“I know I don’t talk about him. It…still hurts. Even after all these years. But he did, look at me that way. It was one of love. Deep, messy, hurtful, all-consuming love. If your Vince looks at you that way, then yes, I want to meet him.”
Marissa didn’t bother to stop the tears from coming as she looked up at Vince who was now standing in the doorway, a pizza in one hand and a look of concern on his face. “How about we come by for dinner Friday night.”
“You don’t have homework?”
“Nope. Midterms will be done by then, so I should be fine.”
“Good. Because I don’t care how rich this man is, you make sure you finish your degree. A woman needs her education as much as she needs a man.”
“Yes, Mom.” She laughed and wiped the tears away. “I love you.”
“I love you too. Okay, I’ll expect to see the two of you Friday at six.”
“We’ll be there.”
Vince had placed the pizza on the floor beside where she was sitting and didn’t say a word until she hung up. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Just Mom, catching me off-guard.”
“Ah.” He reached over and flipped the pizza box open. “So, I’m going to get to meet your mom?”
“You are.” The thought of the two people she loved more than anything in the world meeting, made her heart sing. “Though I’ll have to warn you, her place isn’t very big.”
“It won’t matter. She’s your mom, and I have no doubt I’ll love it, and love her.”
Marissa dropped her head to his shoulder. “Thank you.”
“Now, can you please deactivate your account so we can watch this. I want to know how they rescue Han.”
Marissa laughed as she sat back up and grabbed her laptop. Her account for millionairesugardaddies.com filled the screen. There were a number of unread messages sitting there, waiting for her response. So many men she could have responded to, and somehow, she’d gotten lucky and met Vince.
Without a second thought, she moved the mouse over to the deactivate button and clicked it. For good measure, she deleted her account. “There we go.”
The tension bled out from Vince. “Thank you.”
“For what?” She closed her laptop and set it aside. “It wasn’t like I needed it any longer.”
Vince wrapped his arm around her and pulled her to his side. “No, you don’t.” He placed a kiss on her head. “So, we’re going to do this?”
“Eat pizza on the floor while we watch a movie? Hell yes.” She grabbed the remote and pressed play, getting a little thrill at the sound of fanfare echoing through the surround sound. “This is much better than the movie theatre.”
“Hang on.” Vince spread his legs wide, and pulled her over so she now sat between them and could rest her back to his chest. “That’s better.”
Yes, everything about this was better. For the first time in months, Marissa knew everything was going to be okay. Looking up at him, she smiled. “I love you.”
“I love you, too. But you need to be quiet now because droids.”
She burst out laughing, turned back around and snuggled down against him. Yes, everything was going to be just fine.
Keep reading for a sneak peek at
the next in the Sugar Series!
Coming soon from
Christine d’Abo
And
Lyrical Caress
SUGAR AND SPICE
“Oh my God, I just found the perfect thing for you!”
Kayla Arnold looked up from the menu she’d been vacantly staring at as her best friend Simone fell into the chair opposite her. She’d been twenty minutes late for their weekly lunch date, which meant Simone had become fascinated by something. And given Simone’s entrance, that meant Kayla was about to be in trouble.
Closing the menu, Kayla took a steadying breath before she folded her hands, looked at her friend and smiled. “Hi.”
Simone frantically arranged herself and her belongings, before she finally settled, resting her elbows on the table and her chin on her clasped hands. “Hello my wonderful friend. And you won’t distract me from my good mood with that brooding look of yours.”
Kayla had to fight a smile. “But brooding is my best skill.”
“It’s not fair to the men of the world if you steal all their good moves.” Simone squirmed in her chair as she released her hands and picked up the water glass. “Aren’t you going to ask me what I found?”
“I’m more than a little terrified to do that.” Still, Kayla knew there was no point in delaying the inevitable any longer. “What did you find for me?”
“The very best website in the world.” Simone’s blond ponytail swung as she pulled out her phone and began to type. “I was conducting an interview this morning when I found out about this.”
Simone’s fingers flew across the keys and within a moment, she held out her phone. Kayla snorted as she took the phone, and leaned back in her chair. “A sugar daddy site? Aren’t I a bit rich for that?”
“Not to be a sugar baby, silly.” Simone pushed up her glasses and grinned. “You should be a sugar mamma.”
Kayla stared at the screen, blinking away the first three responses that had popped into her head. Simone was her dearest friend, and one of the few who’d known her before her business Fashion Finds hit big and made Kayla a multimillionaire. She’d been with Kayla through her rise to fame, her whirlwind marriage, and subsequent divorce. She knew most, if not all of Kayla’s deep, dark secrets.
“I have no intention of being anyone’s Mamma. Or anything else.” Simone always meant well when she’d show up with one of her crazy schemes, but Kayla knew better than to give in to them. “Feel free to sign up yourself though. It might be fun picking out some young stud for you to ride.”
