Just when I thought he’d turn to flee the girly environment, he unzipped his coat. I blinked rapidly in a futile attempt to clear my head and tore my gaze away from his chest, the ripple of abs visible beneath the thin, white cotton.
“Hi,” he said and flashed a smile with perfect white teeth and dimples. Oh my God … dimples. “I’m told you’re good with cupcakes.”
I swallowed twice. “I — uh, yeah. You could say that.” Come on, what was wrong with me? I had to get it together. He was hot, divine actually, but I couldn’t let that get in the way of business. With my new customer.
“Great,” he replied, then sauntered forward a few steps. He pulled his massive hands out of his jean pockets and placed them on the countertop. “What are these?” He pointed.
I stared at his dark brown hair, the stubble on his chin, the straight nose and clear blue eyes. Like the sparkle of the ocean on clear day. “Pardon?” I breathed.
“These, over here. What are they?” He spoke it as a command more than a question, but the skin around his eyes crinkled with amusement. At my bemusement.
I shook my head and followed his finger. That perfect finger attached to that perfect hand. A flash of what that hand might be able to do raced through my addled brain. Somehow, I found the words to answer. “They’re Red Velvet Raptures,” I replied.
“Sounds delicious,” he said and I watched his lips form the word. Full and lush. Lips made for kissing. And other things.
Okay, I was in serious depraved mode, but it wasn’t every day I saw a guy who looked like this. He was fit, but not in that body builder kind of way. He was more lean muscle — balanced, and his eyes were a little close together. The blue eyes that twinkled like the sunbeams in July.
I liked that. There was also a scar on his chin. I wondered how he’d gotten it and was about to ask when I suddenly realized how inappropriate that would be.
Shit. I needed to stop this …
“Would you like one?”
“I’m pretty certain one wouldn’t be enough,” he replied. “It’s never enough.”
I bent to reach one of the boxes, but he caught my hand and stopped me.
Electricity sparked across my skin and my breath hitched in my chest. I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. No quirky remarks or questions. Just breath. And desire.
He stared at my lips, as he tilted his head to one side, exposing the line of his jaw. God, how I wanted to reach out and touch it. Touch him. Run my fevered fingers across every plane of his face. “What’s your name?”
“I, uh,” I stammered. What was my name? I would’ve told him, but he’d pretty much reduced my brain to mush and my body to a liquid pool of lust.
“I’m Gabe.” He said it, and it was the best syllable I’d ever heard.
Gabe.
“Allegra,” I whispered, staring at his hand on mine. Heat prickled down my spine and spread through to my core, pooling wetness in my lacy panties before we’d even been properly introduced.
“I’m sorry?”
The way he said that made my skin sensitive. I pictured his lips whispering over my collarbone, kissing and licking their way to the exposed valley of skin above my V-neck. Then, he’d use one of those perfect fingers to pull the fabric down and …
“My name is Allegra,” I said, louder this time.
“Nice to meet you,” he said, “I’ve heard good things about your bakery.”
I had to stop this. I had to get free of his iron grip because he’d driven me to a place I didn’t like to go. I wouldn’t go. Not again.
Not ever.
I slipped my hand from beneath his and deliberately broke the spell, and he raised an eyebrow.
“I’ll get the cupcakes for you.” I got a box out and slipped two of the Red Velvet Raptures inside, then taped it closed and rang it up.
He handed me the money, but didn’t take his change or the box.
“Allegra.” My name fell from his lips, and he licked them shortly after he said it.
I stood and held the box out. Waiting. For him to take it. For something else. I was so bemused and pissed at my body’s traitorous reaction to his physical closeness that I just wanted him gone. Never to return. “Can I get you anything else?”
“Yeah, actually,” he replied, finally taking the cupcakes. “A … date. Drinks? Dinner? Walk in the park? Whatever would make you happy.”
You.
“What?” I dragged my teeth over my bottom lip. “Sorry. I’m busy.” I had to cut this off before it got too far. I wasn’t ready for anything with anyone. Not a fling, and certainly not with a man who had the potential to reduce me to a puddle of quivering desire at the mere sight of him.
