Tempt Me (2 page)

Hell, who
wouldn't?
Cole wondered. Then he mentally kicked himself. Shit, he needed to
get his act together. Ideally, he needed to get out of this store and
away from Mrs. Rocki Monroe.

Snotty little bitch
.
Rocki looked into the blonde's pale blue eyes and wondered just
what bug had crawled up her ass and died. Mean viper. Something about
this chick had mental sirens screaming in Rocki's head, and it
had nothing to do with Mr. Gorgeous at her side, either.

“
I'm Mara.
Mara O'Keily.” The blonde stared at her, waiting.

Rocki lifted a brow. She
had the weirdest feeling the name was supposed to mean something, but
it wasn't ringing any bells. “Well, it's lovely to
meet you, Ms. O'Keily. Is there something I can help you with?”

Mara started to frown,
but stopped just as suddenly… as though she didn't want
the wrinkles marring her smooth, perfect brow. “I'm
opening a shop on High Street.
Divine
.”

Ahhh...bingo
.

Rocki managed, just
barely, not to laugh. Her assistant manager had been fielding calls
from a Ms. Kelly or Keely. The first few had been polite enough,
inquiring about the name of Rocki's supplier. Then the calls
had gotten more snide and condescending.

When they got word of the
new store opening—a high-end lingerie store that was going to
cater to the modern young woman—the e-mails started. Pushy
emails. And Rocki figured things out. Rocki supposed she could have
been nice and put a stop to it by taking one of the calls, but she
had a perverse streak a mile wide, one her assistant manager shared.
And they didn't care to be bullied.

Now look where it had
landed her.

“
Well, Ms. O'Keily,
it's nice to meet you. How are things going for the store's
opening?” she asked.

“
Lovely.”
Mara paused briefly and then added, “I hope the opening doesn't
cause any conflicts.”

Rocki smiled. “Is
there a reason it should?”

“
Well, the
competition and all.” Mara's smile took on a sharp edge.

Rocki chuckled. “I
suspect we'll have two totally different customer bases, Ms.
O'Keily.” The bell over the door rang and she glanced up,
smiling as she recognized the customer. “Hi, Grace. I'll
be with you in just a minute.”

Grace waved and wandered
over to inspect a new display of chemises. Looking back at Mara,
Rocki said, “If there's nothing else, I need to get back
to work.”

“
Well, I do have
one matter of business.” Mara smiled. “Your supplier.
After all, as you say, we have two totally different customer bases.
I doubt those who shop at my store would ever find what they need
here. Since we've got different customer bases, is there any
harm is letting me have the name of your supplier?”

“
Hmm. Well, you
see...” Rocki smirked inwardly. “My supplier is a private
individual who hand selects who she works with. If you wish to leave
your card, I'll get the info to her. Beyond that...I'm
not handing out her information. She likes her privacy.”

Rocki glanced back at
Cole, who'd remained silent through the exchange. Damn. He sure
as hell was pretty.

Too bad he was attached
to that bitch.

C
hapter
Two

Grace was going to be a
beautiful bride. Rocki had to blink back tears as she stepped away to
let the woman study the corset she'd wear under her wedding
dress. “Sweetie, he's going to swallow his tongue when he
sees you.” Then she grinned. “Well, let's hope not.
We want him using that later.”

Grace laughed. “Rocki,
you're bad.”

“
I know. It's
a gift.” She checked the laces. “How does it feel?”

Grace nodded. “Fine.”

“
Don't go
crash-dieting between now and then. If you lose a lot of weight, the
dress won't fit, the corset won't fit, and it's not
good for you anyway.” She smiled at the other woman. “You
don't want to pass out when you walk down the aisle.”

Grace grimaced. “I'm
not going to. Mom keeps telling me I should try to lose another
twenty pounds. But he fell in love with
me,
not my waistline,
right?”

“
Good girl.”
The last thing Grace needed to do was worry about her weight right
now. She wasn't society's version of slim, not at a size
sixteen, but then again, neither was Rocki. But neither of them was
society's version of unhealthy, either. They knew each other
from the YMCA, where they both ran and lifted weights. Rocki did
Taekwondo, Grace did yoga, and they were both in better shape
physically than they'd been in high school. They might not fit
society's version of perfect, but they sure as hell weren't
couch potatoes, either.

The bell rang out in the
shop. “I need to get out there. Want to leave it on and see
what you think?”

“
I can't.”
Grace sighed. “I need to get to work soon, and I still need to
go by the post office.”

Rocki quickly unlaced her
and then slipped out into the shop. She had to grit her teeth when
she saw Mara there, chatting up three other women. Lacey, Rocki's
best friend, was one of them. It had been a week since Mara had first
shown up in the store, but she wasn't done trying to get the
information she'd come looking for, it seemed.

“
You should check
out
Divine
,” Mara said, smiling at the women. “It's
a more specialized shop, catering to the modern young woman, and
you'll find everything you need.”

Lacey stroked a finger
down a silk brocade corset and laughed. “Everything? Do you
have corsets by Lush? I'm rather fond of her stuff.”

Rocki grimaced.
Damn
it, Lacey, keep quiet.

“
I'm working
on that as we speak.”

“
Are you? Hmm.
Well, there's a benefit here every year. Lush always makes an
appearance.”

Oh,
shit
.
Rocki strode into the shop, glaring at Lacey. Lacey gave her an
innocent smile, batting her lashes. “Heya, Rock. You got my
stuff ready?”

“
You bet.”
Then she looked at one of the other woman. “Hi, Bella.”

“
Hi, Rocki. This is
my friend, Lindsey. She just got engaged.”

