Sweetest Temptations (8 page)

9

I’d never slept better in my life than I had sleeping in Kennedy’s arms. As I awoke the next morning and stretched, feeling achy in all the right places, I knew I was alone in the bed, but I could still feel Kennedy’s presence nearby. Taking a minute to soak in the memories of the previous night, a pleased smile began to take shape. I could spend every day just like this, in bed, naked, making love with a hot guy, and shutting out the rest of the world.

It was with that thought, that I remembered what day it was and where I was supposed to be.

“Shit!” Bolting upright, I wrestled with the blankets as I leapt from the bed. The sheet clung to my ankles as if it had sprouted tentacles, and despite my best efforts, I went down. My knees banged hard on the floor, causing me to cry out, and I angrily kicked the material away before scrambling to my feet once again.

It was Monday and I had overslept. Judging by the level of light pouring into the room, it was mid-morning and I should already be at the bakery with the ovens blazing.

As I rifled through my dresser for something to wear, Kennedy came rushing in from the bathroom. The fact that he was bare ass naked was definitely a distraction that I couldn’t afford right now. “I heard yelling. What’s wrong?”

Underwear and bra in hand, I turned to him with wild eyes. “I need to leave. I’m late for work.” Allowing myself a brief moment to appreciate the view, my gaze traveled over his body, starting with his feet and moving up. As I lingered on his manhood, nestled in a thick patch of dark hair, it grew before my eyes, and I felt a twinge of regret that I wouldn’t be able to stick around and play awhile.

Kennedy was all man. A fine dusting of hair covered a body that was cut with thick slabs of muscle that only came with hard work. He wasn’t a meathead, and he didn’t have the body of a gym rat, but I could easily see him climbing mountains and running woodsy trails. He was Hugh Jackman in a fireman’s suit.

When Kennedy took a step toward me, dark intent flickering in his eyes, I shook my head clear. “Is that my toothbrush?” In his mouth, I recognized the pink soft-bristled brush and, surprisingly, didn’t feel the least bit disgusted that it was in his mouth. Instead, I had the insane urge to scrub my own teeth.

Pulling the toothbrush free, he held it up. White foam leaked from the corners of his mouth as he spoke. “I forgot to pack my overnight bag. Do you mind?”

“After the things we did last night? Have at it.”

Resuming his tooth brushing, he winked at me and headed back into the bathroom. Quickly, I gathered a pair of jeans and maroon top from the closet and rushed in after him. “Sorry, I don’t mean to invade your privacy, but I have to get ready. Right now.” There was no time for modesty, and he had seen it all anyway. Throwing back the shower curtain, I twisted the water on to high and stepped inside.

My head was already under the spray when I heard Kennedy talking over the noise of the rushing water. “Your male friend stopped by earlier when you didn’t show up to work.”

I only had one male friend, so there was no need for deduction. “Dex?” I scrubbed shampoo into my hair, cursing myself. Dex was probably equal parts worried and pissed that I hadn’t showed. “What did he want?”

“Just checking to make sure you were still alive, but as soon as he saw me, he said to tell you not to worry about coming in today. He said he could handle things at the shop.”

Whipping the curtains back, I stuck my head out, wiping my hands over my forehead to keep dripping soap from getting in my eyes. “What? He thinks he can run the shop by himself?” There was no way. Dexter was a great salesman, which was why I’d decided to hire him. In one day, he’d managed to nearly double my revenue. The women absolutely loved him, but I was the one with the baking skills. Who was going to run the ovens? Who was going to make sure the shelves were stocked?

Leaning back against the countertop, Kennedy shrugged. “He seemed pretty confident that he could.”

My eyes widened. “Dex is always confident. The place could burn down to the ground and he would be confident that he could sell the charred remains by the end of the day. I have to get down there.” Ducking back under the spray, I began rising the soap from my hair.

“I was hoping we could spend the day together,” Kennedy called out, and I pulled back the curtains again to make sure I had heard him right.

“Excuse me?”

“I have the next two days off. I was hoping we could spend some more time together and get to know one another more.”

I blinked several times as his words sank in. Of all the dates I’d had, I’d never been on a second one. A fact that was true until Kennedy arrived. In less than a week, he’d broken my sex drought record, and now he was saying he was interested in getting to know me better. Damn, I really liked this guy. My heart thumped harder in my chest. “You want to spend time with me?”

