A Rose in Bloom

“What?”

“You heard me. Next week, you have to come over and try it out, take a few classes, under my supervision. Deal?”

“Maybe I’d rather have you mad at me. I don’t do exercise. I don’t like sweating or breathing hard or having my heart speed up.”

He struggled to keep a straight face. Did she really just say that? Should he be nice and not take advantage of her when she set herself up to be teased? Nah—she deserved it.

“Perhaps if you tried it with me, you’d like it. Maybe I could speed up your heart and make you sweat and breathe hard in a way you’d find quite pleasurable.” He grinned and bobbed his eyebrows up and down.

Even in the dim light from the street lamp, her face looked bright red.

*****

Why did she always stick her foot in her mouth around Jaxon? It was like his presence made her brain disengage, but her words kept spilling out. How was she supposed to respond? No snappy comeback came to mind.

“But really, Elyssa, if we take it super slow, it might not be as bad as you think.” He winked at her.

Now he’d gone too far. She wouldn’t let him get away with talking so crudely.

“I’ll thank you to keep your filthy, sexual comments to yourself. You need to get your mind out of the gutter.”

He blinked at her with wide innocent eyes. “What are you talking about? What sexual comments? I was just referring to SuperSlow weight lifting. It’s a great workout for your muscles, but won’t raise your heart rate much or make you all sweaty.”

She felt even more blood rush to her face. Too bad there wasn’t room for her to crawl under the car seat.

“I’m sorry. I… I thought you were… Never mind. I can’t deal with you right now. I’ve got to get all this work done, and I’ll probably have to work all night. But thank you for taking me to get the ribbon. I probably wouldn’t have made it before the store closed if you hadn’t driven.”

She slipped out of the car, anxious to make her escape. But as she struggled to unlock the shop with her arms full of bags of ribbon, Jaxon walked up to stand behind her. His overwhelming presence invaded her personal space.

“What are you doing? I told you I need to work all night.”

“You turned down my offer to help because you thought I wanted your business to fail. If you’ve really changed your mind about me, there’s no reason I shouldn’t stay.”

Oh there were plenty of reasons she shouldn’t let him stay, not the least of which was how good he looked. Followed closely by how good he smelled. Followed closely by knowing if he tried to kiss her, she wouldn’t be able to stop him… or want to stop him.

He was still standing so close she could feel the heat from his body. “So what do you say? Can I stay and help you get this work done? I’d love to watch you… arrange things.”

She tried to swallow, but co

uldn’t find a drop of saliva in her parched mouth. Her voice came out in a rasp.

“Okay.”

Part 12: Wedding Jitters

JAXON FUMBLED WITH THE RIBBON, trying to copy the neat way Elyssa had wrapped the stems of the bouquet. Each time he managed to wind it almost to the bottom, the ribbon loosened before he could secure it. He slammed his fist on the worktable, jarring the glass vases that held the four bouquets she’d already completed while he was toiling over his single unfinished project.

“What’s wrong?” She looked up from her task with wide eyes.

“This is impossible. It’s ridiculous. Can’t you just glue it on here or something? The ribbon doesn’t look even, and it doesn’t stay where I put it.”

“Don’t worry about it. I can do it myself. Maybe there’s something else you could do.” She screwed up her face and wrinkled her nose in concentration. “Oh, I know. There are forty-two vases that need to be packed up for transport. I’ve already washed and dried them, and they’re all sitting out on the table in the back room. The boxes and the bubble wrap are right over there.” She pointed with her chin as she added pearl head pins to the tiffany blue ribbon to finish her bouquet.

“Sounds like busy work, but I’ll take it. I’ve never felt so inept in my life. Don’t you have something heavy I can lift? I’d like to feel useful again.”

She sighed, blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face. “To be honest, I’m actually just glad to have the company. It’s so much work, and it’s nice to have someone to talk to.”

“Can’t you do more of this stuff ahead of time?”