THE TROUBLE WITH LUST
Mason Sharp placed his carry-on in the overhead bin of the airplane and settled into his first class seat with a happy sigh. Not long now and he would be on his way to enjoy ten days of soaking up the sun and diving in the aqua waters of the Caribbean. He hoped whoever happened to occupy the seat next to him wasn’t a Chatty Kathy. All he wanted was to catch a few hours of shut-eye before his vacation started.
The buzz from his cell phone caught his attention. A quick scan of the text, and he laughed. His brother Zack, who also happened to be his business partner and best friend, had sent him a text in regard to his newest client.
“You wouldn’t believe who signed up for a membership today… ERICA SUTTON! Remember her from high school?”
Mason had to think hard. Recalling her was difficult.
“The mousy chick with the glasses who tutored you?”
The phone alerted him to the second text.
“Yep, that’s her. She isn’t mousy anymore.”
Not quite sure where the conversation was going, Mason decided to go for practical.
“See? I told you New Year’s Day was a great day to be open for business.”
“Really? I’m telling you about my HS crush and you’re getting all business on me? I thought you were in vaca mode?”
“Exactly, which is why I’m turning off my phone now. Go buy her a smoothie and stop bothering me.”
“Whatever. Have a great time, asshat.”
“Yeah, up yours, dickhead. And thanks, I will.”
He’d just cleared the screen when a feminine voice said, “Excuse me. I think that’s my seat.” Mason raised his head but his process was halted at the gorgeous display of breasts in his line of vision.
“Up here, buddy,” said a wry voice.
Reluctantly, he tore his gaze from the luscious tatas in front of him to meet the amused moss-green eyes of the woman who owned them.
“Pardon?” He’d never been thrown for a loop like that before.
“Lady, you’re holding up the line,” groused a voice from behind her.
The man voicing the complaint was issued a wilting glare. Mason found himself grinning as the guy backpedaled upon being the recipient of her displeasure.
“Do you mind letting me by?” she asked after a moment. “I’m in the seat next to you. 3D. Says so right here on my boarding pass.”
Feeling a bit like a dumbass, Mason made to stand and smacked his head on the compartment above.
“Goddammit!” he swore. When were airlines going to start making airplanes to accommodate tall people? At six-four it was a downright pain in the ass to travel in these tiny tin cans.
“Ouch. Sorry.”
He cut her a sharp glance. She didn’t look sorry. She looked as though she found the whole situation entertaining and would break into laughter at any second. More than a little irritated, he shifted into the aisle to allow her to take her seat, then resumed his place from before the interruption.
It wasn’t long before the boarding of the plane was complete and their flight attendant was asking for their drink requests.
“Scotch. Neat,” he said.
“White wine,” his new traveling companion piped up.
After their beverages had been delivered, Mason took a large swallow. He debated the merits of conversing with the blonde bombshell seated next to him. Most days he was up for mild flirtation, but it had been a helluva week, and he just wanted to relax without any distraction. This trip was long overdue to his way of thinking.
“I’m Shonda.”
She took the decision away from him. His choice now was to be rude or introduce himself. And because his mother hadn’t raised him to be a jerk, he responded in kind.
“Mason. A pleasure.”
“Where are you heading?”
“St. Thomas. You?”
“St. Thomas,” she said with a breathless laugh. She had the type of sexy laugh a man felt down to his—yeah, that way of thinking would be embarrassing soon. He had to get his mind out of the gutter. His thoughts were so entrenched in what he would do to her if they ever had the chance to be naked together, he almost missed her next words.
“So, are you part of the Mile-High Club?” she asked, an expectant smile on her face.
In the middle of taking another sip, he choked and sprayed the contents all over the seat in front of him. When his throat and lungs stopped burning enough to reply, he asked, “Excuse me?”
“The Mile-High Club. I would assume, if you fly often, you would be a member. Isn’t that what it’s called when you are a frequent flyer?”
Her question was innocent enough. Mason could see no guile there. Still, he decided to answer her honestly.
“Yes, I am a member of the Mile-High Club. And no, it isn’t for frequent flyers, love.”