“As much as you’ll let me.” His smile was devastating. Had I been wearing panties, I would have handed them over on the spot. But I was as naked as the day I was born. A fact I was becoming increasingly aware of the longer we stared into each other’s eyes.

“Well, then, I—Ow! Ow, oh my God. Soap in my eyes!” I yelled. My eyes squeezed shut and I rubbed them frantically, but there was no escaping the terrible burn. I was blind and in pain and as I groped around for a towel, I felt strong arms wrap around me.

“Let’s rinse your eyes,” Kennedy said, urging me back under the showerhead. I screeched, my body arching away violently as the ice cold water hit my chest and stomach. My ten minutes were up.

“It’s too cold!” I shouted, but Kennedy’s firm chest pressing against my back forced me forward.

“Just put your face in the water and open your eyes.”

His calm, measured voice in my ear registered above my shocked senses, and I took a deep, steadying breath as I followed his directions. Within seconds, the burning subsided.

“There’s a good girl. All better?” he asked. I grunted in response. I was still freezing and, even though the burning was gone, it felt as if someone had thrown sand in my eyes. They were dry and scratchy and not the least bit comfortable.

Gathering my hair in his hands, Kennedy pressed down until I was bent forward with my head under the spray. Despite the frigid temperatures, I marveled in the feeling of his fingers in my hair, and it dawned on me. This was the second time Kennedy had taken care of me. He must have been freezing too, but he wasn’t complaining. Instead, he was sticking around to make sure I was okay. As the shampoo was rinsed away, a sudden surge of emotion struck me, and I knew—this man could destroy me.

A knot formed in my chest and, with sharp movements, I shut the water off. “Thank you.” I retrieved towels for both of us. As we stepped out of the shower and dried off, I avoided eye contact and got dressed. Being the gentleman that he was, Kennedy didn’t press to know what was wrong, though I could tell he sensed the change in me.

I wasn’t even sure what I would say if he
did
ask. I was worried and confused but, most of all, I was scared. I'd never been in a serious, committed relationship before, and something told me that this thing with Kennedy could be headed in that direction.

The conversation from last night roared in my ears and, as I combed the tangles from my hair, I looked up at him. “What do you expect from this?” I asked, turning the question back on him.

Scooping his clothes up from the bedroom floor, I watched as Kennedy dressed himself. When he was done, he came to stand in front of me, his blue eyes piercing in their intensity. “I don’t expect anything, Abby. In my experience, expectations are what ruin a relationship. They put too much pressure on both parties.”

I felt my eyes narrow and the hand holding the brush dropped to my side. “Then what do you want? What is going on here?”

“We’re getting to know each other,” he said simply. “We’re figuring out what each other are all about and if we like what we see. As for me, I want to have a good time. I want to have fun, and if it turns into something more, all the better.”

I didn’t even know what to make of that. It was such a lackadaisical response. He wanted to have a good time? I was all for a good time, but it sounded like that was all he was in it for. “What about commitment?”

“Labels aren’t really my thing, but if you’re asking if I would sleep with other women while we’re seeing each other, the answer is no. I believe in monogamy. Do you?”

“Yes.” I didn’t even have to think about it. I was a one man woman.

“Good, then I don’t see a problem here. Do you?” His eyes held mine, almost as if he were challenging me. To what? Say that I didn’t agree with him? To force him to call me his girlfriend? He’d basically called us fuck buddies, and while I wasn’t performing somersaults over the idea, wasn’t that what all relationships boiled down to? Two people coming to an understanding that they would hang out, be exclusive, and give each other pleasure. Did we really need a verbal contract or labels to reinforce it?

“No,” I finally answered, and was rewarded by that sexy smile of his.

Tipping his chin up, he motioned to the bathroom. “Finish getting ready and I’ll take you out to breakfast.”

“I can’t. I have to get to work. There’s so much baking to be done, and I’m already behind.”

“That’s right, you are. So being a little later won’t make much difference. I’m taking you to breakfast, and afterward we’ll go to the shop and I’ll help you in the kitchen.” I shot him a disbelieving look, and Kennedy’s eyebrow lifted. Picking up a wet clump of my hair that had been resting on my shoulder, he pinched it between his fingers, and I felt water droplets soak through the front of my shirt.

