by Zoe York
“Well, Evan’s messed around with some girls he’s friends with,” Parker decided to interject.
Evan gave him a frown.
“I mean, he didn’t just want sex from them,” Parker went on, ignoring Evan.
Hank nodded. “But when you were messing around, what were you thinking about? Tits and ass, right?”
Noah almost spit out the drink of coffee he’d just taken.
Evan thumped him on the back and said to Hank, “Yep, pretty much.”
“Well, when you’re in love, things like hearing her laugh at the jokes on the Late Show make you just as hot as how she looks when she bends over,” he said, rolling his eyes at Noah when he again choked slightly on his coffee. “And the way she cheats, badly, at Scrabble makes you want her just as much as the way she looks in lingerie. And even when she’s bare-assed naked, you make a note to get a bag of gumdrops the next time you’re at the store because they’re her favorites. It all gets mixed up together.”
Evan looked at the older man for a long moment. That all made perfect sense. And was all something he’d never experienced before Cori Carmichael blew into his life.
But he turned to Parker. “Okay, how the hell did you know all of that?” Parker had never, to Evan’s knowledge, been in love.
“You think Hank’s the only one that talks like that?” Parker asked, passing Noah the coffeepot so he could refill Hank’s cup. “They all do. They give advice like that—and on lots of other topics—to anyone who will listen.”
Evan shook his head. “Too bad we don’t have a bar in this town. That seems more like bar talk.”
Parker sighed. “You’re telling me.”
But Evan knew that his friend actually loved being the hub for all the gossip, political debates, sports talk and yes, even relationship advice, in Bliss.
“Hank, your coffee’s on me,” Evan told him as Evan slid off the stool. He needed to wrap his head around all of this. That he was in love with Cori. That it meant he could get dirty with her, even while he wanted to buy her a St. Bernard puppy, and that he could want to cover her naked body in pie filling and then lick it off, slowly, even while wanting to take her to the nearest photo booth and take strip after strip of photos with her.
“Well, I would hope so,” Hank said, saluting Evan with his cup. “Glad I could help you realize how you felt. I hope you and Ava are happy for as many years as I got with Maryann.”
Evan froze with a ten dollar bill suspended over the countertop.
Ava.
Right.
He was supposed to be in love with Ava. For four and a half more months.
Parker plucked the money from his fingers and said softly, “Breathe, buddy.”
Breathe. Yeah, okay, that was a good first step.
After which he really had no idea what to do.
Chapter 10
“Evan and I have decided that we’re probably best off if we keep our dates a little less public,” Ava announced as she came into the front of the pie shop, a pie in hand.
Or more interestingly, an unburnt, seemingly fully baked, pie. Which would make it a rarity in the pie shop.
“You talked to Evan?” Cori asked, pretending that her heart wasn’t suddenly racing.
“He just called,” Ava said. “He’s coming over for a movie night tonight.”
It had been three nights since Cori and Ava had switched places at the restaurant. And Evan had given Cori an orgasm in the cab of his truck. And then kicked her out of the cab of that truck.
“Movie night sounds like a good idea,” Brynn said from where she was hanging a set of the new curtains in the front window. “That’s a totally normal thing for a dating couple to do, his truck will be in the driveway, but it’s not out in front of everyone.”
“Exactly.” Ava set the pie on the counter.
“But you have to actually watch the movie with him,” Cori said. “That’s the deal. You doing fun, normal dating-type stuff.”
“I know. I intend to. He’s going to bring dinner and the movie over.”
“What time?” Cori asked, knowing she was going to either need to hide in her room or avoid the house. She didn’t know exactly what had happened the other night, but things had been intense. And no matter what emotions and thoughts had been swirling around in that truck, the bottom line was that her sister’s supposed boyfriend had had his hands on her bottom line.
She and Evan needed to behave, and apparently the only way to really do that, was to avoid one another.
And yeah, her ego was a little stung. Or very stung. She’d been half-naked on his lap. A lap that had purportedly had a lot of half-naked in it. And he’d said goodnight.