“
Congratulations.”
Rocki smiled at her.

“
Thank you.”
Lindsey glanced at Bella and then back at Rocki. “I saw the
corset that had been designed for Bella's wedding. I think I'd
like one similar to that. I just came by to talk about setting up an
appointment?”

“
No need for one.”
Rocki gestured to the sitting area near the corner. “We'll
have a seat over there.” As Lindsey started over, Rocki looked
back at Mara. “Was there something else you needed, Ms.
O'Keily?”

“
No...nothing at
all.” She gave Rocki a sharp-edged smile and then swept out of
the shop. Rocki noticed that she was alone and wondered where Mr.
Gorgeous was. But she quickly pushed the idea out of her head. She
needed to get to work.

Three days later, buried
under an avalanche of paperwork, Rocki grimaced as she checked the
cost of the upcoming masquerade party she'd be hosting for
Valentine's Day. It was a yearly event for her and had been
since the second anniversary of her husband's death.

Absently, she stroked her
thumb along the curve of her wedding ring. She didn't always
wear it, but today, she'd felt the need to. Actually, it
wasn't
today
. It was how close it was to the
anniversary of his death. Five years now. He'd been gone for
five years.

A knot lodged in her
heart and she rubbed her left hand over her chest. The ache wasn't
as bad now as it had been. She wasn't living her life in
mourning over him. She just hadn't found anybody who'd
ever made her heart stop the way he had.

Tears pricked her eyes
and she threw the pen down, pressing her fingers to her eyes. She
needed to quit thinking about it or she wasn't going to get
this shit finished tonight. And she
needed
to get it done. The
benefit was next week. It was the way she kept her mind occupied this
time of year. So she didn't have to think about him lying in
that hospital bed... It shouldn't have happened.

A sob caught in her
throat. Brant had been a cop, a detective working what should have
been a rather mundane burglary case. But when he'd knocked on
the door to a suspect's apartment one night, he'd found
more than he'd bargained for. His partner had died on the
scene. Brant took a bullet in the spine that severed his spinal cord.
He'd fought...so damn strong.

And he'd lingered.

Then, pneumonia settled
in, and it was the infection that ultimately killed him. Rocki had
been able to say good-bye. It didn't make it any easier, she
didn't think.

He was still gone. She
was still alone. Blowing out a breath, she grabbed a tissue and wiped
the tears away, frowning as she saw the smear of mascara.
“Smudge-proof, my ass.” She swallowed around the knot in
her throat and then closed her eyes. The ache of loneliness lodged
inside right now was a living, breathing beast...her constant
companion.

Brant wouldn't want
this. She knew that. Hell,
she
didn't want it. But she
couldn't look at another man without wishing he was more like
Brant. And unless she could find somebody she liked enough for who
he
was without comparing him to her deceased husband...well, that was a
relationship doomed before it got started.

She couldn't even
think of a guy who came close.

Suddenly, one face danced
through her mind. She shoved it aside. Mr. Gorgeous wasn't even
a possibility. Whether he was engaged to an ice-bitch or not, he was
still very much taken. She didn't even want to
dream
about a taken man.

“
Especially if he
has taste
that
bad,” she muttered, trying to cheer
herself.

It didn't work.

Sighing, she forced
herself to focus on the mess on her desk. Everything for the benefit
still needed to be checked and gone over so she could get back to her
assistant. She needed to go through the mail. The Lush designs needed
to be looked at, orders checked.

The joys of being a small
business owner...

Nearly two hours later,
Rocki had finished the paperwork and focused on the mail. Bills,
bills, junk, bills, bills, tax-related crap—oh, joy, more
bills. She frowned as she came across a heavy-weight envelope. The
blocky handwriting on the front was unfamiliar, but it was addressed
to her. Not the business. Her.

Odd. Using her letter
opener, she sliced it open and pulled out a card.

The card was blank. But
not empty. The photo that spilled out was her, in black and white. An
image of her walking to her car one evening. A shiver raced down her
spine.

Not again...

Swallowing, Rocki turned
the picture over. And when she saw that it was blank, she breathed
all over again. Shit. Oh, shit. For a minute there, she'd
been...

But this wasn't the
same. If it had been the same, he would have written something. He
would have to let her know it was him. Memories from years earlier
tried to rush out at her. But she pushed them back. She wouldn't
let that time overwhelm her. Her fingers tightened, and she almost
crumpled the picture. She stopped herself, though. With fingers that
shook, she tucked the photo back into the card, and the card back
into the envelope.

No, there was nothing on
it. Not like before.

But that didn't
mean anything. She wouldn't call about it yet.

She'd be careful,
though. Damn careful.

It could very well be
nothing.

However, she knew from
experience, it could also be bad, bad news…

“
You know, you
could just find your own supplier,” Cole pointed out as he
watched Mara adjust her costume.

She glared at him in the
mirror. “I want
Lush
. Every damn person I've
talked to has only thing to say: Lush is the best lingerie designer
around. So Lush is who I'm going to get. She only does designs
for that Rocki bitch and a few others, though, and she doesn't
have a website or any way for me to contact her. So if I want to talk
to her, tonight is my best chance.”

Then she looked away from
him and focused on her image. Her blonde hair was swept up in some
intricate knot, leaving her neck and shoulders bare. The gown she
wore was cut so low, it left next to nothing to the imagination. She
smiled at him. “How do I look?”

“
Beautiful,”
he replied honestly. And she did. Mara would be hard-pressed not to.

“
Excellent.”
She squared her shoulders and reached for her mask. “Do you
have your mask?”