Adore Me

by Darcy Lundeen

  “Oh, yes,” she murmured, opening her legs in invitation.

  For a moment, he rolled away to get a condom, then he was back, and she reached between them for his penis. It filled her hand, already swollen and eager to release itself inside of her.

  He stroked slowly at first, then faster, higher, more urgently, smiling into her face as she met his thrusts, her body writhing, then tensing, then shuddering with a final joyful spasm. A few seconds later, his spasming release joined hers, and with a satisfied groan he lowered himself carefully beside her, tenderly pulling her into his arms.

  Cuddling against him, Meredith closed her eyes, her mind emptied of everything, except sheer sensation. And it was good. So good. Luxuriating in the temporary freedom of being able to forget about work and bills…about getting customers, pleasing customers, keeping customers…even about finding enough “Adore Me” candy hearts to satisfy a customer she desperately needed.

  There’d be time for those things tomorrow.

  ****

  “Oh, jeez.”

  Meredith looked up from her computer as Dana entered her office. She didn’t like the sound of that “Oh jeez,” even though it probably just meant Dana had discovered that she’d accidentally missed a great seventy-five percent-off shoe sale.

  “Oh jeez what?” she asked.

  Dana held up her cell phone. “The candy-heart saying that client insists on, is it what I think it is?”

  “It’s ‘Adore Me.’ Why?”

  “Oh, jeez,” Dana moaned. “That’s what I was afraid of.”

  “Okay, wanna stop with the Oh-jeezes and tell me what’s going on?”

  “They’ve discontinued it.”

  “What?”

  “I was checking for information on candy hearts and found this article that says sometimes sayings are retired. That’s what they did to ‘Adore Me.’ ”

  Meredith sprang from her chair so she could reach Dana’s phone. “That’s impossible. You don’t discontinue a saying like ‘Adore Me.’ It’s what candy hearts and Valentine’s Day are all about—adoring someone and hoping they adore you too. Let me see that.”

  She snatched the phone away and stared at the screen. A minute later, she felt as if the foundations of the world had been knocked out from under her.

  “Adore Me” had been discontinued, and the only way to get copies of it was to order a full production run of the phrase. A full production run! Approximately one-point-seven-million sugary little hearts!

  She gave the phone back to Dana and sank into her chair. “We’re dead,” she said, burying her face in her hands. “Oh, jeez.”

  ****

  By eight that evening, Meredith sat in her home office, feverishly working on the problem. She had already checked out at least a dozen websites that dealt with old-fashioned candy that was no longer being produced and was hard to find. Then she’d emailed most of the companies and described her special requirements. So far, several had emailed back, explaining that while they might have the saying she needed, they couldn’t guarantee that the boxes they sent contained only that saying. Which meant she was right back where she started.

  Of course, she could always add the cost of those million-plus hearts to the amount Nanette Ogilvy agreed to at their meeting. But even someone with extensive resources might balk at that kind of extra expense being tacked onto her bill.

  Meredith shook her head helplessly, trying to decide what else she could do. But at that point there was nothing, except maybe contact the people at the company that produced the hearts to see if they’d be willing to help.

  “Tomorrow,” she murmured, feeling so bone-tired she was ready to curl up on the floor instead of dragging her weary body all the way to bed.

  “No floor sleeping,” she warned herself as she closed the vintage-candy websites and went to the Divine Desserts site to make sure everything was in order before she called it a day. But when the site opened up in glorious shades of jet black and fire-engine red, she sensed something wasn’t right.

  Prying her bleary eyes completely open and forcing her half-comatose brain on full alert, Meredith leaned closer to the screen as she studied those glorious shades, which had always in the past been spring-leaf green and blushing-bride pink.

  “What the—?” She finally came fully awake.

  Then as realization dawned, she knew what wasn’t right. Everything.

  “Oh, my God,” she moaned and yanked the cell phone from her pocket, angrily smacking her finger down on her webmaster’s speed-dial key.

  “Answer, Steve,” she said. “Dammit, answer!”

