Piper blinked. “Nothing. Nothing at all, Fiona.”

At times like this, the chief’s mind-reading powers would so come in handy. I thought about sweating the truth out of Piper but decided against it. She’d just spend the rest of the morning in the bathroom touching up her makeup until it was perfect again. Piper was as obsessive about her appearance as she was about her desk. I gave her a last suspicious look, opened the door to my office, and stepped inside. Words escaped me.

Flowers, flowers, and more flowers covered every inch of my desk, surrounding shelves and windowsills. Roses, tulips, orchids, and more painted the room in a wild, vivid rainbow H o t M a m a

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of color. My nose twitched at the heady, rich scents all mingled and mashed together. Piper leaned against the door frame. “They’ve been arriving every half hour since eight this morning.”

“Where and who did all these come from?” I fingered the petals on a blue orchid. I loved flowers, especially orchids, but I never bought them for myself. Unfortunately, they had a tendency to go up like smoke around me. Piper pulled out a card embossed with silver filigree. Fiona. So sorry we got interrupted yesterday at the wedding. Dinner tonight? I’ll pick you up at seven at your apartment. Johnny Bulluci.

I managed not to squeal. Instead, I took the card from her and read it myself. Three times.

“Who’s the guy?” Piper asked. “I haven’t heard you mention him before. Then again, I haven’t heard you mention anyone in a long time.”

“Bella’s brother, he’s new in town,” I said in an absent tone, my eyes still fixed on the card, which was made out of thick, creamy paper. I traced over the silver letters with my finger, careful not to scorch the stationary.

“Bella? As in Bella Bulluci? Our archrival in the design world?”

“The one and the same.”

I read the card again. Tingles spread through my heated body. Johnny Bulluci liked me. Enough to want to see me again. Either that or he just thought I was extremely easy. I remembered his spicy smell, his firm hands on my feverish body, the way I’d offered no resistance to his skillful advances. Yeah, he probably thought I was easy. Didn’t bother me any.

“You know, I don’t remember seeing you with this guy at the wedding. So what exactly were the two of you doing yesterday? And where?” Piper’s dark eyes sparkled. “Or 56

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should I even ask? It must have been something to get this kind of enthusiastic response.”

I flipped my long, blond hair over my shoulder. “Why, Piper, don’t you know? It’s always something with me.”

Piper just snickered.

´ 6 Í spent the rest of the day working on my new fall lines. Fiona Fine Fashions was an empire unto itself, and I had my fingers in everything from evening wear for society matrons to couture wedding gowns to sportswear to baby clothes. Yes, baby clothes. It was never too early to start teaching kids about fabulous fashion.