Page 108 of Perfectly Matched: Harbor Falls Romance Collection

Three days of peace and quiet. Could life get any better?

Scott had fished, slept late, and eaten himself into oblivion. Every morning he woke, had coffee and breakfast-by-Suzie until he was stuffed, then made the short trek up the mountain to the lodge with Brad. They’d talk shop for a while, then Scott would migrate to the deck overlooking the lake—he might even have dozed for a while—and then lunch. In the evenings, he and Petey and Brad would stroll down to the lake to wet a line. None of them caught anything but no one seemed to care. It wasn’t about catching fish anyway, was it?

It was about slowing down, time with family, resting and recuperating.

Hell. Three days in Harbor Falls and he was already turning soft. While he knew lazy couldn’t last forever, suddenly Scott realized he hadn’t thought much about Italy lately.

Probably a good thing to start letting some of that mess go. Distance and time, right?

Earlier that morning, his cabin became available. After Brad saw him properly checked in, Scott made the short walk to his cabin and took advantage of the time on his hands to lounge for a spell in the open-air hot tub, followed by a nap. Later, he tried to read a book, then watched a movie, and finally, headed back toward the lodge to see what was on the menu for dinner.

Life was good.

And boring. Truth be known, he was ready for a little more action.

Leaning back against the countertop, he watched Brad supervise a couple of his sous chefs prepping for dinner.

“So, besides fishing, what else is there to do around here, bro? I think I’m up for a little more now.”

Brad glanced his way, right eyebrow arched.

“Oh? I thought this trip was for relaxation.”

“I’ve had three days.”

“Hmm?”

“Yeah.”

Brad turned fully toward him yet kept an eye out for the young chefs.

“So, give, little brother. What really brought you to Harbor Falls? Other than that, I need to give my palate a rest story, of course.”

A jolt of anxiety tripped over his upper abdomen.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

He tried like hell not to break the stare between them.

“Are you in trouble? Is it a woman?”

“No. No. Nothing like that.”

“Money?”

“Oh, no. It’s nothing, Brad, really.”

“Then what?”

Should he? Should he just go ahead and tell him. No, not yet.

“It’s nothing! I just wanted to come back to the states for a while and see my family. Hell, you and Suzie have been married years now and I’d yet to spend any quality time with her. And little Petey? You know how I’ve been wanting to see that kid, live and in person.”

Brad narrowed his gaze.

“You’re sure.”

“Positive.”

Brad waited another moment, giving him the once-over.

“All right. What do you have in mind, then?”

Internally, Scott inhaled. He wasn’t ready to get into his problem yet with Brad. Thank God he’d let the subject go.

“I don’t know. What is there to do around here? Any night life? Should I go visit those mountains or something?”

Snickering, Brad replied.

“You’re pretty much in the mountains and unless you want to go into Asheville, you’ll not find a lot of night life here.”

He glanced back to one of the girls.

“Hey, sweetheart. Not so big chunks on those vegetables, huh? We’ve got an older crowd here right now.”

She nodded and said.

“Yes, Chef,”

and went back to her work.

Brad turned his attention back to his brother.

“You were saying?”

“Night life.”

“Oh, yeah. That.”

“I’m out of luck there, is what you are telling me.”

Brad strolled around the end of the counter, picked up a fish filet, and gave it a sniff.

“Not really.”

He placed it back on the plate and lifted his gaze.

“Suzie and I are going downtown tomorrow for the merchant open house. There should be a lot of people in town, all of the shops will be open. Want to come with us?”

An open house. Well, all right. “Sure.”

It would be something to do.

“All right. We’ll go in the afternoon, after the lunch crowd here. I’ll meet you in the lobby at one o’clock, and you can ride down the mountain with me.”

“Sounds like a plan, bro.”

He wondered if that cute chick from the sidewalk, the one with the ankle, would be around.

****

She hadn’t ordered enough chocolates.

Darn. It!

But thank God she’d had the foresight on Thursday to hire a few extra people—kids really, from the local high school Family & Consumer Sciences Creative Foods class—and then trained them on Friday. She also loved making this community connection with the teacher and the families of the teenagers. She wanted to build her business, yes, but it was just as important to her to start building relationships within the town.

