Five

Faith was aware that Princess Jensine of Larsland was studying her, and she had to resist squirming. It seemed almost surreal that a small-town girl who’d spent her entire childhood being shunted from one relative to another should find herself face-to-face with a member of royalty.

“You look familiar,” Jenna eventually said. “Have we met before?”

Dylan cleared his throat. “You might have seen her at the auction,” he admitted. “Faith had the winning bid on a date with me.”

Jenna’s eyes widened. “This is a date? You brought a date to a research lab?”

“It’s not like that,” Faith said quickly. “Besides, even if we wanted to, we couldn’t have a real date because of company policy.”

She covered her mouth with two fingers. Had she just admitted she would have liked to date Dylan if the situation had been different? No one else seemed to have taken it that way. But she needed to stay on her guard because, deep down, there wasn’t much in the world she would want more than for Dylan to kiss her again, and she didn’t want anyone—especially Dylan—guessing that.

“Ah, yes,” Jenna said. One corner of her mouth turned up. “That old fraternization policy. I know it well.”

Liam pushed through the door into the waiting room and beamed when he saw his fiancée. He took Meg from her, swung her around onto his hip and kissed Jenna softly. “Hi,” he said.

“Hi, yourself,” she said back and kissed him again.

Dylan coughed loudly. “Hey, other people present.”

Liam looked up but pulled Jenna under his arm. It was only then that he seemed to register there was a stranger in the room. He released Jenna and stuck out a hand. “I’m Liam Hawke, since it seems my brother isn’t going to introduce us.”

“I’m Faith Crawford,” she said, straightening her spine as she shook his hand. “I work for you.”

“You do?” Liam asked, his head cocked to the side.

Dylan took a step closer to her elbow. She could feel his body heat. “Faith is a florist at the Santa Monica store.”

“Okay, good to meet you,” Liam said.

Jenna looked up at her man, her eyes full of mischief. “Faith won Dylan at the auction.”

Dylan held up a hand. “She didn’t win me.” His gaze darted to Faith before turning back to his brother. “She had the winning bid on some time with me.”

“Three dates,” Jenna supplied helpfully.

“They’re not dates, just time,” Dylan clarified. “In fact, this is some of that time now. Faith has a lot of creativity in her designs, and we’ve identified her as someone with potential. So I wanted to show her around the building.”

“Sure,” Liam said casually, holding Dylan’s gaze. “The public areas?”

“Up to you,” Dylan said just as casually.

Faith looked from one to the other, trying to work out what they were really saying. It was obvious something else was being discussed, but what?

“You’ll vouch for her discretion?” Liam asked.

Dylan nodded. “I’m willing to bet on it.”

“Then you’re about to.” Liam looked up at Faith and smiled. “Welcome to my world. Let me show you around.”

It seemed she’d passed some kind of test on Dylan’s say-so, but she had no idea what it had been for. They spent the next twenty minutes walking through the research rooms, and Faith was enthralled with all the projects they had going on. Crossbreeding for stronger scent or bigger flowers, rooms full of benches with lines of pots containing grafted plants. Excitement buzzed through her blood at seeing the powerhouse behind the business.

Then they reached a locked door. Liam caught her gaze. “Past this door is my personal project. Very few people know what’s in here, and even fewer have seen it. If we go inside, I need your word that you won’t leak the information.”

“You have my word,” she said without hesitation.

Liam looked to Dylan, who nodded, and opened the door.

The room was like many of the others in that it had benches with rows of pots, each containing plants at different stages of growth. But the flower that many of the pots had was like nothing in the other rooms. Or anything she’d seen before. Faith knew flowers. She knew the conditions they preferred and their shelf lives. She knew which flowers were in season at any given time in which area of the country. She knew what colors each variety came in. But she’d never seen anything like the flower in those pots.

She stepped closer. It was an iris, but it was a rich red. She wanted to touch it but was unsure, so she looked up at Liam. “May I?”

He nodded his permission. With her fingertip, she touched the petal of one of the more advanced flowers. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed.

“Thank you,” Liam said.

Dylan moved to her elbow. “How do you think it will go with the customers?”