He wanted so badly to go a step further and offer to initiate her, but the plane had just taken off, and it was going to be a long trip. He needed the sleep.
The flash of uncertainty he witnessed caused him to lean forward and whisper in her ear, “To be a member of the Mile-High Club means you’ve had sex during a flight.” Wait for it…ah, and it registered. Her blush, when it came, made him bite back a smile.
“Ohmygod!” she exclaimed.
Shonda was completely mortified. Too late. She realized she had heard the term before. Dammit! Her only excuse was how drop-dead gorgeous the man in front of her was. With his brown-black hair, dark slashing brows, and light blue eyes, he’d scrambled her brains.
Taking a sip of her wine, she frantically searched for another topic. Not finding one, she reached for the Sky Mall magazine in front of her and casually flipped through the pages. She could only hope he didn’t view her as a complete idiot.
Pretending interest wasn’t difficult. As a marketing director she liked to peruse fliers, magazines, and advertisements to see what might be trending. And the doorknob security bar for only $14.99 looked like a steal!
She whipped out her phone and snapped a pic of the ad. When she got to her destination, she might order one for her apartment.
“You live in the bad section of town?” asked the hottie in the neighboring seat, eyes closed. How had he known what she was looking at?
“No. But a girl can’t ever be too careful.”
“Think that’s going to stop someone who really wants in?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping or something?” she asked pointedly.
He fixed her with his intense sky-blue eyes. “I’m just saying, if you think that little piece of junk is going to keep anyone out…” He trailed off with a shrug.
Mason’s disparagement of her soon-to-be-added security measure was irritating, to say the least. If the stick could buy time for the occupant of a residence to at least get to a phone, then it did its job.
“I’ll have my friend help me test it when I get home.”
“Save your money. Get an alarm,” he advised, closing his eyes again, as if his word was the final say in the matter.
“I have an alarm. I happen to think this is a brilliant product.”
A snort was his answer.
“You know, I don’t believe anyone asked your opinion,” she said, irrationally annoyed.
One eyelid lifted to study her, then dropped shut again. When no comment was forthcoming, Shonda’s temper spiked. Really! Who did this arrogant jerk think he was anyway?
“Asshole,” she muttered.
He came alert and glared at her. “What did you say?”
“I called you an asshole. A-S-S-H-O-L-E. Asshole,” she said as if she were speaking to the slowest of morons.
If looks could kill, she was sure she’d be six feet under. But Shonda had taken crap from people all her life and, for whatever reason, decided it stopped here and now. Her bestie, Erica, would be proud. Together, the two women had been working on self-esteem issues and encouraged each other in all things empowering. Telling this overbearing, self-entitled, gorgeous—whoa! Wait. Damn, her mind went sideways on that one. Had to be all those manly-man pheromones he was putting off.
She leaned in to take a subtle sniff.
“Did you just sniff me?” Mason asked, incredulous.
Shonda froze, eyes wide and shocked. Ohdeargod! Had she? Had her body responded to the yummy scent he was wearing and acted on animal instinct?
“Uh, no!” she denied hotly. But she had, and they both knew it. Heat flared in her face, giving lie to her answer. As he continued to stare at her as if she’d grown a second head, she decided coming clean was the best course of action. “Okay, yes. But can I help it if you are wearing cologne designed to draw in unsuspecting women?”
His bark of laughter turned heads. Shonda’s face flamed brighter if possible. She ducked lower in her seat. An eyeball peeped through the slot in front of her, and she felt a strong desire to poke the nosy person with her finger. Burying her head back in the shopping magazine, she did her best to ignore the curious people around her.
The problem was now Mr. Egotistical had decided it would be fun to tease her.
“So, you like the way I smell,” he stated with a smirk.
“Yeah, well I like the way cupcakes smell, but I don’t indulge.”
“Pity.”
“That I don’t eat cupcakes?”
“That you don’t… indulge.”
“I didn’t say I don’t indulge, indulge.”
“Indulge, indulge? Code for sex?” he taunted.
