The Love Laws (27 page)

Dylan shrugged.
“Why not? You’ve got enough cash to take a break for a while. Take some time
off. Get your shit together. You think the world needs another serial killer
story? It’s full of them. And that fuck-wad Rawlings doesn’t exactly deserve
the publicity, does he?”

“Easy for you
to say.”

“Yeah. It is.
But it’s not impossible to do either. If you talk to your agent I’m sure he can
get you out of it.”

Kevin scoffed.
“What do you know about it?”

“Hey. I almost
dumped my career a few years ago. Or don’t you remember? But unlike you I was
smart enough to take the time when I needed it. I love hockey, but it’s not
worth imploding over either. And neither is a stupid book about a violent
asshole with
Silence of the Lambs
delusions. So get out while you can,
man.”

“And do what
exactly?”

“Write about something
else. Something light that doesn’t fuck with your head. Would that be so
difficult for a change? Or does everything have to be about death and mayhem?”

Kevin looked at
Dylan for a long moment and then turned his gaze to the bureau where Jamie’s
articles were squirrelled away. Was it possible his ignorant little brother had
a point?

Chapter Fourteen

Jamie looked up from her cash
register and felt real hope for the very first time since Hidden Treasures had
opened. It was a giddy feeling and she had to work to keep from beaming like an
idiot at the steady stream of customers lined up to purchase her designs.

It was two
weeks since the first Love Law had appeared in
The Vancouver Star
and
the publicity had worked miracles, just as they’d planned. Not only was the
print edition generating a lot of buzz, the newspaper’s website was positively
flooded with on-line responses. Some negativity, of course, given the subject
matter. But overall the women of Vancouver were embracing The Love Laws and,
more importantly, Hidden Treasures.

Jamie’s store
was suddenly so busy that she’d actually been forced to hire another sales
associate. Theresa, Duncan’s half-sister, had been thrilled to help out.

The bubbly
blonde was a drama major at UBC now, but two years ago she’d been a runaway
who’d been desperate to escape her controlling grandmother. She had very nearly
found herself in some very real trouble until Duncan had been recruited to find
his missing half-sister.

At one point,
before Duncan found her, Theresa had danced illegally with Jamie at the
Kitty-Kat for a few memorable nights. Since then the two women had bonded over
their love of costumes and music, so she was a natural choice when Jamie
thought about hiring help. She knew her young friend was looking for some real
work experience despite the huge trust fund she’d acquired at the age of
eighteen. Fortunately for everyone, being an heiress hadn’t spoiled Theresa. At
least not completely. Jamie was delighted to find that her sister-in-law was
actually a hard worker and the customers loved her.

Currently, Theresa
was giving her an enthusiastic thumbs-up sign as she walked to the front door.
Smiling, the petite girl escorted a pair of cougarlicious customers outside
with a friendly wave and then locked it behind them. It was a half hour after Hidden
Treasures’ usual closing time and Jamie grinned as she watched Theresa lean back
against the door in exhaustion as she turned the ‘Closed’ sign to face outward.

Jamie and
Theresa had been on their feet for ten hours and there hadn’t been time for a single
breather between eager customers. Jamie had insisted several times that Theresa
needed to take her lunch break but the younger woman hadn’t wanted to leave her
alone with ‘the teaming hordes.’ If Clay hadn’t brought them cupcakes and
cappuccinos during the day they would have been both exhausted and ravenous. As
it was, Jamie couldn’t wait to kick off her gorgeous red pumps and sit down.
She couldn’t remember ever being this tired, or elated. Her store was finally a
success. If only temporarily.

Jamie knew that
eventually she would run out of Love Laws or the public would lose interest in
what she had to say. Or someone would figure out that she had no idea what she
was talking about and she’d get the boot. Cathy’s Editor, Jeff Allen, was
already tired of defending Jamie’s statements and responding to irate readers
who felt her column was offensively chauvinistic and simplistic.

