Knock Love Out (A Sensual New Adult Crossover Romance) Read Online Free

mind. Just not here.”
    From the front doors of Valentine’s Grocery, a loud whistle sings. Heath waves at Cash and then cups his hands to yell across the parking lot, “Your dad said if your ass wasn’t back in the stockroom in five minutes you should find a new person to call dad.”
    Cash looks back to me. “I vote to find a new person to call dad. Want to run away with me?”
    Basically, the whole reason I’m here. “I thought I was being lured to your car to be kidnapped?”
    He shines brighter as I play along. “It was purely a question of warning.”
    “So I should run, then?”
    Cash stares at me for a moment, his eyes trailing down to the bag in my hand. Or so, I thought.
    “Pretty sure we both have to go back to the moonlight job, Lilla.”
    This gold band around my finger burns.
    “Yeah,” I say, sadly, “I guess we do. Thanks for saving my cookies. And for the ice cream.”
    “Hey,” he calls, “I like to go to Sunrise Park, after work. Maybe I’ll see you there sometime.”
    “Where is that?”
    “You’ve never been?” I shake my head to his displeasure. “How long have you been married?”
    “Adam’s not really … that sort of guy.”
    “What kind of guy is that?” Cash asks.
    “The kind of guy that would want to go hang out in a park?”
    “Is he the kind of guy who likes talking to his beautiful wife? Kissing her? Copping a feel? ’Cause, I’m pretty sure that’s the whole backstory to taking the wife to the park. Not for trees and bird watching, Lilla.”
    I look away.
    “He’s just not very romantic. That type of person.”
    “Are you ?”
    Yes. Absolutely. Can we go there now, please?
    “I guess it’s my story that is too complicated for a parking lot conversation, Cash.”
    Cash dims at my words, but says, “Then I hope to see you where Dandelion Street meets Sunrise Park Avenue. Around seven,” before he heads back to the store.
    I don’t have the nerve to meet him at the park tonight, or even the next. When I make a stop at the store the following week I don’t see Cash working. And when I’m home, my mind constantly travels back to him; this stranger I don’t know. So anxiously I count down the days until I can justify (lie) to Adam about having to make a trip to Tangerine. To only get there and see Cash—then hide in the other aisles and talk myself out of walking by him.
    Today when I find myself brave enough to walk through the produce department, he’s unpacking a box of herb plants. I linger by the oranges in hopes he will spot me and say hi, first, but he doesn’t. When I get closer, I see he has music tucked into his left ear. Cash smiles when he sees me, but keeps working.
    “How much?” I ask, pointing to the plants.
    He pulls the music from his ear, the wire from the iPod tucked under his shirt.
    “Depends who is asking.”
    I smile. There it is. That little game. “A girl who desperately wants to have a fresh herb garden.”
    “Is that your Eden?”
    I laugh. “My what?”
    “Your passion. Your center.”
    I stare at him. “My paint ?”
    Cash goes back to working but smiles. “Exactly.”
    “I always wanted to have a garden. Adam thinks I’ll kill it, though. That it’s a waste of time. Money.”
    “So, your husband thinks your Eden is a waste of time? That sounds promising, Lilla.”
    “He’s under a lot of pressure. The housing market isn’t what it used to be.”
    Cash laughs, tossing an empty box to the side. “My dad is the owner of a grocery store. You think I never saw a man under pressure growing up? I can tell you this much—my mother never told him he was wasting his time. Even if she thought so.”
    “Then I’d say he’s really lucky, Cash.”
    “Not really, considering this store is on its ass. He’s loved. That’s the word he is. He’s loved for trying. For having a dream to share.” Cash scoops the empty cartons up and puts them in a shopping cart, then hands me a basil plant. “Price is all a matter of