Wedding Bell Blues (38 page)
This is going to be good. It’s like he’s reading my mind. Let’s hear it for similar brain patterns! Wahoooo!
His maddening mouth slid down her jaw. With her head back against the mirror, she whimpered. Her neck beckoned for his tongue and he skimmed her throat as he tasted and caressed down to her swollen breasts. At last, his lips captured one aching peak. An internal spotlight shone on her, intensifying every zing of pleasure Jinx plucked from her sizzling flesh. Hot and teasing, his tongue provoked each bud to stinging awareness before drawing them into the warmth of his mouth. A soft hum buzzed the pebbled crests.
Every nerve ending in her body sat up and screamed his name. The soft brush of his hair in her hands was more noticeable than the bite of the faucet in her lower back. The feel of his hot skin against hers created a firestorm, baking her in its heat. Her core turned to molten lava, she pulled his head back to hers and kissed him.
Gawd, hurry!
“Where’s my shaving kit?” he asked between nips of her lips.
Why does he want to shave now? Oh, wait…shaving kit…condoms. Hallelujah!
“Upstairs on my bed.”
At her last word, he groaned into her mouth. Wanting him more than imaginable, Frannie was reluctant to leave the warmth of his embrace. The bed could wait one minute longer. With lusty patience, Jinx made no move to unseat her, but allowed her tongue and lips to trace a blazing trail down his neck to his shoulder, where she nipped him with sharp teeth. The untamed savagery brought a shiver which spiked her desire another notch.
He caught her lips once more before whispering, “Let’s go upstairs.” She nodded into his kiss. “I love you, Frannie.”
Like a bucket of cold water, his words ripped Frannie from her sexual haze and she shoved him away. He stepped back against the wall and her ass slid into the sink basin. The washcloth soaked her ass, cold seeping into her skin.
“What did you say?”
“I said I love you.” Wide devil-dark eyes gaped at her.
The stunned expression on his face might have made her laugh if she hadn’t gone from incredibly horny to incredibly pissed-off in two-point-two seconds. Struggling to pluck her rear end from the sink, she flailed her legs until her thighs, still feeling his body’s crush, caught on the edge and pulled her free. She hopped off the vanity, grabbed her shirt and threw his at him. It hit him squarely in the face as he followed her out of the small bathroom. Her hair poofed with the force of her cotton tee being snapped over her head.
“You have no idea how royally you just screwed up. Two minutes ago, you were pretty much guaranteed a piece of ass. Now you can get the hell out of my house and stay out!”
She’s got the heat. He’s got the kitchen. Together, they’ve got trouble cookin’.
Let’s Dish
© 2009 Catherine Wade
Maggie Donnely has problems no Food Network star ever had to deal with. Her coffee shop is running in the red, her EPT just turned pink, and keeping her business partners in line is making her blue in the face. A run-in with her old cooking school nemesis is the last thing she needs.
Kevin Best is a blast from the past with more than Maggie’s mouth-watering recipes on his mind. He knows he made one big mistake with her, but she’s got no idea just how far he’ll go to put her heart back on the menu.
When Maggie loses her shop to a fire, and her partners to a stupid mistake, she’s forced to turn to Kevin to help her win a contest that could save her bacon. Friendless, desperate—and with the proverbial bun in the oven—it’s a choice that could change the rest of her life. If she can learn to love again.
What’s the old saying about too many cooks? Maggie’s about to find out…the hard way.
Warning: This book contains graphic depictions of baking, gratuitous bread-kneading, Oreos with lemonade, smart women with smarter mouths, and the occasional flying squid.
Enjoy the following excerpt for
Let’s Dish:
That afternoon, the doctor confirmed everything I already knew. I was pregnant. Oh, joy. In my pocket was a crumpled piece of paper. It was a simple prescription for prenatal vitamins, but to me it represented so much more. It was a commitment.
Or a sign I needed to be committed. I wasn’t quite sure which.
I headed to the supermarket with the least nosey pharmacist and proceeded to weave my way through aisles and aisles of jarring reminders. Baby food, baby bottles, diapers. Why couldn’t the pharmacy be near the chips and ice cream section?
Just as I was getting comfortable with the sinking feeling of impending doom, I turned a corner and came face-to-face with a familiar leather jacket. Face-to-back, actually, so he hadn’t spotted me. Kevin was hovering over the coffee section, five different cans in his cart. I froze in my tracks, wondering if I could somehow slip unnoticed back the way I’d come. My hesitation, however, turned out to be fatal.
He must have sensed me behind him, because his head swiveled around and he caught my eye. “Maggie. Hi.” There was surprise in his voice, but I noticed his shoulders droop a fraction of an inch. Wasn’t he glad to see me? I mean it wasn’t like I was going out of my way to be nice to him or anything, but he was the one who insisted on stalking me. A chance meeting should be a happy thing. For him.
“Uh, hi.” I was too busy trying to figure out how to extricate myself to think up a snappy retort.
He scrutinized me, perhaps surprised that I hadn’t bolted the second I saw him. It’s not that I didn’t want to, but I seemed glued to the spot. “You okay?” he asked.
“Why?” My hand made its way into my pocket, self-consciously fingering the prescription.
“You look a little pale. And when Lyla said you were out this afternoon—”
“You talked to Lyla? What did she say?”
Kevin stared at me. “Nothing. Just that you weren’t feeling well.”
“Yeah.”
Paranoid much
? I scolded myself. Lyla hadn’t outed me. She’d promised not to say anything, but she had an insane streak when it came to Kevin. Still, if this was the way I reacted to a simple question, I’d soon out myself.