“You’ve already seen that I know how to work a kitchen, so unless you’re trying to get rid of me, there’s no use complaining.” He lowered his head, his lips grazing mine as he spoke. “Are you trying to get rid of me, Abigail?”

My stomach fluttered and I closed my eyes, inhaling the fresh scent of mint on his breath. “No.”

“That’s what I thought.” Grabbing my face in both hands, he crushed his mouth down on mine, slipped his tongue inside, and teased a moan from deep within me. And then he set me away. Turning me in the direction of the bathroom, he said, “Now, go get ready. You have ten minutes, and then I’m coming in to get you.”

Glancing over my shoulder, I caught the heat flaring in his eyes and knew what his warning
really
meant. As I sauntered into the bathroom, we both knew I wasn’t making it out on time.

10

My underwear were soaked. Sitting in a booth made of cheap red vinyl, every move I made was advertised for the entire restaurant to hear. I shifted again, grimacing as the seat creaked beneath me.

“Something wrong?” Kennedy’s devilish little smirk said he knew exactly what was wrong, and I longed to reach across the table and smack him. Or kiss him. I was torn.

At the apartment, I’d taken my sweet time getting ready, just to see if Kennedy would make good on his threat. He hadn’t disappointed. I was halfway through blow drying my hair when he appeared behind me in the mirror. One look was all he gave me, and then I found myself face down on the counter, my boobs smashed against the Formica and my jeans around my ankles as he pumped into me from behind.

Kennedy was an animal. I’d never been with someone so sexual, or so open about it. He took me a second time on the middle of the bathroom floor, then, after setting us both right again, he took my hand and led me out.

Now, here we sat, in the middle of an iHop, surrounded by families with children, and I could literally smell sex in the air. It clung to me like expensive perfume, a problem that was compounded by the bodily fluids steadily soaking through my clothes. This was precisely why people took showers after sex—to avoid ruining perfectly good furniture.

“Everything’s great,” I said with a tight smile. “Why do you ask?”

“Because you haven’t sat still since we got here, and you look like you’re ready to bolt. Do you have something you want to tell me?”

“Only that when a girl says she needs to freshen up, you should consider listening to her instead of rushing her out the door. I can smell you all over me.”

A satisfied smile spread across his face, and, Lord help me, I could feel the flames of desire beginning to grow in response. My sex clenched, and I felt a fresh rush of wetness between my thighs.

“I can smell me all over you, too.” Kennedy leaned forward, and I found myself unable to look away. “And I can smell you all over me. I love it. It makes me want to bend you over this table and fuck you all over again.”

I’m pretty sure my face took on every hue of red possible, but somehow, I managed to stay strong in the face of seduction. Sitting back in my seat, I stared back coolly. “Are you threatening me again? Because I don’t think you have the balls to pull off something like that in the middle of a family restaurant.”

“I don’t make threats, Abigail, and I have a lot more balls than you might think.”

I could see it in his eyes, Kennedy was serious. He’d taken my words as a challenge—a challenge that called to something deeper within me. Something daring and perverse that itched to push the boundaries of common sense and see if what he said was true. In the end, common sense won out. Something inside of me told me that Kennedy was just looking for an excuse, and he wasn’t the type to back down. If I pushed him, he would rise to the occasion… in more ways than one.

Looking down at my menu, I took my time figuring out what I wanted to eat. By the time the waitress came around to take our order, the sexual tension that had built up between us had gone down considerably.

“So what kind of things will we be cooking up today?” Kennedy asked. Reaching across the table, he played with the tips of my fingers, rolling them between his.

I shrugged. “The usual suspects. Cookies, brownies, muffins. My plan was to introduce one new recipe a week to keep the selection fresh, but I haven’t pinned one down yet.” Between dinner dates and recent sexual escapades, I hadn’t had much time to sit down and map anything out. It was something I knew couldn’t become a pattern. If Kennedy was going to stick around a while, I needed to buckle down and make sure things got done. There was no way in hell I would let my fledgling business falter over a man.

“If you’re not sure what you want to do, I might have a couple of suggestions for you.”

“Yeah? Well, don’t keep me in suspense. Lay it on me.”

“Well, my mother makes a mean snickerdoodle. She taught me the recipe when I was a kid and I’ve been making them once a month for the guys at the firehouse. They go ape shit over them. They go so fast, they’ve never even made it into a cookie jar.”

