Finding Her Treasure: A Lesbian Romance Read online

  FINDING HER TREASURE

  Alexa Woods

  Table of Contents

  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

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Epilogue

  Description

  Romi has given up on love after one too many heartbreaks. She’s

  determined to stay focused and chase her passions- out of the bedroom- and

  that starts with her new job.

  Kiera has never let herself take a chance on love. She’s done just fine on

  her own - building a successful business from the ground up. She’s proud to

  say she did it all single-handedly!.

  Opposites attract, right? When Romi starts her new job, she’s

  immediately intrigued by her older, sensual boss. When she realizes how

  much Kiera needs her, she can’t help but take the risk.

  Kiera’s resolution not to get involved is quickly put to the test when she

  meets her new, beautiful employee. Soon, physical attraction turns into

  something else and Kiera realizes that she’s going to have to be honest. Not

  just with herself, but with everyone else as well.

  With the mural attraction harder to fight, will Romi and Kiera

  allow themselves to open their hearts and take a chance on real love

  and happiness?

  Chapter 1

  Kiera

  “When I said that we needed an experienced, mature, knowledgeable

  new staff member, I didn’t mean a twenty-year-old blond bimbo who

  dropped out of college and is looking for the next hot thing for a few weeks

  to paste all over her social media to impress her friends with.”

  “Geez.” Wynn rolled his eyes. “Tell me how you really feel. And in case

  you didn’t notice, she’s a brunette.”

  “I know she’s a brunette,” Kiera growled. “That was just an expression. I

  feel like you did the exact opposite of what I asked for. We got over twenty

  resumes. Did you do this just to spite me?”

  “Of course not.”

  Wynn Rosland, antiques expert and manager extraordinaire, was Kiera’s

  most trusted confidant. He was a lifetime friend of the family. For a man

  who was going to be seventy in two months, he was as fit as any guy in his

  thirties. His bushy eyebrows and the stark white beard that matched were

  well known all over Cincinnati.

  “Well, why, then?” Kiera huffed.

  It was late. After a long day spent picking in a barn that was held

  together by mouse shit and a thousand layers of dust instead of actual wood,

  Kiera made the extremely poor choice of dropping by the store because

  Wynn was so eager for her to meet the new hire. She’d stepped through the

  back door, past the back rooms that were overflowing in areas and stacked

  to the ceiling in others, and headed up to the second floor of the four-story

  building where Wynn was working on putting together a display of antique

  and vintage dishes. He was a master with the cell and had texted her that

  afternoon that he was training and she should stop in.

  She had another four days lined up with picks. Picks was just a fancy

  term for going to someone’s house or barn and going through piles and piles

  of old stuff. Going on a pick was a little bit like going on a treasure hunt.

  The kid in her always salivated at the thought of all those old items just

  waiting to be discovered and brought back to life. Kiera had spent years

  working her butt off in college, and later working shit jobs until she

  developed a few apps that really took off. She suddenly had a successful

  career and enough money to retire.

  She’d found her success at thirty-one and had spent the last two years

  dedicating her life to her greatest passion. Antiques were always a hobby,

  but when she found herself with the means to make her wildest dreams a

  reality, she’d gone all in. Bought an ancient warehouse that was once a flour

  factory and turned it into a thriving antique mall. The massive store was

  now a hotspot for anyone who wanted anything from architectural salvage

  to antique furniture and everything in between.

  “Romi is—”

  “What kind of a name is Romi?” Kiera knew she was being mean, but

  she couldn’t help it. She was exhausted, filthy, and incredibly hangry. She

  hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast and it was now pushing five. Her

  blood sugar was turning her into a raging monster.

  “Ramona, actually. She said she doesn’t like it. Prefers Romi. I think

  that’s perfectly normal. You were just saying a few days ago how much you

  disliked old names and thought that the new trend of picking really strange

  names was awesome.”

  “Whatever. Fine. Alright, sorry. Her name doesn’t matter. I just need a

  freaking sandwich.”

  “I know.” Wynn grinned at her, because he knew all about her. He’d been

  a friend of her grandparents and parents. He’d watched her grow up. He

  was the grandfather she never had, because both of her sets of grandparents

  had passed away before she was even born.

  Kiera pretended to be busy inspecting something on her desk in the vast

  office. Of course, everything in the place was about as antique as it got.

