by Candis Terry
Oh, who was she kidding.
For those two nights, while she’d wrestled with the worry of opening her shop, her concern had been dogpiled by her absolute mortification at the way she’d thrown herself at Mike.
Naughty Fiona had exposed herself and shredded all the good intentions Reasonable Fiona had worked so hard to maintain. She’d thought she’d had that sinful alter ego locked down for good. But no. Put a tempting, amazing, gorgeous man like Mike in front of her, and the hooker stilettos came out like a pair of claws. Humiliation burned her face even now.
“Quarter for your thoughts.”
Fiona looked up and glanced across the prep table, where Sabrina loaded red velvet cupcakes topped with red jimmies and a fresh raspberry onto a glass-domed pedestal. Fearful–and also hopeful–of not being able to handle the big crowds all by herself, Fiona had asked her friend for the favor of her help today.
“My thoughts are probably only worth about a penny,” she said, arranging her completed cupcakes on a paper, lace-covered silver tray. “A tarnished one at that.”
“The blush on your face says different.” Sabrina’s dark eyes crinkled at the corners. “With that fireman hunk in your life, I’ll bet you’ve got all kinds of racy thoughts flying through that noggin.”
“There is no fireman hunk in my life,” she insisted. Especially not with the way she’d lured him in, turned him on, then shut him down like a total tease. And let there be no doubt, she had turned him on. That bit of information had been largely evident based on the change of fit behind the zipper of his Levi’s.
She could take all day to explain her reasons for her actions. The truth remained, Mike made her forget who she was, who she’d been, and who she wanted to be. He made her want to live in the moment, strip off her clothes, and just lose herself in all his good looks, solid muscle, and delicious manliness. He made her want to ditch her vow to take things slow the next time she found an interesting man. He made her want a whole lot of things that probably weren’t very good for her. Yet still, she wanted them. Wanted him.
“You really are amazing,” Sabrina said with a shake of her head. “You know that?”
“Awww. Thanks.” Fiona sighed. “I think you’re amazing too.”
“And obviously you don’t recognize sarcasm when you hear it.”
“I recognize it. I just choose to ignore it.” Fiona pointed to the tray of maple-bacon cupcakes. “Can you take care of those while I do the banana toffee?”
“You should be doing that fireman hunk.”
“Let it go, Foof.”
“Can’t.” Sabrina shook her head, and her chestnut ponytail swung across her back. “I’ve appointed myself your get-laid fairy godmother.”
“My what?”
Sabrina opened her mouth to repeat herself.
“Never mind.” Fiona held up her hand. “I’m just going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”
“You can’t make up for the bad choices you made in your previous life by being celibate and wearing a crown of goodness over your head.”
“I know I can’t make up for my mistakes. I’m not trying to.”
“Then what are you trying to do?”
“Not make any more. Isn’t it obvious?”
Sabrina looked up from crumbling bacon bits over the maple buttercream. “It’s obvious you need to get laid.”
“That’s exactly what I don’t need. I’ve been there, done that. Is it too much to want a man to fall in love with me before I kick off my underwear?”
“No. But what is too much is you closing yourself off to the possibility of finding a man who can fall in love with you because you’re too chicken to take a chance.”
“Boy, this is supposed to be a happy day for me.” She slammed a baking pan into the sink. “I’m finally opening my own shop. I’m my own boss. Life is looking good. I don’t remember ordering up a slice of ‘your life is a pathetic mess, let me throw it in your face’ this morning when I woke up.”
“Not throwing it in your face.” Sabrina sniffed as though her feelings were hurt.
“Really? Because that’s what it feels like.” Oh, God. Did she seriously just do a head wag?
“No, what it feels like is the truth.” Sabrina pulled an opening-day pink apron off the coat hook and tied it around Fiona’s waist. “And the truth always hurts. I’m not trying to hurt you. I want you to be so happy I can’t stand looking at you. But you’re never going to be ooey-gooey-syrupy-sweet content until your life is complete. You’ve made a great start with your recent move and opening this shop. You have an adorable daughter. But you go to bed alone. Every. Night.”