She lifted her head and found his deep green gaze. “I think we’ll be stampeded.” She meant it. There was nothing like this flower on the market, and it was stunning. Already she could imagine how perfect it would look in a bridal bouquet or dramatic table decoration. Its crimson bloom would be the center of attention.

“Tell me, Faith,” Dylan said, crossing his arms over his broad chest, “what would you put with it to showcase it?”

“The design would need to be simple. It’s so beautiful, it doesn’t need much adornment. Perhaps something with soft white petals, like old-fashioned roses. Maybe a touch of silver foliage.”

Dylan gave her an indulgent smile and dug his hands in his pockets. “Do you want a chance to try?”

“Make an arrangement with one of these?” she asked, her heart racing with excitement. “Now?”

Dylan lifted an eyebrow at Liam, who nodded. “Yep, now. We’ll wait here while you go out to the farm. Collect whatever you want. Then come back and make us an arrangement.”

Chest almost bursting, Faith nodded and threaded her way back to the door.

As soon as Faith was gone, Dylan looked to his brother. “Thanks.”

“If you believe in her, then that’s enough for me. But,” he said, his voice becoming serious, “do you know what you’re doing? She’s an employee.”

Dylan arched an eyebrow. “That didn’t stop the two of you.”

“It did for a little while,” Jenna said, grinning up at Liam.

Liam returned the grin and then said, “It was different for us. Jenna was working for me personally, not the company.”

Dylan leaned back on the bench. He’d had enough of this topic of conversation. The last thing he needed was for them to discover he’d crossed the line in a spectacular fashion on the very first night by kissing her.

He shook his head once. “There’s nothing to worry about. I’m just being a good boss and giving opportunities to someone with potential.”

“Sure you are,” Jenna said and winked.

“How are Bonnie and Meg?” Dylan asked, hoping the new topic would sidetrack them both for the short while it took Faith to return.

“They’re just perfect,” Jenna said, a dreamy look of contentment on her face.

Dylan asked Jenna a few more questions about the girls and suggested Liam find some floral tools for Faith to keep them occupied. Finally there was a call from the front desk, and Liam told them to let Faith back through.

She entered with her arms full of flowers, her bright red hair falling from the clip she’d used to try to tame her curls. Dylan jumped up to help, taking some of the blooms and spreading them across a vacant bench.

“Here, you might need these,” he said, passing her the box of tools. As their fingers brushed, he felt a tingle of electricity shoot up his arm, but he did his best to ignore it. This was a professional situation, and even if it weren’t, she was still an employee, as Liam had just pointed out.

After recapturing her hair in the clip, Faith began to work with the flowers, trimming the thorns and leaves from the white roses, using floral wire on the blush-pink gerbera daisies and arranging them together. Liam cut three of his red irises and handed them to her.

The expression in Faith’s eyes, of awe and honor, made Dylan’s heart swell in his chest. Her passion was contagious—he felt alive, as if every cell in his body was waking up.

“Thank you,” she said as she took the flowers from Liam, her voice breathless. Then she wove the other flowers around them, creating a design that was elegant in its simplicity, yet stunning.

When she was finished, she held the bouquet out to Dylan. He smiled as he took it and then showed it to Jenna and Liam.

“What do you think?” he asked his brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law. They knew what he was really asking—they’d begun talks already about launching the new flower on the market with an event, in the same way they’d launched the Midnight Lily a few months ago. Jenna had been the brains behind that and it had been a roaring success. They’d already started on preliminary plans for the second launch, and Jenna had asked him to supply a florist from his staff to work on it part-time.

Jenna turned to Liam, one eyebrow raised, and he nodded. Then she turned to Faith.

“Faith,” she said, her musical voice soft. “What would you say to working part-time with me on the launch of the new iris? I need a florist to handle the arrangements and a few other duties, and we think you’d be perfect.”

Faith looked from Jenna to Dylan, eyes wide. Wary about pushing her into a job she didn’t want again, he explained further. “If you want to do it, we’ll work your hours at the store around this. You could do part-time at each until the launch, then go back to full-time at the store.”

“Then I’d love to,” she said, her warm brown eyes sparkling, and Dylan felt the satisfaction of a good plan coming together.

