Forget Me Not. Crystal B. Bright
broken-in sneakers, and a turtleneck. Gideon, on the other hand, looked like sex on a stick in his T-shirt, jeans, sneakers, and a leather jacket.
He had his hair pulled back into a ponytail like Janelle had seen in pictures online. His stare bored a hole through her soul. If he asked her to drop her panties, she might do it, a strange reaction considering she had only heard of him yesterday.
“Um, hi.” Janelle’s voice broke when she finally addressed him. She had her hands to her hips at first, but thought the stance looked too aggressive and so lowered them to her side. Damn, now she looked like a stiff-armed mannequin. “How can I help you?”
“Yeah, you need a bouquet for a young lady?” Penny came around the counter and stood next to Janelle. “Or maybe you need something for your brother Gunnar?”
Janelle whipped her head around to Penny. Under her breath, she whispered, “How do you know that?”
“Google,” Penny replied through her smile to Gideon. “We heard about the shooting yesterday. How awful.” She poked Janelle on her side to get her to speak.
“Uh, yeah. Horrible. Hope they catch who did it.” Janelle nodded. “Good that you rushed back home. That was very, very—um—sweet.”
Penny groaned and lowered her head.
“Thanks.” Gideon’s deep voice rumbled over Janelle.
Her stomach twitched as soon as she heard him. Yep, definitely a panty-dropper type of voice.
“I’m looking for Janelle Gold.” He pointed to Penny. “Is that you?”
Penny started to nod when Janelle pushed her friend away. “I’m Janelle. I own Flowers Galore. Penny Lister is one of my employees.” For now, she could say that with some authority.
Penny held her hand up to Gideon. “Hi.”
Despite Penny positioning her hand in a way that begged for Gideon to kiss the back of it, he, instead, held it like a gentleman and shook it. She slipped out of his grip and stared at her hand like an oddity.
Penny leaned over to Janelle and whispered, “I’m never washing this hand again.”
“Good to know.” Janelle patted her friend’s back and nudged her back to the counter. Then she turned back to Gideon. “You’re looking for me?”
“Yes, my mother said that if I got in a bind at her store to come see you.” He moved in closer to Janelle.
She stood her ground. No way would she run away from someone within her own establishment. Plus, once she smelled his musky scent, she wanted to take it in more. Gideon smelled like what a man should smell like. Earthy yet fragrant, like a cherry blossom tree. His aroma mixed well with the flowers in her establishment. Although she didn’t want to admit it, he fit.
“Oh, yeah? Who’s your mother?” Janelle couldn’t imagine who would refer Gideon Wells to see her.
“Elizabeth Sommerville. Queen Elizabeth. You know her?”
Janelle’s jaw dropped again. After all the conversations she had shared with Elizabeth, how could she not know that Elizabeth had adopted Gideon and Gunnar Wells? The different races and last names shouldn’t have had anything to do with her not knowing. She would have thought she would have heard something about it considering what he did. Then again, Janelle had shut down all conversations about sports with Penny during the game last night. Before then, she hadn’t been open to hearing about athletes and sports.
Elizabeth talked about her family, but never mentioned her sons’ names or professions. That shouldn’t have surprised Janelle. Elizabeth, despite the moniker from the neighborhood residents, had always been down to earth. She talked about the success of her children in their chosen professions like any mom would. So what she had a champion MMA fighter son and now a Super Bowl-winner son? Now that Janelle thought about it, Elizabeth did mention a third son. She wondered what he did for a living.
“I didn’t know you’re Elizabeth’s son.” She put out her hand. “Hi.”
Gideon held Janelle’s hand. Before that touch, Janelle had always wondered why flowers and plants craved the sun. As she held Gideon’s hand, she understood the power of radiant heat. His large hand enveloped hers. She could imagine what it would feel like to be held by him, to have him stroke her bare skin with his fingertips, or how he would touch her as they had wild, animalistic sex.
At the last thought, she pulled her hand away from his and crossed her arms over her chest when she felt her nipples hardening.
“Nice to meet you.” Gideon cleared his throat. “As you may have heard, my mother is going through a health issue right now, so I’m trying to help out at one of her stores. I’m over at the Pick ’N Clip, but there’s an issue with some supplies, and I’m hoping you can help me. Our last shipment got destroyed. I was hoping to buy some of your stock.” He smiled.
As Penny screamed, “Yes,” Janelle said, “No.”
Gideon split his attention between Penny and Janelle but settled on Janelle. He stared at her like he wanted to challenge her. She imagined that behind a menacing face guard on a football helmet, he probably intimidated lots of men. She wouldn’t crumble. She hoped her quick response would get him to leave.
Janelle cleared her throat as she glared at her employee. Penny and her big mouth. Then she glared at the man who’d come to her at the worst time in her life. “I’m sorry, Mr. Wells.”
“Gideon.”
Janelle shifted in her spot. An itchy tickle crept over her shoulders and down her stomach like a weed taking over an abandoned piece of property. “We can’t spare any today.”
“Janelle, yes, we can. We got that shipment—”
“Sorry we can’t help you. Tell your mother hi from me. I hope she gets better.” Janelle turned around and walked to the other end of the counter away from Gideon. When she pivoted so that she could see the front door, she expected to see Gideon leaving her store. She noticed he hadn’t moved.
“I’m a customer like any other. If I offered to buy every flower in your place for someone special, you would sell to me? As soon as we receive our shipment, I would replace your stock.” His tone remained even and smooth.
Janelle had stood toe-to-toe against bankers who had refused to loan her money for her store and hadn’t backed down from that challenge. Gideon’s determination rivaled hers. She couldn’t take giving something up, not today, not now. His offer felt like he wanted to buy her out of the business.
“But you don’t know when that’ll be, right?” Janelle braced her hands on the counter.
“One, maybe, two days tops.” He strolled closer to her.
Penny gasped. Janelle gripped the counter to keep herself steady.
“We have a large order for some hotels down on the strip. They want an assortment of flowers. How about I buy some carnations, daisies, and calla lilies and leave you your roses? I know how important those are right now. Hopefully, that’ll hold our store and not put you all in a bind.” Gideon lowered his voice.
Cool under pressure. Janelle understood now how Gideon had made quarterback on his team.
Penny clapped her hands. “That’s sounds more than fair. I’ll go get—”
Janelle held up her hand to halt her overeager friend. “Please understand, Mr. Wells. I can’t sell off the bulk of my stock to you. I also have a business to run. If you buy it all, I’ll have to shut down.” She would leave out the fact that the money she would get from him would be enough to pay off her bills.
She should yield. The angel on her shoulder whispered in her ear that Elizabeth would sell him the flowers. Her head refused to back down. She looked around her modest place and imagined it with empty shelves and cases. The image proved too much for her to bear, even if the situation would