Belle and Valentine by Tressie Lockwood Page A

alone on the road, cold and crying at about two years old. No one was surprised her dad wanted to raise him as his own, but everyone was surprised the county allowed him to. Ever since then, Zuria had seen Sam as her little brother, two years younger, even if he did act like the older sibling.
    “Sam!” A smile broke out on her face, and she ran across the sidewalk to jump into his arms. He held her tight and kissed her cheek then put her from him to look at her. His blue eyes twinkled, and she thought she saw a twitch at his lips, but he hardly smiled.
    “It’s good to see you, sis,” he said.
    “Good to see you too. I see nothing’s changed.” She tried not to cut her eyes at Dixie Ann, but Sam knew what she meant, and he shrugged.
    He stepped past her to grab her bags, and she moved into the coffee shop. Right away, the scent of cinnamon and nutmeg assaulted her nose, along with the familiar aroma of coffee. Behind the wide wooden counter to the right, a blender churned, and the shoosh from a canister of whipped cream stirred her appetite. Memories of buttery croissants made her bite her bottom lip.
    “Oh goodness,” she moaned. “I feel myself gaining weight stepping in here.”
    “Looks like you already put on a little, girl,” Dixie commented. Zuria ground her teeth, two seconds from telling the hairspray queen about herself.
    “She looks good to me,” came a deep, rumbling voice, and all thoughts of coffee, croissants, and Dixie left Zuria’s mind.
    Zuria turned to find Fane had stepped around the counter. Black jeans clung to narrow hips, a black T-Shirt defined a powerful chest, and the man had the nerve to be just removing dark sunglasses that had hidden mocking green eyes she knew all too well. His gaze slid from her face to her breasts and lingered a beat before sliding over her hips and thighs. Her stupid heart raced, and she found herself short of breath.
    “Hello, Zuria,” he intoned. Heat scorched her mind and her body.
    She reminded herself that she hated Fane for his irresponsibility. Not to mention the time she walked in on him and Dixie getting it on in the back of the coffee shop. Dixie was now in her brother’s face as a means toward trying to get Fane’s attention again.
    “Don’t ‘hello, Zuria’ me. You almost ran my taxi off the road, and you didn’t even stop!”
    “That was you?” Dark brows rose, but he didn’t appear regretful.
    Sam walked in with her bags and dropped them. “Are you okay, Zuria? Was there an accident?”
    “She’s fine, bro,” Fane assured him. “As I said, she looks great to me.”
    Zuria rolled her eyes at him and forgot all she had intended to say. She snatched both bags before Sam could get them again and stomped toward the stairs leading to the second floor where Sam lived. Both men called out after her, but she ignored them and continued on. When she got to the top of the stairs, she paused realizing she couldn’t get the door open with her hands full.
    An arm reached past her and turned the knob. She muttered “thanks” and marched into the tiny but neat apartment Sam had lived in from the day he opened the shop. Fane lived in a house on the edge of town he had inherited from his grandfather, but there was no longer a home for her to return to. The place had fallen into disrepair and been sold. At the time, she had lived in the city, so she hadn’t cared. Now she regretted it. How stupid to have thought the life she shared with Richard would last forever.
    Thoughts of her husband stirred angry emotions, and she stopped in the middle of the living room, dropped her bags, and just stood there. She balled her hands into fists at her sides as the feelings overtook her.
    Large, strong hands dropped on her shoulders, and warm breath tickled the hairs at her nape. “What’s wrong?”
    She stiffened. When he opened the door, she had been distracted, not even considering that it wasn’t her brother behind her but Fane. She whirled to face