Retro Active

By Alex Winters

Sometimes to play nice, you have to get a little naughty ...

Taylor Hastings couldn’t be prouder as she sets about stocking Retro Active, her vintage memorabilia shop in downtown Chance, Ohio. The only thing missing? The pop culture-inspired mural she’s hired a local artist to complete before the store’s grand opening at the end of the month. But when Daisy, the artist in question, arrives, Taylor can’t help but fall for the sexy goth temptress, alluring from her sleeve tattoos to her comely ripe figure to her fishnet stockings.

Daisy Fitzgerald has never met anyone like Taylor. Ten years older but sexier than any of her more age appropriate lovers, Daisy struggles to keep things professional as she sets about creating a magical mural for her tempting new boss. Will the two be able to keep things professional until the mural is finally finished? Or will their temptation prove too strong, turning their fanciful “meet cute” into a masterpiece of love instead?

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Dec 16, 2023
• ISBN: 9781685506322

Alex Winters

Alex Winters is the pseudonym of a busy restaurant manager whose curious young staff would love nothing more than to follow him around the dining room reading his steamiest, most romantic passages aloud! When not writing romantic holiday stories of various heat levels, he enjoys long walks with his wife, scary movies and smooth jazz. Visit him at www.awintersromance.com to see what stories are brewing up next!

Book preview

Chapter 1

Taylor

Ms. Hastings?

Taylor Hastings glanced up from pruning the snake plant in front of her new business and smiled, wondering when the movers might finally address her after pulling up in front of 27 Sycamore Street a good five minutes earlier.

That’s me, she brightened, waving her pruning shears like a madwoman and eager to see her deliveries dismounted and assembled inside her brand-new, retro 80s-slash-90s vintage resale shop.

The Mel’s Moving van driver offered a clipboard for her to sign, Taylor hastily running the tip of her pen down the list of photo props she’d had delivered from a company who specialized in parade floats, of all things.

All present and accounted for, she gushed with a nervous giggle before scrawling her signature proudly at the bottom of the invoice. Hope they didn’t give you any trouble?

The driver, Geo, said the nametag on his sweaty Mel’s Moving T-shirt, tucked the clipboard under his arm before scratching his broad forehead with the same pen Taylor had just handed back to him. The motion tipped his ballcap slightly up and to the left, casting half-a-shadow across his lean, grizzled face in the afternoon light. They’re not heavy, ma’am, just awkward…

As if on cue, a couple of movers cursed as one of her selfie props shifted unevenly in their hands on the way down the dented metal ramp at the back of the truck.

Geo noticed Taylor’s intake of breath and the way she gnawed her lower lip nervously. Jesus, he growled at the two movers, both of them glancing back at Geo sheepishly. Careful, will ya guys? And in front of the customer no less, sheesh!

It might have been all for show, but Taylor appreciated the stern lecture just the same. To say the items were precious cargo was more than an understatement. In fact, short of the rental lease and the neon signage above the front door, the props were her biggest investment so far. The movers nodded dutifully, grumbling under their breath, until at last they set the unwieldy prop down on the sidewalk in front of her brand-new store, Retro Active.

Taylor approached it cautiously, Geo following along closely in his thick work boots and waving his ever-present clipboard. She’d scoured the internet for weeks trying to find just the right photo props to stage between the various sections of her vintage thrift shop—books, records, toys, clothing, candy—until stumbling across the abandoned props from a disbanded movie convention that were wasting away in storage. For less than a grand, she’d wrangled selfie-size props from some of the 80s and 90s greatest cult favorites.

She hoped they’d be just the draw to entice the local townsfolk of Chance, Ohio into her New and Used Shop, the brick-and-mortar version of her already popular website, RetroActive.net.

Do you mind if I check them out before you get them inside? Taylor asked, as if they weren’t her property, after all.

Geo gave her a doubtful look, as if he’d rather dump them off and run before she noticed any scratches and dents to note at the bottom of his precious clipboard. I mean, we’re already behind schedule, but…sure, it’s your party.

Taylor rolled her eyes just out of range and inched toward the first prop, a boxy square wrapped in what appeared to be miles of plastic, currently being unwound by the two moving men in what seemed, to Taylor at least, in an inordinately slow manner. She waited anxiously, until the bright yellow and red colors of a jack-in-the-box became visible.

Wow, it’s bigger than I thought, she mused as Geo stood beside her, watching the unveiling.

What is it, though? Geo grunted as more and more of the plastic wrap disappeared and more and more of the giant square appeared.

Taylor glanced back at him incredulously. He was more than old enough to recognize the prop. "Why, it’s the jack-in-the-box from the 80s hit, Mack in the Box."

Geo rumpled his face. What in the who now?

Taylor chuckled, inching closer until she could see the playful red and blue stars that bordered the top and bottom of the giant resin jack-in-the-box, so familiar to her after having seen the movie at least a dozen times by now. "Mack in the Box, it was a scary movie about a haunted child’s toy that grew every time it murdered someone, until it got—"

As big as a chair? Geo huffed as the plastic gave way and the colorful prop was revealed full stop. How many people did it eat to get this big?

She studied him quizzically. He looked to be in his early 40s, vaguely grizzled, surely old enough to at least be aware of the late 80s horror movie that spawned at least seven sequels. You’ve really never seen it?

Is this what your store’s selling? Geo answered her question with a question, and a not-too-enthusiastic one at that.

She chuckled, shaking her head. "Not this item, but we’ll stock plenty of Mack the Knife merch, T-shirts, hats, socks, used VHS tapes, toys, that kind of thing. The props themselves are designed to get people in to take pictures with. You know, selfies to post on social media, taken with props that can only be found here,