Moonlight Kisses

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He felt a nudge at his side, and Loretta handed him a pair of binoculars she’d somehow located in the minutes since everyone had gathered at the window. Her efficiency still amazed him. No wonder his mother, Victor and now Cole gave her insolence a pass.

Peering through the binoculars, Cole zeroed in on the billboard. Magnification only made the damn thing worse.

“Looks like you poked the wrong bear.” Loretta’s gravelly words went into his right ear.

“Stiletto’s owner is not just good-looking, she’s ballsy, too.” Victor snorted in his left ear as Cole stood between them, binoculars still trained on the offensive sign in the distance.

Bring it!

Sage’s taunt and his own rising anger drowned out the voices of his secretary and stepfather. Anger mingled with the respect Cole grudgingly had to give her. This was something he would have done, if his attraction to her hadn’t thrown him for a loop.

He continued to stare at the heavily made-up man on the billboard, silently ridiculing Espresso. The insult was just the kick in the behind he needed to make his next move.

“This meeting is adjourned,” Cole said firmly as he turned away from the window.

His department heads started to file out of the room, still buzzing about the billboard. Cole glanced at Loretta, who was looking at Stiletto’s website on her tablet computer. News of the Valentine’s Day event dominated the page.

He smiled to himself and called out to two of the retreating department heads. “Tate, Barnes, I’ll meet you both in my office in five minutes,” he said. “You too, Vic.”

“What are you up to?” Loretta asked.

“I’ll fill you in when we get to my office,” Cole said.

It was time he showed the bear the consequences of taunting a tiger.

Chapter 6 (#ulink_cdbae877-7f23-5634-bc12-60732a2e1939)

Sage slowed her run to a walk as the small, modest house came into view.

She had repaired the sagging porch, patched the roof and painted the faded exterior paint, and there was still more renovation to be done. But the wreath made of painted pinecones and blue grosgrain ribbons hanging on the front door gave her home a certain charm.

The sight of the tiny house never failed to make her smile. Only fifteen years of mortgage payments remained before it was all hers. Once she paid it off, she’d never have to worry about being displaced or shuffled between homes again.

Sage swiped at the sweat dripping down her face as she walked up and down the length of her driveway to cool down. The early-morning three-mile run was the price she paid for her junk food habit.

She yanked the iPod earbuds from her ears, and the sound of her sneakers crunching against the driveway’s crumbling asphalt replaced the thumping beat of her workout playlist. Repaving the drive was another one of the items on the endless to-do list she’d amassed since becoming a homeowner last year.

She’d get to them all eventually. Right now her focus was on getting the house’s interior up to par and building up the one thing she owned outright—her company.

Sage grinned. The thought of Stiletto brought to mind the new electronic billboard ad that had starting running yesterday. No doubt Cole Sinclair had seen it by now. Her grin morphed into a snicker as she imagined his reaction.

Damn, she wished she could have been the proverbial fly on the wall.

She stopped midstep as a second thought occurred to her. She’d better be on the lookout. The man would be out to get even. Sage was sure of it. In his shoes, she’d certainly be eager for some payback.

“Boo!”

Startled, Sage nearly jumped out of her sneakers.

A giggle sounded from the hedge she’d planted to replace the dilapidated picket fence separating her and her neighbor’s properties.

Sage sighed and shook her head. So much for being on her guard. “I heard you laughing, so you might as well show yourself,” she called out.

The bushes rustled, and a kid dressed in a fleece robe that covered superhero pajamas emerged. “Did I scare you?”

“Of course not,” Sage said. “You hide in the bushes and shout boo at me every morning. No shock factor.”

The kindergartener’s hopeful face drooped, but a moment later his eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Then why’d you jump?”

“I didn’t jump,” Sage fibbed. If the little monster knew he’d actually gotten her this time, there would be no stopping him.

“Yes, you did. I saw you.” He flashed her a triumphant snaggletoothed grin. “Got any Skittles?”

Sage reached for the zipper on the pocket of her jacket to pull out the packet of candy she put there every morning before she set out on her run.

“Kenny!” A voice bellowed over the hedge. “Kenny Hinton if you sneaked away from the breakfast table to pester our neighbor again, you’re going to be in big trouble, Mister. Big trouble.”

The front door of the house next door slammed.

“Uh-oh.” The boy looked over his shoulder and then back at Sage.

Yanking the candy from her pocket, she tossed it to him. Kenny caught it and quickly hid it behind his back.

“I’m not bothering her, promise,” the boy said moments later.