Yeah, of course she did. Life hadn’t been easy for Flick—she’d lost her brother and her mother in the space of a year, and her father had been a physical presence but not an emotional one.
When she spoke, Gina’s voice was so low that she had to strain to hear the words. “I’ve been a good mother, Flick.”
“Nobody is disputing that, Gin.”
“And I’ve been good to this community. I’ve worked hard and created an identity for myself. A good wife, a good mother... a do-gooder.”
Flick immediately realized the implications of whatwasn’tsaid. Gina’s identity was tied up in how her children, her friends, and the community saw her and her 'collecting' was at odds with the image of the well-dressed, confident, efficient woman she portrayed to the outside world.
Admitting her problem would be, for Gina, the equivalent of standing naked in the town square, inviting the community, and her family, to judge her and to find her wanting. She would no longer be seen as perfect.
Gina had always had high standards; for her friends, her community, and especially for her children. Coloring outside of the lines was not encouraged. And Gina’s collecting wasn’t just coloring outside the lines—it was obliterating them. Mercy would never look at her in the same way. The gossip would be brutal, and she’d be knocked off her pedestal. Flick still didn’t understand what had caused her aunt to start collecting but she understood, reluctantly, why she’d want to keep it under wraps. Gina rather liked her place on her pedestal, and she was relying on Flick to keep her there. But not being able to tell Pips was eating a hole in Flick’s stomach.
Flick heard a soft rap on the window and turned in her chair to look across the shadows of the empty bakery to the huge windows. She immediately recognized the figure’s height, broad shoulders, and long legs.
Kai.
It was ridiculous how her heart went from calm to a full gallop just because a hot man stood at the door to her bakery. Flick stood up and walked across the room to flip the lock. Kai stepped inside and closed the door behind him. He reached across her shoulder to lock the door.
Kai looked around the dark interior of the shop and frowned. “Why are you sitting in the dark?”
Flick nodded to her laptop on the table in the far corner. “There’s enough light to see what I’m doing.”
“Whatareyou doing?”
“I’m looking for ideas for the ready meals. And I had an inquiry about catering a small wedding.”
“That’s great.”
“It is. But now I’m thinking that I may have bitten off more than I can chew. Your lunch reminded me that catering’s damn hard work.”
“Hard work never killed anyone.” Kai followed her to the table and dropped into a chair, stretching his legs out and crossing his ankles. He put his hand to his mouth and smothered a yawn. His eyes dropped to the black screen of the laptop and he cocked his head. “Here’s an idea—you need the laptop to be up and running in order to do work.”
Busted.
“So, actually, you were simply sitting here and brooding.”
Brooding made her sound sad and bitter. She sorta, kinda, was but there was no way she was going to admit that to him. “I wasthinking.”
“Brooding.” Kai’s eyes flicked across her face.“Dark rings under your eyes, taut mouth, and tension in your neck.” He linked his hands behind his head. “Definitely brooding. Want to talk about it?”
Flick had to smile. “I can’t quite see you in the role of agony aunt, Manning.”
“I’m not normally, but I’ve just done a session with Tally so I’m in the zone.” He sighed, dropped his hands, and rocked his chair back so that he was balanced on the two back legs. “You’re wound tighter than a spring, and you need to let go. It’s either talking or sex...I can either listen or take you to bed.”
Flick felt the throb between her legs and the butterflies in her stomach went crazy. Yeah, sex would be a fantastic distraction, and she was tempted...
But it would just be another way of running away from her problems, of procrastinating. Gina and her craziness would still be there when she left Kai’s bed. She’d be physically satisfied but mentally she would be even more fried. Because she was done with using men as a panacea for her wounds, as a distraction...
She could justify sleeping with Kai once, but she couldn’t do it again. But, damn, she still wanted him. “I’d like to, but I can’t.”
Kai’s mouth quirked.“Yeah, I figured.”
Astute man. Or maybe it was because Flick had the opposite of a poker face—she had “shout it out in six-foot neon letters” face. She’d never been able to disguise her emotions, let alone keep secrets. Hence her current Gina-related problem. She rested her forearms on top of her closed laptop and frowned. Kai didn’t say anything. He seemed to know that silence was a more powerful inducement than an appeal to talk.
Flick propped her feet up on the chair next to her and tapped her nails on the table. “Pippa is my best friend, my partner. We’re cousins, and we share everything.”
Kai just lifted one eyebrow in a “yeah, so?” gesture.