Page 18 of Unexpected Temptation

“I ’m glad you thought of that. I do need a few things.”

She unbuckled and waited until Jaylen came around, opened her door, and helped her down.

Amelia’s eyes swept the store after they adjusted to the dimmer light. She walked directly to a round rack full of coats and started sifting through them.

“What do you think of this one?” Jaylen asked and held up a thick down-filled, short, pink coat.

“I like the style, but the colors are too light. I’d get that dirty in a day in the barn.”

Jaylen put it back.

Amelia pulled one out, took it off the hanger, and slid it on. She zipped it up and moved around to make sure she would be comfortable in it while doing chores.

“I like this one,” she said and stuck her hands in the deep pockets.

Jaylen grinned.

“You’d look beautiful in anything.”

Amelia rolled her eyes, took off the coat, and handed it to him.

Amelia was happy that there had only been the saleswoman in the store. However, the saleswoman hadn’t smiled at her and had cooed over Jaylen, the same thing that happened at the restaurant. She wondered vaguely as she shopped if she would have to deal with this every time they came to town?

An hour later, they were piling the bags of clothes in the back of the truck beside her suitcases.

Jaylen looked over at her after he slid into the truck. He smiled and reached for her hand.

“Don’t be mad at me.”

Amelia turned her head and narrowed her eyes at him.

“I can pay for my own things.”

“Baby, I know that. But it makes me feel good to take care of you.” He watched her anger mellow a bit. He raised her hand and kissed the back of it. “You won’t take that from me, will you?”

Amelia looked at him with suspicion when his mouth twitched.

She snorted. “No, I won’t take that from you.”

Jaylen grinned and tugged her over enough to press a hard kiss to her mouth.

“Thank you.”

Amelia could see the mischief in his eyes, shook her head, and chuckled.

“You’re welcome,” she said with a hint of sarcasm.

Several blocks down, Jaylen pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store and parked. The outside was plain white and showed signs of age, but otherwise it looked clean. They had softened the stark color with pots of colorful flowers on either side of the doors leading into the store.

Jaylen seized her hand and walked with her. They grabbed a cart and started moving up and down the aisles.

Amelia noticed that a few women in the store stopped and stared, just as they had in the restaurant. They made her feel like she was taking their toy away from them or something.

She wasn’t going to feel bad about it. If Jaylen had wanted any of them, Amelia wouldn’t have been there because Jaylen would be married to one of them.

That thought made her stomach twist in pain.

Fate had a way of working that boggled her mind.

Her sister’s bet with her friends, Amelia leaving home, and Jaylen finding her and wanting a relationship, still astonished her.

It seemed everything worked to get her there, and she wasn’t going to question it.

“I should have made a list.”

“I didn’t realize there was so much,” Amelia said, wide-eyed at the many aisles of food that took up the majority of the store.

On one side were bins of fruit or vegetables, and on the other, meats and bread.

The bright lights displayed the specials or sale items more clearly.

The place looked larger inside than it had out, and it had so many more choices than she thought a country store would have had.

Jaylen chuckled, and he dropped some cans into the cart. They would take a few more steps, as Amelia pushed the cart and Jaylen walked beside her with a hand on her back.

Amelia realized the last few days that he hadn’t gone very long without touching her in some way. She wasn’t used to being touched and at first felt strange, but at that moment she soaked up the affection she’d craved all her life.

“Well, if it isn’t the handsome Jaylen off his mountain.”

Amelia and Jaylen turned toward the voice.

Jaylen stiffened.

Amelia felt a ball of desolation build in her stomach. The woman in front of her was gorgeous. Tall with dark red hair, bright green eyes, and a body men dreamed about. She was by far the most beautiful of all the women who had been attracted to Jaylen in the town so far.

Her gaze tracked back to Jaylen, and she saw a bit of anger, but he also looked uneasy.

“Hello, Mary Ann.”

The woman moved her cart up alongside theirs.

Jaylen glanced down at Amelia and tightened his arm around her.

“Amelia, I’d like you to meet Mary Ann. Mary Ann, this is my ... fiancée, Amelia.”

Amelia bit back a gasp and stayed quiet.

Mary Ann snorted and rolled her eyes.

“I thought you’d have called me by now.” She glanced at Amelia and quickly dismissed her.

“Now, why would you think that?” His voice dripped with heat and mockery.

Jaylen was getting pissed. He didn’t like the way she looked at Amelia. Besides, this woman was a viper, and he didn’t want her within a mile of Amelia. He could already feel Amelia tremble under his hand.

“I was told you’re looking for a wife.”

“Well, you heard wrong. I don’t need anyone. I’ve got Amelia. She’s everything I’ve ever dreamed about.”

Amelia tore her eyes from the woman and stared up at Jaylen. The ball inside her stomach loosened, and she relaxed at the look of love he bestowed on her.

Mary Ann frowned as she watched them.

“You can’t be serious. I thought you were joking about her,” she hissed and threw out a hand at Amelia.

“Oh, I’m very serious.”

“But she’s...” She stuttered to a stop at the apparent hostility coming from Jaylen.

Jaylen interrupted her before she could sprout any poison she loved to indulge in around town. From what he’d heard, the woman enjoyed making trouble.

“Listen, it was ... um.” He grunted and waved her off. “Anyway, Amelia and I have a lot to do before we head home.”

He smiled down at Amelia. “Let’s go.”

Amelia raised a hesitant hand to Mary Ann. “It was nice meeting you.”

Mary Ann’s sapphire gaze narrowed even more.

Jaylen moved them on and continued shopping. He and Amelia ignored the woman when they found her staring at them throughout the store, as well as the other few who weren’t happy about their relationship.

“I think we have enough for now,” Jaylen said and turned them toward the front.

Both Amelia and he piled the groceries on the checkout.

“Hey, here’s that cookbook Kane was talking about,” Jaylen said as he pulled the book off the shelf. He shuffled through the book quickly and then placed it with their other things.

Jaylen grinned as he looked at Amelia, who stood at the end of the counter, watching, enthralled, as the checkout lady scanned the food with incredible speed and bagged it at the same time. Within a few minutes, she had their cartload ready to go.

Jaylen packed the groceries in the back, put the cart away, and started the truck, ready to head home. Amelia snapped her seat belt in place and looked at Jaylen as he started the car.

“So, there wasn’t a woman around here you were attracted to at all, because I noticed several that wanted you?”

Jaylen glanced at her in confusion as he pulled out of the parking lot.

“No. I was not attracted to any of them.”

“But some were really pretty.”

Jaylen turned to her when they stopped at the stop sign.

“Sweetheart, I was waiting for you, and I didn’t even know it.”

Amelia blinked back the tears that stung her eyes and smiled brightly at him. “That’s the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

“Well, it’s the truth.”

Jaylen reached for Amelia’s hand on the way back home and didn’t release it until they parked at the back door.