Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

S elena

Lunch with the girls.

It hadn't been a regular thing up to now because I'd had little time to spend lounging over salads and conversations bordering on hedonism. But today, I needed a breather, to try to keep my mind off the night before.

I'd felt like an idiot after the Lone Ranger had dropped me off at my apartment, offering to carry the few remaining items from the bake sale up to my door but I'd adamantly refused.

Nothing had been so embarrassing as realizing how disheveled and sweaty the two of us had looked when the police officer had silently chastised us for our sins.

I wasn't a regular fan of voyeurism or humiliation. Not my personal kinks. But I'd had a dose of almost everything.

What did they say about a woman glowing after riveting sex?

Maybe that's why Willow hadn't stopped staring at me from the time we'd met in the parking lot until we'd been led to our beautiful table.

"What?" I finally barked, trying hard and failing to keep my composure. How was it possible my pussy still ached? It had been hours. Hours!

"You look like the cat who ate the canary. That's what," Bella answered.

"Yeah, right. Where's the waiter? I need a huge glass of wine. Huge."

The two girls opened their eyes wide. "What is going on with you? Is it that sexy man you texted?"

Willow could coo with the best of them.

"You did it?" Bella demanded when I remained silent.

"Waiter. Where is the goddamn waiter." I was practically on my feet trying to find someone, anyone who would hurriedly take our order.

"Whoa. What has gotten into you?" Willow pressed as she grabbed my arm, whistling loudly enough that a waiter approached almost immediately. "You're a clone. A fake. You stole my friend!"

"Wine," I threw out. "A huge glass of merlot. Biggest one you have."

My friends eyed me as they ordered. Once they finished, they leaned over the table.

"Confess," Bella demanded. "What is going on?"

"It's been a rough couple of days, ladies. Okay?" My answer was terser than I'd meant for it to be.

"How rough could making cupcakes be?" Willow snorted in her cutesy bumpkin kind of way.

"Oh, you have no idea. Especially when I found out I can't afford to open a bakery right now. I'll be lucky if I can when I'm eighty at the rate I'm going."

"I'm sure you can find something," Bella said, usually the more encouraging of the two.

"When hell freezes over. I also had a visit from my father." I was already drumming my fingers on the table. What the hell was taking so long?

"Uh-oh," the two girls said together.

I was certain the tray headed in our direction held our drinks. When the same waiter passed by, I almost snagged one anyway. Damn it. I needed liquid libation more now than I had the night before after returning home.

The Lone Ranger had even asked if he could come up to my apartment. Um. No! Having sex in a parking lot didn't instill romantic feelings.

Not that I'd had hard ones either. The sex had been incredible. Oh, God. There went my mind again, falling into the gutter.

"Yeah, uh-oh. He made me a proposition I'm not certain I can ignore given the circumstances."

Bella opened her eyes even wider than before. "A proposition?"

Thankfully, the waiter brought the wine before I was forced to continue. I took a huge gulp, large enough beads of the red stuff flowed from both sides of my mouth.

"Are you ladies ready to order?" the young guy asked, even though I sensed he was hesitant in doing so.

"No!" My answer was a tiny bit too loud, coming close to causing a scene. But I couldn't help myself. I was on edge about every aspect of my life.

"Whew, girl. Calm down. We're going to wait but check back in a few minutes to see if we need another drink. Okay?" Willow was far too kind.

I sat back, swirling the stem. My thoughts had shifted from the offer to my mystery man so many times I felt like my head was spinning. "Dad basically begged me to come back to worth for him. A huge salary increase, my own spectacular office. Lots of perks. For one year. One year only and he'd invest in Sinful Treats , ensuring I had a place to operate."

"That's fantastic!" Bella was excited.

I shot her a rather hateful look. "Have you not paid any attention to what I've told you about my father? The man is a conniving beast. He's up to something." Or worse. Even for him he was acting strange. I'd known prior to leaving that some of the possible contracts had been on shaky ground. Without them, the stocks would plummet, investors bailing and the company would be ripe for another firm to pick apart.

But to be used as a pawn?

"So, hold him to the deal he made. Force him to sign a contract. Men like that don't like being hit in the pocketbook. You know?"

I mulled over Willow's idea. "Not bad. I could do that, but I swear there's something going on he doesn't want to tell me about."

Bella cocked her head. "Any idea?"

"No, but he said a corporation is breathing down his neck. I just don't know what to do. I don't want him threatened but what am I supposed to do, hire an assassin?"

"I wouldn't put it past you," Bella quipped.

I gave her a brutally stern look.

"When do you need to decide?" Willow piped in.

I glanced at my watch, the one my father had given me for graduating with my master's degree. It was funny how neither he nor my mother had attended the ceremony, but they'd purchased me an expensive watch. "I'm shocked Dad hasn't bugged me by now."

