Hard to Handle

You’re like me, Aiden. You have this unwavering optimism. Never lose that.

Unwavering optimism. He had to sift through a mountain of refuse to remember what he’d been like before. What better way to honor his mom, to keep that part of her alive, than to find what he loved and make a living doing it?

“I have a plan,” Aiden said, his purpose renewed. “I just need to pitch it to Axle. If he turns me down, he’ll sell to the highest bidder…and I can assure you, it won’t be me.”

Sadie’s face went visibly pale. “But the Midwest contract…” She blinked, winced. “That was selfish.”

Aiden couldn’t help chuckling. “We signed you for a year, Sadie. You’ll be okay for a while.”

She didn’t smile. “Yes, but I have a five-year plan for Axle’s. Whoever takes over might not like Midwest, might not like me,” she added, her eyebrows bowing in worry.

“Impossible,” he muttered, meaning it. He couldn’t figure for the life of him why her weenie of an ex-fiance had chosen her sister over Sadie. He’d choose her Lava-soap abrasiveness any damn day of the week.

She ignored his compliment, eyes widening. “What if you’re not there…What if Axle’s gets bought out by some corporate giant who already has a national contract with another supplier? Probably ‘Something’ Unlimited. Motorcycles Unlimited.” Her lip curled.

Aiden put a hand on Sadie’s wrist to halt her tirade on the woes of corporate restructuring. “All the more reason for you to help me convince him I’m the right buyer.”

She looked at his hand covering hers, then back at him, her expression hardening. “Okay.” She folded her hands together on the table and the sharp glint returned to her brown eyes. “Tell me your plan and I’ll tell you if it’s crap or not.”

*  *  *

“Going to see your boyfriend today?” Perry chimed in as Sadie knelt to retrieve a granola bar from the break room vending machine.

Clenching her teeth into a forced a smile, Sadie stood and faced him. “Which one?”

“Touche. I’m talking about Axle. You have to be doing something to have landed that five-store deal. He turned you down for three years straight,” Perry said, suffering no shyness when it came to reminding her how she’d struggled.

Sadie clenched her fist around her breakfast, the foil wrapper crinkling. “My persistence paid off, I guess,” she said as she headed for the door.

“Or maybe it’s because you used to date the new guy.”

Sadie halted midstep. She shouldn’t turn around. Shouldn’t give merit to Perry’s jabbering. But neither could she let him spread rumors and tarnish her reputation. She forced a placid expression and faced him. “What are you talking about?”

“Word gets around,” Perry said, not bothering to answer her. He didn’t say like you, but his smarmy smile implied it.

“Well…he had nothing to do with it.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Perry said with an exaggerated shrug. “He dumped you, right? Probably doesn’t take you into consideration at all.”

When Sadie pulled in and parked in Axle’s lot, she was still seething from her run-in with Perry. Normally Perry was flirtatious just this side of annoying, but ever since she’d landed Axle’s stores, he’d been downright mean. He’d hit her below the belt this morning, and without a twinkle of levity in his eye. He’d meant to throw her off, make her stumble. She recalled the smirk on his face.

Bastard.

She stomped to the front door. It was unlocked, but the store didn’t open for another fifteen minutes. Good. She could use a few minutes to pull herself together. Her anger was burning off and if she wasn’t careful, would turn into tears. She may as well have eaten an estrogen sandwich this morning for how emotionally off-kilter she felt.

This, she could not allow.

She took a few deep breaths, sealing her emotions behind a brick wall of confidence. She could do this, could ignore the shake working its way down her arms to her fingers and causing her pen to rattle. Or so she thought. It was hard to write legibly when her body shook like she’d mainlined a triple espresso.

Giving up her note-taking, she propped her elbows on a shelf. She was grateful the store lights were off, and sucked in a clarifying breath. She visualized her anger ebbing, but it didn’t recede. It persisted, simmering just under the surface. How had Perry found out about Aiden? They didn’t know each other. She hadn’t shared her heartbreak with anyone at work. Unless…

She had several phone conversations with Crickitt last year, especially after Aiden left for Oregon. Many of them were made from the faux privacy of her open-air cubicle. Anyone could have heard. Perry could have easily eavesdropped and mentally logged the conversations for later…to throw her off when she was getting ahead.

“Bastard,” Sadie growled as the overhead lights winked on.

“Hope you’re not talking about me,” Aiden said, strolling down the aisle in her direction.

Sadie faced him. He looked as warm and welcome and familiar as Perry did standoffish, undesirable, and douchey. She shook her head. “Not you.”

Aiden assessed her before offering her the mug in his hand. “You look like you need this more than I do.”

“Only if there’s whiskey in it.”

“Like I said.”

She couldn’t help it, she smiled. And at Aiden’s insistence, she accepted the mug and took a sip. No whiskey, but it did have some sort of flavored creamer in it. “Thank you for this,” she said.

“You’re welcome.” He put his hands in his pocket. Boy, could the man fill out a pair of jeans. “Who’s giving you trouble?” She dragged her eyes from his muscular thighs to his face. “I’ll beat him up for you. Unless it’s Axle, then you’re on your own.”

“Just some jerk I work with.” Her smile remained. She couldn’t call up her anger at Perry. Whatever fury saturating her bloodstream earlier had evaporated, fleeing with Aiden’s arrival. He watched her with those sparkling green eyes of his, half his mouth quirked into a sideways smile. There had always been something about him that calmed her, eased her from the ledge of emotions she sometimes teetered on.

The night she met him at the club, she’d attempted to be mean. He didn’t let her. Simply took her hand and dragged her onto the floor, matching her step for step to “The Electric Slide.” She didn’t know what was more ridiculous: the stupid line dance or that the worst song ever recorded was linked to one of her most cherished memories. The thought made her pause, caused her smile to drop.

Aiden didn’t notice. He’d already started toward the back of the store. “Gonna get more coffee,” he called over his shoulder, reaching up to tap the doorway over his head as he walked under it. “Since somebody is drinking mine.”

*  *  *

Giving Sadie his coffee hadn’t completely erased the devastation she’d hauled into the shop with her this morning. Not that he’d expected miracles, but he made really, really good coffee. She’d snapped out of her bad mood for an hour or so, but after, there’d been a constant frown marring her features.

Watching her dash back and forth to the warehouse, take things off of the display tables only to put them back on, and switch out the mannequins clothing in the front window three times (that he’d seen) was wearing him out. Normally she’d have left by now, to run more sales calls or go back to her office and finish out the day.

Not today, though. Today, she was avoiding something. If he had to guess, the office, and her insulting coworker.

Just some jerk I work with.

Aiden could meander on over to Midwest Motorcycle Supplies and find said jerk she worked with. He could have a talk with him. Or hit him. Whichever came first.

An hour before Axle’s closed, Aiden spotted Sadie at the window, fretting over what geometric shape to stack the Midwest boxes on the table. She darted past him and went outside, scowling through the window at her display. Unhappy, she came back in and started dismantling the pile. Again.