Close to You

  “Because you’re not saying anything,” she says.

  “There’s nothing to say. He’s home.”

  “And you love him,” she reminds me.

  I shake my head. “I’ve been thinking about that. I don’t know him, Ri. I’ve carried a torch for a boy I used to know. A lot has happened.”

  She’s frowning. “But it’s Landon.”

  “I’m fine,” I say, exasperated. “It’ll be nice to see him once in a while, but I’m not a teenager, Riley.”

  “Is it weird because of Brian?” she asks, making me frown.

  “Why would it be weird because of Brian?” I’m deliberately being a pain in the ass. I don’t like to talk about this. It just makes me feel guilty and bad.

  “Look, people get divorced all the time.” Riley’s voice is calm and matter-of-fact. “I’ll admit that being friends with your ex is odd, but people do it. I’ve heard.”

  “Brian doesn’t have anything to do with Landon.”

  “Well, given that they didn’t know each other before, and Brian’s not even from here, you wouldn’t think so. But I know differently.” Riley’s eyes are soft as she watches me. She’s the only one who knows all of the reasons that my marriage to Brian didn’t work.

  And one of the reasons is Landon.

  “I was young, and when I met Brian—”

  “You were still hung up on Landon. I know.”

  “But I didn’t marry Brian to spite Landon, Riley. That’s dumb. I did fall in love with Brian, and our relationship evolved naturally to marriage. It was the logical next step.”

  “Logical,” she says with a nod.

  I blow out a gusty breath. I don’t have to tell Riley that my marriage with Brian didn’t work because I’d never allowed myself to fall in love with him the way he deserved. That I’d been holding a piece of my heart aside for Landon.

  Even though I knew that Landon wasn’t going to ever come back.

  Except now he’s back, and I’m no kid, and I’m still so attracted to him that it’s silly.

  “Can we not talk about this anymore and watch our show now?”

  “Okay.” She doesn’t sound convinced, but I really don’t want to talk about Landon. When the show is over, we clean up and Riley leaves, and I climb the stairs to my bedroom. I don’t argue with Scoot when he jumps onto the bed and curls up behind my knees.

  I’m not a teenager anymore. I failed in a marriage with a good man because I was hung up on Landon. It’s childish. It’s ridiculous.

  It needs to stop now. It’s past time to move on with my life.

  I LOVE OUR restaurant. We’ve worked our asses off for it. I walk through the dining room and stop to fuss over a centerpiece, enjoying the cozy color scheme and richness of the fabrics. It’s inviting. Sexy.

  Everything about our place is sexy. We made sure of it. From the warm atmosphere to the aphrodisiacs on the menu, Seduction screams classy sex.

  And I like to think that it mirrors the five women who own and run it.

  I walk through to the wine bar that Kat runs and grin when I see her and Mia, our master chef, with their heads bent over wine goblets, sniffing deeply.

  “It smells like wine,” Mia says.

  “It smells like cherries and oak. It’s full-bodied.”

  “Like me.” Mia smirks and pats her round hip. Mia may carry a few extra pounds, but she’s sexy as can be with it. Her long dark hair, usually worn up and under a hat, hangs in loose curls to her waist.

  “I wish I had your curves,” I say as I join them. “What are you doing?”

  “Kat’s trying to teach me how to smell wine.”

  “How’s that going?”

  “It smells like wine,” Mia says with a shrug.

  “I give up,” Kat says with a frown, her red lips twisting in disgust.

  “Kat, you’re the one that needs to know this stuff,” I remind her. “And you’re excellent at it.”

  “Exactly,” Mia agrees, nodding. “You’re the wine expert. I’ll keep doing what I do in the kitchen.”

  “Good plan,” Addie says, her heels clicking on the hardwood as she and Riley join us. Addie’s tall and rocks curves of her own. She’s the most fashionable person I know, and since she’s a former model, I’d expect nothing less.

  “Kat, I just got off the phone with Leah, your new bartender. She’ll be here by three to start training.”

