“Come by tonight,” Tobias invited with a nod. Apparently Caleb had done something right-who the hell knew what-in the old man’s eyes. “You might learn a few things.”

With that and a jaunty salute, Tobias turned on his heel and sauntered down the stairs.

9

BY SEVEN-THIRTY IN THE evening, Pandora was closing up the store and about ready to scream.

She’d thought she was having a little fun with the most incredible sex of her life. But according to popular thought in the store today, she was actually making a social statement that was quite possibly going to cast her as a pariah in town and ruin her reputation. Having played that role recently, she knew she pretty much hated it.

And, apparently the cherry on top of public opinion was that by choosing Caleb over Sheriff Hottie, she was rejecting all that was good and right in the world for the lure of the bad.

It was enough to make a girl’s head explode right off her shoulders. But she knew from experience that obsessing didn’t help, so she forced herself to start her closing routine.

It was just as well that Caleb hadn’t come by. Or called. Or expressed any interest in a repeat performance. If one night together had the potential to ruin everything she’d built here, what would two nights do? Ruin it twice as much?

And how pathetic was she to stop and consider whether twice as ruined wasn’t worth it. Because, dammit, the sex had been incredible. Mind-boggling. So awesome that she got damp just thinking about it.

And she knew he’d been just as blown away.

“Why the hell hasn’t he called, then?” she muttered as she wheeled the dolly with its precariously balanced crate into the showroom.

She stopped just short of Paulie, who was splayed over the floor like a cat-skin rug, and wheeled the dolly to the right instead.

“I’m crazy for being upset. I should be grateful he isn’t coming around, right? This way I don’t have to worry about trying to resist him.”

This time she directed her comment to Bonnie, who was sitting on one of the display counters next to a three-foot-high cluster of amethyst, her head tilted to the side as if contemplating Pandora’s whining.

Bonnie meowed her support. But Paulie just rolled onto his side, shot one leg into the air and started licking himself. There was nothing like the male perspective.

“Sure, I guess he could take that route,” she agreed with the cat as she started wiggling the five-foot-tall statue of Eros from the box, careful not to nick his wings. “But lovin’ is never as fun by oneself.”

Pandora’s lower lip jutted out, but before she could get a real pout on, there was a tap at the door.

She and the cats all turned their heads. Her heart leaped, giddy excitement filling her tummy. Dread filtered in, too. She’d had no idea she was making a public statement last night. But now she was fully informed. Upset, confused and a little intimidated…but still fully informed.

Oh, joy.

Giving Eros’s butt a quick pat in the hopes he’d help her choose well, she unwrapped herself from the statue and hurried across the store to unlock the door.

“Caleb,” she greeted, her smile a little shaky at the corners. She wiped her hands on the heavy velvet of her skirt and gave her voile blouse a quick tug to make sure the lace was straight at the bodice.

Should she ask him in? Or ask him to leave? Her stomach churned as she tried to decide. Did she go with her instincts and intuition, which said that despite the town’s opinion, he was a good man? Or did she accept that her intuition sucked and listen to public opinion?

Thankfully, Caleb took the decision out of her hands by walking right in.

“Hey,” he greeted. He didn’t kiss her, though. Instead, he gave her a long, searching look, then, hands still shoved in his pockets instead of groping her the way they should be, he stepped into the store.

“What’s up?” she asked. She bit her lip. Had he heard the rumors about the two of them? Was he regretting it now, too? “You look a little stressed.”

“Nah. I just had a full day, that’s all.”

Full of what? He wasn’t working, was avoiding his family as if they were carriers of the seventh plague and didn’t seem like a holiday-partying kind of guy.

Maybe he’d been looking for a job. Or a place to live. Something that’d keep him in Black Oak past the first of the year? Maybe he’d spent the day in bed, recovering in exhaustion from his wild night with her.

And maybe she’d been inhaling too many oyster fumes. Pandora gave herself a quick mental forehead smack, followed by an even quicker get-a-freaking-clue-he’s-not-for-you lecture.

“I’m replenishing stock,” she told him, returning to unpacking the statue so she could resist the desperate urge to squeeze his ass. Keep it light, keep it polite. Ass grabbing was definitely off-limits. “It was a busy day. The busiest this year, actually.”

