Behind The Red Doors (Santori Stories #1)(17)
Author: Vicki Lewis Thompson

“I like it.” She sighed. “But I have to say, living up to Dev’s answers on the questionnaire is wearing me out.”

“So tell him that!”

“No.”

“Why not? He’s a big boy. Surely he will—”

“Faith, he’s attracted to a woman who’s into all that. If I tell him I’m not, I’m afraid he’ll lose interest.”

“Won’t you have to tell him sometime?”

“I suppose.” Jamie had given this a lot of thought. “But when I do, I have to be ready for the relationship to be over. I’m not ready yet.”

“And it might not be over. He’s not that superficial, Jamie.”

“I don’t think that’s necessarily superficial. Aromatherapy has taught me that many unconscious factors go into creating an attraction between two people. He has a right to like certain things in a woman. And if that’s not what I’m all about, then—”

“I think you’re falling for him.”

“No.” The thought scared her silly. “No, I’m not. I won’t let myself do that. It’s too soon, anyway.”

“Too soon? You’ve known the guy for twelve years!”

But not like this. “I just have to be careful, Faith. If I fall for him, and he doesn’t feel the same, that could become very awkward for all three of us.”

Faith shook her head. “Do you seriously think you have that much control over how you feel about him? Is there some little valve inside you that’s either open or closed?”

“I can control it.” Or so she’d told herself.

“If you say so.”

“I can!” And all the while a voice within her was telling her that it was already too late. She was totally in love with Dev.

ALTHOUGH NOTHING SPECIFIC had been arranged, Dev assumed he’d go over to Jamie’s Thursday night, because he’d been spending every night there recently. So when she left a message with Edna on Thursday afternoon saying she would be ice skating that night with some friends from her old job, he was taken aback. She hadn’t invited him, and she hadn’t suggested meeting him later, either.

He told himself it didn’t matter. She had a right to make plans without him. But he went home from work feeling very left out.

He spent most of Thursday night in a blue funk and he didn’t sleep more than a couple of hours. By Friday morning, as the sun rose on Valentine’s Day, he’d come to an inevitable conclusion. Apparently there was only one way to handle this relentless ache in his heart every time he thought about Jamie. He would have to gather his courage and do what had to be done.

BOTH MALE AND FEMALE customers flooded The Red Doors on Friday, and Jamie was grateful. If only her personal life hadn’t been in chaos, she could be even happier that the marketing strategy to bring women into the kiosks had succeeded beyond her fondest hopes. There’d been a nearly disastrous incident involving the Valentino diamond Faith had on display and even that had only briefly distracted Jamie from her personal affairs.

She was now back to being tied in knots thinking about Dev. She’d tried pulling back a little, had even taken a night off from seeing him to give them each what the relationship gurus called “a little space.” There had been nothing little about it. She’d felt as if a galaxy separated them.

No matter how hard she’d tried to have fun with her friends, she’d thought of Dev constantly and regretted not spending the evening with him. That was a very bad sign. He’d probably watched some sports on TV and barely noticed they were apart.

Fortunately the crush of customers mobbing the boutiques and kiosks prevented her from dwelling constantly on her problems with Dev. She was in Heaven Scent helping to fill orders when Dixie came through the door.

Dixie looked unnerved as she walked over to the counter. “Sugar, can I talk to you a minute?”

“I’ll be right there.” Jamie quickly rang up the computer-generated purchase and handed it over to Veronica. Dixie so seldom got rattled that Jamie was worried. “What’s up?”

“Can you walk out to the mezzanine with me? I want to show you something.”

“Sure.” Even more concerned, Jamie followed her out of the boutique, thinking there was some trouble on the main floor. “Is there a problem at The Red Bean?”

“No. I wanted to show you something and I didn’t want Veronica to see it.” Dixie pulled a velvet jeweler’s box out of her skirt pocket. Opening it, she showed Jamie the contents.

“What a gorgeous locket!” Looped on a delicate chain, the walnut-size heart was created with gold filigree. “Did you just buy it over at The Diamond Mine?”