  “Cool,” Kat says with a nod. “Not sure why she called the front of the house and not my cell.”

  “She said she lost your number. She sounds a little—” Addie struggles to find the word.

  “Not the brightest bulb in the shed?” Kat asks. “She’s a little dense, but she’s an excellent bartender, she’s adorable, and she doesn’t take shit from the customers who have had too much to drink. She comes highly recommended.”

  “I totally trust your judgment,” Addie replies with a smile. “I’m just passing along the message.”

  “Do not try to set her up with Brian,” Kat says, pointing her finger at me. “I mean it.”

  “I would not do that,” I reply, as innocently as possible. “Like I would set people up with my ex-husband.” I can’t stop my lips from twitching.

  “Right. Because you haven’t tried to set him up with every single woman you know, including us,” Mia replies, and rolls her eyes. “Finding dates for your ex is just weird.”

  “For your information, he’s been finding his own dates lately,” I reply, and sniff haughtily. My ex-husband, Brian, is a good man, and I want him to find an awesome girl. He deserves that. I just wasn’t the girl for him, but we’re still good friends.

  “Now that we’re all here,” I begin, changing the subject and opening the folder I brought in with me, “let’s talk about the expansion.”

  “I can’t believe that we’re expanding already,” Riley says, eyeing Mia’s wine. “We’ve been open less than a year.”

  “And we’re bursting at the seams,” I reply. “With Jake packing in crowds every weekend, and word spreading of what a fun, sexy place this is, our wait times are too long. I’ve made graphs and spreadsheets. Needing to expand isn’t a bad thing.”

  “I agree,” Addie says with a nod. “And I think we’d be packing in people with or without Jake. Just don’t tell him I said that.”

  Jake Knox is Addie’s husband, and a former rock star who’s been playing at Seduction on the weekends. His voice is pure sex, and is perfect for the atmosphere of our place.

  “Oh God, she brought graphs,” Mia says, hanging her head in her hand. “This is all a foreign language to me.”

  “I was able to talk the former owners next door down far enough that we can pay cash for the space,” I say, ignoring Mia, and pass around the report I typed up last night after Riley left and I couldn’t sleep. I’ve attached the graphs and spreadsheets to the back.

  “We don’t have to take out a loan?” Kat asks, surprised. “That’s awesome.”

  “You are such a great financial officer, Cami,” Mia says with a smile. “I used to hate your budgets, but it’s exactly what we needed.”

  I grin. Mia’s disgust over my budgets was never a secret. The passionate chef has thrown many a spatula at my head when I told her she couldn’t have more money for extra truffles.

  “Honestly, my only concern is time,” Addie says. “I don’t have time to oversee construction. I know that Mia practically lives in the kitchen, and with Kat running the bar and Riley dealing with marketing, who’s going to take the lead on this?”

  “I agree, and honestly, now that Seduction is my only client, I have the time to take on the project.” I fold my hands over the folder and take a deep breath. As of two months ago, I closed my other CPA business and am now exclusively devoted to Seduction. Not that I wasn’t before, but a girl can handle working sixteen-hour days for only so long before she starts to go a little nutty.

  “Are you sure?” Riley asks. “It’s going to be a busy few months.”


  “I’m sure.”

  “Awesome,” Mia says. “You and Landon will do a great job.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Landon.” Mia grins and nods toward the entrance, where Landon is walking our way. “He’s taking the lead on the construction side.”

  “Hi, ladies,” Landon says as he joins us. “I hear you have a project for me.”

  “We have a construction crew we work with,” I sputter, but Mia just grins knowingly.

  “Dad’s thinking of retiring, and Landon’s taking up some of the slack,” she says. “We’ll have the same crew, but Landon will be in charge of it.”

  “Cami’s going to be in charge,” Addie informs him. “So anything you need, you just call her.”

  “Great,” he replies, and I finally glance up at him only to find him watching me with those shining blue eyes. “I promise to go easy on you.”