“I don’t need a man to be happy,” Fiona protested. “Or the reminder that my nights are dull and lonely.”
“I know. But you, my friend, deserve a man who looks at you with such love he can’t stand to blink. I just don’t understand why you keep yourself wrapped up so tight you won’t give anyone a chance.”
“First of all, I can’t believe we’re discussing this again. But if you want honesty? Okay. Here’s a great big old wallop of it.” A heavy sigh pushed from her lungs. “With my track record and the horrible things I’ve done . . . really, who would trust that I can keep myself on the straight and narrow when I’m not even sure I can?”
“Okay. This is me . . .” Sabrina pointed both index fingers at herself. “Trying not to smack you for that monster-sized ridiculously lame-ass comment. You’ve proven yourself over and over. There are plenty of men out there who’d be thrilled if you looked their way. And I can guarantee that hunk of a fireman wouldn’t mind taking you on.”
“Pretty sure he’s got better sense than that.” Especially after what she had pulled a couple of days ago. “Plus, he’s probably got fireman groupies all over the place. You know, like those rodeo-buckle bunnies or hockey-puck bunnies. What would they even call a fireman groupie, a hose bunny?” Fiona imagined a hose bunny wouldn’t give him a great big erection, then coldly send him out the door. A hose bunny would behave just like Naughty Fiona. Reasonable Fiona might not come close to the “bunny” classification, but she rocked the desperate-single-mom category.
“He’s probably with a different groupie every night,” she insisted. And a man who looked as yummy as him should be. “Probably can’t even recall their names the next morning.”
“How do you know?”
Fiona shrugged.
“¡Chica! I never thought I’d see you prejudging someone.”
“I’m not.”
“Yeah. You are. And shame on you.”
“Sabrina–”
“For all you know, he could be the perfect choirboy who takes care of the elderly and serves meals to the homeless.”
That made Fiona laugh.
Mike Halsey had the look of a sinner, not a saint. “You’re ridiculous.”
“Give him a chance.”
“He’s not interested.” At least not now.
“Mierda. Give me a better reason than that.”
“He’s a hottie fireman who also happens to be Jackson’s best friend.”
“So get over that. And . . . you’d best do it quick.”
“Why?”
“Because . . .”
“Come on, Foof. Playing coy doesn’t suit you.”
“Okay. Because I called him and extended a personal invitation to your grand opening. There. Now, go ahead and have your little . . .” She waggled her hand. “Freak-out.”
“Oh my God!” Fiona’s heart slammed into her ribs. “Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
Gritting her teeth, Fiona wondered if a little blood would hamper her opening-day sales. Because as sure as Hannibal Lector enjoyed fava beans and nice Chianti, she felt like murdering Sabrina before the doors even opened. “Why would you do that?”
“Because he helped you put this place together. Because it was a nice thing to do. Because you should have done it.” Sabrina folded her arms and nearly stomped her foot. “And because
someone around here–who shall remain nameless–looks at him like she wishes he was laid out on a table, stripped naked, and covered with buttercream frosting.”
“I don’t do that!”
Sabrina’s laugh fell somewhere between a pig snort and a donkey bray, and she let it fly. “Deny. Deny. Deny.” She clamped her hand over Fiona’s shoulder. “There’s nothing wrong with a healthy sexual appetite, mi novia. You just have to be careful how you use that weapon.”
“I’m thirty-one,” Fiona insisted. “I know all about birth control. Not that I’ve needed to worry about that for a long time.”
“Not talking about that. I’m talking about letting nature take its course. There’s a pattern, you know. You meet a guy. You go out a couple times, get to know each other a little. Then you can jump his bones.”
“Sorry. This girl is keeping her feet on solid ground.” For the most part.
