The Running Series Complete Collection: 3-Book Set plus Bonus Novella (17 page)

“I promise.  Thank you, Evan.”  I throw my arms around his neck and plant a big kiss on his luscious lips.  He holds me tight and we just stand there in his kitchen, holding on.  His hands wander to the small of my back, and then venture a little lower to my posterior.  He gives an affectionate squeeze and before I can process what is happening, he lifts me and places me on the counter.  My legs automatically spread just enough to allow him in.

I release my arms from around his neck, and I grab his shirt, pulling him closer.  His kisses grow as eager as mine.  It isn’t the sweet goodnight kisses of last night.  It isn’t the exciting kiss of a new romance.  It is the kiss of pure carnal frustration and lust.  Hunger.  Our lips and tongues dance in desperation.  I need this man more than I need air to breathe.

Again, his hands find my ass and he pulls me nearer.  I am perched on the edge of the counter, and I can feel his desire growing and pressing against me in the most intimate and erotic way.  I wrap my legs around his waist as a soft moan escapes my lips.  My heels press him closer to the spot where I need him and he releases a groan as he throws his head back to appreciate the feeling of our bodies rubbing and throbbing together.  My hands find his hair and I begin twisting, turning, and pulling with my fingers.

Our trance is broken with a jolt when his cell phone rings.  Evan backs up infinitesimally and looks at me with a smile, rewarding me with those dimples that I never seem to get enough of.  He places his hands on my hips and helps me off the counter and onto my feet.

“You have no idea what you do to me, Juliette.  No idea.”  He shakes his head, trying to clear his mind.

“Oh, I think I have an idea, chief,” I retort, eyeing his obvious enthusiasm.  “Are you going to see who called?”

“Yeah, do you mind?”  He grabs his phone from his pocket and checks for missed calls. “I have to take this.  Make yourself at home.  Feel free to rummage through the kitchen if you’re hungry.  I’ll be right back.”

Evan slips into his office and shuts the door.  I’m more than happy to give him some privacy.  This gives me a chance to get myself together and find something to eat.  I quickly locate some strawberries and Greek yogurt hidden in the refrigerator.  Two big glasses of orange juice complete our breakfast menu for today.  Evan returns and sits across from me.  “I see you’ve scrounged up some breakfast.”  He pops a few small berries into his mouth.  “So Juliette, what are your plans for today?” 

“Well, first I’d like to go home and get changed.  Then I was hoping to do a little baking.” 

“Sounds good.  Can you give me an hour?  I’d like to get a little work-out in before we go.”

“Oh, what gym do you belong to?  I know the Atlantic Club has great facilities.”  I can picture him on the free weights flexing his muscles and turning heads.

“I have my own equipment upstairs.  I don’t like to go to public gyms.  Want to see?”  He takes me by the hand and leads me down the hallway and up a set of stairs I never noticed before.

We reach the top of the stairs and there’s an impressive array of workout equipment scattered throughout the room.  There are free weights, a rowing machine, a treadmill, an elliptical, and some machine weights.  I even notice a fitness ball and an inversion table.  “Wow.  This is awesome!  I’m completely jealous.”

“There’s a stereo system and a flat screen TV that’s always programmed to ESPN.  Change the channel, and I’ll have to ban you for life.”  He walks over to me and lifts my chin so we’re eye-to-eye.  “Give me an hour, and then I’m all yours.”  He kisses me and I melt.

“Sure.  Take your time.  I’m going to go downstairs to give Derek and Emmy a call.  Come find me when you’re ready.”  I give him a kiss, then turn on my heels, and scurry downstairs.

“Don’t forget to call your bar manager, too,” he calls after me.  That’s a phone call I’m dreading.  I’ll make it my last call.  My first call is to Emmy.  She answers on the fourth ring.

“Hey, Juliette.”  She gives a big yawn.  “What’s going on?”

“I’m sorry, Emmy.  Did I wake you?”  She sounds exhausted.

“No, I’m good.  We’ve been up for a while.”  She giggles a little and I can only guess it’s Grant on the other side of the phone with her.