  Huge oak desk. Even bigger upholstered chair, two epic lamps, once with

  beads hanging from the glass shade, the other the token gold base and green

  shade combo. She had a variety of other objects in there that she never

  used, but just liked the look of—antique typewriters, a magnifying glass, an

  antique stamp machine, an ancient stapler that hardly looked like a stapler

  at all. She liked making people guess what it was because it was so strange

  looking that stapler was always the last guess, if it came out at all. The rest

  of the square space was filled up with vintage oil paintings in all sorts of

  sizes and frames, and random knickknacks that were rare and strange. Kiera

  changed it up often. Things eventually made their way out to the floor for

  sale when she found something new to clutter up the shelves, corners, walls,

  and her leftover desk space.

  She leaned against the ancient gold radiator behind her desk. It served no

  purpose and wasn’t even hooked up. She just loved the look of it. This one

  had little gold angels on the sides of it. It was ridiculously ornate, salvaged

  from an ancient building that was torn down the year before.

  “Look, Kiera, I know what your first
impression is. I know she’s not

  what you were expecting. The truth is, I could have hired people more

  experienced, or older, but I like her. I think she’s a good fit.”

  “Really?” Kiera raised a brow and crossed her arms. “In what way?”

  Wynn arranged himself into the high-backed blue upholstered chair in

  front of the desk. It was one of two, the other was a white egg-shaped dome

  style chair with a red cushion. Kiera had always liked having the most

  eclectic décor and her office was a true testament to her love of all things

  from the past. She didn’t just buy what she liked. She had a good head for

  business and she always purchased what she thought would sell, even if it

  wasn’t her taste. Although things that weren’t her taste were few and far

  between. She used to drive her parents nuts with her love for absolutely

  everything. She couldn’t count the number of garage sales and thrift stores

  she’d dragged her parents into before she was a teenager and got her license

  and could drive herself.

  For some people, when they finally made it, they wanted to live in as

  much luxury as possible. She felt the exact opposite. Not that her house

  wasn’t nice. It was. But it was also over a hundred years old, and even

  though it was in quite a prestigious neighborhood, it didn’t stand out as a

  rich person place to live. Not that she thought of herself that way. To her,

  the money she made was a way to make her dreams come true, not

  something to buy fancy cars or take extravagant, ridiculous trips with.

  “In the way that she’s great with customers. She has six years of retail

  experience. She studied theater in college. She’s artsy. She’s already great

  with the displays. You should see what she put together. She has an eye for

  it. She’s sharp. A fast learner. She might know far less about actual terms

  and years and dates, but that’s what we’re here for. And Myrtle, Sylvia, and

  Betty.”

  “And all the guys and gals who help out with moving things in and out of

  the store and delivery and picks and sorting and all the vendors who sell

  here and put in hours for a lower commission rate. Yeah, I get it. There are a

  lot of us who know a lot. She could ask anyone.”

  “And learn from anyone.”

  “She’s just…she’s…”

  “Not even blonde,” Wynn said flatly.

  “I know, I know. I was seriously kidding about that. I’m just saying…

  she’s dressed…”

  “Just fine.”

  “She was wearing a green frilly dress and heels. She looked like she

  stepped out of the fifties. Except that her hair was wrong.”

  Kiera blinked to rid herself of the image of the new hire—Ramona,

  Romi, whatever—wearing that tight-fitting dress. The top looked like it was

  pasted on and the skirt was about two feet wide on either side. The dress

  flattered Romi’s tall, curvy figure. The dress outlined her full breasts and

  tucked in at an impossibly narrow waist before it flared out at gently curved

  hips to hide everything until where the skirt ended to reveal long, shapely

  legs. Kiera hadn’t failed to notice how Romi’s creamy, shapely calves

  flexed from the height of her heels. She was immediately jealous of those

  calves. She was jealous of a few more things too. Jealous and…well…she

  was more than jealous.

  Romi’s face was as beautiful as the rest of her. She had thick dark hair

  that she’d pulled into a high pony tail. It glistened in the overhead lights,

  glossy and healthy, as it swung back and forth, and hung halfway down her

  back. She had pretty much perfect features. Flawless, creamy skin. A nice

  straight nose, full lips, high cheekbones, a sharp jawline. If Romi went out

  to a bar, there would no doubt be a pack of eager, salivating guys lined up to

  buy her a drink and try to be the one to take her home. Romi was the kind

  of woman other women naturally hated because she was so damn beautiful.

  No, it definitely wasn’t just jealousy that Kiera felt. She felt the stirrings

  of quite a few other sensations in some very inconvenient spots. That alone

  pissed her off. Girls like Romi were off limits. Everyone was off limits.

