Want You Read online

  Deb let out a breath. “I came to pick your brain. You’re going to hear this from Colt, but so far our sales aren’t doing as well as we had hoped.”

  Delaney shifted in her seat. “The online store has only been up a week. That’s way too early to gauge your progress.”

  She told Delaney about Stanley Royce and how a settlement with him would bite into the company’s budget.

  “TJ’s pretty worried about it and it’s my job to make the retail end a success.” TJ believed in her and she didn’t want to disappoint him, or herself. “The sad truth is, I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m here to ask for any guidance you can give me.”

  Delaney went to her desk and picked up the phone. “Candace, can you please bring us some soft drinks. Thanks.”

  She sat back down. “First, you have to spill about what’s going on with you and TJ.”

  “Huh. What are you talking about?” Deb played dumb. And honestly, other than sleeping together, she had no idea.

  “Come on.” Delaney all but rolled her eyes. “I saw you two at the party, I saw you disappear together, and Colt’s convinced you met afterward.”

  Ah, crap. “Do people think it’s pathetic, like I’m a Garner groupie?”

  Delaney laughed. “Honey, we’re all Garner groupies. But I know what you’re asking and no, of course not.”

  “It just sort of happened. I don’t even know what it is yet. There’ve been no discussions.” Just a lot of sex.

  “What do you want it to be?” Delaney asked.

  “I don’t know yet. I’m still digesting it and I don’t know where TJ stands. He’s not exactly forthcoming.”

  “Have you thought about asking him?”

  Candace knocked, then walked in with their drinks. Deb hoped she hadn’t heard anything. In high school, Candace had been a gossipmonger.

  “Thank you,” Delaney said and took the tray from her.

  Deb waited for her to leave while Delaney poured them both flavored, fizzy water. “I don’t want to yet.” She leaned her head back on the couch. “I just want to enjoy it.”

  “I think you should talk to him, Deb. TJ strikes me as a fairly deliberate person, not the kind to mess around with a longtime family friend without having emotions invested in it. I’d hate to see either of you get hurt.” Delaney handed her a glass. “Okay, enough talk about your love life. Let’s get down to business. First off, sales and marketing aren’t my areas of expertise. I’m a designer and my ex always ran that part of the company. If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to ask Karen to sit in on this. This is more her forte.”

  Deb didn’t know how TJ would feel about someone outside the Garner family knowing GA information. But she wasn’t too proud to pass up help from an expert. “That’s fine.”

  Delaney left the office and returned a few minutes later with Karen in tow. Deb explained her thoughts on the online store and they gathered around Delaney’s laptop to look. Karen made groaning noises.

  “Then I’m not off-base thinking this isn’t helping us?”

  “Noooo,” Karen said. “It’s all wrong for your brand, don’t you think, Delaney?”

  Delaney grimaced. “I wish I would’ve paid more attention to this. It was a cute idea in the eighties, not so much anymore. And especially not for a company that’s promoting hands-on performance wear.”

  “I’d present the clothing and gear in regular photographs and illustrate performance with pictures and videos of guides actually wearing the stuff while skiing, bouldering, mountain biking, whatever.” Karen pointed to the text. “Forget these cute little sayings. Show me, don’t tell me.”

  That was exactly what Deb had thought and felt vindicated hearing Karen confirm it. She’d have to convince TJ, though.

  “Change all this,” Karen continued. “Your biggest challenge is getting the word out, and we can certainly help with that.” She looked at Delaney. “We can add Garner Adventure to that big ad we’re doing in Women’s Wear Daily.”

  “Absolutely.” Delaney poured more fizzy water in her glass. “Though I don’t know how much that will touch on the adventure-sports market. But we can come up with a list of possible advertising vehicles for GA.”

  Deb cleared her voice. “About our market: I was thinking that we should sponsor athletes. A skier, a big-time kayaker, a rock climber, like that. The problem is, the high-profile ones all have big sponsors already. It’s not like we can compete with Reebok or Under Armour, uh, no offense.”

