Desired in December (Spring River Valley Book 12) (5 page)

Instinctively, he cringed, expecting the blinding flash of Max Shannon’s camera to render him helpless any second. “You’re a very thorough reporter, Miss Prentice. I didn’t know the press had been invited to the party.”

“They haven’t.” She juggled her dishes into one hand and held out the other. “I’m here with Tanner Croft. He’s my boyfriend.”

“Oh.” James shook her hand, feeling oddly like he was actually meeting her for the first time. She’d glammed up since this morning’s interview, having exchanged her business attire for a killer
black cocktail dress and heels that made her seem much taller. A soft cascade of brunette waves had replaced her ponytail, and her makeup made her look like a cover girl. He’d seen Tanner earlier, briefly amid the flood of people who’d been lined up to greet him when he “arrived” at the party, and the EMT hadn’t mentioned a date. Of course the reception line had been long and crowded, and there hadn’t been time for him to really catch up with any of his old friends for more than a second or two before he was steered by his parents to the next group of guests. “Well, Tanner’s a lucky guy,” he muttered, hoping guiltily that nothing he said off the record to the feisty little reporter would end up in the morning edition.

“Thank you! You’re very sweet.” She gestured to the expansive ball room. “This is some shindig.” Candles flickered everywhere in sparkling hurricane glasses, gold foil stars littered the burgundy table cloths, decadent tables of food lined two walls of the room and a third had been reserved for Cassie’s desserts, which looked so sinfully delicious there were probably laws against them. Popular songs played in the background, provided by Owen, Claudia, Tanner’s brother Taylor
, and a charming redhead named Danielle whom Owen had introduced as Taylor’s girlfriend.

The place was packed with people, only about
two-thirds of whom James could name on command, and uniformed waiters wove among them, delivering drinks and trays of exotic snacks. James had been to weddings that were less opulent. “Yeah, it’s really way too much. Grant shouldn’t have gone to all this trouble.”

“He’s your best friend, isn’t he? It makes sense that he spared no expense to welcome you home.”

Evie’s comment reminded James that he should be more appreciative of all this. He was lucky to have come home at all, far less on two legs and in one piece to be greeted by a loving family and scores of friends. He could easily have been one of the ones who never came back at all. He was grateful for all of it, of course, so why did he feel so out of place and alone?

Was it just because right now Cassie was with another man? A man James had practically thrown her at when he’d made what he’d tried to tell himself was the most mature decision of his life. Determined to get over it, at least for the moment, he shook himself out of his reverie and met Evie’s gaze. “It’s very nice.”

“What?”

“The party. It’s very nice.”

“Yes, but I was just saying, I don’t think I’ve seen your special lady, the one you were talking about this morning. Is she here?”

“No.”
She’s with someone else.

“That’s a shame. I hope you get to see her soon.”

Scanning the crowd for a diversion, James nodded. Evie Prentice was certainly pretty and trying very hard to make him feel at ease, but he absolutely had to escape from her. As much as he didn’t want to be rude to Tanner’s girlfriend, he had to get away from the reporter before she brought up any more painful subjects.

Fortunately he saw Riley Thayer leading a gorgeous blonde toward the dessert table. He waved the second Riley glanced in his direction. “Um, Evie, I’m sorry, I just found out this guy here is a
lawyer,
and I need to congratulate him. Will you excuse us?” He clapped Riley on the back and smiled at the woman who appeared to be his date. “Hey, Thayer, they tell me you finally passed the bar!”

Grinning, Riley shook hands with James. “Yeah, they had to lower it for me first.”

“Ah, lawyer humor. That’s pretty good.”

“I got the results two weeks ago, so I haven’t had much time to perfect my stand
-up routine yet.”

“So when does your name go on the letterhead, or ha
s it already?” James looped an arm around Riley’s shoulders and steered him and his date away from Evie. He’d apologize to the reporter later, but right now he needed to keep his mind free of thoughts about Cassie or he might just do something that he’d need a lawyer for.

“It’s all mine! Every inch of it belongs to me, and I love it!” Arms outstretched, Cassie whirled in a circle in the empty space that would soon be transformed into her own Buttons and Bows Bake Shop.

“Congratulations!” Audrey said via Cassie’s ever
-present Bluetooth earpiece. “When does the construction begin?”

Cassie let out a slow breath and leaned against the glass
-topped display counter that would have to be removed so her refrigerated bakery cases could be installed. “That depends on how long the demolition takes.”

“When are they starting?”

Cassie shrugged despite the fact that Audrey couldn’t see her. “Any minute now. Mr. Walkowski said he’d have someone come by this morning. Oh…wait, someone’s at the front door now. Let me get going. You and Max should stop by tonight and see the place. Maybe he can take some before shots for me to put up on the wall.”

“
That’s a great idea. I’ll see what time he’s done at work, and we’ll swing by. Good luck with the demo.”

“Thanks!” Cassie disconnected the call and raced to the still
-soaped up front door of the storefront she’d leased on Commerce Street. She flipped the lock and opened the door to reveal the shadowy figure who had just arrived, and her jaw dropped.

James stood on the sidewalk, a dark ball cap covering his hair and shading his eyes, his muscular chest encased in an old Spring River Valley High hoodie. How had he found one to fit those biceps? Faded jeans stretched over all parts south of the hoodie
, ending in a pair of tan work boots.

He looked tastier than a chocolate mint cupcake, and Cassie nearly choked on her tongue. “Wh-what are you doing here? How did you find me?
Why
did you find me?” Was he trying to torture her by showing up twice now, looking better than any of her steamy, guilty, desperate fantasies of him?

