on Pensacola Beach. That was the only time Olivia Taylor had looked peaceful, Gray recalled. The only time after his father had left them.

“Hello?” Gray answered his cell phone, which had begun to ring loudly, snatching him out of his thoughts.

“Hi. How’s it going?”

It was his sister Gemma. She was the oldest of the girls and the one Gray had been closest to since the two of them had taken care of the others when their mother began to get sick.

“Slowly” was his tired reply. “Apparently, the chamber of commerce doesn’t open on Sundays. Nothing in this sleepy little town does.”

“Weekends as a means of relaxation should be a crime,” Gemma replied with her ready humor. “This is the only day of the week that I have all to myself so I don’t want to hear one negative thing about it.”

Gemma was a hair stylist. She owned one of the largest and most reputable salons in Washington, DC.

“I’m not complaining,” Gray told her. “But I won’t lie, if I could get this taken care of sooner, rather than later, I’d be much happier.”

“I don’t know that I’ve ever seen you happy, Gray,” his sister said softly.

Oh, no, Gray thought with a shake of his head. They were not about to have this conversation. Gemma was the only one of his siblings who believed in the fairy tale of love, even though she’d yet to find her knight in shining armor. The fact that their mother had nursed a broken heart until her dying day didn’t seem to matter to his sister. Gemma staunchly believed that love would always find a way. Gray usually allowed his sister her dream, but today he wasn’t in the mood to humor her.

“First thing tomorrow morning I plan to march into city hall and speak with the rep at the chamber of commerce. It’ll be good to get an idea of what the buildings are currently being used for.”

“Why? I thought we were just going to sell them,” Gemma replied. “You don’t need that type of information to put them on the market.”

Gray had thought of that last night as he’d left the community center. He hadn’t needed to personally come back to Temptation, nor did he need an escort to show him around the buildings, either. It would have been much simpler to call his attorney and let him deal with the Realtors and the sale, an action he could have easily taken from his desk in his Miami office. There was just one thing stopping Gray from handling this the way he would any other business deal.

His mother.

“She would have wanted to know,” he admitted quietly.

Gemma remained silent for a few seconds.

“She would have,” she eventually agreed. “She’d always wanted to know about the town and how it was doing after we’d left. One of her greatest heartbreaks was that the loss of the money from our show and how the scandal that had followed our departure would have a negative effect on the town. She would have been happy to know the buildings were being used for something good, and she might not want us to sell them if they are.”

Gray rubbed a hand over his forehead. “I’ve thought about all that, too. Garrek and Gen were on the fence about selling when I spoke to them,” he said.

“Gia’s trying to open another restaurant, so she says the money from the sale would come in handy,” Gemma added.

“And Gage,” Gray said before sighing as he thought about the youngest brother.

Gemma made a sound that mimicked his frustration with their brother. “He’s so busy putting in hours at the hospital that he barely had time to sign that paper you had me take to him,” she said and then sighed again. “It would have been a lot better if all of us could have gotten together and talked this through. Mama would not be happy knowing that it’s been years since we were all in the same place, at the same time.”

“We were born in the same place, at the same time,” Gray stated drily.

“Now you sound like Gen, hating the way we came into this world.”

Gray shook his head at that remark. “No, I don’t hate that we were born. I just don’t like all the attention that came afterward and the way this town that supposedly loved the Taylors of Temptation weren’t there for us when everything came crashing down.”

It didn’t matter, Gray told himself immediately. When his mother decided to leave Temptation, her grandfather offered his vacation home in Pensacola Beach for her and the children to live in. His father, in a rare moment of generosity, hadn’t contested the divorce or the spousal support and alimony payments. Eventually, years later, their family began to feel the benefit of Theodor’s successful business endeavors through higher monthly payments. It was apparently much easier to write a check to his wife and six children than it was to live in the same house with them. The bottom line was that they hadn’t needed anyone from this town back then and Gray definitely didn’t owe them anything now.

“Look, I plan to have this wrapped up in the next day or so. I’ll send a group email when the listings are up and then keep everyone posted on the sales.”

“Right,” Gemma said. “Business as usual. That’s fine, Gray. I’ll be sending out my gifts in the next couple of weeks, so be sure to check the mail at your condo.”

Gray resisted the urge to sigh again. Instead, he squeezed the bridge of his nose. “You send us all Christmas gifts every year like you’re our secret Santa. We’re not kids anymore, Gemma.”

“No,” she said adamantly. “We’re not. But Mama loved Christmas. She always had gifts for us under that tree no matter the circumstances. It’s the least I can do to keep her alive in my heart, Gray. I know all of you have your way of dealing with the hand we were dealt in life, but this is mine so don’t try to take it away from me.”

After a few seconds of silence Gray replied, “I wouldn’t think of it.”

Gemma was right—she needed to deal with her life, in her way, just as the rest of his siblings did. Just as he did.

Gray ended the call with his sister and he was able to get lots of work done as the hours passed. Now, at close to six in the evening, he realized he hadn’t eaten all day. Grabbing his jacket, Gray left the room and headed into town. He had driven to Virginia from Miami, deciding that he might enjoy the peace and quiet of the fifteen-hour drive. It was a drastic change from using his private jet to travel the globe and hiring drivers for the shorter distances when he traveled for business. This time it was personal, and Gray was certain he could handle maneuvering the streets of the small town.