“What else would it be code for?” she demanded. “As if you didn’t start it with your sexy, bedroom eyes and your suggestive—” Jesus, Mary, and Joseph she’d done it again! What the hell was this man doing to her brain? Melting it, that’s what! “Can you stop talking to me now? Please?”
His chuckle hit her in the gut.
He trailed a finger over her forearm. “If you change your mind about… indulging, I would be happy to make you a Mile-High member.”
She knew she shouldn’t wish for the plane to go down in a fiery crash right then, but she couldn’t live with the embarrassment of this stupid conversation. It would come back to haunt her when she least suspected it. Such was her life.
Shonda opened her mouth to speak. What would have come out, she was never to know because at that moment the announcement warned passengers to return to their seats and fasten their safety belts. The flight attendant made haste to collect cups and other items she’d passed out earlier, then urged everyone to put their tray in the upright position.
“What’s happening?” Mason’s question had the already nervous airline employee more agitated.
“Just some turbulence, I’m sure.” Her reassurance gave way to a slight yelp as the plane dipped, and she almost lost her footing.
A second announcement sounded over the intercom to direct the crew to find their seats and buckle up immediately. Once again, the plane dipped and righted itself. Gasps could be heard from among the first-class passengers. Without conscious thought, Shonda reached to grip Mason’s hand.
A third speech from the captain informed passengers and crew alike one of the engines was experiencing difficulty. An emergency landing was necessary.
“Okay,” Shonda blurted.
“Okay, what?” Mason asked her, clearly confused.
“Okay, let’s do the Mile-High member thing. If we’re going to die anyway, we might as well go out with a bang,” she reasoned.
For the longest minute he stared at her. Unspeaking. Unmoving. The next instant, he had the divider between their seat raised and had captured her mouth with his own. Shonda was sure if this was to be her last moment on earth, or in the air as the case may be, she would die happy. Damn, the things that man could do with his mouth!
THE BAKERY
Addie Jones loved to bake. From the time she was a small child “assisting” her grandmother in the kitchen, she’d been addicted to the process. It didn’t hurt that her creations tasted divine. All her life, she only ever wanted to own a bakery and be elbow deep in flour. She couldn’t imagine a better existence.
That’s why the thought of having to close her storefront, Divine by Design, was breaking her heart. Because, while she created baked goods and other sweets to make a person weep with joy, she couldn’t balance her accounts to save her life. Gah! Bills, invoices, data entry—they were all things designed to make her insane. But now, faced with the closure of her shop, she realized she’d neglected the business’s finances far too long.
It wasn’t as if she didn’t pay her bills, she just put them on the back burner. Out of sight, out of mind. Based on her current sales, she could last throughout the winter. Come the beginning of spring, she would need to come up with either a solution or an exit strategy. The thought chilled her to the bone. It hadn’t helped her manager, Bridget, had run off with her married lover, taking a sizable amount of company money as her own personal parting gift. They were the funds which would have kept her afloat for another year.
If Addie ever ran into that skanky ho again, she couldn’t be held responsible for her actions. Yet, other than filing a police report, there hadn’t been much she’d been able to do. The little tramp made off with her money and another woman’s husband without leaving any trail. Probably she shouldn’t have trusted someone else to work with the books. And probably she should’ve taken a course in accounting so she could’ve controlled that aspect of the business as well. Too late now. Nothing was going to dig her out of this sizable hole.
The chime on the front door sounded.
She frowned and glanced at the wall clock. Rarely did she get anyone this late in the day. Most likely a customer coming in to place a cake order. There was always a last-minute mother or spouse trying to tie up loose ends for a party. She wiped her hands on a nearby dish towel and headed out to offer up a greeting.
One look at the man standing in front of the display case had her heart beating double time. Addie opened her mouth to welcome him to her shop, but no words came forth.
He hadn’t noticed her yet, which was a good thing.
She imagined her appearance resembled nothing short of a train wreck. The ovens in the back put off a inordinate amount of heat, and she wasn’t the neatest of bakers. The result was flushed cheeks, sweat-pooled armpits, strawberry goo on her white chef’s coat, and wiry hair she’d tried to tame with a clip and the stray bobby pin or two.
