“So you like to stay on top of everything?”
He nodded. “I do.” He started helping her pick up things. “Just like you do by being here for the party.”
Heat rushed to her cheeks. He was referring to the fact that she was here in person instead of sending someone from her staff. “The truth is I like to handle these events.”
He arched a dark brow. “You like to make connections and expand your business. And your staff can’t do that as well as you do. I totally understand. You and I, we aren’t so different. If you ever want to discuss your business model or plans, let me know.”
Pepper couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Simon Ross, the Simon Ross, was offering to help her with her business. Like he didn’t already have his hands full with a Fortune 500 company that kept rising in people’s estimations. If anyone could help her, it would be him. She’d love to hear what he had to say.
“Thank you,” she said, carefully placing a stray cake server in the box. “I’d really appreciate it. Right now, I could take all of the help I can get.”
“Do you have any plans for tonight?”
“No. I don’t.” The words slipped past her lips before her mind had a chance to catch up. Some helpful business advice would be just what she needed. But she sensed he had more than business on his mind.
As though he was reading her thoughts, his gaze dipped to her lips. Could this really be happening? The girl voted most likely to run away with the circus because of her strawberry blond hair and her colorful clothes. The girl who had never fitted in until she opened her bakery. Within those walls, she could unwind and be herself.
He picked up her box from the floor. “Are you ready to go? We can grab a late dinner.”
She had to make sure this thing arcing between them was real—that it flowed both ways. And it wasn’t some sort of misunderstanding. Staring into his eyes, her heart pounding, she asked, “It isn’t business you have on your mind, is it?”
He stepped closer to her. His voice lowered to a sexy, hushed tone. “No. Is that a problem?”
He was giving her an out. Knowing they came from totally different worlds, she would be smart to back away. But she was drawn to him unlike any other man in her life.
Simon didn’t see her as the awkward girl in school that never could manage to be just one of the crowd. Those days were in the past—or so she wanted to believe.
When concern touched Simon’s eyes, she realized the brief memories of her past had her frowning. She turned that frown upside down and sent him one of her brightest smiles. She was no longer the girl kids would point at and whisper about. Now, she was a confident business owner.
With Simon standing so close to her, she had to tilt her chin upward for their gazes to meet. As she stared into his dark eyes, she felt as though she could get lost in them. She couldn’t think of anything she’d rather do than spend the evening with him.
“I’d like to go to dinner with you.”
His voice lowered even more. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to ask you out.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “You intrigue me.”
A flutter of excitement filled her chest. “So why didn’t you ask me?”
He placed the box on the table next to them. “It was never the right time. I was busy with plans for this new venture. And you were busy with the bakery.”
It was true. They were busy people, but she would have made time for him, just as she had in the mornings for coffee over the last several months. It was during those mornings that they’d slowly let their guards down—revealing parts of their lives. But how had she missed that he was interested in her?
He reached out to her. His thumb gently caressed her cheek. “You are so beautiful.”
She leaned into his touch. His gaze held hers, as though he needed the connection more than oxygen. And then his gaze lowered just a bit. Her racing heart jolted with anticipation. He was going to kiss her.
The breath caught in her lungs. As his head lowered, she gave herself over to the moment. Her eyes fluttered shut. And then she melted into his very capable arms. Her hands landed against his muscular chest and moved slowly up to his shoulders.
The kiss, though gentle at first, picked up its pace. His mouth moving over hers, his tongue probing her mouth and her giving in to the ecstasy.
Crash!
Pepper jumped back. Her heart careened into her throat. She pressed a hand to her sensitive lips. All the while, her gaze moved about the conference room, searching for the source of the noise. And then she spotted the box on the floor. They must have bumped into it while they’d been kissing.
She scanned the room again. There had been no one else around. Their kiss was still their secret. She liked the thought of sharing a moment of passion with Simon—something only the two of them knew about.
Her gaze returned to the upturned carton. “Oh, what a mess.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll help clean it up.”
Together they knelt down, Pepper righting the box and the few things that remained inside it. Simon handed her the scattered contents. In no time, the mess was cleaned up.
When they’d both straightened, Simon leaned in and pressed a kiss to her lips. It was short, but it left no doubt in her mind that there was chemistry between them—as in the sizzling, smoking, combustible kind.
She swallowed hard as her heart pounded in her chest. All the while, her gaze followed him as he shifted. She should say something. Yes, she should not let on that his touch had rocked her to her very core.
Summoning her wits, she smiled at him. She just couldn’t let him see how much he got to her. “What was that for?”
He smiled at her. It was one of those lazy smiles that showed just a bit of his straight, white teeth. Her stomach dipped. No man had a right to be that handsome.
When he spoke, his voice held a rich timbre. “I wanted something to tide me over until dessert.”
He was back to flirting with her and she liked it—she liked him. And the way he looked at her, it was like he was making love to her with his eyes. No longer the social misfit, she’d blossomed into Cinderella.
