Served Sweet Read online

  “Well, I don’t know.”

  “I’m not kidding.” He raised his voice, thoroughly alarmed. “You do anything at all to Riley, say anything to hurt her feelings or make her doubt working with me, and I’ll… I’ll…” He looked to his father for help. Hell, he’d been raised to respect his mother. What exactly would he do? He had to do something—for Riley. “Dad.”

  His dad blinked in understanding. With a pat to his wife’s shoulder, he tried reason. “Now, honey. I know you worry for the boy, but like he said, he’s grown now. I think Riley’s a lovely young woman, and she can’t be too upset with him if they’re going to be working together. Think about it. If he fails, she fails. She won’t do anything to upset him.”

  “Exactly.” Anson nodded. What was she doing right now? And would she speak to him before the open house, or had his dress comment totally pissed her off? He dropped his fork, morose about the idea she didn’t care enough to yell at him, even via text. It had been a day already and no word from the stubborn woman. How could she possibly ignore him? Hadn’t he rocked her world Saturday night? She sure the hell had rocked his.

  “…right, son?”

  He blinked up at his parents. “What’s that?”

  “I said,” his mother emphasized, “I’ll play nice with the girl—woman—if only because I love her mother.”

  “And because I asked you to be nice,” he muttered.

  “Well, sure, that too.” She smiled at him. “But if she steps out of line with you, I can’t be held responsible for what I might say. You’re my only child, honey. I love you. Now how about some pie for dessert, since it doesn’t seem like you’re too hungry for dinner?”

  Dessert. Riley’s specialty. “No. I’m good. I ate earlier, actually. Forgot about dinner until I’d already wolfed down a sandwich.” A lie, but if it made her feel better, then he’d fib some more. “And you know, I do have to get going. I have some more planning to do and things to order before Thursday.”

  “Well, okay. But if you need any help at all, you let me know.” His mother stood when he did and yanked him into her arms. For a slender lady, she had strength. A mother’s love. Then again, some mothers in the wild had been known to eat their young.

  Before she did or said something about Riley to annoy him, he smiled, hugged her back then nodded to his dad. “Thanks for dinner. See you Thursday.”

  He left before she roped him into staying longer. He truly loved his parents, but they demanded so much. Their perfect son couldn’t make a mistake. Nope. Not Anson. He’d learned that growing up. Even when he was in the wrong, his mother refused to acknowledge imperfection from their only child.

  She’d smothered him with affection, but she’d leave him alone if he seemed confident and secure. So he did his best to keep on top of things. Like his weird relationship with Riley. God forbid Kristen Black realize he had no idea how to handle the temperamental chef. Hell, Riley was worse than Francois. At least Anson’s head chef knew not to piss off the one signing the paychecks.

  Riley didn’t seem to realize Anson was in charge. His sexy baker needed a gentle reminder of her place. She wanted to knit. He wanted to fuck. Time to push her limits again. Thursday night, after the open house, he told himself, and prayed he could wait that long.

  Kristen Black watched her son leave in a hurry.

  “Barely touched his food,” Jonah said knowingly.

  “I know.” When had her pride and joy not eaten his favorite dish? Never. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Hell, woman. You’re worse than she is.”

  Kristen ignored him and hurried to her cell phone in the study. There, she dialed a programmed number and waited.

  Cheryl answered on the second ring. “Tell me. How’d it go?”

  “He was twitchy. I made a stink about going after Riley for distracting him, and he about bit my head off.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Yep. What about Riley?”

  “She’s pretty close-mouthed about him, but you should have seen them at brunch. So cute! I can tell there’s something going on there. He sat right next to her, squished her against the booth, and she didn’t even try to make him move.”

  “Oh, that’s wonderful.” Kristen didn’t dare to jinx it. She wanted grandchildren so badly she could taste it. But at Anson’s rate of dating and not sticking, she’d be dead and buried before he even spelled the word fatherhood. Jonah thought she should leave well enough alone, but Cheryl understood. She had no one other than her daughter since her mother had passed.

