Page 15 of Accidentally in Bloom

Rose had always wanted to redesign the store when she was a kid. She could see a better way to do things, but he wouldn’t listen to her. Couldn’t seem to care they were barely hanging on.

Her dad had wanted to keep things the way they’d been when her mom was still alive. Even in elementary school, she could see they were losing business and Rose hated her father for it.

Lily clomped down the tight spiral staircase.

“Third-floor apartment is fine. Lots of spare boxes, but otherwise empty.”

Violet rounded the corner from the back. “The prep room needs a little love and a lot of cleaning, but it’s serviceable. A few dead plants are in the back coolers, but it’s bare. He didn’t have backstock.”

Their father had died in his sleep unexpectedly, but Rose wondered how much of this was his original plan, to let the business dwindle down to nothing.

“We’ll have to figure out what to do with it. Lease it, sell it, blow it up, start all over; something.” Rose slapped her hands together to wipe off the dust.

Violet wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and re-tied her mound of curly hair into a top knot ponytail. “Does your to-do list include lattes?” Violet handed the phone back over to Rose.

There were dark circles under Violet’s eyes, and Lily wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

This was enough for today.

Sometimes Rose forgot other people hadn’t mastered the art of shoving down their emotions as well as she had.

“I would give my right heel for a good latte.” Rose smiled at her sisters. “We can take the rest of the day off. The list can wait until tomorrow.”

Just this once.

Laughter danced in Lily’s eyes. “Do you think your list will be able to stand the heat between you and Gray tomorrow? Or will it burst into flames from all that hottie hot tension?”

“Oh no,” Rose countered, “if you’re teasing me about that fool, then we’re definitely talking about whatever that was between you and Nash.”

Violet mouthed a big “I know, right?” behind Lily’s back and Rose swallowed a smile.

Lily spun between them, eyes narrowed. “Oh, stop that, you two. He barely knows I exist.”

“Want to try Fox & Forrest?” Violet asked. Violet’s best friend, Aaron, had opened a new adorable cafe next door, and Rose had been itching to try it.

“Sure, I’ll meet you guys there. Just going to finish up here.”

This would be the perfect moment to record a short message to her podcast followers so she could control the narrative about her career. She’d let her listeners know she’d decided to take some time to reconnect with her roots. It wasn’t lying if she omitted part of the truth, right? Publicly admitting her failure could crumble the reputation she’d built.

Violet and Lily walked out and shut the large front door behind them.

A haunting silence rang out in the old, stalwart building. An infuriating sob clawed at the back of her throat, but no. We don’t have time for that.

Rose let her eyes wander over the space. It had potential. It had always had potential. The back room had plenty of storage space, and whoever bought the building could probably host events.

She was jealous of the person who’d buy it from them. Rose loved making something out of nothing. She loved counseling her clients on creating a new line of business to solve their customer needs. Despite what her former employer thought, she’d even been pretty good at it.

As for what to do with this place? She was the big sister. Always in charge, always had to have a plan. She’d think of something.

She opened her camera, wiped the exhaustion from her face, and pressed the record button to tell her followers she was taking a trendy break, ignoring the breaking of her heart.

A thrum vibrated through Rose’s thighs as she gripped thick motorcycle handles. Wind whipped around her, tossing her hair over her shoulder as it snaked down and caressed her back.

She drove over the open road, or was she flying? A throb was insistent between her legs, and she ground her hips into the seat to relieve the pressure in her aching clit.

“You want me, don’t you, princess?” A rich, velvet voice whispered in her ear.

She looked down, and the bike had transformed into Gray underneath her. She straddled him as he vibrated under her. He was shirtless, and his muscles rippled as he gripped her ass, guiding her up and down as she rode him. “Put your hands above me, princess; I want to see you over me.”

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