“I didn’t say when,” he said as his face burrowed into a frown and he clutched the box to his torso.
“I’m always busy. Brand new business. Fourteen hour days.” I stammered the excuses sounding ridiculous even to my own ears. I had to get away from him before I went up in flames of mortification so I waved my hand and fled to the kitchen. The double doors swooshed shut behind me, blocking off any more sightings of ‘Mr. Holy Shit That Man Is Fine’.
I hid in the kitchen until I heard the bell ring. He was gone.
Chapter 5
“What was his name?” Kelly asked, sitting across from me with her palms folded around a mug of Hazelnut Heaven coffee.
It was a Sunday morning and Pat was in the icehouse fishing with some buddies. Of course, most Minnesota icehouses were like cabins. Or better. Pat’s had a kitchenette and a big screen with cable. If they were actually fishing, it would be a miracle.
Man caves on ice were okay because it allowed for girl time. The coffee shop was closed and Kelly had taken a welcome break from it all.
I swallowed. “Gabe,” I said, burying my butterflies under a layer of false bravado. “His name was Gabe, but Kels, you should’ve seen this guy. He was like…”
“Like what?” She stirred the coffee absentmindedly, wearing the same rapturous expression she had whenever we talked gossip. And not just about my love life.
“Something out of a movie. He was gorgeous and mysterious and he asked me out on a date.”
“No,” Kelly said, her jaw dropping. “Tell me you said yes, Ally. Make my damn day. I’ve been begging you for ages to go out on a date with somebody.”
“I told him I was busy,” I said and flopped my hands around in the air by way of excusing myself from it, like it was a crime. “Oh whatever, don’t look at me like that.”
Kelly continued looking at me like that. She bucked her head forward and drew her lips into a thin line as she sighed. A deep, sigh of censure. “He sounds divine, and you just let him go?”
“You weren’t there, you don’t get it.”
“Then explain it to me,” she replied. She slurped some of her coffee and looked out her kitchen window at the snow falling outside. It was a light layer today, but it was still damn freezing. Maybe Pat would get stuck out on the lake.
The kitchen was warm though, filled with the scents of toasted bread and steaming coffee. She’d laid out all the ingredients for our baking spree today. I’d promised I’d teach her my family recipe for Snickerdoodle Christmas cookies.
I considered what to say that she’d accept as I ground my molars together in frustration.
“Well?” she prompted, resting her chin in her hands.
“It was too … intense.” That was one way of wording it. The connection we’d shared for a couple minutes had put the names of my cupcakes to shame. The raging chemistry unlike anything I’d ever felt before. Or probably would again.
“Intense?”
“Yeah. I felt naked just standing in front of the guy. I was lost in him in five seconds flat. Azure blue eyes, thick head of chestnut hair, rock hard body. Dimples.”
“How is that a bad thing, again?” She swept a bagel off her plate and crunched on the end. “Sounds like heaven. Don’t get me wrong, Pat and I are absolutely perfe
ct, but this all sounds so whirlwind. So serendipitous. So Young and the Restless. It gives me the chills.”
“Me too,” I said, then blushed. Never in my life had I had a reaction to a man on that level. Matthew and I had done the deed; we’d been together for long enough. It’d been romantic the first couple of months, but there had never been that raging heat between us. Nothing that made me want to rip his clothes off and lick him. Like icing off of a Vanilla Vixen.
I looked at Kelly and sighed. Apparently, that told her everything.
“I think you should go for it. He’s clearly into you and he’s hot as hell —”
“How can he be into me when he only saw me for a few minutes? More likely he’s some douche bag player. Who asks a woman out that fast?” I raised my palm to stall her before she really got into it. Kelly could be very convincing when it suited her. “You know me, I don’t have time for men anymore.”
“Maybe he’s just a man who knows what he likes. What he wants. It’s been six months, Allegra,” she said, deepening her tone into lecture mode. “It’s time to move on. Hell, it doesn’t have to be anything serious with this guy. Even if it’s just a fling or something.”
