Sweetly, Deeply, Absolutely (Sweet Love)

by Kira Archer

  “I think someone is waiting for you,” Jenny said. “And she doesn’t look happy. Though from what I’ve heard, that’s how most women look after being around you for a while.”

  “Ha-ha.” He squared his shoulders. “No worries. I’ll have her smiling and eating out of the palm of my hand in five minutes.”

  Jenny held her hands up. “Hey, what she eats of yours is none of my business. You have fun.”

  “Ah, now that kind of hurts. I was hoping you’d want a taste,” he said, smoothing his hands down his chest.

  “Who said I don’t?” she said in a mock whisper. She reached out with a finger and followed the path his hands had taken. Jared sucked in a surprised breath, savoring the trail of electricity she left in her wake.

  Anna rang the bell they kept on the counter, and Jenny glanced over his shoulder at her. “You’re being paged.”

  “She can wait,” he said, trying to capture her hand. Jenny pulled away with a smile.

  “That won’t get you any brownie points with her.”

  Jared shrugged. “She’s putty in my hands.”

  “Ha! I bet you a hundred dollars you can’t even get her number.”

  “Oh, I can get her number. But I don’t want your money.”

  Jenny’s eyebrows rose. “Then what do you want?”

  Jared dragged a thumb across her bottom lip. “Another taste.”

  She bit her lip, either trying to savor his touch or obliterate it. He hoped she was savoring, because his whole body was begging to touch her more.

  “Deal,” she said.

  She ducked around the corner into the kitchen before Jared could respond.

  “Excuse me,” Anna said, voice strained with impatience.

  Holy shit, she agreed. Exhilaration flooded his system, sending his heart into overdrive. Time to break out the big guns. He had a bet to win.

  “Hello, there,” he said, leaning against the counter and aiming his most charming smile at Anna. “What can I do for you?”

  Her deep brown eyes flashed, and she puckered intensely red lips at him. Five minutes earlier, her eyes had held him mesmerized, but at the moment, their chocolate hue only reminded him of chocolate frosting smeared near a pair of stunning turquoise eyes that twinkled with laughter. Going by the probably unnaturally unlined face of the woman before him, she’d never laughed a day in her life. Hopefully he could change that for her. Jenny was watching, and there was no way he’d accept defeat.

  “I ordered decaf coffee, and this is certainly not decaf,” she said, delicately shoving her cup at him.

  “Are you sure? I poured it myself, and I know I would have made certain to give you exactly what you wanted.”

  Her frown deepened. Heh. Usually women were all over themselves when he started throwing out innuendos.

  “Of course I’m sure. I’m sensitive to caffeine. It makes my heart race. So I always order decaf, and this is not decaf.”

  “Hmm, maybe your heart is racing for another reason.” He propped his chin on his hand and gave her his best smoldering look. She looked back at him like he was a misbehaving puppy who’d piddled on the floor.

  “Look, I don’t know if you’re trying to be charming, or funny, or what, but I can assure you, the only thing you are being is aggravating. Is there a manager I can speak with?”

  Jared straightened up. Kitten wasn’t in the mood to be playful. Too bad.

  “I’m the manager on duty today.”

  “I would like to speak to the owner then,” she said, folding her arms in the cutest little huff.

  “I would, too, but the owner is in Barbados for the next several weeks. I’m afraid I’m the best you’re going to get.”

  She sighed. “Lovely.”

  The sound of a muted laugh came from the direction of the kitchen, and he turned in time to see Jenny peeking around the corner. Apparently he had an audience. One that was enjoying watching him strike out. He frowned. He was completely ruining his own rep. He’d never had a woman react so negatively to him before. It was a strange feeling. Not one he particularly liked. This one was a tough nut to crack but… Challenge had been accepted!

  “I truly am sorry that I botched your order, Miss…?” he asked, deliberately feigning ignorance of who she was.

  She hesitated but finally supplied her name with a slight frown. “Lopez.” She obviously wasn’t used to not being recognized. A point in his favor. Now he stood out for her.

