Blame It On Christmas

“What?”

“You have lipstick on your chin.”

J.B. froze inwardly. This was a minefield. Mazie wasn’t a child anymore, but Jonathan was very protective. That was part of the reason J.B. had kept a healthy distance from her over the years. “Do I?” he said.

Jonathan’s expression segued into a frown. “What the hell went on in that vault?”

“None of your damn business. Your sister is an adult. Besides, nothing happened. I got claustrophobic, and Mazie tried to distract me with a little kiss.”

“Claustrophobic?” Jonathan’s distrust vanished. “Oh, man, J.B., I’m sorry. You must have freaked. That was nice of her, especially considering she doesn’t like you all that much.”

She seemed to like me just fine a few minutes ago when she had her tongue down my throat.

J.B. swallowed the sarcastic words and managed a noncommittal nod. “Not my finest hour. It’s humiliating as hell to have something that happened almost twenty-five years ago still yank my chain. For a minute in there, I thought I was going to lose it.”

“You should be glad it was Mazie with you and not someone else. At least she won’t ever tease you about it. That girl has a tender heart.”

“She’s a lot like Hartley in that way. The two of them were always bringing home strays. Have you heard from him at all? I still can’t believe he simply vanished.”

“No. But it’s only a matter of time. Hartley was born and bred here. The Lowcountry is in his blood.”

“You don’t sound happy about that.”

“He abandoned the family business...left me to deal with Dad. I don’t have a lot of sympathy for my brother right now.”

“He’s your twin. Twins are close.”

“We were at one time. Not anymore.”

“You say that, Jonathan, but I know you. And I know Hartley. The two of you were practically inseparable when we were growing up. You can’t pretend that tie isn’t there. It always will be.”

“Not if I don’t want it...not if I don’t want him.”

J.B. let the subject drop, but only because he saw beneath Jonathan’s angry response to the deep hurt that still festered.

He rotated his shoulders and took one last look around the room. “I think this will work for Mazie. I didn’t get a firm yes from her, but I’ll follow up.”

“And I’ll continue to put in a good word for you.”

They exited the building. J.B. locked up. “You on for basketball next weekend?”

“Yeah. Seven o’clock?”

J.B. nodded. “I’ll see you then.”

When Jonathan climbed in his car and drove away, J.B. should have followed suit, but he felt oddly out of sorts. Perhaps because he wanted to get this project settled. He needed Mazie’s property.

Who was he kidding? Every bit of his current angst was because of a frustrating, completely off-limits woman who had bedeviled him for years. He wanted her. End of story.

He took out his phone and pulled up her contact info. A short text in this situation would be perfectly acceptable.

Hope you liked the property. Let me know what you think.

But he couldn’t do it. Mazie had muddied the waters. Or maybe they both had. He was accustomed to closing deals. In business. For pleasure. Never both at the same time.

This was exactly why he was screwed. He had resisted temptation all this time, and then in one short afternoon he’d undone all his good intentions.

Thinking about Mazie was a mistake. Half an hour ago, he had been primed to make love to her. His body had been denied satisfaction, and now he was itchy, restless.

One thing he knew for sure.

Kissing Mazie Tarleton was an experience he planned to repeat. Some way. Somehow. Maybe she didn’t know it, but J.B.’s intentions were crystal clear.

Now that he had touched her, tasted her, there was no going back...

Mazie wanted to go straight home and take a long cold shower, but it was too early in the day to be done with work, and besides, Gina was expecting her to return.

There was no choice but to brazen it out.

Which was not easy when a girl was commando under her skirt.

Fortunately, the shop was swamped with customers. Mazie barely did more than wave at Gina and say hello to her other employees before she was pulled into the fray. Thank goodness for tour ships that dispatched groups of passengers ashore, eager to tick off items on their Christmas lists.

At last, the furor subsided. Mazie sent two of her employees on lunch break. She glanced at her watch. It was almost one.

Mazie had advertised heavily during the last year in several of the cruise lines’ brochures. Her print ads were paying off, despite the digital age. Today, she’d had several customers come in clutching their maps of the historic district. All That Glitters was clearly marked, along with the small rectangle showcasing a beautiful necklace and the store’s phone number with other contact info.

She glanced in one of the larger cases. “We’re going to need more sweetgrass basket charms in gold.”

Gina nodded. “Yep. One lady bought six of them for her granddaughters. I’ll call Eve this afternoon and place an order.”

They were eating pizza standing up, a common occurrence. Gina swallowed a bite and grinned. “Don’t keep me in suspense. How did it go with Mr. Gorgeous? Did you like the building?”

“Honestly, I did. The place J.B. wants us to have was originally a nineteenth-century bank. He was showing me the vault when we had a little accident and got locked inside.”

Gina’s eyes rounded. “You got locked in a bank vault with J.B. Vaughan? God, that’s so romantic.”

“Um, no. Not romantic at all.” You couldn’t call what happened with J.B. romance. Sexual frenzy, maybe.

“So it was too scary to be romantic?”

The other woman’s crestfallen expression might have been funny if Mazie hadn’t been walking on eggshells. She wasn’t going to betray J.B.’s secret weakness. Instead, she skirted the truth. “Not so much scary as tense. We were awfully glad to get out of there when Jonathan showed up.”

“So are you going to take it? The building, I mean? Will it work for our purposes?”

“It’s perfect. Doesn’t mean I’m ready to give J.B. what he wants. Surely there’s another way.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re contrary?”