But rather than reach for my iPad, I wake my phone up to look over the shop’s social media pages and respond to questions and comment on posts and photos of my products. Suddenly a text comes in from Charly.
I love this lavender and frankincense combo! Very relaxing.
I grin and take a sip of wine and reply: add a glass of wine and you’ll sleep like a baby.
The stillness of my house is a welcome change from the creaks and groans of the old building that houses my shop. It’s as haunted as any building I’ve ever been in, which is to be expected in a city as old and full of history as New Orleans. It’s not known as one of the most haunted cities for nothing.
But there are no spirits here in my home. I knew the minute I walked in that I was alone here, and bought it on the spot. This is the one place that my mind can be at peace.
I settle back against the cushions of my soft couch and yawn. My eyes close, and before long, I’ve drifted off to sleep.
***
I’m dreaming. I always know that I’m dreaming, but I can’t change the course of the dream. It’s like I’m living it and watching it like a movie at the same time.
There’s so much water! I’m in my grandmamma’s house, and the water is pouring in through windows, doors, the seams of the walls.
Everywhere.
The rooms are filling up, and her things are floating around me, even things that I either gave away or threw out long ago and it looks like it did when I was a child.
Is she here? Will I finally get to see her?
“Grandmamma?” I call out, but there’s no answer. Just so much water. It’s up to my waist now, and I can’t move. It’s heavy against me, pinning me in place. I’m not even floating.
“Help!” My head is thrashing back and forth, looking for someone to help me, but I’m alone.
And the water is rising.
There’s a beeping coming from somewhere. Maybe outside of the dream? It’s a dream! I’m not going to drown. It’s only a dream.
But the water is cold. My feet are numb now, it’s so cold. Where is everyone? Why aren’t they helping me?
“Grandmamma!” I call again. She never comes, but I hope that she’ll appear this time to help me. “You promised you’d be here!”
I’m crying now, and the water is up to my shoulders.
“Help me!”
“Wake up, Mallory.”
It’s her voice!
“Grandmamma!”
“Get to the shop. Wake up.”
I jolt out of sleep and sit up, blinking, looking around wildly. There is no one here, but I’m so cold.
“I heard you,” I say to the room. “Why can’t I see you?”
I sigh and reach for my pants. It’s four in the morning. I slept seven hours? I stare at my phone, sure that it must be wrong. It felt like I’d only been asleep for minutes.
“Weird dreams,” I mutter and shake my head. I do not want to go to the shop at four in the morning. I’ll end up staying all day.
But she said to go. And she rarely speaks to me.
Or, it could have just been a part of the dream.
I bite my lip, and decide to go check, just to be on the safe side. I live on the other side of town from the Quarter. There’s just too much history in that part of the city for me to be able to live there without going insane from all of the spiritual interference.
But at this time of the morning, it only takes me about twenty minutes to get there.
And when I walk in, it’s my dream all over again.
Or, my worst nightmare.
The shop is flooded with at least three inches of water on the floor. I can hear it rushing, but can’t see where it’s coming from until I open the small bathroom and see water pouring out of the ceiling fan.
“I don’t think that’s supposed to happen.” I sigh and prop my hands on my hips. “Thanks, Grandmamma.”
I pull my phone out of my pocket to call Beau Boudreaux, who also happens to be my landlord.
Of course, there is no answer.
The man lives upstairs, directly above this shop. Can’t he hear the water? Does he sleep like the dead?
Or maybe he’s not home.
I frown and open my mind, searching the building.
He’s home. I can feel his presence.
And he might be naked.
I immediately slam the psychic door shut and walk outside, up the wrought iron steps to his loft, and bang on the door.
“Wake up,” I mutter. “And put some pants on.”
I raise my hand to bang again, but the door is flung open and there’s Beau, rubbing sleep from his eyes, a frown on his handsome face.
He’s pulled some sweatpants on.
Thank God.
“What’s going on?” he demands.
“I have a leak,” I reply and swallow hard, willing myself to keep my eyes on his face, and not the sculpted muscles of his torso. I’ve met the man exactly twice, including right now, but what he does to my libido is ridiculous.
I’d forgotten that I have a libido.
Which is a sad statement all on its own.
“You had to wake me up at four-thirty for a leak?”
“I have three inches of water on my floor,” I reply and turn to stomp down the stairs. “Come look!”
I don’t look back as I wade back into my store. A few moments later, I hear Beau come clomping down the steps and look back as he fills the doorway with his wide shoulders. He’s tall, pushing six-and-a-half feet. His hair is dark, and his eyes are like old whiskey.
Those whiskey eyes survey the space, frowning when he sees the amount of water on the floor.
“Do you know where it’s coming from?”
“The bathroom,” I reply and lead him to it.
“The fucking ceiling fan?” He exclaims and shakes his head. “I was expecting the toilet to be overflowing. Old plumbing is unpredictable.”
“I was expecting the same, but here we are,” I say and cross my arms over my chest. He glances back at me, and his eyes drop to my cleavage for just an instant before he looks me in the eye.
I don’t uncross my arms.
