by Kira Archer
“What, she gets to use your kitchen for a couple hours a day and make your deliveries for you? Yeah, I’m sure that’s what she always wanted. And in exchange, she sets up your bakery for you. Hopefully, it becomes successful, which is something she’s probably always wanted, and then what? She just walks away? How does that make any kind of sense?”
Eric opened his mouth to argue but paused. It didn’t make any sense. Yes, using his kitchen saved her some fees but was the money she saved really worth all the work she was putting in to start up his bakery?
Eric downed the rest of his beer and pushed back from the bar. A slow headache had formed behind his eyes.
Jared looked at him. “You calling it a night?”
“Yeah. It’s been a long day.”
“Look, man, I hope you know I’m just looking out for you. I’m not saying she’s not a genuinely nice girl. She might be. I’m just saying, be careful.”
“I will be,” Eric said. “You still coming in tomorrow to start learning the ropes?”
Jared frowned. “Since you won’t let up on the guilt trip until I do, I guess so.”
“I’m not guilt-tripping you.”
“Ha!” Jared drained his beer and slammed the bottle down. “What was all that ‘I need some help down there,’ and ‘you don’t have anything else going on right now’ and ‘I’d do it for you’ shit you’ve been feeding me.”
“Well, it’s not a guilt trip, if it’s true.” Eric laughed at Jared’s scowl. “Ah, come on. It won’t be that bad. Is earning a few bucks for an honest day’s work really such a horrifying concept?”
Jared shivered. “You’re damn right it is.”
Eric laughed again and slung his jacket over his shoulders. “I promise it won’t hurt. Not even a little.”
“Whatever you say, man.”
“See you later,” Eric said, heading for the exit.
By the time he’d reached the door, his amusement over Jared’s reluctance to work had drowned in the sea of his warnings against Nat. Eric pushed the door open and went into the night, taking a deep breath to clear his slightly fuzzy head. He knew Jared made a lot of sense. But he didn’t like it. At all.
Chapter Eleven
Nat walked into the bakery refreshed, for once, because she’d been able to sleep in that morning. Between her getting the truck ready in the mornings and Gina running it full time while she’d been working for Eric, Nat and Gina had decided a break was in order, so they’d taken the weekend off. Plus, the guy she’d paid to fix Eric’s car had offered her a deal on touching up her truck so with the cupcake business on a break, it was a good time to give the truck a face-lift. Which reminded her, she still needed to replace the shirt she’d ruined. There was no way even the dry cleaner was getting chocolate gelato out of the one he’d been wearing.
Regardless, Nat was now fully awake and ready to deal with Eric. She immediately scanned the kitchen for signs of tampering. And just as she thought, he’d done it again. She huffed and marched over to the counter where the jars of whisks, spatulas, and mixing spoons were stored. When she’d left the night before, each jar had contained eight of each utensil. Now, they were completely mixed together. And she knew if she counted, there’d be an odd number of each utensil in each jar.
“I can’t believe he is so juvenile,” she muttered while she set about reorganizing everything.
She kept up the tirade while she inspected the rest of the kitchen and set to rights whatever Eric had messed up, trying to keep her anger nice and stoked until he wandered in. The problem was, she found it kind of funny. It had turned into a game. Like hide and seek. Or lying in bed before Christmas morning trying to guess what was waiting for you under the tree. She never knew what would be waiting for her when she walked in the bakery and she hated to admit it, but she kind of looked forward to finding out every day.
Last week, she’d come in to find all the spices out of order and shoved in random spots around the room. And yesterday, he’d moved all the motivational pictures she’d hung on the walls in the kitchen. He’d apparently noticed that she’d hung the pictures in alphabetical order. Believe, Confidence, Excellence, Motivation, Potential, and so on. He’d rearranged them all. And made sure they hung just slightly crooked. Even she had to admit that was kind of genius.
