Maureen Child - Californian Kings

Dave caught the frantic motion and stopped himself midsentence. “But I have to tell you,” he said, changing the subject smoothly, “my wife bought a bathing suit from you that she can’t stop raving about.”

“Isn’t that nice?” Bella beamed at him as if the man had just presented her with a bouquet of roses. “I hope she comes back.”

“Oh, she will. She’s bringing her sisters to your shop next week,” Dave assured her. “Connie’s been bragging about your store so much, all three of them have insisted on visiting Bella’s.”

“Thank you, I’m always glad to hear about a satisfied customer.”

“Yes, aren’t we all,” Jesse muttered, and jerked his head, silently telling Dave to take a hike.

Dave got the message. “Right. Well, I’ve got a few calls to make, so I’d better let you get on with your tour. Nice to see you here, Bella. Hope we see you again soon.”

Bella watched him go, then turned to look at Jesse. “I like your friend.”

“But not me,” he added for her.

“Does it matter?” she asked and her voice was almost lost in the bustle of the office.

Yeah, it mattered. He wasn’t sure why and he didn’t like acknowledging the fact, even to himself. So he for damn sure wasn’t going to let her know how he felt. That woman had enough power over him already.

“Let me show you my office,” he said instead.

“Oh, Mr. King,” a woman called out as she hurried up to meet them. “We’ve just heard back on the surfing exhibition plans. The city’s approved everything and your guests have all agreed to take part.”

“Good news, Sue,” Jesse said, catching the gleam of curiosity in Bella’s eyes. “Put a call in to Wiki, will you? Tell him I’ll be getting in touch with him by tomorrow.”

“Will do.” The woman hurried off, the tap of her heels swallowed by the bustling noise of the busy office.

“Wiki?” Bella asked as Jesse took her arm and steered her toward his office at the back of the long, wide room.

“Danny Wikiloa,” he said, opening the door for her. Once inside, he closed the door before adding, “He’s a professional surfer. We competed against each other for years. He’s coming into town in two weeks for the exhibition. Doing it as a favor to me, actually, since he’s retired, too.”

“The exhibition,” she murmured. “Everyone in town has been talking about it for days.”

He stuffed both hands into his jeans pockets as he watched her wander the perimeter of his office. She noticed everything, pausing to look at the framed photos of different beaches. She hardly glanced at his surfing trophies, which stung a bit, but she seemed fascinated by the one wall where photos of his family were hanging.

“It’s going to be fun,” he said, walking over to join her. “Ten of the world’s best surfers giving a one-day exhibition.”

“You miss it, don’t you? The competition, I mean.”

He hadn’t really admitted it to anyone else, but, “Yeah, I do. I like winning.”

She nodded. “Not surprising. The whole King family is like that, aren’t they?”

“Pretty much,” he said and turned his back on the family photos so he could look instead at Bella. “We enjoy competing and we don’t lose gracefully.”

She tipped her head to one side, looked at him and said, “You can’t always win.”

“Don’t see why not.”

“You really don’t, do you?”

“Nope,” he told her and took the single step separating them. Standing alongside her, he looked up at the family photos and waved one hand at them. “Not a single one of those people is the type to settle for second place.”

“Sometimes you don’t have a choice,” Bella said softly.

“There’s always a choice, Bella.” Jesse glanced at one familiar face and then another as he said, “The King family decided a long time ago that the only people who lose are the ones who expect to. We expect to win, so we do.”

“Easy as that?”

He looked down at her and found her staring up at him. Those chocolate-brown eyes of hers looked deep and dark and filled with secrets. Secrets he wanted to know. To share. Lifting one hand, he cupped her cheek and said, “I never said it was easy. But winning shouldn’t be. Takes all the fun out of it if everyone could do it.”

“And fun’s important to you, too,” she said, stepping back, away from his touch, away from him.

“Should be important to everyone,” he said, his palm still tingling from the touch of her skin against his. “What’s life if you don’t enjoy it? Hell, why do anything if you don’t enjoy it?”

“And you enjoy what you do now?”

“Yeah,” he said with a shrug. “I didn’t think I would, you know. Never planned to be the suit-wearing guy, Mr. Businessman. But I’m good at it.”

She looked toward the closed office door and the busy office beyond. “Yes, I guess you are.”

“See, I’m enjoying this. We’re agreeing on things.”

“Don’t get used to it,” she told him wryly.

“Why not? We could make a great team, Bella.”

She laughed a little. “We’re so not a team, Jesse.”

This was it, he thought. The moment. Time to slide an offer in here while she was still impressed by her tour. While she still liked him a little. It struck him then that he’d never had to work so hard to get a woman to like him. “We could be. Think about it. King Beach. Bella’s Beachwear. A match made in heaven.”

She stilled, slid an uneasy look at him and asked, “What kind of match?”

“Well, I wasn’t going to bring this up so soon, but I don’t like waiting, either. So I’ll get right to it.” He walked to his desk and leaned back against it. Through the wide window behind him, the sun splashed down on the view of Morgan Beach and the ocean stretching out to the horizon. “I want to buy Bella’s Beachwear.”

“ No.” Bella blurted the word out instinctively.

“Jeez.” He came up off the desk and took a step toward her. “At least let me finish my sentence.”

“No need to, I’m not for sale.” She should have known. Should have guessed that he was softening her up for something. She’d allowed herself to relax around him. All right, she’d actually been enjoying herself. The touch of his hand, that wicked smile of his, the way he seemed to focus so intently on her. All that had combined to weaken her defenses and now she was going to pay.

“I’m not trying to buy you, Bella. Just your business.”

“That’s what you don’t get, Jesse. I am my business.” Irritated, hurt and just a little angry at herself for walking into this mess, she continued, “You want to buy my swimwear, but to you it’s just that. Bathing suits. Stick them on a rack, sell them to the masses.”

Both his eyebrows rose. “There’s something wrong with selling your product to people who want it?”

“No, but I’m not interested in the quick, easy sale.” She took a deep breath, fisted her hands at her sides and tried once again to get through his hard head. “I’m interested in the whole woman. Helping ordinary women build their self-esteem. You’re interested in making the young and skinny feel pretty. Well, guess what, they already do.”

“Bella, I know you think I want to change what you do, but you couldn’t be more wrong.” He threw both hands up, then let them fall to his thighs. “I’ve been resisting selling women’s stuff for years because how the hell do I know what women want to wear? Everything I stock I personally believe in. That’s the reason I want you to be a part of King Beach. Because you believe in your stuff the way I believe in mine.”