Must Love Frosting

by Stacey Joy Netzel

  “Don’t be so crass.” Despite the admonishment, there was grudging humor in her voice.

  “Just trying to make you feel better before I let you go.”

  “That doesn’t make me feel better at all. And you didn’t answer my other question. Plus one or no?”

  Darn. Merit wasn’t even good for an effective distraction these days. “No, I’m not bringing a date, but you know I’ll be busy taking pictures at the party, so don’t even think about setting me up or introducing me to anyone.”

  “Asher, it would be rude of me to not make introductions if there’s someone there you don’t know.”

  Deep breath. She means well.

  “There’ll be a ton of people there I don’t know, Mom. You invited half the state.” Not quite, but since his dad was going to announce his senate run, the guest list would be longer than usual.

  “Then don’t be upset with me when I make introductions,” she reasoned, the happy grin back in her voice.

  “Introduce Loyal. He texted and said his flight gets in Thursday night.”

  “I’d like him to move home for good, not drive him away.”

  “I can always move away,” he threatened.

  “You wouldn’t.”

  They both knew it was true, but he still said, “You’d still have Celia, Merit, and Shelby to drive crazy.”

  “I want all my kids here, not spread out across the country. You’re not allowed to move away, so stop teasing.”

  “But it’s fun.”

  “You’re sassy. Tell me, is Roxanna coming on Saturday, too?”

  “She said she wouldn’t miss it.”

  “Good, then I’ll let you get back to work now.”

  Thank you.

  “Tell Dad I said hi. Love you both.” The sign-off was automatic, but no less sincere.

  As he set his phone aside, a red pick-up truck pulled into the driveway across the street. He couldn’t help sneaking glances as the driver spoke to his red-haired neighbor at her door, then loaded the realty sign into his truck, filled the hole with dirt, topped it with a chunk of sod, and left.

  Not long after, another guy showed up in a gray Charger with a briefcase and went inside for about fifteen minutes. When Honor walked him back out to his car, she hugged him and kissed his cheek. Compared to the sign guy, this one didn’t give her a second glance, and going off similar ginger hair and mannerisms, Asher guessed him to be a brother or some other relation.

  At least he hoped he was.

  Why? Why do you care?

  About the time it dawned on him he was approaching stalker status and closed his computer to take his sorry ass inside so he could actually get some work done, a black Porsche convertible glided into her driveway. He admired the sleek car through the living room window until a tall, dark-haired man stepped out, looking like he was right off the cover of some men’s fashion magazine.

  The guy swung a bouquet of red roses at his side as he hurried to the front door. A rose bearer who was neither yesterday’s fiancé nor last night’s date? Curious suspicion shifted into overdrive.

  Honor gave the man one of her brilliant smiles when he handed over the bouquet. When she buried her nose in the flowers, Asher shook his head and decided enough was enough. He didn’t want to know anything more about his neighbor across the street.

  Ten minutes later, he paced restlessly to the window while fully acknowledging how ridiculous it was to be so agitated by a woman who wasn’t even available. His eyebrows rose when he saw her sitting out on her front porch swing with Porsche Guy, her left hand extended.

  No way.

  Yet, there they sat, smiling at each other as the guy slipped a ring on her finger.

  What the ever-loving-fuck was going on over there?

  Chapter 6

  Honor opened her front door as Mae parked in the driveway shortly after noon the next day. It always made her smile seeing her petite, blond firecracker of a friend climbing down from her heavy duty work truck. She always said she didn’t want to waste money on a second, leisure vehicle, and reasoned it was great advertising.

  It made sense, and Honor also knew she had a lot to be proud of with her Lockhart Construction prominently stenciled on each door. At only twenty-two years old, single mom to a one-year-old, she’d started her business with sheer guts and determination. Over the past five years, she’d built it into a successful company that provided a steady paycheck for eight employees.

  Although they were now both twenty-eight, Honor still joked she wanted to be her when she grew up. Only her signs would someday advertize her specialty cake shop.

