romance and smashed her heart, he could still make her shiver. Somewhere along the way she’d managed to make uneasy peace with the fact that she’d most likely always feel something for Seth, even having dated other men since then. The trick was keeping those emotions under control so they didn’t ruin her friendship with him or her sanity. Or, God forbid, screw up the perfectly balanced friend-dynamics of the owners of Come to Your Senses.
“What’s new?” She straightened a group of pencils, picked up the brochures and tapped them on the counter, aware the busy work would look as ridiculous as it was.
“Got a possible job with an independent director who needs a film scored.”
“Really!” Bonnie grinned at his look of utter indifference, seeing straight through to the celebration going on inside him. Seth might hold secrets for most people, but he held few for her and she still treasured that.
She was happy for him. His piano studio seemed to be thriving, and he’d been getting good commercial work, too. Not that he needed the income—the Blackstones had made a fortune many times over, starting with great-great-grandfather Blackstone’s shipping company right there in Seattle. But to Seth’s credit, he didn’t sit back and spend family money. He’d been actively pursuing his passion, striving for a career in the music business—songwriting, scoring commercials and/or films, and teaching piano.
“So what’s going on with you?” He squinted at her. “You look like hell.”
“Oh, you are so sweet!” She shoved at him, then immediately wished she hadn’t. That place in the center of his chest, the flat plane between the hard swells of his pectoral muscles, where dark hair curled—she missed that place, as if it were a whole person. Missed pillowing her head there, missed stroking, kissing, biting, the scent of his skin.
Yikes. She was being extra sappy and nostalgic today, what was with that? Reigniting those particular embers of passion was about as smart as playing tag on the highway. She had more important things to think about than the sternum of a guy who dumped her.
Most likely the new-old feelings were a result of extra vulnerability over her business, and missing the steady support of a romantic partner. Perfectly understandable when times got rough.
Well, guess what? Seth’s support might have been steady at first, but as Bonnie had started feeling more comfortable mentioning the future, Seth had started drawing back, further and further until he bumped into a surgically enhanced bimbo and stuck there.
“You still with me? I asked why you look so terrible.” He hadn’t taken his eyes off her, eyes that showed real concern. Worse, when she shoved against his chest again, he took her hand and held onto it. “Seriously, Bon-bon, what is it? Something’s really bugging you. Has been for a while.”
She shrugged, hating his sympathy and the way it still made her want to melt. “What makes you think that?”
“You’ve lost weight. You’re holding your body tense. You have dark shadows under your eyes and that worry-groove going full-force.” He traced a line from the center of her forehead between her brows. “Right here.”
Bonnie held her breath, telling herself his touch meant nothing, that Seth practiced charm on women the same way most people used oxygen: involuntarily and 24/7.
“I’m fine.” She held his gaze defiantly. “Great, in fact.”
“Good.” His face turned stony and he pushed away from the counter. “Glad to hear it.”
And there they stood on opposite sides of their post-relationship chasm. He kept pushing and she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of intimacy without … intimacy. Though damn it, he hadn’t spoken to her with that much tenderness since before they broke up. Hadn’t used her “Bon-bon” nickname in quite a while, either.
So! She should call Greg, the last guy she dated, whom she’d broken up with amicably, to see if he wanted to hang out. Maybe in bed. She needed to shake both this silly renewed vulnerability to Seth and her dark mood over Bonnie Blooms.
“Ah, here she is.” Seth turned abruptly and strode out into the wide corridor outside her entranceway.
Bonnie followed him with her eyes, which had the enjoyable task of watching him greet a woman with obvious affection. Not just any woman. Not a woman Bonnie could look at and think, “Oh, how nice, Seth is meeting a good friend.” No. This was one of those women men dream about having their whole lives. And thank God Bonnie knew Seth well enough not to have unbent just now, not to have leaned on him, not to have let him back under her skin even the tiniest fraction of an inch, or she’d be feeling humiliated and rejected. Again.
Seth caught the goddess’s hand and pulled her into the shop after him. “Hey, Bonnie, this is my friend Alexandra.”
Of course it was Alexandra, which he pronounced Alex-ahn-drah. Names like Matilda or Priscilla were entirely out of the question. She was tall, exotically dark, Selma Hayekish, wearing a dress—black cap sleeves, red lace-up corset and a black tutu skirt—over stiletto boots, and not looking at all stupid. Looking, in fact, like the Goddess of Fashion Elegance. If Bonnie put on an outfit like that people would fall over laughing in the street.
Goddess looked eagerly around and parted her beautiful mouth to exclaim, “Oh, what a great shop!”
Bonnie suppressed a chortle of satisfaction. Alex-ahn-drah’s voice brought to mind angry chipmunks. See? No one could have everything. Though this woman did have an unfair number of the characteristics particularly dear to Seth. Namely big boobs and long legs.
“Ooh!” Alexa glided—yes, glided—on heels that would make Bonnie walk as if she were drunk, over to the bucket of cut jasmine sprays, where she bent down to sniff. “These are sooo pretty! And they smell sooo nice.”
“They’re one of my favorites.” In a faintly bitchy gesture, she made her voice as smooth and throatily sexual as possible, and got a satisfying double take from Seth.
“How much are they?” Alexandra bit her lower lip anxiously.
“Allow me.” Seth plucked out several stems and handed them to Bonnie, not taking his eyes off of Alexandra’s assets.
“Oh, wow. Thank you, Seth,” the Goddess squeaked. “Those are so beautiful.”
“How about roses, too? Red?”
“You are just too nice. Those would be perfect.”
Seth turned to Bonnie, chest puffed like a knight who’d just rescued his lady. “We’ll take these and a couple of—”
“Yeah, I’m on it.” She was already heading for the red roses, rolling her eyes. She’d been standing three feet away. Did they think she couldn’t hear?
Still gritting her teeth, she arranged the jasmine and roses with greenery and wrapped the bouquet while Seth led Alexandra around the shop and got to hear her chipmunking over everything. Bonnie wanted to charge him triple. He and Bambi were probably on their way to his studio to make beautiful music together. Nice of him to flaunt that in front of her.
No. No. She took a deep breath. Another one. Seriously, Bonnie … think.
Seth didn’t owe her that kind of consideration after five years. Not his fault he didn’t
