“You can’t spend your time always worrying about something happening to you. How do you ever experience anything living like that?” Beckett asked as I stopped just outside Razzle Dazzle.

“At least you can go to bed at night with all your appendages intact,” I remarked primly, folding my arms over my chest.

Beckett leaned in close. So close that our lips were only inches apart. “Being scared is never an excuse to hide. You should wake up every morning thankful you have another day to enjoy.”

I stared into his eyes, hardly able to breathe. Beckett seemed to realize how close he was but he didn’t back away.

“You need to live each day like you won’t get another, Corin. Don’t waste time being miserable.” His voice was so soft. So sure. So full of truth that it rattled around in my head. In my heart.

“Are you taking your own advice, Beckett?” I countered just as softly.

We continued to stare at each other, neither looking away.

“I’m trying,” he answered and then leaned back, the cold taking his place. I shivered involuntarily.

“Are you going to let me go inside, or are we going to stand out here all day?” he teased, changing the subject.

“Come on then.” I turned my back on him to open the door.

We walked in and Beckett stopped. “Wow, is it always this busy?” he asked, and I was pleased with how impressed he looked.

I didn’t want to tell him that the packed house was a total fluke. That while our trade was steady at times, we were never as overrun as we currently were. But I was glad that he had chosen today of all days to come by.

“Sometimes,” I answered offhandedly.

“This is incredible, Corin. I can’t believe I didn’t know this place was here.” Beckett picked up an unpainted figurine from the shelf.

Adam looked up as we came in. He glanced from me to Beckett but otherwise gave no indication that he cared one way or another that I had brought a random guy into the studio for the first time ever.

“Do you run this by yourself?” Beckett asked, putting the figurine down and moving aside as a little boy ran past him on his way to the toilet.

“My partner Adam and I run it together,” I answered, indicating Adam, who was still watching us from the other side of the room. He was being sort of creepy about it. I narrowed my eyes at my friend but that didn’t stop his voyeurism. His blatant curiosity was obvious. He had no shame.

Beckett glanced at Adam and back to me, clearing his throat. His face darkened and he looked unhappy. “Oh. I didn’t realize. Shit. This probably looks bad.”

I blinked a couple of times, confused.

“Huh?”

Beckett crossed his arms over his chest, his jaw tense. “Me coming in here with you like this. I didn’t know you had a boyfriend.”

I choked and started coughing. “Wh…what?” I wheezed.

“Crap. Are you okay?” Beckett asked, bending over to look at me, pounding me on the back.

I took a deep breath and swallowed. “Adam’s not my boyfriend. Dear god, no!”

Adam was still watching Beckett and me. I’d have to talk to him about that later. He needed to learn subtlety if he was planning to play spy.

Beckett gave me a smile that I swear looked relieved. Or was that wishful thinking? Why would I be wishing that? I didn’t care if he was relieved. Or if he decided to start a tap dance routine in the middle of my shop. Okay, that may be a little on the odd side.

I sighed. My internal ramblings were giving me a headache.

“Oh, I just thought—forget it.” He relaxed and I relaxed.

“He’s my friend. Has been since we were teenagers. He opened the store with me. Helped me start the business,” I explained in a rush.

“That’s good. Because I thought for a second I was going to have to defend this amazing face of mine for coming in here with you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Your face is safe.”

“Cor, where the hell have you been? I’ve been trying to call you,” Adam demanded, appearing beside us. His face wasn’t blankly neutral now. He looked a little flustered.

“Sorry I’m late, Adam. Is there a problem?” I asked a little anxiously, unused to seeing Adam so put out. He was used to my flaky schedule and kept the wheels of our joint business moving without complaint.

“You’ve been gone for over two hours. You said your appointment wouldn’t be more than forty-five minutes. You knew we had this booking.” I flushed in embarrassment at being chided in front of Beckett.

Though I should have remembered. Adam really didn’t do crowds. He had a pretty serious people phobia. Which was unfortunate for a guy that ran a store catering to the public.

Beckett had the decency to pretend to be looking at the drying pieces from an earlier group lining the table in front of him.

“I’m sorry. I should have called. I had an…incident.” I dropped my voice to a whisper, hoping Adam picked up on what I was trying to tell him.

Adam gave Beckett a pointed look. “Is he the incident?” he asked, and I discreetly punched him in the arm.

“No! It was at the doctor’s office.” I peeked at Beckett, hoping he wasn’t hearing this. “I’ll tell you about it later.”

“Here.” He shoved a pot of green paint in my hands. “The table over there needs this. I’m going on my break.”

“We have all these people—” I started.

“They’ve been talking to me, Cor. I’ve had to talk back. I need a break.” He pitched his voice low.

“Yeah, okay. Go ahead. Wouldn’t want you to pop a blood vessel trying to be friendly,” I said.

Adam walked back to the office and closed the door, and I knew I wouldn’t see him again for another twenty minutes.

“Uh, if this is a bad time—” Beckett began.

“No, it’s fine. Why don’t you pick out something you want to paint and I’ll bring you some supplies.”

Krista and our other employee, Jane, were handling the large group. “How has everything been?” I asked the two, checking to make sure everything was in order.

“Fine. It’s been a pretty low-key group. Though I think Adam may have scared the kids when they asked if they could paint his shoes,” Krista snickered.

I groaned. “Well, Mr. Moody Pants is having his break. He’ll be back out here in a few minutes,” I told her.

“Oh, okay,” Krista said, her eyes flickering back to the closed office door.

I nodded my head in Beckett’s direction. “I’m going to help out this customer. If you need me, I’ll be over there.”

Jane, a pretty redhead with an unfortunately overlarge nose, widened her eyes. “I’ll help him! He’s hot!”

I tried not to get annoyed. “No, I’ve got it. Thanks.”

Jane pouted but didn’t argue.

I headed back over to Beckett, who was picking up a butterfly from the shelf. “Everything A-OK on deck?” he asked. “Your partner looked like he was about to blow a gasket.”

“Adam’s fine. He’s just not what you would call a sociable person. He never met a good mood he couldn’t slaughter. So he’s back in the office pulling up his big-girl panties and touching up his makeup.”

Beckett chuckled. “I can see why you guys are friends.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean? I always pull up my big-girl panties.” I flushed. Beckett’s eyes heated. Great, now we were both thinking about my panties.

“Did you pick something you want to paint?” I asked, indicating the butterfly in his hand. Changing the subject as fast as I could.

“Yeah, I guess. So I just paint it? We’re not going to play Ghost with a pottery wheel?” he asked. I burned a deeper shade of red. At this rate my cheeks were going to stay that way permanently.

“No. Nothing like that,” I replied a little breathlessly. I coughed to cover my discomfort. “I also provide workshops several times a week where you can make your own pieces. I have some pottery wheels in a small studio in the back. But there will be no Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore antics. It’s not that kind of place.” I laughed, though I couldn’t ignore the weird tingling in my belly.