LITMIR.BIZ

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her store, Ian noticed smiling customers walking from one shop to another with their purchases. The area was vibrant and active. This was a good spot for business. Ian was admiring Surry’s business savvy as he watched her ring up a customer. At the front of the store he couldn’t hear what the customer said to her, but he could see Surry lean her head back and give a full-throated laugh. He could spend a lifetime with a woman who laughed like that.

      Surry handed the customer her bag, and as she walked away, Ian stepped over, put his hands on the counter and asked, “Why does it matter to you so much?”

      “Why does what matter to me?”

      He waved a hand around, indicating the building they were standing in. “Your business...I saw you on the news this evening, and I remembered the way you looked in my office the other day. This whole thing has hit you really hard, and I want to know why you’re letting it get to you like this.”

      Averting her eyes, staring at the cash register rather than Ian, she said, “My business means a lot to me. I’ve worked hard to get where I am. And it just bugs me that someone can lie on me, and I can’t even fight back.”

      “Of course you can fight back. Why do you think I’m here?”

      “I don’t know why you’re here, because the last I heard, you have a plane to catch. So, just go away and let me figure out how to deal with John Michael on my own. I never should have bothered you in the first place.”

      “You are infuriating and stubborn, Surry McDaniel.” He walked behind the counter and pulled her close to him. “You need to understand that I don’t want to leave town without you.” She was so close that he was inhaling the vanilla scent of her perfume. He didn’t know why, but that sweet, welcoming fragrance made him want to put his face in the crook of her neck and sniff her like a lovesick pup.

      “You have to leave,” Surry was saying. “You have an important client and I can’t stand in the way of that, no matter how dire my situation has become.”

      “I want you to go with me.”

      Surry stepped around Ian and sat down at the table in the back of her boutique. Ian followed her, and she said, “What are you thinking, Ian? I can’t just pick up and leave town with you.”

      He pulled out a chair and sat down across from her. “Why not? Things aren’t going so good for you here.”

      “I have a business to run, if you hadn’t noticed.” Surry stretched forth her hand, indicating the things that were in her boutique.

      “You won’t have much of a business to run if the media start crucifying you. We have a limited amount of time to turn this situation around. And I can’t repair your image and provide damage control unless I spend some time figuring out who you really are and what makes you tick.”

      “And just like that—” she snapped her fingers “—my problems will be over.”

      “Well, not like that.” He mimicked her finger snapping. “I also plan to find out as much about your rival as possible. If we can dig up enough dirt on him, we’ll be able to change his tune pretty quick.” Ian might not know fashion, but he knew mankind. And in politics, avoiding scandal was the name of the game. So, if this John Michael had skeletons, he planned to find them.

      “Oh, it’s ‘we’ now, is it?”

      “Excuse me?” He was caught off guard by her attitude.

      “When I came to you yesterday, you said you wouldn’t be able to help me. Now you’re sitting here making all these plans, even though you have a very important client to handle. So, I just want to know what gives. What’s in it for you?”

      This woman was so stubborn. Ian almost got up and walked back out the door. He had a life and really didn’t need this right now. But the truth was, he knew that she needed him, whether she wanted to admit it or not. “I want to help you, Surry. But I’m scheduled to get on a plane first thing Monday morning. So, if you want the help, you’ll have to travel with me so I can figure out how we’ll fix this mess you’ve stepped in.”

      She leaned back in her chair and stared at him.

      It felt as if those hazel eyes were seeing into his soul. Ian squirmed in his seat a bit. “What’s with all the staring? Do I have food in my teeth or something?”

      “I can’t date you.”

      Ian looked around the room and then back at Surry. “Who asked you out?”

      “You did—” she pointed at him “—you big goof. And now you’re asking me to go out of town with you. I just don’t want you getting the wrong impression.”

      “You don’t have to worry about that anymore. I like my women a lot less obstinate than you are. I’m over you.” He lifted his hand like a man standing before a judge and pledging to tell the truth, and then he winked.

      “I’m serious, Ian. Men are always acting as if they understand my reasons for not wanting a relationship, but everything changes after a few dates.”

      He put his elbows on the table and leaned in. “So, men just can’t resist you, huh?”

      “That’s not what I said.” She lifted a finger and then continued. “Men don’t like the word no, and they will chase after any woman who’s not chasing after them.”

      Ian chuckled. “Is that right?”

      “You know I’m right.”

      Ian stood and pulled the keys out of his pocket. “Well, the offer stands. We can even get separate rooms.” He started walking away and then turned back and added, “Let me know by tomorrow and I’ll book you on the flight with me.”

      * * *

      After church, Surry, Danetta and Ryla went to a café for brunch. Surry ordered the fresh fruit platter with low-fat yogurt and a small coffee cake.

      Danetta smiled at the server as she said, “I’ll take the full breakfast.”

      Ryla licked her lips and set her menu down. “That sounds fab. I’ll have what Danetta’s having.”

      Surry gave her friends a curious look. The three of them always got the fruit platter with yogurt for breakfast, unless one of them had a taste for a waffle with strawberries. But on no occasion had any of them decided to inhale eggs, bacon, hash browns, pancakes and fruit. Danetta used to eat a whole pan of brownies and a gallon of ice cream whenever Marshall started dating a new woman. But those days were over. She and Marshall were now married. Surry handed her menu to the server and asked her friends, “What gives? Why are you two ordering enough food to feed a family of five?”

      “I just seem to be extra hungry these days,” Danetta said with a devious grin.

      Ryla lightly punched Danetta’s arm. “Stop playing. Let’s tell her.”

      With an eyebrow lifted, Surry asked, “Are my two best friends...or shall I say, my two only friends, keeping secrets from me?”

      “No, girl. We just found out yesterday.”

      Surry gave them a look that said “spill it.”

      “Well, Ryla went to the doctor yesterday,” Danetta began.

      “And when I told Danetta what the doctor said, she said she just had this weird feeling that something was up with her also. So she purchased a test, and wouldn’t you know, she passed it.”

      “What are you two talking about?” Surry demanded.

      “We’re pregnant,” the two said in unison.

      She should have known this day would come, but honestly, Surry was shocked.

      “Well, say something, girl,” Ryla demanded.

      The waitress brought their drinks to the table and set a glass of orange juice in front of Surry and Danetta and then handed Ryla a glass

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