Make Me an Offer

  Make Me An Offer

  C. Morgan

  Contents

  Description

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Epilogue

  Want More?

  Come Swoon With Us

  About the Author

  Description

  Her little boy wanted a toy from my shop she couldn’t afford.

  So I made her an offer.

  She could take care of the expense by working it off at my toy store.

  I never offered anything inappropriate, but thanks to the heat between us, I didn’t have to.

  Love wasn’t on my list of things to do. I don’t have time for anything but my bustling shop.

  Fate didn’t ask me though, and attraction turns into some much, much richer.

  This woman is mine from the moment she walks in.

  Deal or no deal, I’m playing for keeps.

  Chapter 1

  Tyler

  “Market After Dark is coming up,” I said.

  “Are you participating in the celebration?” Colton asked.

  “I mean, I’m kind of being forced to. The boundary lines of the party have been expanded. My store is encompassed now.”

  “Well, why don’t you take advantage of that, then? Most stores have to pay to be part of this damn thing. I know I had to with my restaurant in the beginning.”

  “I have a toy store, Colton. No one’s going to want to buy their kids toys when their children should be in bed for bedtime.”

  He shrugged. “You never know. Some parents might get out in order to do some early Christmas shopping. You might be able to cash in on some deals with all those high-end toys in your store.”

  “Are you setting up a booth then, too? For those samples you do every year?”

  “I am, I am. Putting it a block up, though. I hand people samples, then point them right into my restaurant. It’s a win-win strategy for everyone, in my eyes. You might want to consider setting up a booth on the other side of the block. You know, have some toy advertisements and coupons set out. Might steer more people into your store. Do you do layaway?”

  I chuckled. “You trying to run my business for me?”

  “Just trying to brainstorm. You know we always do that.”

  My eyes gazed around my store while Colton and I chatted on his lunch break. He talked my ear off about his booth proposals for the event. The kinds of samples he might cook up himself to put out. How he’d keep them cold. Or hot. Or whatever temperature they needed to be. But my attention quickly fell elsewhere.

  A lovely blond woman came walking into my shop with her son.

  I tried not to stare at her as she walked around. I couldn’t help myself, though. The woman was a fucking knockout. Deep blue eyes. Bright blond hair. Sloping curves covered in clothing that boasted of the woman’s confidence. There was nothing sexier than a woman with thick thighs and a smile on her face.

  Both of which, she had.

  “Another target acquired, huh?” Colton slapped me on the back and pulled me out of my trance.

  “Huh, what?” I asked.

  He chuckled. “Oh, shit. She must be hot as hell.”

  “Tone down the language in my shop. Kids are running around.”

  “Sorry. Sorry. I’m not gonna lie, though. I’m shocked you’ve found a single mother in this town you haven’t already slept with.”

  I grinned. “Asshole.”

  “What was that again? I could have sworn you used a dirty word.”

  I laughed. “No luck with the ladies this week, I take it?”

  “I should’ve gone into the toy business, is all I’m saying.”

  “You’re not a single mom kinda guy, though. You always tell me that.”

  “At this point? With my dry spell? I’ll be an ‘any woman’ kind of guy.”

  I smiled. “Colt, it’s got nothing to do with my store and everything to do with my swagger. You know this.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Anyway, my lunch break’s over. And I don’t want to pull you away from all the hard work it takes to hit on the ladies in your store. Let’s grab a beer later though, yeah?”

  “You let me know the time. I’ll let you know the place.”

  Colton made his way out of my store, and I went in search of that woman. That beautiful blond with curves for days and eyes I wanted to witness myself. I found her walking with her son in one of the back aisles. She pointed at toys as he fervently shook his head.

  She was stunning and all smiles, even as her son turned down every suggestion she had for a toy to buy him.

  “What about this one?”

  “Or this one?”

  “This one’s got some good colors on it.”

  “You could take this one outside.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want this one?”

  The more questions she asked, the stronger the boy’s scowl became. I knew that look. I’d been in the toy business long enough to know that damn look. He was searching for a particular toy. One his mother hadn’t sought out yet.

  I took the opportunity to step in.

  “Can I help you two with anything?” I asked.

  Her smile slid across her face and those eyes met mine. Deep blue. Like a starstruck dawn. And those lips of hers? Oh, they made me shiver. They made me wonder how they’d feel against my own.

  “My son is looking for a toy car, apparently,” she said.

  “The Mega-Wheels DinoTracker 2000,” the boy beside her said.

  I grinned. “I know exactly what you’re looking for. It’s been our biggest seller this year. I can’t keep it in stock long enough before they’re flying off the shelves.”

  “Please tell me you have it. We’ve already been to three other toy stores.”

