Read Naughty in November (Spring River Valley Book 11) Online
Authors: Clarice Wynter
Naughty in November (Spring River Valley Book 11) (9 page)
“Okay.” She swiped at her eyes. “Don’t hate me.”
“I don’t hate you.” God, women were all so complicated. The more he thought about it, the more he realized maybe Dani had it right. Keep things light and simple. Love just screwed everything up.
Dani stood on Taylor’s porch shivering in the falling snow and contemplating why she wanted so desperately to create a huge, complicated mess for herself. She had no idea, other than she’d realized after pushing him away the other night, that there was nothing simpler in the world than just wanting someone. And she wanted him.
So she rang the bell and waited. It was after eight, and he’d gotten home from rehearsal at the music store fifteen minutes earlier.
Her heart leaped when he finally opened the door, and shock transformed his handsome features. His gaze traveled from her fashionable boots up to her voluminous scarf, stopping briefly at the huge wicker basket she held in her ungloved hands.
“Um…are you selling something?” he asked, the corner of his upper lip curling just a fraction. At least he could still be amused by her presence.
“No, just delivering something.” She hoped the aroma of fried chicken and biscuits would reach him before he froze to death. “This is dinner.”
“Come on in, dinner. Nice to meet you.” He stepped back to let her inside and then took the heavy basket while she brushed snowflakes from the shoulders of her coat.
“Can we talk?” she asked, handing him the other package she’d brought with her, his borrowed clothes, professionally laundered and folded.
“Well, last time we did that, it ended badly. Do you think we should chance it?”
“I need to explain a few things.”
“Okay.” He headed toward his cozy little kitchen, and she followed. She watched him unpack the basket at the kitchen table. “This smells fantastic.”
“Thanks. I’m sure it tastes amazing too. I didn’t make it. My friend Cassie did. She’s a fantastic cook. I’m not.”
He regarded her soberly, a biscuit in his hand. “Oh.”
Plowing on, she tore open the plastic wrapper on the clothes, shook out the
T-shirt she’d worn the day she’d spent at his clinic and showed him the burn mark she’d ironed into the thin fabric before she’d given up and taken it to the cleaners. “I’m not good at laundry either.”
“I see that.” He put the biscuit down and took the shirt from her gingerly.
“Who irons T-shirts?”
“Someone who has everything else dry-cleaned.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I want you to see what you’d be getting yourself into.”
“Getting myself into?”
“If we…tried to make this into something complicated.”
“Oh.”
“I can’t cook. I hire someone to clean. I don’t know how to iron
, and I have no idea what kind of a mom I’d be to anything living other than a very small houseplant, preferably a cactus or something made of plastic. If you’re looking for the perfect wife, I’m not it.”
“Who told you I was looking for the perfect wife?”
“Everyone…people. Bailey…Claudia.”
He sighed loudly. “Why are you listening to them and not me?”
“Because…I…Because I’m not perfect.”
Taylor crossed his arms over his chest. “Then what are you?”
She looked down, tried to swallow the lump her throat. “Probably crazy, but since the other night, all I’ve thought about is how damn complicated it is to walk away from something you want. I want things to be simple, and being with you was a whole lot easier than being without you.”
Taylor sniffed the basket. “So you really can’t cook?”
“Taylor!”
He laughed and held his hands out. She slipped her fingers into his. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Are you saying you really want to try this?”
She nodded, not trusting her voice.
He squeezed her hands.
“I’ll be honest, I’m still looking for something that could become permanent.”
Dani nodded. She couldn’t blame him.
“Are you willing to stop looking for a little while?”
He nodded.
“Maybe forever. I realize I’d rather be with someone I don’t want to live without. It doesn’t matter if she can’t…iron.”
“So, then I might qualify?”
He glanced into the food basket again. “Are you willing to take cooking lessons from Cassie?”
She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. “I’m willing to hire someone who can cook.”
He kissed her back. “Sounds simple enough to me.”
THE END
And in December 2013
Caterer and part-time matchmaker Cassandra Hall has introduced half a dozen happy couples, but she hasn’t been able to find true love for herself.
She’s carried a torch for James Galloway since he broke up with her after enlisting in the army. After five years in the service, he’s finally coming home for good, and he wants the girl he left behind, but he knows he has no right to ask her to take him back after all this time.
How can he convince her that his desire for her never waned and he wants her by his side forever?
DESIRED IN DECEMBER
Chapter One
“Mmm. Perfect.” Cassie licked her lips, eyes closed for a moment in appreciation of the delicate balance of chocolate and mint she’d just created. That split second of ecstasy distracted her from the conversation she’d been having, one she would have been quite happy to forget all together, except that her cousin Max was family, and she couldn’t really tune him out just because she wanted to avoid the topic he’d called to discuss. “What? Yes, I’m still here.”