That bit of humiliation was making avoiding him a lot easier.
“Around seven,” Ava said.
“Okay.” It sucked that Bliss didn’t have a bar. And she couldn’t really go over to the next town that did have a bar, drink, and then drive home. Dammit. She was going to have to find something to do that didn’t involve liquor.
She was pretty sure she could do that. Probably.
“Come taste this,” Ava said. “I think I’ve got it.”
“You’ve got it?” Brynn asked. “As in, you made a good pie?”
“I think so.” Ava looked pleased, and both Cori and Brynn set down what they were doing to join her at the counter.
She handed them each a fork. Cori and Brynn looked at each other and quickly did rock-paper-scissors. Cori lost.
“Seriously?” Ava asked, as Cori stepped up to be the first to try the pie.
Cori just shrugged. “No sense in both of us having to wash our mouths out.”
Ava rolled her eyes. Cori dug her fork into the pie at one edge. It was cherry, which was generally her favorite. She took out a tiny forkful and gingerly lifted it to her lips.
“Oh, for God’s sake,” Ava muttered. She picked up another fork and dug a huge bite out, putting it in her mouth.
Cori took the bite and chewed. Then she frowned, and scooped up another bite. The second was as good as the first. “Holy crap, Ava. You did do it.”
“Really?” Brynn grabbed a fork. She was nodding within seconds. “Wow, you did. This is really good.”
Ava smiled, nodded, then grimaced.
“What’s going on?” Cori asked, taking one more bite, then thought about how Ava’s skirt had been too tight on her and set her fork down. Then she thought about how she’d taken that skirt off and everything that happened after it, and she smiled and got a little flushed and then frowned and picked her fork back up. Because all she had now was pie. Because she was crazy about Evan, and Evan was really, really good with his mouth and just as good with his fingers…and she hadn’t gotten to know how good he was with other parts. But she sure as hell had imagined it all night long.
Yeah, she was going to eat pie. Because the guy she was falling for had tossed her out of his truck after giving her one of the fastest orgasms of her life, and he was now coming over to watch movies with her sister.
“Okay, I made that pie,” Ava said.
Brynn and Cori nodded, both still chewing.
“But,” Ava went on. “I didn’t make the parts of the pie.”
Cori narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”
“I paid a woman for her pie crusts. And I bought the pie filling.”
Cori set her fork down. “Ava.”
“I know, I know. But listen,” Ava said quickly. “I am making the pies. I’m getting my hands messy. I’m learning my way around the kitchen. That’s the point, right? That’s what I’m supposed to be doing.” She sighed. “I can’t make a pie crust to save my life. I don’t get it and it’s making me crazy, but I can’t. And we can’t keep going like this. We have to get the shop open and since it’s a pie shop, we need to have pie.”
“So you found a loophole,” Cori said. She glanced at Brynn. “You are both finding all these loopholes in this plan.” She had to laugh. “I’m impressed. I thought I was
the only loophole girl in this little trio.”
“Well,” Ava said. “How am I doing?”
Cori looked down at the pie, then at her sisters. “It’s homemade crust?”
“Yep. And,” Ava added, “I paid her to adapt the recipe to make it something that would be exclusive to us. She won’t make it any other time, even on her own.”
“How did she adapt it?”
“I have no idea.”
Cori couldn’t help but grin. “Okay, we have an exclusive, homemade crust that you have to bake.”
“And fill,” Ava said.
Cori and Brynn laughed. “That’s gotta count. At least partially,” Cori agreed.
Ava smiled, but she looked earnest as she said, “It’s just that if Dad wanted me to learn about creating the product from scratch, I’m doing that. I know about making pie crusts now…I just suck at it. And I am making the pies—at least I’m putting them together. But I’ve also realized the weakness in my process, and I’ve fixed it. It’s resourceful.”
Cori shook her head. “No wonder you always get your way in the board room.”
Ava gave her a smile. “Well, maybe not always.”
Yeah, well, ninety-eight percent of the time was pretty much always.
