Betrayal of the Dove - By Capri Montgomery Page 0,16

hall and the backdoor.

The moment he was out of sight the three women who had invaded her store decided to leave—without buying anything on top of that. She wanted to close up shop and go watch him work, but she wouldn’t. Nothing good could come of lusting after a man she couldn’t have because she had just hired him and she was now his boss. There would be no dating employees—none at all, she told herself.

She kept herself busy by organizing some of the jewelry in the case so that she could make room for a few new pieces that she had upstairs. She had a couple customers come in and make purchases. This was actually one of her slower days of the week, Tuesdays; she hated Tuesdays because they seemed to drag on forever. Monday’s were busy, Friday’s were really busy, and Saturdays were off the charts busy. Wednesdays and Thursdays were normal paced, but Tuesdays were like sitting in a cemetery watching the dead—Tuesdays were just plain boring…well, maybe not this Tuesday because this Tuesday had brought Shane Maxwell to her store and that, whether she would be dating the man or not, was definitely a plus in this Tuesday’s favor.

She wasn’t expecting Craig to find his way back in her store today, so when the door swung open and he walked in she was shocked. “Twice in one day,” she said, surprise registering in her tone.

“I brought you coffee,” he said as he sat a twelve ounce cup of coffee on her counter. She hated coffee. She hated the smell of it too, but since he had been so nice she decided she would just accept the gift. She could either pass it on to Shane or dump it in the sink upstairs.

“Thank you,” she forced a smile. He was trying to be nice and helpful, but the smell of that coffee was really starting to make her ill. Jeeze, what did he put in that cup? She didn’t think she had ever smelled coffee that wreaked that badly.

“Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?”

Oh no. This was not what she wanted to have happen. She had been avoiding this conversation since she met him. “Craig…”

“I’m a good guy,” he pointed to his badge. She smiled. She still didn’t want to date him.

“It’s just that I’m coming out of a bad relationship.”

“So maybe now’s the time to enter into a good one.”

“I don’t want to,” she admitted and she wasn’t lying there—not completely anyway. A part of her had thought about having a relationship, but in all honesty, she hadn’t thought about doing it until Shane walked into her store. “It’s just not the right time for me.” The words, “but we can still be friends,” were on the tip of her tongue, but she refrained from actually uttering them. They weren’t friends now. They had a passing acquaintance, one that he seemed to be trying to make into something more regular.

“Maybe you just really need to get back on the horse, so to speak.”

The man just couldn’t seem to take a hint. Okay, so maybe she should be more direct. “Craig. I’m not—”

“You have a minute…Oh, sorry I didn’t realize you were busy,” Shane said in a tone that told her he wasn’t happy about their current visitor—or more like, her current visitor. She got the feeling earlier that Shane didn’t like Craig, and right now she was sensing the feeling was mutual.

Petrof had come in earlier, right before Shane left to pick up the supplies he needed. Shane had given him a visual appraisal, but he didn’t stay inside the store long enough to be privy to the entire conversation. Petrof had told her, and a slowly passing Shane Maxwell, that he was “just dropping off some bagels.”Shane just nodded and kept on going through the door. “Craig told me you’re updating your security and deciding to have protection. I think I need to do the same myself. What company did you use? They don’t have very friendly employees,” he had said as Shane closed the door to the hallway behind him.

“A friend’s,” she had said with a smile on her face before changing the focus of the conversation. She wasn’t thrilled that Craig had gone off telling everybody of her new security. It wasn’t that she didn’t want people to know she had somebody there; it was just that she didn’t need Craig going to all the shops and spreading her business.