Romance on Mountain View Road (11 page)

Another man's life in the toilet all because of a woman. Well, that didn't seem right. “Hey, don't fire him on my account,” Adam said.

“I'm not. The kid's a screwup.”

Like me,
Adam thought miserably as he walked back to his SUV.

He called Chelsea. Of course she didn't pick up. “It wasn't supposed to read like that, Chels,” he told her voice mail. “It was supposed to say I Love You. Somebody screwed up.”

He ended the call. Somebody screwed up all right. Damn. Why was love so hard?

* * *

Juliet was having computer problems. This came as no surprise to Jonathan. Juliet was always having computer problems. This time she'd lost an entire file of recipes. Jonathan wasn't sure if that was a bad thing or a blessing in disguise, but he'd promised to come over and help her after work.

He walked in the front door, with the book he'd drowned in the toilet hiding in his back pocket. He'd baked it in the stove on a low heat and now it was almost as good as new. The pages were a little wavy, but hey, it was a used book. She hadn't looked at it all that carefully at the library. She'd probably think it had come like that.

She started to lead the way into the spare room that served as a study. Her back was turned. It was the perfect moment to return the tycoon to his home. The stack of books was still on the stairs (not unusual since Juliet was a clutterbug). He would subtly drop the book on top of it.

The tycoon didn't have a good landing. The book caught the edge of the pile, making it tip over. Three other books bounced down the stairs. The stairs were carpeted, but Jonathan heard,
boom, boom, boom, boom, BOOM.

Oh, no. He bent to put them back just as his sister, who could hear better than all the dogs in Icicle Falls put together, turned around.

Think fast.
“Uh, they fell.”

She looked at him oddly.

He scrambled to put the books back before she could get too close a gander, slipping the purloined book under the others.

But his sister not only had keen hearing, she had the eyesight of an eagle. In two steps she was standing by the stairs. She picked up the traveling tycoon. “My book! I thought I'd lost it.” Now she was frowning. She opened the paperback and flipped the pages.

Uh-oh.

“It looks like it got wet.”

“Maybe it did at some point,” Jonathan said. “It's a used book. Who knows what happened to it? Come on, let's go check out your computer.”

“Okay,” she said slowly, and followed him down the hall.

The wheels were turning in that busy brain of hers; he could sense it. This was so not good. He sat on the chair in front of her desk and hurried to deflect her attention. “Did you back up your file?”

“I meant to,” she said, still leafing through the book. “You know, I would have noticed all this water damage. It looks like someone dropped it in a sink or something.”

Or something.
“Jules, you've got to back stuff up,” Jonathan said, steering the conversation back into safer territory.

“But you can recover it, right?”

“Probably,” he admitted. “Still, you should make a habit of backing up anything you don't want to lose.”

“I know. And I will from now on,” she promised, pulling up a chair next to him. “It's funny about this book,” she said as he began his computer detective work. “It was on top of the pile last week, and then I went to read it and it wasn't.”

“You should put your books away.” Oh, man. Why couldn't she drop the subject already?

“What, or Neil will get into them?” A moment of silence was followed by, “Those were my library sale books.”

He shrugged and kept his gaze glued to her computer screen. He could feel sweat beading on his brow.

“You were over here for dinner the day after the book sale.”

“Jules, I'm trying to concentrate here.”

“And then, just a few days after that, I went to get this off the pile and it was gone,” she finished thoughtfully.

He could feel her eyes burning into him.

“Did you take my book?”

He cast about desperately for some plausible answer.

Before he could come up with one, she pointed an accusing finger at him. “You did!”

“No,” he lied, searching for his poker face.

“Oh, yes, you did, and after all that talk about how dumb romance novels are.”

“I—” He stopped there. How to explain this?

“Why were you reading my book?”

“I just thought I'd check it out. Okay?”

“I'm not buying that.”

“I'm trying to get your file here,” he said.
And I can't lie and find your lost file at the same time.

“Jonathan, you may as well tell me. I'm gonna bug you until you do.”

“There's nothing to tell.” At least not to his sister.

“Well, could you tell me what happened to it?”

He frowned. “I accidentally dropped it.”

“In the sink?”

“Uh, in the toilet.”

“Eew.” She let go of the book and this time the tycoon landed on carpet.

“Don't worry. It doesn't have any germs on it.”

“I doubt that,” she said, disgusted.

“I'll buy you a new one,” he promised. If he'd done that in the first place, he might've gotten away clean with no one the wiser.
Dumb, Jonathan.
How could he be so good at math and computers and so stupid at...life?

She was silent again, but only for a few seconds. “Why would you be interested in romance novels all of a sudden?” she mused.

“I'm not. I just thought I'd give one a try. That's all...”
...you need to know.

“You could've asked me. I'd have lent it to you. In fact, if you want to read a good story, let me give you the Vanessa Valentine I got.”

“I already checked it out.” Crap! Had he really said that? “Jules, I can't concentrate on retrieving your file with you talking.”

“Never mind the file. What's going on?”

He frowned at her. “I'm doing some research. Okay?”

“Research on what? Are you going to write a romance novel?”

“No,” he said testily.

“Then what?”

“I just... Never mind.”

She fell silent. Of course, that didn't mean she'd abandoned the subject. It only meant she was thinking of a new way to wrangle the information out of him.

“Okay, got it,” he said.

“Thank you. You're amazing.”

“That's me,” he agreed. And now he was going to beat it before Juliet began another round of twenty questions. He started to get up.

She grabbed his arm. “Not so fast. Tell me what's going on. I'll find out, anyway.”

“There's nothing going on,” he insisted. “Come on, Jules, let go of my arm.”

“Uh-uh. Tell me.”

He glared at her. “Stop being so damned nosy.”

