Sugarcoated
Page 29
He skimmed his hands down her sides, resting them on her hips. “You’ve always had me. Even before I realized it.”
She looped her arms around his neck. “You made me want to be better. More open. Thank you for that.”
His breath stuck in his throat for a moment. He swallowed hard. “I came back for you. And because of that I’m so much better too.”
She smiled. And hopped up into his arms. Aiden caught her with his hands under her butt. He started for the stairs immediately.
He nudged his bedroom door open and went straight to the bed. He laid her down and stripped her panties off in one smooth move. Then he pulled his tie loose and tossed it away before shedding the boxers. This was one definite advantage to not having more clothes on. He climbed up on the bed with her, covering her body with his, kissing her deeply.
Their hands were everywhere, stroking, squeezing, teasing. They licked frosting off of each other’s skin. He kissed her neck. She arched into him. He sucked on her nipples. She ran her hands to his ass, pressing him close. They rolled and shifted, touching, kissing, nipping until Zoe was panting and begging, and his heart was thundering so hard he was sure she could hear it.
“You ready?” he asked, bracing himself above her, taking in the flushed pink of her skin, the rapid rise and fall of her chest, and her dazed, heated gaze.
She shook her head. “Not like this.”
His eyes widened. “Uh… okay.”
She shifted suddenly, rolling him to his back, and straddling him. Aiden drank in the sight of her. She looked like a goddess, and she felt like heaven as she moved, sliding up and down his hard length, letting him feel how hot and wet she was for him. Then she took his cock, stroking him firmly before positioning him and sinking down, taking him deep.
They moaned together, and Aiden’s fingers dug into her hips. He gritted his teeth, giving her body a few seconds to adjust.
But it truly only took a few. Zoe started moving almost immediately, riding him as if she’d been doing it forever.
Dirty, loving words fell from their lips. “More.” “I love you.” “You feel like heaven.” “I’ll never get enough.” “Deeper.” “Harder.” “Faster.”
When he felt her inner muscles tightening, he thumbed her clit and sent her flying. The look on her face, and the sound of her calling his name was all he needed to follow directly behind, his body shuddering with the intensity of his climax.
After she’d slumped against him and they’d just concentrated on breathing for a few minutes, she said, “I’ve been dreaming about that. Doing that exactly that way.”
Aiden stroked his hand up and down her back. “Since Christmas Eve?”
“Oh, before that. I was planning Christmas Eve for a couple of months.”
He chuckled. “Dirty girl. Well, I’ve been thinking about this since I caught you ironing in your underwear.”
She rolled to the side and propped herself on her elbow. “That’s when I started thinking about you too.”
Aiden lifted an eyebrow. “Really? Damn, all this time we could have been messing around.”
She laughed lightly, but then she quieted, giving him a long, loving look. “Actually, I think our timing is perfect.”
Her words hit him directly in the chest. They’d known each other forever, but this—this change, this shift, this new direction, could have only happened when they were both ready. Ready to think of their lives in a new way. Ready to change.
He nodded, nearly overwhelmed by the mix of emotions—lust, love, nostalgia about their past, excitement about their future. “You know, you’re not so bad at the sweet talk.”
She leaned over and kissed him then said against his lips, “Well, you do call me Sugar.”
He nodded. “Sugar and spice. And I need both in my life.”
“I’m both? You’re not the spice?”
He laughed. “Uh, no. You’re definitely the spice too.”
“And what are you, then?” she teased.
He gathered her close and put his lips against her neck, feeling her shiver of pleasure and the way she arched into him. “Well, what else does baking need?”
“Cream?” she asked, giving a little gasp when he nipped her earlobe.
He squeezed her ass, rewarding her innuendo. “Only some recipes.”
“Firm peaks?” she teased, rubbing her breast against his bicep.
He cupped one appreciatively. “Well, only sometimes and not what I’m bringing to the table.”
“Moistness?” she asked, wiggling some more.
He laughed. “Not what I was thinking.”
She giggled. “Then what?”
He rolled until she was under him, spreading her thighs. “Heat.”
“Oh… yeah.”
Epilogue
Three days later…
“Excuse me.”
Jane froze in mid chew. She had an entire cake pop in her mouth and one in each hand. And now someone wanted to talk to her. Of course.
But it was even worse. This wasn’t just someone. It was a male someone. A male someone who had come up behind her while she was perusing—and sampling—the dessert table. Whose voice she knew immediately.
Dax Marshall.
One of her new bosses. And the first man to actually make her heart trip by just smiling. Ever.
Jane was a little fascinated by that. But not fascinated enough to go up and talk to him. Or to put down her cake pops.
She didn’t need anything making her fascinated or distracted. She just wanted to eat cake and not talk to anyone.
Dammit.
She chewed fast, wishing she hadn’t put the entire thing in her mouth. Wishing Zoe didn’t make such amazing cake. Wishing she was the type to nibble on carrot sticks. Then realizing she did not wish that at all. And finally swallowing, wiping her mouth, and turning to face him.
“Um, hi.”
