The woman and her eclectic shop were a major headache and had been since Constant Cravings first opened. He’d stopped in early on the shop’s opening day, looking forward to bringing a cappuccino to his office. Before he could place his order, however, a smiling Lacey had asked him if he’d like to try the opening day special-A Slow Glide into Pleasure. That had been eight months ago, yet he recalled the moment and the fire that had raced through him so vividly it might as well have happened eight seconds ago. Even now, all these months later, the memory of her asking him that question, in her smoky, husky voice, her eyes twinkling with mischief, had him clenching his hands to keep from yanking at his suddenly too tight tie. He couldn’t recall ever being so flustered by a woman.

And no wonder. His and Lacey’s personalities were like oil and water, leaving them constantly at odds. If Constant Cravings wasn’t one of the most income-producing stores in the Fairfax complex, Evan would have terminated her lease months ago. She continually tested him, seeing how much she could get away with, how far she could push the boundaries, a trait that totally rubbed him the wrong way. Why couldn’t she simply follow the rules like all the other tenants?

No doubt because she was one of those artsy-fartsy, free-spirit types who believed rules were made to be bent, twisted or downright broken to accommodate her “creativity.” She simply didn’t grasp the fact that Fairfax projected a certain upscale image, and that her suggestive window displays and product names did not fit that image. No, she scoffed whenever he reminded her of that. She insisted that her displays were tongue-in-cheek, and that since sales were on the increase, obviously sex did sell.

While Evan couldn’t argue with her financial success, damn it there were rules to be followed. Unfortunately the wording in her tenant agreement regarding the appropriateness of her store’s decorations gave her enough wiggle room to make his job of enforcing the dictates difficult. So far no one had complained, but he suspected it was just a matter of time, especially since she kept pushing the sensuality factor with every new display.