“I'm your sister. I'm supposed to be nosy. If you don't 'fess up I'll tell everyone you're reading my romance novels.”

She would have, back when they were kids. Now that they were grown-ups, it was nothing more than an empty threat because she'd never deliberately embarrass him. “Go ahead.”

She dropped her hand. “You know I won't. I just wish you'd fill me in on what's going on. I tell
you
everything.”

“That's because you're a woman. Guys don't talk about stuff.”

“Maybe you should. Maybe I could help with...whatever. Did you ever stop to think of that?”

She was going to bug him until she drove him insane. “It's no big deal. I just thought—” Oh, this was so pathetic and awkward. “I thought it would be interesting to see how women think.” There. Surely that would be enough information to satisfy her.

“I could have told you that.”

“Some things a guy doesn't need to ask his little sister.”

“And why this sudden need to know how women think?” She gasped in delight. “You're seeing someone!” She snapped her fingers. “That cute new librarian.”

Great. Now they were going to play twenty questions about his love life. “No.”

“Then why— Wait a minute. I ran into Tina Swift at Bavarian Brews the other day. You have a high school reunion coming up, don't you?”

“Yeah. So?”

“So does that have anything to do with you snitching my book?”

“Not unless I'm a tycoon.”

She was relentless. “Neil told me you joined the gym.” She studied him, making him squirm. “Getting buff, reading romance novels...”

He didn't like the knowing look that landed on her face.

“
Now
I get it. This has to do with someone who's coming to the reunion, doesn't it?”

“If you ask me one more question, I'm never working on your computer again.”

“I don't need to. I remember who you liked when we were kids.” She regarded him, her expression a mixture of pity and exasperation. “Jonathan, please tell me I'm imagining things.”

“You're imagining things.”

She frowned. “Are you going to stay single all your life just hoping that one day Lissa Castle will fall madly in love with you?”

That made him sound like such a loser.

Juliet heaved a long-suffering sigh. “She's never wanted to be anything more than friends with you, Jonathan.”

“Thanks for the reminder,” he muttered.

Juliet laid a hand on his arm. “I'm sorry. I don't want to see you hurt.”

“Let me worry about that,” he said grumpily.

“I thought you were over her.”

He was. For a while. He shrugged.

Juliet fell silent again.

Good. Maybe she'd finally drop the subject.

It stayed dropped for about ten seconds. Then she picked it up again. “So what are you doing to get ready for the reunion?”

He was not discussing this with her.

It didn't seem to matter because she was discussing it with him. “You need new clothes.”

He rolled his eyes.

“And a better haircut.”

He frowned. “I don't remember asking your advice.”

“Big brother, you need it. Let's go shopping next week.”

“I can do my own shopping.”

“No, you can't. Come on. It'll be fun.”

Clothes-shopping was only fun for women.

“So when do you want to go?”

She was going to annoy him until he caved. It was her modus operandi. “August.” By then he'd need a bigger shirt, and he could probably use some help picking one out.

“Oh, you're right,” she said as if she knew what he was thinking. “Everything will be on sale by August. Isn't that when the reunion is? Tina's already dieting.”

Women were always dieting, whether they needed to lose weight or not.

“Well, when you're ready, you have to take me with you,” Juliet said. “If you're going to make an impression, you need someone besides your nerdy friends to help you.”

She was probably right. He nodded. Okay, this embarrassing discussion was done. He got up and started to leave.

“What else are you doing to get ready?” she asked, following him down the hallway.

Or not.
“Nothing I need help with.”

“You have to learn to dance.”

“Jules,” he protested. Next thing he knew, she'd be offering him a dance lesson.

“I can teach you.”

“I am not dancing with my sister,” he growled.

“Oh, yes, you are. Stay for dinner. Afterward I'll teach you how to do the nightclub two-step. That's easy, and it's impressive.”

Eating his sister's cooking
and
having her teach him how to dance—that would be double torture. “I gotta go. I've got stuff to do.”

“Jonathan,” she said sternly. “If you want to impress a woman you need to know how to dance. Women love to dance, and most men are too lame to even try. If you can look good on the dance floor, you're already way ahead of your competition.”

He shook his head. “I can't believe this.”

“What?”

“I can't believe we're having this conversation.”

“Well, we don't have to. You can just stumble along on your own trying to figure out what women want...or you can get help.”

He
had
help. He had Vanessa Valentine. “I'm okay, but thanks for the offer,” he said firmly.

She frowned but gave up pestering him. “Okay, but when you see Lissa Castle dancing with some other man at the reunion, don't come crying to me.”

The thought of Lissa Castle dancing with someone else was enough to make a grown man cry. Rather than do that, Jonathan went home and pulled up the latest romance novel he'd downloaded.

This was a contemporary tale about a man returning to his hometown. He'd left a loser and returned a success—a famous race car driver with money to impress the girl he'd never forgotten. Jonathan could almost relate.

Halfway into the book, the hero, who must have known Juliet, got the heroine onto the dance floor.

Joel held out a hand to Leslie. “Dance with me.”

She wanted to say no, but the look in his eyes demanded she say yes. “I didn't know you could dance,” she said as he led her onto the floor.

He smiled down at her. “There's a lot you don't know about me.”

He was right. This was a different man from the one she remembered—strong, forceful. Sexy.

He moved them through an intricate step and suddenly they were dancing heart to heart. His breath ruffled her hair and she felt the heat of desire deep in her belly. “I think it's time we took this relationship to a new level,” he murmured.

“Oh?” Now her heart was beating like crazy.

“You want it, I want it. For once, let's not play games.”

Jonathan read on as Joel moved Leslie from the dance floor to his bed. Whoa, just one dance led to all that? What if Juliet was right?