Served Sweet Page 6

  “My turn first. I swear you’ll get yours later,” he promised and shoved hard once more, then stilled on a breathy moan.

  Knowing he was there, coming inside her, was so incredibly hot. She moved his hand from her hip and ground his fingers against her clit. He caught on fast, and in seconds she came while he continued to pump inside her.

  “Come on, Anson. Quit screwing with Riley and let’s go,” Dex yelled from the front of the house.

  They both froze, then quietly laughed. Dex couldn’t know what they’d been doing, but he’d nailed it in one.

  “Screwing. Nice, Dex.” Riley tittered.

  Anson kissed her cheek, then her neck. “You feel so good. I don’t want to go.”

  A fiery rush of satisfaction, more than physical, stole through her. “We’ll have to do this again. On a bed maybe.”

  “Yeah.” He expelled a breath, withdrew, then tucked himself back into his jeans. He hustled them both to her bathroom, cleaned up, then left after a quick kiss and promise to text her later.

  She heard her door open and shut while she set herself to rights, bemused to be washing Anson Black from the insides of her thighs.

  Never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined she and Anson would be so combustible together, or that she could let herself trust him enough to spend inside her. Granted, he had a doctor’s note, but they’d just shared a level of intimacy Riley hadn’t had with a man in years. No condom.

  What did I just do? And why the hell do I want to do it again?

  “Riley. Come. On,” Maya yelled.

  Knowing this was one instance of passion she had no intention of sharing with her friends, she finished cleaning up, made herself look presentable and not as if she’d just been taken against a door, and returned to her friends bickering about the movie Maya had brought to watch. Another rousing rendition of The Bourne Something-or-Other, where someone kicked someone else’s ass throughout the entire movie.

  Ah, ladies’ night at its finest.

  Riley poured herself a glass of wine, smoked an imaginary cigarette in her mind, and sat back to watch the entertainment.

  Two hours later, Anson sat arguing college basketball with his cousin at their new favorite bar, the D&D. Dex, the idiot, kept rooting for Duke. Against Syracuse? Please.

  Jack egged them on, taking great amusement in the disagreement. “You know, it’s almost like you two are married.”

  “Fuck off, Bloom,” Anson growled.

  “Yeah, what he said,” Dex agreed, then turned back to argue the merits of a box-and-one defense against straight man-to-man. As if Syracuse would be that stupid with the point guard Duke had this year.

  The guy-time helped Anson get his mind off Riley, where it had been lingering since he’d returned to Bend last year. Dex still liked to tease that Anson had only returned because Riley was the one who’d gotten away. Far be it from Anson to let Dex know he was partially right.

  He needed to fix what had broken inside him. Hell, he needed to identify what had broken before he could fix it. But that problem could keep. Dex’s asinine and ill-informed opinions couldn’t. “Krzyzewski should retire. End of story.”

  Dex’s face turned beet red. “If you weren’t my cousin, I’d throw you through the front window, then pick you up and throw you back in. Then thump you against the wall a few more times until I knocked some sense into you.”

  Jack laughed. “Seriously, Anson. Insult the guy’s truck if you have to, but not Duke’s head coach.”

  Anson shrugged, then glared when Dex punched him in the arm.

  “Damn it. That hurt.”

  “Sac up, dickhead.”

  “You don’t seem to mouth off like that around Maya,” Jack noted, his blue eyes gleaming.

  “That’s because she swears like a sailor,” Anson said. “And Dex is only a Marine.”

  Dex grunted. “Big talk coming from a civilian.” He slapped Anson in the back of the head, stood and went to grab them another round of beer.

  “Not smart stirring him up like that,” Jack said. “Not sure if you noticed, but the only difference between him and the Hulk is the color green.”

  Anson chuckled. “Dex is all talk. I’m meaner than he is.”

  “Well, you do have a more Machiavellian way of looking at things.”

  “Why thank you, professor. You say the nicest things.”

  Jack knocked back the rest of his beer. “That’s me. Dr. Nice.”

  “How’s teaching going anyway?”