Before the
first article was printed the two women had met with Cathy’s boss to discuss
their ideas and get some general direction from the more experienced
journalist. Jeff had worked on several high profile papers and had advanced to
the level of Editor by the relatively young age of thirty-five. He was also
considered a playboy in his own right. So he did have some expertise in their
subject matter. Both women were anxious to impress him and also get some male
perspective on The Love Laws.

After meeting
Cathy’s very attractive boss Jamie had been pleased to find that Jeff was a
huge supporter of Cathy’s idea. Unfortunately, he wasn’t as thrilled with Jamie’s
contribution to the project. He tactfully tried to encourage Cathy to take a
more prominent role but she stubbornly refused to relinquish her second-banana
status. She insisted that Jamie was to be the face of the article and she would
write a first-person or first-guinea pig account of trying out Jamie’s theories
as a sidebar only. Jeff had relented but Jamie was fairly certain that his
decision had more to do with his personal interest in Cathy rather than her
powers of persuasion. He liked her and was willing to take a risk to please
her.

As it turned
out Jeff was correct in following his instincts. Cathy’s accounts of the
makeover and the experiments used to demonstrate the Love Laws, like the speed
dating session, pole dancing class, and the trip to the adult toy store were
incredibly popular. The fact that Cathy had written about these experiences
with self-deprecating humour and some rather touching personal insight had not
been lost on him.

Jamie and Cathy
had met with Jeff again early this morning to discuss the progress of the
articles. During their brief discussion it was clear to Jamie that the handsome
editor was impressed with Cathy’s contribution but not The Love Laws
themselves. At one point he had actually said that The Love Laws were a great
hook but it was Cathy’s struggles that made the articles work.

Cathy had been
bewildered and not a little angry as they’d left her boss’ tiny office this
morning. She’d thought Jeff was out of line. To her it was obvious that Jamie’s
contribution to the articles were the main attraction. Her own bumbling
attempts to make herself more available to men were just stunts.

Cathy had
wanted to go back to Jeff’s office and tell him so but Jamie had stopped her
and reassured her friend that she wasn’t even slightly offended. She wasn’t a
writer or an expert and Jeff was correct in his assessment. She wanted Cathy to
be successful and this was proof that their plan was working. Cathy had
impressed her boss and that was all that mattered to her. And the publicity for
Hidden Treasures, of course.

Given Jeff’s
less than enthusiastic response to The Love Laws Jamie realized that she had a
very thin window of opportunity to make the most of the attention generated by
the articles. If she squandered it she would be right back to where she was
before Clay and Cathy made their Love Guru proposal. If she was lucky, she
would be the city’s resident sexpert for a few more weeks at best.

Jamie spent the
next twenty minutes ringing up purchases and chatting easily with enthusiastic
customers. She hadn’t totalled the day’s receipts yet, but she was fairly
certain she’d quadrupled last month’s sales today alone. Unfortunately, that
wasn’t enough to save the store unless the profits continued at this rate for
the next several months. Somehow she needed to keep the momentum going and also
find time to restock her displays and create a new line to keep her inventory
fresh. It seemed like a monumental task but she was willing to do anything now
that she was finally on the brink of success. Even if it meant selling her
childhood home and sacrificing her personal life.

An image of 
Kevin, shirtless and sweaty, sprawled across the back seat of his Mustang came
to mind but Jamie firmly shoved it back into her sexual fantasy vault where it
belonged. She hadn’t heard from him since she’d scurried away from him in that empty
White Rock parking lot. So it would seem her grand plan to get rid of him was a
success. He had gotten what he wanted and had lost interest, just as she’d
predicted.

She should be
thrilled. She could now concentrate on business just as she’d planned all
along. But instead she was disappointed and more than a little hurt. She’d
really wanted to be wrong about him. For the first few days after their
backseat adventure she’d looked up every single time the door to Hidden
Treasures had opened, half-expecting his bruised but smiling face to greet her.
But it was never him. After a week she had stopped looking.

