What's Life Without the Sprinkles - By Misty Simon Page 0,64
could try this one on for size without a single problem.”
“Stallion or not, is he a nice guy?”
“Yeah, well, I guess so.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to caution Zoe against just having fling after fling. But who was she to tell anyone how to run her love life? Claudia had enough of her own problems trying to forget that Nate had seen her as a woman for about ten glorious minutes and now he wanted to “talk.” She hated talking when she knew it wasn’t going to go in her favor. And this conversation could quite possibly embarrass the hell out of her.
Clearing her throat, Claudia dove back into the box of peanuts, looking for the icing tip she’d also ordered. She found the packing receipt but nothing else. The receipt showed it had been shipped, but after sifting her hands through all the packing material, she found nothing. “Can you stick your magic hand in here again and find my decorating tip?”
Zoe did as Claudia asked and came up seconds later with the wrapped plastic in her hand. She handed that over, too, then smiled. “Here you go. I don’t know why you can’t find these things.”
“Yeah, me either.”
“Perhaps you’re a little blind.”
“Not yet.”
“Well, I can tell you a spot where you are blind.”
“I do not want to have this conversation, ever, and especially not right now.” The glint in Zoe’s eyes did not bode well for Claudia, though. She’d been on her to call Nate about the cake thing again, and Claudia wasn’t going to do it. He’d had his chance. She was not looking to be shot down again.
“You should wear something sexy when Nate comes to pick up Justin for that father-son dinner. I bet he’d change his mind in a second if you showed him what he’s missing.”
“Don’t you have something else to do? We’ve been over this before. He’s not interested. We’ll leave it at that. His grandma is having issues, his mom is calling him day and night, and starting something between us would only end up in disaster. I’d rather have my friendship back on an even keel than have my lust satisfied.”
“You were all about the cake just a few days ago.” Zoe twiddled with the trailing vine on top of the cake display counter. “I think you were on the right track then.”
“Well, you think wrong.” Even if she wore one of Zoe’s slut dresses when Nate came to pick up Justin for the dinner, she wouldn’t be wowing him. She’d only come off as desperate. Besides, it wasn’t as if she could lose thirty pounds in three days and fit into Zoe’s size.
Speaking of the devil, though, brought him in the door, wafting a subtle hint of the cologne she’d given him for Christmas last year. He smelled good enough to eat. Despite all her protests to the contrary, Claudia was more than prepared to dig out her spoon for a taste. She should be nervous and wary about him being here so soon after she’d hung up on him, and she was. But she also knew him well enough to be sure he wouldn’t drag her off for “the talk” in front of other people or at her place of business. She decided to play it as if they hadn’t talked and he hadn’t tried to push the issue of her recent behavior. Most likely he would follow along with the program.
“Hey, Claude, got a minute?” Nate circled around the back of her counter and took a Styrofoam peanut from the box.
“Sure.” Now that she had put her worry to the back of her mind and let her lust roar to the front, she imagined wiping the drool from the corner of her mouth. He wore black pants with a pale blue dress shirt unbuttoned at the collar. It wasn’t often she got to see him in something other than jeans and T-shirts or sweatshirts, and it only served to whet her appetite for Friday, when he would be in a suit coat and tie, too. Yummy. She caught herself before she leaped at him, rode him to the rubber mat behind her counter, and had her wicked way with him. “I...um...what can I do you for? I mean, do for you?” She knew she was blushing, but she’d put it down to just having come out of the kitchen, if she had to. It wasn’t true, but he wouldn’t have to know.