Chapter 3

SHAYLA

Stay strong, Shay. I can't let his rugged jaw line and his toned body or his large hands distract me from what was important. And that was making our vision for the new shop come to life. Brenley and I had planned for this move over the past year, even as she battled through morning sickness and uncertainty about taking on more work with two young kids.

If we wanted All in Bloom to continuing growing, we needed more space for the special events we've been taking on. When I'd first started with her, it was just us and a part-time employee. But with Pineville's growth we'd been the go-to floral design shop and seeing the business become something I wanted to spend the rest of my career nurturing, maybe even a place where my daughter, Aria might want to work at, had created more stress than I'd anticipated.

Thinking about Colton in any other way other than a professional one was not going to happen.

"Sorry about that. Bren wanted to make sure I, uh, don't take up too much of your time this morning. Wow, this place is amazing."

I jumped at his voice, letting out a high-pitched squeal reminiscent of my little girl's excitement at getting a new accessory for her favorite Barbie. Darn it, he'd caught me off guard. Again. And the intense way he looked at me elevated my heart rate. It had taken me five minutes to get the first hit to my system under control and now, with a simple compliment and another of his crooked grins; I was right back to feeling like a teenager crushing on the most popular boy in school.

"Um, yeah. Thanks." I waved him into the breakroom. He'd stopped just short of the threshold his gaze locked on the storeroom where all the refrigerated flowers stood lining walls of the cramped space.

He stepped inside smiling at me, which was bad enough, but when he settled his legs shoulder-width apart, then crossed his arms over his chest, my stomach flipped and my nipples went on full alert. It was such a masculine stance. I had to hold on to the back of a chair to keep myself from doing something stupid, like swooning or launching myself into his arms.

What the ever-living heck is wrong with me? It's not like I've never been around attractive guys before. We had plenty of them in Pineville, especially since the Idaho Outlaws baseball team had moved here a few years ago. Hot athletes everywhere. Brenley's sister Thea had even married one of the players and was happily living in wedded bliss and expecting their third baby.

But Colton was different. Comfortable in his own skin, and confident enough to make his second career a blue collar one. There was something extremely sexy about a man who worked with his hands. And just like that, my gaze landed back on those hands, long tapered fingers and oh no, stop imagining them caressing and stroking and jeez, I was freaking losing it.

This was not going to happen. I'm a mom with a demanding job and a life that had no room for fantasies of a hot guy I had no business lusting after. He's not the settling down type, and he's my best friend's brother. No, no, no. Just no.

"I have some examples of patterns for the flooring I think will work for what you and Bren are looking for. But, if not, no problem." Colton kept talking, and I kept looking at his hands.

So much for my lecture.

Before I could look at what he'd created for us, our cashier runs into the room, embarrassment flushing her cheeks. "I'm sorry Shay, but we've, uh, sorta have a flower emergency."

Colton's left eyebrow quirks up and I'm forced to the swallow another moan. Why does every twitch of his body cause me to react? I really need to spend more time with my battery-operated boyfriend. It had almost as much dust on it as my…, dang it, I had to stop thinking like that with him less than two feet away.

"You have flower emergencies often around here?" Colton's words were laced with laughter.

I released a slow breath and silently thanked Tricia for the interruption. Now with someone else in the room, I could relax a bit and stop wondering what he looked like naked.

"More often than you'd think. Especially if it's a man whose forgotten an anniversary or—" The enthusiasm in her voice almost made me gag.

"Tricia, what's going on? We don't open for another thirty."

Our cashier was young enough to be his daughter and only dated long-haired wanna be influencers, but even she seemed to be caught up in Colton's charm and built for sin body.

"Oh, right. The supplier for the dahlia's called. There was an accident over the mountain pass late last night, and he can't guarantee when the truck will show." Tricia kept peeking at Colton as she spoke, and I felt something I'm pretty sure I'd never ever experienced over a guy before. I'd never been the jealous type, even when my ex had told me he'd met someone and was leaving me and our baby daughter.

"Great. Now I'm going to have to call the McLean's. Thanks, Tricia. I'll handle it." The mother-daughter duo had both been on the verge of being in the mother-of-the-bridezilla and bridezilla hall of fame. Typically, Brenley could turn around any demanding customer's expectations, but they had been the outlier. And only dahlias dyed in sapphire would do for the bride's bouquet. Something about white and blue being the colors of the groom's alma-mater. At least the white flowers were more easily obtainable.

I looked at Colton to apologize, but he beat me to it.

"No need to explain. Work first, fun with stamped cement second."

"Fun, huh? Well, anything compared to dealing with the McLean's is fun, even a root canal. But yeah, can we do this later today?"

Colton pulled out his phone and scrolled. "I'm booked solid, till six. Same pretty much the rest of the week."

I tore my gaze from his hand holding the phone, lucky phone, and picked up my coffee mug. I was going to need another hit of caffeine before I dealt with this mess. The wedding was tomorrow, and I needed a miracle to get this order filled without tears and screaming: theirs not mine.

"Shoot, okay, so I guess we could do it after work?" I zapped the coffee in the microwave and turned back to Colton. His body jerked. I'd caught him checking out my ass. Well, that was unexpected. I guess the attraction wasn't just on my end.

He cleared his throat, but didn't apologize for getting caught. Another flush of warmth settled in my lower belly from the realization he found me attractive. But that had to be where it stopped. I couldn't act on anything with him. He needed to be firmly in the friend/brother of my best friend zone.

"How about we meet at Hart's Pass for dinner or a drink or whatever? That way we can make any changes sooner rather than later since we're pouring the floor next week."

Dinner or whatever? The way he said that word, then let his gaze fall to my chest, made me yearn for the whatever option. But whatever was not in the cards. I'd promised Brenley I'd handle this so we could stay on schedule.

Sighing, I took a quick sip of my coffee. "I'll need to see if I can find someone to hang out with my daughter, Aria. She's only seven, thinks she's seventeen, but obviously can't be on her own if I'm late. Can I text you?"

"You can text me anytime. Do you have your phone handy?"

Colton followed me way too close as I walked back out to the front of the shop and grabbed my purse. "Okay, what's your number? I'll type it in and, wait, what are you doing?"

His fingers gently wrapped around mine, tugging the cell out of my hand.

"Go deal with your flower emergency. I'll put my number in your contacts, along with my address, just in case." He winked, then waved me toward the end of the counter.

In a daze from another dose of adrenaline at Colton's touch, I nodded and did as instructed. Lord knows how I would react if he'd leaned in and kissed me. If I hadn't already made a promise to myself to put all thoughts of seeing where our attraction would lead us, I might just have complied.

If this was how I reacted to him from a simple request in my place of business, how was I going to handle myself with him outside of work mode?