She allowed herself the luxury of staring for another moment.
He was tall, probably at least six-two, with broad shoulders tapering down to a well-muscled stomach. The form-fitting t-shirt he was sporting told her as much. A view below the waist was obstructed by the display case.
Even standing on tippy toes and contorting her short five-foot-two frame to see didn’t help. She let loose an inaudible sigh of disappointment. She trailed lustful eyes back up over his broad chest, ogled the corded muscles of his arms, admired his square jaw with its two-day growth of beard and smirking mouth—oh hell!
Her horrified gaze flew to his amused blue eyes. She straightened from where she’d been resting her shoulder against the opening to the rear of the store. Her face flamed red-hot while her body went cold.
Crap! Busted!
“Uh, hi. Welcome to…” Jesus, she forgot the name of her bakery! Dear God, kill me now!
“Thank you.”
At the sound of his rich, gravelly voice, she feared she came, or at the very least, whimpered aloud. She didn’t want to think about how long it had been since she’d had sex. All she knew was she was about two seconds from becoming Captain Cavewoman and dragging the poor man by his luscious, thick brown hair into the office to have her way with him.
“M-may I help you?” Okay, that sounded somewhat normal.
“Yes, I’d like to…”
Addie got lost in the smooth cadence of his speech, not registering the words. Yeah, she’d like to as well. When he stopped speaking and grinned, she had the very real fear she’d spoken the words. Banging her head on the counter would have to wait until after he left.
With a shake of her head and a heartfelt sigh, she apologized. “I’m sorry. I’m short staffed and halfway to mental right now. Please, tell me again what you need. I promise to pay attention this time.”
“A job.”
Huh? Had she heard him correctly. She knew what she’d like to offer him for employment, but she was pretty sure it would be sexual harassment and land her with multiple restraining orders.
“A job? You?” Disbelief was evident in her tone. “You want a job here? At my bakery?”
If possible, his grin widened. “Yes.”
“What are your qualifications?” she asked. Who cares? Hire him before he runs screaming out the door!
The internal dialog was driving her crazy. Or she was crazy, which might’ve been why she was having an internal dialog. Either way, he didn’t know what he was getting himself in for.
“I studied at the local culinary institute for eight months. Before that, I earned a degree in business management and finance. Mostly I’ve been working in my family’s business—primarily accounting and marketing.”
It was as if the Heavens had opened up and sent down an angel of her very own. “Tell me you know how to make pastry dough and you’re hired.”
His confident laugh was answer enough.
“How soon can you start?” Addie asked and did a mental running man dance.
“Don’t you want to check my references or something?” he asked dryly.
“Oh, crap! Yes, of course.” She was back to sounding like an idiot. For Pete’s sake already! “Did you happen to bring a résumé, or do you need an application to fill out?”
“An application would be great, thanks.”
She snuck another glance at him from under lowered lashes. Those twinkling azure eyes reminded her of someone. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember who. He’d scrambled her brain matter. “Do I know you?”
“I don’t think so.”
Why did he look shy suddenly? And damned if it didn’t make him hotter still. Who didn’t love a modest man?
“Okay, have a seat, and I’ll bring you a form.”
She gestured to one of the tables and high-tailed it to her office. She took great care not to slam the door in her haste. Once out of his line of sight, she removed the stained apron, sniffed her pits, smoothed her hair into some semblance of order, and blew her breath into her hand to make sure the garlic knots she’d had for lunch weren’t going to come back to haunt her. She suspected they would. Ugh! Running for the desk, she grabbed a stick of gum and a form. Addie was halfway out the door before she realized she’d forgotten to reinforce her deodorant and grab a pen. Breathe, woman! Breathe!
Vaughn McAdams watched Addie hustle out of the room and smiled. His cousin, Bianca, who worked at Stonebrooke Bank & Trust, had dished up the dirt on how their other cousin’s husband had run off with the cute bakery owner’s manager, along with all the funds in Addie’s savings account. Bianca was Addie’s best friend and felt it was her duty to send her financial adviser relative to the rescue.
