“No.”
Hope tightened her throat. “Are you sure? Because, Cannon, I owe you—”
“You don’t.” He cupped her face, his brows drawn in earnestness. “Don’t talk like that.”
But she knew the truth whether he’d accept it or not. “I’ll sell in a heartbeat if that’s what you want. We can call Whitaker’s office and—”
“What do you want?”
Such a loaded question. She could tell him that she wanted to be whole again, that she wanted to feel, to experience that special, hot culmination of sexual involvement.
That she wanted to be a woman again.
But that would be laying too much on him. And, as other men had done, he’d take it as a challenge to “fix” her. She couldn’t bear to go down that road again.
Not with Cannon.
His thumbs brushed along her jaw. “Tell me the truth, Yvette.”
She loved it when he touched her like this, when she felt his strength mixed with gentleness. It was a hot, macho, potent combination, and no one ever had possessed the same ability to make her feel so many things.
Wrapping her hands over his wrists, she looked up at him. “I want to give you everything you’re supposed to have.”
His gaze dropped to her mouth. “What if I’m supposed to have you?”
Her breath caught. “Cannon,” she chided.
Pleasure showed in his blue eyes. “Yvette.”
She cleared her throat, determined to do the right thing. “My grandfather wanted me to repay you.”
“Your grandfather wanted you to be happy,” he said when she prepared to argue. “You know it as well as I do, so don’t go there. Instead be honest with me. Tell me what would make you happy.”
She couldn’t, not about everything.
“Yvette.” He used his thumbs to turn up her face. “If every option was open to you, what would you most want to do? Right here, right now.” He kept her caught in his gaze. “Tell me the truth.”
Possibilities teased her and she smiled uncertainly. “I...I’d want to reopen the shop.”
His smile eased into place, too. “Yeah? Would it still be a pawnshop?”
“Or an upscale resale shop.” Enthusiasm expanded. “Grandpa taught me a lot, and I used what I learned for my online business, but also to buy things I knew I could sell for a profit. I have a lot of stock, stuff that I could set up in here. And it’s the right time of year for me to buy more from yard sales.”
Cannon pressed a firm, quick kiss to her mouth. “I like it.”
Carried away with the idea, and that tantalizing kiss, she breathed faster. “In no time I could have this place looking as good as it used to. I could maybe even get Vanity to come out for a visit to help get everything set up.”
“Count on me to pitch in. And some of the other guys, too.”
Whoa. Grinning like an excited kid on Christmas morning, she shook her head. “I can’t impose on them. Or you.” She spun away, seeing everything with new eyes. The reality of what had happened here remained, but the promise of what she could do nudged the ugly memories into the corner of her mind. “I’ll enjoy digging in and rearranging things.”
“You know Tipton put stuff in storage, too. You might already have a lot.”
“That’s right!” She went back to the glass case, thinking of how it’d look after she gave it a good washing. The floor looked a little rough, but scrubbing, waxing and adding some colorful rugs might fix that.
“Do you know everything that’ll have to be done?”
“Things might be a little different here than they were in California, but I should be able to get everything squared away within a month or two.”
“So we’re keeping the shop.”
We. That one word seemed to carry so much meaning. Yvette tried to calm the sudden stampeding of her heart. Keeping her back to Cannon, she said with forced lightness, “I promise to buy you out as soon as I can.”
“Or we could stay partners.”
How had he gotten so close without making a sound? She turned and he was right there, toe to toe with her.
“Not that I’d tell you how to do things. But I wouldn’t mind taking part when I can.”
“That’s what you want?” She could handle it, maybe run the place but give him a percentage of profits—
“I thought you’d have it figured out by now.” His mouth settled on hers again, longer this time, deeper and hotter until clear thought became impossible.
Reluctantly he ended the kiss, but kept her face turned up to his. “I like the shop, and the house is nice. But most of all I want you.” As if that was no big deal, he smiled. “I’m going to keep telling you until you believe it.”
And until she wanted him back?
Yvette shook her head. They both knew that had happened more than three long years ago.
CHAPTER EIGHT
TOMORROW, CANNON DECIDED, he would call Mindi to tell her they were keeping the pawnshop. Tonight he wanted to make sure things were settled with Yvette.
After he’d declared himself again at the pawnshop she’d gone so quiet that it worried him even though he tried not to let it.
He’d told her several times now, always with the same result. She did want him. He was sure of it. Eventually he’d win her over.
After picking up dinner, they’d ridden home in relative silence. Yvette used her phone to look up necessary numbers and locations to get things rolling on the shop. She made two calls and added notes to the calendar on her phone.