  “Auntie H!” Ian jumped out the passenger side and ran up onto the porch. “We got pizza and root beer! Mom said if I help unpack, I can have soda, too!”

  “Milk first,” Mae reminded from the truck. She shouldered the door shut, pizza box and soda in hand.

  “I’ve got chocolate in the fridge, Scoob,” Honor told her favorite six-year-old while lifting her arm for a high five. “Just for you.”

  “Jinky.” He slapped her hand, hugged her waist for about two seconds, then scampered inside to flop on the couch where she’d cleared off the last of the boxes an hour ago.

  “How was your game?” she called as she crossed the porch to help his mom by taking the two liter bottle of soda.

  “We won!”

  “Awesome.”

  “He did great,” Mae agreed as an engine fired up across the street. “Hit a double and they got two runs off it.”

  “Nice job.” Unable to stop herself from checking out the sound of the motor, Honor’s pulse skipped when she saw her neighbor outside on his front lawn with a push mower.

  Look away. Now.

  And yet, her gaze followed his long stride down one side of his driveway, then along the curb by the road. She would need to buy a lawnmower for her own yard now, so of course she was going to check out his equipment.

  That was her story, anyway.

  “Holy moly. I vote we set up chairs and eat out here.”

  She tore her gaze away to see Mae swing around to watch her neighbor, the pizza held over her shoulder on the tips of her spread fingers, like the cocktail tray she’d wielded during college for her second job. Until she’d gotten pregnant.

  Despite her best efforts, Honor turned to watch again. The man’s low riding jeans and faded blue T-shirt showed off all the mouth-watering aspects of his tall, athletic body. He was wearing those mirrored sunglasses, and his hair was an untidy mess that looked like he’d just rolled out of bed.

  Maybe he had. It was the first she’d spotted him all day.

  Not that she’d been looking.

  “Mmm, mmm,” Mae murmured.

  “He’s kind of a jerk.” The abrupt statement was as much for herself as it was for her friend. His brush off couldn’t have been clearer, so there was no reason for her to be imagining him sprawled in bed.

  Shirtless.

  The covers sliding down—

  “Really?”

  “Really,” she insisted. “Both times I met him.”

  “Well, double damn, then.” Her friend sighed with disappointment. “Okay, so we won’t go talk to him, but we can still enjoy the scenery.”

  Tamping down on an irrational spurt of possessive jealousy, Honor pointed out, “You have plenty of scenery on your crew to drool over all week long.”

  “And a lot of weekends, too.” The brag was accompanied by a cheeky grin. “But I can’t openly drool over the guys without risking a sexual harassment suit or a screwdriver in the back from Jen or Becca.”

  Jen and Becca had been her first employees, and after each of them married, their hunky husbands had been hired at Lockhart Construction, too.

  As Mae stared across the street, her expression turned wistful. “Besides, there’s no such thing as too much scenery when I haven’t been with anyone since Ian was born. Fantasies are all I have these days. Don’t deny me this tiny bit of pleasure.”

  Honor’s
grudging laugh lodged in her throat when her neighbor swung the mower around to go back across the yard. He glanced over as the two of them stood there ogling him.

  She quickly spun around, cheeks burning with mortification. “Let’s eat before the pizza gets cold.”

  Mae sent her a narrow-eyed glance, then gave a cheery wave across the street before finally turning to precede her inside.

  Ian had already found the remote and a cartoon on the TV, and two steps into the open concept foyer-slash-living room-leads-right-into-the-kitchen, his mom pulled up short to scan the furnished room.

  “Wow. Did you leave anything for us to help with?”

  She snagged the pizza on her way past, carrying it and the soda to her kitchen island. She hadn’t had one in her small apartment and loved it already. “I’ve got a few boxes left in the spare bedrooms upstairs, and most of my pictures to hang, but they can wait. As much as we’ve both been working, it feels like we never get to visit anymore, so I made an executive decision to take the afternoon off. No arguments.”

