1. Petra

CHAPTER 1

Petra

A nd I'm right back where I started and it's all my own damn fault!

I should have told Jeremy right up front that I was the one making up the couples with my special "dating app".

Instead I went ahead with my plan and hid the whole thing from my editor and then got messed up and announced it to the whole damn town.

I completely fucked up. And Jeremy just couldn't ignore it. Especially since he hates my guts!

But now I'm back at my parents' place and I'm working at their store because I am just too embarrassed to apply anywhere else in town.

It all worked out, I guess, since it gave them the opportunity to take that vacation they've been wanting to take for the longest time! So now I'm house-sitting semi-permanently since I couldn't pay for my apartment. My roommate left town to go find herself in a different town and with my lack of savings, news in a small town doesn't have a huge paycheck.

The bell rings over the door and I groan when I see my former employer walk in the door. He glares at me and then he walks across to pick up a glass Christmas ornament with an old- fashioned car in it. He stomps up to the counter. "Where's your parents, Petra?"

I stiffen at his curt tone. "They're on their way to a fantastic cruise into the Bahamas."

He smirks at me. "So you're running the shop?"

"None of your business, Jeremy."

"It's a small town that makes a business out of gossip. I'm just curious. I am in the news business."

I flinch and eye him angrily. "Please don't remind me."

He steps back. "I'm sorry." He puts the ornament down on the counter. "My mother asked me to pick this up for my brother."

I pick the ornament up and smile at the old-fashioned car in it. "Your brother always did love tinkering with old cars in his spare time. How's his wedding planning business going?"

"Picking up steam," he growls bluntly.

I wrap it up and bag it then hand it to him and take his card to run it. My cheeks flush when I hand it back to him and my fingers accidentally touch his. A zing runs along my hand and all the way up my arm. I jerk back and pull the slip for him to sign. With a flourish that looks like nothing in particular, he signs it and hands it back. He pauses and his blue eyes lock on mine, dark and serious.

"I'm really sorry that things are going like they are for you right now, Pet."

I growl under my breath. "I've asked you not to call me that, Jeremy."

His lips tilt into a smirk. "But it suits you."

My cheeks heat to fire-engine red and for some reason my belly flips like I'm riding the downhill part of a rollercoaster.

"Have a good day, Jeremy."

I turn around and walk back to the stockroom, pretending that there's something there that requires my immediate attention. It's either that or lunge across the counter and …well, I'm not sure whether I want to smack him or kiss him, dammit!

Over the years, I've sometimes had these strange thoughts about Jeremy and it's one of the things that makes me a little leery about spending time in the same room with him. It's what made me run out and work out in the park or something when I worked with him. I just can't breathe the same air as the man without getting turned on.

And all he wants to do is tease and control me and that's not gonna happen! Unlike his nickname for me, I'm not a damn dog or cat for him to stroke and play with when it suits him.

Which sets off a whole new set of feelings inside me. Longing. I'm so damn lonely. I have tried to find myself by dating and by making other people happy with my matchmaking. I've always had a knack for finding the right person to make other people happy. But happiness just seems to elude me.

My thoughts are interrupted when I hear a step behind me, unhurried and certain.

I whirl around. My eyes widen when I see that Jeremy has followed me to the backroom. He sets his bag down on the table that's in the stockroom and stalks up to me.

I back away. "Wh-what are you doing?"

His hands land on the wall behind me and I'm trapped between his big body and the solid surface. His nose dips until he's whispering in my ear. "Why don't you just admit what's going on here?"

I stubbornly stare at my shoes. "I don't have anything to say to you, Jeremy. I've got to get back to work and so do you."

"I'll go for now, Pet. But one thing you don't understand is that I'm not done with you. And you might think you're done with me, but that's not the case either. We're meant to be together, you and I. You can try and fight it but it's true and it will always be true."

I lift my head and harden the resolve around my heart. "I am not yours, you are not mine. We are not together and we never will be. I'm not fighting anything because there's nothing here to fight. So why don't you just go on home and find some other woman to fight with."

"Because I like fighting with you," he says with a grin. "Winning you over is not gonna be easy but you're worth the effort."

"That's nice to know. I'll catch you later, dude."

"Humph!" He snorts with a barely-hidden attempt at stifling his laughter.

"Now, I'll go." He bops me on the nose with a finger. "Because you asked so nicely. But I'll be back. Over and over again until you're ready to admit that you like me," he says with a smirk.

He turns and saunters off, whistling as he picks up the bag.

"I do not like you!" I holler at him but he just keeps on whistling and walking.

And I think he knows that I'm lying just like I know it too.