Truly, Madly, Sweetly (Sweet Love)

by Kira Archer

  He repressed a sigh and pulled out a chair just to shut her up. But when he sat down he found that it really was a lot better than he thought. Yes, it was small and made of iron, but it really wasn’t all that uncomfortable and the important bits and pieces of his lower anatomy were supported well enough. The table was small but it would certainly work for a few plates and cups. Which was all that he needed.

  He hated admitting she was right. She watched him with a growing smile.

  “Fine,” he said with a sigh. “But do we have to get them in white? It just reminds me of some garden tea party.”

  “Been to many of those, have you?”

  He glared at her and she laughed. “Fine. Black would work just as well. We can paint them.”

  “Well, hallelujah. We finally agree on something.”

  “Oh hush. It hasn’t been that bad.”

  He grinned but chose not to respond to that particular comment. “So. What’s next?”

  Nat looked down at the ever-present clipboard in her hand. “Well, we’ve got the tables and chairs covered now, we chose the window coverings this morning, we’ve got our paint samples to take back to the shop, so the only thing left is…” She paused while she ran her pen down the list. “The dishes and silverware.”

  He took a breath, gearing up for another argument. She’d briefly mentioned her thoughts on the whole silverware thing earlier, but then they’d gotten tangled up in a discussion over the difference between white and ecru (which he still didn’t believe was actually a color) and the fork issue had been left hanging.

  “Right. About the silverware…”

  Nat looked up, her eyes already narrowing. Eric couldn’t stop a grin from peeking out. As frustrating as these shopping trips were, it was kind of fun to rile her up. Still, if he wanted to get his way, sometime in this century, it might be better to tread lightly. He held up his hands in the universal gesture for “I come in peace” and aimed what he hoped was a charming smile at her.

  “I want this to be a nice place, classy, upscale.”

  “And I agree about having nice plates for those who eat at the shop.”

  “But?”

  She folded her arms over the clipboard she held to her chest. “But…plastic utensils would make your life so much easier.”

  Eric groaned. “Plastic is so cheap! Why do you object to actual silverware?”

  “It’s not that I object to silverware. It just makes more sense to use plastic. It’s not a full-scale restaurant. Yes, you’ll offer some seating, but it’s not like you’ll have waiters and busboys roaming the store. Same with the plates but at least those will look nice and can be washed quickly. But silverware will just create more work for the kitchen, and they are easier to steal, so they are nothing but money walking out the door. Besides most people won’t be staying to eat, but will be taking their food to go, so it’s probably a moot point, anyway.”

  “Moot?” he said, loving when those soft lips of hers pulled into a half smile.

  “Yes, moot.”

  “You’re killing me here, you know that, right?”

  “Not my intention, I promise. A bonus, maybe, but not my intention.”

  Eric snorted and tried not to smile. “Fine,” he said, not willing to fight with her about it anymore. “But, if we are doing plastic, can we at least get the nice kind? You know the heavy-duty stuff that has some design to it, not just the flimsy little white things?”

  “Deal,” she said with a smile. “And you know, they do make some pretty nice plastic plates nowadays…”

  “Natalie!”

  She laughed and he drank in the sight of her, loving the way her eyes flashed at him.

  “All right, all right. Just a suggestion. I don’t think it would hurt to keep our options open but we can check out your plates first. Where are they?”

  “I’ve got a place in the city where we can go.”

  Her head jerked up, her gaze locking with his. That hadn’t quite sounded the way he’d meant it, but he had no intention of correcting it.

  Nat hesitated. It was fascinating watching the play of emotions run across her face. Eyes widening in surprise. Cheeks flushing, breath coming a little faster. Remembering their night together? Good. Because he couldn’t get it out of his head. Her lips pulled into a slight smile. Hmmm. And what was that look all about?

  She took a step closer. “Your place, huh? Mine would be better,” she said, tapping the tip of her pen on his chest.