I could tell Kennedy took pride in that, and I felt myself smiling because he was too damn cute for his own good. I’d never met anyone like him. He was strong, confident, sweet, gentle, and aggressive when it counted. He was the perfect balance of everything I was looking for in a guy. I was trying to stay cautious, not give up too much of myself to him too fast, but I could feel the train speeding down the tracks, and I wasn’t sure I could stop it. Or if I even wanted to.

“Secret family recipe? And you’re offering it to me?”

He grimaced as he looked up at me through thick lashes. “Well, not offering so much as saying I’m willing to make them and let you sell them in your bakery.”

“And what do you get out of the deal?”

“Time spent with you, of course.”

I’d be a fool if I said I had to think about it. There was nothing to think about. More time with Kennedy, hopefully, equaled more everything—more laughs, more smiles, more touchy-feely action. I was already looking forward to sharing my kitchen with him. “That is a pretty big pay-off,” I said coyly.

“What do you say, sweet? You want to bake with me?”

Batting my eyelashes, I said sweetly, “Why, I thought you’d never ask.”

***

“Abby, you need to get down here right away.”

Dex called my cell phone as Kennedy was settling our tab. The fear I heard in his voice knotted my stomach. “What’s going on? Did something happen?”

Kennedy passed me a curious look as he placed his hand on the small of my back and we hurried toward his SUV. After helping me in, we sat in silence and listened to Dex’s panicked words echo through the confined space.

“I don’t want you to panic. It’s really not that big a deal, but the firemen are here and we had to vacate the premises.”

“What? Why?” It was a feeble attempt to keep my voice at a reasonable pitch, because my instinct was to start screaming like a lunatic. Vacating the building meant lost revenue, not to mention the question of how many customers would be willing to return after such a scare. “Please tell me there wasn’t a fire.”

“No, there wasn’t a fire.” I breathed a sigh of relief and gave Kennedy the universal “okay” sign.

“Do you want to head over now?” he asked quietly, and I nodded. At that moment, I needed to be there. It couldn’t happen fast enough.

Dex was still talking, and I tried to focus on what he was saying rather than my churning stomach. “There was a gas leak. I’m not sure what happened exactly, but one of the customers said they smelled something funny, and then someone else mentioned that they thought it was gas. It all happened so fast. I was ringing up donuts one minute, and the next some off-duty fireman told everyone to get out and trucks and sirens were everywhere. I’m a nervous wreck, Abby.”

“Just take deep breaths and see if you can find out anything. I’m on my way right now.”

“Alright, just hurry.”

I hung up the phone and chewed the inside of my cheek. “He said it was a gas leak,” I muttered, answering Kennedy’s unspoken question. I looked up at him, resisting the urge to cry. Dex said his nerves were rattled. Well, that made two of us. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to laugh or scream. My emotions were all over the place.

Kennedy lifted his arm and I accepted his invitation, leaning closer so he could drape his arm over my shoulders. Kissing the top of my head, I was reminded that I wasn’t alone. Kennedy was exactly the right person to be with right now. If anyone knew about these situations, it was him.

“We’ll be there soon and figure out what happened. Did you have an inspection recently?”

“Before I bought it and after the renovations. Should I have had another one before I opened?” It had been a couple of months since the last one. I thought I had at least a year before the next one was due, but I was new to this whole business owner thing.

“No, you should be fine. They didn’t find anything then? No faulty lines that needed replacing?” His fingers made a slow trek up and down my arm, creating a soothing pattern as Kennedy navigated the busy streets created by the lunchtime rush.

“No, everything was up to code. How could this happen?”

“We’ll find out in a minute, sweet.” A moment later, we pulled into a parking spot at the end of the block.

My blood pressure rose as I looked down the street at the milling crowd outside the bakery and all three fire trucks lined up outside. Hysterical laughter began to bubble in my chest. “How many firemen does it take to stop a gas leak?” I joked, as Kennedy opened my door and helped me down.

“One to turn the knob and ten to pat him on the back when he’s done.” Kennedy’s smile was tight, and I couldn’t miss the concern in his eyes. He knew without me having to tell him how important the bakery was to me, and he also knew that I was in a fragile mindset until I got my answers.

“Come on, sweet. Let’s go see what the boys have to say.”

Slipping my hand into his, I took a deep breath and let it out. Then I put one foot in front of the other.