Jenna grinned. “Great. I have to take Meg back up to the house, but I’ll be in touch about the details.”

As they drove away a short while later, Dylan glanced over at Faith. He wanted to make sure this was really what she wanted, especially after he’d botched things the last time he’d tried to help her career.

“Faith, I want you to know that this is totally up to you. If you’d enjoy the work, we’d love to have you on the project. But you can still change your mind, and it won’t affect your job at the Santa Monica store.”

She gave him a beaming smile. “Honestly, I can’t thank you enough. The opportunity of doing large arrangements that will be seen by hundreds of people is a dream come true. And Jenna seems lovely—I think I’ll enjoy working with her.”

As he stopped at a red light, he glanced over and found Faith looking at him as if he’d hung the moon. His heart clenched tight. He had a bad feeling that, despite everything, he’d do whatever it took to keep that look on her face. The light turned green, and he trained his gaze on the road ahead, shoring up the strength to do the right thing.

One week into her new working life, Faith looked up from the arrangement she was making to find Dylan letting himself in through the door of the secure room where they were keeping the new flower a secret from the world.

As he crossed over to her, she bit down on a smile, unwilling to let it escape. He was earlier than expected, and that made her happier than it should have. Of course, every time she saw him—no, every time she even thought about him—it made her happier than it should. And yet it also made her sadder, since this was one man she shouldn’t be thinking about, or daydreaming about, in the first place. Her reactions to him were stronger than they should have been to a boss, and somehow she had to find a way to contain that.

This week she’d been designing arrangements with the new iris for the Hawke’s Blooms promotions team to use for posters and media releases after the official launch. To give them enough lead time for their own design work, she’d agreed this would be her first priority. It hadn’t been a problem to work quickly—she was bursting with ideas. She’d even suggested they call the new flower the Ruby Iris, and everyone had liked the name. She loved that this flower would permanently have a little piece of her attached to it.

And this afternoon, a panel of the three Hawke brothers and Jenna would choose the two arrangements to send the publicity team from six Faith had made. Her stomach had been filled with butterflies all day.

“Hey, Dylan,” she said when he reached her. “I didn’t expect you for another hour, when the rest of the panel is coming.”

He dug his hands into his trouser pockets. “I had a bit of time on my hands and thought I’d stop by in case you needed any last-minute help.”

“You’ve already been a huge help.”

He’d dropped in a couple of times already this week. She’d taken advantage of that time, peppering him with questions about the launch of the Midnight Lily, looking for details that would give her clues about what they’d be looking for this time. Dylan had answered all her questions. She wondered, though, if he was also keeping an eye on her—he’d suggested her for this job, so if she messed it up, it would reflect badly on him.

He made himself busy clearing the bench where she’d been working.

“You don’t have to do that,” she said, her gaze on the white iris in her hand. “I’ve left enough time to clean up before the others arrive.”

He flashed her a smile. “But I’m here. I may as well do something to help.”

She paused, watching him clearing the bench with bold, sweeping movements, fixing things. Making things better for her. Dylan Hawke was a mystery in many ways. She’d worked for several florists and had quite a few bosses over the years, but never had she found any who were happy to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty. They usually preferred to have their underlings do the menial tasks.

She popped the flower back into the jug of water and turned so she could see him more clearly. “Why is it that you’re the only boss I’ve ever had who was willing to do this?”

His broad shoulders lifted, then dropped, as if it were no big deal. “Someone’s got to do it. Don’t see why it shouldn’t be me.”

“Because your time is more valuable.” He opened his mouth, and she could tell there was a denial on his tongue, so she held up a hand. “Seriously, your hourly rate must dwarf mine.”

“I might get paid more, but I can’t create something like that,” he said, gesturing to the design she had almost finished. But there was something else in his eyes, something he wasn’t admitting to.

She crossed her arms under her breasts. “Tell me what the rest of that story is.”

“Don’t you have work to do?” He tried to frown, but the corners of his mouth were twitching.

“Conveniently, someone just cleaned up my work area, so now I have a few extra minutes to play with. And I’d like to spend them hearing the real story behind the line you just tried to feed me.”

“A line?” His hand went to his heart. “You wound me.”

“Wow,” she said, hoisting herself up to sit on the bench. “You really don’t want to talk about this, do you?”

