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About the Author
Alix Nichols is an unapologetic caffeine addict and a longtime fan of Mr. Darcy, especially in his Colin Firth incarnation. She is an award-winning author of sexy romantic comedies.
At the age of six, she released her first rom com. It featured highly creative spelling on a dozen pages stitched together and bound in velvet paper.
Decades later, she still loves the romance genre. Her spelling has improved (somewhat), and her books have made bestseller lists in the US, UK and France, climbing as high as #1. She lives in France with her family and their almost-human dog.
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A Chocolate Kind of Love
(A Bluehaven Romance)
by Auriella Skye
Chapter One
Tonya
“You’re infuriating, you know that?!” Tonya Holton’s voice echoed in the large industrial kitchen. The workers were staring, but she didn’t give a damn. She was seconds away from throwing a rolling pin at someone’s head. Not just anyone. Hudson Smith’s head was getting closer to becoming her target practice.
“Would you calm down for a second and let me explain?” Hudson pleaded.
“You’ve said more than enough, Hud House.”
Hudson’s face reddened. “Stop calling me that, especially in front of employees.”
A couple of snickers behind her weren’t going to distract her. “Are you going to get the fuck out of my kitchen and let me supervise the chocolate sculpture by myself?” When he didn’t answer, she continued. “Then the name stays. Get used to it, Hud House.”
Tonya was at the end of a very short rope that was getting shorter with every second she worked under the new merger of Gold & Smith Chocolates and Dezrah’s Chocolate Café. The two owners thought it was best to work together to take advantage of their unique approaches to chocolate making. Those two owners being Austin and Dezrah, since the two of them were so in love it was almost sickening to watch. They at least acknowledged that Tonya and Hudson weren’t on speaking terms, but the two lovesick chocolate makers promised Tonya they’d rarely see each other. It was a promise that was, at the moment, being broken.
Dezrah’s shop was now an extension of Gold & Smith and sold their chocolates in her shop, while Austin and Hudson’s company was implementing Dezrah’s unique recipes into their new candies and truffles. It made business sense, due to Dezrah’s shop losing money prior to the merger, and Tonya was happy for Dezrah. Her cousin had found love and a way to keep her business afloat in meeting Austin Gold.
With the joining came a steady paycheck for Tonya and a promotion as Gold & Smith’s head baker. She was hesitant at first, given her short-lived history with the Smith part of the company, but she got over it when she realized Austin oversaw the edibles, while Hudson worked the business side.
Her distance from Hud House was crucial to the man’s safety and her sanity. Then he had to make a grand entrance to announce he was supervising their major edible contribution to the biggest wedding the town has ever seen.
That was a double hell-to-the-no.
“You’re not supervising the chocolate sculpture,” Tonya said. “I don’t want you anywhere near it.”
“Too late, hon,” Hudson said. “We need to make a big impression at this wedding. It’ll be great publicity for the company, which means it’s going to be business related. Either I supervise, or we don’t do it at all.”
“I’m not your hon,” she huffed, “and I’m certainly not working with you.”
A grin filled his face. “You didn’t seem to mind a few months ago, and my memory replays you working with me very well.”
Without thinking, the rolling pin flew out of Tonya’s hand with full force.
Hudson ducked, leaving the pathway of collision open for the two people entering the kitchen.
Austin grabbed Dezrah and pulled her to the side and up against his chest in time for the pin to bounce off the wall and hit the floor with a heavy thump.
“Oh, my God, Dez!” Tonya screeched as she ran over to her cousin. “I’m so sorry.”
“Damn, Tonya,” Dez said peering up from Austin’s embrace. “Are you trying to kill people with kitchen tools now?”
Tonya crossed her arms and stared back at Hudson. “Just one person in particular. I’m not that lucky since I missed him.”
“Guess that answers our question,” Austin said.
“What question?” Tonya asked. She gave Hudson the stink eye when she realized he had asked the same thing, echoing her. Fun.
“We came to make sure you both were getting along,” Tonya said. “Instead, we walk into a baking ware war zone.”
“I was just defending myself and getting out of the way,” Hudson said.
“Right,” Austin said. “Let me guess, you didn’t provoke her to throw things at you either?”
Hudson shrugged. “It’s not my fault she won’t work with me.”
“Trust me,” Tonya said. “It’s so your fault.”
“All right. That’s it,” Austin said, moving away from the entrance with Dezrah in tow. “Everyone except you two, out. Take a break and come back in a half an hour.”
The other few employees scattered so quickly, Tonya thought maybe they were scared of what she would do next. They had no need to worry. Her wrath was solely reserved for the tall, blond gift to mankind crowding her working space. Gift? Nope. More like a curse.
Any other woman would think he was handsome. Tonya fell for those tempting eyes and kissable lips. She even remembered what it was like to taste them. Oh, no. Her mind was so not going to think about Hud House voluntarily.
