Chapter Two
“You’re sure he knows what he’s doing?” Dana asked an hour later. “He’s been in there a long time, and still nothing.”
She finished piping halos of strawberry frosting on Tori Schmidt’s chocolate ganache-filled cupcakes and slid the last tray over to Meredith.
“He’s an expert or the company wouldn’t have sent him,” Meredith said as she carefully added delicate princess toppers to each cake.
“Yeah, but Randy’s an expert too, and we’re still being zapped by cyber-creeps.”
Meredith sighed, unable to deny it.
Secretly, she had been wondering the same thing. Three hackings in six months did seem a bit much, especially if an expert was rushing in to set things right. And Randy definitely had the credentials of an expert. Besides, she liked the guy and didn’t want to get him fired by complaining. And computers were always being hacked, even if they were owned by banks and government agencies. So her own situation probably wasn’t that unusual.
“All right, if this doesn’t work out, we’ll find a new company,” she told Dana as she reached for the last silk and satin-bedecked princess.
“What’s he look like?” Dana asked. “I mean on a scale of one to ten.”
Meredith blinked, surprised by the change in subject, but not relieved by it. If discussing Vladimir Wiznitsky’s professional ability was hard, measuring his sexiness was even harder. And no way did she want to admit how hunky she found the guy, not even to Dana.
“Maybe a low six,” she finally said.
Dana sighed. “Not even a straight six, huh? Bummer. Secretly, I was hoping for a ten plus.” She shrugged and went to a wheeled cart piled with cake boxes. “Oh well, maybe we’ll get luckier next time. Right now, think I’ll take the muffins to the back door. The company’s sending someone to pick them up instead of us delivering, and they’re due…” She checked the wall clock. “…right about now.”
She wheeled the cart out of the room, and Meredith collected the dirty bowls and utensils, frowning as she began to mentally estimate whether they had enough funds to see them through the next few months. Her frown deepened when the all-too-familiar problem of too much month left at the end of the money raised its head again, as it so often did.
“Ask some of the suppliers to accept partial payment, or beg the bank for an extension?” she murmured under her breath, trying to calculate the best way to handle another shortfall.
Vlad’s voice suddenly intruded on her calculations, and she jumped, almost sending a dirty mixing bowl over the edge of the counter.
“Fixed it,” he said from the doorway.
She turned as he entered the room. He paused at the threshold and looked around with interest. Then he inhaled deeply, and smiled. Meredith couldn’t help smiling in response. She loved it when people enjoyed the odors of her baking.
“It’s working again?” she asked.
“Perfectly.” He set his case on the counter and came toward her. “From what I’ve heard, this isn’t the first computer hacking problem you’ve had.”
“You heard right. It’s the third in six months.”
His brows snapped together in a frown, and he blew out a breath, looking totally shocked. “That’s crazy. But at least you use a good solid backup service, right?”
“I have a webmaster to oversee the company website because being accessible is vital for a new business. But a backup service for my own computer…uh, not exactly.”
“You mean you don’t back up to an external server?” He did an exaggerated eye roll to indicate what he thought of that little omission. “Oh, lady!”
“Look, I’m a master with desserts, not a tech genius,” Meredith said. She meant it to sound reasonable and authoritative. Instead she knew it came out defensive and apologetic.
Obviously he knew it as well, because he shook his head at her and folded his arms across his chest. It was such a superior-guy posture—all high-handed male attitude mixed with unintended sexiness—that for some reason it turned her on at the same time as it aggravated the hell out of her. Which was one heck of a lousy combination.
“Then get someone to do it for you,” he said.
“I’ve only been in business a few months. I have massive bills to pay so my creditors don’t—”
“All the more reason for you to protect your data. You can get a good service for maybe a hundred dollars a year that’ll back up everything…your entire drive, including all your system files.”
Meredith sucked in a breath, so stressed that she was ready to scream. She knew banana pudding cakes, not system files. But even though she hated to admit it, she also knew he was right. So far she’d been lucky. No valuable information had ever been compromised. But that could change in a minute.