  But he didn’t, and a minute later, the call went over to voicemail.

  Meredith shouted the problem into the phone, then punched the end key and called Vlad.

  “Vlad, are you there?” she said when she heard a click at his end.

  “For you, always,” he answered, a smile in his voice.

  Meredith drew a breath, trying to calm herself. It didn’t work. Whenever she thought of her website, her heart pounded and her blood pressure soared. “Go to my company website.”

  “Why? What’s wrong?”

  She stared at the computer screen, ready to spit fire. “According to the site, my company is now called Devilish Delights, and among other things, I am selling edible crotch-less underwear and frosted condoms, whatever the heck those are.” She slammed her fist down on the desk. “Dammit, I’ve been hacked.”

  Chapter Six

  Two hours later, Meredith stood peering over Vlad’s shoulder as he sat at her desk, working on her website.

  “Can you fix it?” she asked as she abandoned her post behind him to pace across the room. At least the weariness was gone. Apparently being tired and being ready to commit murder couldn’t exist simultaneously in the same body.

  “Sure,” he said. “No problem.”

  Meredith nodded, relieved but still equally pissed. If she ever found out who was doing this to her, she would kill the creep.

  “Do you know how long it’s been this way?” he asked.

  “After all the trouble I’ve had with my office computer, I decided to check my company site several times a day. As of four-thirty this afternoon, everything was fine, so it hasn’t been long.” Meredith sighed. Just long enough to turn her business into an X-rated paradise for horny consumers.

  “Message just came in for you,” Vlad said, and she stopped pacing and went back to the desk, silently praying it wasn’t like the twenty-seven other messages she’d received in the past fifty-two minutes.

  As she leaned over his shoulder, she tapped the message tab, stared at the screen, and couldn’t restrain herself when she read the thing. Angry, frustrated, and seriously at the end of her rope, she gave a growl and stabbed her finger at the message.

  “I just got another order, this one for two sets of edible underwear in chocolate mint and two sets in blueberry. That’s twenty-eight orders in less than an hour. I never did this good selling desserts.”

  She swung away from the computer and went back to her pacing. “I can’t deal with any more of this today. I’ll contact those people in the morning and return their money.”

  “Okay, did it,” Vlad said, pushing his chair away from the desk and turning to her. “You no longer sell X-rated sex toys.”

  Meredith sank into a chair. “Thank God. If my parents ever saw that, they’d disown me.”

  “Actually, I’m a little sorry to see that site go. Some of those toys looked sort of interesting. I mean what’s not to like about frosted condoms?”

  She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to look forbidding even though she was feeling much too relieved to be angry. With Vlad on her side, her sense of helplessness was gone and she could even appreciate the crazy, if sick, humor of the situation.

  “Interesting?” she said as she took a handful of rubber bands from a bowl on the desk and tossed them at him. “Now you’re really in for it, buddy.”

  Vlad ducked and pushed to his f
eet, coming at her in a crouch. “I’m in for it? Think again, and then tell me who’s in for it.”

  Laughing, Meredith sprang from her chair and ran, but he caught her at the door and swung her into his arms.

  “Think you’re going to get what you want, eh?” she said, pushing at his chest.

  She kicked her feet, and her shoes went flying. But they both knew her resistance was a sham.

  He bounced her a little in his arms to get a firmer hold and began walking.

  “I think we’re both going to get what I want,” he said, flashing a victorious grin. “And from the feel of things what you want too.”

  “Pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you, Wiznitsky?”

  “I’m pretty sure of both of us,” he said as he carried her to the bedroom. “And you know those frosted condoms? Forget about them. The regular ones are perfect as long as you’re the person I’m sharing them with.”

  ****

  “Feeling better now?” Vlad asked.

  Meredith raised her arms and stretched slowly beneath him. Better? Oh, yes, a million times better. But lying naked with the man tended to have that effect on her, especially when she was still fresh from her second orgasm.

  “My body sure does,” she murmured.