  He held his breath. Well, that was unexpected. Did she mean it? Surely not. She hadn’t shown any sign of wanting a repeat performance. She stepped even closer, the vanilla and cinnamon scent of her enveloping him. He almost leaned down, almost closed the remaining few inches between them, but Jared’s unwelcome warnings pushed their way through the hormone haze in his head and Eric checked himself.

  He shoved his hands into his pockets to keep from reaching out to touch her. He knew she tasted just as good as she smelled and the urge to refresh his memory was making his body harden in all the wrong places. Well, in all the right places actually, just the way wrong time.

  “It might be fun going to my place,” she said.

  Eric froze. Seriously? He squinted at her, trying to figure out what game she was playing. Because there was no way she meant that.

  “I’ve got another book of fabric swatches there we could look over…”

  Eric laughed and stepped back, the tension dissipating a bit. He should have known better. “I meant, what store do you want to go to next?”

  Nat grinned at him. “Okay, I know you have your heart set on those china plates you were telling me about. But if you just keep an open mind, they actually have some great options here.”

  He shook his head, hardly believing he was caving again. “All right. Fine. Show me what they’ve got.”

  Her smile lit up her face, immediately rewarding him for the compromise. “Yay! Just let me jot some notes down real quick,” she said, turning back to the damned clipboard. She added, “They’ve got a clearance sale going on.”

  Economizing wasn’t something he was used to doing but until his parents came around and were willing to throw a few bucks his way, clearance sales were his new best friend.

  “All right, let’s go shop some sales.”

  “Ah, don’t look so depressed. I know shopping isn’t your thing, but maybe you’ll get lucky.”

  Eric closed his eyes and inwardly groaned. She was going to be the death of him. He wished he could get lucky. He immediately mentally slapped himself for the thought but he couldn’t help himself. Thoughts like that had been popping into his head at the most inopportune moments ever since he’d met her. And it had only been getting worse the more he got to know her.

  Every time she bent over to clean something, chewed on the corner of that delicious mouth while she was deep in thought, and especially every time she disagreed with him, he wanted to throw her over his shoulder and march her straight back to his bed. Her face lit up with a faint glow when she was on the defense, her eyes flashed fire when she’d argue her point. She was something pretty special to look at in any circumstance but when she was angry she was damn near spectacular. And since she’d spent the majority of their time together ready to cave his skull in with that clipboard of hers, he’d been doing a lot of mental slapping lately.

  He couldn’t wait for the bakery to be up and running so they could forget about the business and focus on a little fun. Though he tried to slip it in whenever he could. Bad choice of words. He tried to lighten the mood whenever possible. It wasn’t as hard as he thought. Nat had a fun side to her that she couldn’t quite keep repressed, though she obviously tried to bury it under a mountain of alphabetical lists and organizational charts. He didn’t know why she was so determined to do nothing but work. He’d always been a firm believer in having fun while you got the job done.

  But in this instance, maybe Nat was right to keep things a little more formal between them. Because he c
ould see the fun getting out of hand. If she ever took her nose out of her paperwork. Nat stood beside him flipping through the papers on that damned clipboard and muttering to herself as she checked off boxes and jotted down notes.

  “We’re going to have to surgically remove that thing from your hand.”

  “Huh?” she asked, somehow managing to lift her face in his direction without taking her eyes from the papers in front of her.

  Eric reached over and gently grasped her chin, turning her to face him. She jerked in surprise but didn’t pull away enough to remove his hand from her face.

  “What?” she asked, startled.

  He smiled at her, waiting until she slowly smiled back before he let go of her face and answered. “Just worried about you is all.”

  She laughed. “Worried about me? Why?”

  He shrugged. “Imminent failing eyesight? Carpal tunnel syndrome? Pinching your finger on the clipboard clippy thingy?”

