Forbidden: A Shade Darker – The Complete Collection. Leslie Kelly

that wedding account alone would keep her afloat for another month.

      Kit sighed, gathering up the flowers that Erin had savaged earlier in the day. Before she could try to redo the arrangements, her cell rang.

      “Hey, Kit.”

      “Walt. What’s up?” It was her delivery guy.

      “I’m stranded. Something in the engine blew on the van, and I’m out past Baldwinsville. I called for a tow, but they’re not here yet.”

      “Are you okay?”

      “Yeah, I’m fine, but there’s no way I’ll get all these deliveries done today.”

      Kit closed her eyes. She had known she needed a new van for some time. Money, of course, was the issue. And there’d be no money if those flowers didn’t get delivered.

      She heard the bell out front and pulled her shoulders up straight. No one said running a small business was easy. She’d have to try to catch Erin, and if possible, have her pick up the flowers for delivery. That could save the day.

      “Thanks, Walt. Go with the van and see what the repairs are—take it to Ike’s, and I’m going to try to contact Erin to come by and grab the remaining deliveries. Tell the garage not to make any repairs until I know exactly how much they’ll cost.”

      “Will do, Kit. I’ll let you know.”

      Kit hung up the phone and went out to the front. The first thing she saw was a large, strong male back. The man leaned down to smell a bouquet of Gerbera daisies. As she caught his profile, she knew exactly who it was.

      “Hank?”

      He spun abruptly, nearly upsetting the vase of flowers, but he was quick and caught it before it fell.

      “Hey, Kit. How are ya?”

      She swallowed hard, raising a hand to smooth her hair and wishing she wasn’t wearing her work apron. She’d had a fantastic time with Hank the other night, dancing the whole evening away. He’d walked her to her car and kissed her until her toes curled before he said good-night.

      He hadn’t asked or pushed for anything more than the kiss, and she’d been awake for hours, like a teenage girl, thinking about it.

      “What are you doing here?”

      “I thought you might like to get some dinner. You know, with me. I’m on my three-day-off rotation.”

      “Oh, I really can’t. I’m alone here today, and my driver just called. The van broke down, and I have to try to get a hold of Erin to see if she can be there in time to pick up the remainder and get them delivered, or I have to close and go get them myself.”

      She hated to close, but the flowers that needed delivering were money in the bank, and she probably wouldn’t have much more walk-in traffic today.

      Hank stepped up close, reaching out to take one of her curls and rubbing it between his fingers. Then he slid his hand behind her neck before he lowered to capture her lips in a kiss.

      For one beautiful second, Kit forgot everything—the flowers, the van, Erin and all her troubles—as Hank’s mouth worked some magic on hers. He pulled her up tight against him, and there was no mistaking that the kiss was working on him, too.

      When he broke away, they were both breathless.

      “Sorry, Kath, but I’ve been thinking about nothing else but kissing you again since the other night.”

      Kit was wordless. He was the only one who ever called her anything but Kit and she liked it. But she also didn’t have time for it.

      “I had a lot of fun the other night, but I don’t have time for this right now.”

      He watched her closely, and his friendly gaze took on a special, masculine warmth as it traveled over her face.

      “What can I do to help?”

      “Huh?”

      “You’re having a tough day. How can I help?”

      Kit was taken off guard. If she couldn’t name the last time someone had made her toes curl, she really couldn’t remember when someone had asked to help, and out of the blue.

      “Oh, that’s not necessary.”

      “C’mon, Kath,” he said softly, turning her around as his strong hands rubbed her neck in a heavenly way that made it hard to think. “You have a lot of fires to put out today, and guess what? That’s what I do. I put out fires.”

      She smiled. “You’re good at starting them, too, I’d say.”

      She was flirting. She couldn’t resist.

      Hank chuckled. “Where is Erin?”

      “She left earlier, but I can try her cell. Hopefully she has it on, though she was in a mood earlier, so probably not.”

      She grabbed her phone. Hank stopped her.

      “Let her be. I’ll do it.”

      “What?”

      “Tell me where to go, what to do, and I can get your deliveries done.”

      She turned back around, facing Hank, and couldn’t help but be skeptical. “Are you joking?”

      “Nope. I’ve never delivered flowers, but I did a stint delivering pizzas in college. How different can it be? Give me the rundown, and I’ll go finish your deliveries. I can do tomorrow, too, if you need me to. My SUV should handle whatever you’ve got.”

      “You must have better things to do on your days off.”

      “Not really. I coach peewee baseball, but that’s not until tomorrow night.”

      Kit wasn’t sure what to say. She liked Hank, she truly did—and she could fall for him. It would be easy enough. But she didn’t want to do that. He might be charming and attentive now, but his heart belonged to his job.

      But she also needed her flowers delivered.

      “Is this your way of angling for a date?”

      “No. I thought that was a given.”

      When he smiled like that, she lost track of everything. But what he was offering was better than sex—well, almost.

      “Okay. Yes, thank you. I’d appreciate it. And it’s not complicated. Just a few basic rules.”

      “Tell me what you need me to do, and I’ll do my best to give you exactly what you need.”

      He had that mischievous look in his eye again, and Kit felt it warm parts of her body that should know better. She blinked, snapping out of her minifantasy.

      “Um, here, let me give you copies of the delivery sheets just in case, and you can get the rest from Walt. He’ll be at Ike’s Garage. You know where that is?”

      “I do.”

      Kit busied herself getting the materials together for Hank, and then called Walt to let him know about the change.

      “Okay, he’s on his way to Ike’s now. You can meet him there.”

      “Will do.”

      Hank headed for the door.

      “Hank,” she called, stopping him. “Thank you. I owe you for this.”

      The look in his eye set her day right again.

      “I’ll keep that in mind, honey. See you later.”

      * * *

      ERIN HAD EVERY intention of driving home. Instead, she found herself at the home improvement store a few miles from her house, where she was spending too much money and fiercely concentrating on paint colors and new bathroom tile. It kept her from going crazy thinking about Bo.

      Two days.

      It