He arched an eyebrow, leaning on the bench only a hand span away. “You really want to know the truth?”

“Yeah, I really do.”

Something changed in his face, his demeanor. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she knew without a doubt that he was baring himself to her. Trusting her. The knowledge squeezed her heart tight.

“Truth is,” he said, his voice deep, “lately I’ve been thinking about the buzz I used to get, setting up the original stores. Working with customers and having a new challenge were what got me out of bed in the mornings.”

“Your job now must have challenges.” Being the head of the Hawke’s Blooms stores sounded as if it would be pretty much all challenge.

“Sure. But there was a joy back then that doesn’t exist now.” He ran his hands through his already rumpled hair. “I’m not sure how to explain it exactly, but in the old days, when my family was first starting the company, we never knew what each day would bring. I can glimpse that excitement again when I watch you work.”

Dylan looked into Faith’s trusting brown eyes. There was another part to the answer that he dared not say aloud—he found that excitement again not only by watching her work but also by being around her. He never knew what she’d say or do next, and it was the most refreshing thing he’d experienced in a long time.

A knock on the door drew him out of his thoughts. He looked up to see his oldest brother, Adam, poking his head around the door. He suddenly realized how close he was standing to Faith and took a step to the side.

As Adam made his way over to them, his face was blank, but after a lifetime of knowing him, Dylan could read the question in his eyes.

“Liam and Jenna aren’t here yet,” Dylan said by way of a greeting—he’d spoken to Adam a couple of times today already, so a greeting seemed superfluous.

“That’s okay,” Adam replied. “It gives me a moment to meet our star florist.”

Again, Adam’s outward facade—politeness this time—didn’t match what was going on underneath. He had sensed something and had every intention of getting to the bottom of it. Dylan squared his shoulders.

“Adam, this is Faith Crawford. Faith, this is Adam, the CEO of Hawke’s Blooms Enterprises, which is the overall company that encompasses the stores, the farm and the markets.”

Faith stuck out her hand, and Dylan didn’t think his brother noticed the slight tremble as she shook his hand. “Good to meet you, Mr. Hawke.”

“You’ll have to call me Adam, or this meeting is going to get very confused with the three Mr. Hawkes together at once.”

“Oh, of course.” Her eyes darted to Dylan. “Thank you, Adam.”

Dylan looked back at the bench and realized Faith wasn’t quite finished with the last arrangement—he’d made her lose precious minutes. He swore under his breath.

He turned to his brother. “How about we give Faith a few minutes to make the last touches before the others arrive?”

“Sure. There are a few things I wanted to discuss with you, anyway.”

As they headed for the door, Dylan threw Faith a smile over his shoulder, and she mouthed “thank you” back to him. Knowing her, even once she’d added the final couple of flowers, she’d want a few minutes on her own to get her head together without worrying about a new Hawke brother watching her.

Once the door closed behind them, Adam said, “Coffee?”

“Excellent plan.”

The staff room was empty, and Dylan headed for the coffee machine, making an espresso each for himself and Adam.

“So, what’s the deal with you and Faith?” Adam asked bluntly as he grabbed the sugar jar.

Dylan handed his brother a coffee. “Just helping an employee with potential to advance her career.”

Adam sighed, but there was a smile lurking in his eyes. “Dylan, I’ve known you your entire life. I saw you when you had your first crush, and I drove you to the movies on your first date. Don’t try to bullshit me. Your interest in that woman is more than an employer’s.”

Dylan leaned back on the counter. “It’s really that obvious?”

“Maybe not to everyone, but to me? Yes.” Adam moved closer and clapped him on the back. “What are you going to do?”

“I’ve got it under control.”

“You call this under control?” Adam rolled his eyes to heaven as if appealing for help. “What happened when you kissed her?”

Caught off guard, Dylan felt as if he’d been sucker punched. “How do you know I kissed her?”

Adam’s eyebrows shot up. “I didn’t until you just confirmed it.”

Realizing his mistake too late, Dylan groaned. “What you have to understand—”

“Oh, good. Stories that start this way are always juicy.”

Ignoring him, Dylan started again. “What you have to understand is that we didn’t meet at work. Well, not exactly.”