  Jack taught at the expanding OSU campus. The engineering department was growing as well, hence the need for a man with Jack’s skills, degrees and teaching savvy.

  “It’s good. I love being able to work where my heart is.”

  “Bend or Ann?”

  “Both.” Jack smiled, a man who’d finally found his path to happiness.

  Anson frowned.

  “What’s that look?”

  “You seem a lot happier than when I saw you a few months ago, newly back in town.”

  “So?”

  “So is it because of Ann? Or because you feel good about you?”

  Jack studied Anson a little too closely for comfort. “An insightful question.”

  “I’m the intelligent Black, not the big ass grunt who takes pretty pictures.” They both knew he was teasing. Anson thought the world of his cousin and never hesitated to say so. What Dex could do with a camera was nothing short of a miracle. Hell, he’d even gotten Maya to smile.

  “Well, insightful one, I’d have to say I was on my way to finding myself before I came back. But truthfully? I missed Ann. I’d always known it, deep down. She was the one for me. Always. We had a tough time, but my head’s out of my ass, and we’re back. Stronger than ever.”

  “So no cute co-eds for you at the college, eh?”

  “Fuck no. I’m not doing anything to screw up me and Ann.”

  “Good man.” Smart guy.

  “So what’s really up with you and Riley, anyway?”

  Maybe too smart. “Up? Nothing, really. Because of your fiancée and Dex’s girlfriend, Riley thinks she needs to instigate a fight with someone with a Y chromosome. Since you two idiots are occupied, I’m left fighting the good fight.”

  Dex overheard him as he returned with three more beers. “What the hell are you talking about? We all know you’ve had the hots for Riley forever.” Dex wiggled his brows. “And I think we all know you were getting pretty lucky the other night at the party, despite her throwing wine all over you.”

  Jack blinked. “You and Riley? At my party? Really?”

  “All right. Now we all know,” Dex corrected. “Maya caught them.”

  Anson scowled, not happy to have his business out there. Jack and Dex were his best friends, but Riley was his. Well, his for now, anyway. What they did should have been private. “So you’re gossiping like an old woman, is that it?”

  Dex shrugged. “Why not? You talked about me. And by the way, that old woman comment will cost you. Wait until I tell Aunt Kristen you’re making anti-feminist remarks.”

  Anson flipped him off. Dex laughed, his good humor fully restored.

  Jack was frowning. “What I want to know is why Maya told you but Ann didn’t mention it to me.”

  “Oh, well Maya didn’t exactly tell me anything,” said Dex. “I overheard her talking to Ann on the phone.”

  “Nice move. I’ll have to try that.” Jack nodded.

  Anson rolled his eyes, wondering what had happened to nights filled with sports talk, flirting with waitresses and scratching their balls when the need hit. Now they were yapping about date nights, who said what and rumors about Riley. “Since when did you two start taking estrogen pills?” He turned to Dex. “And you repeat one word of what I say to my mother and I start talking home movies.”

  Dex glowered. “You can only use that threat so many times before I make you eat a camera, boy.”

  Anson laughed. “Try it. I’ll take you out at the knees. I might
not be a Marine, but I’m Grandma Mary’s favorite. She taught me everything she knows.”

  Dex paused at the threat.

  Jack grinned. “Who’s this Grandma Mary?”

  “Our dads’ mom. She’s one tough broad.” Dex sounded admiring, as he should.

  Anson explained, “Grandma Mary is Country—with a capital C. Woman can hunt, fish and use a knife better than Dex’s Force Recon buddies.”

  “Good old Grandma Mary.” Dex nodded. “I need to take Maya to meet her.”

  “She’d love Maya. Just her type. Tough, pretty, with balls bigger than yours.”

  Jack laughed.

  “Funny guy.” Dex tried but couldn’t hide his smile. “Oh fine. Grandma Mary’s a tough old bird. Taught Anson everything he knows.”

  Anson didn’t like that sly smile, so he changed the subject. “You guys coming to my open house next week?”

  “Is the restaurant ready?”