  The exasperation in her voice whipped my gaze back to hers. The begging in her eyes seized my heart. I moved a little closer to her. Thank fuck, a customer passed behind me. Otherwise, I wasn’t sure how I’d write off the movement.

  A wave of protectiveness washed over me. The tired bags underneath her eyes suddenly came into focus. I smelled her perfume, and it held me captive. The heat of her curves caressed my skin, making me want to bury myself in her body for hours on end.

  All night. All morning. All weekend long.

  I nodded at her. “Don’t worry, all right? I’m sure I’ve got one around here somewhere.”

  “You’re a saint,” she said breathlessly. “Thank you so much.”

  I felt myself caught off guard by the rush of feelings. A want to protect her. A want to relieve her of her stress. A need to give her what she wanted. To make both her and her son happy. I tried stopping it. I tried fighting it.

  But the more I fought, the harder the feelings rushed. Like a cascading waterfall attempting to drown me.

  “Follow me,” I said, smiling.

  I moved away from them and heard them fall in line behind me. Her son chattered excitedly about the toy, and I heard her sighs of content. Relief. Elation. I was giving that to her. I provided that relief. And I found myself wanting to do it more.

  I found myself wanting those sighs against my ears.

  I led them back to the front of the store before heading for the display window. Back in the corner, near the stuffed animals, was the motorized truck. It wasn’t just any
truck, though. It was a truck large enough for a child to get in and drive.

  It had a fashioned cage on the back with three robotic dinosaurs inside. When the child pressed a release button, the cage opened and the dinos went shooting off, ready to be caught and put back in their cage again as the child drove around.

  “There it is! Mommy, look!”

  I caught the woman’s face when her eyes fell to the price tag.

  “Sweetheart, you told me you wanted a car,” she said. “Not a massive truck.”

  “This is it! Mommy, please oh please, can I get it? Please? I’ve been really good. You know I have. I’ve listened and cleaned up my room and everything. Please?!”

  Five hundred dollars was steep for some people to pay for a toy. The woman looked utterly defeated. She tried her best to keep a smile on for her son. I saw her distress, though. She fingered the price tag. She kept sighing to herself. Those sighs of relief had turned to sighs of stress. Of disappointment. Of sadness.

  And that simply wouldn’t do.

  Chapter 2

  Melody

  I stared at the toy and felt like an idiot. It was my son’s fourth birthday, and he’d been telling me about this truck for weeks. Weeks! He’d done everything I asked him to do. He’d even donated some of his old toys to a charity shelter downtown in an effort to make room in our apartment for his new toy.

  I’d saved up fifty dollars to really treat him to something nice. Something special for this milestone birthday. But I should have done my research.

  “This is awesome,” Austin exclaimed. “Thank you so much, Mommy. I knew we’d find it!”

  My heart broke with every word that came out of his mouth.

  I didn’t have one hundred dollars to spend on a toy, much less five times that. Five hundred bucks for a children’s toy? Did people in Cedar Rapids really have that kind of money? I sighed as I tried to figure a way out of this. A way to happily disappoint my son on his birthday.

  I was a part-time waitress. The city only afforded me twenty hours of comped childcare a week. And even if I worked full time, I couldn’t afford the other twenty hours of childcare necessary to work that full-time schedule. The money I brought in barely covered rent. And that was after my landlord gave me a steep discount because he felt sorry for me.

  Some days, I really wanted to lay into Austin’s father.

  “Mom? You okay?”

  My son’s voice ripped me from my trance. “Yes. Of course, I’m okay, honey.”

  “Can we get my toy now?”

  I can’t break his heart. “Let me talk to this kind man for a second, okay? Then, we’ll figure out how to get that massive thing in the car.”

  “Yeah! Thank you so much, Mommy!”

  Austin hugged my legs tightly as my eyes turned toward the man beside us. He had a handsome face, with very kind eyes. He kept smiling as if he had a secret up his sleeve. His brown eyes were striking. The yellow flakes in his eyes popped against the raven color of his hair. I couldn’t help but smile back at him. Once Austin finally released me, I pulled him off to the side.

  “How can I help?” the man asked.

  “Do you have anything similar that isn’t so costly?” I asked.

  “We do have a motorized motorcycle for two hundred,” he said.

  “No, thank you,” Austin said. “The dino-cage truck is fine.”

  I sighed. “Thank you for being so polite, honey.”

  “You’re welcome, Mom!”

  The man chuckled. “What can I really help you with?”

  And there was something in his voice that brought the floodgates down a little.

  “It’s just—my son’s been into dinosaurs for months now. I mean, it’s all he can talk about. It’s all he wants to play with and watch on television. I know how much he wants this truck. But it’s—”

  I drew in a deep breath as the man nodded.

  “It can be tough sometimes,” he said.

  I sighed. “Do you have some kind of a layaway program, where I can make payments and pick it up once it’s paid off or something like that?”

