Valentine's Day Is Killing Me Read online

  Wishing he could look into her pale blue eyes without scaring her off, Calder allowed his attention to wander. His mouth straightened into a stern line as he noticed her trim, athletic body hidden under her shapeless brown sweater and faded jeans.

  He forgot all about her clothes as she nervously hooked her long red hair behind her ears. He bunched his fingers into fists before he did the task for her and turned to Shanna’s twin. “Hi, Heather.”

  It was a wonder how the two could even be related. They might share the flame-red Murphy hair—Shanna’s long and flowing hair begged to be touched while Heather’s short, spiky hair reminded him of a porcupine—and that was where the similarities ended. They were like yin and yang. While one was romantic and yielding, the other one was brash and sharp. One cried over sappy commercials. The other was the anti-Cupid.

  Heather’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “Hey, He-Who-Shall-Not.”

  “Heather.” Shanna gave a warning glare at her sister. He felt the unspoken communication arcing over them. Some things never changed.

  Her sister paused and smiled sweetly. It was a scary sight. “Sorry, Calder. You don’t make the cut for this list.”

  What list? Oh, yeah. The G-spot-hunter list. “Why not?” He didn’t care if he sounded gruff.

  “We’re talking about a Valentine hunt for the G-spot,” Heather explained. From the corner of his eye, Calder could see Shanna bristling. “Kind of like hunting Easter eggs, but on February 14.”

  Hell, not the whole Valentine thing. Again. Anything but that. Calder felt his temper flaring. “Why does the date make the hunt different?”

  For the first time that day, Shanna met his gaze. Too bad it was to glare at him. “It just does,” she said through clenched teeth. She pivoted on her heel and marched away.

  “Oh, good answer,” Heather called out to her as she clapped her hands. “Brilliant comeback.”

  Shanna whirled around, her blue eyes flashing. “How many people go looking for eggs on days other than Easter?”

  Calder felt his eyebrow arch. “So you’re saying that Valentine sex is different from any other kind of sex?” Because he didn’t have any qualms reminding her of a few encounters they shared that made the average day special.

  “You wouldn’t by any chance have a case-by-case-analysis on this argument?” Heather asked.

  Shanna folded her arms across her chest and huffed. “I wouldn’t share it with you because I’ve wasted enough time trying to convert you nonbelievers.”

  “Yeah, you are never going to convert me,” Calder admitted with brutal honesty as he held the door open for them to enter the office building. “I don’t need a calendar telling me when to give flowers to the woman in my life.”

  “Yes, I can believe that,” Shanna said as she bestowed a brittle, closed-mouth smile. “A calendar would be useless, considering that the last time you gave flowers to someone was in the second grade. And that was a Mother’s Day assignment for school.”

  She had him there. He didn’t feel bad about it, but that was the last time he allowed his mother loose with the family scrapbooks.

  Shanna snapped her fingers and looked at the other side of the lobby. “That reminds me, I need to get some flowers.”

  Heather let out a long-suffering groan. “Come on, Shanna. Why not wait until Dominic gives you some for Valentine’s Day?”

  Dominic? Heavy stillness came over Calder. Who the hell was Dominic?

  A hectic flush crawled up Shanna’s neck and flooded her pale cheeks. “My other bouquet won’t last that long,” she explained in a mumble.

  A bouquet from Dominic? Why hadn’t he heard about this guy? How did his competition slip under his guard?

  “You guys go on ahead,” Shanna suggested as she backed away. Each guilty step ate at him. “See you after work, Heather.”

  “’Bye, Shanna.” He said it low and rough, but he knew it would get her attention.

  Shanna turned around and tripped, her tennis shoes squeaking on the floor. “Yeah, okay. ’Bye!” she said, flustered and avoiding eye contact before she darted away.

  That’s it. He’d been patient long enough. Calder watched the crowd swallow Shanna up before he turned to Heather. “What do you know about this Dominic?”

  “That depends.” Her sister hooked an arm through his. Her smile chilled his blood as she asked, “What’s it worth to you?”