  “Are you going on Thursday night?”

  “Yes. You?” Kristen wondered how they should play it. “Do you think we should do anything?”

  “Hmm. I don’t know. Why don’t we see what happens?”

  “Okay.” Kristen paused. “I just have to say it.”

  Cheryl laughed. “Go ahead. You know I’m thinking it.”

  “They’ll make such pretty babies. I want one of each, a boy and a girl.”

  “Heck, why stop at two? I was thinking four grandkids should do.”

  Kristen laughed. “Sounds good to me. Now let’s pray they don’t screw it up.”

  Riley worked like a dog all week long. She’d thought long and hard about it, but in the end she realized if she wanted to look like a million bucks, she had to get Maya involved. The woman might be a volatile artist—but artist was the key word.

  Of Anson, Riley heard little. She hadn’t seen him at work much. He’d come around to drop off a business agreement that looked solid to her. To be sure, she’d sent it to her attorney to look over. Doing her best to focus on work, she kept finding herself dwelling on Anson.

  She still had a hard time understanding how her emotions could rollercoaster from high to low in the span of a few hours when dealing with him.

  On the one hand, she loathed his condescension. On the other, she was starting to appreciate how much they actually had in common. After talking with her staff, she realized how exciting this opportunity might be. Anson never lost money in his ventures, which made him a pretty popular guy. In addition to his looks and smarts, he had contacts in all the right places.

  Contacts Riley would soon have if she played her cards right.

  Yet…mixing business with pleasure had never been anything she had to worry about. She’d slept with Anson. More than once. And now she might actually do business with him. Anxiety about the deal compounded when Thursday afternoon rolled around and Maya still hadn’t shown up with the dress.

  “Hey Tim, I’m knocking off.” Riley untied her apron and hung it on the wall.

  “Sounds good. Have fun tonight.” Tim, one of her head bakers, had been invited as well, but he had a four-month-old at home, and he and his wife preferred quiet nights with little fanfare.

  She understood the sentiment all too well. Nerves jumped as she thought about what tonight might mean. Was she attending as Anson’s business partner—business associate—or as his actual date? She kept going over it in her mind and still didn’t know. And that bothered her.

  She drove home, pondering her situation. Sure, she and Anson had slept together, but he hadn’t called her but one time since Sunday. He’d texted her a few times but only about business. Nothing personal.

  She could have initiated a conversation, she supposed. But she didn’t know if that would be pushing things in a direction he had no intention they should go. And after that comment about buying her a dress, she wasn’t sure she wanted them to go anywhere.

  Then she remembered his smile and turned to mush all over again.

  Man. She thought she might love the guy, but right now she didn’t like him very much. If it had been anyone but Anson, she’d have come right out and asked what their status might be, putting herself on the line. Riley didn’t believe in playing games, especially not in matters of the heart. But letting Anson Black know she had feelings for him if he didn’t care for her? No way in hell. She wasn’t letting him win. Not again.

&
nbsp; Her mother wasn’t helping matters. She would call only to say how charming and handsome and wonderful Anson had been. What was so wrong with her baby girl that she couldn’t see how terrific Anson would be as a boyfriend?

  Like the guy had made any overtures about anything more permanent than a business contract.

  “Hmmph.” She scowled. She’d been scowling all week.

  Her employees had noticed, so she’d forced smiles and hidden in the back room, baking her ass off. Fortunately, Ann and Maya had been too busy working to do more than phone her a few times. To her surprise, the girls seemed super excited about her joining forces with Anson in business. She had yet to tell them about sleeping with the guy again.

  The past weekend remained her little secret. Too bad her body refused to get the message. Riley wanted Anson like crazy. Sex and more sex. A few orgasms to blot out the tension caused by her confused feelings for the man.

  But though she might still want him, it seemed he didn’t desire her anymore, because he hadn’t propositioned her again. And in another two weeks he’d be auctioning his sexy ass off to some available woman, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

  She was seriously growing to hate that stupid holiday.

