Fall (Romanian Mob Chronicles Book 2) by Kaye Blue Read Free Book Online Page B

other ideas, ones that were unsuitable for the hardware store, unsuitable for anywhere that didn’t have me and Sorin alone and uninterrupted.
    And as much as I didn’t like that, wished I could have been detached, could have used that incident to finally put an end to the desire that apparently had my brain melting, I couldn’t. And I didn’t know what to do about it.
    “Here we go,” I said as I removed the can of paint from the machine and stirred it with a wooden stick.
    “That’s not exactly what we had in mind,” the woman said, her face turned down.
    “Yeah, it’s more like avocado than sage,” her husband added.
    I huffed but at the last second managed what I hoped was a patient, friendly smile. “Why don’t you paint a little here and see how it dries, and I’ll load the rest of the order,” I said as I handed them brushes and small sample canvases.
    That seemed to placate them, so I moved down the aisle to gather the raw wood and whatever other crap they planned to buy.
    “Need a hand, Ms. Esther?”
    I glanced up from my task of wrangling wood and turned to look at the owner of the smooth, baritone voice. Brown eyes that sparkled with mirth and mischievousness flashed at me.
    “You offering?” I replied.
    “Depends,” Michael Smith, a local contractor and regular customer, said.
    “On what?” I said, keeping my voice stern but light.
    “On whether or not you’ll go out with me,” he said.
    I frowned, but he just smiled. “That looks like a no. How do I get to yes?”
    “So this is a negotiation?” I said, only belatedly realizing how flirtatious I sounded.
    “Sure. I can be persuasive,” he said, eyes gleaming.
    But my traitorous mind, which had only moments ago been on my side, betrayed me and filled my head with images of Sorin who certainly wouldn’t negotiate and yet still managed to be persuasive. I looked at Michael again, who watched me patiently, and I gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach my heart.
    “Michael, I…”
    “I know, getting familiar with customers is bad news.”
    “I could lose my job,” I said, pointedly ignoring the fact that Sorin and not my job was at the forefront of my mind. “And who said I was getting familiar with you?” I added on the next breath.
    He laughed, the sound smooth, one that would have ordinarily gotten a reaction from me.
    I waited, waited some more, but there was nothing.
    “Michael, I—”
    “Miss! Miss! We need more paint,” the couple called as they looked over at me and Michael, seeming none too pleased. I had no idea why. I thought the paint color had turned out lovely, but the couple’s matching sour expressions told me they disagreed.
    “Duty calls?” Michael said.
    “Yeah,” I replied distractedly, trying to focus on providing great customer service in the face of what I could see would be a challenging couple.
    “So let’s try. I’ll give you a call sometime?” Michael said.
    It was tempting, an offer I wouldn’t have thought twice about a month ago. The words hovered on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t say them.
    Sorin, the memory of how I felt when I was with him, wouldn’t let me.
    “I’m sorry, Michael,” I said, shaking my head.
    “Fair enough,” he replied. “But I might try to change your mind.”
    I nodded, but I barely paid him any attention, too preoccupied with trying to figure out why I’d turned down an opportunity I would have once jumped at. Or rather, accepting the fact that Sorin was the reason. That thought churned in my brain as I said good-bye to Michael.
    I doubted I’d be able to solve this problem here, so I focused on the couple as I retied my apron, an attempt to buy me time to uncover the wells of patience my grandmother had always said lived deep, deep inside me.
    “Miss!” the man called.
    “Sure, fine,” I said, waving at Michael and then plastering the biggest, fakest smile on my face, determined to keep this job for at least a month no matter what.
    “You