Where no questions cross your mind
But she won’t keep on waiting for you without a doubt
Much longer for you to sort it out
Shelby stared at the picture in the magazine and the accompanying article. Resisting the urge to shred the page to pieces and scream with rage was difficult to do, but she knew she had virtually no right to curse at anyone. Not even Nick.
But did he have to look so damn happy with that busty blonde’s obviously silicone-filled lips on his?
She tossed the magazine into her recycling bin and made her way out to the storefront where several customers were browsing. Moving over to her best friend and business partner, Mel, she passed off a mug of coffee.
“Thanks,” Mel said gratefully, taking a sip of the scalding hot liquid. She was a petite woman with endless fiery curls and brilliant emerald eyes. She also had a head for business and numbers and, combined with Shelby’s eye for pretty antiques, had built a business that was currently in its fourth very successful year.
“How’s the selling going out here?” Shelby murmured, scanning the potential buyers eyeing a George III set of candleholders.
Mel lifted a shoulder. “They might bite yet. The couple by the Dresden vase look like they’ll decide soon. I think I’ll go over and give them a little push.”
“I’ll stay here and hold down the fort,” Shelby returned with a smile. “Go forth and conquer, soldier.”
Mel winked and made her way over to the couple. In moments, the couple was raptly listening to her extol the virtues of the vase and other equally valuable Dresden chinaware. Shelby mentally ticked off another sale in her head and grinned. She and Mel were good at what they did, and she wouldn’t want her work, and life, to be any other way.
As she straightened up the counters, the bell above the door jingled, announcing the arrival of another customer. When Shelby looked to the entrance, her fingers froze on the glass surface of the display case.
“Hey, Shelby.” Nick studied her shop as he made his way over to her. “I like your place.”
She sent him a withering stare.
“Okay, no answer. Can I ask how you are?” he tried again.
One brow arched.
Nick shuffled his feet nervously. “Look, I’d love to play twenty questions, but maybe you could just tell me what’s going on. Why are you pissed at me?”
“Did you enjoy your date with the plastic blonde with the bad hair and big teeth?” She hadn’t meant to say that, but it was too late to take it back. To cover up for it, she tapped her fingers on the counter and continued to stare at him.
He swallowed visibly. “Uh, yeah. Marie…I think. It was good. But I wish it had been you instead,” he added quickly, hoping to soften her up.
“It’s not working, Carter.”
Oh. “Shelby, we never said we were together or anything. It was just a kiss, right?” It was a stupid thing to say, but he didn’t know what else to say. It had been two months since his last trip to Tampa, but he’d thought of her and spoken to her often. He’d thought it for the best that he not think of her in any way other than friend. But that had been when he wasn’t standing in front of her. Now…
“Just a kiss?” she asked in a low voice. “If it was just a kiss, then what was all that bullshit you gave me before it? Was that ‘just talk’?”
He sighed. “No. Honestly, it was true. I meant what I said, but I’ve been thinking.”
“Big surprise.”
He winced. “Shelby. You and I are worlds apart. You’ve got a life here, and I travel all over the world. I’m never in one place for too long, and we’d never be able to have a functional relationship like that.”
“Don’t worry about it, Nick.”
“What?” Now he was puzzled.
She leaned across the counter and smirked. “It was just a kiss, and the words meant nothing. I knew it then and know it now. You like playing the field anyway. Besides,” she held out her left hand, “I’m getting married in six months.”