"You want my advice?" Willow asked as she lifted her glass as if getting ready to propose a toast. There was nothing to celebrate at the moment, unless someone was a bit macabre, enjoying the fact a dream was crushed.

"I have a feeling you're going to give it one way or the other." Bella laughed.

"Now, now," Willow snapped. "Take a day not thinking about the decision and let it come to your mind. But I would at all costs make certain you have the deal he made in writing if you agree."

"Yeah, I will."

"But that's not what's really going on here. Is it?" The uptick in Willow's voice pushed another giggle from Bella's mouth.

"I just told you." I took a more careful sip of the wine, trying to savor the flavor.

"Nope. That's not going to fly. More texts from the hottie?" Willow teased.

"I was working yesterday. Remember?"

The way they glanced at each other was far too knowing.

Bella even folded her arms around her voluptuous breasts. "Spill it. You met him. Didn't you?"

I knew coming out to lunch with the girls would make me feel better. I couldn't help myself, giggling myself as I whipped out my phone, navigating to the chest picture. But not before catching sight of a brand-new text he'd sent not twenty minutes earlier.

The Lone Ranger: How's the hot girl today?

Oh, shit.

"Well, I felt it prudent after he sent me this." The moment I showed them, their squeal sounded off inside the atrium-style restaurant as if bottle rockets had been set off.

"Holy shit. You met Mr. Hottie?" Bella almost choked before grabbing her margarita, which of course had to be another reminder of my humiliating night.

"Why, yes, I did. He came to the event and let me tell you, the man helped me sell every last cupcake." Now I had a gleam in my eye. It was funny how I could switch from one emotion to the opposite end of the spectrum in two seconds flat.

"Whew." Bella could fan her face like no one else.

Willow knew me far too well. "What else?"

"What? Nothing. He was a perfect gentleman."

"Really?" She shook her head. "Nope. I don't buy it in the least. Spill it, girl."

I couldn't help but chew on my lower lip. "Well, let's just say we went out for a nice drink, a couple margaritas on the beach. We had a really good time."

"And…" Bella pushed, even poking me on the arm.

"And he took me home."

"Pfft. Don't try that shit with your best friends or else."

I didn't take Willow's threats lightly. "We took a drive. Okay? Happy? We might have kissed." A lot.

"I'm curious. What does he drive?" Bella's grin was terribly infectious.

"A quarter-million-dollar sleek black Maserati. With nice leather seats and a stereo to die for."

At least I wasn't the one with my mouth stuck open as if wanting to attract flies.

"Whew, girl. You landed one. Please tell me the two of you are going out again." Bella had returned to fanning her face.

"I don't know if I can handle it in truth." I couldn't keep from groaning as I remembered my huge faux pas.

"Why in God's name? I told you I'd hook you up with one major hottie."

I felt sheepish, heat rising on my face. I wasn't good at playing the bad girl no matter how many times I'd seen Willow play that card. "Um. Let's just say we did hook up."

It took the two of them a full minute to realize what I was saying.

"What?" Their combined shrieks were even louder and shriller than before.

"Shush, for God's sake. I don't want everyone hearing I was a naughty girl." The flush was hot to the touch. I took another gulp, then another of the wine, hoping the warm liquid would somehow calm me. Not a chance.

I could envision what little I could see of him in my mind and it was… far too delicious.

Oh, what was wrong with me?

"You fucked him?" Bella almost shouted.

"Louder, please. I guess I should call the press so they can report my moment of humiliation on the news."

"Well," Willow snorted again, only this time thankfully not so adorably as the one before. "It had been a full decade or more since you had sex."

I drove my fingers into the water glass that had mysteriously appeared, flicking beads of water into her face as she laughed hysterically.

"Why humiliating?" Bella said after choking down a gulp of her drink as well.

This time when I groaned, I dropped my head into my hands. "Let's just say we did it inside his car."

The strange moment of silence was deafening.

"You did what?"

I'd never heard Willow's voice have that range before.

"Yep," I said, popping the p.

"How was it?" Bella's voice was now squeaking.

"It was amazing and so hot. I was like, whew, baby."

"You're kidding me. That is incredible. I must admit. When I told you to have a good time, I had no clue you had that much in you. Way to go, girl. So did you exchange information after your sinful tryst?" Now Willow fanned her face.

I was even more sheepish than before as I glanced from one of my friends to the other, cringing a bit inside. "Not really."

"Why?" they both asked at the same time.

Hesitating, I smashed my head against the table. "Because a cop showed up."

The moment they burst into laughter, I knew I'd never hear the end of it.

"Do not tease me lest you die," I warned.

"Oh, we are so going to tease you," Willow said in a singsong voice. "For the rest of your life."