  For the past five years, and yeah, she’d counted, she’d spent her V-Days baking treats and making other women feel special. Their men bought them flowers and the goodies Riley made while Riley spent her holiday at home watching television or hanging with her friends. Not so this year. Jack and Dex would be taking over the festivities, no doubt having massive amounts of sex with the girls while Riley once again sat at home, reading a book or watching a Lifetime movie.

  Annoyed with life, she stomped into her house and let out a startled scream. “How did you get in?”

  Maya and Ann were laughing and dancing around with a gorgeous green dress and a pair of high heeled shoes. Seeing her, they stopped.

  “Oh, hey. About time you got back. Check this out.” Maya held out the dress, looking pretty pleased with herself.

  “I brought the shoes. Aren’t they pretty?” Ann added. “This color against your skin tone is going to make you shine like a jewel. Plus it’ll bring out the green in your eyes.”

  “Yeah. And you’ll look smokin’ hot when you show Anson you didn’t need his help getting a fucking dress.” Maya snarled. “What an asshole.”

  Riley felt justified in having confided how she’d parted from Anson Sunday morning. “Thanks, guys. It’s been a rough few days.”

  Ann sighed and sat on the couch, then patted the spot next to her for Riley. Riley sank down, leaned her head back against the couch and groaned.

  “I don’t get it.” Ann frowned. “I thought you and Anson were becoming friends. You guys went to brunch with your mom.”

  “To get help with our contest. You know, being fair. My mom’s an expert, and she was going to tutor us both.” Riley hurriedly tacked on, “Not because we’re a couple or anything.”

  “Obviously,” Maya agreed a little too quickly. “But it’s weird. Even Dex said Anson has been acting, well, nicer. Not as conceited as usual. Then he goes and says you don’t know how to dress yourself?”

  “I don’t know.” Riley shrugged. “The blasted man makes my head hurt.” And her heart, but she’d keep that to herself. “He’s hot and cold. He flirts then does nothing.” Not one phone call. Just a stupid text.

  “But you don’t like him, right? So that’s a good thing.”

  Maya frowned. “Ann, don’t be dense. Of course she doesn’t like him. She just wants to do him.”

  “What do you mean of course I don’t like him?” Riley asked.

  “Well, he’s a dick.”

  “He can be.” Riley frowned. “But he was nice to my mom. And he was nice to me last Sat—” She coughed. My secret! “Last week. Kind of.”

  “That’s good. To be clear, other than the business angle, you don’t really want anything from him besides sex, right?” Maya understood sex. “An orgasm in the kitchen with clothes on. Lame, but okay. You got it. Now I’d say back off. Why not find a guy you like? Ben. He was cute, and he’s way into you.”

  “Ben?” They had cooking in common, but she didn’t think about him all the time. Even in anger Anson captivated her. She wondered what he’d been up to all week, if he felt nervous about tonight. Did Anson even do nervous?

  Yet she’d seen tender—and dare she say, vulnerable—pieces of him. The key to Anson was getting him alone and forcing him to show the real him. Not the person everyone expected to see. Of course, she’d also seen a lot of ego and irritability on his part. The sex sure had tempered the hell out of his ego. Made him bearable. More than bearable when he made her beg.

  “What is that look?” Ann asked.

  Maya stared at Riley as well. “Good question.”

  “Ugh. Enough. Okay, I’ll keep my distance from Mr. Pain In The Ass.” Literally.

  “Again, that look?” Maya asked.

  “I don’t have time to play around. I need to get dressed.”

  “Yeah, we all do. We brought our stuff, thanks for asking.”

  Riley gave Maya a rude gesture. Ann laughed.

  “Give me half an hour and I’ll be ready to go.” A good thing, because when she checked the time, she realized she didn’t have much more than that to get ready.