“Frankly, I advise you to go through all your important files right away to make sure nothing’s been tampered with,” he said.
Meredith gritted her teeth. Like she hadn’t already considered that without his suggesting it. She narrowed her eyes at him. All right, forget the guy’s great butt and chin dimple. Even forget the fact that he was right. He was still haranguing her. In her own kitchen, too. Well, no way was she going to stand for that. She lifted her chin, frowning to let him know she didn’t care if he was a hunky stud. She wasn’t in the least intimidated by him.
“Look, Mister Nitwit, I’m perfectly aware of that and perfectly capable of—”
“Wiznitsky, not nitwit,” he interrupted as he held his hand up like an imperious traffic cop to stop her. “And like your name, mine is a perfectly legitimate name too.”
“My mistake,” she snapped. “It wasn’t my intention to malign your name. I just—”
He held his hand up again, this time more gently. “Wait a minute. Truce?”
Meredith stopped and took a breath, knowing this was silly. She was overreacting in the most juvenile way, and she didn’t know why, except that for some reason the man seemed to be pushing all her worst emotional buttons. Either that or maybe the stress of too much work and too many bills had finally gotten to her.
“Definitely. Truce,” she told him. “I apologize for the outburst.”
“No apology necessary. My fault for lecturing.” He held out his hand a third time. “Want to shake on it?”
She grinned. “That we have a truce, or that it’s your fault?”
He flashed an answering grin. “Both.”
“Deal.”
Meredith grasped his hand, then wished she hadn’t, because it was so large and warm that she was beginning to feel strange.
“Knock, knock. Anybody here?” a familiar voice called from right outside the room.
Meredith immediately pulled her hand from Vlad’s grasp. She hadn’t seen Tippi in months, but now here the lady was, sauntering in on her four-inch heels as her blonde hair swung against her shoulders and her hips performed a definite swing of their own.
“Sorry to intrude, but there was no one outside, though I did hear voices in here. Fairly loud ones too.”
Cringing at the thought Tippi had heard them arguing, Meredith forced a friendly smile. “Tippi, hello.”
“Hi, Meredith. Hope you don’t mind me dropping by unannounced, but I was just passing the building, and I wondered how everything was going.”
“Of course I don’t mind. Nice to see you.”
“Wonderful seeing you, too.”
Then Tippi’s attention and her smile shifted to Vlad. Actually, Meredith noticed it wasn’t exactly the same smile, more an intense version of the one Tippi had given Meredith. “And hi to you too, whoever you are,” she told him, and her tone had changed, going all smooth, syrupy female. “I’m Tippi Turnbull, owner of Tippi’s Treats.”
“Vlad Wiznitsky. Hi.”
Tippi moved closer, looking up at him as her smile grew absolutely flirty. “Fun name. I like it. Are you applying for a job here? Men can be awesome at creating yummy desserts.”
Vlad shrugged. “Sorry. I’m not
one of those men. I’m more into tech assistance.”
“Tech? Oh, computers, you mean.” She turned to Meredith, eyes wide with interest. “My goodness, are you having computer woes? Those can be the worst for a business, especially a new one. Hope you didn’t lose anything vital.”
Meredith hoped so too. But she had no intention of telling that to Tippi, so she just smiled sweetly as though her computer problems were a mere microscopic glitch. “Nothing vital. Everything’s just fine.”
“Well, good. I wouldn’t want a fellow business owner to have any trouble.”
Tippi looked around the room, and her attention was immediately drawn to the princess cupcakes. “Oh, that is sweet! Pink cupcakes with princess toppers. Totally adorable. Of course, my creations tend to be a little more adult.”
“They’re for a nine-year-old’s birthday cupcake cake,” Meredith said. “We also create liquor-infused desserts, just not for a nine-year-old.”