  “Wait, I can’t take it home today, Mommy?”

  My son’s voice pierced through our conversation, and I turned toward him. Tears rushed his eyes, and it broke my heart. My son had gone without so much, including his father. I’d gotten pregnant in college and had to drop out just to find a way to make ends meet. Because the second his father figured out we were pregnant, he left. He abandoned us the second he graduated.

  I rushed toward Austin and dipped down, taking him into my arms.

  “But I was really good,” he said, sniffling.

  “I know. I know. It has nothing to do with that. I promise. You’ve been so good, and I’m so proud of you. I just need some time to come up with the money. I promise I will get you that toy.”

  “Mommy, please. I’ll give away more toys. I’ll clean your room, too. Just please?”

  I kissed his tear-stained cheek. “I’ll get you something smaller today in its place. Just a placeholder, okay? How’s that sound?”

  “I might be able to help, actually.”

  The man’s voice caught my ear, and I turned to face him.

  “Can you give us a moment please?” I asked.

  “I have a solution I think might benefit everyone in the matter,” he said.

  My son sniffled. “What is it?”

  I cupped his cheeks. “Give me two seconds, okay? I’ll work something out with the nice man.”

  Then, I stood up and pulled him off to the side.

  “Don’t give my son false hope,” I said.

  “I don’t want to do anything of the sort, but—”

  I shook my head. “If you have a layaway program, that’ll work just fine. I’ve got fifty dollars I can put down on it now, and I should have fifty every week to spare until it’s paid off.”

  I pulled the money out of my purse as the man stood there. I counted out the singles as I felt his eyes on me.

  “Sorry for all the singles,” I said. “I’m a waitress. So, you know? Take what you can get, right?”

  “If you’ll just listen to my idea—”

  “Yes, fifty,” I said. “Here you go.”

  The soft cries of my son grew, and my hands started trembling. My heart grew more desperate to convince the man to go along with my plan.

  Chapter 3

  Tyler

  It was hard enough hearing her son cry, but in my line of work, I quickly came to understand it happened more often than most people thought.

  I stood there, and she counted out her crumpled-up singles and worn-out five-dollar bills as her hands trembled. Begging for mercy. Aching for relief. When she handed me her hard-earned fifty dollars, tears sprang to her eyes.

  It solidified that my plan was the better one. Even though I did have a layaway program.

  All this woman wanted to do was please her son. Make him happy on what I overheard was his birthday. And it broke my heart to hear a child so disappointed on a day that should be so special for someone.

  Her eyes looked up to mine. Those dark blue eyes shouldn’t have to understand the pain she was experiencing. It made me angry. It made me ache alongside her. And part of me considered telling her to take the toy home and pay me in installments that way.

  That’s crazy. You can’t give your most expensive toy away to a woman for her to pay back.

  I couldn’t bear to see them hurting, though.

  “Are you willing to listen to my idea now?” I asked.

  She blinked, a tear slipping down her cheek. “What?”

  “My plan. I have a plan, if you’d like to hear it. One that will let you keep your hard-earned money in return.”

  She paused. “What are you talking about?”

  I took her hand and curled her fingers back over the money she’d just counted out. Her skin felt warm. Soft. Inviting, against my own. I put her arm back at her side, not letting her eyes go. And as I smiled softly, I saw her
relax a little bit. I watched those tears dry up.

  Just trust me. Just a little bit. “If you want, you can work off the money for the toy,” I said.

  She paused. “What?”

  “In my shop. You can put in five hundred dollars’ worth of work here in the shop. Say ten hours a week? In four weeks, the toy will be paid off, you get to keep your fifty dollars, and your son gets that toy.”

  “Work here. In the shop?”

  So I can see more of you. “Yes, so you can pay off the toy.”

  “You’d let me do that?”

  I’d let you do anything. “Yes.”

  “But—but why?”

  Because it’ll only take me that long to seduce you. “Because I enjoy helping out where I can. And it’s very clear to me you want to give this toy to your son. I’m more than willing to make alternate arrangements that benefit everyone involved.”

  Seduction could lead to something else with this woman. I pushed that voice off to the side, though. No need to ruin a perfect plan with a gorgeous woman because of some stupid thoughts.

  I watched her look back at her son. Her eyes darted between us for a little while. Her son made vrooming sounds as he sat in the truck, talking into the removable radio.

  “This is Austin Sinclair. We have three dinos on the loose. I need backup. Over.”

  I smiled as I watched him play. Waiting for her eyes to come back to mine. Waiting for her to take the bait. Waiting for her to say yes.

  Because all I needed was for her to say yes.

  “Can he take the toy home with him today if I do that?” she asked.

  I nodded. “I’ll even help you pack it up in your car.”