“Nothing serious, I hope.”
Oh, if he only knew. “Don’t think this is your big break or anything. We’re not going anywhere. Flu or no flu, we’re still in business.”
“I didn’t say you weren’t.” He was putting on his innocent look again, his bright eyes calm and clear like a forest lake. I wasn’t buying it.
How dare he catch me trying to sneak to the pharmacy?
“What are you doing tracking me down at the grocery store, anyway?” I asked. “Don’t you own a business? Or do you ever actually cook there?”
He grinned. “Hard to find time to cook, what with all the time I devote to
tracking you down
.” He made little quote marks in the air and tilted his head from side to side as he imitated my tone.
“Ha ha. Very funny.”
“But a wise woman once told me there are bakeries in grocery stores.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and bounced on the balls of his feet. He looked like a little kid waiting for a treat.
“This is the coffee aisle.”
“Uh oh. You’ve discovered my secret.” He leaned close and I felt his breath on my cheek. “Sometimes I drink coffee with Danishes.”
My eyes rolled back and I shook my head. “Whatever. I have to go.”
I took a step backward and turned to leave, only to hear from behind me, “Don’t you want to know why I called?”
Despite my better judgment, I turned to face Kevin again. “Not really.”
What a liar.
Kevin’s smile waned. “Listen, I’d love to stand here and mess with you all day, but the truth is I felt bad about how things ended this morning.”
“Ended is right. I’m happy to live the rest of my days without listening to any more of your malarkey.” My tone was sharper than I’d intended, and my mother’s guilt-trip tapes played in my head. But Mom never planned on Kevin Best coming along. He wasn’t exactly getting the hint that I wanted him out of my life and, if possible, the galaxy. Being polite was not going to cut it.
“Maggie, I know we don’t have the best history, but I’ve never lied to you. In fact, I may have been too honest in the past and pointed out something you weren’t ready to see yet.”
Immaturity as self-defense kicked in and I crossed my arms to pout. “I have no idea what you’re babbling on about.”
“Yes, you do. But I don’t want to drag up the past. I just wanted to tell you I’m sorry about this morning. I shouldn’t have come to see you so early. Before either of us had had our coffee.” He shot me a wink, and I clenched my fist.
“And here I thought I’d finally gotten rid of you.” I was still pouting. It was working for me. I wasn’t ready to give it up yet. “After all, I’m not worth it.”
“Maybe I decided I’m not ready to give up on you yet.” One side of his mouth slid upward. “You’re worth a whole mess of trouble.”
That’s when the floor dropped out from under me. Or at least my stomach, because it felt like it plunged fifty feet and landed with a wet thwack. There I was, mute, with a million things running through my head. And I couldn’t say a damned one of them. Instead I just stood there, and it only occurred to me after what felt like a million years to pick up my damned jaw to shut my mouth.
Kevin’s gaze pierced me, and the goofy grin diminished. “I know you’re at a vulnerable place in your life right now.”
“You don’t know the half of it, mister,” I mumbled.
Kevin cocked an eyebrow. “I’m sorry?”
I was at a crossroads. He was trying to reach out. He was trying to make things right. Then I realized he was also trying to run my business into the ground and came back to my senses.
“You’re damned right you’re sorry,” I said. “What’s it going to take to convince you I don’t like you? I don’t want your sympathy, and I don’t want you.”
Kevin pursed his lips. He seemed to be trying hard to be patient. And I was trying hard to be trying. But his expression shifted, his gaze turning intense. “You will.”
If we hadn’t been in a public place where there’d be witnesses, I probably would have decked him. Knocked out his teeth until he had to gum his freaking Danishes. “Why are you such a jackass?”
He let out a laugh that sounded half amused, half exasperated. “A jackass? I’m trying to make nice.”
“I don’t need your nice. Go make nice with Angela.”
Kevin moved a step closer, his expression darkening. “Is that the real problem? You have some idea about Angela and me?”
“I don’t care what you and Angela are doing,” I said. But I couldn’t convince my knees, which were threatening to wobble.
He frowned at me a moment, seeming to debate with himself just how far to push me. Discretion being the better part of valor, one would think he’d start arguing again. But he didn’t. “I hope you feel better soon. Have Armand make you some chicken soup. You need your strength.”
“To kick your ass.”
“If you need to.” He moved even closer, his body mere inches from mine. Something in my belly flickered as he leaned down to whisper in my ear. “Here’s a secret, Maggie. I’m not the enemy.” He lingered a moment, letting his body heat sink in.
Out of the blue, I was dizzy and the world swam around me. The air between us was filled with the scent of his leather jacket and blazed with intensity. I couldn’t drop my gaze from his, and my cheeks burned red hot.
“I need cereal,” I said.
Kevin’s brow cocked. “Cereal?”
In desperation, my eyes landed on a box of Fruitie Ohs and I grabbed for it. “For Jack. Lyla sent me to get cereal for Jack.”
“Good. Cereal’s good.” Kevin wasn’t backing down, and I could see in his eyes he was mentally chalking up a victory.
At last, I broke the magnetic field that had formed between us and looked into his cart. “That brand of coffee is crap.” I shot him a defiant stare and stomped off in the opposite direction. Ha! Chalk one up for me.
I am so pathetic.
Bypassing the pharmacy, I got the hell out of the store as fast as I could. “You might not be the enemy,” I said to myself. “But you sure as hell are the devil.” I pulled the slip of paper out of my pocket and stared at it. “I wonder if you can take a lethal dose of prenatal vitamins?”
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