“I’m not the fling kinda gal. Besides, I need to focus on work, keep the bakery going. It’s early stages, Kelly.” I practiced my own lecture voice right back.
She conceded the points with a bob of her head and another crunch of the bagel. “Yeah, I guess. But wouldn’t it be romantic if you guys ended up together?”
“Oh please,” I said, rolling my eyes. I pressed my hand to my stomach under the table, trying to still the butterflies. It would. “Anyway, it was a one-off thing. I’ll probably never see him again.”
“You will,” she said with certainty. She offered me the last bite of her breakfast but I waved it off. “You will definitely see him again.”
“No way. I probably freaked him out with all my staring and gasping.” And lusting. Probably written all over my flushed face like a skywriter’s banner trailing behind a prop plane.
“Gasping?” Kelly snorted, then choked on a bit of her bagel and cough-laughed her way back to fresh air. “You gasped? You didn’t?”
“Well, yeah, I couldn’t help it,” I replied. Man, if I kept blushing like this, my cheeks would probably stay red forever. That’d be a look to remember. “He was that hot.” Then again, hot didn’t do him justice. Not even slightly.
“You mark my words, Allegra Wilson. That man will be back for you. He’s got swagger.”
I shook my head at her, but inside, I was a wreck. My intestines flip-flopped around on a trampoline at the thought of seeing that guy again.
I shook my head. I couldn’t let him distract me from the bakery. I had loans to pay off and the insurance agent would be over to assess the damages soon. What if the policy didn’t cover all of the damage? I might be living in a ditch or tent city if any more unexpected expenses rolled in.
I rose from the table and carried my coffee cup to her sink, then stood there staring out over her snow covered lawn. The pristine white reflecting back a perfection that I didn’t feel. He wouldn’t be back. He couldn’t come back and that was that.
Chapter 6
I lay in bed that night, tossing and turning. Codsworth had gotten irritated and opted for the sofa because of it. I didn’t blame him. Thoughts of Gabe had driven me to distraction.
“Come on,” I whispered. “This is ridiculous.”
I pummeled the pillow with both fists, folded my hands across my chest and closed my eyes.
There was smoke again, enfolding me in its grey haze. The kitchen was filled with it. The flames crackled and I gasped for air, then choked on the foul, thick smog. It tasted burnt, like death or worse.
Darkness filled my vision and I dropped to the floor.
This didn’t feel right. There was a fire in the bakery again. Again? Had there been a fire before?
“Help,” I croaked, clawing at the grout between the tiles with my ragged fingernails, dragging myself away from the flames. They danced after me, growing and spitting embers threatening to consume me.
Had to get away before they took me.
Had to get out of this kitchen.
The doorjamb was two feet away. If I could just reach it … I stretched my fingers, grasping desperately, but … nothing. The exit wasn’t two feet away after all, it was ten feet away, and the fire licked at my heels.
“Please, help me,” I cried, tears stinging my skin like acid. “Please.”
“I’m here, don’t worry,” a man spoke in my ear, then gathered me in his arms and lifted me high above the flames. “I won’t let you get hurt. Is there anyone else in here?”
“No,” I murmured as I squeezed my eyes shut tight and rested my head against his hard chest. He smelled of woodsy cologne and smoke.
He carried me through the kitchen, the front of the bakery and into the street outside. But instead of ambulances and firetrucks, the street was empty, coated in a blanket of thick snow. He sat me down in it, but it didn’t hurt my bare feet.
I clutched at my bare arms, rubbing them. They weren’t cold either.
The fireman stood before me, except he was different. He smelled right, but he didn’t wear the uniform. He had on a quilted black jacket and a white cotton t-shirt.
He stepped towards me, hands tucked into his pockets.
“Gabe,” I murmured.
“Allegra.” He raised a finger and trailed it down my cheekbone. “I’ve been looking for you. Where were you today?”
“Huh?” I’d been at the bakery as usual. What was he talking about?
