It was six a.m. on the dot when Brandy arrived at Sweet Somethings, after five of the best hours of sleep she’d had in a really long time. She felt rested, recharged.
Mostly.
She had spent the entire drive home from the rodeo arena battling the damn lust that chanted more, more, more.
But she’d needed to go home, get some sleep, keep her head on straight and so she had.
Mostly.
She had spent an extra forty-five minutes tossing and turning and thinking that it had been two years. Two long years and so she was definitely due for more than just a one-night stand as was the norm whenever he rolled into town for a day or two here and there.
One fall from grace.
That’s all she gave herself. One chance to cut loose and unleash the bad girl deep inside before she bottled it all up and went back to pretending.
But this was different.
This wasn’t six months. Or eight. Or maybe even a year since she’d last cut loose. This was two years. Long enough to have earned herself a second encounter. Maybe even three.
Provided she had the time what with everything going on at the bakery.
Her body ached at the thought and she stiffened. Time and place, she reminded herself, and today was neither. It was Saturday. Her busiest day of the week. Add the fact that she still needed to get in touch with Kenny Roy, and she was all but swamped. Too much so to even contemplate cutting out early and paying another visit to Tyler McCall.
Even if she had desperately missed the purposeful glide of his hand down her back these last two years and the press of his fingertips on the underside of her breast and the feel of his lips at the hollow of her throat—
“Looks like somebody was busy last night.” Ellie’s voice pushed past the images rolling through Brandy’s brain and yanked her back to reality and the fact that she was no longer alone in the bakery.
Ellie sat her purse on a nearby shelf and reached for an apron, a gleam in her eyes.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” The words were out before Brandy could stop them.
“That somebody was busy.”
As in getting busy, Brandy’s conscience chided.
“You made all this bread,” Ellie went on, glancing at the tray of fresh-baked loaves. “You must have spent half the night here after we got back from Kenny Roy’s.”
“I, um, wanted to be prepared.” She reached for a tin of cupcakes she’d just scooped and slid them into the oven before setting the timer and turning back to move the bread to the cooling racks. “It’s Saturday. Busiest day of the week.”
Which meant she would have zero time to think about Tyler or the fact that one night hadn’t been nearly enough. She wanted him again. And again.
Not him, mind you. It.
She liked sex. She missed it.
Because she was every bit the bad girl that everyone thought.
She forced the thought aside. So she liked sex? Contrary to popular opinion, she wasn’t ruled by it.
Not now. Not ever.
“Are you okay?” Ellie’s voice drew her attention and she glanced up to find the woman eyeing her. “You look a little flushed. You’re not coming down with something, are you?”
“Of course not. I’m fine. It’s just a little hot in here.” She busied herself pulling down the nearby thermostat. “There. That’s better.”
“Because if you’re not feeling well, I can handle things here.”
Brandy gave her a pointed stare. “It’s Saturday. That means the Senior Ladies Auxiliary will be stopping by to pick up desserts for their weekly book club and the chamber of commerce will want enough apple turnovers to hand out at the local farmers market, not to mention we’ve got to furnish the desserts for the PTA luncheon and finish the Wilsons’ fiftieth-anniversary cake.”
One cake, she reminded herself. As opposed to the two or three or four special-order cakes she needed in order to secure a spot with Hill Country Happily Ever Afters. A dream that would never happen if she didn’t get another moonshine sample in time for her meeting with Foggy Bottom Distillers.
“I know we’re busy today, but I can still cover if you need to take a break.”
“I don’t need a break. All I need is more days like today.”
Busy. Chaotic. Consuming. Enough so that she managed to push Tyler’s image to the back burner and focus on work for the rest of the day.
“So I was thinking,” Ellie said later that afternoon, “that maybe I could get off an hour early tonight. If it’s okay.”
Brandy arched an eyebrow. “Hot date with the boyfriend?”
“Just a girls’ night. You can come if you want to. I mean, it’s just Lila and me.” She motioned to the woman busy decorating the last of the cupcakes that were headed for the First Presbyterian Church and tomorrow morning’s Sunday school. “Her hands are always so cramped after doing cupcakes for the hellions, so I thought we’d hit the Watering Trough and unwind.”
“I’ve got way too much left to do here since we started staying open on Sundays,” Brandy replied, “but thanks anyway. You two go on.”
Ellie shrugged. “You know where we’re at if you change your mind and want to toss down a couple of shots.”
But it was going to take a lot more than alcohol to relax Brandy. She needed something much more potent.
Someone much more potent.
Time and place, she reminded herself. And while a Saturday night was usually the perfect time, it wasn’t on this particular Saturday night. Not when she had a bucket of bubbling mash and no one to hand it off to just as soon as it was done.
A few days at the most, she judged after a quick check to make sure the mash was sound and secure and still working its magic.
For now.
But she had a limited amount of time to corner Kenny Roy and get the scoop on his connection, and so she wasn’t about to head out to the rodeo arena for another booty call with Tyler McCall.
No matter how much she suddenly wanted to.