Her dreams were another matter. She couldn’t control those nightly sexy wanderings if she tried to. That was another reason she was pissed off. The man was a constant presence when she slept, so much of a force that she would wake up panting and reaching out for him.
She couldn’t lie about Hudson’s looks. He was the embodiment of perfection with his strong jaw and muscular build. The man was also athletic. She had one night to see proof of that, one night that was both the best and worst night of her life.
“We need to talk,” Dezrah said, interrupting Tonya’s thoughts.
Uh, oh. Talking with her cousin was never a good thing.
Dezrah pulled her to the other side of the kitchen, so they were out of earshot from the men.
“You’ve got to get a hold of this rage thing,” Dezrah said.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Tonya busied herself with a discarded piece of foil wrap that was on the metal counter. She didn’t need to talk about this. Not now when she was supposed to be working.
Dezrah crossed her arms. “Really? So that rolling pin toss was because you’re all brimming with sunshine and daisies?”
“Well, he started it. I told him to stay out of my kitchen.”
“It’s not just your kitchen, Tonya. We all share this space and this business. If it was all ‘me, me, me,’ we’d never get anywhere.”
“I get that, but I don’t need Hud House’s help.”
Dezrah arched her brow. “You’ve got to stop calling him that. He’s not some poor soul in need of government assistance.”
“He will be if he comes near my...I mean the sculpture for the wedding.”
“You both sound like children right now.”
“At least children duke it out in the schoolyard, and it will come to that if he doesn’t back off.”
Dezrah sighed and gripped the bridge of her nose in frustration.
<
br /> Tonya hated putting Dezrah and Austin in such an awkward position, but she wasn’t sure if she could ever stand being in the same room with Hudson after the cruel way he discarded her. There was absolutely no way. Not even if a golden goose came down to lay golden eggs at her feet. No way whatsoever was she going to fall for the charms of Hudson Smith ever again.
Chapter Two
Hudson
Tonya was going to be a problem for Hudson in more ways than one. The first issue was that he knew the woman was going to argue with him every step of the way as they made that chocolate sculpture for the wedding. His second problem was that with every argument, he found himself wanting to shut her up with a kiss that made her forget what the hell they were fighting about.
One night. He had one night with Tonya at their holiday party last Christmas. He spent the entire time charming her and got her back to his place. Then he realized something. She wasn’t like most women he tried to sleep with. Tonya, with her feistiness and attitude, made him want to spend more than one night with her.
That scared the shit out of him. It scared him because he had never felt at ease with a woman as much as he did with her.
Even in their arguments, he still found himself seeking her out, wondering what she was doing inside the very kitchen he stood in now. That was why he had been a complete asshole to her the morning after he’d had a taste of her and kicked her out of his bed and loft despite not wanting to. He had to cut the cord early before he wanted to lock her in with him and never let her out of his sight. The intensity in which he wanted her was just too much for him to handle.
Love was for fools. He learned that early enough. Why did he keep forgetting that simple thing when he saw the one woman who had the ability to drive him crazy and wild with need simultaneously?
“Look,” Austin said to Hudson after all the employees cleared out, “you two have got to settle this unless you want to destroy any chance we have of making a good impression at this wedding.”
Dezrah had pulled Tonya to the other side of the kitchen, while Austin mediated with Hudson.
“She won’t listen to me,” Hudson said. “The woman is as stubborn as a mule.”
Austin sighed. “That woman is one of the best chocolate makers in this town. She’s also cousin to the woman I love, so you need to get it together and make this work.”
“I’m trying, Austin. I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t attempting to find some common ground.”
“Not hard enough from what I’m seeing. I don’t have to remind you how important this wedding is for us, especially for Dezrah. It’ll put all of us in a position to really make a name for our expansion. The McKnights are one of the wealthiest and most influential people in Bluehaven. If we get their recommendation and backing, there’s no telling how well we can do in this town and other small towns like it.”
“I understand that more than anyone. Getting that damn wedding was my idea.”
“And the sculpture was partly her idea, too, so don’t forget that.”
“Just making it chocolate. The centerpiece was all me.”
“Can’t you both take credit? If this goes sideways, I know Dez and I will be looking at you two.”
“She’s impossible. I’m willing to put aside everything for us to do this, but she won’t see reason.”
“Put aside everything, huh? You’re the one who got into this mess. I told you not to bring your one-nighters here. It’s a small town, which means whoever you piss off you’ll probably see sooner or later. Burning bridges is no way to kick off a strong partnership.” Austin sighed. “You really hurt her, so give her some credit. She has a right to hate you during all of this.”
Hudson couldn’t help but cringe at his friend’s words. Austin was right, as always. It was his fault that Tonya was so angry with him.
He treated her like most women he wanted. He remembered the night with Tonya vividly, too. The last thing a woman like that deserved was to be treated as badly as he had done to her.