  She’d been burned a few times and learned the hard way that dating and all

  the messy feelings that went with it weren’t for her. Now, she had a fake

  boyfriend who her conservative parents adored. John was everything that

  they wanted for their daughter. He was everything because he was a guy

  and there were precious few of those she’d brought home over the years.

  Money had given her just about everything she could ever want, but it

  hadn’t made it any easier to tell her parents she was a lesbian. She’d been

  trying to find the courage for years, but somehow it always faltered, and

  every time she’d tried to sit down and have the conversation with them, it

  just never happened.

  Honestly, she was scared. She was an only child. She had one aunt, two

  uncles, three cousins, and that was it. To her, family was everything. She

  couldn’t bear to think about losing them because they wouldn’t accept her

  for who she truly was.

  “Does that actually matter?” Wynn asked, bringing her back to the

  present. “So what if she likes retro clothes? A dress and heels hasn’t

  impacted her ability to work. She did more today, on her second day, than

  some of us can do in weeks. I’m impressed. I think you should give her a

  chance.”

  “A chance? To destroy the business? To spend all her time flirting with

  customers instead of actually helping them?”

  Wynn rolled his eyes again. His left knee started to vibrate as he bounced

  his foot up and down, which Kiera knew he did when he was annoyed. She

  was pushing all his buttons and she knew it. She never acted like this.

  Petulant. Childish. Spouting stereotypes and judgements. That wasn’t her.

  “Okay, I’m sorry. She just wasn’t what I was expecting. I’ll give her two

  weeks. A trial period. Starting from the day you hired her.”

  “Considering we do give everyone a trial period and that was explained

  to her, I think that would be wise.”

  “Right,” Kiera grumbled. She pushed off the radiator and straightened.

  “I’ll leave it up to you to decide since I’m going to be busy doing picks for

  the next few weeks anyway.”

  “I thought you only had two more lined up for this week. You’re

  scheduled to be here all next week as far as I know. Do I have to make

  changes to it?”

  Kiera sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and bit down on it hard. She

  realized that what she was doing was obvious and let it spring loose. Wynn

  continued to stare her down with his unnerving blue eyes. They were crystal

  clear and the oddest shade. It made her think of Romi’s green eyes. Feral.

  Cat like. Jade. Emeralds. Beautiful.

  “No. You’re right. I have a few things in the works, but as of now, they’re

  not confirmed. I’ll let you know if you have to make any changes.”

  “Alright.” Wynn unfolded himself from the chair with far more energy

  than a man his age should have. Kiera felt exhausted after a day picking.

  She
knew very well that Wynn could spend twice that long, working twice

  as hard, and still have energy left over. “Great. Two weeks. I’m sure you’ll

  be impressed. You should have introduced yourself upstairs instead of

  staring daggers and asking me to come meet you in your office.”

  “Sorry. Hangry, remember?” she muttered.

  “Next time when you come in, try to make a better impression. Romi’s

  going to be great. I only hire good ones, remember?”

  “Yeah.” Kiera bit the inside of her cheek.

  “She’s not going to stick around if she thinks that the owner of this place

  is a fire breathing dragon with a pike up her ass.”

  “Thanks for that image.”

  “It’s an apt comparison.”

  “I’ll be sure to pull it out for Monday when I get back here, then.”

  “Great. Did you find anything good today?”

  “Yeah. The whole trailer is full.”

  “I can’t wait to go through it when it gets here.” Wynn was practically

  salivating as he rubbed his hands in anticipation. He pretty much lived and

  breathed antiques. Kiera would be surprised if rust and dust didn’t run

  through his veins instead of blood.

  Monday. That left her four days to make peace with the fact that the most

  beautiful, temping, probably intelligent, probably nice too, attractive,

  tempting, woman was going to be working with her all day, every day.

  She barely managed not to let out a groan of despair. The store was

  supposed to be her safe place. Her happy place. Her. Place. It wasn’t

  supposed to be a place of torture, where she had to hide herself away

  because it was safer. For everyone.

  Chapter 2

  Romi

  After a sleepless night spent worrying about the beautiful, athletic,

  intimidating, pissed off woman who was her new boss, Romi decided to

  broach the subject with Wynn, the older man who had interviewed, hired,

  and was training her.

  She waited until just after lunch, when the store was quieter and they

  were able to get back up to one of the top floors to work on a display of

  antique and vintage ornaments and household accessories.

  Romi picked up a particularly grouchy, warty-looking ceramic toad and

  smiled at its face. It was so ugly it was cute, like many antiques actually

  were. Not ugly. No, that wasn’t the right word. More like…extremely