“I’m going to shut off the water to the building.”
“Good idea.”
He rushes back outside and a few moments later, the water slows to a small trickle, and then fast drops.
He comes back inside and looks up. “Must be a broken pipe.”
“Are you a plumber as well as a billionaire mogul?” I ask, unable to resist.
His lips twitch. “I’m good at a lot of things.”
Oh, I just bet you are.
I clear my throat. “Thanks for coming down to help me.”
“It’s my building.” He shrugs. “I’m sorry I didn’t wake up earlier to catch it.”
He brushes past me, just barely grazing my shoulder before I can move out of the way, and just like before, I don’t feel anything.
Just cool calm.
But when I glance up at him, his eyes are full of emotion, and when he looks back at me, bright lust is front and center.
I can see it, but I can’t feel it.
“Are you okay?”
“Great.”
He runs outside, then comes back with a frown. He’s grabbed my broom and is sweeping water out the front door to the street.
This man is…I don’t even know.
“He’s not for me,” I whisper as I pull another broom out of a closet and join him, pushing as much water as we can out the front door.
“I don’t think you’ll be able to open today,” he says. “And I’m going to need help getting the water shut off. The valve is rusted.”
“I can’t afford to close,” I reply. “I have a sale that I’ve advertised for two weeks, and this is the busiest weekend before the end of tourist season.” My shoulders drop. “I’m sure I can clean this up enough to open.”
He watches me and shakes his head.
“It’s dangerous. Customers can slip and fall.”
“Oh.” I glance about and blink tears away. What the hell? What’s up with the tears?
“Are you okay?”
“Fine.” I nod and quickly brush the tears away. “Just tired, and this was unexpected.”
He’s quiet for a moment as he watches me closely, and then he pulls his phone out of his pocket and makes a call.
“Eli? Sorry to wake you, but I need some help.”
Chapter Two
~Beau~
“This is a fucking mess,” Eli says as he and I survey the damage. “The water must have been running all night.”
“I can see,” I remind him, my voice calm, as I glance to the other side of the room where Mallory and Eli’s wife Kate are gathering products into baskets and talking a mile a minute. Kate smiles and nods at something Mallory says, and then they move on to another set of shelves.
“Are you awake?” Eli asks, waving his hand in front of my face.
“What did you say?”
“I said that I’ll have my assistant call in a crew to come clean this up today. She’ll have to close up for a few days.”
“Impossible,” I reply, shaking my head. “She can’t afford to do that.”
Eli stops and turns to me. “How do you know that?”
“She told me.”
He blinks. “Are you sweet on her?”
“Are you sixty? Who says that anymore?”
He rocks back on his heels, a slow smile sliding over his smug face.
“You are.”
“Fuck off. I’ll have a crew come take care of this today. But thanks for coming to help me get the water shut off. The building should have new plumbing.”
“Don’t change the subject. You have it bad for the little shop girl.”
“I barely know her,” I reply honestly and walk away from him, stepping outside to call the owner of the construction company that works for Bayou Enterprises.
“It’s barely six in the morning,” Eli says just as Larry answers.
“Good morning.”
“You’re awake,” I say, shrugging at Eli. “Good. I have a priority job this morning.”
“I can’t fit you in until next week,” Larry replies, and I cock a brow.
“I need you this morning.”
“I’m sorry, Beau, but I’m not exactly at your beck and call.”
Larry recently took over for his father, and doesn’t quite understand how this works.
But he’s about to.
“I pay you between three and five million dollars a year to be at my goddamn beck and call, and that doesn’t include the work I have you doing on my house, which is currently three fucking months behind schedule. So I’m going to lay it out for you, Larry. You’re either available for me this morning, or you can be permanently unavailable for me.”
Eli’s lips twitch and I narrow my eyes.
“Fuck,” Larry whispers. “What do you need?”
I explain the situation in Mallory’s shop.
“Okay, I’ll take the plumber off of your house and send them over this morning.”
“What time can we expect them?”
“By eight.”
“Good.”
I end the call and shove my phone in my pocket.
“You almost fired our contractor.”
I nod and shove my other hand in my pocket, touching a coin my father gave me long ago.
“We pay him too well for him to try to get out of a job.”
“Agreed,” Eli replies, mirroring my stance.
“They’ll be here by eight. That gives us time to help clean up some more and see what she wants to do for business today.”
“You usually hire people to do this for you,” Eli replies, true surprise in his voice.
“I’m not above manual labor,” I remind him.
“Okay.” He shrugs.
“She’s our tenant, and she’s the girls’ friend.”
“True.” That smug smile is back.
“Fuck off,” I mutter, rolling my eyes, and march back inside. “The guys will be here in a couple of hours.”
“We have a plan,” Kate says with a smile. “We’re going to set up some tables on the sidewalk, with most of the sale items on them. She can take cash and credit on her phone, and as the stock sells, we can replace it from inside.”
“Does this work for you?” I ask Mallory, who’s biting her lip and setting my teeth on edge with pure lust. Jesus, she’s the sexiest little thing I’ve seen in, well… maybe ever. She intrigues me, and she turns me on with just a look. Since when is lip biting my thing? Apparently, since now that I know Mallory.