  I swallow and can’t help but laugh at the irony. Just when I’ve decided to keep my distance from Landon, he takes on the job that I’ll be working intimately on.

  Murphy’s Law.

  Fucking Murphy.

  Chapter 2

  ~Landon~

  “So, what we need,” Cami begins as she leads me into the empty space next to the restaurant, “is to expand into this space for more seating. We want to open it up and add a significant number of tables and booths so we have room to expand Mia’s kitchen. She needs more staff, and that’s impossible now, as the current kitchen is at capacity.”

  I nod and follow her, trying to keep my eyes off of her ass.

  I’ve been working on keeping my eyes off of her ass for more years than I can count. It’s habit.

  But she still has a great ass.

  “Are you listening?” she asks, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Are you going to write this down?”

  “I’m making notes,” I reply, and tap my head, indicating that I’ll remember what she says.

  “Well, that’s comforting,” she mumbles, and turns away, making me smile. Cami has always been funny. She’s giving and kind, and we once had a special friendship. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t want her. Had she been a couple of years older, there was a time when I would have pursued her romantically, but then I went into the Navy, and she got married, and life carried on. It’s not right for a man to continue to call and send letters to a married woman, no matter how much it kills him that she belongs to another man. So we drifted apart.

  Suddenly she stops pacing, links her fingers nervously together, and sighs. “Landon, I wanted to thank you for coming home when Mom and Daddy died.”

  I stare at her for a moment, then shake my head, shove my hands in my pockets, and shuffle my feet. “You don’t have to thank me for that.”

  “Yeah, I do.” She nods. “It was a weird time, and having you here was . . . well, comforting.”

  “I’m glad. How are you?”

  “Better,” she says, and smiles. “A lot has happened in the few years since then.”

  It’s been a few years? I had no idea. Time sure goes fast.

  “The restaurant keeps all of us busy.” She takes a deep breath and looks around the empty space. “Speaking of, I think a row of booths, like the existing ones we have, would be beautiful over here,” she says, gesturing to the far wall. She continues to share her vision, her eyes shining with excitement.

  She’s professional and animated, and I can’t look away from her. I never could. The dimple in her cheek winks when she grins, talking about the need for a larger storage space in the back. Her hair is up in a simple ponytail, and she’s in jeans, sneakers, and a sweatshirt.

  She still looks sixteen.

  But when she turns, and her sweatshirt molds against her body, she’s anything but a kid. She's all woman.

  Beautiful, stunning, amazing woman.

  “Seriously, you’re not paying attention to me,” she grumbles.

  “Oh, I’m paying attention,” I reply. Maybe not the way she wants, but I’m paying attention. “How are you and the cat getting along?”

  She frowns. “He’s taken over my house.”

  “He likes you. You’re a likable girl.” I shrug and watch as her frown deepens, then she shakes her head.

  “We’re talking about work.”

  “I think, for the first meeting, we did good,” I reply, and glance about the room. “What used to be in here?”

  “A toy store,” she replies. “I guess most people buy stuff online these days.”

  “I think I can raise the ceiling in here,” I say, studying the drop ceiling. “I can make it match your existing ceiling, open it up a bit.”

  “Good. I don’t know why they made it lower.”

  “Probably to save on heating costs.”

  “Raising it will be much better.” She’s nodding, hands on hips, slowly sauntering around. “Can we match the floors too?”

  “That shouldn’t be a problem.”

  “Awesome.” She pauses, smiles, and claps her hands. “I’m so excited!”

  “Even if I’m your contractor?” I ask, and reach out to tug on her hair, but she ducks out of my way.

  “I guess I can deal with you.”

  “You like me.” The crush she’s had on me since we were kids has never been a secret. I managed to keep mine hidden, but Cami never did.

  “You’re okay.” She shrugs and chuckles, and for the first time that I can remember, she’s not looking at me with that sparkle in her eyes, and I’m not sure what to do about that. Or if I even should do anything about that.

  But I fucking miss it.