“No. It came from there originally, but it was delivered to my desk, and it was from—” she paused and flushed bright red “—my secret admirer.”

“Oh, Dixie.” Jamie grinned at her. “I do believe he’s raising the stakes. And from the looks of that locket, by quite a tidy sum. Your secret admirer obviously has two nickels to rub together. Plus he also knows where to shop.”

“Jamie, if you know who bought this for me, you’d better tell me right this very minute.”

Jamie held up both hands. “I don’t. I swear I don’t. Who do you think sent it?”

“I haven’t the foggiest, and it’s killing me! Are you sure you don’t know?”

“I don’t. And if I knew, but I’d been sworn to secrecy, I’d at least tell you that. But I’m just plain clueless. What about Faith?”

“I checked with her first. Apparently she wasn’t in The Diamond Mine when this was bought. Stacy was.”

“Ah. Stacy of the last-minute elopement. How convenient for your secret admirer.” Jamie gazed at the intricate locket. “You have to admit that he has very good taste in jewelry.”

Dixie traced the heart’s outline. “It’s pretty. Classy, even.”

“Have you tried it on?”

She glanced up and shook her head.

“Why not? Here, let me put it on for—”

“Nope.” Dixie jerked the box out of reach. “The note says if I wear it, my secret admirer will reveal himself. What if it turns out to be some toad? Then what?”

Jamie laughed. “What if it turns out to be the handsome prince?”

“Come on, honey. I’m fifty-six years old. My chances of attracting a creepy toad are much higher.” She closed the box with a snap. “I’m not wearing it.”

“I think you should. If it turns out to be someone awful, you can handle him. I’ve seen that Steel Magnolia routine of yours.”

Dixie put the box back in her pocket.

“Come on, Dixie. Take a chance.”

“Easy for you to say. You know who your date is for Valentine’s night.” Dixie winked. “Looking forward to it?”

“You bet.” Jamie smiled with as much enthusiasm as she could dredge up. The closer she came to closing time, the more she felt anxiety churning in her stomach. She was in love with a man who thought she was someone else.

“Well, you go out and have a marvelous time, sugar. And now we’d both better get back to the salt mines.”

“Right.” Jamie turned and hurried into Heaven Scent. The day was going by fast—too fast. She didn’t have time for a lunch break, but she wouldn’t have been able to skate, anyway. After taking her skates home last night so that she could have them for the outing with her friends, she’d forgotten to bring them back to the office this morning.

Quitting time arrived before she knew it. As she rode home on the bus, romance-minded couples seemed to be everywhere. The whole world was falling in love.

She should never have let herself get so involved with Dev, she decided once she was home and struggling into the heavy black dress. They could have ended things with a one-night stand, but she’d been greedy. Now she’d pay for that greed with a broken heart, because she couldn’t keep up this charade much longer.

Underneath the black dress she finally managed to zip, she wore a black lace underwire bra that did wonders for her cl**vage and pinched her skin something fierce. The black garter and lace panties felt weird every time she sat down. In fact, sitting in a beaded dress wasn’t something she wanted to spend much time doing, and yet she was supposed to eat dinner in it.

The whole makeup session was another pain in the rear. Every time she wiped the mascara over her lashes she’d sneeze, giving her little black fan-shaped smudges under her eyes. After several tries she got the makeup on, but she wasn’t happy with the job.

She’d been on her feet all day and had to cram them into the four-inch black heels she’d bought yesterday to go with the dress. As she walked around her apartment, her feet hurt, her br**sts felt squeezed by the underwire, her shoulders had already begun to ache from the weight of the dress, and she’d managed to smear her mascara again.

“I can’t do this!” She kicked off the torture shoes so hard they flew across the room and bounced against the books in her bookcase. Then she reached for the zipper of the dress. The charade was over.

THE HIGH, STARCHED collar of Dev’s tux shirt irritated his neck, but it was a small price to pay for giving Jamie a night to remember. A dozen red roses in a long floral box under his arm, he climbed the stairs to her apartment and tried not to think about how stiff the darn dress shoes were. He hoped he could dance in them without pain.