“I think it’s against city code for me to have merchandise set up outside,” she says with a shake of her head.
“I’ll take care of that,” Eli replies.
“Do you have the city in your pocket?” Mallory asks, propping her hands on her hips.
“No, but I can call in a favor to two,” Eli replies. “It’s just for one day, Mallory. I doubt anyone would say anything.”
“Okay,” she replies and sighs. Kate reaches out to rub her arm, and Mallory flinches and relaxes, in the span of a millisecond.
But it’s there.
“We will help,” Kate says. “I’ll call Declan too.”
“He’s probably just going to bed,” Eli says. “Wake his ass up.”
“Don’t do that—”
“Yes, do that,” I interrupt Mallory and wink at her. “He won’t mind.”
“He really won’t,” Kate says. “Declan is the most easygoing brother.”
“Careful,” Eli says, but pulls Kate in his arms and kisses her soundly.
“I love you,” Kate tells him, “but easygoing is not how I would describe you.”
“Let’s get to work.”
Mallory raises a brow at me.
“I think I’m the boss here,” she says, and all of the blood immediately moves to one area of my body. Her independence and bossiness is damn hot. “I need to pull the rest of the product from the shelves, make sure everything is dry, and then I need to go up to your place so I can change my clothes.”
“Why?” My eyes travel up and down her petite body, not finding one thing wrong with the way her clothes hug her body.
“Because I wore this yesterday,” she replies. “I have a change of clothes here.”
She can get naked in my loft all she wants. I’ll never say no to that.
I’d rather also be there when that happens, but I’ll take what I can get.
“And one more thing,” she says, holding up her hand. “Thank you. All of you. I can’t tell you how much I really appreciate all of your help.”
“We’re happy to do it,” Kate says with a smile. “Shit happens, and then you clean it up.”
***
It’s noon, and the plumber still has his head stuck in the ceiling of the bathroom, swearing at old plumbing and his lot in life in general. The good news is, it’s a one-day job.
The bad news is, a lot of Mallory’s stock is not salvageable.
But I have insurance, and even if I didn’t, I’ll be paying to replace whatever she lost.
Eli went to work hours ago. Kate decided to take the day off from the office so she could stay and help Mallory. Declan came for a while this morning, and just left as well.
Mallory’s part time help, a young woman named Shelly, came in to work this afternoon.
The set up on the sidewalk is a bit chaotic. Hundreds of tourists walk by each hour, so we have to keep a keen eye out for thieves, but I think she’s also selling much more than she normally would.
Mallory is loading a woman’s merchandise in a bag and lifts it to pass to her, and I notice, like I have all morning, that Mallory is careful not to touch anyone. However, when the lady takes her bag, she reaches over and pats Mallory’s hand.
Her body language doesn’t change, but her face goes absolutely still, and then her eyes just look sad as she gazes back at the customer.
“Thank you so much,” the customer says. “I hope this helps me sleep. Ever since my husband died, I can’t manage to get more than a few hours at a time.”
Mallory nods, as if she already knows and smiles softly. “This should work great. Don’t forget to put the Vetiver on the soles of your feet.”
“I won’t.” She waves and sets off down the street.
“I’m going to go grab some more of the lavender hand lotion,” Shelly says. “It’s selling like hotcakes.”
“The lavender always does” Mallory says with a nod. “And would you please also bring out a couple of the sage candles?”
“Sure thing!”
“This is fun,” Kate says with a smile. “It’s a nice change of pace from office work.”
“You really don’t have to stay,” Mallory says and glances up at me. “Both of you. Shelly and I can handle this.”
Just then a man picks up a bottle of shampoo and starts to slip it in his pocket.
“You’ll be paying for that,” I say, glaring at the man, who sets it down and walks away, whistling and smiling like he didn’t do anything wrong.
Asshole.
“I’ll be staying,” I reply. “Between jerks like that and the plumber inside, I’d like to keep an eye on things.”
“And I really want to stay,” Kate says. “Please don’t kick me out.”
“Okay,” Mal replies, shaking her head with a smile. “I’m not kicking anyone out.”
***
It’s been a long fucking day. It’s just past eight in the evening, and I’m on my way back to Mallory’s shop with food. We’ve all been on the go since I woke up to her banging on my door. Business was busy today, much to Mallory’s delight. The plumber fixed the problem in the ceiling, and with fans blowing all night, she should be back to business as usual tomorrow.
But she hasn’t eaten all day, so I’m bringing us both dinner. She just closed the shop. I’m assuming Kate left just after me to go home to Eli.
I frown as I walk through the door. She hasn’t locked it yet.
And then I frown again when I find Kate and Mallory sitting across from each other at Mallory’s desk, eating Chinese takeout.
“You didn’t lock the door,” I say, feeling foolish with the bag of Italian in my hand.
“Eli’s picking me up,” Kate says, her eyes wide when she sees the bag of food. Her phone beeps. “There he is! I’m out of here.” She offers me an apologetic smile as she grabs her white carton of food and rushes outside.