“We have pie now,” Brynn said. “When can we open?”
“How many crusts to do you have?” Cori asked.
“A dozen,” Ava said. “I figure that’s optimistic for our first week.”
Cori would love to debate that, but she thought Ava might have a point.
“Okay, but you’re going to have to hide the pie filling cans,” Brynn said, pointing at Ava. “You know Parker will be all over that.”
“Ugh,” Ava said, with an eye roll. “Don’t worry, I’ll figure that out. But you—” she said, pointing a finger at Cori’s nose, “—have to keep your trap shut around Evan.”
Cori dug another scoop out of the pie and said, “No worries.”
She chewed as her sisters shared a look.
“What’s that mean?” Ava asked.
“Evan is avoiding me. And vice versa.”
They shared another look.
“Why?” Brynn asked.
Cori took another bite and shrugged. “Because I was myself,” she said around the mouthful of deliciously flaky crust and sweet-and-tart filling.
“And what’s that mean?” Ava asked.
Cori swallowed. “A nice guy steps up to help me and my sisters take care of the crazy-assed crap our crazy-assed father put in his crazy-assed trust and what did I do? I flirted, I kissed him, I fell for him, and then when he gave me a ride home, while I’m pretending to be my sister don’t forget, I climbed into his lap and had an orgasm.”
Brynn started choking and Ava’s mouth, literally, fell open.
Cori took the final bite of her pie and seriously considered taking another piece. She chewed as she watched her sisters process everything.
“You had an orgasm just sitting on his lap?” Brynn asked.
Cori swallowed and pushed her plate away. But not too far. “Well, Evan helped.”
Brynn nodded. “Okay, that makes more sense.”
Cori snorted, in spite of the fact that she was feeling stupid and sheepish.
“So he helped. That’s good. What’s the problem?” Ava asked. “Why is he avoiding you now?”
“Because—” She blew out a breath. “I brought a St. Bernard to the party,” Cori said.
There was a pause, then it was Ava that snorted. “Oh, honey, that’s not what you did.”
“It is,” Cori said. “He wanted me there. I’m not saying that he didn’t. But he didn’t realize that I always get carried away.”
“You made out—and very well from the sounds of it—with a guy you like, who really likes you. I sincerely doubt he regrets anything about it,” Ava said.
“Then why didn’t he keep going?” Cori asked. The question had been nagging her ever since. Evan Stone didn’t seem like the type of guy to pull back from a very clear offer from a half-naked woman. Hell, he’d slept with Jill and he said that he’d known, even at the time to some extent, that he shouldn’t have. “After the dog debacle, Dad escorted me out of the building immediately before I could cause any more damage,” Cori said. “The other night Evan got me out of the truck as quickly as he could. He didn’t even unbutton his shirt.”
Brynn was biting her bottom lip and looking unsure.
“Maybe it was just that it was our driveway and we weren’t too far behind and…” Ava trailed off.
“It wasn’t the right time or place,” Cori filled in.
“Yeah,” Ava agreed.
“Yeah.” That was the story of her life. It seemed she had a lot of trouble finding the right time and place to be herself.
Instead of hanging out at the house or trying to kill time at the diner or heading to the bar in the next town, Cori spent “movie night” in the kitchen at the pie shop. She wasn’t supposed to be the one creating the pies for the customers, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be in the place at all. And it definitely beat hiding in her room or, worse, joining Evan and Ava on the couch for their date night. In their living room, there would be no reason for Cori to stand in for Ava, and even though she knew nothing was really going to happen between Evan and Ava, seeing Evan after the whole…thing…the other night did not sound fun.
But having the pie shop kitchen all to herself was perfect. She could experiment with some new pie ideas and, for the first time, feel like she was working while Ava was relaxing.
And she was being supportive. She’d made Ava and Evan two kinds of popcorn and had put extra pillows on the couch, because you couldn’t have a good movie night without pillows and popcorn. Everyone knew that.