Her gaze strayed across the sharp contours of Simon’s face, down to his broad shoulders and muscled chest. Oh, yes, he was definitely her Prince Charming.
CHAPTER ONE
Seven weeks later...The Polka Dotted Bakery
THERE’S ONE THING about fairy tales...
They don’t always have a happily-ever-after.
Not even a happy-for-now.
Pepper glanced out the decorated storefront window and didn’t see any paparazzi. She took an easy breath. It was the first time in weeks. Seven whole weeks plus one day of being hounded for photos and comments.
And she was tired. Tired of it all.
But at last, there was peace.
In the end, she’d done nothing wrong. Nothing, except for letting her defenses down with a man that she’d thought—Well, it didn’t matter what she thought because she’d been wrong about him, about the evening together, about them. And now, the paparazzi wanted a comment.
She’d been counting off the days since their night of passion turned into a morning of regrets. It had been fifty days since she’d found herself in the arms of Simon Ross. Forty-nine evenings since she’d spent the most glorious night with him. And seven long weeks since her life had felt like her own.
And a lifetime since she’d last seen him.
Not that she missed Simon...at all. Not a bit.
The very next morning after her fairy tale had begun, her life had spun into some sort of soap opera. One photographer had spotted her leaving Simon’s building in the wee hours of the morning. How he’d known she’d come from Simon’s place, out of all the condos in the high-rise, was beyond her. Perhaps it was the doorman, or maybe it’d been
a nosy neighbor anxious for a quick payoff, or possibly someone had spotted them kissing after Simon’s big announcement.
Then Simon had phoned. The first words out of his mouth had been an apology.
Her heart sank down to the tips of her cotton-candy-pink painted toes. It was obvious he regretted their night together, and everything that she’d thought was happening between them had been nothing more than a figment of her imagination. But then he’d sent her a link to a website with a picture of them kissing after the party, and it became clear what he was apologizing for.
Billionaire Bachelor Interviewing New Love Interest!
The headline was outrageous. How had their brief relationship been leaked to the press?
It was then that she knew she had to end things before he did. She told him that they’d just gotten caught up in the moment and it should end right here and now. He hadn’t said a word. He obviously agreed. That was it. No discussion. No nothing. The night before, they’d made love, and the next morning, it was over.
Until that moment, she’d never appreciated her freedom to move about the city basically anonymously. For the most part, no one knew her and didn’t pay attention to what she did. From that day forward, it was like everything she did had to be analyzed for the world to read and to figure out what, if anything, it had to do with Simon.
A single photographer had quickly turned into a gaggle of them. Keeping them out of the bakery had become a full-time job for her staff. With her apartment above the bakery, there was no getting away from them.
One morning, she’d glanced out her apartment window to find a photographer hanging from the tree. Seriously. He’d just been hanging there like he was part monkey, with a camera in hand. She’d closed her mini blinds and then drawn her curtains. She’d never felt more invaded in her entire life.
But then they’d started dissecting her life, from her mother’s death to her life with her grandmother. She’d felt naked and exposed for the whole world to see. She didn’t know how Simon lived in the spotlight. And then they’d sought out people who had known her in school. Every insecurity she’d ever had in her youth came rolling back.
Little did the paparazzi know that it’d been nothing more than a brief fling with Simon. She thought of telling the photographers that they were wasting their time, but her wounded pride and the prick to her heart kept the words locked deep inside her.
From One Night to Wedding Bells!
Honestly, who came up with these outrageous and totally false headlines?
Her friends commiserated with her. And told her to look on the bright side—business at the bakery had never been better. They were right. She was doing a booming business.
And then the next headline came quite unexpectedly.
Billionaire Bachelor Moves On...
One minute the paparazzi had them picking out wedding venues, with a photo of two people who were quite obviously not them, and the next they had him moving on. Although this time the photo was most certainly Simon. He’d been spotted the following week with his arm around a leggy blonde as they attended a Broadway show opening. As Pepper stared at the photo, she resisted admitting to the sharp piercing pain.
So much for their special evening meaning anything to him. Her back teeth clenched together. Lucky for him, he hadn’t been back for his weekly order. He might have ended up wearing his coffee.
And the part of her that missed his bright smile and his flirty ways that made her feel like the most beautiful woman in the world? Well, she shushed it right up. He wasn’t worth missing. Simon Ross lived up to his reputation as the uncatchable bachelor.
It didn’t help that she hadn’t felt great for the past few days. She had a slight headache and she blamed that for her queasy stomach. It wasn’t enough to stop her though. Whatever it was, it would pass.
It was no wonder she didn’t feel good, aside from the mess with Simon. She had competition. A new bakery had just moved in on the next block. And her business took an immediate hit. Customers strayed to the new place, eager to see what they had to offer.
