Chapter Three

HARTLAND FLOWERS . Although Ethan had borrowed a page from his older brother's book by keeping things simple when naming his flower shop, HF's facade had a more Parisian feel to it, with its remodeled store front. While the upper half of the historic two-story brick building maintained its original appearance, the lower half consisted of umber-colored wood frames and floor-to-ceiling glasses.

Compared to most other establishments in town, Ethan liked to open and close late, with his hours starting at eleven until eight in the evening. This left him free to do pretty much anything in the morning, and for today, anything happened to be having breakfast with Thornton...and catching the older guy with his hand in the most incredibly amusing cookie jar.

"What the hell?" Having come up from behind with two cans of coffee in his hands, Ethan was able to catch a glimpse of whatever it was Thornton appeared intently watching on his phone, and he started laughing when he saw the deep flush in his brother's face. "Are you stalking your assistant?"

"No." Thornton's voice was extremely stiff...and just the slightest bit defensive.

"But you're watching real-time footage of your store's CCTV," he pointed out.

"Because I'm concerned."

"Over what?"

"Take a look." Thornton passed his phone to Ethan and was unsurprised when he saw the younger man's brows shoot up.

"What's she doing?" Ethan was genuinely bemused. The girl was standing on a stool - and in danger of falling off it - while trying to take photos of...scattered books on the floor?

"All for the 'gram," Thornton said gruffly.

"All for the what?" Ethan echoed blankly as he gave Thornton his phone back.

"That's what she calls it." Thornton's voice was a mixture of resignation and disgruntlement. "She created an Instagram account for the store two weeks ago, and online sales have tripled ever since."

Ethan whistled. "Nice."

"Not if she's going to end up breaking her neck for a few hundred dollars," Thornton muttered.

Their talk moved on to another topic then, dwelling in particular on the various challenges they had to overcome just to keep the film crew from accidentally stumbling on their business.

"Leander has it worse than any of us," Ethan commented wryly. The Texan native took on the role of resident mechanic whenever he was in town, and since majority of the film was being shot in Leander's repair shop, the other man had no choice but to stay in character every second of the day.

"Interestingly enough, there's been some talk in town..." Ethan started to share with Thornton how some locals had seen Leander and one of the movie's female leads kissing when he realized that his brother was no longer listening.

Thornton was back to stalking, and with an even grimmer look on his face this time. Since they were seated next to each other, Ethan subtly leaned back to take a look: a zoomed-up shot of Blake, who was chatting gaily like she always did...with a male customer.

Ethan smirked. "Feeling a little jealous, aren't you?" He expected his older brother to shrug this off or deny it outright, but instead—-

"It doesn't matter if I am." When Thornton saw Ethan's jaw drop, he said calmly, "I won't let anything come out of it."

" You smug, lucky son of a bitch ." Ethan's tone was a mixture of chagrin and irritation. His older brother had to be the moodiest bastard for a woman to have as a lover, and yet the Fates had still taken to blessing Thornton with the puppy-eyed adoration of someone as sweet and angelic as Blake.

Ethan, on the other hand...he and Guila had broken up just too damn many times that he had stopped bothering to count the first time they hit double digits.

Thornton noticed the way Ethan was glaring at him over the rim of his canned coffee. "What?"

"I hope she dumps you."

Thornton frowned. Dump him? They weren't even in a relationship in the first place, although...

SIX WEEKS AGO

Thornton wasn't used to girls having a crush on him. Members of the opposite sex had always been just a little frightened of him; the only difference was how such fear had made some women run away...while in other cases, fear had ended up being his major point of attraction, and women wanted to fuck him for the mere dangerous thrill to it.

But this?

Blake had only been working for him for a week, and she had already turned his world upside-down. People in town who didn't even have the courage to meet his eyes in the past now sported knowing grins every time they saw him. Blake is crushing on you so bad she thinks you walk on water, their sly gazes told him, and we think that's hilarious as fuck.

The first time it happened, Thornton had been speechless with incredulity and was only able to stare at the guy who not only delivered his paper but was also now the messenger of bad rumors. And when he had finally been able to talk—-

'You think she has what?'

To which, Pete had eagerly clarified, 'It's not just me, sir. It's everyone. Everyone thinks she has a crush on you.'

'Why the fuck would everyone think that?'

'She talks about you all the time, Mr. Blackwood. Even when no one's asking her about you, and when she does, she's got that look on her face, if you know what I mean.'

'No. I don't.' While Thornton's words had been the complete truth, Pete's dubious look told him the younger man didn't exactly find it plausible.

'You know how in cartoons they've got hearts popping out of people's eyes every time they see whoever it is they're crazy about?'

'Yeah.'

Pete's expression was as three-word eloquent as his tone (duh) when he answered, 'That's how it is with Blake, sir, every time she talks about you.'

THE NOT-SO-LONG-AGO memory had Thornton slowly shaking his head at Ethan's words. He still couldn't figure out what Blake saw in him or, better yet, what she thought she saw in him, but...

"I don't think she's capable of dumping me."

Ethan couldn't help giving his older brother the middle finger. Smug son of a bitch, he thought again. The way Thornton had uttered the words in a matter-of-fact tone was galling, and while it would've given him much pleasure to tell the other man he was being presumptuous, doing so would've been pointless.

Both of them knew that would've been an outright lie, considering that fortune-reading incident several weeks ago. A Gypsy caravan had just arrived in town then, and when news of one of its elders being a palm reader had spread, Blake had been the very first one in line outside the old woman's tent.

As for what she had gone running to the Gypsies to ask, Blake had actually revealed it only to Frankie while they were having dinner at the pub. But what they hadn't noticed then was how the girls seated at the table behind them overheard their entire conversation, and from there news of Blake's question had spread like wildfire.

Can you please tell me, she had apparently beseeched the palm reader, if my boss will ever love me back?