  Mae braced her palms on the island, eyebrows raised in question. The glint of hope in her expression made Honor doubly glad she’d worked past one a.m., then gotten up again by six to get everything done—all the while drinking tons of caffeine. She was used to working into the night at the bistro, but not so much the getting up bright and early. Especially two mornings in a row.

  “Fine, twist my arm,” Mae relented with an affectionate grin as she glanced toward the roses in a vase off to the side. “But if I’d have known, I’d have brought wine, too.”

  “Not to worry. I’ve got wine. We’ll have some with the pizza now so you don’t have to worry when it’s time to drive home later.”

  “This is why I love you so much.”

  She slid the bottle across the counter with an air kiss.

  “Speaking of love…” Mae looked pointedly at the flowers.

  “Oh, please. You know better than that. They’re from a client, nothing more,” she insisted as she grabbed paper plates and napkins before pouring a small glass of chocolate milk for Ian.

  Three gulps later, he waited for his root beer refill with a milk-mustache grin while his mother poured their wine. The three of them sat at the island, eating and talking around bites of hand-tossed pepperoni pizza.

  While Ian recapped his tee-ball game, Honor braced her chin on her hand as she listened to her godson. She’d known she was missing these moments together with her second family, but hadn’t realized how much until now.

  “Dude, I think you’re ready for the pros,” she teased after he told her about his second base hit.

  He giggled as he chomped down on the crust of his slice of cheese and pepperoni. “I’m way too small for that yet, Auntie H.”

  She reached out to ruffle his hair. “You’ll get there, little man. You will get there.”

  He ducked out from under her hand with another grin while turning to his mom. “Can I go watch Scooby and Shaggy again?”

  “After you put your plate in the garbage, and rinse your cup for the dishwasher.”

  Once he was settled back in the living room with his favorite cartoon dog on the screen, Honor commented in an undertone, “You’re wasting no time training him, are you?”

  “Gotta start early.” Mae tucked her blond hair behind her ear and snuck a glance at her son while lifting her wine glass. “I’m a single mom who runs a business, I don’t have time to be a maid, too.”

  “His future wife is gonna love you.”

  “She better.”

  They shared a laugh as Honor slid her third slice onto her plate. “Considering what you said before, I think it’s high time you get a man in your life again. I’ll even volunteer to take Scoob since I don’t have to bake at night anymore.”

  “You know I don’t have time for a relationship.”

  “It’s not like you have to get serious with anyone. You just need to have some fun in your life.”

  She shrugged, then her green gaze cut toward her son. “I do have fun.”

  “Woman fun. With an adult man.”

  “Okay, Kettle.” Mae arched an eyebrow. “Or are you Pot?”

  “Hey. I get out. I have fun. I even date.”

  “Your fake date with Sam does not count.”

  “Even so, it hasn’t been over six years since I’ve had sex.” It’d been about two. And she’d been fine with that until her neighbor had her thinking maybe she wasn’t.

  Good God, she had to stop thinking of him.

  “Well, me having casual…ah…relations don’t mix with being a single mother, so it is what it is and isn’t going to change.”

  Honor held up her hands in surrender. “I can respect that.”

  Her friend drained her glass of wine and refilled it about half. “How did things go for Sam the other night?”

  Ironically, that question gave her a heat-inducing flashback of the encounter at the cake table. Her pulse beat faster as she recalled amber eyes framed by thick lashes and full sensual lips accented by a dab of frosting.

  But Mae had asked about Sam, not Tall, Dark, and Jerky.

  “Not so great, but getting better.” She gave her the rundown, then added, “He finally responded late last night. Turns out Penny called him yesterday, and they met for coffee. They’re having dinner Friday.”

  “Well, then, all’s well that ends well.”

  “Time will tell.” And time told her to change the subject before more wayward thoughts of her wedding photographer neighbor could sneak in to mess with her mind. “Speaking of next weekend, any chance you could be my date for the Governor’s anniversary party? Mrs. Diamond sent me an invite to attend this week. It’s black tie and everything, so we can dress up fancy.”