  He shook his head and leaned closer. “But?”

  Meredith sighed, hating to return to the real world of too little money and too many jokers only too happy to destroy you. “I’m furious at hackers. First, my computer, now my website.”

  “Okay, that’s completely understandable. But I sense there’s something else going on too.”

  She pressed her head back against the pillow and looked up at him, frowning to let him know he had hit a little too close to the truth. “God, you’re much too perceptive for my own good.”

  “Got that right, babe. I owe it all to being the fortunate son of a mother who’s a psychologist. Come on—what’s the problem?”

  “Remember those candy hearts you helped me with…that one specific phrase I needed? ‘Adore Me.’ ”

  He smiled fondly. “How could I forget? Having you kiss emojis off my chest will remain one of the happiest memories of my life.”

  “Well, the phrase was discontinued. The only way I can get what I need is either to buy pounds of bulk vintage hearts and hope I find enough of the ones I want, or else order nearly two million of the things directly from the company.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Isn’t that enough?”

  “Meredith, relax. It’s just one sale.”

  All right, that wasn’t the reaction she expected from him. She wanted sympathy, support, and the acknowledgement that she was in a desperate bind, not masculine hyper-rationality.

  “But it’s a big sale,” she explained, hoping that would make him understand. “So far the sales we’ve had have been modest—a small wedding here, an even smaller office party there. But this one is a huge affair.”

  His palm touched her cheek, then gently slid upward to smooth the hair away from her forehead. “Stop tying yourself in knots, sweetheart.” His voice was quiet, using the soothing tone people used to calm an upset child…or the emotionally unstable. “This isn’t the only big affair in the world. There’ll be others, and you’ll get your share of them. So just take some deep breaths and relax.”

  “How can I relax? I’m probably on the verge of—”

  “Shh,” he whispered, and the pressure of his mouth coming down on hers stopped her words.

  With a sigh, Meredith gave up her protest as her body began to come alive again with renewed desire.

  But even as she slid her arms around his shoulders to pull him closer, a small part of her still wondered if maybe he didn’t care as much about her success as she did. Maybe he just loved the fun and the sex and the chocolate-ganache cupcakes she filled his stomach with.

  Maybe.

  ****

  She was still wondering the same thing when she arrived at work the next morning. But even her doubt couldn’t overshadow the lingering glow she felt after her night with Vlad.

  “Anything wrong?” Dana asked when Meredith walked into the Divine Desserts’ kitchen. “You look sort of strange.”

  “And a good morning to you too,” Meredith said. “Exactly how do I look strange?”

  “Not sure. First you were sort of frowning, then your frown morphed into this half-smile. Very confusing.”

  Meredith sighed. Yep, the man was definitely screwing with her moods. But now wasn’t the time to unload her angst on Dana, not when she had twenty-eight “sorry, we don’t sell the stuff you want” messages to send to her twenty-eight sex-loving almost-customers.

  “It was a crazy night,” she explained. “That’s probably why I seem a little bipolar today.”

  “Crazy good or crazy bad?”

  “Some of each.”

  “That’s what I was afraid of. Wanna start with the bad?”

  No, she didn’t. She hated even thinking about it. But she owed it to Dana to let her know exactly what they were up against.

  “Some scumbag hacker hijacked the website and renamed it ‘Devilish Delights.’ For about six hours we were selling sexual aids.” Meredith made a face. “Waterproof G-Spot Vibrators, anyone?”

  “Y’know, if it brings in more sales than our cakes, that might not be a bad idea.”

  “You could be right. Before Vlad fixed things, we got twenty-eight orders, which is twenty-four more than we’ve gotten in the past few weeks.”

  “Vlad? What about Steve? He’s the one who’s supposed to take care of those things.”

  “That’s what I thought too. At least that’s what I pay him to do. But I couldn’t reach him last night, and when we finally did connect at about seven this morning, he apologized profusely, said his wife’s water broke, so he rushed her to the hospital, was stopped on the way by a police car with all its sirens blaring, got a ticket for speeding, and then was escorted to the hospital by the same police car, with all its sirens still blaring.”