  “Miss Lopez.” He gave her his sincerest smile, letting his lips slowly pull up while he focused solely on her. She blinked, her cheeks blushing faintly, and her stance relaxed a fraction. There we go. All women fell for an intense stare. “Let me make it up to you. I’ll get you a new cup of coffee. But I’ll also throw in some of our famous baklava. Fresh out of the oven. Totally free of charge, of course.”

  She perused him a moment longer, and he made sure he maintained eye contact the entire time. Finally, she loosened up. “Fine.”

  “Something warm and sweet, coming right up, Miss Lopez.”

  “Anna,” she said with a faint smile.

  “Anna. Beautiful name,” he said, deepening his voice to the husky, morning-after tone that most women swooned over. And it looked like Anna was no exception. Her blush intensified and he winked at her. “I’m Jared. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.”

  Five minutes later, he had her giggling and flirting like she’d been into him from the beginning. And she had been. She just hadn’t known it. But before he could go in for the kill and lock down her phone number, a woman who looked remarkably like her blew into the shop, looked around, and then dropped into a seat near them.

  “You will never believe the day I’ve had!” she said, her voice shaky with impending tears.

  Anna immediately turned to the other woman, seemingly forgetting about Jared entirely. He was either severely off his game or Anna was easily distracted.

  The other woman was talking hysterically in a high-pitched not-quite-crying-but-close voice that Jared couldn’t have followed with Google maps and a personal guide. Anna seemed to know what she was saying, because she kept responding with things like “What?” and “Oh my God, that’s horrible,” and lots of hugs. Finally, Jared couldn’t take it anymore.

  “Excuse me, ladies. What is the problem? Maybe I can help.”

  The crying woman scoffed. “Not unless you can make a cake for a wedding two weeks from now.”

  Anna rubbed the woman’s back and looked at him with a “do something” expression. So…

  “Well, we are a bakery. And we do make fabulous wedding cakes. I’m sure we can whip up something…”

  “No, you can’t just whip something up. This is for my wedding. I have five hundred people coming. The cake is the centerpiece for the whole reception. I can’t have any run-of-the-mill cake. It was supposed to be a statement piece. We spent a month with the bakery designing the perfect cake. And then they had a damn pipe leak that flooded their shop and destroyed all their equipment. And left me without a wedding cake!”

  “That’s a shame their misfortune has ruined your wedding,” Jared said, though his thinly veiled sarcasm went right over both their heads.

  Anna’s lips pursed. Maybe not. “This is my sister, Sara. We were going to do an entire segment about her wedding on the show. Showcase the latest trends in wedding fare. The cake wasn’t just the centerpiece of her wedding but of the whole show.”

  “Well, I don’t know if we could replicate the cake you were going to have made, but I could have our pastry chef come out and talk to you. Maybe you could come up with something that would work that she’d be able to get done for you.”

  Anna glanced at her sister, who shrugged. “It doesn’t hurt to talk to her, I suppose.” Sara grabbed a piece of baklava and shoved it in her mouth. “Wow,” she said, sniffling. “This is good.”

  “You should serve that at your wedding,” Anna said, pointing to the plate of baklava Jared had brought over.


  “What? Why?”

  “Nick is Greek. It could be a nice nod to his heritage. And it would be unique. No one else serves baklava as a wedding cake.”

  Sara turned to Jared. “Can you make a wedding cake out of this?”

  He froze. He had no idea how to answer that question. But she’d finally stopped crying and babbling, and he certainly didn’t want it to start up again. “I’m sure we could figure something out. Maybe if you find a picture of something that you like, we’d be able to replicate it.”

  “Oh, good idea,” Anna said, pulling out her phone. She and her sister put their heads together and started perusing Pinterest.

  “I’ll refresh your coffee,” he said, glad for the excuse to escape for a minute. With any luck, they would quickly find something that made Sara happy, so he and Anna could get back to their conversation. He still had a bet to win. And hopefully, Gina wouldn’t kill him when she found out he had volunteered the bakery to do a wedding cake in two weeks. But one that was going to be televised. That could be huge.

  “Jared!” Anna said, excitedly waving him over.

  He grabbed the decaf decanter and headed back to the table. “Find something?”

  “Yes!” Sara said, holding her phone up so he could see.