The kids were taking care of the lattes and the frappes and the regular coffee drinkers while she gave out chocolate samples on the street.

And this is where she’d needed to be—out in the community talking with people. If she were going to live here and work here, she needed to know her neighbors. So far, it felt like her efforts were paying off. She had talked up her shop and given out samples all morning, but mainly just wanted to make connections. Some people came back for seconds, and she didn’t care. She was glad they liked her chocolates that much!

The cute shoe thing, however, hadn’t panned out. The ankle still hurt like crazy and taking the lovely boot off made it hurt worse. So, she’d made a nice pink, satin cover for it, one that matched the pink blouse she wore over her very favorite black pants and made the best of it. As a backup, she brought out two cafe chairs so she could sit between customers and prop the foot.

Glancing down at her tray, she surveyed the dozen or so truffles left to give out. They were almost gone, and it was barely two in the afternoon. The open house was to run until six o’clock this evening and all her chocolates would be gone long by then. Thank goodness, it was a cool, fall day, they would have been melted into little chocolate puddles by now if it were not.

Perhaps having given out almost all the samples was a good thing, though. She still had plenty of the coupon cards with her new label on it to give out too. Picking one up, she perused the design and smiled.

Nice. Her designer had done a very good job. She was pleased.

“Hey, Jillian!”

Jerking her gaze back up, she saw Suzie Hart and Brad Matthews coming up the sidewalk. Suzie was waving madly and grinning. That simple fact relaxed her somewhat. She so wanted to be friends with this woman! She had to win her over.

Rushing up, Suzie grasped her forearms and gave her a once over.

“Your foot! Oh, my.”

“A little broken bone. A rather insignificant one, but it still hurts like heck.”

Brad rocked back to look at her boot.

“I always wanted one of those. Cool!”

“I’d let you have this one if I could.”

“Can I keep the pink thing?”

Jillian smiled. “Sure.”

With a more serious look, Brad offered.

“I can’t believe that little trip caused a bone to break.”

She would second that notion. “Freaky.”

“Yeah,”

Suzie echoed.

“Otherwise, how are things going for you today?”

“Coming along.”

Chocolate, Jillian. Give her some chocolate. She grinned and pushed the tray forward a little.

“Please, would you like a sample of one of my chocolates? They are getting a little warm, but it is all I have left, so if you are interested….”

Bright-eyed and eager, Suzie stepped closer.

“Oh, my goodness, yes! Jillian, these look amazing!”

She picked up one with a little J initial on it.

“That’s hazelnut,”

Jillian told her.

“One of my all-time favorites.”

Suzie held the confection, sitting in a small paper cup in her hand, and looked to Jillian.

“I thought you said your candy-making equipment hadn’t arrived yet?”

The hand with the truffle moved closer to her mouth.

“That’s right. I had these made off-site and shipped in yesterday. They…”

Suzie popped the candy into her mouth and groaned.

“Oh, hell,”

she said, her eyes rolling back in her head. She grasped Brad’s forearm.

“Pick me up if I fall into a foodgasm puddle right here on the sidewalk.”

She leaned into her husband, slowly chewing, eyes closed, and simply paused.

And moaned. Again.

Finally, her eyes popped back open and she shook Brad’s arm.

“Oh, God. Try one. Please. And tell me those are not to die for.”

Brad glanced between the two women.

“Well, I never pass up chocolate but I’m really not the one to…”

Suzie popped one with some white powdered sprinkles on top into his mouth. His lips clamped over it.

“Shit,”

he said while working the sugary mixture around in his mouth. “Wow.”

He nodded and stared into his wife’s eyes.

“You’re right. Those are excellent. But the real test will be—”

“Hey, guys.”

“Scott!”

Jillian moved back a step as Brad’s brother crowded in. The sight of him made her smile a little. He was a quite handsome man. She pegged him to be a little older than her but still quite the looker. And she hadn’t forgotten that electrically sparked, peck-on-the-corner-of-her-lips the other day. In fact, she’d thought of that way too often.

Not to mention that Ciao, babe remark that had escaped his lips.

Groan...

Suzie dragged him closer.

“Scott. You must try one of these. They are, OMG, they are heavenly.”