  Shanna hurriedly crossed the lobby without giving a backward glance to Calder. She felt like she had just run a marathon. Breathe in…breathe out…breathe in…

  He and Heather could make fun all they wanted to, but they never had to deal with a bad Valentine’s Day. Okay, maybe Heather hated being required to make mailboxes and give cards to classmates in elementary school, but she survived.

  And as far as Shanna knew, Calder hadn’t had any traumatic V-Day experiences. No floral delivery truck accidents or chocolate tragedy in his past. No Valentine date gone awry. She would definitely have heard about it by now.

  Even if he had slapped a lawsuit on the Valentine card industry for a paper cut, she wouldn’t let his opinion change hers. She was used to people showing little appreciation about the most romantic holiday of the year. Of course, it was more difficult when the most important people in her life felt that way. But she wasn’t going to let that sway her from what she wanted.

  Shanna squared her shoulders back and threaded through the long lines at the coffee bar to get to the flower cart. She determinedly ignored the dark-roast scent that always beckoned her in the morning. A couple more days and she could indulge in her caffeine habit.

  Most of her coworkers thought she gave up her morning coffee as a New Year’s Resolution. Shanna was more than willing to let them think that when the real reason was she used her java money for a bouquet of flowers every week.

  Of all the preplanning she had done for this holiday, Shanna realized the flower preparations were a mistake. She knew well enough to bring in the crystal vase at work around the beginning of the year. Any later than that, and she might as well advertise her Valentine expectations with neon lights.

  But next time she wouldn’t buy such a big vase. Great idea in theory, but it sucked buying jumbo bouquets. And, even though they came in a wide array of unnatural colors, she was getting tired of carnations.

  Approaching the flower cart, Shanna nodded to the shop girl and bypassed the roses. The sweet, heady scent curled around and enveloped her, but she wasn’t going to look at them. Roses, in her humble opinion, should not be bought, but given. By a man.

  And it didn’t have to be a man in love, Shanna decided, as she browsed the pale tulips. Interested, yes. In like would be fine. In love was not obligatory.

  She certainly wasn’t looking for love. Shanna blinked as the colors blurred before her eyes. She found it with Calder, but what she had felt didn’t boomerang back.

  When she met Calder, she thought she had found her Prince Charming. She had been ready to dive into a whirlwind affair complete with a happily-ever-after fit for a princess bride. Instead she discovered that she had fallen in love with a guy who was more cowboy than charming, who had little use for romance, and had no plans to treat her like a princess. It was no coincidence that there was a lack of cowboys in fairy tales.

  Calder obviously thought she would “come to her senses,” but that was three months ago. She thought it had been the right choice to stand up for what she wanted. Now she wasn’t so sure.

  No. She wouldn’t second-guess herself again. Not this late in the game. Shanna blindly grabbed a bouquet of pink tulips. To hell with the cost. She was on a mission. This time she was looking for romance. She wanted to be wooed. Courted.

  Was it so wrong that she wanted to be the center of a man’s attention? She didn’t think so. She wanted a man to do something goofy and stupid over her. That wasn’t asking for much!

  And she certainly wasn’t asking for it to last forever, Shanna thought, as she paid for the flowers. She wasn’
t even asking for it to last a month. Just one day.

  One lousy day.

  Valentine’s Day, to be exact.

  Shanna turned at the sound of screeching tires next to the lobby’s back doors. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of a familiar silver sports car.

  February 14. The same day when even the most unworthy of women were treated like princesses. Women like her boss Angie.

  Shanna took a prudent step behind the cart and watched Angie’s husband—Ted, Ed, Fred, or something like that—bolt out of the car and hustle around the hood to help Angie out from the passenger side.

  Shanna didn’t get it. Ted-Ed-Fred was successful, sweet, and good-looking. How’d he wind up with a witch like Angie? Some sort of court-ordered community service?

