All of Me

by Leeanna Morgan

  ***

  A few hours later, Tess was baking in the café’s kitchen when Annie threw open the back door and raced over to the sink.

  “Sorry I’m late. I had a bowling competition last night. I got five strikes in a row. Five. And that doesn’t count the doubles and triples in my other games. Coach thinks I’m his Golden Girl, but you know, I do what I can.” She looked across the room and frowned. “What happened to you?”

  Tess ran her knife around the edge of the apricot and coconut cake she’d taken out of the oven. “What do you mean?”

  “You look terrible. Like you didn’t get any sleep last night. It wasn’t the reporters was it? I told Coach they’d been hanging around and he said to tell him if they came back. He knows a few muscley men that could show them…”

  “Tables are nearly ready. I’ll refill two of your sugar bowls and some salt shakers. Hi, Annie.” Logan walked across the room, dropped the empty containers on the counter, then headed for the pantry.

  While Logan looked for the sugar, Tess kept her head bent over the cake. Annie had a sixth sense when it came to people. She could read someone’s body language quicker than a hummingbird could fly. This was one time Tess didn’t need Annie’s voodoo magic telling her what had happened in the early hours of the morning. More than once.

  It would be safe to say that Logan Allen had lived up to all of the fantasies Tess’ over-active imagination had created.

  The man at the center of everyone’s attention looked over his shoulder. “Did I interrupt something?”

  Annie’s eyes widened. She looked between Tess and Logan, then back again. “You had sex.”

  Tess’ whole body felt as though it was on fire. A blush burned her skin, sending smoke signals to anyone in a fifty-foot radius, telling them she was guilty as charged.

  Logan smiled, a slow sexy smile that gave Tess goose bumps. She wasn’t going to cuddle up to him, wrap her arms around his middle and tell Annie what an amazing man he was. He knew that, she’d already told him, and then he’d shown her there was always room for improvement.

  Logan’s brown eyes practically glowed with laughter. “I’m going to be late for work.”

  Tess glanced at the clock on the wall. “It’s only seven-thirty.”

  “What can I say? I’m an overachiever.”

  Unlike Tess, he had no worries about sharing his lips in front of Annie. He leaned over the counter, kissed her like there’d be no tomorrow, and grabbed two chocolate chip cookies off a cooling rack.

  After he’d left, Annie sighed. “I could almost forgive you for not saying anything after seeing that kiss. All I can say is that it took you long enough.”

  Tess caught herself smiling at nothing in particular. “What do you mean?”

  “Logan. You. The man has practically lived here for the past year. For most of that time, you’ve given him the cold shoulder. Now look at you. Kissing over the kitchen counter. It’s enough to make a recently single woman weep.”

  “But you were never officially dating Carl.”

  Annie held her hand to her forehead in a dramatic pose. “I can dream can’t I?” She reverted back to the normal Annie and sighed. “Carl wasn’t the man for me. There’s got to be someone out there who’ll love me for my food.”

  “They’ll love you for a lot more than that, believe me.”

  “I hope so.” Annie looked around the room. “Did Logan make all of the toasted sandwich fillings?”

  Tess smiled. “I trained him well.”

  Annie made a gagging sound. “I’m choking on all of the love hormones in the air.” She took a clean apron off a shelf and tied it around her waist. “Mrs. Donaldson will be in for her usual stack of pancakes in half an hour. I’ll fill the salt shakers Logan left on the counter and get a head start on Mrs. Donaldson. Did Sally tell you about Max, the dog from the shelter?”

  Tess’ brain was still concentrating on love hormones. When she finally caught up with what Annie was talking about, she frowned. “Did he eat another pair of her boots?”

  “I don’t think so. He nearly ended up on death row after he ate the last pair. She might have found a permanent home for him.”

  “Really?”

  “Yep.” Annie screwed the lid on the last salt shaker and put it to one side. “Dylan’s got a friend who’s thinking about adopting him. He lives on a ranch somewhere between here and Sally’s parents’ place. He’s gone on vacation, but when he gets back, he’s going to look after Max for a few days and see how it goes.”

  “I hope Dylan’s friend knows what he’s doing.”

  “So do I. Max can be a handful at the best of times.” Annie took a mixing bowl out of a drawer and emptied four cups of flour into it. “Now tell me about Logan. I expect he can be more than a handful too.”

  Tess took a bowl of frosting out of the fridge and scooped it into a piping bag. She ignored the curious smile on Annie’s face and started swirling chocolate squiggles over a cake she’d made yesterday.

  Annie added buttermilk to the pancake mixture in front of her. “Some people might find your silence endearing. I’m more of a tell-it-like-it-really-is kind of girl.”

  Tess laughed. “If I told you what Logan is like, you’d never speak to me again. I think he’s the one.”

  Annie stopped stirring the pancake batter. “You mean ‘The One.’ The man that makes your heart go fluttery and your brain cells malfunction?”

  Tess nodded.

  “I think you need to take a leaf out of Dylan’s friend’s book. Don’t leap into anything with Logan until you’ve seen how it works out.”

  “I thought you were an incurable romantic with an exceptional bowling point average? “

  “Romance is over-rated,” Annie said. “Bowling is so much more rewarding, especially when I annihilate my competition.”

  “You’ve turned into a bowling monster.” Tess laughed at the monsterish growl coming from Annie’s throat. “Just think happy thoughts when you serve our customers or they might run a mile.”

  “Yes, boss,” Annie said demurely. “And when I’m feeling particularly growly you can let me loose on the reporters that come in here today. They won’t know what’s hit them.”

  “Hopefully another story has made the headlines.”

  “And if not we’ve always got Dylan’s phone number,” Annie said. “Do you know if he’s got a girlfriend?”

  “And you tell me to be careful. Dylan’s a cross between James Bond and Rambo. He’s scary with a capital S.”

  Annie smiled. “Only when he thinks people are watching. I bet you he’s a pussy cat under all of that indignant fur.”

  Tess turned the cake around and frowned. “Be careful.”

  But Annie wasn’t listening, and Tess couldn’t blame her.