Judy bade good night to her manager and greeted the crisp evening with a deep breath. A recent revitalization of the Main Street shopping district brought a few bistros and an art house movie theater that attracted a growing clientele. Once a month, the businesses participated in an after-hours sidewalk sale that proved popular—the city closed the street to allow for food trucks and live music. Luckily the event wasn’t scheduled for this weekend, so Judy could concentrate fully on Sunday’s party.
She stood at the crosswalk, waiting for the signal. Buzzhouse Coffee wasn’t far, and Judy usually left her car in the work lot on nights she capped off with a latte and a snack. Tonight, however, thoughts of Neve overpowered the craving for caffeine and the willingness to hang out with her friend and the crowd of regulars who gathered for marathon Scrabble matches and acoustic guitar. The bakery had closed a few hours ago, she knew, yet Judy wondered if Neve stayed behind to work on special orders.
Images one might construe as ordinary turned sensual for Judy. Neve kneading a ball of dough, coaxing the soft stickiness into delicious cinnamon buns. Neve dipping a finger into a bowl of chocolate icing to test its richness and flavor, slowly licking her skin clean.
Judy’s stomach growled. She needed Buzzhouse but wanted a different kind of sugar rush.
Hell, if she’s not there I can always come back.
She stepped away from the crosswalk and retreated to her car.
Chapter Five
Judy drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, waiting out the red light so she could pull forward and turn into the shopping plaza. Should I park in front of the bakery? That’ll make it look obvious, huh? Desperate cupcake groupie looking for something sweet. In Neve’s mind, however, it might look as though Judy didn’t trust Sugar Rush to deliver the party treats; that perhaps she wanted to spy on her.
Of course, that notion had to occur just as she’d pulled into the lot and drove past the bakery storefront. This is silly, she thought, and decided to pull through to the opposite exit and join Rachael at the coffeehouse. As much as Neve enchanted her, Judy didn’t want to come off like a stalker.
The lights were still on at Sugar Rush and she saw activity within…and nearby in front of the Mexican restaurant. An overhead lamp illuminated the two figures, one perched on the short iron gate, and Judy recognized Neve’s outfit. The woman looked upset.
Worry seized Judy by the throat until she couldn’t swallow so easily. Did Neve need help?
Creeper or no, Judy changed her mind and wheeled into the first available space. She’d never forgive herself if she drove away and Neve ended up the victim of an assault so close to work.
“Hello?” she called out, approaching the sidewalk. The figure hovering over Neve, a woman, whirled around and glared hard.
Neve, by contrast, appeared relieved to see her.
“Oh hey, Judy. You’re early.” Neve stood and eased past the other woman, surprising Judy with a full-on embrace. Neve’s arms wrapped around her tightly, and Judy’s body reacted with a quiet surge of lust. Even with the winter clothing barriers, her skin tingled and her pussy throbbed. Unconsciously, she pushed her groin closer in hopes of more intimate contact, but Neve’s next words proved more sobering than the coldest shower.
“Play along, please?” she whispered in Judy’s ears. “I’ll explain later.”
Judy gave a sound that must have satisfied her as assent, though inside her heart dropped to her shoes. Okay, so she had to play pretend in front of this stranger, which could only mean Neve wanted a quick escape. The woman had to be an ex on the make—this scene didn’t have the look of a confrontation with a disgruntled customer.
Neve withdrew but kept a soft grip on Judy’s hand. “I’m sorry, I have to go,” she said to the slow-burning brunette. “I have plans for tonight, and I need to finish up at the bakery so my employees can go home.”
“I get it, sorry.” The woman nodded and drew her coat tighter around her waist. “I’ll see you around, I guess,” she added, and stormed off without acknowledging Judy.
“I didn’t mean to intrude,” Judy whispered close to Neve.
Yeah, right. This had lover’s spat written all over it—and Judy noticed Neve was grinning like an inmate on parole.
You’re not sorry at all that I showed up, are you, Neve?
She tried not to smile herself.
Neve waited for the woman to get into her car. “Not at all, you were right on time. A minute more and I would have been in serious trouble.” She didn’t elaborate, but instead turned to Judy. “You saved my ass.”