“You know, your only problem with Jackson was you did everything in reverse. Not that I blame you. He’s very hot.” Sabrina fanned herself. “All you have to do is slow it down this time. Find out if he’s the right guy before you jump him.”
“Hello. Earth to insane woman in my kitchen. I am not jumping anyone.”
What Sabrina said made sense but did little to relieve the panic rising in her throat.
“Well, that’s too bad. But if you change your mind . . . he said he’d try to be here after his shift ends this afternoon.” Sabrina carried her tray of sampler cupcakes to the front of the shop, and said over her shoulder, “So you might want to practice a few hurdles or maybe even the pole vault before then.”
After the other day, Mike would most likely steer clear of her. And she wouldn’t blame him one bit. However, Fiona gave some thought to what Sabrina had said.
The concept seemed simple enough.
The only kink in the situation was her.
Nothing she’d done in her life had ever been simple.
“Hell of a shift.”
Sunrise blossomed in a fiery show as Mike stopped in the station parking lot on the way to his SUV to toss some paperwork inside. He turned to find Jackson coming up behind him with a look on his face that either showed signs of exhaustion, or he was pissed.
“Yeah.” Mike rolled his shoulders to relieve the tension curled up in a knot between his shoulder blades. He noticed the duffel in Jackson’s hand. “Not sure we’ve had the alarm go off so consistently before. Shift’s not over till noon. You bailing early today?”
“That I am.”
Parked next to him, Jackson hit the door lock on his key fob, opened his truck door, and tossed in his duffel. Then he turned and leaned back, crossed his arms, and narrowed his eyes.
Mike figured it was too much to hope the narrowed-eye thing was just a squint against the bright sunshine.
“You avoiding me, Hooch?”
“Hardly. We just pulled a twenty-four-hour shift together.”
“Right. And we hardly spoke two words that weren’t work-related. Something you want to tell me?”
A sweat broke out on the back of Mike’s neck.
Where to start?
That he was highly attracted to the man’s ex-wife and that it was practically killing him to keep his distance? Or that two days ago he’d given in and kissed the hell out of her? Or that if she hadn’t put on the brakes, he’d have slid her pants off, wrapped her sexy legs around his waist, and slid into her right there on the top of her cupcake-shop counter. Where anyone and their dog could see and would ruin her reputation as a respectable woman.
Jesus.
Time to come clean.
The Cliff Notes version anyway. Because not even he was ready to face the idiotic moves he’d recently made.
“Your mom called in my charity debt by having me help Fiona move in the rest of her things and get them organized,” he said. “She also asked me to build some cabinets for the cupcake shop.”
“Oh. Well, thank you for that.”
The lines at the corners of Jackson’s eyes smoothed out, and Mike wanted to sigh with relief even while guilt fisted around his throat.
“That’s really nice of you,” Jackson said. “Between finishing my own house and planning the wedding, I’ve been tied up. So has Reno, with mom and Charli working on opening their antique-and-design shop. And we haven’t seen much of Jesse since he and Allison tied the knot. But he smiles a whole hell of a lot more now. And that’s saying something.”
“Good to be a newlywed I guess.”
“Fiona’s grand opening is today.” Jackson opened the door to his truck. “You coming by?”
That would be a big hell no.
He might have made a vague commitment when Sabrina called with a personal invitation, but he was pretty sure Fiona wouldn’t want him there. When he and Fiona had parted, she’d made it clear he’d overstepped the line. Even if she’d done a hell of a job kissing him back, Mike knew, for a myriad of reasons, they could never happen. She was his best friend’s ex, and he was just too fucking broken.
He gave Jackson a casual shrug. “Depends on what I find on my answering machine when I get home. Lester Cravits said he might want a new patio built before the sun completely destroys the back of his house, and I could use the extra cash.”
“For?”
“Personal projects.” Like raising his pirate flag and hanging out on a beach somewhere. Dusting off the past and figuring out a way to move forward without alienating the family members who constantly called on him to bail them out of hot water.
