Return to Me (Blue Harbor Book 5) Olivia Miles (ereader android .TXT) 📖

“By special order,” she said, seeing an opportunity to add some extra pages to her lookbook which sat on the marble coffee table for brides to flip through in their design meetings. She felt a little shaky going off-plan like this, but she also knew that this type of request could push her out of her comfort zone and help her to achieve her goals sooner.

“I have a few ideas in mind. Could I stop by next week and show you some magazine clippings?”

Brooke set up the appointment in her calendar, accepted the deposit for the dress, and managed not to do a little victory dance until the door was closed behind the blushing bride and her proud mother.

She only managed to stop once she heard the jingling of the door opening behind her, and she turned to see Kyle grinning back at her. From the gleam in his eyes, there was no doubt he’d witnessed that little performance. She supposed she should be thankful that it wasn’t a potential customer, but she couldn’t fight the flush from heating her cheeks.

“Practicing your dance moves?” he asked, his tone laced with amusement.

“Very funny,” she said drolly. Still, she wasn’t going to let Kyle ruin her good mood, even if she was a little curious, and worried, about his motive for being here, whereas her motives had been laid out, crystal clear.

“Actually,” she said, “I was celebrating. I sold a dress off the rack today, and I was also asked to come up with some designs for the bridesmaids.”

Kyle looked dutifully impressed. “This calls for a celebration.”

It did. But not with him. She’d toast with a good crisp glass of wine one night this weekend with one of her sisters or cousins. In other words, people who had supported her dreams, and stuck around long enough to see them through.

“Suddenly eager to support me?” There was an edge to her tone that betrayed her inner hurt, but she couldn’t deny it.

Kyle frowned at her. “I always supported you, Brooke.”

She resisted the urge to laugh out loud, not that what he’d said was funny. “That’s not the way I remember it, but then, I guess none of that matters now. I’m happy where I’ve landed.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Right back in Blue Harbor, you mean? The very town you just had to leave to make something of yourself?”

She pressed her lips together. There was so much she could say, but it wouldn’t help matters, or change anything. Instead, she stuck to the facts. “I wouldn’t be where I am now if I hadn’t been given the experiences I had in New York.”

She lifted her chin a notch higher, seeing the squint of his gaze that told her he didn’t believe her, not completely at least. This was what happened when someone knew you as well as Kyle knew her.

Or had known her. Once.

After all, she’d changed. And not only in the way that she dressed. She had gone from a sheltered home life in a small town to a marriage to her childhood sweetheart to living alone and making something of herself in a huge, strange city. She’d learned more than the street names and the neighborhoods. She’d learned to be alone, to speak up for herself, to fight for what she wanted.

Which was why she wasn’t going to let this man get under her skin. She wanted something from him, and she was going to do what it took to make that happen.

Even if he was determined to make it quite difficult, to say the least.

“And you just decided to walk away from that fabulous job?” Kyle peered at her. “I mean, it was your dream job, at least that’s how you described it when you left.”

She sniffed. “People grow out of positions,” she explained. She picked up a stack of paperwork and straightened the pages.

His eyes narrowed. “Unless…”

She firmed her lips together and willed herself not to lose her temper. “I was fired. Happy? It seems that I was too determined to come up with new ideas than keep my eyes on my desk and do what I was told.”

He actually laughed, but she didn’t take offense. “You always were ambitious.”

“We both were,” she replied, giving him a pointed look as she set the papers into a crisp, labeled folder.

His expression immediately sobered. He stuffed his hands into his pockets as he took in his surroundings, jutting his bottom lip as he nodded. “Well, this is quite a shop. I haven’t been in here in a long time, but I can see what you’ve done to the place. It’s very…pretty.”

She could tell by his struggle to form his opinion that he wasn’t saying what he really meant. That this was not what she’d once said she wanted. That she had spent enough time within these very four walls to need to escape them above all else.

Above him.

“Thank you,” she said, suppressing a sigh. What she wanted to ask was why he was here, but she had a feeling they would get to that before he left if they weren’t interrupted first.

She glanced out the window, hoping that a passerby might save her from standing here, alone, with Kyle. Was it always this quiet in the shop? She made a mental note to turn the volume on the stereo system a notch higher. The classical music was fine for her clientele, but it did nothing to relieve the tension that was building in her as Kyle sauntered around the room, giving it his full attention.

“You pulled this together quickly,” he noted.

She was happy that he had paused at the end of the room. With any luck, he would stay there. The more physical distance there was between them, the better, she’d come