CHAPTER ONE
Journey
“There. Perfect.” I admired my new display of potted succulents, a new line my family’s store began carrying. The stupid cheap cardboard display case they send with the plants always sucked, but this one was a lot sturdier, and I had faith it would hold.
Satisfied with my handiwork, I cleaned up the packaging and as I was about to finish, a boom! echoed loudly through the air followed by the shrill shatter of pots.
“Uh, oh.” A soft voice cried before letting out a loud scream. I turned to find my display case destroyed, pots in several pieces, along with succulent plants all over the floor. A young child stood there very upset, his face red with tears.
Even though I was fuming inside, I swallowed my annoyance and plastered on a smile. “It’s okay, accidents happen.”
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry, Miss. Please, let us help clean up. I’ll pay for the plants too.” A young mother, her face frantic and her hair a mess, picked up her screaming child and looked at me with pleading eyes.
“No, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it.” I forced my smile to stay in place, as she scampered away, her children still screaming.
“Wow, you really know how to scare kids, huh, sis?” Lucian teased as he walked over and saw the mess.
“More like kids destroy all your hard work without so much as a sorry.” I muttered.
“Bad day, sis? Don’t worry, I’ll help you.” Lucian grabbed the closet trash can and pulled it over.
“Whoa, what happened here?” Carina’s eyes widened as she took in the situation.
“A morning’s hard work wasted. Little kid knocked over my display. I really thought this display case would be sturdier, but nope. It’s cheap, like the rest of them. I think it’s time Mom and Dad look for some new suppliers.”
“Ha! You know that won’t happen.” Lucian said. “What does Dad always say- if it’s not broke?—”
“Don’t fix it.” I finished for him. “But guess what? This shit is broken.”
Both Lucian and Carina laughed and helped me clean up.
Afterwards, I headed to the back in search of a stand and more succulents.
Starting over sucked but at least it would keep me busy longer.
I’d rather be involved in some sort of task than helping customers.
Not that I minded helping, as most of the locals were pleasant enough.
I just didn’t always feel like peopling. Today was one of those days.
“I’ve noticed more guys coming in from the new construction crew in town.” Carina said from behind me, and I nearly jumped two feet.
“Jeez! A warning would be nice.”
“Why are you so jumpy today?”
“Maybe my whole display crashed to the ground in front of me?”
“I think it’s someone not getting laid.” My sister snickered and I wanted to throw something at her head.
“Okay, miss, I’m so in love and get laid all the time. Besides, how do you know what I’m doing in my free time?”
“True. There was that one time?—”
I held my hand up, so she’d shut it. “Let’s leave the past in the past, okay, sis? Now move it along. I’ve got things to do.”
“It wouldn’t hurt for you to check out some eye candy. You never know who might wander in.” She blew me a kiss and disappeared from the back room.
I sighed and went back to my task. I didn’t need to look at any eye candy. If I wanted meaningless sex, I’d find someone from a few towns away, with no chances of running into them here. In a small town, everyone knew everyone, and it wasn’t easy to keep anything on the down low.
The only shelf I liked was the largest one in the back, but I didn’t mind. It would work perfectly for what I needed. With heavy pants and even heavier pushing, I dragged the multiple shelf display case to the set-up spot.
“Need some help with that?” A deep, burly voice washed over me, sending a tidal wave of something I hadn’t felt in a really long time, nor did I want to.
“No, I’m okay, thanks.” I said without making eye contact. That voice must’ve come from some type of sexy man and if I looked, I might not be able to stop myself.
“You sure? You look like you could use some help.” He chuckled, the sound more like a growl, and my curiosity got the better of me.
I dared to sneak a glance and holy shit was this man smoking hot.
I swallowed hard, like I had drool or something, and my hand flew to my mouth in hopes I really wasn’t drooling.
He was tall, must be around six foot four if I were to take a guess, and the muscles bulging beneath his tight t-shirt were hard to miss.
I imagined what he might look like underneath, maybe a sexy six pack I’d like to run my teeth all over.
Tattoos covered his arms, full sleeves on both, with a few peeking out from the top of his t-shirt.
Dark brown hair matched his brown eyes, intense brown eyes I should say, with the way they were staring right through to my soul.
Clearing my throat, I pushed a piece of loose hair back into my bun and smoothed down my now wrinkly tank top and shorts, dusty from the back room.
“I should be asking if you need any help. Do you?” I looked everywhere but him, his handsome rugged looks causing alarm bells to ring and red flags to wave. Please say no, please say no.
“Actually, would you mind showing me where the marble slats are?”
Dammit. I still couldn’t even look at him.
You got this, girl. Don’t let his looks get to you.
More like don’t drag him into the back room and have your way with him.
Not that I would ever do that. Not here, hell no. My father has cameras around, and my family is constantly appearing out of nowhere.
“We don’t have any in stock. But we are taking custom orders for them. You can make one at the customer service desk.”
“Perfect, thanks. Journey, is it?”
I froze. How does he know my name?!
Oh wait. My nametag. Duh.
“Yep, that’s me.”
“I’m Cullen. Nice to meet you. I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”
His words made me pause. Seeing a lot of each other? Why?
My heart kicked into overdrive as I finally made eye contact with him again. Big mistake.
Cullen winked, and that was it. There went my panties.
I watched his sexy ass sway in those tight cargo pants of his as he walked away, unable to resist. He turned around and I jumped, my back rigid. I pretended to busy myself with the display case, but I heard his laughter.
“Whoa. Who was that, sis?” Carina said from behind me, and I spun on my heel, jumping for a second time.
I clutched my pounding chest. “Can you please stop doing that? And I don’t know, just a customer.” I shrugged.
“Mmhmm, sure was hot.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say.” With a wave of my hand, I went to grab the succulents, hoping I never saw that sexy man again.