Whetted Appetites Page 5

  And the look on Victoria’s face was unmistakable. He swallowed hard, trying to hold back the beginnings of a hard-on. He was in a public place for goodness’ sakes.

  Was he ever going to get that thing under control? He wasn’t eighteen any more. Since when did a mere glance at a woman make his pants feel to tight?

  No, he amended silently, not just any woman. Victoria.

  Never had any woman had this kind of effect on his body, his mind or certain parts of his anatomy so quickly.

  He looked at her bee-stung lips. He wondered what they would feel like pressed against his. Sweet and fiery would be his best guess.

  He needed a little sample. Just a little taste. What he really needed was to get her alone. That was virtually impossible. Not with customers coming in and out of the bakery.

  A light bulb went off in his head. He would come by shortly after closing. He wanted to kiss her before he lost his nerve. He hoped he could muster up the courage to do so when he came back. In the back of his mind, he knew Victoria would have no objections.

  An over timer went off in the back, signaling that it was time to take out whatever goodies were baking.

  Melissa quickly ran to the back, shouting, “I’ll get it!”

  Dalton cleared his throat nervously. “I think I’m going to come by before you close. I want to buy my mother a box of chocolates. I know she has a strong penchant for gooey brownies.”

  “That’s very sweet of you. I’m sure she’ll enjoy them. I know I do.” Victoria licked her lips. Dalton gulped. She looked like she was removing a hint of chocolate from them. He groaned inwardly.

  Melissa came out after a few minutes. “Victoria—sorry—your mother called a minute ago. I told her you were tied up at the moment and you would call her back as soon as you could.” The look on Melissa’s face told her that Victoria’s mother had something up her professionally tailored sleeve. Yet again.

  Victoria took a deep, exasperating breath. Probably another blind date her mom tried to set her up with. “Thanks, Melissa.” She turned to Dalton. “Will you please excuse me for one minute?” she said apologetically. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Sure. I’m going to look around.” Dalton watched her go into the back. He took this opportunity to peruse all the inventory of the bakery.

  From the look in her eyes, returning her mom’s phone call was the last thing she wanted to do.

  Chapter Five

  Victoria sat down in her office chair and dialed her mom’s number.

  “Hello?” The haughty ‘I’m-too-good-for-you’ answer was always the same. It made Victoria want to scream.

  “Hello, Mother,” Victoria said irritably.

  “Victoria, darling,” her mother started, not picking up on Victoria’s petulant tone. “The Duncan’s family and our family are having a gathering in two weeks. And you know, Travis has been asking about you.” She said that last sentence a little off-handedly. But she sounded thrilled at the concept of Travis Duncan asking about her only daughter.

  Victoria rolled her eyes heavenward. She knew it! Her mother was trying to set her up. All her matchmaking efforts were done in vain. Didn’t her mother know that it never worked out and never would?

  Victoria knew who Travis Duncan was. He was handsome, sophisticated and, thanks to daddy’s money and connections, rich. Not to mention dull, dull, dull. He was so boring, uninteresting and all the other adjectives that she couldn’t think of at the moment thanks to her mother trying to push Travis down her throat. No pun intended. Victoria shivered at the thought.

  All Travis could talk about was his new house in Aspen. Or his condo in New York. His yacht in the Florida Keys. All of which he didn’t work one minute for.

  Blah. Sick. A no-way-in-hell. He didn’t earn all those things. He was one of those bratty kids born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He didn’t have to life a perfectly manicured finger.

  But how was she supposed to tell her mother that she didn’t want to be set up with any more of her ‘discoveries’?

  “So, what do you say, darling?” her mother inquired airily.

  “Mother,” Victoria sighed. Her stomach tied itself in knots. Why couldn’t her mother let her do her own choosing? “I’m sure Travis is suitable for some woman,” she forced herself to say. “But to tell you the truth, I’m not at all interested in being another blind date with any more of your picks.”

  “Humph.” She always made that childish sound when something didn’t go her way, which was rare. “You really hurt me, Victoria.”

  Victoria knew her mother’s act by now. And that’s all it was: an act. A show she put on with Victoria as the audience. She would begin with the ‘poor little mother’ routine; lecture her about the value of being a Bradley and all that that implies. The only value her mother knew of was the value of her mansion and everything in it. She certainly didn’t know the value of emotions.

  “I just want what’s best for you, dear. You’re my only daughter. You’re not getting any younger and I want to see you settle down and produce me some grandchildren before I get too old to enjoy them,” her mother explained in a speech Victoria has heard a hundred times.

  No doubt I’ll be hearing it a hundred times more. Victoria frowned. She couldn’t see her mother growing old no more that her mother could. At the first sign of a wrinkle or a blemish, her mother would rush off to her plastic surgeon for a touch up. Or tune up, whatever the case may be.

  She knew, of course, that her mother would never cheat on her father. Too much money was at stake. Infidelity was in the pre-nup. If it was ever proven that her father or mother strayed, they would get nada in the divorce.

  Her mother couldn’t do without her servants, as she called them. God forbid she’d have to lift a finger in manual labor. She might break a nail.