Simone’s giggle-snort blew an errant strand of hair that now flitted around her face. “I’m not rich enough to even be looking at this one. It’s millionaires only. That’s so not even close to my bank account.”
“If you came to work for me in PR, rather than be a journalist, you might inch a bit closer to that goal.”
“Oh please. Toronto needs me. I’m an intrepid reporter, digging up dirt on…well, whatever the Toronto Record wants me to dig up.”
“Wasn’t your last article on the best places to get sushi?”
Simone sighed. “So much sushi. So freaking good.”
“You’re too much of a cinnamon roll to exist in this world. And I’m not signing up for a site like this.”
She could only image what would happen if someone on the board of directors found out about a stunt like that. The watercooler gossip would be impressive. “Where did you find out about this?”
Simone looked around the restaurant, before she leaned in. “Do you remember a few months ago, Vince Taylor and all the noise around him and a mystery woman?”
Kayla had crossed paths with Vince over the years. Toronto might be large, but certain social circles were far smaller than most would assume. “I remember. He went online with a mea culpa if I remember correctly.”
“What you might not know is how they met.” Simone lowered her voice, her brown eyes sparkling. “Guess.”
Kayla leaned a bit closer as well, enjoying the unexpected silliness of the moment. “They met on the sugar daddy site?”
“They met on the sugar daddy site!” Simone cringed as the couple at the table beside them looked over. She waved briefly before turning back to Kayla. “And they looked so happy when I interviewed them. Marissa is so sweet—that’s her name, Marissa—and smart. She’s a student and we got talking and she told me all about it, even though Vince was giving me that brooding look. But you really do it way better than he does.” She snorted again and pushed her glasses up with her finger. “You should sign up too.”
“I have an idea.” Kayla st
ood and brushed the wrinkles from her linen pants. “Why don’t I take you out to lunch early?”
Simone stopped moving and looked at her for a moment, before the smile slipped from her face. “You’re not going to do it.”
“Darling, you know I’m not into relationships.”
“But this isn’t about that.”
“What’s it about then?”
Simone stilled and the energy around her changed as she grew serious. “If you must know, I think you’re lonely. And it’s killing me to see you like this.”
Was she?
Stuck in a rut—yes. Heartbroken—for sure. But lonely?
She happened to like her life.
Kayla’s day always started the exact same way. She’d wake up alone by four am to get to the gym on time to meet her personal trainer for her session. Ali pushed her as far as she’d let him, then a bit more until she could no longer think. She always had time to shower and dress impeccably before making it to the office by seven. Her day would inevitably be filled with meetings, until it was finally time for her to go home. She’d end her day with a single glass of red wine and a soak in her tub.
Every day, with the exception of needing to attend the occasional birthday party, holiday event or corporate all-hands meeting. The routine had become a boon, a salve to her wounded soul after her husband had walked out on her five years ago.
Kayla needed the familiar, even craved it. She’d promised herself that she wouldn’t let anything send her down the emotional rabbit hole of despair that she’d fallen into when Christoph had so politely ended their marriage and broken her heart.
Her throat tightened, forcing Kayla to swallow more than once. “I appreciate this. I know I haven’t been the best friend you deserve. Not recently. But signing up for a sugar daddy site isn’t the answer.”
“You don’t know that.” Simone began to play with her napkin. “According to Marissa, and Vince too, it wasn’t what either of them had expected. It worked out to be so much more.”
Kayla reached across the table and gave Simone’s hand a squeeze. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For caring so much about me.”
Simone squeezed back. “Always.”
When Kayla finally pulled back, she made a point of putting on her best smile. No sense in making matters any more uncomfortable. “How about this? Let’s order the most expensive thing on this menu and talk about your idea. My treat. After, we can stop for pedicures at that spa you like so much. And if after that I’m still not convinced that this is the right idea for me, you’ll promise to let it drop. Deal?”
Not that she had any intention of seeing the idea through, but it was better for both of them if she humored Simone. She knew by the time their toes would be dry, the idea of Kayla being a sugar mamma would be off the table.
Simone cocked her head, and after a moment, grinned. “Deal. I’m not worried though. I know you’ll agree to it.”
“We’ll see. For now, let’s find our server.”
“And wine. I’d love some wine.” Simone looked around until she frowned at the clock. “Is eleven thirty too early for wine?”
“Never.” Kayla caught her waiter’s eye, which got him moving.
If she was very lucky, Simone would soon forget about this website and Kayla would be able to get back to her normal—lonely—routine.
* * * *
Devin was ninety percent certain he was hungover. He cracked open his eyes and tried to lift his head from the couch pillow, before a bolt of pain lanced through his skull.
A hundred percent certain. What the hell did I drink?
“Ray?” He barely managed to get his roommate’s name out, and had to swallow a few times before trying again. “Ray?”
