Naturally Naughty - Leslie Kelly [62]
He didn’t see Kate. He did hear a voice, however. Following the sound of a radio, he walked through the sales area and back to the offices and storage rooms. He found Kate sitting in the center of a cement-floored room, surrounded by boxes, staring mindlessly into the air.
“Kate,” he said softly. “Are you okay?”
She slowly nodded. “How’d you get in? I locked the door.”
“Something’s obviously wrong with the lock. You should have someone look at that. Are you all right?”
A small smile widened her lips, and surprisingly, no tears marred her cheeks. “I’m fine, Jack. Just wondering…”
“Wondering what?”
She hesitated, and he thought for a moment she wouldn’t answer. Finally she admitted, “Wondering whether it’s right to go on resenting someone for doing only what you yourself have done for much of your life.”
He waited but she didn’t explain. He somehow suspected she had no intention of talking about whatever it was she was thinking. “So you’re really okay?”
She nodded. Rising, she brushed some dust from the floor off her butt, calling his attention to the miniscule white shorts she wore. He closed his eyes briefly. No wonder Darren had been unable to stop staring. Kate looked amazing. “I see you got all the paint washed off.”
She nodded. “For now. Though I promised to go back and help some more tomorrow at the Rialto.”
“Me, too,” he admitted. “Now, you want to tell me what grand opening you were talking about.” He glanced around the storage room at all the boxes. “Are you going into business here?”
“Yep,” she replied as she grabbed a box and moved past him, exiting the storage room.
He followed her through a short hallway, into the store area. She continued, through an arched doorway toward the dressing rooms and a mirrored alcove. She dropped the box near several others already lined up beneath rows of shelves.
“Your kind of business?” he asked, repeating his question from Saturday.
She tilted her head and gave him an arched glance out of the corner of her eye. “What do you think?”
When she bent and retrieved a filmy white bra from one box, then what appeared to be a black leather bustier from another, his eyes narrowed. “I think you’ve decided to play Clint Eastwood.”
He’d nailed it. He saw by the shock in her eyes, and the way she gasped as she dropped the two pieces of sexy lingerie, that he’d hit the truth dead-on.
“You’re out for a little revenge.”
“How could you possibly…”
“Come on, Kate, opening a new Bare Essentials right here in Pleasantville? Next door to the Tea Room?” He paused, letting the concept sink in, then reluctantly began to chuckle. “Damn, you really are something.”
“You…you’re not shocked?” she whispered.
Shocked? No. He’d already learned that Kate Jones was like no woman he’d ever known. He shook his head. “Not shocked. I think you’re crazy, and you’re going to lose your shirt.” He cast a heated glance at her body. “I mean figuratively speaking. Literally, I wouldn’t mind in the least.”
She rolled her eyes.
“If you ever open your doors, that is. I’m sure there’ll be a protest from certain quarters. You could lose everything you’ve already put into this place.”
“Which wasn’t much. It cost only some sweat equity—mostly Cassie’s—and shipping charges to ship stuff here.” She shrugged. “Besides, it’s not about money.”
“Of course not.”
She stepped closer and her smile faded. “It’s not some silly revenge plot, Jack. I had to be here…I needed to come back to town this summer.”
He couldn’t imagine what could possibly be important enough to bring Kate back to a place she quite obviously hated, and told her so.
“I can’t really talk about it,” she said. “A lot of things happened all at once.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest and rubbed her hands up and down, as if chilly.
“Kate, whatever is going on, whatever this is about…”
“Yes?”
“Just be careful. Sometimes things don’t work out the way you think they will.”
“I somehow think this will,” she