“Well, of course not. That could get you into all kinds of trouble, couldn’t it?” Tippi looked up at the wall clock, and her mouth rounded into a surprised oh. “Whoops, guess I better be off now. I just wanted to drop in for a tick to see how things are going with…” She shrugged. “…the competition, so to speak.”
“Thanks so much for visiting.” Meredith gave what she hoped was a friendly goodbye wave. She hated the sense of relief she felt at the prospect of Tippi’s departure, but something about the lady tended to set her nerves on edge.
“My pleasure.” Tippi smiled brightly. “Bye-bye, Vlad, it’s been really nice meeting you, and if you want some yummy adult desserts, come by my place. It’s on the corner of Beekman and Murray. I promise you’ll leave with an armful of scrumptious pastries. My treat.”
Meredith watched her turn and flounce out of the room, her hips swinging back and forth like a pendulum and her thigh-high skirt barely covering her ass.
Once she was out of sight, Vlad moved closer to Meredith and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Do I sense some competition going on here?”
“Just on Tippi’s part. She’s been around for almost a decade, and I’m sort of the new kid on the block. I think she’s afraid I’ll take away some of her business.”
He nodded. “Ah, the competitive kind.”
“Definitely.”
“But you’re not?”
“Of course not. But if she ever gives you, say, a dozen free cupcakes or muffins, let me know. I’ll see her dozen and raise it another dozen.” She reached over to the counter and took one of the extra cupcakes they’d made. “Here, consider this a small down payment,” she said as she offered it to him.
Vlad burst out laughing. “Nothing I like better than a noncompetitive woman.” He took the cupcake and bit into it, closing his eyes and smiling as he chewed a mouthful of rich chocolate-ganache filling.
Meredith couldn’t help being charmed by the sight. Nice. She could tell he was really taking pleasure in the cupcake. A man with a lusty appetite. In her opinion, there were few things in the world as good as that. Except maybe a man who had a sexy chin dimple and a great butt as well as a lusty appetite.
“Wonderful,” he said as he took another man-sized bite, handily demolishing nearly three-quarters of the cupcake.
He opened his eyes and gave her a long, slow smile that came close to singeing her skin. “So if you’re not the competitive kind, would you be the kind who likes concerts? Randy gave me the tickets he can’t use, and I’m new in town, so I don’t know many people.”
Meredith stared at him, both surprised and intrigued. Then to hide her confusion, she pulled a paper napkin from a dispenser on the counter and gave it to him. “If that’s an invitation, do you usually ask clients out?”
“That’s an invitation,” he admitted. “And, no, I don’t usually ask clients out. This is a first. Of course I’ve only been with the company one month, so who knows what I may do by the time month three rolls around.”
He wolfed down the rest of the cupcake, and his tongue flicked out to lick away a stray film of strawberry frosting from the corner of his mouth. “Look, I realize we don’t know each other, but maybe you’d at least be willing to go and give me a heads-up on life here.”
Should she? Meredith considered the question as she watched him pat the napkin against his lips, the lips that had given her that brief, hot smile. She’d only met him a couple of hours ago, and in that short time he’d made her overreact twice. So he obviously wasn’t trying to come on to her or he would have been sweeter and more complimentary from the start.
Then, too, she hadn’t been out with a man since Jimmy traded his expensive three-piece suits for an acrobat’s spangled tights. So maybe it was time to plunge in again. But just for one evening, of course. “Sounds interesting,” she finally said.
“I think so.” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and offered it to her. “If the answer is yes, care to exchange numbers and addresses?”
Meredith hesitated, her mind still nervously juggling options. Then with a shrug, she chose why not? One date with the man with the chin dimple and the singeing smile? It certainly couldn’t hurt.
Five minutes later, they’d exchanged information, agreed that Vlad would pick her up at her apartment for a pre-concert meal, and said their goodbyes.
Then he was gone, and Meredith leaned against the kitchen counter, still wondering if she’d made the right decision.
“The guy who just left, is that him?” Dana asked as she came in, wheeling the cart, which was now devoid of cake boxes.
Meredith jerked to attention. “Who?” she said innocently.