He had the audacity to break into a goofy grin and laugh at her. “I had no idea you were going to be here. Mr. Walkowski sent me to start work on a demolition project.” He pointed to the Walkowski Contracting pickup truck parked at the curb. “I’m supposed to rip out some old counters and tear up a linoleum floor.”

“You work for—” Cassie’s voice actually had the nerve to crack. She covered up the embarrassing squeak with a cough. “You went back to work for Mr. Walkowski?”

“I’m temping until the holidays are over.” James ducked past her, completely ignoring the fact that she hadn’t invited him in. “Is this place yours?”

“I’m leasing it…as of a week ago. This is going to be my first bake shop.”

“Your
first
?” He looked both impressed and skeptical at the same time. “Are you planning a chain?”

“Maybe.” Her mouth moved in an effort to challenge his cavalier attitude in some way, but she couldn’t think of anything to say that didn’t sound like an adolescent tantrum.

“Good for you. This is a great start.” He slapped the countertop with his palm. “I guess
this
is going?”

“Y-yes. I have refrigeration units being delivered.”

James surveyed the front room of the shop, much like Cassie had been doing before he arrived. “Then we’d better get started.”

“We?” She eyed the still open front door, praying there would be a team of demo experts marching in to distract her from staring at his jean
s-clad backside.

James flashed her that sly grin of his, the one that had always made her knees go weak. So much about him had changed, but that smile stayed the same, and that was her downfall. “I mean me. I’m going to get my equipment. You should probably find someplace to hang out that
’s out of the way. It’s going to get pretty messy in here.”

“I’m not afraid of messy.”

“Good.” He held her gaze for a small eternity, and she melted by degrees despite the chilly air wafting in through the open door.

Slack-jawed and wobbling a bit on rubbery legs, she watched him walk back to his truck. How many times had she fantasized about him coming back, finding her
, and wedging himself back into her life despite her half-hearted protests? Now here he was, waltzing in like he’d never left, leaving her breathless and trussed up inside, and having the gall to act like nothing had ever gone wrong between them.

He returned a few minutes later with a
sledgehammer and a heavy tool belt. Cassie stared dumbly as he stripped off the hoodie to reveal a tight white T-shirt stretched over a chest that had to be twice as wide as the one he’d left town with. He had the pecs and biceps of a warrior now, but he still moved with the grace of the high school basketball player he’d once been.

When he secured the tool belt at a cocky angle around his lean hips, she let out a small moan, which she quickly covered with a cough when he glanced in her direction.

“I only have one pair of safety goggles,” he told her before heaving the sledgehammer onto his shoulder. “So you should really leave the room until I have the counter taken apart.”

“O-okay,” she replied robotically and marched into the kitchen, somewhat grateful for the excuse
to escape. As soon as she heard the sledgehammer striking wood, her spell of obedience broke, and she leaned against the nearest wall. Rolling her eyes ceilingward, she asked herself, “How am I going to get through this?”

* * * *

After each therapeutic blow of the sledgehammer, James glanced in the direction of the back room where Cassie had disappeared at his suggestion. He’d wisely told her to stay out of the way while he worked, and he certainly didn’t want her to get hurt, but part of him kept hoping she’d reappear, even if it was just to check on his progress.

He’d seen the look she’d given him when he peeled off his sweatshirt, and he liked it. He’d also hear
d the sweet little moan she’d tried to hide when he’d girded his loins with his tool belt. Fighting a grin, he struck his target again. The job was relatively simple, nothing required but elbow grease right now, and the singular determination not to follow her into the back room and kiss her senseless.

Her boyfriend might object to that, he decided
, and the next hammer blow struck a little harder. James didn’t care what the guy thought of it. He wouldn’t give up his last-ditch effort to set things right and get Cassie back until he’d given it his all. The next blow that landed rattled the building studs. It he’d learned one thing in the army, it was this: you don’t go home until the job is done.

The next resounding crash came while James had the hammer raised, and it came from the back room. He dropped the heavy too
l and dashed into the back, but there was no one there.

“Cass?”

“Over…hrmph…” Her muffled reply came from the vicinity of the floor. He pushed aside a rolling metal cart and found her, or at least the bottom half of her, protruding from what appeared to be an oven.

“Hey, are you okay?” Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed her hips and dragged her upper body out of the dark recesses of the industrial
-sized appliance.

Her clothes were sooty, and when he set her on her feet and turned her around, he saw her face was smudged—quite sexily—with black ash.

“What the hell? Are you trying to cook yourself?”

She sighed loudly, cocked a hip
, and dusted grime off her hands. “Of course not. I was trying to unclog the pilot.”

“You’re going to blow yourself up rooting around in the oven like that.”

Forcing out another frustrated breath, she rolled her eyes dramatically. “No, I’m not. The gas is shut off at the moment,
and
I’ve done this kind of thing before. I’ve been working in professional kitchens for five years. I’ve fixed an oven or two.”

James stood back, struggling not to smile at his Sassy Cassie. What would she do, he wondered, if he reminded her of the teasing nickname he’d given her when they
’d started dating? The challenge in her eyes did things to his insides he thought he’d forgotten how to feel. “Okay, relax, tiger. I’m just making sure the only things that get broken around here are the things I’m being paid to break.”

“I’m fine. Everything’s fine. You can go back to banging—hammering.”

James wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. “Actually, I could use a break. I was going down to the café to get a cold drink.”

She waved off his suggestion and yanked open the huge, stainless steel refrigerator into which she also nearly disappeared before returning with two bottles of
ice-cold spring water. She tossed him one. “Here. I put them in last night to test the fridge. Cold enough?”