Thinking about
him was another story entirely. She didn’t seem to have much control over those
heated thoughts that stole into her mind when she was alone in her bed at the
end of the day. And her dreams were completely out of control. She’d awoken
practically every night over the past two weeks from a restless sleep filled
with erotic images and her body on the verge of orgasm. She was always tempted
to turn to her trusty vibrator to finish what her imagination had started but that
would be like admitting that she still wanted him. She couldn’t give even the
fantasy version of Mr. Kevin Hall that satisfaction.

So, despite her
recent successes she was also annoyed and horny as hell. And it was that man’s
fault. Why had he come to White Rock in the first place? She could have resisted
him if he hadn’t come to her there, where she was most vulnerable. Now she felt
something for him and he was nowhere to be seen. She felt so stupid. Some Love
Guru.

It didn’t help
that Jamie was preoccupied with Jessica’s revelation regarding Kevin’s
precarious mental state. It was hard enough to resist him when she thought he
was just a man-whore. Now she suspected he was actually going through something
pretty horrible too. Despite everything she was concerned about him. And that
bugged the hell out of her.

When she’d
worked at The Kitty Kat she’d encountered some pretty rough customers: a few
organized crime figures and the occasional drug dealer or pimp. As much as she
abhorred these types they’d been paying customers so she’d treated them with
wary politeness when they approached her at the club.

She had never
come into contact with someone like Rawlings. To her he was like the Boogeyman
or Freddie Krueger. Only real which made him even more frightening. She
couldn’t imagine what it would be like to sit down in a room with someone so
deviant and discuss his crimes without any kind of judgment or disgust seeping
through to discourage full disclosure from the monster.

It worried and
scared her that Kevin seemed capable of such coldness. Wouldn’t it take someone
equally inhuman to do such a thing? But then she thought about the way he was
falling apart and knew Kevin was not unaffected. He was just such a guy. And
the macho idiot couldn’t admit that being in contact with Rawlings was taking a
very big toll on him. Instead he would have a nice, quiet masculine breakdown
until his entire life disintegrated. Good plan.

Her thoughts
were interrupted by her last customer of the day. Looking up she smiled as an
exotically beautiful woman in a stunning white sheath dress approached the cash
register with an armful of lingerie. Jamie’s smile was not returned. The woman
with the long, black hair just threw the items on the counter like a response
was not required. When her hands were empty she rummaged in the Louis Vuitton
hand-bag she carried until she found her cell phone. She continued to ignore
Jamie as she flipped through screens, finally looking up after a good 45
seconds of complete silence between the two women.

“I trust you
offer alterations,” the dark-haired woman said, flicking the size label on the
black silk chemise on top of the pile. “The smallest I could find was a size
three. I had no idea you catered to heifers in this establishment or I wouldn’t
have bothered coming here.”

Jamie had to
fight to keep her smile in place. At her very thinnest she’d been a size three
and she’d hardly been a ‘heifer.’ At the time she’d considered herself almost
too thin. Thirty pounds later she was a seven which was hardly huge by most
people’s standards. She longed to point this out but correcting a customer was
never good for business so she did her best to look contrite as she began
sorting through the woman’s selections.

“Oh. I’m sorry.”
Jamie said. “We’re running a little low on stock right now. What size were you
looking for? Perhaps I can check to see if we have some more in the back room.”
The fact was that her stock room was pretty depleted but sometimes the effort
was enough to diffuse a customer’s bad attitude. Though judging from this
woman’s demeanor she was going to be rude even if Jamie waved a magic wand and
made a Barbie-sized thong appear out of thin air.

The customer
looked heavenward for a moment and then gave an exasperated sigh. “A double
zero. Of course,” she said, gesturing down at her body like her diminutive size
should be obvious.

Jamie hated to
admit it but she had made a mistake. She’d misjudged the demand for extra small
sizes when she’d placed her last order to her manufacturer. This had never been
an issue before but given Hidden Treasures’ newfound popularity and Vancouver’s
large Asian population anything below a size three had been snapped up within
the first few days after The Love Laws had been initially published.