  “I think I have everything I need.”

  “Great.” She walks past me, but stumbles forward, and I catch her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her against me.

  “Hey, easy,” I murmur, my face just inches from hers, and for just a brief moment, that sparkle is back in her eyes, making my gut clench. She’s not nearly as immune to me as she’d like to believe. “I’ve got you.”

  “This is what I get for wearing sneakers,” she grumbles as her little hands clench my jacket and she manages to get her feet under her.

  “You don’t usually wear shoes?”

  “Not sneakers,” she mumbles, and tries to pull away, but I tighten my arm and take a moment to enjoy the sweet way she fits against me. She smells good.

  She feels fucking perfect.

  For the first time in months, I actually feel alive.

  “I have this, Landon,” she says, but I don’t let go. Not quite yet.

  “You always have it,” I reply softly, but when she just stares at me like I’ve lost my mind, the spark leaving her gaze, I set her away from me and move back, immediately missing her warmth. “Watch where you step.”

  “Yes, sir,” she says primly, salutes—with the wrong hand—and walks ahead of me out the door and back to the restaurant. Her ass sways as she struts away, making me grin.

  “Did you figure it all out?” Riley asks as we walk inside.

  “I think we got a good start,” I reply with a wink. “We’ll make it beautiful, and you’ll never be able to tell that it wasn’t part of the original design all along.”

  “That’s what we want to hear,” Riley says.

  “Have a good day, Landon,” Cami says with a wave, and walks into her office, then firmly closes the door.

  “Did I do something to irritate her?” I ask.

  “Not that she mentioned,” Riley says. “Maybe she’s hormonal.”

  “And that’s my cue to leave,” I reply with a fake cringe. “Tell Mia I’ll talk to her later.”

  “Have a good day!” Riley says with a smile and a wave.

  I walk out to my car, and rather than measurements and supplies running through my mind, I have Cami and her slender curves and fresh scent front and center.

  I need an hour in the gym to clear my head.

  “WOULD YOU LIKE to see the pool?” Kelsie, the yo
ung woman showing me the first apartment I’ve stopped to look at today, asks with a flirty smile. I simply turn away, shove my hands in my pockets, and frown at the dark, outdated kitchen in the small space.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “I can show you the workout room,” she says hopefully, but I shake my head.

  “I think I’ve seen all I need to.”

  I walk out the door and down the steps to my car.

  “I’ll give you my card, so you can call if you want to look at anything else.” She’s hustling behind me. “Or, you know, if you’d like to get a drink sometime.”

  Kelsie is a pretty girl, not quite as curvy as I usually prefer, but she’d probably be a lot of fun in bed.

  And I have zero interest.

  “I appreciate the offer,” I say with a smile. “But I just don’t think I’m interested.” In either the apartment or you.

  I don’t have to say the last part. She shrugs, as if to say, Your loss, and thanks me for stopping by.

  This is the third place I’ve seen this week, and I haven’t liked any of them. My things from Italy will arrive next week. I need to find a place.

  I just hate doing it by myself.

  Without giving it too much thought, I head downtown and park on the street near Seduction. It’s midafternoon on Saturday, just one week after I had my meeting with the girls about the expansion. My guys and I spent the past week working on demo and cleanup so we can get to work on the actual building.

  The girls will be pleased.

  But it’s the weekend, so there’s no work to keep me busy today. I might as well see what the girls are up to.

  “It’s not busy,” I say in surprise as I walk through the front door and see Addie talking to the hostess.

  “Lunch was a madhouse,” the tall blonde replies with a grin. “This is our brief lull before dinner.”

  “Mia’s in the kitchen?” I ask.

  “Of course,” Addie replies. “Last I heard, she was throwing rotten tomatoes, literally, at the poor produce man.”

  “He shouldn’t have brought her bad food,” I say with a shrug. “I don’t blame her.”

  “You Italians have quite the temper,” Addie says, her eyes lighting up as her husband, Jake, walks in behind me. “Well, hello there.”