Remembering Mike mentioning that his parents were traveling, Zane realized they must be running things long-distance. He wondered if they knew their sexy baker made naughty candies in her spare time.
A quick scan of the display counter assured him that while varied, pretty and delicious in appearance, there was nothing suggestive on those glass shelves.
He wasn’t surprised. Mr. and Mrs. Harris were nice enough people, but they leaned toward the stuffy side. The kind who would be horrified to even realize that chocolate could be molded into sexy undies, let alone that it was being done in their own bakery. He remembered their reaction to catching Mike with a Playboy—threats of a monastery, running his brain through a carwash or, as they’d settled on, grounding the guy for two months of hard labor.
“Did you want to buy something while you wait?” the girl asked halfheartedly. If her expression was anything to go by, she was sure the answer would be no.
So Zane was determined to say yes.
A quick glance at the cupcake-shaped clock on the wall reminded him that he had two more tasks and thirty minutes before he had to leave to meet his brother. But he’d bet his mom would be just as happy with a baked treat as she would flowers. With one task knocked off his list, he could use that time to spend with his own personal treat.
With that in mind, he glanced toward the glistening display case.
“How about a cupcake?” he requested, pointing to a pretty yellow one mounded high with swirls of whipped cream and topped with a glossy strawberry. It looked like the kind of thing Quinn would enjoy.
Deciding the sultry blonde was more the sexy devil’s food cake type, he pointed to another, this one looking as if it’d been dipped in chocolate that’d hardened beneath the swirls of lighter chocolate frosting and decorated with chocolate curls.
“Which one did you want?” the kewpie doll asked.
“I’ll take both.” Literally and figuratively. “And box up a half dozen of those there, the ones with the roses.”
After paying, he grabbed the chocolate cupcake and headed behind the counter, leaving the box and strawberry confection next to the register to grab on his way out.
“Wait,” the Kewpie doll stammered, trying to move fast enough to block his way. “You can’t go back there.”
“Sure I can. Mrs. Harris used to let me do it all the time. Mike’ll vouch for me,” he assured her.
She looked like she didn’t know if she should argue or not. Before she could decide, a pair of women entered the bakery with a jingle of the bell over the door.
Zane used the distraction to slip around her and into the back room. Letting the door swing shut behind him to close off the storefront from the kitchen, his gaze skipped over the stacked trays of bread in various tempting varieties and what looked like a wall of cookies, muffins and a rainbow of cupcakes waiting for frosting.
Overhead lights glinted on the stainless-steel tables in the center of the room, two set with baking equipment while the third held a five-tier cake currently naked but for the little sticks propped between the layers.
A sugar fiend’s paradise, he decided. Then his gaze found true paradise in the far corner. Her back to him, Zane enjoyed the unobstructed view of one of the sweetest butts he’d ever seen encased in a flirty skirt that cupped said butt, hugged slender hips and held tight to long legs all the way to just below the knee. As she shifted from one foot to the other, a series of tiny pleats played peek-a-boo with the back of her knees.
Who knew knees could be sexy?
He listened to what sounded like a report on a week’s worth of baking with half an ear as he settled one hip on a stainless-steel table and waited for her to notice him.
Eighteen seconds.
It took her just over a quarter of a minute to turn around. She made a little choking sound, gulping down the last of her sentence before giving him a little finger wave.
Zane waved back with the cupcake, liking the way her eyes lit up as she smiled.
“Um, I really should get to decorating now,” she said into the phone, her eyes tracking Zane’s moves as plucked off a chocolate curl and popped it into his mouth. “I’ve got that wedding cake to finish by two.”
She rolled her eyes, giving the won’t-shut-up hand signal.
Impressed with what he’d tasted so far, Zane broke off a chunk of the chocolate shell and licked the sweet frosting from the edge.
“Delicious,” he murmured before offering her the piece. When she shook her head, he popped it into his mouth. Damned delicious. He licked a smudge of frosting off his thumb. When her eyes blurred, he did it again.
By the time she hung up the phone, they were both pretty obviously turned on.
“You think you can seduce me with chocolate?”
Points to her for being quick on the uptake.
“As a matter of fact.” Zane swept his finger over the side of the cupcake’s frosting, scooping up a dab of chocolate. His eyes locked on Vivian’s, he licked it off, grinning when her pupils dilated.
“I thought we were meeting at six,” she said breathlessly, her eyes shifting from him to the door that led to the bakery, then back again.
He grinned, not sure why it amused him to make her so nervous.
“I wanted to stop in for cupcakes,” he explained. “And from what I’m tasting, yours are definitely delicious.”
“If you think my chocolate cupcake is amazing, you should taste my vanilla cream,” she teased, her smile widening into a teasing grin.
A niggling reminder tapped again, telling himself he knew her from somewhere.
“Are you attending the reunion?” he asked, knowing he’d never get another taste of frosting if he admitted that he knew her from somewhere but couldn’t remember where.
“Nope, no reunion for me. But I’ll try to catch a few of the events.”
Events?
“What events?”
She tilted her head to look behind him at the clock and gave a wide grimace before he could puzzle it out.
“It totally bums me out to say this, but I have to get to work,” she told him, pulling out a sexy little pout that made him want to lick that bottom lip.
“I should get going, too.” After all, he had to see his mom, meet the guys, win a challenge. “You probably have some cupcakes to bake.”
“Actually—” she wet her lips “—I’m playing with frosting today.”
Hot damn.
She dipped her finger into the bowl, drawing out a scoop of fluffy white frosting and holding it high.
Zane tore his eyes off her face long enough to glance at it, then had to look again.
“Is that glittering?”
“Mmm, edible glitter in the frosting. I think it adds a little something special.” Her eyes not leaving his, she swept her tongue over her finger, licking off half the frosting and sending a shaft of heat through Zane’s body so hard and fast that his jeans almost ripped.
“Want to taste?”
Instead of letting him lick her finger, though, she gave him her mouth. Soft, wet and tempting, her lips teased, her teeth scraped. The kiss went from playful to incendiary in a sweep of her tongue.
Then, way too soon, she pulled away, leaving behind the tempting flavor of vanilla and a little something special.
“Was that to