  And Angie sure didn’t appreciate what she had, Shanna decided, her mouth twisted with disapproval. It wasn’t enough to have the lapdog. Oh, no. Not nearly enough. Angie’s secret lover, Tony, was always dropping by the office. He was extremely sexy, extremely attentive, and from the occasional grunting heard in Angie’s office during lunchtime, extremely well hung.

  So the witch had two men who made her the center of attention, and Shanna had no one. On paper, it didn’t compute. She played by the rules. She was the good girl. How come she wasn’t being rewarded?

  Angie strode in, her obscenely expensive shoes clicking against the hard floor. She carried a platinum travel coffee mug in one overly manicured hand and gave a half-wave over her shoulder to her husband with the other. “’Bye, Stan.”

  Stan. That was it. Heh. Close enough. She frowned as she noticed how Angie’s new designer pantsuit hugged her toned body. Shanna’s sigh reached to her toes. Why did the blonde have to have everything and a high metabolism? Why didn’t the gods just make Angie a Charlie’s Angel while they were at it?

  “Shanna?” Angie’s attention swiveled at the sound of the heavy sigh. “Why aren’t you in the office yet?”

  Why aren’t you? Shanna bit her tongue before she said it aloud. “I’m early.” Like stating the obvious was going to make a difference.

  “There’s no time to waste.” She gestured for Shanna to hurry up, which she grudgingly obeyed. “We have to reach our project objective on Friday…”

  Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Shanna stepped into the elevator with Angie, wishing she worked on the first level.

  “…So these are your assignments for the week…”

  Like this couldn’t wait for the department’s morning meeting? Of course not. Angie had a captive audience, and everyone in the elevator was going to hear her wield her dubious authority.

  All Shanna could do was nod and tune out. She stared at her bouquet as if her life depended on it. Her professional life, at any rate.

  “I don’t know why you spend money on bouquets,” Angie veered off onto another topic. “Flowers are so boring. All they do is shrivel up and die.”

  Shanna wished there was a bumblebee in the bouquet. A big, fat one. It would then zip out and sting Angie on the mouth. That would shut her up. For maybe all of one minute.

  “Of course, Stan’s going to be out of town this week…”

  “Oh?” Shanna perked up at this tidbit of information. “You’re spending Valentine’s apart?”

  “No way!” Angie looked appalled at the very idea. “Stan wouldn’t do that to me. He’s going to take a cross-country flight back home so we’ll be able to spend Valentine’s night together.”

  It was a struggle to keep a blank expression, but Shanna managed. Barely. “That’s so…sweet.”

  Okay. It was official. Valentine’s Day was wasted on the wrong people. Or maybe V-Day was designed for the wrong people.

  Hmm…Shanna returned her gaze to the bouquet. She might have something there. Maybe Valentine’s was based on a Darwinian principle.

  There were those who would always have spectacular V-Days. They would never spend February 14 alone.

  Angie was definitely one of them. It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t even logical, but it was the way the world turned.

  Then there were those designed to endure. They were the ones whose Valentine’s Days were less than spectacular. They would get potted plants instead of roses. Jewelry that turned skin green. Sugar-free chocolates.

  And then there were those designed to envy. No gifts. No celebrations. No nothing. Shanna was stuck in that group. Figured.

  Not this year, though. Shanna’s jaw tightened. And if she had something to say about it, never again.

  Because if it was about survival of the fittest, Shanna was going to win. She was going to have spectacular V-Days from this moment on. No matter what. Even if it meant sacrificing, adapting, eating her young….

  She grimaced. Okay, maybe not that far. But Darwin had nothing on her. She wasn’t going to let anything get in her way. If anyone tried, Shanna thought as she glanced in Angie’s direction, they were going down.

  It was revolution time.

  Chapter Two

  T minus 63 hours

  “Have you seen the paper?” Heather asked as she pulled her backpack off the bus seat she had been saving.

  Shanna sat down and brushed the rain from her coat. “Heather, you know if it’s important, then I’ll see it on the Web.”

  “You might find this important.” She tossed the local newspaper at her.