  One of her eyebrows raised and he grinned. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m thrilled you are so organized. I’d never be able to keep everything straight. It seems like there’s a million things we need to get done and believe me, I’m glad I put you in charge of making sure everything happens. But I swear if you look at that clipboard one more time I’m going to have to chuck it in the nearest trash can.”

  Nat laughed. “Just one more…” She made a quick note and then shoved the thing into her bag. “Better?”

  Eric nodded. “Much.” He held his hand out to her. “Lead the way to the dishes.”

  She smiled, glancing up at him through her lashes, and his heart lurched. Good God, did the woman even know how tempting she was?

  He really hoped he’d get the chance to show her. And soon.

  Chapter Nine

  Eric wandered with Nat up and down the aisles of the store, paying more attention to Nat as she glanced at the wares on display than he did to the plates and dinky little teacups she stopped to check out every now and then.

  The emotions that flashed across her face were fascinating to watch. Amusement, in the wry little quirk of her mouth at the strange birds on one pattern. A slight frown, narrowed eyes at a gaudy floral pattern. Hazel eyes widening a bit, lips pressed together as she gave an interesting pattern a second glance. It was like reading a book. Every feeling there for him to see. Except when she looked at him. Odd that someone so open in every other aspect of her life kept things so hidden when it came to him.

  “Oh!” she said. “There we go.” She pointed at a large red sign that said Clearance and grabbed his hand, pulling him toward the display.

  He was a lot more interested in the warm smoothness of her fingers entwined with his than he was with a bunch of plates nobody wanted but she let go before he had a chance to really enjoy it.

  “What do you think of these?” She held up a plate with a simple band of green edging the rim.

  He shrugged. “They’re okay. A little boring.”

  “Okay. Next.” She put the plate down but in her haste to move to the next selection, she didn’t put it far enough on the display table. The moment she released it, it began to fall.

  “Crap!” She grabbed for it and managed to fumble it twice before somehow slinging it in Eric’s direction.

  He lunged for it, snatching it just before it hit the ground. He released a long breath and carefully replaced the plate. “I said it was boring. That just meant I didn’t want to buy it. I didn’t mean to imply you should smash the poor thing out of existence.”

  Her face flushed bright red. “Sorry.”

  “My mother always used to tell me to put my hands in my pockets and look with my eyes, not with my hands. It irritated me at the time but I’m starting to think that might be good advice.”

  “Oh, shut up,” she said, glaring at him.

  He couldn’t keep the smirk off his face. She was too fun to rile up.

  A bubbly saleswoman who was all of five feet nothing bounded up on six-inch stilettos and aimed a huge smile at Eric. “Hey, I’m Jill. Can I help you find something?”

  Eric glanced at her. “No thanks. We’re just looking.”

  “Actually,” Nat said, “is this all that’s left of the clearance items or do you have anything else in back?”

  The saleswoman frowned while she thought for a second. “I think this is most of the stuff. We might have a few boxes in back that haven’t been put out yet. A lot of this stuff is surplus we’re trying to move to make room for new stock. I can go check and see what we got back there. Is there anything in particular you’re looking for?”

  “Yes, do you have anything with either a leaf or vine pattern or maybe something in a terra-cotta color?”

  “I’ll go see what we’ve got.” Jill aimed another overly-whitened grin at Eric. “You’re so sweet helping your sister shop.”

  Nat’s jaw dropped but before she could respond, Eric frowned at the saleswoman and reached over to Nat, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close to his side.

  “This gorgeous lady is my fiancée,” he said.

  He felt Nat start in surprise and he tightened his grip so she couldn’t pull away. He didn’t know why he cared that the saleswoman automatically assumed that he and Nat weren’t a couple, but he did. He also didn’t like the fake smile she shot at Nat. Eric pressed a quick kiss to Nat’s forehead and she froze.

  Okay, that might have been playing it up a bit too much. Then again, she wasn’t trying to move away from him.

  Jill glanced back and forth between them and Nat smiled at her with a strange lopsided grin that had Eric biting the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing.