  “Not open for business, no. But the interior will be completely done by then. I’m still working on the menu with my head chef. The open house is to invite locals to swing by and see what we’re about. A lax form of promotion, but we’ll have samples and wine tasting. Some fun, low key press. The Source, the Bulletin and a few news cameras will be on hand.”

  Jack nodded. “Not bad. How’d you organize all that? You’ve spent most of your time between Bend and Portland, it seems. And even when you’re back, it’s like you’re stuck in your restaurant. Since when have you been networking?”

  Dex drained another glass and gave a less than subtle belch. “You forget, this is the Anson Black. He’s got a rep as a guy who can get things done, a prince in the food industry.”

  “This is true. I am amazing.” Anson wondered how Riley would feel about it. He planned to make sure the cameras shot the restaurant full on and at an angle, so that Riley’s Sweets was in the picture as well, to give her exposure.

  Knowing Riley, she’d kick him in the teeth if he offered her some free publicity. God forbid he try to help her. That might be showing he was “better than her.” She could be infuriatingly independent and read the wrong intent into his gestures. So he’d have to make the advertising accidental.

  He smiled as he sipped his beer. She was such a stubborn thing. But so smart. Running a successful business in this town wasn’t easy, where stores came and went with the seasons. Her skill creating edible masterpieces impressed the hell out of him. It wasn’t easy to put ingredients together that tasted better than that which any Le Cordon Bleu pastry chef might create. Or to make a pastry so light and flaky it melted in your mouth.

  He wondered what he’d need to do to get her to agree to sell her desserts through his restaurant. Make a deal with the devil, no doubt.

  “Well, I’ll be there,” Jack said.

  “Me too. But then, you knew I’d say that. If I don’t go, you’ll threaten to tell my mom on me.” Dex shook his head.

  “Sad that the threat still works.”

  “Of course it does. She’s my mother, and I’m a good son.” Dex leaned back in his chair. “And speaking of good sons, your mom wanted me to ask you when you’re giving her grandkids.”

  Anson had been drinking when Dex said that, and he choked on an answer.

  “Easy, guy. Swallow it down.” Dex thumped him on the back, laughing. “Don’t worry. I told her you still hadn’t found that special someone yet. Then I had to convince her you’re really not gay.”

  “God. Not this again.”

  Jack laughed. “Are you serious?”

  “Yep. Aunt Kristen thinks he might be covering a latent homosexuality with his many girlfriends. Plus he seems to be pretty popular with men and women. Anytime we go anywhere with Aunt Kristen, people are hitting on him.”

  Anson glared at his cousin. “Yes, I’m so attractive I turn straight men gay. Whatever. Shut up, Dex.”

  Dex ignored him. “Oh, and being gay is fine with her, by the way. She just wants you to be happy. Gosh, cuz, we all do.”

  Anson groaned while his buddies laughed.

  “I told her you weren’t, but then she started worrying that if that’s not the case, then maybe all your slutting around town is a cry for help. That you’re just not meeting the right women.”

  “Slutting around town?” He’d dated maybe two women before becoming obsessed with Riley. Anson held the beer to his forehead, trying to cool off a rising panic. “I’m in hell.” His mother getting involved in his love life would be a nightmare. Been there, done that, had the dead social life in his early twenties to prove it.

  Dex hadn’t finished. “Then, when I told her you only dated nice women, the kind she’d approve of, she seemed relieved.”

  “Good.”

  “Then she said that since you made the decision to live in Bend, a big leap for you, that it must be because you’ve already found the right woman. You’re just not sure how to make things work with her. So the dating is just a front while you decide how to handle the future Mrs. Anson Black. Aunt Kristen really thinks she can help with that. So she asked me to tell you to give her a shot. Anson, give your mom a chance. I just know she can help you find love.” The clear amusement on his cousin’s face wasn’t helping.

  Anson put his head in his hands. “How is it you’re talking to my parents more than I do?”

  “Don’t know. Maybe if you called the poor woman every once in a while she wouldn’t be calling my mother to bug me about you.”

  “I call her at least once a week,” Anson snarled.

  Jack tapped the table. “Hey, Dex. Just tell her our boy still has the hots for Riley. That should comfort her.”

  “Good point. She always liked Riley.”