“That’s great that you’re rocking the sales,” he said. “Have you pinpointed what’s making the big difference? Besides your charming personality, of course.”

The last was said with a wicked smile and a wink.

“I’m guessing it’s either that, or the aphrodisiacs,” Pandora said with a smile, unable to maintain her distance when he gave her that look. “I’m not actually sure. I haven’t quite figured out how to run the bookkeeping program yet, but I think there’s some kind of income-comparison report I can run. As soon as I do, I’ll know what to focus more time on.”

His eyes narrowed, an odd look crossing his face before he stepped farther into the room. “I’m handy with computers. How about I run the report for you while you unpack?”

“You don’t have to do that,” she protested, her words a little breathless. “I’m sure you have other things to do.”

“Just the party at the motorcycle shop,” he dismissed. “And I was hoping you’d go with me, so I’m just chilling until you’re through here anyway.”

Pandora pressed her lips together. Wasn’t that tantamount to publicly stating her intention to take the bad-boy path?

“The party?” she hedged. “I didn’t think you were going.”

In that second, Pandora wished like never before that her mom were here. As conflicted as she felt, she needed Cassiopeia’s clear-sighted vision and maybe a session with the tarot cards to sort through all of this.

Instead, she was stuck with herself. And her own lousy intuition. Tiny pinpricks of panic shivered up and down Pandora’s spine as she tried to decide what to do. Her intuition was telling her to go for it with Caleb. Of course, her body’s desperate need to taste him at least one more time was probably overriding any teensy bit of actual gift she had.

Obviously catching a whiff of her internal struggle, Caleb waved one hand as if brushing away the invitation.

“Look, I don’t blame you if you don’t want to go. It’s not my idea of a good time,” Caleb said with a shrug, moving behind the counter to where she’d left the laptop open. “What program do you use for bookkeeping?”

If they stayed here, she could enjoy his company and not have to face crowds. Or decisions. Oh, God, Pandora thought with a mental eye roll. She was such a wimp.

“You really don’t have to do that,” she said, feeling guilty over the relief. “I can come in early tomorrow and finish up the stock. We can go to the party now. Or, you know, go do something else.”

Subtle, Pandora, she told herself with a mental snicker. Why didn’t she ask him to drop his pants and do her instead?

“Nah,” he said. “This won’t take long and I’d like to help.”

Her heart melted a little. So did her knees, so Pandora leaned against the dolly and cleared her throat, not wanting to sound all choked up when she said, “I appreciate it. I feel like I’m…”

She trailed off, scrunching her nose and scraping at the chipped paint on the dolly. “Feel like…?”

Flustered and wishing she’d kept her mouth shut, Pandora met his gaze with a shrug.

“Pandora?”

“I feel like I’ve finally found my thing, you know? My niche. I’m having fun getting to know the customers and matching them to the right motivation.” She blushed again, giving him an abashed look. “That’s how I think of it. Motivation. What products will get them excited, give them the boost or direction they need. Even the aphrodisiacs in the café are all about motivation.”

Pushing the dolly toward the back room, Pandora caught his doubtful look.

“They are,” she insisted. “The aphrodisiacs aren’t like popping a little blue sex pill and getting it up for anyone or anything. They’re about amplifying a connection that’s already there. About giving a couple the impetus, the energy, to lose their inhibitions and explore everything that’s between them.”

Caleb leaned against the counter, his fingers tapping the edge of the laptop as he smiled.

“You love it.”

Centering her statue, Pandora rubbed Eros’s bare shoulder and nodded. “I really do.”

“Then let me help you out. I’ll just take a peek at your program, see what info I can pull together for you.”

Could anyone be sweeter? To hell with the town and the gossip. She was going to listen to her heart. It might not be a special gift like intuition or a honed skill like reading body language. But it was hers and she was going to trust it.


“I APPRECIATE YOU LOOKING at my books,” Pandora said, her smile both sweet and sexy at the same time. She crossed the floor, pausing to pet one of the cats, who was sprawled inside a large copper bowl. “I figure I’ll take a business class or something after the first of the year. But in the meantime, I really am grateful for the reassurance that the store is really doing well.”

Caleb felt like the world’s biggest dick. And not in a good way. He spent most of his life lying to people. Using them for information. He’d learned the art of taking advantage of people at his father’s knee.