  “None taken.” Delaney’s lips curved up. “I’m known for couture and ready-to-wear, not adventure clothes, so I see your dilemma. Though I think it’s a great idea if you can make it work.”

  “I don’t think you necessarily need someone high profile,” Karen said. “What you need is a high-profile event. A big amateur ski competition or toboggan race, something like that. It would be great if it was televised or had a social media component. Your clientele is the weekend warrior, not a pro. That’s who you want to appeal to, so you need someone who does this stuff for fun but is very proficient at it.”

  “Someone who can win,” Deb said, loving the idea.

  “Ideally,” Karen agreed. “And Deb, you have to promote the heck out of it. Are you on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest?”

  She winced. “No. I guess I should be, huh?”

  “Yep. Garner Adventure’s online store needs to be all over the place,” Karen said.

  “What about the tent jacket?” Delaney asked.

  Deb wondered if Delaney was joking. “Is that something you’d be interested in designing?”

  Delaney paused. “Uh, it’s not my brand nor do I know anything about tents, but I think it’s a great idea. Let me ask around to see if there’s a designer better suited for it. It’s something that could be exclusive to GA and bring traffic to the site.”

  “Absolutely,” Karen said, and for the next hour they outlined a strategy.

  By the time Deb pulled up in front of GA, it was dark and her head was swimming with ideas. When she got inside, everyone had gone home for the night. Everyone but TJ.

  “Hey. I thought you’d left early.”

  “Nope.” She shook her head. “And I’m glad you’re still here because I’ve got a ton of thoughts on how we can increase sales.”

  “Yeah?” His lips tipped up in a heart-stopping smile and her stomach did pirouettes. “Whaddya got?”

  “I met with Delaney and Karen and they gave me a whole approach.”

  “They’re high-fashion, Deb. Not our market.”

  She poked him in the chest with her finger. “Instead of being a know-it-all, why don’t you listen to what I have to say?”

  “Can we eat first? I’m starved.”

  “Sure.” Was it a date or a work dinner? “Where do you want to go?”

  “Indian place.” The restaurant’s name was Zaika, but everyone regularly referred to it simply as the Indian place.

  “Let’s go.” She swung her tote bag over her shoulder. It had all the notes she’d taken at Delaney’s.

  They walked the few short blocks to the restaurant. Deb felt a chill nipping at her legs. She should’ve worn tights or leggings under her dress.

  TJ gazed up at the sky. “More snow’s on the way.” He casually draped his arm over her shoulder and she had an overwhelming urge to snuggle closer.

  She thought about what Delaney had said, about how TJ likely cared or he wouldn’t be fooling around with her. She dared to hope but didn’t know how to open the conversation.

  “What are you thinking?” he asked.

  “Nothing . . . Is Colt mad that you hired me and not someone with crazy marketing skills?”

  “No,” he said, but she knew he was lying.

  Deb understood that Colt was only looking out for his fiancée’s best interests, which any good boyfriend or husband should do. And sweetly, TJ didn’t want to hurt her feelings, so in a way he was looking out for her. The knowledge of that warmed her even more than t
he gas fireplace at Zaika.

  One of the owners showed them to a table, and TJ asked for an order of naan while they perused the menu. He kept sneaking peeks at her, and she wondered if he was thinking about earlier, about their spontaneous sex.

  “You want wine or beer?” he asked.

  “Just water. I want to go over the stuff I learned.”

  His eyes were on her lips, but she didn’t think he was listening to a word she was saying. “Do you want to wait until we’re done eating to talk shop?”

  “We can talk about it,” he said, but he didn’t seem that into it.

  “Then quit staring at me.”

  “Why?” he asked, and she couldn’t tell whether he was teasing.

  “Because it’s hard to concentrate and I’m trying to prove myself, TJ.”

  He pulled his chair in closer to the table. “Okay, tell me what you got.”