  Mae winced in apology. “As much as I’d love to say yes, Ian has a Scouts meeting.”

  Nervousness pinched her stomach at the prospect of going alone. It’d been a long shot asking Mae on short notice, but she’d still held out some hope. “So much for my networking wing-woman.”

  “I’m sorry. What about Glory?”

  Honor shook her head at the mention of her older sister. “It’s her weekend with the twins.”

  “Your mom?”

  She nearly snorted wine from her nose and reached to snatch her friend’s glass. “That’s it. You’re cut off.”

  Mae’s eyes sparkled with mirth as she held the last few sips of her one and a half glasses out of reach. “You certainly wouldn’t have to worry about coming up with any ice-breakers if Camilla was there.”

  “A perfect reason to go alone.” The idea of her mother in a room full of rich politicians made her shudder. With divorce number four final only three short weeks ago, she would be on the hunt for husband number five the second they entered the governor’s mansion.

  “What are you gonna wear?”

  She’d been pondering that as she unpacked yesterday. Choices were slim, and money was tight. “Probably the same dress I wore to the wedding the other night.”

  “No. You just wore it.”

  “I’ll get it cleaned, of course.”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “It’s the only thing I have that’s formal enough.”

  Mae leaned forward. “What about that dress I got when we went to Vail last fall? The off-the-shoulder one, with the slit up to mid-thigh?”

  Honor sighed with longing. “I do love that dress—but you haven’t even worn it yet, have you?”

  “No, but the way things are going, I never will. I’m serious, you should wear it. It’ll go great with your black sandals.”

  Four inch heels with a simple strap across the toes and a second around the ankle. Of course Mae remembered the sandals, because Honor had bought them on clearance during the same trip. And her dear friend was kind of a shoe slut when she wasn’t wearing her steel toed construction boots.

  “I don’t want to wear your dress before you do. Besides, burgundy doesn’t go so well with my re
d hair and freckles.”

  “It’ll be gorgeous with your red hair and freckles. Trust me.”

  Chapter 7

  Honor carried the final cake outside to the dessert table set up on the huge, pergola-covered patio of the Diamond mansion. There were a multitude of individual treats set out by the caterers bustling about between the kitchen and the patio, but her four designs were front and center as the main attraction.

  The first was triple layer red velvet with snow white butter cream frosting, a replica of the top tier of the Diamond’s wedding cake from thirty-five years ago—original topper supplied by the bride-to-be daughter, Celia. The second was chocolate with chocolate ganache frosting featuring a hand scrolled family tree, with leaves for each of the couple’s five children: Celia, Loyal, Asher, Merit, and Shelby.

  At the request of Mrs. Diamond, the third was a southern favorite, hummingbird spice cake with cream cheese frosting, in the shape of the Colorado state capitol building to honor the governor’s political career. And last but not least, lemon poppy seed with Bavarian cream filling. She’d shaped that cake into a pair of interlocking wedding bands, frosted with butter cream, airbrushed silver, and layered with delicate gold fondant lace.

  Sliding the fourth cake into position, Honor stood back to survey the table. Other than the capitol building, the cakes had been fairly simple, but she’d still taken time with all the little details, plus triple taste-tested the batter to make sure each was exactly right. Everything was as perfect as she could make it. If this didn’t secure her the job, nothing would.

  As she started to turn back to the kitchen, she pulled up short. She’d been so focused on her work, the beauty before her hadn’t even registered. Of course she’d noticed the sheer size and grandeur of the mansion when she arrived, but the grounds out here in the back were nothing short of amazing.

  Her awestruck gaze swept over a massive swimming pool and sprawling flower gardens, past a combination tennis and basketball court, all the way across the lawn to a large stable with pristine white fences. At least a dozen horses grazed in the spring green pastures, and the picture-perfect setting was topped off by the Rocky Mountains rising up in the background.