Temptation on Ocean Drive - Jennifer Probst Page 0,53
woman out there who was his soul mate.
He just had to find her.
The moment he walked into the floral shop, he relaxed. Devon met him with her usual zen energy, her hip-length dark hair and slow, graceful motions bringing him down a few levels. They both had a thing for flowers, and when he’d first moved into town, they’d fallen into an affair, but it had lasted only a few weeks. She’d made it well known she didn’t do marriage or believe in monogamy. He respected her decision but soon realized their future goals were completely contradictory. They’d easily parted with no drama and remained friends.
“You owe me big-time,” she said, as they made their way toward the back. “I pulled a miracle for this wedding.”
“That’s why we insisted on using you rather than some froufrou city celebrity shop,” he said. “I did a consult with two of them.”
“Not impressed?” she asked, opening her display coolers to pull out some arrangements.
“You know how you go to some of those five-star restaurants, excited to eat? Until you get a grape and piece of leaf on the plate, drizzled with some famous sauce. You leave broke and starving, but you’re afraid to admit to anyone it sucked, so you lie. That’s how these shops were.”
Devon grinned and shook her head. “Well, I’m glad you allowed me to take up the challenge. These are some of the samples I constructed. I’ve been existing in a made-up Lorax land since our consult, and it’s reminding me of when I was continuously high in college. Lovely, whimsical, but a little bit too spacey to live.”
He studied the delicate, gorgeous stalks topped with delicate, puffy blossoms. The colors were magical: a rich lavender, a blush pink, a buttery yellow. They were accented by various blooms that complemented the uniqueness but still held the interesting Dr. Seuss–like shapes the wedding was based on. “What are those?” he asked.
“Hollyhocks with types of allium. I know she loves color, so I think we can do more vibrant shades in her bouquet to pop the dress. The more subtle ones will go well in the centerpieces to offset the table favors. It will look like this.” She laid out a combination of petals of aqua blue, lemon yellow, and hot pink. “I had to dye them to get to the perfect colors. It’s daring and can become garish, but I want to accent with this cream and keep it tight, so it’s more of a pleasant shock. I can tie with this birch twig, then do some bedazzling with a touch of diamonds around the center.”
“Fake ones?” he asked with an arched brow. “Sounds tacky.”
“I can do real ones if you have the budget, but mine are so good you’ll never know.”
“They have the budget, but get me a sample of the fake and see if I can tell. Wait—I have a great idea. Let’s do diamonds in the shape of stars from the Sneetches. Adele will love that extra touch. Is there time?”
“Sure, like I said, it will just cost extra.”
“That’s fine, my budget is generous. It just needs to be—”
“Perfect,” she said with a smile, finishing his thought. “I know. It’s one of my favorite qualities I admire in you. I’m also doing balloon flowers so light and puffy they look like they’ll float away. You can string them up the spiral staircase you showed me so it looks like they’re floating in the room. What do you think?”
“Honestly? I love it. It’s everything we wanted.” He snapped a few pictures to show Bella the final product. “Anything else?”
“We’re all set. How’s things going with you?”
He gave the canned response without even thinking. “Fine.”
She surprised him when she reached out and touched his shoulder. “I don’t believe you.” Her brown eyes gleamed with empathy and something else. “Want to go to dinner and talk about it?”
He blinked, then studied her face. Was she asking him for a date? They’d once joked that one of the saddest things about their breakup was the loss of the garden they’d been working on together. “Did I miss something, Devon?”
Her smile was warm and easy. “No. It’s just that I always enjoy your company, and I miss you. And I’ve been thinking how much fun we had together.”
“Three years ago?”
“Ouch.” But she laughed. Her hand moved lower down his arm. She’d always been a touchy person, enjoying constant physical contact. “Maybe I’ve changed a bit. It has been a while. Or maybe