  The immense confection looked like a dozen or more layers of baklava, rising in a tapering tower of flaky elegance. “Wow. That’s impressive,” he said.

  “Do you think your chef can handle it?” Sara asked. Anna watched him, surprised and hopeful.

  “Of course! Baklava is our specialty. I’m sure it’s not much more trouble to stack it in a tower than it is to pile on plates.”

  “Oh! That’s wonderful! If you guys can pull this off, we’ll be featuring your work front and center on our show. You can pull this off, can’t you?”

  “You can count on it,” Jared promised her, praying to the baking gods he wasn’t lying.

  “Good. Well, if you do, I’d be forever grateful.” She gave him the kind of smile that few men could resist, but it didn’t have the intended effect on him.

  But then, he wasn’t most men. And she couldn’t help it if she didn’t have plump, kissable lips spattered in the remnants of chocolate frosting.

  Chapter Five

  Jenny watched openmouthed as Jared charmed the narcissistic wannabe-celebrity at the front counter. He was good…very good. She might actually lose their bet. She wasn’t nearly as disappointed at that thought as she should be.

  Gina poked her head around to see what she was looking at. “Unbelievable,” she muttered.

  “What?” Jenny asked.

  “That woman is actually smiling and chatting with him like she’s got a real personality or something. Usually she throws a fit about something, anything. That one is a piece of work.”

  “Jared, or Her Royal Bitch-Fest?”

  That got a laugh out of Gina. “Both. I don’t know why the high-and-mighty Miss Lopez bothers coming in here, since she seems to have a problem with pretty much everything. Of course, it might be because complaining usually gets her a free refill and sometimes an extra item or two, depending on how bitchy she feels like being that day. Although if anyone could charm that ice queen, it’d be Jared.”

  Jenny’s eyebrows shot up. She didn’t doubt it. Even with his mouth shut, Jared was too freaking hot for his own good. And he knew it. Which made him doubly dangerous. He had a way of exuding confidence and borderline arrogance, while somehow making it enticing and attractively sexy. It didn’t help that he had a body to kill for. He was tall and on the lanky side, but with the broad shoulders of someone who knew his way around a gym. Like a swimmer—Michael Phelps from the neck down.

  Muscles rippled visibly even beneath the lines of his shirt, and he had an air of self-assurance that suggested he knew damn well how to use them. She’d always been a shoulders woman. And Jared’s were her wet dreams come true. With his broad, bulging shoulders and arms that framed a chiseled chest that tapered down to what were probably rock-hard abs and legs that went on forever, he was amazing to watch coming (oh God, she could soooo visualize that). But he was damn near spectacular to watch going. That candy-apple ass of his was just made to be bitten. Her mouth was already watering at the thought.

  And the way he moved, kissed. A rush of heat headed south at the memory of the other night on the dance floor. She’d barely even spoken to him then, and now that she had, she knew he was dangerous. Hell, he was already halfway to enticing the pants off her, and that was after a face full of frosting. She’d have no chance if he actually tried to charm her.

  As for the self-absorbed beauty with him at the table, Jared actually had her not only smiling but…was that a giggle? The woman didn’t look like she could even crack a grin, let alone do anything remotely resembling a laugh.

  Gina crossed her arms over her belly. “She and Jared are perfect for each other. She’s the host of the cooking segment they show on the local news channel. Not the most prestigious show in the world, though you’d never know it by the way she acts. She definitely thinks she’s God’s gift and then some. I’m glad Jared was able to woo some good behavior into her. Having a permanently disgruntled customer is a pain in the ass.”

  “Agreed.”

  Eric had brought her in to do the baking, but everyone helped out at the front counter when needed. Jenny was happy letting Jared deal with the customers, especially those of the “never happy” variety.

  She and Gina watched while, within minutes, Jared had Miss Lopez nibbling on the baklava, rolling her eyes in exaggerated ecstasy and flirting like it was going out of style.

  Jenny shook her head. “How did he do that?”

  Gina laughed. “It’s his superpower. At least today he’s using it for good instead of evil. Word to the wise, if he turns those baby browns of his on you, run. He’s too aware of his appeal for your own good.”

  Jenny was already too familiar with that. But Gina? Now that was interesting.