Gabe slid one hand down the side of my neck and rested it on my shoulder, with his thumb on my throat. “You must be freezing.”
Now I was. The snow made my toes icy, my skin prickling with goosebumps. But inside was scorching heat. Fire.
“Let me keep you warm,” he said, then wrapped me in those strong arms.
I slid my hands up his chest, feeling the hard body beneath, the solid pecs poking at the fabric. “Oh God,” I whispered. “You’re so perfect.”
I reached up and brushed my fingertips along his lips. He caught one and sucked it lightly into his mouth, sending waves of pleasure through my very being. Like I’d never been touched. Until this moment. Until this man.
“Make love to me,” I said.
He moved like he’d waited an eternity for me to say it. He covered me on the bed of snow, so slowly the ache became unbearable. Equally slowly, he stripped off my nightie. I wore nothing but a thong underneath. Lacy. Black.
Gabe hooked his finger underneath the fabric and stroked the smooth skin below it. “Are you ready for me?”
“Yes,” I murmured as I arched my back and dug my fingernails into the frozen ground below. My nipples were pebbled and I was wet for him. So wet, the slick heat radiated off my body like breath on a frosty day. He’d barely touched me, but I was on fire. I needed him inside me. To fill me. Like I would never feel complete until he did.
He stripped off his shirt methodically, slowly revealing the chiseled body underneath. I stared at it, at him. Words gone. Desire ripping through my very soul. I moaned, low and long.
He took off his belt, undid the top button of his jeans and slid them down to his ankles.
Then he lay down on top of me, his erection pressing against my thong, demanding.
I moaned again, aching to have him. “Please, I need you now. Don’t make me wait any longer.”
He kissed me, a drugging kiss more potent than heroin and my world shattered into a million pieces. He forced his tongue into my mouth and tasted me. Taking. His pleasure and turning it into mine as well.
I grabbed his back, digging my fingers into his flesh and gripping him to me, my bare breasts rubbing against his chest. I couldn’t get close enough.
He hadn’t even entered me yet and I was already close to the edge. Writhing against him, rubbing my clit against him straight through the lace barrier betw
een us.
“You’re mine,” he said into my mouth then sucked my bottom lip.
“Yes,” I whispered.
My eyes flew open and I sat up, clutching my fevered fingers at the oversized t-shirt I’d worn to bed. I glanced around the room. Searching. For something to ease the ache, fill the hole.
For him.
“Just a dream,” I chastised out loud into the silent room. I slumped back against my pillows and sighed. “Just a dream.” This was insane. I had to get this guy out of my mind. He’d consumed my thoughts and now I couldn’t even rest without him intruding.
I rolled onto my side and stared at the alarm clock on my bedside table. It was one of the old school ones, with the bell on the side and a white clock face. I’d picked it up in an antique shop on the way to Treasure Island one day. The black hands pointed to the twelve and four.
“Shit,” I whispered. I’d have to be up in like an hour, and I’d hardly gotten any sleep at all. I closed my eyes and drifted off again. Gabe waited for me on the other side.
Chapter 7
I stood behind the counter and stared at the door, breathing through my nose to calm myself. I’d been tense the minute I’d come down to start work, and being out front made it even worse. After the incredibly vivid sex dream about Gabe, it felt like it was inevitable that he’d materialize into flesh and blood man. In my bakery. Or my bed.
I couldn’t afford anyone to take my place, and Tess was best in the back, working on the baking and icing. She wasn’t the friendliest woman on the planet, and I didn’t want to drive customers away with her bristly demeanor. Tess was a back of the house employee, and she was great at what she did in the kitchen. Someday, I might be able to afford a part-time cashier. Someone like the person Kelly had. Pamela with a head for organization and a heart for the customer.
“No,” I murmured to myself. “Don’t worry about Gabe. Because he’s never coming back here.” I lowered my head and stared at the rows of cupcakes beneath the glass of the counter. They were like sugary little cherubs, sweet gifts for any occasion.
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