Nat had finally started striking back. She’d changed his “Stud Muffin” apron to one that read Kitchen Bitch in hot pink lettering. And she had something extra special waiting for him in the freezer. He’d finally wrapped up enough loose ends to start his vacation time and was a full-time bakery owner for the time being. To celebrate, he’d purchased a special treat. He’d be in any minute so they could get going on painting the front but he wouldn’t be able to resist a quick snack.
The back door opened and Eric and Jared sauntered in. Eric saw what she was doing and grinned.
“How’s it going, Cupcake?”
“Just fine, Gelato.”
“Good to hear it. Doing a little rearranging?”
Nat smiled at him. “Straightening up. Things were a bit odd when I came in.”
Eric’s grin grew wider. “Hmm, that is odd.”
Jared looked back and forth between them. “You two are odd.”
Nat and Eric just beamed at him until he frowned and wandered away, muttering something about people needing to up their dosages.
Nat laughed and finished with the spoons. “You ready to get to work?” she asked, pulling her hair back into a messy bun.
“In just a minute.” Eric grabbed a teaspoon out of a drawer and went to the freezer. “I am my own boss for the next three months. And I am going to celebrate.”
He took a pint of his favorite milk chocolate gelato from the freezer and held it out to her. “Care to join me?”
Nat waved him off. “No, thanks. You earned that. Enjoy.”
“I will,” he said, winking at her. He followed Jared into the front room and settled down on the floor.
Nat leaned back against the counter, her arms folded, a smile already on her face. “Five…four…three…two…one…”
“Natalie!”
She broke into a full-toothed grin and poked her head out of the kitchen. Eric was standing, holding the pint away from him like it was a snake about to strike. A large blob of the stuff lay on the floor at his feet with more of it dribbling down his chin.
“Yes, Eric?”
He looked at her, his mouth hanging open. “What the hell did you do?”
She blinked innocently. “Oh nothing. I just thought you should have something extra special to celebrate with so I went to that garlic bistro and picked up a pint. I paid a bit more to have a little extra flavor mixed in. It was a little more expensive, of course, but nothing is too good for you,” she said, batting her eyelashes at him.
He wiped a hand across his mouth. “And exactly what flavor is this?”
“Garlic and anchovy.”
“What?” he shrieked.
Nat grinned wider. “Payback’s a bitch, baby.”
“Oh, you are so going to pay!” Eric dropped the ice cream and lunged for her.
Nat shrieked and ran laughing into the kitchen but Eric was hot on her heels. There really wasn’t anywhere to run. He had her pinned against the sink in under ten seconds. He scooped a bit of the ice cream off his shirt.
“If I had to eat it, you do, too,” he said, trying to get the stuff in her mouth.
She shrieked again and tried to dodge his hands, though it was hard to keep her mouth closed when she was laughing so hard she could barely breathe. He managed to get a little in and she immediately spit it back out.
“Oh my God,” she laughed, “that is truly foul.”
“Ha! Serves you right, defiling my gelato like that.”
“It’s better than putting vegetable oil in my glass cleaning solution! That was just mean. I still can’t get the streaks off that mirror in the bathroom.”
Eric chuckled and held on tighter when she squirme
d to get away. “Okay, okay. I call a truce.”
Nat stopped squirming. “You mean it?”
“I mean it. I’ll stop messing with everything around the kitchen, if you promise you will never, ever touch my gelato.”
She laughed and nodded. “Okay, fine, I agree.”
“Good,” Eric said. But he still didn’t let her go.
They were breathing hard from their mock battle and both of them suddenly realized they were molded together, from hip to chest, their arms locked around each other, their chests heaving in unison with every ragged breath they took.
Eric’s gaze met hers and he leaned in, slow enough that she could pull away if she wanted. She should. The smart thing to do would be to push him away. But since when did her body ever listen to what was smart when it came to Eric?