  “Oh. Well, isn’t that great?” Jill said, though it was obvious she thought it was anything but great. “In that case, would you guys like to fill out our registry form? That way if you find a pattern you like we will have it on file for your guests.”

  “That sounds great,” Eric said, his smile growing when Nat looked up at him, her eyes round with surprise. “But I’m not sure we’ve got time to do the whole registry thing right now. We’re actually just shopping for everyday stuff today. Just wanted to pop in real quick and see if you had a pattern that we were interested in.”

  He could feel Nat trying to unobtrusively move away from him and he gripped her tighter, letting his hand slide farther down. He patted her hip and gave her a huge smile. She narrowed her eyes at him but she stayed put.

  “All right, well I’ll just go check and see what we’ve got in back then.”

  As soon as she disappeared behind the back doors, Nat pushed away from him but her playful smile belied the irritated tone she was going for. “What was that all about?”

  Eric shrugged. “Just trying to have a little fun. We’ve been shopping all day. I’m about ready to blow my brains out.” He also didn’t like that the lady had assumed Nat was nothing to him, but he didn’t feel the need to share that with her just yet.

  Nat laughed. “Yeah, I guess we have been going pretty strong all morning. I suppose you earned yourself a little fun.”

  He raised one eyebrow. “Well, I have been a very good boy. Exactly how much fun are we talking?”

  Nat glared at him but the smile stayed on her lips. “Not that much fun.”

  Eric stuck his lip out in an exaggerated pout. “Well, I think I have at least earned a coffee break. You don’t plan on working me all day, do you?”

  “The thought has crossed my mind. We need to get this done. Gina’s been doing a good job running the truck while I’ve been tied up with you but the sooner we get you up and running the sooner I can give her a little break.”

  “Oh come on. A fifteen-minute break isn’t going to kill you. A little caffeine and sugar would go a long way to shutting me up.”

  Nat snorted. “Fine. I’ll feed you.”

  “Great!” Eric said. “So, where do you want to go?”

  “Oh,” Nat said with a small frown. “I actually promised Gina I would meet her at one o’clock
so she could catch me up on everything going on at the truck.”

  “So, how about we go to your truck then. I’ve been meaning to taste these cupcakes you’ve been crowing over for the last few weeks. I doubt they’ll come near to being as good as my aunt’s cannoli or baklava was, but I’m willing to give it a shot.”

  Nat snorted. “Gee, thanks. You certain you want to make that big of a sacrifice? I’m sure we can find you a nice gelato somewhere.”

  “Ah, Cupcake, don’t tease me.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  Eric swallowed, craving a completely different cupcake than the one she was offering. But for the moment, he’d take what he could get. Maybe he could score something chocolate.

  He grinned. “Good, it’s settled then. Let’s get things wrapped up here before my stomach gives up on sustenance and starts eating itself.”

  Jill came back holding a stack of plates and small saucers. She went to hand them to Eric but he waved them over to Nat. “Better give them to the boss lady. She makes all the important decisions.”

  Nat rolled her eyes but took the plates.

  “We didn’t have anything with just leaves or vines on it,” Jill said. “But I found these that I thought you might like.”

  There were about eight different designs of old plates, all with some sort of old floral or toile pattern on them.

  “Okay, call me crazy, but what if we went with all of them?” Nat asked.

  “Yes, you’re crazy,” Eric said with a small frown.

  “No, really. You want to go for an old-world feel, right? Well what could be more old-world Tuscan country villa than antique country plates?”

  “But none of them match.”

  “I know, but that makes it even more perfect. It’ll be an eclectic blend of old-world charm.”

  She went on and on, painting such a complete picture of an old Tuscan villa that even Eric started to pick up some enthusiasm for the idea. His vision of an upscale teahouse-type bakery was fading more every minute, but in the face of Natalie’s excitement, he found it hard to care.