“What is it?” Shane asked, watching her. The lip-nibbling thing was extremely sexy. His body responded.
A frown edged Keara’s brows. “I think this is the…uh…stuff she was looking for the other day. She said it hadn’t arrived.” She scanned the paper and her brows rose. “February. This was shipped in February. This is the shipment.” She lifted her eyes from the page to meet his. “I don’t get it.”
“Get what?” His own gut tightened a little.
“Maeve was all upset because this shipment was missing. She’s been calling the supplier and they said it was shipped. So she got me to call the delivery company and they insisted she signed for it. They’re sending me copies of the delivery slip, but…” She blinked. “This is it. It must have been sitting here for the last month.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh.” She licked her lips then made a face. “I uh…well, she’ll be happy that we found it.”
Shane cursed inside. This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened, only one more reason why he checked in on Maeve from time to time. He drew in a breath. “I’m sure she will.”
Keara tipped her head and looked at him through narrowed eyes. “You don’t seem surprised by this.”
He paused while he debated what to say to Keara.
But Maeve reappeared in the door. “Oh. You haven’t moved them yet.” She divided a look between the two of them and smiled. “Am I interrupting something?”
“No.” Shane smiled back at her. “But Maeve, let’s look in these boxes before we move them up on that shelf.”
He cut the box open and Keara helped Maeve open it and pull items out. When Maeve saw what was in it, her face drew into confused lines. Keara held out the packing slip. “Is this the missing order?” she asked quietly.
Maeve took it and glanced it over. “Yes. Yes it is.” She frowned. “But…when did this arrive? I’ve been waiting for this for over a month.”
Shane met Keara’s eyes and he read the concern there. “Well, good thing I didn’t put it away,” he said easily, stepping forward. “I’ll take these out front and you can unpack them.”
“Thank you, Shane.”
He hated the look of uncertain confusion on Maeve’s face as he hefted the box and strode out with it. Damn, he hated it. He was going to have to talk to Keara.
Keara trailed along behind Shane, the muscles in his arms bulging beneath the short sleeves of his navy T-shirt as he carried the heavy box out to the store. Despite her confusion and concern, her gaze drifted down his muscled back to his tight butt in faded jeans.
She tucked her top lip under her teeth, and forced her eyes not to stare at his buff body. Maeve. She was worried about Maeve.
He lowered the box to the floor, glanced at her then went back for the other one. “Let me help,” Keara murmured to Maeve. “I think I know where these things go now.”
She unpacked the cock rings and erection aids and Maeve went to look after another customer. Shane returned with the second box and without saying a word, opened it and started helping.
She flicked a glance at him. “You don’t need to help,” she said.
He scowled. “I’m helping. And when we’re done you and I are going across the street to the Shamrock for coffee.”
She blinked at him, hands pausing in the box. “We are?”
“We are.” His straight mouth and lowered brows disinclined her to argue with him, so she said nothing and they worked together to place the stock on the shelves.
“Over here,” she indicated at one point, and he moved the items to the other end of the shelf. When they were done, he closed the boxes up with fast, sure movements. She watched his hands, long fingers dusted with dark hair, strong wrists and sinewy forearms. Sexy.
“I’ll take these out back for recycling,” he said. “Wait here.”
Keara’s tummy flipped and she moved beside Maeve at the counter. “Um…Shane and I are going out for coffee. Is that okay?”
Maeve’s head whipped around and she gaped at Keara. Then, with a glance at the customer across the counter from her, she smiled brilliantly. “Of course it’s okay! You two go on, I’m fine here.”
Keara smiled, but groaned inwardly. What was Maeve thinking in that foxy head of hers?
Shane returned and unsmilingly jerked his head toward the door.
“I’m coming,” she muttered. If Maeve thought they were becoming friends again, she was so wrong.
The Shamrock Cafe was across the street from the Irish Sex Fairy Shop. They paused at the curb to let a few cars pass, then dashed across the four lanes in a break in the traffic.
“You just jaywalked,” Keara pointed out. “An officer of the law just committed a crime.”
He slanted her a grin, blue eyes sparkling. “Arrest me.”
She tried to repress her own smile unsuccessfully. He held the door to the restaurant open for her and she preceded him in.
They sat at a small table in the window, the bright sun stippling the black tabletop with light and shadow through the Irish lace curtains.
“Just coffee,” Shane said to the waitress and Keara nodded her agreement.
Shane was staring at her, studying her.
“Why are we here?” she asked, shifting in her chair.
“To talk about your aunt.”
She nodded. “I’m concerned about her.”
“So am I.”
She did not want to hear that. “This isn’t the first thing she’s forgotten.” She told him about the other incidents. The waitress appeared and set their cups of coffee in front of them. They both drank it black.
“I’ve noticed it, too,” he said quietly. “It seems to be happening more and more often.”
“Everyone has lapses.”
“True. Hell, just yesterday I went all the way from my office to the supply room, and couldn’t remember why. For a few minutes. The other day I couldn’t find my insurance renewal form. I’d set it aside to pay at the end of the week, but couldn’t for the life of me remember where. It happens to everyone.” Then he scowled. “You know, you’re the only family she has.”
“She has family in Ireland.”
He snorted. “That’s not much help to her. But then…neither are you.”
“What do you mean?” She stared at him across the table, hurt slicing through her. Her cheeks grew hot.
“Just what I said. You may live closer than Ireland, but you never visit her. You haven’t been here in years. She talks about you all the time, you know…how proud she is of you, and how you were promoted to manager, how beautiful you are, and the ‘sex in the city’ life you lead in Los Angeles.”
Keara choked on her sip of coffee. “Sex in the city?”
“That’s what she calls it. I gather you do nothing but shop and party with your friends and have sex with men named Mr. Big.”
Despite the seriousness of their conversation, she laughed. “Mr. Big? I wish!”
Then her smile faded. “I guess my life is kind of like that, but…” She shook her head. “It’s not a TV show. I work hard. I love my career. And my friends are important to me, but we do more than just shop and party.”
“Really.” His skepticism heated her cheeks even more. “What else do you do?”
“Well I…go to yoga class.” That didn’t sound much better. “The bank supports a number of charities and I’ve been involved with Wishes for Kids.”
“Through your work.”
“Yes. But…”
“Never mind.” He slashed a hand through the hair. “We didn’t come here to talk about your wonderful life. We need to…”
“Just a minute!” She leaned forward. “Just a goddamn minute! Who are you to sneer at my life? Even if all I do is shop and party and have sex…what business is it of yours, and who are you to judge me? The man who goes through a box of condoms a week!”