“Listen, I have to talk to you.  Something happened last night.”  Now I have her full attention and I give her the whole short story.  Each time I tell it, it sounds less and less dramatic to me.  I’m seriously thinking I did the right thing when I talked Evan out of calling the police.

“You have to call Jack and tell him.  He needs to know about this, Jette.  This shit is serious.  Who knows what that asshole had planned?”  Maybe she’s right.

“I know.  I have one more call, and then I’ll let Jack know.  I don’t know what difference it will make, though.  We have creepy guys in the bar every night.”

“Yeah, remember that old creeper who was trolling the bar and winked at you?  Maybe it was him.”  Actually, I kind of forgot about him.

“You think?  I guess it’s possible.”  Emmy and I chat for a few more minutes.  When I hang up, I pause to think about my customers.  There was the asshole that grabbed me and called me a slut.  There’s the mister-nice-guy who asked for my number that I shot down.  Who knows how many unstable men were watching me dance and flirt with Derek and Marcus.  That’s a pretty long list.

My next call is to Derek.  He answers on the first ring.  “Hey, Jette, what’s up?”

“First of all, I want to thank you for driving me to my car last night.  Turns out I needed you more than I realized.”

“Wait, what do you mean you needed me?  Are you OK?”  He sounds really concerned.  It’s sweet.

“Yeah, I’m fine.  Some guy left a note on my windshield and followed me around town.  I didn’t want to lead him to my house, so I drove to Evan’s.”  It’s actually very helpful to talk about it.  I can see things more clearly each time I tell it.

“Jette, I was right there.  You should have called me.  I would have been there immediately.  You know that, right?”  He almost sounds dejected. 

“Of course I know that, Derek.  You’re so sweet.  Thank you.  There is something you can do for me, though.”

“Sure, Jette.  Name it!”

“I think we should cool it behind the bar a little.  We may be sending the wrong message.”

“OK, whatever you need.  Are you going to call Jack now?”

“Yeah, I think I should.  Evan should be almost done by now.  Let me run so I can call him.  I really wish I didn’t have to.  This sucks.  I just started.  I hope he doesn’t think I’m too much trouble to keep around.”

“I could call him if you want.  I’ve been there a while.  I was there when this guy dedicated that stalker anthem to you.  I could explain things man-to-man.  Would that help?”

“Oh, Derek, you’re the best.  Remind me to give you a big kiss when I see you.”  We end the call and I’m relieved.  I really didn’t want to call my boss and try to explain this. 

I know I should call Auggie, but he’s going to overreact.  This is a conversation I need to have in person. 

B
y noon, we’re at my house and Maddy is thrilled to see us.  Evan and I take her in the backyard and toss the ball around for her.  I leave Evan with her and head inside to get changed.  I’ve been in the same clothes since last night, and I can’t wait to remove the last vestiges of that horrible night. 

Once I’m changed, I head into the kitchen, throw on my apron, and call for Evan and Maddy to come in.  Evan takes one long look at me and shakes his head.  “What’s the matter, chief?”  I walk over to the cabinets and bend over slowly to retrieve some mixing bowls.

“How am I supposed to help you in here when you’re wearing
that
?”  I look down at my ensemble, and I’m quite proud of my selection.  The skinny jeans and tank top that hug me in all the right places seem to be working their magic.  So does the apron that says, “
I lick the batter from the beaters”.
 

“Focus, Evan.  Let’s start gathering the ingredients.  Can you go to the refrigerator and find eggs, butter, heavy cream, and sour cream?  Just spread it out across the counter.”  I start gathering the dry ingredients.

“Now, when you say to ‘spread it across the counter’, you were talking about the dairy products, right?”  He laughs at his own wit as he starts looking through the refrigerator.  I could listen to his laugh all day long.

Once I have everything I think I will need, I have Evan lift the Kitchen Aid mixer and place it on the counter.  “Come on, chief. I need help over here.  Are you ready?”  I motion for him to come and stand beside me.

I measure the sugar into the bowl and hand him the butter.  “First, we need to cream the butter and sugar.  Take off the wrapping and stick it right in here.”