  “Speaking from experience?” Jenny asked. Gina was her sister-in-law and they’d had plenty of long, involved girl chats, but they hadn’t ever delved into the whole ex-fest in great detail. The fact that they shared an ex was a sensitive point they didn’t like to dwell on too much.

  Gina pulled Jenny farther into the kitchen. “If you ever repeat this to anyone, I’ll leave you for dead in an alley somewhere.”

  Jenny’s eyes widened. Not at the threat. Gina was always spouting those off, especially to Rick. But Gina was all bark and no bite. Or…mostly bark with just a little bite. She wouldn’t actually kill her. Maim her a bit, maybe. However, this sounded juicy in the extreme, and Jenny was definitely all ears.

  “I swear on my brother’s life I won’t tell a soul,” Jenny said.

  Gina sighed. “Jared is a good guy.”

  Jenny cocked an eyebrow. “And me telling anyone that is grounds for murder?”

  “Hell yes! The last thing in the world that man needs is a higher opinion of himself.”

  Jenny laughed. Gina could say whatever she wanted. Her affection for Jared was clear, no matter what words came out of her mouth.

  “I won’t argue with that,” Jenny said.

  “Yeah. But he really is pretty decent. I love him like a brother. He’s my best friend, aside from Nat. And don’t get me wrong. I’d love for him to find someone. Someday. When he figures out his life. He’s got unbelievable potential, he just doesn’t do as much with it as he could. I’m sure someday he’ll get it all worked out. But it would be better if you didn’t get mixed up with him in the process. I’d hate to have to get between him and Rick, and you know how your brother is.”

  “Ha! If we are waiting for me to find someone my brother approves of, that’s never going to happen.”

  Gina laughed. “This is true. But with Jared, it’s a little more complicated than your brother not wanting you with anyone.”

  “Really? How?”

  Gina sighed. “Jared and I sort of hooked up once.”
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  Jenny’s mouth dropped open. Of all the men in the world she could have had a random make-out session with, she had to go with another of Gina’s exes? What were the odds? And how ridiculously unlucky was she? There was no way now, if there’d even been a chance before, that they could pick up where they’d left off the other night. She was not going to get caught with another man who’d been with Gina first.

  Still…her curiosity got the best of her. She had to ask. “How was it?”

  Gina laughed. “That’s your first question? Honestly, I was too drunk to remember. And so was he. I’m not even a hundred percent certain anything happened. Just that we woke up together and the extenuating circumstances were enough that we assumed.”

  Jenny breathed a small inner sigh of relief. Okay. Maybe it wasn’t so bad. They hadn’t been in a relationship or anything. It wasn’t like it had been with Tony. So. That was a good thing. She could pay up on the bet she was probably moments away from losing, have a hell of a lot of fun doing it, and not break any Girl Code.

  “Anyway,” Gina continued, waving that off like she didn’t want to think about it, “it took all of five seconds to decide we were better off pretending nothing happened and going back to the way things were. Neither one of us was ready for a real relationship at that point, certainly not with each other, and as much as we hated to admit it, we didn’t want to risk ruining our friendship. So. That was that. I only tell you this because I don’t want either one of you to get hurt. You aren’t exactly known for your commitment to monogamy, either.”

  It was Jenny’s turn to snort. “That’s one way of putting it. But doesn’t that make us perfect for each other? Neither one of us would have expectations of anything else. We could have some fun and go back to life as usual afterward.”

  Gina paled and Jenny laughed. “I’m not saying that’s what’s going to happen.” But she wasn’t not saying that, either.

  Jenny took a deep breath and stepped back around the corner so she could see Jared and Miss Local Celebrity looking cozy and comfortable at their table while the other woman stood right outside the door, talking animatedly on the phone. “You don’t need to worry on my account. I mean, I’m not saying I wouldn’t like to do a little hooking up myself because…damn. Seriously.” She looked him over again and gave a regretful sigh. “But I think I’m finally ready for something a little steadier in my life. I’m half done with school and I have my first real chef job, temporary though it is, thanks to my awesome sis-in-law,” she said, bumping Gina’s shoulder. “I’m done with the whole wild-oats thing.”