  “Don’t get mad, but both Delaney and Karen agree with me that the online store isn’t the flavor we want. Karen had some ideas that I totally agree with. Can I talk to Jillian and make the changes?”

  Their waters and naan came. Deb ordered her usual chicken tikka. TJ got the tandoori and a bunch of sides for the table.

  “We’ll have to pay her,” TJ said. “I hope it isn’t throwing good money after bad.”

  She couldn’t guarantee it wouldn’t be or that it would even increase sales. But she didn’t think it could get any worse. “How much money are we talking about?”

  “If we can keep it under a thousand bucks, go ahead. Anything over that and I’d be inclined to say no.”

  “But if it’s under a thousand, I can do what I want?”

  He slowly nodded, but she could tell he was already regretting his decision.

  “You sure?” She was giving him a chance to back out, even though her gut told her the online store was all wrong and it would be well worth the money to make the fixes.

  “Yeah, go ahead.”

  She tilted her head, skeptical. “Are you just trying to get me in the sack again? Because, TJ, you don’t have to work that hard.”

  He tossed his head back and laughed. “I want to continue sleeping with you, but that’s not why I’m letting you spend the money. Why can’t you believe that I have faith in you? You never struck me as someone with low self-esteem.”

  “Are you angry that I went to Delaney and Karen?” It probably wasn’t a good business practice to tell your star designer that her clothes weren’t moving. But Delaney was part of TJ’s family.

  He let out a huff. “Drastic times call for drastic measures.”

  “Delaney didn’t think it was drastic. She thought we haven’t given it enough time.”

  “I wish we would’ve gotten the spread Colorado Adventure got in Outside magazine.”

  Their food came and the server took his time removing the domes from all the platters. After the waiter left, TJ put a scoop of everything on her plate.

  “The retail store was my idea.” He shoveled in a bite. “I sold everyone on it, even though they argued that we didn’t have the resources. So every day it doesn’t make a profit and every day it takes our focus away from the adventure tours is on me.”

  “That’s a lot of pressure to put on yourself. There’s no way you could’ve known about Royce.” He shrugged and she continued. “You came up with an idea you thought would make money. If it winds up you were wrong, no one is going to blame you.”

  “I’ll blame myself.”

  “Jeez, TJ, you’ll get an ulcer like that.”

  “Successful people have ulcers, Deb.”

  She pointed her fork at him. “You’re already successful.”

  He waited to stop chewing his tandoori chicken and said, “Not in everything. I haven’t done a good job of finding balance in my life.”

  “Explain,” she demanded.

  “I don’t want to be just a paper pusher. And I don’t want the buck to stop only at me.”

  “You don’t want to be in charge anymore?”

  I don’t want to be the only one in charge.” He served himself more helpings of the side dishes. “I’d also like to guide an occasional tour.”

  “Easy enough. You need more minions. Give me and Darcy more responsibility.”

  He laughed. “You’ve been here less than a month and you already want a promotion. Let’s see if we can save the retail division first.”

  She wasn’t looking for a promotion; she only wanted to help. “Sure, but would divvying up the responsibility give you more balance?”

  He stopped eating and looked at her for a long time. “I want someone to come home to.”

  The statement threw her. Men, at least the ones she knew, didn’t say things like that. “Who do you want to come home to?”

  Maybe he hadn’t found that person yet and was still looking. Or maybe he already knew. She held her breath waiting for the answer, her heart racing.

  His blue gaze held hers. “It’s complex.”

  It wasn’t her, then. Disappointment cut through her like a blade. By now, she would’ve thought the muscle tissue of her heart was callused enough that nothing could hurt her. But she was wrong.

  When “Oh” was all she said, he pointed to the last piece of naan. “You going to eat that?”

  “Go for it.” She suddenly wasn’t very hungry anymore. “It’s settled, then. I can talk to Jillian about changing the online store?”

  “Yep. What else you have?”

  She spent the next thirty minutes absently going through the ideas Delaney and Karen had mapped out.