  “Oh my gosh, the poor guy. No wonder he wasn’t on the job. How’s his wife?”

  “Currently the proud new mother of healthy twin girls. We’ll have to make a special cake to celebrate the birth.”

  “Births,” Dana corrected. “And from the way things are going, we shouldn’t have any trouble finding the time to do it. Heck, since we only have four jobs scheduled for the next few weeks, we’d have more than enough time to make cakes for every child born in the whole city.”

  Meredith shook her head, feeling more disheartened by the minute.

  “Don’t remind me. If you need me, I’ll be in my office, regretfully informing the horny twenty-eight who ordered from our hijacked website that we are unable to provide their X-rated purchases.”

  She turned to go, until Dana’s question stopped her.

  “Hey, what’s the good news?”

  “I think I may be in serious like that even verges on serious love.”

  Dana nodded, grinning as though that announcement made up for the bad things that had gone before. “At least that is good news.”

  Meredith shrugged. “But, unfortunately, with a guy who’s not as invested in my business success as I am.”

  Dana’s smile dimmed with sympathy. “Okay, semi-good news. I assume the guy’s initials are V.W.”

  “The same.”

  “Look, I’m at least a hundred-and-ten percent sure he feels seriously loving about you too, and Valentine’s Day is just a week away. Hold on until the big day, then stuff him with sugar. Maybe an overdose of high-glycemic goodies can help him see the light.”

  Meredith froze at the reminder. Valentine’s Day. February fourteenth. And the fifteenth was the day she’d promised to tell Nanette and Julia Ogilvy that her plans for their wedding cake were firmly in place.

  “More bad news,” she said, hating to admit how awful things really were. “Those candy hearts we need for the Ogilvy wedding cake—I checked a bunch of websites and don’t th
ink we can get them. So that sale is probably as good as flushed down the well-known porcelain bathroom fixture.”

  Dana sighed. “I’ll make a quart of triple-rich hot chocolate and bring it in to you.”

  “Love you, sweetie,” Meredith said as she headed for the door. “But maybe you’d better make it a gallon.”

  ****

  Two hours later, Meredith sent the last message explaining that her website had been hacked and the customer would not be getting any X-rated merchandise. Then she included a gift certificate for a dozen free cupcakes. Financially, perhaps not the best business move, but at least it might ease some of her almost-customers’ disappointment at not being able to get their orders. Maybe they’d even remember Divine Desserts if they ever needed some non-sexual goodies.

  She took a swig of Dana’s hot chocolate, hoping it would settle her nerves. It didn’t, but her obsession with the candy hearts suddenly triggered the reminder that she was supposed to search the candy company’s website to see if she could get some help.

  “Do it,” she said and keyed in a search engine to find the right URL.

  “Merry,” Dana cried as she burst into the office.

  Meredith jumped in surprise, and her fingers skittered off the keyboard as she turned to Dana. “What?”

  “Have you seen our website?”

  Meredith stiffened, fearing the worst. “Don’t tell me. Someone transformed it into an illegal marketplace that sells stolen nuclear devices, and Homeland Security is now happily battering down the door.”

  “For God’s sake, no. Valentine’s Day orders are coming in. A bunch of them.”

  “With only one week left, people are ordering now?”

  “Hey, beggars can’t be choosers, remember? Just go to the site and take a look. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, and it has to be done soon.”

  Meredith clicked on the website and stared at the incoming orders.

  “Procrastinators,” she murmured.

  But what the heck. A sale was a sale, and that’s what they needed. Sales.

  She studied the orders. Okay, nothing spectacular. Merely rather standard items—many heart-shaped; most piled high with berries and a color scheme that favored pink; all boasting Valentine’s Day motifs. Even taken together, they didn’t match what she would have had with Julia Ogilvy’s wedding, but these customers were good people who wanted and deserved the best, and that’s just what Divine Desserts would give them.