She tilted her head up and closed the distance between them. The second their lips met, Eric crushed her to him with a groan and Nat clung to him for dear life. There was no soft build up. Just raw need. They hadn’t touched each other, aside from the handholding, since that night at his house and judging by the way Eric was kissing her, he’d been missing her as badly as she had him. She opened to him, whimpering when his tongue invaded her mouth. She wrapped her arms around his neck, fisting her hands in his hair to keep him pinned to her lips. Sweet balls of fire, if he stopped kissing her now she’d die on the spot.
“Good God, get a room.” Gina’s voice was like a bucket of ice water and Eric and Nat broke apart like two guilty teenagers who’d been caught making out by their mom.
“I thought we were here to paint, not watch you two commit three major health code violations.”
“I don’t see why we can’t do both,” Jared said.
Nat gasped and turned to find Jared leaning against the doorframe. Blood rushed to her cheeks so quickly it made her head spin and she buried her face against Eric’s chest.
“All right, show’s over,” Eric said, though he didn’t sound nearly as outraged as he should have.
Gina shook her head and headed for the front of the bakery, pushing Jared ahead of her as she went.
Nat looked up at Eric and he grinned down at her. She glared at him. He laughed and let go of her, stepping back so she could move away from the sink.
“Sorry, I suppose I should apologize,” he said. “But I’ve wanted to do that for weeks. And unless you are a very good actress, I think you wanted it, too.”
Nat blushed again but she didn’t deny it. It would be kind of pointless to do that after she’d tried to get him to swallow her tonsils.
She sighed. “Yes, I did. But while I enjoyed that…”
Eric reached out to stroke her cheek and Nat had to step away from his touch to keep from launching herself at him again.
“I just don’t think it’s a good idea for us to get involved. Right now.”
Eric sighed and dropped his hand. “I know.”
“You do?” It was what she’d wanted him to say. So why did she feel so disappointed?
“Yeah. Mixing business and pleasure is never a good idea. So I’ve heard, anyway,” he said with a small smile. “However…”
“However…” Nat echoed.
Eric shrugged. “I’ve never been great with rules. And to be honest, I want you so damn much it’s getting hard to be around you.”
Nat’s eyebrow shot up and she aimed a very determined look at his crotch. Eric laughed.
“Yes, that pun was totally intended.”
Nat smiled and stepped back to lay her head on Eric’s chest. She took a deep breath, sighing when his arms came around her.
“Okay,” he said, pulling back from his embrace. “How about this? We put a pin on…whatever this is. For now. Until the bakery is up and running and we’ve got the rest of our…business association all straightened out. And then, we can figure out where to go from there.”
Nat nodded, fighting her disappointment. It was the smart thing to do. That didn’t mean she had to like it. “All right. We can just be friends for now.”
“Friends?”
The quirked eyebrow did her in. Damn, why did he have to be so insanely sexy? “Good friends?”
“Hmm,” Eric said, his grip tightening. “I like that idea.”
“Not like that,” Nat said, laughing as she pushed away from him. “We’ve sort of done everything backward. Jumped into bed before we knew each other. So, why don’t we just slow it down a little and start from the beginning?”
“As friends, huh?”
“For now. And then we’ll see how it goes from there.”
Eric gave her a small smile. “I suppose we can try that.”
“Good. Well then,” Nat said, stepping away from him. “I think we’ve got some painting to do.”
“Oh, about that…” Eric said, following her into the front room.
Nat stopped short and stared down at the supplies Jared had spread out in the middle of the room. Five gallons of paint and seven rollers. She turned to Eric and folded her arms. “Seriously?”
Eric gave her a sheepish grin. “I got the supplies before our truce. It’s going to be a hard habit to break but I’ll try, I swear.”
Nat sighed, but couldn’t stop a small smile from peeking through. The man was going to be the death of her. And going by the warmth and little prickles of excitement that were spreading through her at just the sight of him, she was going to go to her grave enjoying every second of it.
Chapter Twelve
Natalie did a last touch-up on her makeup and made a face at herself in the mirror. Not too bad. The party was Gatsby-themed and she’d gotten hold of an absolutely gorgeous black beaded and fringed dress. She’d tucked her hair into a black, straight-bobbed wig, and for once she’d managed to pull off a nice smoky-eye look. Usually, when she attempted it, she ended up looking like someone had beaten her with a bag of nickels. But she looked pretty damn good, if she did say so herself.