  * * *

  After dinner, TJ paid the bill, helped Deb on with her jacket, and walked her home. He’d wanted to tell her the truth when she’d asked who he wanted to come home to. A crowded restaurant, where anyone could overhear their conversation, didn’t feel like the right place. And the timing couldn’t be worse.

  They were immersed in trying to save a shaky retail venture. He wanted her to succeed so badly that he was taking stupid risks with his family’s money. For instance, throwing cash at a website that was only a week old. But he didn’t think straight when it came to her.

  That was why it seemed like a bad time to profess his feelings for her.

  Without thinking, he slipped his hand into hers. If it wasn’t so cold, he would’ve liked to have strolled up and down Main Street with her. During the holidays, there were horse and carriage rides. The company was considering extending the service into spring, but so far, that hadn’t happened.

  “You want to get dessert at Tart Me Up?” he asked. It was getting late. They should probably just call it a night.

  She took his wrist and looked at his watch. “I think they’re closed by now.”

  They’d made it as far as the Morning Glory, which, unfortunately, was the end of the line.

  Upstairs, she motioned for him to come inside. He promised it was just for a minute, just long enough for her to turn on the lights. He was tempted to see if she wanted to go for a second round of what they’d done earlier, but it didn’t seem right to continue like that. Friends with benefits. It wasn’t enough for him.

  Standing in her tiny front room, with the streetlights shining in, she gazed into his eyes, expectantly. Ah hell, go ahead; tell her.

  “You,” he said in a soft voice, not quite a whisper. “I want to come home to you.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Deb woke up to find TJ wrapped around her. Wedged between his arms, her back tucked against his chest, she felt dizzy with joy.

  They’d spent the night doing all kinds of things. Naughty things that made her hot just thinking about them.

  I want to come home to you, he’d said.

  Though it wasn’t a declaration of love, it was as close as one came. At least for Deb. She was willing to bet he’d eventually say those three magical words. But under no circumstances would she say them first. Not ever again.

  “What time is it?” TJ asked in a groggy voice.

 
She rolled over so she could face him and stared into a pair of arresting blue eyes. “Almost nine.”

  “I’m officially late and don’t give a damn.” His mouth tugged at the corners.

  “I do. I need to get in and call Jillian.” She started to move toward the edge of the bed, but he held her down and tickled her, making her giggle uncontrollably. “Seriously, TJ. I’ve got a company to save.”

  “The company’s fine.” His mouth covered hers and he kissed her. “But I’ll let you save the retail division.”

  “And I’ll let you take a shower with me.” She broke free and raced to the bathroom, shouting, “You better hurry before I use all the hot water.”

  She should’ve known better than to challenge a Garner that way. He hopped off the bed and practically beat her to the bathroom. Of course, he had an unfair advantage—nakedness. His broad shoulders and washboard abs, bronzed from working in the sun, even in winter, were a hell of a distraction.

  She turned on the shower faucet, waiting for the old pipes to finish belching and the water to turn hot before getting in. It was a standard-size tub, but with TJ it suddenly felt small. He grabbed the soap off the ledge and washed her, slipping his hands everywhere while she whimpered with pleasure.

  Deb tilted her head back to look up at him. His eyes lighted with tenderness, and something moved in her chest. He kissed her, the pull of his mouth warm and sweet and tantalizing. She clutched his shoulders, pushing her body against his, reveling in his solidness.

  “I don’t have a condom.” He started to get out of the tub and she pulled him back.

  “By the time you get back, it’ll be ice cold . . . crappy water heater. Stay and hold me.”

  He took her in his arms and covered her lips with his. Like before, the kiss was slow and hot. But this time it was more intimate. Full of unspoken meaning . . . and promise. Different than anything she’d ever felt before. They stood there, locked together, until the hot water turned freezing.

  TJ got out first, found a towel, and wrapped her in it.

  “I’m gonna run home for some clean clothes,” he said, and returned to Deb’s bedroom to put on the ones he’d worn the day before.