  Anson looked up at the guys. “Leave Riley out of it.”

  “Oh?” Dex smiled.

  “Yeah. Because I want a chance at the woman. You start throwing my mother into the mix and my chances are dismal.”

  “Seriously, cuz. Why Riley?” Dex asked. “You two have been like oil and water ever since you met. She’s beautiful, fun and an amazing cook. I mean, I get the attraction. Hell, if Maya didn’t exist, I’d take a shot at her.”

  Anson didn’t like that. At all. “Good to know.”

  “But she’s never seemed to like you all that much,” Jack felt the need to add. More commentary Anson could have done without.

  “Look, I know you two find this fascinating, but it’s pathetic how much testosterone you’ve lost since shacking up. Could we please stop talking about feelings and relationships and focus on the goddamn game?” He nodded to the TV above their table.

  “I…” Dex gaped, checking the monitor. “Are you serious? Duke just fell behind by five.”

  “That’s what I’ve been trying to get you to see.” Anson felt much better now that the guys had refocused their energy. He had enough issues trying to figure out how to handle Riley. He didn’t need his friends adding to his headache.

  And speaking of headaches… He’d have to make sure dinner with his mother happened sooner than later. Time to head the woman off at the pass before she inadvertently destroyed his fledgling relationship with Riley. She meant well, but Kristen Black had a tendency to smother.

  As he watched the game and gave the appropriate smartass comments, his thoughts returned to Riley again and again. How best to thank the generous woman for that quickie in her bedroom? He really did owe her more than a few orgasms. He’d throw in some kink as well, because she’d liked being tied up. Underneath all that sweetness, the real Riley Hewitt was begging to come out. On her hands and knees. He could feel it.

  Chapter Six

  Riley spent a pleasant evening with the girls. Unfortunately, Anson had had to cancel coming over afterward. And with her busy schedule the next day, she didn’t think she’d be seeing him anytime soon.

  Just as well. Getting her head on straight about the man required space. When she got too near him, she lost her perspective. She still didn’t know why she wasn’t more bothered that
she’d let him come inside her. Granted, he’d handed her that doctor’s note and she took birth control…

  Yet that closeness meant something more to her. Beyond the physical, she now felt emotionally tied to Anson Black, of all people. By all accounts he was a playboy, braggart and soon-to-be star bachelor in St. Charles’ annual Valentine’s Day charity ball.

  She sighed as she closed up her bakery for the day. As usual, she’d killed with sales. The cold weather made the ski bums and outdoor nuts eager to take coffee and carb breaks. She did well in the summer too, but then she tried to push her lighter fare, like her specialty cupcakes.

  Thinking about all she had to do tomorrow on her day off, she groaned. Brunch with her mother, a knitting lesson—God help me now—laundry, some vacuuming, dusting. She hated the domestic crap sometimes, but Riley didn’t like living with filth. Her mother liked to tease her about her addiction to cleanliness, but Riley liked order.

  In that, she and Anson had a good bit in common. They both liked control.

  She locked up her shop in the dark. Night came early in January, and above her, the stars burned bright in the cloudless black sky.

  A Land Rover pulled up next to her and a window rolled down. “Get in.”

  She leaned down to see Anson behind the wheel. “Where’s the Beamer?”

  “Too much snow for it. Come on, get in.”

  “My car—”

  “Will keep. I made you dinner.”

  She stared at him. “You did?” How could the man look so damn sexy all the time? Even annoyed, his brows drawn close, his scowl growing, he made her want to shove her head inside the car and kiss him senseless.

  He sighed, left the car and came around to open the passenger door. Then he shoved her inside, buckled her seatbelt and returned to the driver side.

  “Sure, I’ll go with you,” she said in an overly bright voice. “Thanks for asking.”

  He glowered and sped off with her sitting and watching him with curiosity.

  “So you made me dinner?” Had to be a prelude to something else.

  “Why is that so hard to believe? I can cook, you know.” His annoyance seemed to have faded because he flashed her a grin.

  “Okay. What did you make me?” She rubbed her hands together, glad for the warmth of his vehicle to combat the chill outside.