remembered slipping his fingers into them when he’d angled her face for a deeper taste. They had felt like springy silk. His fingers twitched as if wanting to test those curls again. He fisted his hands and got to the reason he was there.
“I’m sorry to startle you,” he said. “I’m here to apologize. I had no business kissing you.”
Her cheeks flamed as she knelt to pick up the cookie. “No apology will keep me from kicking you out, Mr. Sterling. Today was the straw that broke the mule’s back.”
“I believe it’s camel’s back.”
“You’ve been working me more like a mule.” She tossed the cookie in the trash, then went back to plating the other cookies. They looked different from the ones his mother made. His mom’s were puffy and perfect while these were large and flat.
“I think you forgot the raising agent.”
She turned to him. “Excuse me?”
“In your cookies. You forgot the baking soda or didn’t use enough.” He realized his mistake in pointing out her baking error when her bluebonnet eyes blazed.
“You are the most arrogant, obnoxious, controlling man I have ever had the displeasure of meeting in my entire born days and I’m through kowtowing to you. Now get out of my house.”
He started to argue that he was paid up until the end of the month, but stopped when she grabbed a nearby broom and headed toward him. He should be scared. Reba had lifted the broom like an Amazon warrior getting ready to do battle with her most evil adversary. But instead of feeling scared, a rush of excitement pumped through Val’s veins making him feel more alive than he had felt in a long time. He suddenly realized what had been missing from his last two books.
Passion.
He’d felt no passion for his stories or his characters. In fact, he felt no passion for his life. Which was crazy. He was a successful writer who dated models and movie stars, partied with the rich and famous, and just got back from a European book tour. Most people would love to have his exciting life.
Except it hadn’t felt exciting. At least not until now. Now his entire body hummed with excitement as the flaming-haired hellion came toward him with the broom. All he wanted to do was pull her into his arms and taste her cookie-flavored lips once again. But before he could, she whacked him hard on the shoulder with the broom. It hurt like hell.
“I said git. And I mean git!”
Before she could wind up for another swing, Val got.
Chapter Three
“It scared the bejesus out of me.” Luanne Riddell, the founding mother of the Simple Book Club, scooped up some more guacamole with a tortilla chip, her wrist full of homemade beaded bracelets rattling. “After reading it, I had to ask Bud to walk me to the bathroom and stand guard by the door so that psycho stalker wouldn’t get me.”
“Bud stood guard outside your bathroom door?” Raynelle Coffman, Luanne’s close friend, scrunched her face. “Psycho stalker or not, that is just gross. And did you just double dip?”
“I did not double dip, Ray! I know my dipping manners. And Bud and I have spent close to twenty years being grossed out by each other so we’ve become numb to the disgusting things we do. And don’t tell me that this month’s book didn’t scare you too.”
Raynelle shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought the stalker was kind of sexy.”
“Sexy?” Evie McCord stared at Raynelle in disbelief. “He sliced the heroine’s boyfriend’s throat and her next door neighbor’s too.”
“Her boyfriend was kind of a jerk.” Maureen, who was pregnant with her fifth child, rubbed her rounded belly.
“Just because he was a jerk doesn’t mean he deserved to get his throat carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey.” Luanne reached for another chip.
“Some jerks deserve it,” Emma Johansen said dryly.
All the women in the Simple Book Club exchanged knowing glances. They all knew what jerk Emma was referring to. Boone Murphy and Emma had hated each other since high school. Their fathers had given them half shares in the Simple Hardware store thinking it would end the feud, but it had only made it worse.
As the book club hostess, Reba should’ve jumped in and changed the subject to keep Emma from going on a long rant about her business partner and distracting from the discussion of the book. But tonight Reba’s mind was consumed with her own jerk.
Valentine Sterling was gone and she was giddy with joy