“You know who. The computer expert.”
“Uh, yes, that’s him.”
Dana propped her hands on her hips and gave Meredith the evil eye. “I swear, Meredith Crismis, either you’ve lost your eyesight, or your mind, or else you are one gigantic fibber. A low six, nothing. That dude’s a definite high six million plus.”
Meredith shrugged. “To each her own.” She walked toward a cabinet to get the dessert stand for Tori’s cupcake cake. But halfway there, she stopped and turned back, knowing she’d have to tell the truth. Lies had no place in her relationship with Dana. “Okay, I’m fudging,” she admitted. “You’re right. He’s no low six, and he asked me to go to a concert with him because he’s new in town and Randy gave him some tickets he can’t use. Anyway, if you want to hate me for lying, go ahead. I deserve it.”
Dana shook her head firmly. “No, you don’t deserve it, and stop being such a goof. You know I’m the look-and-enjoy kind of gal, not a toucher or body-jumper. If I did anything else, Jake would be devastated, and no way do I want to hurt him or lose him. So go to that concert with Mister High-six-million-plus and enjoy.”
Enjoy.
A wonderful thought. It was what Meredith wanted—one night to forget vicious hackers and overdue bills and too few customers…and to just enjoy.
Chapter Three
“Well, there’s one thing I can say for Randy,” Vlad said as he and Meredith walked toward her apartment after the concert.
“Really? What’s that?”
“He has terrible taste in music.”
She had to smile at that because he was absolutely right. “You mean the songs of Cosmic Collision didn’t do it for you?”
“Frankly, it sounded to me like the Cosmos didn’t just collide with something. It completely self-destructed.” He paused, and his expression turned cautious as though afraid he might have accidentally slimed her favorite group. “Wait! Did you like them?”
“Worst group I’ve ever heard,” she admitted.
He looked relieved that he hadn’t insulted her musical taste, and Meredith grinned to let him know it was okay, she really hated groups that played like untalented two-year-olds.
He took her arm as they crossed the street, holding it gently—more a protective than a seductive gesture, and yet to her somehow it still felt seductive.
At dinner, they’d shared l
ife stories—his, being from Seattle, mother a psychologist, dad an engineer, two brothers, no sisters…her, from right here in town, mom a nurse, father a history professor, one sister, one pain-in-the-neck big brother. And the sharing had been wonderful, just as wonderful as the way he looked in his gray slacks and navy blazer. Sort of preppy, and much too handsome. Then she realized they’d reached her apartment building, and an unexpected sense of disappointment hit her.
“We’re here.” She nodded at the building as she stopped in front of it.
He glanced up at it. “So we are.”
Somehow she had the feeling he was also disappointed, and almost without meaning to, she said, “Care to come up for some coffee?”
His expression told her he was as surprised at receiving the invitation as she was at making it. But then he flashed a full-out smile, and Meredith felt a flare of warmth envelop her because she knew he was going to say yes.
“Love it. Care to see a movie and have dinner with me next Saturday?”
She stared at him with surprise. Another date? She certainly wasn’t interested in a serious relationship, not when she spent almost all of her time trying to make Divine Desserts a success. Still, taking just a few hours off to see a movie and have dinner shouldn’t interfere too much with business, should it?
“You’re just offering because of my chocolate-ganache cupcakes, right?” she finally said, trying to make light of it.
“That, and a few other things.”
“What things?” she asked, fascinated to see what answer he could come up with.
He bent toward her and lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “I noticed some muffins on the kitchen counter when I was at your company fixing your computer, and they looked seriously delicious.”
All right, either the man was a confirmed sugarholic or else incredibly fast with a comeback.
“You have great instincts. They are seriously delicious,” she said. “Okay, what’s your proposal?”
“You spoil me with some of those muffins as well as a ton of your chocolate cupcakes, and in return, next Saturday, I take you to dinner and a movie…any movie of your choice, except one that features tone-deaf musical groups.”
Adore Me Page 2