Even angry she was gorgeous with curves for days and a face he could look into forever. He remembered the soft feel of her against him, the way she fit his body so perfectly. His cock got hard just imagining the way she felt and smelled.
He had been a complete jerk to her. Even he could get her hostility. Hudson couldn’t help but partly blame his past failed relationships, one in particular that fucked him up. His lack of intimacy beyond just sex always kept women at a distance. It was safer that way. He would have one night stands, and the women would be okay with that. Then in the morning, they would each go their separate ways.
Tonya was different. She made him think about what would happen after the morning had passed, and it freaked him out. He wasn’t one to dwell on the future when it came to women, because he had made that mistake before. Planning the future for relationships only came back to bite you in the ass.
Hudson had been normal once. It was a time when he even wanted a happy marriage and a family, but all he got back from that was the betrayal. He couldn’t go through that again.
“So?” Austin asked.
“So what?” Hudson knew what his friend was getting at, but he wanted to delay the inevitable as much as possible and stay out of Tonya’s wrath of kitchen utensils.
“What are you going to do to make this right?”
Hudson inhaled deep and released it. “I know. I know. I’ll talk to her, okay?”
Austin stared at him. “No time like the present, my friend.”
“You just keep on pushing, don’t you?”
“You’re the one who said we have to focus on business and nothing else. Maybe it’s time to take your own damn advice.”
“Fine. Can you give us both a minute?”
Hudson didn’t miss the small grin that appeared on Austin’s face. He was taking his words to mean something else entirely.
“I think I can do that.” Austin moved over to where Tonya and Dezrah had moved to have their own private talk. “Come on, baby. Let’s give them a minute.”
Dezrah looked up at Austin with her eyes wide. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? They could kill each other.”
“I trust them to be acceptable for a little bit. Let’s go. You and I have plans.” He took Dezrah by the arm and led her towards the exit, but she still looked at both Hudson and Tonya as if she didn’t trust what Austin was telling her.
“We’ll be fine,” Hudson said to reassure her. When he was finally alone with Tonya, he moved closer to her, making sure there was nothing dangerous within her reach.
She made some intricate bird figure with a piece stray aluminum foil.
“I’m sorry, Tonya.” He watched as her movements stopped, but she didn’t look up at him. “I never meant to hurt you.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said.
Even he could tell she was lying, but he didn’t want to press her about it, not when they had to work together. “Either way, I was still a bit of an asshole to you.”
She finally looked up. “More like a major asshole.”
He couldn’t help but laugh. “Okay. A major asshole. Now that we’ve established that, can we finally work together so we can make this chocolate sculpture a masterpiece this town won’t ever forget?”
A grin filled her face, and he couldn’t help but think that it was one of the sexiest things he had ever seen.
“Oh, I’m more than ready,” Tonya said.
He moved closer to her. “You know this means we’re going to have to work together, probably for hours on end? You sure you can handle that?”
“Try me.”
She had to say the two words that got his blood going. He never backed away from a challenge in his life, and he wasn’t going to start now. The way she said it made all kinds of ideas pop into his head. As frustrating as she could be, Tonya was also filled with passion. It was one thing he enjoyed about their night together, and need flooded through him.
He had a feeling that his time was Tonya
was going to be even more interesting now that they were at a truce.
Chapter Three
Tonya
Tonya wanted to concentrate on making the best impression on the McKnights possible. It was the first major project she had a hand in since the merger, so she needed to show everyone she deserved to be head chef. Although she wasn’t classically trained, she used the knowledge of cooking that she learned from the women in her family, and that aided her in all the decisions she made when it came to creating chocolate.
Dezrah always had faith in her, which was why she suggested to Austin that they bring Tonya on in the important position. Tonya definitely needed the pay increase to pay her bills, but she was more awed by how much her cousin believed in her to do well as a chef. That urged her on and gave her the desire to never fail. She wanted to prove her worth, and this wedding was the best opportunity to do that while helping the company get a strong reputation in Bluehaven.
Tonya made sure she got to work early that morning so she could have time to prepare. She didn’t want to take a chance that anything could go wrong. If it did, she knew that not only she will look bad, but her cousin would be embarrassed as well. Dezrah had done so much for her over the years, and she wasn’t going to let her cousin down.
It was at least a couple of hours before the other employees would arrive, so she knew she had the entire kitchen to herself. Tonya thought it was always peaceful when she got there before anyone else. She was able to focus only on the task at hand and block out the rest of the world.
Baking to her wasn’t just a career. It was a lifestyle. Her mother, aunt, and grandmother all taught her that. Even Dezrah with her formal culinary background showed Tonya how a desire for cooking could make even the simplest dish taste amazing. When you cooked for other people, you had to put emotion in it. Otherwise, it was just ingredients thrown together. Love and passion made food explode on the tongue and provided an everlasting memory in the person who devoured it. That’s how she thought about every single thing she made in her kitchen.