  Shanna grabbed it and reluctantly scanned the front page. She had other things to do on their commute. Reading the news was the last thing on her mind. “If you’re upset about some comic strip character dying—whoa!” She felt like someone kicked her in the stomach. It hurt so much, she wanted to gag. In fact, she did.

  “Told ya,” Heather said softly.

  She stared at the headlines until her eyes burned. She squeezed her eyes shut and forced them open. No good. The words remained in the same order. SWISH CLOSED DOWN BY AUTHORITIES.

  Shanna slapped the newspaper on her lap and stared straight ahead. I’m not going to cry, she decided, as she pressed her trembling lips together. I will not cry.

  She flopped back, her head hitting the hard plastic. “I can’t believe this is happening,” Shanna said in a daze. Her eyelashes fluttered as she tried to stop the first tear from falling.

  “Yep.” Heather took the paper back and clucked her tongue. “Who knew ‘most romantic restaurant’ was synonymous with ‘a breeding ground for Hepatitis A’?”

  Shanna leaned forward and thunked her head against the chair in front of her. Again. And again.

  The skinny guy who always sat there turned around and scowled. “Do you mind?”

  She drew back and slouched in her seat, waiting until the man turned around before sticking her tongue out at him. Couldn’t anyone show some compassion? Just a speck? She was having a crisis here!

  “Why? Why?” She tossed her hands up in the air and looked skyward. “Why this week? Couldn’t the authorities have closed it next week? Saturday, even?”

  “So unsuspecting customers like yourself could contract a liver disease?” her sister said as she turned the page of her newspaper.

  “Come on, how dangerous is Hepatitis A?”

  Heather flipped back the page and leveled her with a look. “Wouldn’t you rather have good health over a good Valentine’s Day?”

  Shanna pursed her lips as she considered the question. Healthy liver or a happy Valentine’s Day…healthy liver, happy Valentine’s Day…

  “Shanna?” Heather sounded just like their mother when she did that.

  “What does a liver do again? Ow!” She flinched as Heather elbowed her in the ribs. “Yeah, yeah,” Shanna agreed as she rubbed the sore spot. “I want the healthy liver. I guess.”

  “I can’t believe the way you’re acting.” Heather returned her attention to the newspaper.

  “I can’t believe this is happening.” She combed her fingers through her hair. “What am I saying? Of course it’s happening. Because this is my life we’re talking about.”

  “Calm down. It’s going
to be fine.”

  “How can you say that?” She already felt the panic clawing its way up her throat. There was no way she could bounce back from this setback. Screw revolution.

  Her sister shrugged. “You can go to another restaurant.”

  Shanna scoffed at the idea. If only it were that simple. “Right. Don’t you think that all of the romantic restaurants are booked up at this time?”

  “You don’t know that for sure unless you call other places.”

  “I don’t want another restaurant. I want Swish.” She folded her arms and pouted. She planned on it, waited for almost a year, and now it was snatched from her days before she could enjoy it. Her luck blew.

  Heather put down the paper. “Don’t you think you’re asking for too much out of this day?”

  Shanna flinched at the absurd idea. “Too much?” she said in a low, fierce tone. “Hardly. Too much would be expecting a Valentine’s Day wedding with Calder Smith.”

  Her sister’s eyebrows shot up. “I should say so, since you barely speak to him.”

  Damn, she wished she hadn’t said those words out loud. It hurt more having her dream out in the open. And, if the rules were right, it would never come true.

  “Forget I said that,” Shanna said from the corner of her mouth.

  “Done.” Heather looked out the window as if she hadn’t heard a thing. “Forgotten. Purged from my memory.”

  Now if only she could purge it from hers. Shanna’s shoulders sagged. “This was supposed to be a Valentine’s that couldn’t go wrong.”

  “Just because you went for the downgrade version?” Her sister shook her head. “Think again.”

  If she reached for the moon, she’d crash and burn. Asking for the minimum was already showing cracks in her plans. It was time to regroup and go straight into crisis management.

  “Stop worrying.” Heather lightly tapped her on the shoulder with the paper. “You’ll come up with something. Better yet, have Dominic take care of it.”