Sugar Lust

Chapter Twenty-Two

On Monday, Ginny left to go back to university, and Emmeline went back to work. All morning she thought about what she'd say if she saw Sugar Boy. She spent a few extra minutes doing her hair just in case, and she dusted off the flour while working so she stayed somewhat decent. Of course, he didn't show up that day at all, leaving Emmeline disappointed but relieved.

Three or four days passed and he still hadn't shown up. Emmeline started to worry that perhaps he wasn't going to come back. That is until he did walk in the door, catching her completely off guard. Her breath hitched as she tried, unsuccessfully not to stare at him. His hair cut short on the sides, but tousled on top. Adding to the perfection of his barely-there beard, was a fine straight nose, and a distressed, black

Those familiar butterflies started to tingle in her stomach, and her breath became slightly erratic. How was she supposed to ask him out when she could hardly stand? She wanted to hide, but Kathy suspiciously had to go to the bathroom, leaving Emmeline alone with Sugar Boy as he searched through the display case.

Okay, she, baby steps. I will aim for not calling him a tart, and perhaps strike up a conversation.

He walked up to the counter and opened his mouth to speak, but Emmeline interrupted.

"Coffee, cream, three sugars, right?" she said, letting the words run into each other like a car crash.

He pressed his lips together to suppress a small laugh.

Damn! she thought. Way to go, Emmeline!

"What?"

Emmeline could feel her cheeks going red. Slow down!

"Sorry, too much coffee this morning!" she said, pushing a few stray hairs behind her ear. "Would you like some coffee?" she tried again, making a mental note to slow down.

"Yeah, and do you have any of those chocolate chip cookies? They are so good! I seriously can't get enough of them." He paused. "They used to be terrible. What happened?"

"Really? Thank you so much!" She beamed. "I've been warking working for ages on the recipe, and last month I-convinced-my-boss to let me change the old recipe for this one."

"That's your recipe? You've got talent. I don't say that lightly either."

"Thank you," she managed to squeak out. Finally, she was doing something right. She poured his coffee and picked out a couple of cookies, putting them into a paper bag. "Two enough?"

"Maybe for today. I don't know about tomorrow, though."

Emmeline grinned. It was nice to hear someone appreciating something she'd worked so hard on. Do it, ask him out, do it, her mind the words chanted over and over.

"Umm, I'm Emmeline," she said, holding her hand out, trying to force her body to relax. Arms, please don't shake, please don't shake.

"Joel."

Tingles shot up her spine as his hand touched hers; without thinking she gently closed her fingers, holding on tighter than she should have. Realizing what she was doing, Emmeline panicked and abruptly put both arms behind her back, wondering if he felt the spark, too.

"I, um, should perhaps—hot—I meant bread," she stumbled. Shut up, shut up, shut up!

Joel chuckled. "Go get your bread. I'd be devastated if it burnt. In fact, I'll wait here until you take it out, and I'll buy it. I'm off to a meeting with my manager. It might make it go a little smoother if I brought him some of your bread. Especially right out of the oven."

"He can be bribed with food, I see." They were having an actual conversation. It couldn't go better than that, even if she sounded like an idiot.

"Usually." He grinned. "I'm a food blogger. We all can be bribed with food."

"I'll have to keep that in mind." Emmeline put her hand on her hip and thrust her chest out slightly in a sad attempt to flirt. Joel grinned.

"The bread?" he reminded her.

"Ahh!" Startled, she ran back into the kitchen and found Kathy already pulling the hot tray out of the oven. The whole room smelled of yummy hot bread goodness.

"It looked like you were doing just fine out there by yourself, so I thought I'd take over back here."

Emmeline rolled her eyes.

"I don't blame you; he's pretty cute. If I was a few years younger, I'd be all over him. Wait, do you think he's into older women?" An evil grin spread across Kathy's face, her imagination clearly running away with her.

"Don't know. You want me to ask?"

"Nah, I'll let you have a shot at him first," Kathy said. All the same, Emmeline became nervous for Joel's possible future if she didn't get back out there quickly

"He wants the bread," she said, grabbing a paper bag and gently easing the loaf inside.

She checked in the mirror on her way out to the front. There wasn't much she could do, even if she wanted to fix her hair again or something. She brought the bread out to Joel.

"For you. Careful, it's super hot."

He reached out and took the bread, pausing slightly to look at her, which made Emmeline extremely uncomfortable. She shifted her weight back and forth from one leg to the other. She ran through the words she had just said, paranoid that she had said he was hot and not the bread. She was pretty sure she'd said bread, but she couldn't be a hundred percent sure.

"Thanks," he finally said, putting some money on the counter. "This will get me out of trouble with my boss. She always hates it when I'm late."

"I take it you're late a lot."

"More than I should be. But I'd say being late today is worth is, especially since I didn't get called a tart this time."

Emmeline scrunched her face, shooting him a look tinged with amusement and disgust. All right, he was a teaser. She could handle that.

"Enjoy," she said, then boldly added, "and come back...I mean, anytime. I'll make more of the cookies."

"Deal," he said, then looked at his shoes for a moment. "I should go."

Emmeline smiled. She made a small wave and watched him leave, cursing the fact that he had that shirt tied around his waist.

"So," said Kathy, coming up from behind Emmeline to resume her role in the front of the store as the door closed behind Joel. "Are you two in love yet?"

"Well, maybe not in love, but I know his name. Isn't that step one?"

"Perhaps. I'm sure I knew the name of my first husband, although I seem to have forgotten it now," Kathy said, grinning mischievously.

"Goof!" Emmeline said, returning to where she was the most comfortable—the kitchen where dreamy guys couldn't disturb her.