He hadn’t lied about his culinary experience. What he had lied about was needing a job. Vaughn had enough money in his portfolio to buy Addie three bakeries five times over if she wished. However, one look at her adorably flushed face, the kinky curly hair, and her smoking-hot hourglass figure, and he’d promptly told the biggest whopper of his life. He didn’t see as he had a choice. How else was he supposed to spend time with her? According to Bianca, the woman never stopped working from sun up to well past sundown.
Addie bustled back into the bistro area of her shop, scattering his thoughts to the four corners of the room.
“You’re a life saver. We’re coming up on the busiest time of the year. Everyone wants pies and candies for Thanksgiving, which I already have prepared and ready to bake, but then comes the prep for the Christmas, New Year’s, and Valentine’s Day rush. With the holiday season only a few short weeks away, we’ll have time to develop a good rhythm together,” she said. Pausing, she opened her mouth and closed it again. Another blush tinged her cheeks, and he could tell she was struggling with the desire to clarify her statement. “What I meant to say is it’s a small space, and we don’t want to constantly be on top of one another.”
At his quirked brow, she closed her eyes. He had the distinct impression she wanted to smack herself in the head if the twitching of her hand was any indication. Working with Addie was going to be fun.
It didn’t take her long to get whatever emotion she was feeling in check. Soon enough, she was focusing those intelligent forest-green eyes on him. His body’s reaction was immediate.
Vaughn wondered if he should wait to ask her out until after he’d been working here for a while. Asking her on a date at this point might give her second thoughts about hiring him. Because he knew the state of her finances, and because he was sworn to secrecy by Bianca, he decided the best course of action would be stealth mode. He’d fly right in under her radar and charm the heck out of her. Addie wouldn’t know what hit her.
The thought made him grin and made her pause in her human resources new-employee monologue. She reached up, shoved back her hair with the back of her forearm, and ran both hands down her shirt in an attempt to smooth out the nonexistent wrinkles. All she succeeded in doing was to pull the top tight over her breasts and make his mouth salivate. Those puppies were a D cup without a doubt. While Vaughn considered himself mainly a butt and thigh guy, he appreciated a nice set of ladies. If he had a hat, he’d tip it to them in greeting.
A timer went off somewhere in the far reaches of the bakery. Addie jumped up as if her seat was on fire. “I need to pull the cake out. I’ll leave you here to finish filling this out, okay?” She didn’t wait for his response.
Once again he was admiring her backside. Yep, now he’d had a glimpse, there was no way he wasn’t going to be tasting her. He’d forgotten about the form and sat daydreaming of all the things he would do with her if he’d ever get the chance when his brother Lip stepped through the door.
“Hey man, what are you doing here?”
Vaughn wanted to hide or tell his brother to lower his damn voice. But the ringing of the front bell had signaled Addie to a customer present. Before he could say a word, she appeared.
“Lip!” Her delighted cry had him frowning.
“There’s my girl!” His brother laughed as she rushed around to greet him. Lip, being the womanizing asshat he was, bent her backward and rained kisses on the column of her throat.
Her delighted laughter had Vaughn scowling and surging to his feet. He’d be damned if he was going to lust after his brother’s fling of the week.
“I’ve gotta run. I’ll drop this back some other time.”
If she looked adorably confused, he refused to acknowledge it. He was halfway out the door when he heard her ask, “What do you suppose got into him?”
Lip’s chuckle grated on his last nerve. “He’s my brother. He’s intense on any given day.”
The comment pissed him off enough to have him halt his progress and spin around. The couple was observing him with completely opposite expressions. Lip’s was amused and knowing, while Addie’s was longing and sad. While his brother’s arrogance had Vaughn wanting to kick puppies, Addie’s look cheered him somewhat.
“I’ll be back,” he informed her with a wink.
“Okay, Terminator,” his brother smirked. Both Vaughn and Addie shot him an annoyed glance. Vaughn’s was followed by the finger. Lip’s laughter trailed him the remaining way out the door.
Can’t get enough of my stories? Turn the page for a list of my books currently available for your reading pleasure. Thirteen sleep-stealing stories in all!