He didn’t just have a great laugh. He had a great… everything. The man was gorgeous. He had dark hair that was a little long on top and flopped over his forehead. He had deep-green eyes that had an actual, no-shit, twinkle in them. He also had a quick smile that had an edge of I’m-up-to-something. In addition, he was wearing a cake tie. A necktie that had pieces of various kinds of cake on it. It was entirely appropriate for the town-hall-slash-meet-your-new-bosses party for Hot Cakes while also being one of the most ridiculous things she’d ever seen. She loved it.
“How’s the red velvet?” he asked.
“Um.” She swallowed again. She probably had red velvet cake crumbs in her teeth. “Great. They’re all great.”
“I guess I’ll have to take your word for it. Since you took the last one.”
Jane glanced at the empty tray that had a tiny sign that said “Red Velvet” next to it. She reached over and knocked it facedown. “Sorry.” She wasn’t at all.
“I don’t think you are. You ate two of the last three and have the third in your hand.” He gave her a grin.
He’d been watching her eat cake pops? That was creepy.
She almost sighed with relief. He was creepy. Good deal. She could forget about him then and not worry about being fascinated or distracted.
“Sorry is just the polite thing to say.” She swiped her thumb over her bottom lip. “I don’t mean it.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “I’m going to assume that means you’re not going to share the strawberry one you’re holding either. It’s the last one too.”
She lifted the strawberry cake pop to her mouth and took a bite. They really were two- or three-bite treats. Not stick-the-whole-thing-in-your-mouth-at-one-time treats. But you couldn’t get through as many if you took the time to take three bites of each. “Nope.”
His mouth dropped open in mock outrage. “Wow.”
“I know. I’m the worst. You should definitely go find someone else to talk to.”
But he didn’t. He didn’t move away. Or step back. He stepped forward. He also lifted his hand toward her breast.
She did not want to be fascinated. Or stalked. Or fondled.
Still, she stood there, not moving, not kicking him in the balls as he lifted his hand, picked something off the front of her dress just above her right breast—it was definitely her chest, but her nipple didn’t quite believe that because it tightened—and then lifted it to his mouth.
She watched as he licked the tip of his index finger.
“Mmm, the red velvet is good.”
She looked down to where there was another crumb on the front of her dress. Her cheeks heated, and she looked up at him quickly. But why was she embarrassed? He had just picked a crumb off of her dress. That was very… presumptuous… or something… of him.
She stuffed the rest of the strawberry cake pop into her mouth, chewed, swallowed, and smiled. “Very good.”
“Not the slightest bit apologetic?” he asked.
“Nope.”
He grinned. “Good. Never apologize for stuff that makes you feel good.”
Yeah, her nipples—and other parts of her—did not think “cake” when he talked about things making her feel good.
It was time to leave.
For one, she didn’t need… any of whatever this was. People talked about having full plates and lots of balls in the air. Jane had platters flying around with those balls, and she knew that any second it all could come crashing down. And it would. It was just a matter of time.
She definitely didn’t need to add this guy’s balls to any of this.
“I’m just going to go,” she said, taking a half step away from the table.
“I’m Dax.”
Yeah, she knew that. Everyone knew that. He’d just been up on stage with Aiden and Whitney and Cam—the new owners of Hot Cakes, the company that 90 percent of the people in the Appleby Community Center tonight worked for.
He was a millionaire. A sexy, good looking, charming millionaire.
She really couldn’t think of a guy she would less like to have picking crumbs off the front of her dress.
Okay, that wasn’t true. There were way worse choices. There was also a lot to like about standing this close to Dax Marshall, and parts of her would very much like to have his fingers back on them. But he was the last type of guy whose fingers she should even be thinking about. Dax was rich. That was enough for her to know that they had zero in common.
Not that she was interested in any of the guys she had a ton in common with either.
She just didn’t need any more balls. Of any kind. Period.
“I’m… late,” she said. She grabbed one of the vanilla cake pops and started to slip around him. Then she thought about the three cake pops she held, turned back, grabbed another chocolate, then slipped around him.
“Do you work for Hot Cakes?” he asked, turning to watch her go, with a grin.
She didn’t care what he thought of her cake addiction. Sugar wasn’t the best thing she could be addicted to. She could be addicted to running or asparagus or meditation or herbal tea. Except… no one was addicted to those things, were they? Asparagus? Come on. The truth was, she did run. So she could eat more cake. She also ate asparagus, on occasion. She even meditated once in a while. But that was also to balance out the cake. And pie. And cookies.
She needed sugar in her life. There wasn’t much figurative sweetness in her life so she substituted actual sugar.
She was thankful that one of her best friends owned a bakery.
She was also thankful that diabetes did not run in her family.
Bad decisions and progressive neurological disorders seemed to. But not diabetes.
Jane was very aware that her relationship with sweets wasn’t healthy.
She didn’t care.
“Are you okay?”
She’d been staring at Dax for thirty seconds.
Half a minute didn’t usually seem like a long amount of time, but when you were staring at a stranger without making a sound, it was ridiculously long.