Judy’s face flushed hot. An ass-related thought came to mind, and stayed wisely unsaid.
They walked back to the bakery. “So, what’s shakin’, bacon?” Neve asked. “Did you have any questions about your order? Changes? Or…you’re not here to cancel and let me down easy?” She laughed nervously. Customers had canceled orders in the past, usually through e-mail or an after-hours voicemail, probably so as not to incur wrath. Judy seemed the polite type, though, and Neve figured she could always sell the treats she’d already prepared.
“No, everything’s still on. Why?” Judy looked suddenly worried. “There isn’t a problem—”
“No,” Neve assured her quickly. “It’s just with you showing up after hours, I figured that was the reason. Maybe you wanted to cancel in person.”
She opened the door to Sugar Rush and ushered Judy inside. No sound or other hints of activity came from the kitchen, and when Neve looked back through the service window, she noticed no signs of life. Where had Corky and Terri gone? Neve hadn’t seen them exit from the front.
“Anyway,” Judy continued, now quite bashful, “I was wondering if you had some time free tonight for, like, coffee…or something.”
“Oh.” The invitation took Neve by surprise. Did coffee count as an official date these days? Neve hadn’t been asked out on one since Gianna had left; the bakery always got in the way. Rather, she let Sugar Rush block potential suitors, mainly because she knew it wouldn’t let her down as love had in the past. If anybody appeared close to an overture, Neve usually changed the subject or brought out pastry samples.
Judy’s offer flattered her. She’d forgotten what it felt like to have somebody pursue her. And the woman looked rather cute standing before her, hands behind her back and gaze cast to the floor, as though expecting a gentle letdown. The puppy-dog silent plea radiating in the room caused Neve’s heart to pang.
“I suppose I could get away in a few minutes, we’re almost done with tonight’s special-order work,” Neve said, looking back at the kitchen area again. Her cohorts still hid, no doubt giggling and high-fiving each other in secret. “If you don’t mind waiting while we close.”
Judy visibly brightened at that. “Awesome, great. I’ll, uh, just wait here then.”
Neve nodded and, unable to think of anything else to say, hurried into the back. Well, this doesn’t bode well, she thought. If she couldn’t talk now, how would conversation over coffee pass?
“Good Lord, we have plenty of coffee here too,” she muttered on her way to the small office tucked in the corner of kitchen, where she found Terri and Corky waiting on her.
“Neve’s got a girlfriend,” Corky teased in a singsong whisper.
Neve ignored her and looked at Terri. “Why are you hiding out in here?”
Terri shrugged. “We heard voices when you came in and thought you needed some privacy, and we’re almost done anyway. No reason for you to stick around,” she said. “You can take the last deposit and Corky and I can close up.”
“You sure?” Normally Neve had no problem trusting the two with closing procedures. She knew Terri wasn’t one to cut corners, but this time something irked Neve. Terri looked none too happy with her proposed arrangement.
“Go, have fun for once,” Corky said. “The delivery orders for tomorrow are ready, and you don’t have to worry about that Sunday party, either.” She brushed past Neve into the kitchen but retur
ned quickly. “That’s not the same woman from before.”
Terri leaned out of the office far enough to see, then eased back next to Neve before speaking. “What’s she doing here? Where’s Gianna?”
“She had to leave. I bumped into Judy on the way back here. We’re going out for coffee.”
“Oh okay.” Corky shrugged and left again, just like a young adult who knew not to pry in another person’s business. Neve liked that about her—Corky left personal drama at the door every morning and focused on the job.
Terri, on the other hand…
Her other associate leaned closer and pulled Neve deeper into the office, presumably so Corky couldn’t hear them. “You okay?” she asked, concerned.
Neve blinked. “Yeah, sure. Why wouldn’t I be? I trust you guys to close without me.”
“It’s not that. I’m talking about this thing you have going on with that girl.”
“I don’t have a thing,” Neve said, annoyed. “She wants to have a cup of coffee and some conversation.”
Terri raised an eyebrow. “Coffee is a thing. And she’s a client.”
