Summer Love_ A Steamy Small Town Romance Anthology - Piper Rayne Page 0,54

He couldn’t have that.

Risk didn’t always equal reward. He knew that better than anyone.

Chapter Ten

One month later…

The Sweet on You dessert food truck was about to make its debut. In the last four weeks Zoey had used every one of her charms to get the Westfalia into shape, diligently working through the list that Mack had given her. She’d called in favours, traded free coffee and treats for a discount, and dug into her savings once more.

Now the day was here… kind of.

She and Gwen weren’t quite ready to launch the business. They still needed to set up their website and socials, as well as a proper way of tracking their costs. Oh, and the Westfalia was unfortunately still rocking its scummy green look since the only custom paint place in the vicinity was booked out and not taking clients for another few weeks.

But an opportunity had come up that was too good to refuse. The local municipality was holding a “supporting young women in business” event and since Gwen’s aunt worked in the local government office, she’d extended an invitation. Serving their desserts to the local townsfolk would be a great soft opening. It had also helped to expedite their registrations, since it was for a government initiative.

But even as Zoey was setting up with Gwen, she couldn’t find it in herself to feel as excited as she should. After all, she was still suffering from the humiliation of blurting out that she loved Mack.

What had she been thinking? Clearly nothing at all. Perhaps multiple orgasms negatively impacted a woman’s brain function.

Someone should do a study on that. Reasons not to have sex—it causes bad decisions.

“Hey.” Gwen placed a hand on Zoey’s shoulder, startling her out of her thoughts. They were standing over some plastic tubs of baked products, loading them into the displays sitting atop the fold-down counter. “Are you okay? You’re really quiet.”

“I guess I’m nervous,” she lied. Truth was, she wasn’t nervous at all… not about the business, anyway. She knew that would be a hit.

Last night she’d stayed up late playing sous chef to Gwen, doing the menial jobs like chopping butter and washing bowls and measuring ingredients. Ever since the night she crashed at Gwen’s place, they hadn’t talked about Mack. By Zoey’s request. Gwen didn’t need to be bogged down with her crap.

But her empathetic and emotionally intelligent friend never missed a trick. “No, you’re not. You’re pining.”

“I’m not pining.” Zoey frowned.

“You are. It’s fine, you’ve been pining after Mack since you were dressing like Avril Lavigne.”

“Way to kick a girl when she’s down.” Zoey wadded up a napkin and threw it at her friend. “I do not need a walk down the dark alley of mid 2000s emo fashion, thank you very much.”

“All I’m saying is, there’s nothing wrong with how you feel.” Gwen used a cake server to carefully place her pieces of jelly slice onto a cake tray that would have a glass dome over the top. They could only fit about six or seven in there, which wasn’t ideal, as the rest would have to stay in a container and be replenished throughout the event. “At least you can go to bed at night knowing you spoke your truth.”

More like blurted it out in the middle of an argument… while I was naked.

But Gwen didn’t need to know that embarrassing detail.

Zoey filled a glass jar with Gwen’s homemade Iced Vovo biscuits. The iconic pink and red striped biscuits were an Aussie staple and would go perfectly with the coffee Zoey would serve from her espresso machine. They’d gone with an “pink and red” theme for today’s menu, which also included mini strawberry cheesecakes, pink champagne macarons brushed with gold dust, and peppermint fudge that had been tinted a pale pink and sprinkled with crushed candy cane. The effect was Instagram-worthy, to say the least.

“I made a fool of myself,” she grumbled in reply as she replaced the lid on the biscuit jar. “He thinks I’m this brash, impulsive girl who treats life like one big game.”

“Well, you are a little brash and impulsive,” Gwen said, nudging her. “But that’s what us serious folks love about you.”

Zoey laughed. Now that she thought about it, Gwen and Mack had pretty similar personalities. They were both highly responsible, Type-A, risk-averse types and Zoey was their foil, always pushing them to try new things and have fun. Clearly, she had a type—for both friends and love interests.

“He thinks I won’t amount to anything.”

“I