“Um, yes.” She nodded. She was okay. Mostly. Right now. As far as he was concerned.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t need another cake pop, then?” he asked, eyeing the four she held. “If I go for one, I’m not going to lose a finger or hand?”
“Nope, you’re safe.” She gave him a fake smile. He was flirting with her. She liked that. She wanted to flirt back. Instead, she took a bite out of one of the cake pops. The chocolate one. Thank God for chocolate.
He picked one up. Also chocolate. “So do you work for Hot Cakes?” he repeated.
She sure did. But he didn’t know who she was. And that was… nice.
She lived in a tiny town where everyone knew who she was. They knew all the reasons she worked for Hot Cakes. They all sympathized that this was how everything had turned out for her.
She really, really hated that. She took another bite of cake.
Should she tell him she worked for the company? He’d probably want to ask her questions about it if she did. Dax had been talking with the employees about what they liked and disliked about working for Hot Cakes, what changes they’d like to see, what they needed to make Hot Cakes their dream employer. The company had never been owned by anyone other than the Lancasters. This was a huge change that had everyone in the factory worried.
Until tonight. Tonight the new owners had held a town hall to introduce themselves, tell everyone their big plans, and feed everyone cake and champagne.
The smiles and laughter in the room told Jane this initial step had worked. Having Aiden and Cam in charge had also worked. Aiden and Cam were hometown boys. They’d left and made it big in Chicago, but they’d come back to save the factory, the three hundred-some jobs, and the town by buying Hot Cakes.
Knowing Aiden and Cam were at the head of the new ownership team definitely made everyone feel better.
She was proud of them. Happy for herself and her friends and coworkers. A little anxious about her new role as union leader. And really wishing she could take her bra off, kick off her shoes, and eat the rest of these cake pops on her couch.
“I’m… a friend of Whitney’s,” she said rather than confessing she’d been in his friend Oliver’s office within five minutes of him stepping foot inside a Hot Cakes building. She’d demanded to see the new owner and had gone off about everyone’s concerns and worries, demanding to know what he was going to do and how the transition was going to happen.
She knew they’d listened and taken everything she’d said to heart. She knew this town hall was partly a response to her first meeting with Oliver.
And that had been so out of character for her that she was still worked up about it.
She’d worked for Hot Cakes since she’d been in high school. It was all she’d ever done. But she’d done it as an aside in her life. She didn’t want a job that demanded a lot of her energy or emotion. She wanted to go to work, do her job, and go home at the end of the day. She didn’t want to meet with the owners and champion her coworkers and dress up for parties like this.
Yet, here she was. The main contact between the employees and the ownership. In a dress.
She did not want to talk about Hot Cakes with Dax. Or anyone. She felt like she’d been talking about it nonstop for days.
“Oh, Whitney’s great,” Dax said, finishing off the chocolate cake pop and reaching for another.
Good looking, rich, and had a sweet tooth.
Nice.
“She is.” Jane nodded. It wasn’t a lie that she and Whitney were friends. That just wasn’t the reason Jane was here tonight. “So… it was nice to meet you. I need to go.”
“You know if you don’t tell me your name, I’m going to have to refer to you as Red,” he told her.
She rolled her eyes. “Real original.” She shook her head,
her thick, wavy red hair swishing against her mid back.
“Because of the red velvet cake, of course,” he said.
She actually laughed at that. “Oh, of course.”
“Just that one little crumb, and it’s all I can think about.” His eyes and half smile said he wasn’t talking about cake.
Dammit, had she given him a crumb? Of flirting? She had not meant to.
But the guy was clearly used to having women welcome his flirting.
“Zoe can totally hook you up with as much as you want,” she told him, not sure why she wasn’t just walking away.
“You’re really not going to share that last one with me, are you?”
She glanced down, having forgotten that she still had one red velvet in hand. “Um…” She looked up at him. “No.”
“Not even if I say please?” He leaned in a little.
“There are maybe two things in the world that could get me to part with a red velvet cake pop,” she told him. “And hot millionaires with sexy smiles are not one of them.”
His grin grew, and his freaking eyes seemed to twinkle again.
Oh crap. She’d just said he was hot and that he had a sexy smile. Either of those things alone would have been embarrassing, but of course, she’d said both.
“What can hot millionaires with sexy smiles get you to do? Because I’m thinking that cake pop may not be the most interesting thing you can give me.”
Her eyes widened. He had not just said that.
“Are you seriously thinking I might give you a blow job? Does that happen a lot? You just meet a woman, know her for like five minutes, and she ends up on her knees?”
Now his eyes widened, and he nearly choked on the quick breath he took. “That is… damn… that’s not what I was thinking.”
Jane rolled her eyes. “It’s a blow job. Guys think about those like twenty-seven times a day.”
He half laughed, half choked again. “Wow, who are you hanging out with?”
“You don’t think about blow jobs twenty-seven times a day?” she asked. She really should just walk away.
He seemed to be seriously considering her question. Jane felt the corner of her mouth quirk and fought to keep her smile under wraps.