She hastily dumped the spoon she’d been using to sample her newest flavor of cupcake batter into the sink and reached up to adjust the Bluetooth earpiece she wore so she could talk and bake at the same time.
Max’s voice came through loud and clear on the small device, so she couldn’t blame a bad connection as an excuse to check out of their awkward conversation. “Just say the word, Cass, and I’ll ask Janet to give the assignment to someone else.”
“That’s ridiculous. Why would I have a problem with you photographing James for the paper?” Moving quickly, she prepared a set of pans for her first test batch of chocolate chip mint holiday cupcakes, certain Max hadn’t been able to hear the faint hitch in her breath just before she said James’s name.
“I just don’t want to dredge up any bad memories.”
Cassie almost laughed at her cousin’s concern. He was, after all, a guy, and this type of thing, the unexpected encounter with an ex, didn’t usually register on him as any kind of problem. Clearly he’d learned a few things since Cassie had accidentally fixed him up with his current girlfriend Audrey Desmond. The couple had been dating since February, and during that time Max had matured into quite a catch…and no one was happier than Cassie that he’d been caught by her friend. “I’m fine, really.”
“I know what you went through when James left, and I understand if it would bother you…”
Cassie had to wonder if Audrey had put him up to this. It was sweet but completely unnecessary. “Max, it’s your job. I would never ask you not to do your job, even if it did bother me, which it doesn’t. Obviously the paper wants to cover the story. James is a hero and everyone is town is proud of him. Of course your editor picked you to take the pictures because you’re the best. You shouldn’t have to step aside for me. I appreciate you thinking of me, but you don’t have to worry. I’m good.”
“I still can’t believe Grant Addison asked you to cater James’s homecoming party.” Relief tinged his voice. Clearly it hadn’t been a hundred percent his idea to offer to give the assignment to someone else on the Herald’s staff.
“I’m glad he did. It’s a great opportunity. I’m thrilled to work with Taverna Fiora.”
“It really doesn’t bother you?”
“Not at all. James and I broke up over five years ago. I’m over it, and I’m over him. A job is a job, and this one is local, it’s easy and it pays well. Plus it could lead to a long-term contract to supply desserts to TF, so I’m thrilled.”
“All right. I just wanted to be sure. The interview is the day after tomorrow. If he asks about you, what do you want me to say?”
The day after tomorrow.
The words seemed to echo in Cassie’s head, or maybe it was a bad connection, but somehow the whole situation suddenly seemed a lot more real.
James Galloway was home. He was finally back in Spring River Valley after five years in the army, five years that had taken him all over the world and culminated in a second tour of duty in the volatile Middle East. Of course everyone in town was glad to have him back, his parents especially, and all his friends who’d organized a huge party to be held at the fanciest catering hall in the area. The
Herald
was doing a front page spread, and Cassie had heard the Mayor had invited him to a town meeting to receive a commendation.
James was back home, safe and sound, and that thrilled her, almost as much as seeing him again would break her heart. So while she planned to make cupcakes and cookies for his party, and she planned to read the article in the paper, she had absolutely no intention of running into the first, best most unforgettable love of her life. As long as she avoided that, she’d be perfectly fine.
“Tell him…” The words came out a little shaky, so she scooped up a finger full of her famous eggless, gluten free cupcake batter and tasted it to cover up the treble in her voice. “Tell him I said hi.”
“That’s all?”
“That’s all. But only if he asks. For God’s sake, don’t mention me if he doesn’t mention me first. Got it?”
“Sure.”
“Thanks, Max. You’re a gem.”
“So I’m told.” She heard the smile in his voice.
After wishing him good luck, she hung up and surveyed her kitchen. Soon she’d have her own shop, and she could move production of her gourmet baked goods out of her small apartment and into the center of town where, hopefully, her business would really take off. A month ago, when she’d signed the lease on the storefront on Commerce Street, it seemed like a dream come true. Now, she had to consider what the odds were that one day James would come waltzing into her store for a cupcake and break her heart all over again.
Considering herself the third of two voices, Clarice Wynter is the contemporary romance alter ego of a multi-published paranormal and science fiction romance author. She lives in the Tri-State area with her husband and her children and a trio of cats.
To learn more about Clarice and her books visit her website and blog:
Look for the rest of the Spring River Valley Series-to be released throughout 2013
Jilted in January
Fixed up in February
Mixed up in March
An Affair in April
Matched up in May
Jaded in June
Jealous in July
Awakened in August
Seduced in September
Outmatched in October
Naughty in November
Desired in December