“A romantic weekend in the country is a thing,” Neve countered. “We’re nowhere close to that.” A kiss is a thing, she mused to herself. A touch, a lick, an orgasm…so many things to do, and she’d seen none of them on her list for a long time. Neve shook away her frustration. “Anyway, so what if she’s a customer? We don’t have a policy against going out with people who buy food from us. If we did and sales boomed, we’d all be old maids.”
Terri didn’t find that funny at all. She folded her arms and huffed like a put-upon chaperone.
“Terri, not that it’s any of your business, but I know what I’m doing. Yes, Judy is new to me, and if you’re worried that this girl’s a serial killer, you can say ‘I told you so’ when you eulogize me. Hey,” she added quickly before Terri could interrupt, “I don’t judge when you date people.” She appreciated her friend’s interest in her well-being, but Neve wanted to explore future romantic possibilities on her own.
She was getting ahead of herself, anyway. Coffee was coffee, not marathon sex. Dammit.
“Coffee and conversation is known to cure ‘new to me’, I’ve heard.” Terri smiled wanly at her and cuffed her shoulder. “I know you’re out of practice, but I don’t want you to get hurt again.”
“Terri,” Neve whined.
“You’re right, it’s not my business. You should go and have a good time, and I’ll shut up about it.” Terri frowned all the same, as though fighting to give her blessing. “See how far you get past the coffee. You’ll be awake for it.”
“No, I plan to order decaf.” Neve bent close to peck Terri’s cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Love you.” She ducked away before further talk with her friend served to change her mind about Judy.
Corky and Judy chatted while Neve gathered up her purse and car keys. The two apparently had mutual friends and similar tastes in music. They debated the quality of a recent concert they had attended separately.
“Ready?” she asked Judy, who smiled warmly from the table and nodded. All at once the aura of doubt set by Terri’s skepticism faded. Coffee and conversation did sound good on this cool evening.
So did a lot of things.
* * * * *
“How did you come to open a bakery? Was it something you always wanted to do?”
They sat at a tiny round table at Buzzhouse, their chairs lodged into a corner near the front door. Neve grimaced at the rising cacophony of chatter and acoustic guitar, for the music made conversation a challenge. At least the bearded young man onstage—totally hipster with his dark fedora and button-down plaid shirt—played well, belting out a Dave Matthews tune in a butter-smooth voice.
Neve curled her hands around her mug, inhaling the sweet vanilla and cream of her latte. “I love to bake, simple as that,” she said. “My mother got me one those Easy-Bake Ovens when I was a kid. Usually once you run out of the mixes that come with the kit or the light bulb burns out, you stop playing with it. I didn’t stop—I was baking cakes and cookies for my Barbie dolls, and next thing you know I’d graduated to the big oven and had a business in high school.”
“Really?” Judy appeared impressed. “What, you had a booth out in the senior courtyard?”
“No, girls would pay me to make cookies and brownies, which they’d use to lure boys. Of course, they’d claim to have baked everything themselves.” Neve laughed at the memory of money changing hands behind desks in Home Ec. “In the end, they all got prom dates and I bought a car.”
“That’s hilarious.” Judy nearly choked on a sip of her drink from her merriment. “I wish I was that clever in high school. And now.”
Neve watched the young woman dab at her mouth with her fingers to catch a stray drop of coffee. For a moment her gaze paused on Judy’s lips—she hadn’t taken the time to really look at them, and now she noticed their fullness and deep color, without the benefit of makeup. The coffee no doubt brought a touch of pink to Judy’s cheeks as they warmed up in the café, but Neve decided she wouldn’t mind being caught in the cold with her. She might have an excuse to move closer to conserve body heat.
What level of warmth, too, would she experience bringing her lips to Judy’s in a quiet kiss? People filled Buzzhouse, and many of them had their chairs turned toward the guitarist. If she leaned forward, who would notice or care? The way Judy looked at her now, smiling and eyelids half-closed in a demure expression, only encouraged her.
“Hey there!”