It wasn’t until she had the pie ready for the oven that she realized that Evan was here with her anyway. She’d made Nutella bacon pie.
With a sigh, she slid it into the oven. Well, it wasn’t like Nutella and bacon was a bad idea. Ever. But it was annoying that even when she was trying to be good and stay out of the way, all of the things she really wanted wouldn’t leave her alone. She couldn’t leave Bliss the way she used to leave places when she started to feel restless or in the way. She could hang out at the house with them, but she’d never been very good at resisting temptation. Which Evan Stone most definitely was. And, evidently, she wasn’t very good at distracting herself.
She did the dishes, and then looked around. The quiet was nice. Time alone was nice. Living and working with her sisters meant they spent a lot of time together. Having a break was great.
Really great.
Super great.
Oh, who was she kidding? Cori sighed. She was the social one. She’d lived alone here and there, but she did prefer roommates. It often worked out to sublease from someone since she tended to not stay in one place for the entire length of a typical rental agreement. Hell, she could use some more noise and conversation that wasn’t about pie and paint. At the house, her sisters were busy and kept to themselves unless she made them come out of their rooms/offices and socialize.
Cori wandered to the front of the shop, taking in the new paint and cushions and curtains. It was looking really nice and there was no way this wouldn’t be a huge surprise to the people of Bliss when they came in. If they came in. She blew out a breath as she turned in a circle. People had to come in. Because she and Brynn and Ava needed the money. That wasn’t a position any of them had been in before, and it felt strange having to worry about paying bills. How did they bring in more money? How much could they bring in? If they only brought in so much, what should they spend it on? They needed to take care of the essentials, of course. Thankfully, the cost of living in Bliss was very low, and the few hundred dollars in the bank account were keeping the lights and water on at the shop. But the bills would keep coming, and then she really would like to buy some less-than-essentials. New pie pans. A bigger mixer. Of course, Rudy had gotten by with a hand mixer for years…
Cori shook her head. If it wasn’t Evan on her mind, it was Rudy. Or both.
She sat down at one of the tables and checked out the shop from that perspective. They needed something on the walls behind the front counter. Maybe a framed inspirational poster. She laughed. Okay, maybe not. But framed artwork would be nice. And she really wanted to put a chalkboard menu up. And then she’d need colored chalk. Lots of colored chalk. She loved colored chalk. Well, colored everything.
But chalk—colored or otherwise—was way down the list of priorities.
They had to make the shop profitable, and the adjustment from not-a-financial-care-in-the-world to where’s-the-grocery-money-going-to-come-from was taking a while. They all had personal accounts and credit cards. They weren’t supposed to use those for the shop—they were using the business account and the new card Cori had gotten for that—but their own checking accounts were keeping the fridge stocked and the utilities on at the house. They were secure, not homeless or starving, but they definitely had to figure the shop stuff out. They had some time, but they were going to need it.
And she knew that had been her father’s plan.
They needed time to realize that it was not a game. That it was real. And important.
And the thing was, it was becoming both of those things. Far faster than she would have ever expected.
Cori pivoted to look out the front window from the table. The curtains had turned out great. They were white with cherries, strawberries, lemons, grapes and blueberries. They weren’t making strawberry or lemon pie. Yet. And probably wouldn’t be making grape pie. Though she did intend to use grape jelly on some of the peanut butter and jelly pies. Still, the curtains were great and appropriate. And what she liked the best about them was that she and Brynn—and Noah—had made them together.
Okay, Dad, you might have known what you were doing.
Rudy Carmichael had been a brilliant businessman. But now Cori was starting to think that maybe he was just brilliant.
Cori rested her chin on her hand and studied the view outside her window. Her window. That didn’t sound as strange as it should. The shop was at the east end of Main and she could see the edge of the park from here. The park was huge. It ran through the middle of town with Main Street bordering it for five blocks and then continued seven more blocks to the man-made lake at the edge of town. There was a walking/running/bike trail, a playground area, three picnic and barbecue spots, and an impressive enclosure at the center that could be used for birthday parties and reunions and such.