Free CRAVE - BAD BOY ROMANCE by Elodie Chase Page B

could,
pushing warmth into my voice. “I was just going to say that I don't think this
is the place to talk about that sort of thing.”
    She wiped her eyes, and it was only
then that the tears truly started to fall. Her makeup was up to the task, but
even so I didn't want her to have to go through the rest of her shift looking
like some battered wife. “Yes, of course,” she said. “You've got her funeral
today. It was so selfish of me to ask, but I thought I'd never have another
chance. I had to take it, you know?”
    I nodded. “Listen, let me get your
dress back on the rack and take care of the things that need to be done this
afternoon. Maybe tomorrow we can meet up somewhere and talk, okay?”
    “Okay,” she said, and the relief in
her voice was palpable. “Thank you so much. I'll come by the house after lunch?”
    I blinked. “Huh?”
    “Sorry, I just thought... Well, that
was how your Grandma did it. I just assumed that you'd be the same. It doesn't
matter. We can do whatever you want. If you've got a different way of meeting
clients, I'm happy to-”
    “Hang on a sec,” I said, raising one
hand to cut her off. She was gushing, overjoyed that I'd said I'd talk with
her. Her brain was going a million miles a minute and mine was more than a
little stunned. “My Grandma really used to run her business out of her house?”
Cade had sort of mentioned that, but I thought he’d been joking.
    The saleswoman nodded. “Well, she
just used the front room, but yes.”
    Hmm. That explained all the junk in
there. She wasn't just collecting Voodoo odds and ends; she was displaying her
wares for her visiting clients. I shrugged. It made sense, and I didn't see any
reason to change things. “No, that'll be fine. After lunch tomorrow. I'm
Rachel, by the way.”
    “Jessica,” she said, smiling
brightly. “And I won't hear any argument when I tell you that you're going to
be wearing that dress out of here. This is my shop, and the clothes are mine to
do with as I please. I'd be honored to know that you were able to go to her
funeral in something I helped you have.”
    I shook my head. I might be poor, but
I wasn't about to accept a handout, especially not one that cost as much as
this one did. “I'm touched, truly, but no thank you.”
    “Please,” she said. “Just wear it and
return it later, if you're too proud to take a gift from me. It isn't just for
you, you know. If your Grandmother sees you at the funeral in that thing you
walked in here wearing, she'd haunt my dreams for the next six years...” her
voice trailed off when she realized the insult she'd just paid my fashion
sense, and smiled weakly.
    “Fine,” I said with a sigh. “I'll
wear it to the funeral and return it to you when we meet up tomorrow. Thank
you.”
    “No,” Jessica said. “Thank you .”
    She stepped out of the way and I
grabbed my poorly spoken of sun dress and made my way out of the change room,
only to discover the reason there wasn't anyone else in the store. Cade was standing
guard at the door, looking like he'd kill whoever drummed up the nerve to reach
for the handle and try to enter the shop.
    “Everything okay?” he asked when I
approached.
    “Fine,” I muttered, certain that the
only way Jessica had any inkling of who I was would have been because he'd have
told her.
    “Nice dress,” he said, the twist of a
smile tugging at one side of his lips.
    “It is, though I feel bad about
taking it. Now let’s go say goodbye to my Grandmother before she strikes me
down for profiting from her death, shall we?”

 
    CHAPTER
TWELVE

 
 

The
funeral itself was a confusing blur of movement and noise. There was music.
There were crosses. Women sang and everyone danced in the pews and it was like
a crazy, Catholic-laced and Voodoo-fueled dream. What surprised me the most was
how many people were there. Hundreds. Hundreds and hundreds, and each of them
eager to find me in the crowd that followed the ceremony. They shook my