Neve’s heart jumped. A chipper young woman in a Buzzhouse apron slid down into the vacant chair, exhaling loudly with exhaustion. “Man, I must have made a hundred lattes in the last half hour. These music nights are great for business, but I can’t keep up with the orders.”
Judy introduced the young woman as Rachael, who took Neve’s hand in a firm yet damp shake. Neve recognized the name as belonging to the birthday girl.
“How’s the latte?” Rachael asked.
Neve held up her mug, logo side forward. “Great, thanks.” She looked past Rachael to the line at the counter and wondered how the girl was able to slip away. “This is actually the first time I’ve come here. I pass it on the way to work, just never found time to stop in.”
“That’s cool. I bet after working in a bakery all day, the last place you want to go to unwind is another place that sells pastry,” Rachael said, and from the corner of her eye, Neve spotted Judy’s death glare aimed at her friend.
“Oh, have you been to Sugar Rush?” she asked. “I’m sorry if I don’t remember you. So many people come and go, it’s a challenge to get everybody’s face down. I mean, how else would you know that I worked there?” She cast a sly glance at Judy, who looked ready to slink under the table and die of embarrassment.
Rachael’s lips pressed together and her eyes bulged for a second. “You’ll have to excuse me, my break is over. Nice meeting you. Judy is the best,” she said quickly and leaped for the safety of the barista counter. The hipster musician ended his set right on that cue and Neve eyed her companion in the white noise of applause.
Judy gave a nervous laugh but didn’t say anything. The poor thing; Neve needed to let her off the hook. “It’s okay, talk up the bakery all you want. Word of mouth works.”
“I’ll always put in a good word, don’t worry,” said Judy. “So anyway, that’s Rachael the birthday girl. We’ve been friends forever, almost sisters.”
“She’s nice.”
“A huge flirt too. I don’t think she’ll ever settle down with just one person.”
“Well, maybe the right one hasn’t come along yet.” Neve cocked a smile at Judy. “It never occurred to you to be more than friends with her?”
Judy looked momentarily horrified at the suggestion, so much that Neve began to regret asking. The other woman then shook her head and replied, “No, definitely not. Rachael’s great and all, but we’ve only been friends.”
Neve winked. “Got
cha.” Judy clearly wanted to assure her she had no romantic interest in Rachael. Neve thought it was sweet. She studied her companion’s expression. She looked as if she wanted to say more. “What is it, Judy?”
Judy shook her head. “You know what, carpe diem. I was thinking about how I’d like to kiss you.”
Under the table, a hand brushed Neve’s leg and palmed her knee. Neve remained still, neither encouraging nor dismissing the young woman. She savored the heat and the tingling sensation snaking up her thigh. Her pussy squeezed with want and she waited for Judy’s next move.
She didn’t, however, expect Judy to hastily excuse herself and bolt from her chair.
Heart pumping in her throat so hard she almost choked, Judy stormed toward the bar to the closest gap between customers and flagged down Rachael. “I need your help,” she said as she grabbed a paper napkin and twisted it into rope.
Rachael wiped away some stray sugar crystals from the bar counter and glanced at Judy’s table with a sly grin. “What?” She drew out the word in a teasing manner.
Judy blew out a frustrated breath that fluttered her bangs. “You are so much better at this,” she muttered. Then she added in tone only for Rachael, “I really like Neve, and I am so frickin’ horny right now. I want to be with her, but I’m afraid if I come out and say it she might freak out.”
“What? So you want me to ask her for you? Be your wing-dyke?”
Judy chuckled. “You make it look so easy. You want sex and you get it.”
“Hey, you had your chance last night at Jimmie’s,” Rachael scolded. “How many times have I told you to go out and get some?”
“Yeah, well, now I’m ready, and why are you scowling at me?”
Rachel picked up the scraps of twisted napkin shreds that escaped Judy’s grasp. “Dunno. Just seems like you’ve spurned my help in getting laid, and now that you want it, I’m not sure I want to participate.” Rachael cast her a wounded expression and pushed out her lower lip.
“Rach,” Judy warned in a low voice, “I’ve paid for catering service for thirty people, and I’ll likely buy every one of your drinks Sunday. The least you can do—”
Sugar Rush Page 5