“Juliette, I could have sworn you invited me here to make cupcakes, not to torture me,” he says pleadingly.

“I don’t know what you mean.  Listen, if you don’t want to help me make the cream, you can always stand over there and beat the eggs for me.”  Honestly, this is almost too easy.

“You know,” Evan exasperates, “at this point, beating the eggs might be a good idea.”  Poor guy.  I may have to put him out of his misery ... soon.

At that moment, I get an incoming text message and it’s from Reese.

“Sorry, that was Reese, my old college roommate, checking in on me.  Let’s get back to work.”  Once I’m satisfied with the progress, I give Evan instructions on mixing the dry ingredients while I combine some champagne and sour cream.  I turn around to check on his progress, and he has the cutest white patch of flour on the tip of his nose.  He probably doesn’t even know it’s there.  I walk over to him and wipe it off with my dishtowel, and then I kiss the spot where the flour once was.

Evan gets a devilish look on his face.  “You know, I might get flour in all kinds of places today.”  I give him another kiss and try to refocus his attention on our task at hand.

“Let’s get the cupcakes in the oven, chief.”  We finish combining the ingredients, and I carefully pour out a dozen cupcakes.  Once they are in the oven, I set the timer and start putting away some of my dry ingredients while Evan washes the mixing bowl and attachments. 

“What’s next?”

“I’ll need your help with the filling.  If you do a nice job, I’ll let you lick my beaters when we’re done.”

He shakes his head.  “False advertising.”

“What?”

“False advertising.  Your apron says
you
like to lick the beaters.  I’ve had my hopes up this whole time.”

“Fine, if you don’t want to lick the beaters, I’m sure I could find someone who would be willing...” I don’t even get to finish my sentence and he’s got me wrapped up in his arms kissing me to get me to stop talking.

Once we break apart, I get Evan to help me make the cream.  It’s a very delicate process of cooking the eggs and cream mixture, adding a variety of ingredients slowly while whisking at the same time so the eggs don’t cook.  Evan follows my directions perfectly well and I really like how we work together in the kitchen.  The end result is a perfect champagne flavored cream. 

I check on the cupcakes, and they need a few more minutes.  We have enough time to work on the frosting.  I cream confectionary sugar and butter while Evan is reducing the champagne on the stove.  Once it’s reduced, we set it to the side to cool while I remove the cupcakes.  They look perfect. 

Evan and I go sit on the couch to relax while we wait.  “My friend Emmy and her boyfriend Grant invited us to go out with them tonight.  What do you think?”  I’d really like to find out how all my friends get along.

“Sounds good.  What do you have in mind?”  He’s running his hands through his hair, and he’s not looking at me.

“I thought we would drive down to Atlantic City.  We could see a show, hit the casinos, whatever you want.”  I was thinking that maybe tonight, we could get a hotel room in AC and stay the night, together.

“Juliette, I would love to take you to Atlantic City.  Do you think we could wait a day or two?  Maybe just hang out at home tonight?  I’m still a little worried about your safety.  I’d feel better if you and I just stayed at my place tonight.”

It’s hard for me to hide my disappointment.  “OK.”  He did take good care of me last night.  If he feels we should stay put for one more night, I guess that would be all right.  “Come on, let’s go frost some cupcakes.”

I show Evan how to cut divots in the center of each cupcake while I fill pastry bags with the champagne cream filling.  I busy myself filling each cupcake, and Evan trims the removed divot to make a cap.  There are only one dozen cupcakes, so it goes quickly and efficiently.

Now it’s time for the frosting.  I combine the cream and the champagne reduction.  To test my creation, I swipe my finger through the confectionary treat and taste.  “Mmm.”  Evan’s eyes grow wide.  I take another swipe and walk slowly over to him.  “Want a taste?” I ask and he nods.  I hold my finger to his mouth and he opens for me.  He grabs my wrist gently as he licks every bit of frosting off my finger.  His tongue explores and caresses my finger.  Slowly, he removes my finger from his mouth as his wet lips wrap around my finger.  “Very tasty,” he proclaims.