To that extent, she supposed her friends were right and the coverage about her and Simon wasn’t all bad. People had visited the bakery to meet her, but she made sure to stay busy in the back. Still, while they were there, they bought her products. They bought a lot of products. If things had ended better with Simon, she might be inclined to thank him. But as it was, she didn’t think she’d ever speak to him again.
The new bakery was pulling out all the stops with big ads, radio spots and every other promotion they could think of. The bakery was part of a national chain that could afford to undercut their prices to drive the competition out of business. Then once the competitors were out of business, they’d jack up their prices. The nerve of some people.
But Pepper refused to let them drive her out of business—not without a big fight. She’d sunk everything she had into making this bakery a success. It was a dream of hers—a dream that she refused to let die, even if it meant doing things that she wouldn’t otherwise have done, like working round the clock if she had to. The chain couldn’t keep up their deep discounts forever. At least, she hoped not.
In the meantime, she was taking every Christmas party she could cram onto her calendar. It was exhausting, but her grandmother had always told her that nothing worth having came easily. This bakery definitely wasn’t going to be easy.
She worked from the time she woke up, which was hours before the sun decided to rise, until she fell into bed early in the evening utterly exhausted, sometimes still in her work clothes. And so far, it was working. She was keeping her existing clients and gaining new ones. Things at last were looking up. Her clients recognized true quality and not frozen mass product.
Now that Christmastime was here, it was time to sparkle. Pepper loved Christmas above all other holidays. And that was saying something because they all had a special place in her heart. But she not only loved Christmas, she really loved it. It was magical and it brought out the best in people. People were a little nicer to others, holding doors, sharing a smile or a nod. If it was possible, she’d have Christmas all year round.
It was almost time to open up for the day. She loved this early morning hour. In her mind, each day was a new beginning with new possibilities. And she had a feeling something big was going to happen. Maybe they’d be hired for the wedding of the year. Or perhaps she’d meet a big client at the holiday party she was catering that evening. A smile pulled at her lips as anticipation put some pep in her step.
She moved to the stereo system and turned it on. Over the speakers came the deep timbre of Michael Bublé’s voice as he sang “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.” She glanced out the window as the flurries swirled through the air. This really was her favorite time of the year.
Yesterday had been Sunday, the only day of the week the shop was closed. She’d taken advantage of the downtime to get out the holiday decorations. It took all day to exchange the Thanksgiving fanfare for the homey Christmas look, but that was because she’d baked and crafted a lot of the decorations herself.
She paused next to the glass display cases and glanced around at her handiwork. On the brick wall where floating shelves normally displayed an array of antique dishes, she’d replaced them with gingerbread figures, from a giant gingerbread man to a gingerbread train. There were also red ribbons, greenery, pinecones and a poinsettia bloom here and there.
She loved gingerbread. Not only did it taste delicious, but there were so many things to do with it. And so she might have gone a little overboard this year with gingerbread. It was even in the store window.
Looking around at all she’d accomplished, she realized she’d done it all alone. As much as she loved this bakery, she’d give it up to have her family once more. The joy the bakery brought to her life just wasn’t the same as having her family by her side, especially during this
festive holiday season.
Walking through life alone was not how she’d envisioned her future. And yet that’s exactly what she was doing. Because each and every person who meant something to her had been torn from her life.
She’d learned to close her feelings to others little by little, and her grandmother’s death had been the last straw. That was it. The protective walls had fully encased her heart. She was done with loving and losing.
Pepper moved to the front door and turned the lock. She smiled as the first rays of sun lightened up the inky sky. Beneath the streetlights, a light coating of snow was detectable. It had fallen last night, coating the grass but leaving the street clear.
“It’s going to be a good day. A very good day indeed.” If only wishes came true.
“What did you say?” Charlotte asked from behind the counter.
Pepper shook her head. “Nothing important.”
Charlotte arched a brow. “Talking to yourself again?” When Pepper shrugged, Charlotte continued, “You keep that up and I’m going to start worrying about you.”
Pepper moved behind the counter. Her gaze strayed across the little stuffed dog she’d had since she was a girl. When she was young, they’d lived in an apartment—a small apartment—that didn’t allow pets. And she’d wanted a dog in the worst way. Every birthday and Christmas, when anyone asked her what she wanted, she would tell them a puppy.
Her mother felt so bad that she gave Pepper this designer stuffed beagle and a promise that someday when they moved to a bigger place that allowed pets, she would get her a dog. But that day never came.
She’d lost her mother at the tender age of eight, after a car had run a red light and struck her mother as she’d crossed the street. Pepper had gone to live with her grandmother, who was allergic to animals. Bugles McBeagle had come with her.
She sighed as she ran a finger over the dog’s plush fur, promising herself that someday she would have her puppy. Just not today.
The business phone rang. Pepper rushed over to answer it. “Hello. This is the Polka Dotted Bakery. How may I help you?”
Her Christmas Pregnancy Surprise Page 2
