nodded. “I always stop here for Johnny’s freshly baked bagels before going in. I bought extra this morning if you’d like to have one.”
“Sounds good. I was wondering what time you all normally got to the store.”
“I usually get there by eight-thirty or so. Gina doesn’t come in until noon,” she explained.
They left the café and started walking down the sidewalk toward the baby boutique. She tried not to notice how utterly devastating he looked in his tight, worn blue jeans and a short-sleeved dark blue T-shirt that exposed powerful forearms and deepened the hue of his eyes.
However, it was difficult not to be aware of Tanner’s potent sexuality and handsomeness when they passed several women on the street and they openly stared at him with admiring eyes.
“The guy who runs the café is an ex-con?” he asked.
Instantly Colette knew he was thinking all kinds of horrors about a dangerous criminal in the neighborhood and his innocent little sister. “Thirty years ago Johnny robbed a couple of houses. He got caught, served eighteen months and apparently came out of prison a changed man. Besides running his café, he’s now a member of the chamber of commerce and is involved in several community groups working to prevent crime.”
She stopped at the door to her shop and withdrew a set of keys from her purse. She unlocked the door then turned to face him with a teasing smile. “You can’t use ex-con Johnny as a reason for Gina to go home.”
One corner of his mouth turned upward in a sexy smile that caused heat to flood through Colette. “Am I that transparent?” he asked.
“In this particular instance you were,” she replied and turned to open the door, needing something else to focus on besides the inviting heat his smile had evoked in her.
“Welcome to the Little Bit Baby Boutique,” she said as she flipped on the overhead lights, then relocked the door as he stepped in behind her. “If you want to come on back to the office, I’ll make us some coffee.”
As they walked toward the back of the store, Colette was aware of his gaze darting here and there, taking in the displays, the furniture and various items they passed.
Colette was proud of the layout of the store. She’d spent long hours and utilized all her marketing training in order to create a store that would be comfortable to shop in and displays that would encourage spending.
“What’s all this?” he asked as they passed a large area at the back of the store that was empty except for several sawhorses and some tools.
“I’m having a little kiddy area built back here. It’s going to have little benches and tables with books and puzzles. Lots of my customers come in with children, and I thought it would be great to have a place for those children to play while their parents shopped.”
“Very thoughtful,” he said.
She grinned. “Business thoughtful. Parents tend to spend more time shopping if they don’t have children whining or hanging on them. And the more time people spend shopping, the more they are apt to spend.”
She gestured him into the business office. She’d always believed the office at the back of the store was large, but the moment Tanner followed her in, she felt as if the interior had significantly shrunk.
“Please, have a seat.” She motioned him to the chair in front of her desk, then went to the corner where there was a sink and a counter with the coffeepot on top.
It took her only moments to prepare the coffeepot and turn it on. She sat down at her desk, fighting a sudden, irrational nervousness as the scent of the fresh brew filled the air.
It had been easy to spend time with Tanner the night before with Gina there. But at the moment she felt ill at ease, and was far too aware of him not as Gina’s brother, but as a very sexy, single man. A man who, according to Gina, didn’t have a girlfriend because he was so stubborn.
He didn’t speak until they each had a cup of coffee before them and she had opened the bag and offered him a bagel. “I assume from your store that you like babies,” he said.
“I love babies,” she replied easily. “But that’s not why I decided to sell baby items.” He crooked a dark eyebrow in obvious interest, and she continued. “I knew I wanted to open my own retail business and it took me several months to finally decide on the baby business.”
“So why babies?”
“I studied the markets, did exhaustive research and realized we are on the verge of another baby boom. That, coupled with the fact that no matter what the economy is like, people are always going to have babies.”
“That’s very interesting,” he said. “So, your decision was based on intellect rather than emotion.”
Something in his tone hinted of disapproval and Colette raised her chin defensively. “It’s been my experience that the best decisions you can make are ones made with your mind, not with your heart. But surely you know that. When you chose what kind of cows to raise, I’m sure you made that decision with your head, not your heart.”
He grinned, that lazy, sexy grin that instantly put her on edge. “It’s difficult to get too emotional over a cow.”
Colette tore off a piece of bagel and ate it, then took a sip of her coffee, desperately trying to think of something to talk about. She certainly didn’t want to discuss the situation with Gina with him. She didn’t want to get involved in a tug-of-war between a brother and sister.
“Gina tells me you are from a very small town in Kansas,” she finally said.
He nodded. “Foxrun, Kansas. It’s more like a little neighborhood than a town. Everyone knows everyone else, and most of the time everyone knows everyone else’s business.”
She smiled. “Sounds like fun.”
“I can’t imagine living anywhere else.”
“Do your parents live there, as well?”
His blue eyes grew deeper in color and Colette thought she saw a whisper of pain in their depths. He looked down at the coffee mug in his hands. “My parents have been gone for a long time. They died in a car accident when I was twenty-one years old and Gina was ten. I was left with a ranch on the verge of financial ruin and a ten-year-old grief-stricken child.”
Suddenly Colette understood his overprotectiveness where Gina was concerned. He’d not only been big brother to her, he’d also been mother and father. Admiration for him filled her.
No wonder he was having problems letting go of her. Colette knew there were parents who had trouble letting go of their children, although her mother certainly had not been that kind of parent.
“It must have been very difficult for you,” she said softly. “Twenty-one is terribly young to take on so much responsibility and work.”
“In the case of both the ranch and Gina, it was definitely a labor of love.”
The warmth in his eyes and the soft expression on his face stirred a strange longing in Colette. Confused by the odd emotion, she stood and walked over to the coffeemaker to refill her