  When they walked into Anson’s restaurant, Riley was prepared to handle him. Or so she thought. She hadn’t expected to be bowled over by the man. She’d seen him in all manner of dress, but his dark pants and black button down shirt, clean shave and haircut, took her aback.

  But not more than seeing a familiar black-haired bimbo clinging to him like a bad rash. No wonder he never called me. That prick!

  Determined to be a professional, she shelved her emotions and pasted on a smile. Then she walked to the pair hanging by the bar and prepared to give Anson a show he’d never forget.

  Chapter Ten

  Anson hadn’t had so much bad luck in…well…ever. Chatty, the girl from Jack’s engagement party, had shown up in a short dress wearing a predatory grin. He smiled politely and fortunately heard someone else call her by name, so he didn’t appear a complete idiot when he introduced her to a few folks she didn’t know.

  Where the hell was Riley? The guys? Hell, he’d even take Maya over Chatty—Claire.

  Then he saw Riley, and everything everywhere stopped.

  Oh. My. God.

  Riley Hewitt wore a long-sleeved green dress that hit her at the knee. The dress bared a bit of cleavage before rounding up to her shoulders and covering her arms to her wrists. The form-fitting outfit showed off her kickass figure¸ that tight, bitable ass, and gave testament to legs that really had been made for wrapping around a man’s head.

  The shoes she wore emphasized the grace and muscle tone in her amazing legs. She’d worn her hair down tonight, and the dark shiny stuff dared him to dig his hands in and hold her fast while he rode them both to a few orgasms. She didn’t wear any jewelry aside from a pair of diamond studs, and he knew he’d never seen a better looking woman in all his life.

  People around them stared, no doubt in the same awe that rooted him in place.

  She walked like a cat, slinking through the crowded room toward him. He saw nothing but her and the mean smile that always aroused him.

  He didn’t remember taking a step toward her, but he must have because he reached to take her by the arm and draw her close, wrapping an arm around her waist. “You look incredible.”

  The hard glint in her gaze softened. “Thank you. You do too.”

  “No.” He shook his head. “Nothing here looks as good as you, Riley.”

  She gave him a sly smile as she looked over his shoulder. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”

  “Huh?”

  Someone tapped his shoulder. “Anson?”

  He refused to let Riley go. Instead, he turned with her to see…Chatty. What the hell was her name again? “Oh, um, you know Riley.”


  The woman looked from him to Riley, but when he said nothing more, she sighed. “Hi Riley. I’m Claire. We met at Jack and Ann’s engagement party.”

  “Right.” Riley smiled. “Nice to see you again, Claire. I love your hair. Where did you get it done?”

  The ladies chatted harmlessly enough, but he didn’t trust Riley’s pleasant tone, especially when he noted Maya and Ann laughing at him from a distance. Dex and Jack soon joined them. The girls said something, and then the guys looked at him with too-wide grins as well.

  What the hell?

  Tony, a fellow restaurateur visiting from Portland, joined them to say, “The place looks amazing.”

  Anson felt a surge of pride. The light wooden floor opened up the space. With the dark red walls and mahogany bar, in addition to the white tablecloths and draperies, he thought they added a nice sophistication for the customer wanting a fine dining experience. And that was to say nothing of the food.

  “Tony, glad you could make it.” He took his friend’s hand.

  “My sister’s in town so I thought I’d join her to see Mom. That and to see if you’ve fallen on your face yet.” Tony grinned.

  “As if that could ever happen.” Anson chuckled. He motioned for Francois to come over. “You have to meet the talent behind my kitchen.” He introduced his head chef to Tony and a few other people asking to meet the man.

  The mayor, a few city council members and Ben, Riley’s business friend, had gathered closer.

  He nodded to Ben, careful to keep his arm around Riley’s waist, gripping her tight. Mine.

  To his relief, Ben started chatting with Chatty—Claire—while Riley seemed to ease into conversation with one of the city council members and a good friend. The man’s wife popped over to chat, and the group continued to enjoy themselves while wait staff wandered by with trays of hors d’oeuvres and glasses of wine.