Adam sipped his coffee. “You ran into an employee socially?”

“Remember that bachelor auction Jenna organized for our charity? The one you managed to wriggle out of being involved with?” he asked pointedly.

Uncharacteristically, Adam’s gaze dropped to the floor. “I was, uh, busy that night.”

“Sure you were,” Dylan said, not believing it for a second. “Anyway, Faith placed the winning bid on me.”

“You were bought by one of your florists?” Adam said, horrified.

“She bought some of my time,” Dylan clarified.

Adam’s expression didn’t soften. “You’ve been out on a date with an employee?”

“No, she didn’t want dates.”

“What did she want?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.

“She asked me to meet her at the Santa Monica store and made a submission for the catalog.”

“Did you accept it?”

“Nope.”

“Her design wasn’t even good enough for the book, yet you have her here working on the most high-profile event in our history?”

“Her work is good. She deserves this spot, no question. The design she showed me that night was what she thought I wanted. When she does her own work, she’s amazing.”

“You said you wanted to rehabilitate your image. This won’t help.”

“It won’t hurt, either, because nothing is going to happen.”

“Sure. Let’s get back to you kissing an employee.”

“Yeah, I’d rather not. I’m trying to forget it.”

“How’s that working out for you?”

“Not as well as I’d like.”

“Dylan,” Adam said, shaking his head. “This is dangerous.”

“I know.”

“Do you? She seems nice, but if this goes badly for her, she can sue you. Hell, she can sue all of us because we have a policy that you’ve violated, but you’re especially vulnerable.”

“She’s not like that. She wouldn’t.”

“You haven’t known her long enough to be sure. You’re the head of the chain of stores she works for, so she’s been on her best behavior.”

“I have no doubt that I’ve seen the real her.”

“Now I’m even more worried. Is this woman really worth risking your career over? Exposing the entire company to legal action and a potential scandal?”

Liam poked his head around the door. “I thought I might find you two in here, stealing my coffee.”

Dylan raised his mug. “You should have cookies in here, too.”

Liam snorted a laugh. “Faith is ready if you are. Jenna’s already in there.”

Adam didn’t move. “Come in here a minute and close the door.”

Liam took the extra step inside the room and shut the door behind him. “What’s up?”

Adam gestured in Dylan’s direction. “Did you know about him kissing his florist?”

“Yes. Wait, no.” He turned to Dylan. “You kissed her?”

“He kissed her,” Adam confirmed, rocking back on his heels. “I’ll brief the lawyers this afternoon in case we need to take preemptive action.”

Dylan groaned. “Glad we’re not overreacting.”

Liam blew out a breath. “Look, I know things were different with me and Jenna, but I kissed her—heck, I made love to her—while she worked for me, and the world didn’t end.”

Dylan chuckled. “You sure acted as if it had ended there for a while. Remember that day we came over and—?”

Liam hit him upside the head. “I’m trying to help you, idiot.”

“Uh, thanks?” Dylan said, rubbing his head.

Adam narrowed his eyes at them both. “You were lucky with Jenna. Most women in that situation would have reacted differently. Would have taken what they could get.”

Dylan frowned at Liam. “Since when did he get so jaded about women?”

Liam shrugged a shoulder. “Many years ago. I always figured someone had broken his heart.”

Adam threw up his hands. “I’m standing right here.”

“Good point,” Liam said. “So tell us who broke your heart? Was it Liz in college?”

“Nope,” Dylan said. “He left her. I had to talk to her when she started calling the house, brokenhearted. Maybe it was—”

“Stop,” Adam said in his oldest brother voice. “We’re not discussing my dating history. We’re talking about Dylan and the here and now.”

“Actually,” Liam said, “we’re talking about which arrangements we want on the publicity materials. And two people are waiting for us.” He opened the door and indicated the hallway with a hand. “Shall we?”

Adam straightened his tie, gave a last pointed look to Dylan and headed out.

“Thanks,” Dylan said to Liam.

Liam nodded. “Just don’t mess this up and get us into legal problems.”

“I’ll be careful,” Dylan said and followed his brothers out the door, hoping like all hell he was capable of being careful around Faith Crawford.