Seven Years

I snorted. “Really? I didn’t think they were your type.”

“Well, kind of not. They’re eye candy, but not really my kind of candy. One of them stared at my ass and the other guy didn’t say much. The store is so clean you wouldn’t believe it! Some of the canisters I’m not so sure they’ll be salvageable. Have you heard from Charlie? What happened?”

I slid the key in the lock and glanced over my shoulder. “Cancer. I’m going to try calling around to see where he’s at; his neighbor said they took him away in an ambulance a few days ago.”

“Oh, no.”

“Yeah.” I sighed when I heard her sniffing over the phone. We really liked Charlie and were fortunate to have a boss like him, even though he had quirky ways about running his store. “Hopefully he’s okay, but I need to get a hold of him so I can find out what to do about the power. Until then, just lock everything up and take off for a few days. There’s nothing we can do at this point. We’re not getting a paycheck this Friday, so you’ll need to let the girls know. It’s not going to hurt them as much as it will us.”

“Gee, I didn’t think of that. I need to be honest and tell you I might be able to let one paycheck slide, but that’s it. I mean it, Alexia. And I’ll need reimbursement for the missed week as soon as the funds are available.”

I opened the door and flipped on the wall switch that connected to a lamp in the living room. Then I gasped.

“What happens if you can’t find him? Alexia?”

“Um, April, let me call you back…” I hung up the phone.

My feet floated toward the dining room as I admired the most gorgeous flower display I’d ever laid eyes on. Seven clear vases of varying sizes were perfectly arranged in two rows, filled with red roses of such a lush shade that I drew in a deep breath and sighed. There was no baby’s breath—instead, white lilies filled all the open gaps. A silver balloon hovered above the table, tied to a chair, with “Happy Birthday” written in elegant letters.

The closer I got, the more I began rubbing my eyes to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. A note was strategically placed in the center of the table, and while I should have been upset someone got into my apartment, I wasn’t. My birthday was actually the next day, and the only men who knew were Austin and Beckett. This sure as hell didn’t look like something Beckett would dream up.

My heart did a flutter, and I tore open the seal and pulled out the card.

Nashoba,

I could give you a garden and it would pale next to your beauty.

So let me give you the world.

Lorenzo

“Holy shit,” I murmured.

No one had ever given me anything like this before, and then the note? Once the shock dissipated and I sat down, I realized that as beautiful as they were, the gift didn’t floor me like it should have. Lorenzo didn’t know a damn thing about me if he thought he could woo me with flowers. The note was the only thing that earned him brownie points, because you had to respect a man with a poetic heart.

Last year on my birthday, I drove with Maizy out to a diamond mine. They plowed up the dirt every so often, and you could rent a shovel and other supplies and dig in the dirt looking for treasure.

Supposedly, small diamonds were found all the time. The only thing we found were a few rocks that we brought home as souvenirs. It was the best time, and I packed a picnic lunch on the way home after picking up a few things at a local supermarket. Maizy had wanted to give me a diamond for my birthday and was upset. I reminded her that expensive things didn’t make people happy, thoughtfulness did. And she was my diamond because I’d gotten to spend my entire birthday with her.

Still, the flowers were beautiful, and I wasn’t about to be ungrateful for such an extravagant gift. I wondered how he managed to bypass the camera outside, but Lorenzo seemed like the kind of guy who could get away with anything. Probably had the flower delivery guy talk the landlord into letting him in.

I admired the delicate petals for a few minutes before changing clothes and pulling out the phonebook for a listing of hospitals. I made a few calls, but due to certain laws, I couldn’t obtain any information since we weren’t related. I collapsed on the sofa and nodded off for a few hours.

After I woke up, I tried calling a few more places. They would have admitted Charlie by now, so perhaps they’d moved him to another facility. His sister was from Ohio, but I had no idea if they shared the same last name. I had searched on the Internet but came up with too many listings. Without knowing her first name, it would have been a waste of time.

A light knock tapped on the door and it swung open. “How many times have I told you to lock your—” Naya gasped. “Honey! Who are the gorgeous flowers from?”

She practically squealed, running in short steps across my living room to the table. Naya had just gotten off work and hadn’t taken off her impossibly high gold shoes.

“Someone adores you enough to send you all these? Oh, you need to marry him right this minute,” she went on, burying her nose in a bouquet. After circling around the table to admire each one individually, she finally stood back and soaked it all in.

“I’m quite sure I’m not going to marry a man over a silly display of peacockery,” I added.

“Pea-whatery?”

A grin slid up my cheek. “When guys think they can show you all their fancy feathers and you’ll just fall at their feet.”

“So he’s thoughtful and rich?” She looked skeptical that I could reject the two things at the top of her checklist for the holy grail of a perfect man.

“He’s got money.”

Her eyes brightened. “How much money? I call dibs if you throw this one away, but don’t you dare or I’ll tie your shoelaces together and hang you from the nearest telephone wire.”

She lifted the card and I tried to grab it from her.

“Lorenzo. Is he Spanish? I love Spanish men.”

“You love all men.”

“Italian?” she asked hopefully.

“No, I think he’s Native American.”

* * *

It didn’t sit well with Austin when Lexi went home alone. While there were still surveillance cameras, he couldn’t get to her quick enough if something happened, and they weren’t watching her twenty-four hours a day. Worry nestled in his head like a seed and began to take root until he finally told the boys he was heading out there for the night. He didn’t plan on going up to her apartment, just sleeping in his car and keeping an eye on things.

During the drive, he thought about her situation at the store and located another candy shop in town. He talked with the owner about cost-related factors and inventory. Then he noticed an enormous display of suckers. They were Lexi’s favorite—round and colorful with an assortment of flavors from watermelon to gourmet coffee. A mischievous grin surfaced because Wes had once revealed how he bribed his baby sister.

Her birthday was tomorrow and Austin had been thinking about getting her something special. He never bought birthday gifts for anyone; it’s not something the Cole brothers did. But Lexi always loved her birthdays and he wanted to do something special to make up for lost time.

“Do you make arrangements?” Austin inquired. “I mean, can you take some of these and make it look like… hell, I don’t know. Something girly?”

“Certainly,” the man replied with confidence. “I have several containers in the back with foam, unless you want them tied in small bundles. I can do lots of creative things with these—you’d be surprised.

“What about a bouquet?”

“I designed one for a wedding two years ago, believe it or not,” he admitted with a chuckle. “Let me know what you want, or how many, and I’ll put something together.”

He sure did.

When Austin arrived at Lexi’s apartment, he was beaming with pride. He couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when he gave them to her, not just because of the way they were arranged, but no one would have thought