That thought was short-lived. Almost an hour later, after going up and down street after street looking for a restaurant of his liking, Gray finally parked his car in front of Pearl’s Diner on the corner of Sunset Drive and Evergreen Way. The first thing he noticed when he stepped out of his Porsche Panamera Turbo—besides the fact that the i and the e in diner were out on the lighted sign hanging in front of the establishment—was all the Christmas decorations. Thanksgiving had only been two days ago, but the holiday season was clearly in full swing in Temptation. Black lampposts positioned about six to eight feet apart had wreaths around the lighted tops and huge red ribbons in the center. Strung above the wires holding the street lights were large snowflakes formed from stencils and cheerful white lights. Funny, when he’d driven into town yesterday he hadn’t seen any of this, or perhaps he hadn’t wanted to see it. Could Gemma’s earlier reference to how much his mother had loved Christmas be the cause of his revelation now?

Another reason he may not have noticed the decorations before—the more logical one that Gray preferred to consider—was that he’d avoided driving through the main streets of town when he arrived. Instead, he’d made a wrong turn the moment he entered the town from the highway, forcing his GPS to reconfigure the directions to the community center. That had worked just as Gray planned and he’d ended up traveling through narrow streets lined with houses before pulling up on Century Road, where the old planked structure of the community center sat on a corner. Gray hadn’t wanted anyone to see him driving his fancy car through the old town. He recalled from his mother’s stories how quickly news—good or bad—traveled in Temptation and how much the townsfolk enjoyed spreading such news.

Gray was still standing in front of the diner, looking at the holiday decorations, when he was approached by the first person in Temptation to lend credence to his mother’s words.

“Well, aren’t you a sight for these sore old eyes,” a woman said. “You and that spicy little car you’re driving.”

She’d walked right up to him and now had a hand resting on his arm. Her perfectly coiffed dark brown hair was streaked with what looked like bronze in the front. Wrapped around her shoulders was some sort of black cape and she wore a festive red scarf.

“Good evening,” Gray finally said, remembering once again how everyone in small towns thought they knew everybody else.

They’d all thought they knew how good a father and husband Theodor Taylor was, until the day he’d up and left his family in that big old house on Peach Tree Lane. So had Gray’s mother, Olivia, and his siblings. That had been the moment of truth for Gray, one he would never forget, no matter how many years had passed, or how far away he managed to get from this town.

“You look awfully familiar,” she said, squinting her eyes and moving in closer.

Her perfume was strong and her fingers clenched his arm a little tighter as if she thought the contact might jog her memory. For as much as Gray would like to have gone unnoticed a little while longer, he knew his presence would be made known eventually. Especially after he’d already introduced himself to the pretty woman at the community center last night.

“I’m Grayson Taylor and I’m just heading into the diner to have dinner,” he told her.

“My word, Grayson Taylor,” she said, a smile spreading instantly across her face. “The last time I saw you I don’t think you came past here.”

Here was the level near her thigh that she’d shown with a motion of her hand.

“How old were you then? Six or seven? That’s when Olivia packed up and shuffled you poor children out of your home in the dark of night.” She was shaking her head as she talked. “Shame the way she did that. You should have been allowed to grow up in your home, around the people that loved and cared about you all.”

What she really meant was the people that loved all the revenue that the reality show his family had starred in brought to the town. The birth of the sextuplets had come at a time when Temptation was struggling to use its historic background to bring tourists and, subsequently, money into the town. The show had been a savior for the town, but a death sentence to his parents’ marriage.

“I was seven years old back then, ma’am, and I really am hungry, so if you’ll please excuse me,” he said and attempted to walk away.

“Oh, don’t go in there. Pearl doesn’t work on Sundays. Her daughter, Gail, does, but she’s not as good a cook as her mama. You come on over to the hospital with me. They’re having their annual charity ball and that food will be catered. Hopefully, it’ll be better than Gail’s since I know they paid this fancy new chef a ton of money.”

She looped her arm around his and had started walking them across the street before Gray could accept or decline her offer.

“Ma’am, I’d rather not intrude,” he began after a couple of steps.

“You can drop the ma’am and call me Millie. Millie Randall, that’s what everybody around here calls me. And you’re not intruding. We heard your daddy died a couple months back, poor fella. And with a young lady in his bed. At least that’s what we heard.” Millie whispered those last sentences.

She shook her head and continued before Gray could interject.

“So I suspect you’re here about his properties. The hospital is one of them, so you might as well come on inside and see what you own.”

First, Gray wasn’t certain why the whispering was necessary, since they were the only two people outside at the moment. Second, her assumptions about his father’s death were wrong and totally inappropriate, but still, he tried to keep his irritation under control.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Randall,” he said because he’d already noted the gigantic diamond on her ring finger and he recalled Morgan mentioning her name last night. “I really don’t think this is a good idea. I have other business to take care of.”

“Always in a rush,” Millie said with a shake of her head. She took two steps away from Gray and then turned back. “You get that from your mother. Olivia was always trying to move faster than she should have. Running to those fancy doctors and using all that money to produce that ungodly pregnancy.”

“Wait a minute,” Gray said, finally fed up with this woman and her comments.

He didn’t give a damn who she was or where she worked. As he’d told Gemma earlier, he didn’t need anyone in this town to show him the buildings he owned. He was simply trying to honor his mother’s memory by coming back here and doing business as civilly as he could. That didn’t mean he had to deal with any of this petty, small-town BS in the process.

“I’m here to handle current business, not to rehash the past,” he told her curtly.

It was the best he could do, especially since instinct and habit were telling him to defend his mother and put this busybody in her place.

“Well, that’s fine,” she snapped and continued walking toward the building. “But we don’t rush around in Temptation. It’s not our way, so you’ll just have to get used to that.”

Gray frowned as he reluctantly walked behind her. He didn’t want to get used to anything in Temptation.