“Hmm?”
Devin opened his eyes for real this time, and saw Ray facedown on the floor, the Xbox controller still in his hand. “You alive?”
“Hmm.”
“Hungover?”
“Ummhmm.”
“Pancakes?”
“Nah na.”
“Can you form words?”
Ray lifted his head and looked around the room. “Words are hard.”
“Food?”
Ray opened his mouth to say something, before rolling onto his hands and knees. Devin didn’t need his Ph.D. to know what was coming next. Thankfully, Ray made it to the bathroom this time before he got sick. “Bacon and eggs it is.”
Rolling to his feet, Devin had to give himself a moment to ensure he wouldn’t be joining Ray, before carefully padding to the kitchen. He pulled out the bacon and eggs without being fully aware of what he was doing. He was trying to remember exactly what had happened last night.
They’d had an Xbox LAN party, joining up with a bunch of people from their ethics class. There was some sort of bragging that had needed to be addressed when it came to who was better in Overwatch. Cassie had kicked all their asses, as was right and good in the world.
Cracking six eggs into a bowl, Devin’s mind tried to pull out the remaining details that had been dampened by the alcohol. They’d been teasing someone about being single. Cassie, maybe? And then there was something about online dating…an account?
He tossed the shells and picked up a fork as Ray came out of the bathroom. “That’s better.”
“You managed words.” Devin beat the eggs as he turned to Ray. “Hey, did we setup a profile for Cassie on a website? Or something like that?”
Ray frowned. “Don’t know. Sounds like something we’d do.”
“She’ll kick our asses if we did.”
“I’ll text her.” Ray pushed papers from the counter and retrieved his phone. “She’ll laugh at us for being hungover.”
“I told you not to bother going shot for shot with her. East coast girls can hold their liquor.” Devin knew better than partying like this. He rarely drank to excess, but last night had been special.
Yesterday he’d defended his Ph.D. And it hadn’t sucked.
Yay him!
Unfortunately, that meant he really didn’t know what to do with his life now. Well, not beyond drinking too much and playing Overwatch.
“Ah shit.” Ray was staring down at his phone, a hand pressed to the side of his head.
“What? Is Cassie threatening to come over and kick your ass?” He looked back over at Ray when he didn’t immediately respond. “What’s up?”
“Well, apparently, I told Cassie she should get a sugar daddy.”
Devin snorted. “So she’ll be over in five minutes to kick your ass, or—”
“Naw, we’re cool. She said she’d do it if one of us signed up for it first.”
“None of us are gay, so that won’t work.”
“Apparently, there are women on the site too. Not many.” Ray started scrolling through the site. “I guess I agreed to do it.”
Devin tried to laugh, but it hurt his head too much. “That’s fucking hilarious.”
Ray flipped him off. “You did too, asshole.”
He set the frying pan down on the stove a bit too hard, and the resulting bang sent a wave of pain through his head. “What do you mean ‘I did too’?”
“We both did. Cassie didn’t.” Ray held out his phone for Devin to see. “Millionaire chicks.”
For half a minute, Devin had been freaking he’d done something stupid. But the quick look through the site showed him he didn’t have much to worry about. “It’s mostly dudes on here. And I hate to tell you, we’re not exactly material for rich women to be chasing after.”
Ray scratched his fingers through his hair. “Speak for yourself. I’m prime meat, baby.” Devin watched as Ray’s face drained of color, before he turned and bolted back to the bathroom.
Turning back to his breakfast task, Devin continued to look through the few p
rofiles of the rich and famous on the site. It was more than a little strange seeing all of the men looking for younger women to pamper. Devin couldn’t imagine what those women would have to provide in return for the money, and it was probably for the best if he didn’t. Faces of women, some of whom could be his classmates, smiled at him from the computer screen. Their profiles highlighting their likes, interests, and desires.
Curious, Devin moved the mouse to select the profile they’d created for him in their drunken stupor. The picture had obviously been taken with the laptop camera, its slightly fuzzy image in stark contrast to the other pictures he’d seen. He wore a sloppy grin, one that shouted he was more than a little intoxicated.
His profile was filled with enough pretentious answers and cocky innuendo to ensure no woman with even the slightest blush of common sense would want to have anything to do with him. It was basically a giant waste of time.
He should delete this crap.
“Dude!” Ray’s voice echoed from the toilet. “Help.”
Devin slammed the laptop cover closed and went to help his friend. He’d worry about dating millionaires another day.
About the Author
Christine d’Abo is hooked on romance. As a novelist and short story writer with over thirty publications to her name, including the immensely popular Long Shots series, the imagination is always flowing. She loves to exercise and stops writing just long enough to keep her body in motion too. When she’s not pretending to be a ninja in her basement, she’s most likely spending time with her family and two dogs.
Sugar Sweet Page 25
