Playing With Trouble (Desire Bay 1)

She may have called her friend the other night to tell her about the outdoor sexy time in the middle of a deserted road with Jacob Lock against his Chevy. And now she was getting that little fact thrown back in her face, and Hannah had a way of getting details.

“Oh, come on,” Hannah said. “I’m proud of you for taking charge, not getting caught up, and just doing what you need to do. And if one of those things you need to do is a sexy local, then I’m in full support of you.”

Laura smiled. “I’m not dating anyone, and I need to get through dinner tonight with Gabe as friends.”

“Why did you agree to see him, anyway?”

“Because I want to live here, and being friends with the deputy is a good start. I’m going to see him around and can’t avoid him. Might as well establish boundaries now—that way we can have a cordial, nice friendship.”

“Sounds hot,” Hannah said with sarcasm. “Guys love nothing more than boundaries and cordiality.”

Laura shook her head and reexamined the green dress. Maybe it wasn’t so bad? It did show a little more leg than she usually went for. And the V cut showed subtle cleavage. She got a surge of heat thinking of Jake. Would he like the dress?

He’s not the one you’re seeing tonight, moron.

Right! She wasn’t seeing anyone, per se. She was focused. On the shop.

“But seriously,” Hannah said. “It sounds like you’ve had a productive week. Between getting the flower shop going and outside truck sex, you’re really taking life by the balls here in small-town Oregon.”

“I’m trying,” she said. “But I’m hitting a snag in my grand plan.”

She wanted to build a life, a home here. She wanted a lot of things. But first was stepping out on her own and really thriving. Connecting to her mother, her town, was something she was clinging to.

“I have real problems here,” Laura said, trying to get back on topic. “I need flowers for your order and I can’t find a wholesaler. Seriously, how sad is that? I run a flower shop with no flowers.”

“It’ll be okay,” her friend said. Yeah, easy for her to say. Laura had spent the last twenty-four hours trying to hunt down a wholesaler she could build a rapport with, and she hadn’t even found one she could get a single order from.

“Maybe order online? You’ll pay extra for shipping, but maybe some wholesalers will overnight to you. If you’re thinking big, then you have to act big. Can’t go with the localish wholesalers.”

&nbs

p; Laura had thought of that. “It’s just more expensive, because I’d have to order in bulk. And a lot. Which means more money up front.”

But she might not have a choice.

“Well, if you have extra on hand, you could use it to set up a sample. Try for new business.”

“Yes, that’s true,” Laura agreed. “There is a big job I heard about that I’m trying to go for.”

“Yeah? Tell me about it.”

Laura felt a little unsure since it was just town gossip. “Cal James is hiring a landscape designer for the subdivision. I was thinking I could supply the plants and flowers, and that kind of contract would get the flower shop back on the map.”

“Then you should go for it!” Hannah said.

She could use a bit more money up front to cover the costs. Just borrowing from the business account. She’d put it back, and her dad had said she and Jake had to work it out. Thanks to Roberta’s inside bit of knowledge, she knew Jake didn’t own the account—Laura’s name was on it, too. This was a smart business decision. At least if she had to order more, she’d have extra on hand for walk-in customers. She just hoped they’d like the flowers she picked . . .

“I think I’ll have to go that direction.”

Hannah nodded. “With the flowers or the dress?”

Laura looked herself over in the mirror one more time. “Both.”

Maybe the green dress was a mistake. Or maybe it was perfect. Laura didn’t know how she felt about it since she’d been at Goonies only a few minutes and Gabe had glanced at her breasts three times already. Granted, he was trying to be a gentleman. But still. This wasn’t a date.

“I’d be happy to take you to Benetti’s,” Gabe said for the second time in five minutes. It was the nice Italian restaurant on the edge of town, but Laura didn’t want a date, and it was clear that’s what Gabe was going for. So Goonies it was.

“With it being such a beautiful day, I thought hanging out here, maybe outside, would be nice,” Laura said. She left out casual. Because that’s what this was. It was early evening and the sun was shining and hot, and Goonies had a great patio area complete with lawn games and oversize Jenga.