Three Little Words (Fool's Gold #12)(24)

She rolled her eyes. “You’re serious about the fake-girlfriend thing.”

“Didn’t I make that clear?”

She thought it was kind of sweet that a big, bad SEAL was afraid of his mother and sisters.

“You make the rules,” he said. “Sex, no sex, I’ll make you coffee every morning, sweep up in here, you name it.”

It always came back to sex, she thought. Felicia had told her to find a rebound guy. Her friends had agreed. She didn’t want a rebound guy—she wanted...

Magic, she thought sadly. She wanted the giddy, excited love she saw every day in her store. Women excited about marrying the man of their dreams. She’d loved Eric and had thought theirs was a relationship of equals and shared interests. She’d respected him and enjoyed his company, but there hadn’t been magic. There certainly hadn’t been passion, but that was probably as much about him being g*y as anything else. She wondered if her first clue about Eric should have been how interested he’d been in the details of their wedding.

He took her hands in his. “Friends don’t let friends get mauled by their families.”

She laughed because he was funny and she liked him. She should do this, she told herself. She was going to be leaving in a few months. What could it hurt?

“I’ll do it, but only if you promise to never again throw the whole ‘I’ll love you forever’ thing in my face.”

“Done.” He pressed a quick kiss to her mouth. “Anything else? Want a kidney?”

“Not today.”

“I have to get to work, but I’ll see you later. Thanks. I owe you.”

Then he was gone, which would have been fine, except there was something wrong with her lips. They were tingling in the strangest way. She had the oddest urge to call Ford back and have him kiss her again.

* * *

“I KNOW THIS is really last-minute,” Noelle said, twisting her hands together. “I thought I had it all together.”

Isabel glanced around at all the boxes yet to be unpacked in the store. It was Wednesday and the grand opening was Friday. “You’re in a boatload of trouble.”

“I know.”

“I had it easier,” Patience said, picking her way through open cartons. “Brew-haha doesn’t have that much retail inventory.”

An hour ago, Isabel had gotten a frantic call from Noelle, who had realized there was no way she could get her store together by herself. Not in time.

Felicia was busy with the upcoming End of Summer Festival—aka Labor Day—but Isabel and Patience had been able to come offer help.

“We’ll never get this done ourselves,” Patience said. “Let me get reinforcements.” She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and pushed a button. Seconds later, she smiled. “Hi, it’s me.” Her smile widened. “Uh-huh. Me, too, but that’s not why I’m calling.” She quickly outlined the problem.

“Tell him to bring Ford,” Isabel said, assuming Patience was on with Justice, her fiancé. “Say that I asked.”

Patience looked puzzled but nodded in agreement. When she hung up she told Noelle, “They’ll be here in fifteen minutes.”

“They?”

“Ford, Justice, Angel and Consuelo. You’re going to have more help than you can handle, so let’s get organized.” She turned to Isabel. “So, what was up with telling Ford you were asking?”

“I’m his pretend girlfriend. He owes me.”

Noelle looked surprised. “You agreed?”

“It’s for a good cause.”

Patience laughed. “Does the pretend girlfriend only get pretend sex?”

“We haven’t discussed that part of it yet.”

“Hold out for the real thing,” Noelle said, “then remind me how wonderful it is.” She looked at the boxes. “Okay, we need a plan, and fast.”

The CDS team arrived as promised. Noelle sorted them into teams of two, assigning each a section of the store and a stack of boxes. She supervised.

“Already taking advantage of me, huh?” Ford asked as he ripped open a box of holiday teddy bears.

“As much as I can.”

He handed her bears and she attached the price tags Noelle had given her. Ford then placed the bears on the shelf. They worked well together, establishing a rhythm. Her fingers brushed his on occasion, which foolishly made her remember the quick kiss from earlier that day. And thinking of the kiss reminded her of the tingling, which was just plain strange.

On the other side of the store, Angel and Consuelo set up Nativity scenes while Patience and Justice were filling bookshelves under the window.

“Need I point out you said you owe me?” she asked, trying not to smile.

“I knew that would come back to bite me in the butt.”

He looked surprisingly sweet putting bears in place, making sure the tag was tucked neatly under one teddy arm. His hands were nearly the size of the decorative toys. He had big hands, she thought, then told herself not to be ridiculous. She was helping out a friend, nothing more. She wasn’t interested in Ford. She’d let that go years ago.

“Did that girl buy the dress?” he asked. “She looked good in it.”

“I told Lauren to take her time deciding. She’ll be back next weekend to try it on again. Then she’ll probably order it.”