“Well, if you do decide to show up at the grand opening, don’t forget to take home a box of cupcakes. Never thought the combination would ever work, but those damn maple-bacon ones she makes are delicious.”
Mike gave a nod. She was delicious. “I’ll have to give them a try.” And he had to remind himself that Fiona’s cupcakes were the only things he was allowed to taste.
Exhilaration jumped hoops through Fiona’s heart as she took a deep breath and opened the front door to the culmination of her dream and the small crowd gathered outside on the boardwalk. Sure, some had probably only shown up to sample the free cupcakes she’d advertised to lure people into the shop, but that wasn’t going to dim her excitement. Hopefully, the samplers would turn into purchasers, and she’d be able to sell a dozen or two.
By her estimation she’d probably prepared too many. But as she’d learned in her business classes—never miss an opportunity. So if there were leftovers at the end of the day, she planned to deliver them to several popular businesses for marketing purposes.
With the cupcakes in full swing, it seemed the only opportunities she really ever missed were ones that involved matters of the heart.
“Welcome to the grand opening of Sweet Surprise!” She greeted the customers, noted some very familiar faces, and was grateful for their support.
First through the door were those she could always depend on when she needed them the most. Jana and her fiancé Martin. Charli and Reno. Jesse and Allison. And, of course, Jackson and Abby, with Izzy in tow.
“Oh, sugarplum!” Jana clapped her hands together. “The place looks wonderful.”
“Smells pretty damn good too.” Jesse winked.
“Watch your language, son.”
Reno laughed at his brother’s expense. “Never too old to be reprimanded by Mom.”
Hugs were exchanged by all, and Fiona basked in the love the Wilders freely offered.
“Glad to see the newlyweds could come out of their cave for the occasion.” Fiona teased Jesse and Allison, who had surprised everyone by eloping when most didn’t even know they were a couple. Fortunately, in their case, love had brought them together. Not an unplanned pregnancy.
Fiona’s own reason for living lifted her little arms, and Fiona picked her up for a snuggle. “Mommy’s got a special cupcake just for you. Go ask Foof to get it for you.”
Izzy’s eyes widened. “What kinda special?”
“How does your very own Minnie Mouse c
upcake sound?”
“Yummy.”
Fiona laughed, gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek, and set her down so she could go in search of her Disney-inspired sugar fix.
“Go ahead and take a look around,” Fiona told the family. “I’m going to see if I can make the cash register sing a little.”
Abby gave her a hug, then went straight to the sample tray while Jackson lingered.
“I’m really proud of you, Fi,” he said. “This is quite an accomplishment. And you did it all on your own.”
“Thank you. I must admit it feels pretty darned good. I think my grandma would be proud.”
He squeezed her hand. “I know she is.”
With a smile, he went off to join the rest of the family as they all argued about which flavors they should take home. Fiona just hoped they’d take home a dozen or two so she wouldn’t have to count the day as a total loss if no one else bought.
As she neared the display case, she eyed the lovely floral bouquet that had arrived earlier that morning. There had been no note attached. From across the room, she glanced at her former mother-in-law. Jana would be just the type to send the basket bursting with vivid yellow Texas roses, purple stock, and fuchsia carnations.
On impulse she ran back and wrapped Jana in a hug. “Thank you for the beautiful flowers.”
Jana looked up in surprise. “Sugarplum, I wish I’d thought of it, but I didn’t send flowers.”
“You didn’t?”
Jana shook her head.
“Then who did?”
“Wasn’t there a card?”
“No. And the delivery guy left before I had a chance to even look for one.”
“Maybe it’s from one of the boys. Or the girls. With the size of that arrangement, someone obviously wanted to get your attention.”
“Hmmm.”
“Want me to do some investigating?”
“That would be great. They’re just so beautiful, and they smell so wonderful I want to make sure the right person knows how much I appreciate them.”