Caught up in the moment, Jillian stepped closer to turn the tray with the prettiest truffles remaining toward Brad’s brother. If she could win over all the Matthews family, it would probably serve her well in this town.

“Help yourself,”

she said, smiling to Mr. Chocolate Eyes himself.

He took one look at her tray, then back up into her face, did a quick sweep over Suzie and Brad’s expectant faces, and said.

“No. No thank you. I don’t do chocolate.”

You don’t do chocolate? Jillian stared at the man in disbelief, then the word.

“Seriously?”

popped out of her mouth. She laughed and continued.

“I’m not sure I trust anyone who doesn’t do chocolate!”

Suzie laughed with her and touched her arm.

Brad Matthews cleared his throat.

And Scott Matthews stared at her with a very blank but yes, serious, look on his face.

“That’s right, Miss Bass, I don’t do chocolate. Is that funny to you?”

Jillian clamped her open mouth shut tight, took a step back, and didn’t utter another word. Obviously, she had misread something here and it was time to retreat a little and reassess.

“No, it’s not,”

she countered.

“How rude of me.”

****

Scott watched Jillian’s expression fall and her face pale. Shit. He had offended her. That wasn’t his intent at all, but he had. Dammit.

Beside of him, Suzie laughed again.

“Oh hell. What in the world are you talking about, Scott?”

He turned to her.

“Suzie, I’m on vacation. Remember?”

“Of course. Oh, but you do not understand. These truffles are to die for.”

Hell. Scott glanced at the plate. What he wanted to say earlier but didn’t because he truly was trying to avoid offending Jillian, was I don’t do bad chocolate. The truffles had been out in the sun too long and were sweating. Not good. Besides he was on a palate cleanse. No chocolate for him until his taste buds sharpened up again. He glanced from Jillian to Suzie.

“I’m sure they are wonderful.”

But he was thinking that they were likely pretty awful, considering that the Blue Ridge Mountains were not really the Mecca of chocolate, were they.

“But I am going to pass.”

As an afterthought, he did a quick turn toward Jillian.

“Not to say that there is anything wrong with...”

His gaze hooked into the woman’s wide-eyed, blank stare.

Shit. He had hurt her feelings.

That wasn’t his intent. He always hated hurting a woman’s feelings. Things became more complicated when a woman’s emotions were involved.

Sighing, he searched her face for something else there besides hurt.

Eh, nothing. Dammit!

He’d thought of her once or twice while he and Brad were on the lake. He’d liked the looks of her then, and he really liked the looks of her now, cute pink boot and all. He had even relived that slight touch of his lips to the corner of her mouth a time or two.

Except now, she was disappointed.

Could he help it if he didn’t like the looks of her chocolate and truly, did not want to sample one?

He tried again.

“Like I said...”

Again, her eyes distracted him. The only way to describe them accurately was the word aqua, like deep blue ocean water, crystal and sparkling, big and wide and waiting expectantly for him to say something that would make her feel better, perhaps. He continued wit.

“…it’s nothing against you or your chocolates, Jillian, I just need to...”

What did he need to do?

Suzie interrupted by picking up a small truffle and passing it under his nose.

“But Scott, you don’t understand these are...”

Immediately his heightened sense of smell stood at full attention. “Belgian,”

he replied.

“I can tell by the aroma.”

Puzzled, he looked to Jillian.

“Yes. The best I can find.”

No, surely, he couldn’t be wrong.

His interest was piqued. He took the paper cup with the confection from Suzie and passed it under his nose again. Closing his eyes, he inhaled. Nice.

Certainly, he could… Couldn’t he?

“Just one,”

he mumbled, eyes still closed. He placed a pinch of the chocolate on his tongue, rolled it around in his mouth, savored, and then swallowed.

When he opened his eyes, three pair of expectant eyes gazed back at him.

“Well?”

Suzie prodded.

Well, what the hell is going on here? was the question doing 360 loops inside his head.

Against his better judgment, he popped the remainder of the truffle in his mouth. No, he wasn’t wrong. He knew exactly where these truffles had come from and who made them.

Turning to Jillian then, he gave her a hard stare.

“These are…lovely,”

he said.

“Congratulations.”

Jillian muttered a soft thank you and then excused herself into the growing crowd. Scott turned away and spat the rest of the chocolate in his mouth into a nearby planter.