The dress had come with a rhinestone headdress sporting a gorgeous peacock feather and she added a long gold necklace that swayed tantalizingly between her breasts. She was ready to get her party on.
It had been a long couple of weeks since she and Eric had vowed to take things slow and focus on work. The daily urge to rip his clothes off and get their freak on was getting exhausting. She still thought it was a good idea, though. They already knew they had sexual chemistry. Probably too much. But Nat wanted to make sure they actually liked each other, not just liked sleeping together. She was not going to have a repeat of her last disastrous relationship.
So tonight, Nat was looking forward to cutting loose and just having a good time without having to worry about dealing with Eric and her inexplicable feelings for him. Her friend’s birthday party was a great excuse to get all dolled up and have some fun.
“You ready yet?” Gina asked. She, of course, looked like a total knockout in a mini red fringed dress.
Nat stood and spun around. “What do you think?”
Gina whistled. “I think every man there will be drooling all over you within half a second of seeing you.”
“Just what I was going for,” Nat said, laughing.
“Well, it might not be a bad idea if you met someone tonight. It’d get your mind off you-know-who.”
“Who?” Nat asked, playing totally dumb. So much for not bringing him up tonight.
“Seriously?” Gina rolled her eyes. “Your Gelato man.”
“My mind is not on him.”
“Whatever. Your mind is always on him. I’ve never seen you so hooked on a guy before and under normal circumstances, I’d be thrilled for you. I mean the guy is gorgeous and rich, two of my favorite things. But with your special little situation…”
Nat frowned. “What do you mean, rich? He’s just a junior financial consultant at a tiny firm. And if all goes according to his plan, he’ll be a self-employed owner of a bakery that isn’t even open yet.”
“Didn’t you Google him?”
Nat shook her
head and Gina rolled her eyes again. “Good God girl, that’s the first thing I do when I meet a new guy. Your boy is the son of Jerry and Miranda Schneider. They own like half the city.”
Nat frowned. She’d known he was fairly successful. He’d have to be to live in the place he did, but she hadn’t known he was that well off. “If he’s got that much money, why doesn’t he just buy me out? Or try to, anyway?”
Gina shrugged and leaned down to look in the mirror so she could touch up her lipstick. “I don’t know. But he’s not working for mommy and daddy and he did have an actual job, so he’s not some trust fund baby. Or a really bad one, anyway. Maybe he got cut off or something.”
Nat let that info churn around in her head for a second. The rich parents would explain Eric’s house. But everything else about him screamed “normal person,” not rich spoiled brat. And if he had access to mommy and daddy’s millions he surely would have offered to buy her out of their joint inheritance. Instead, he had seemed genuinely dismayed at how much it would cost to do that. He certainly didn’t act like someone who had that kind of money lying around. As his parents most certainly did.
Maybe he had been cut off, or maybe he was trying to live life on his own terms. If that was the case, that made her like him even more. Great, just what she needed. Even more reasons to fall head over heels for the guy.
“You ready?” Gina asked again.
“Yeah, just a sec,” Nat said, putting her makeup away and straightening up the desk.
“Has Eric let up on messing with your stuff?” Gina asked.
“Mostly. But he’s still always messing up the spices so I have to re-alphabetize them every day. He swears he’s not doing it on purpose but I know he is.”
“Yeah, well, alphabetizing everything that isn’t nailed down drives everyone nuts, Nat. Can’t really blame him on that one.”
Nat huffed. “I really don’t understand what everyone has against organization. Anyway,” she said, drawing out the word until Gina drew an invisible zipper across her lips, “he’s stopped moving the utensils so there are odd piles everywhere but he hides my favorite whisk, you know that big pink one? He swears he’s not doing it, but I find it in the weirdest places. Like the freezer. Or in the planter. And, he hates my oven mitts!”