For the moment, I ignored the guilt that percolated at the edge of my thoughts. Clive would probably be angry—maybe even fucking furious—if he found out that my interest in Marcie was more than platonic and friendly. But the spark between us felt like more than just a night of hot sex, more than just two people who got along.
It felt real and maybe life changing.
I just hoped that Marcie felt the same.
Chapter Seven
Marcie
Five days without a single word from Denton.
It’s fine. It was just sex. He can’t be involved with you anymore,I scolded myself.
And without Denton’s handsome face, amazing body and our sizzling-hot chemistry to overwhelm me, my rationalizations made a lot of sense. My dad would probably be royally pissed off if he knew that his business partner and his daughter had slept together, but my libido—and maybe my feelings, as much as I tried to deny it—had their own opinions.
“What’s up with you?” Kresley asked on Thursday.
It was late morning, a couple of hours after we unlocked the doors. Customer traffic was still fairly light, with just a few people browsing the racks. I sat in my office just off the floor, chewing on a pen and daydreaming about Denton’s hot skin against mine while I was supposed to be running payroll for the week.
I startled, dropping my pen to the floor.
“Nothing,” I muttered as I bent down to retrieve my pen. “Anyway, I could say the same of you.”
She flushed. “Nice try, but we’re talking aboutyouright now. You’ve been distracted all week. What’s going on?”
“Distracted like how?” I asked as I stood up and stepped out to the store floor, with Kresley following close behind.
I paused in front of a shelf full of high-end handbags and started carefully straightening them.
Kresley gently pushed my hands away. “You don’t need to mess with those. They look perfect. And if you don’t want to tell me what’s up, you don’t have to. But somethingisup, isn’t it?”
I opened my mouth as I tried to think of a good answer. Not much got past Kresley, and I knew that trying to mollify her with some bullshit answer would just hurt her feelings.
Before I could say anything, the bell on the door jangled, and my head swiveled in that direction as someone came in from the street.
Not just someone.
“Denton,” I breathed as he stepped into the store.
All six-and-a-half feet of him, muscular body well displayed in a pair of jeans, lace-up boots and a pull-over sweater. My heart sped up, and between my legs, my pussy pulsed as I remembered our erotic night together.
Kresley looked between us as her face lit with understanding. Behind her, Frankie popped out from the stockroom. Her eyes went wide as she recognized Denton from the night at the club, when she’d deliberately pushed me toward him, starting a chain of events that couldn’t be undone. Not that I wanted them to be.
He glanced over at her, and she gave him an impish wave before she disappeared again into the back.
“So this is the store?” he asked, his attentive gaze darting around every corner, from the high-end accessories to the mannequins in locally designed couture. “This is fantastic, Marcie.”
I smiled nervously, though warmth spread through me at his genuine praise. “Yeah, I think we’ve done okay with the place.” I took a step closer, resisting the urge to touch him. “What brings you here?”
He towered a full foot above me, so incredibly confident and gorgeous, and I had to crane my neck to look up into his bright blue eyes. Eyes that practically stripped me bare with his hot, hungry gaze, even while we both stood fully clothed in my store during the workday.
“I came to see if you wanted to have lunch with me,” he said, a slow, sexy smile tipping up the corner of his mouth. “If you have the time, that is.”
“She definitely does,” Kresley butted in before I could formulate a response. “Frankie and I have this place under control, and she could use a break. She works way too hard.”
“It’s true!” Frankie called from the rear, backing up Kresley’s claim.
I shook my head. “Will you two stop with the meddling," I said to my rebellious employees as I turned to face Denton again, huffing a deep breath.