  No, her mother shouldn’t talk about morals when it was plain as day she had few.

  Victoria tried to explain to the best of her ability. “Mother, when the time is right and when I choose to settle down and have children, I will. No amount of pressure from you will dissuade my decision. I’m not going to jump into something I’m not ready for.”

  “But, Victoria-----“

  “No buts, mother. This is my life and my life alone. I make my own choices. Including who I choose to date.” Victoria sucked in a much needed breath of air. Having had her say in the matter, she felt as if a huge burden had been lifted from her shoulders. She should have done this years ago. It felt great. Really great to finally tell her mother, “no more”.

  “Fine,” her mother said sharply and a little put off. “Don’t say I didn’t caution you when you mess up. I don’t want to have to say I told you so,” she warned.

  “Don’t worry. You won’t. If I make a mistake then I will learn from it and move on. We are all human beings. We’re allowed to mess up sometime.” Victoria was tired of having the same old conversation. “Good-bye, Mother.”

  Victoria hung up the phone and sat back in her chair for a moment, contemplating her words she had spoken to her mother.

  No doubt her mom was fuming after she got off the phone.

  Victoria knew what that meant. Shopping spree. Every time her mother got the least bit upset, her father would console her the best way he knew how. Credit cards.

  Victoria knew you couldn’t buy love and happiness. But that was the only way her father knew how to show true affection for his wife. Money. And lots of it.

  Sometimes she couldn’t help but wonder if she was conceived by them or just bought. Like on e-bay or something. She had to laugh at the absurd mental picture. Maybe she shouldn’t go that far.

  The Beavers’ they were not. More like the dysfunctional family from hell. Mr. Beaver would be shocked.

  What could be said about the times the maid was the only one to explain to Victoria what a period was? Or safe sex? Or standing up for yourself?

  Maybe her mom should have paid attention in sex ed. Birth control was made for people
like her. She didn’t need kids if she didn’t want them around.

  Victoria had to learn most of the basic stuff from her personal maid, Miss Dora Hugo.

  She wondered what happened to that dear, sweet woman. She wished for just a moment to see her again. To show her that she didn’t grow up to be just like her mother.

  That was over fifteen years ago. She had no way of knowing how to find her. She certainly couldn’t ask her mother. She knew exactly what she’d say.

  “Now, Victoria, why would you want to converse with the hired help? They’re not friends. They’re the help.”

  Her poor, confused mother. Didn’t she know that they were real people with real feelings? Couldn’t she comprehend that they had desire? Love? Pain?

  Lost in the haze of thought, she didn’t hear Dalton come into her office.

  “Victoria?”

  She blinked away her reverie and smiled up at Dalton.

  “You looked pretty deep in thought,” he stated.

  Victoria nodded, but said nothing. She didn’t want to explain to him about what kind of mother she had. She had to admit she was embarrassed by her.

  Dalton walked over to the vacant chair and sat down. “You don’t seem too happy right now. Is there anything I can do to help?”

  Victoria smiled at his kind gesture but sighed nonetheless. “Oh, it’s nothing really,” she said with false lightness. “Just my mother trying to set me up with someone.” Again, she thought, but didn’t say aloud.

  “Ah. Playing matchmaker, is she?” Dalton teased playfully.

  “You have no idea. Anyway, it’s no big deal,” she finished in the most convincing voice she could.

  Dalton nodded, even though he didn’t understand what made her so unhappy. He couldn’t say anything about it. He’s only known her for less than a day. It was none of his business to nose in. And she might even tell him so if he commented.

  Victoria noted Dalton’s silence. She was glad he didn’t say anything on the subject. She didn’t feel like explaining her mother’s philosophy on life. Or rather, Victoria’s life. She didn’t need anybody else thinking that her mother was whacked.

  She scanned her mind to change the subject when Melissa’s suggestion about the dinner party popped in her head.

  Well, it was now or never.

  “I’m having a dinner party two weeks from Friday.” She sucked in a deep breath. “I was wondering if you want to come.”

  Dalton swallowed hard at the last three words. If she had any inkling of how badly he wanted to come…….and he didn’t mean her party, either.

  Victoria saw the fire light his eyes. The look of desire. They way his body tensed at the suggestion of coming to her dinner party.

  Oh, wow. How much torture was she going to have to take? Could she even wait two weeks before she felt his hard body over hers?

  Ooohhh, Heaven help her. She was going to need it.

  If he kept giving her those smoldering looks, she was going to jump his bones and demand that he take her on her office desk.

  Listen to me! I can’t believe I’m having these thoughts so soon.

  She barely knows him. Less than a day and already she has had some too-lusty dreams about him.

  Hell, she’s already masturbated with images of him in her mind, for crying out loud. It wasn’t like her to jump the gun. But maybe it should be. Mmmmm.

  Dalton stood up and smiled, showing off his pearly whites. “I’d love to come to your dinner party. Who’s going to be there besides me?”

  “Well, there’s Melissa. You’ve met her. Eric will be there as well. That’s Melissa’s long time…..boyfriend, I guess you could say.” She chuckled.

  “You guess, huh? So, they’re already acting like a married couple?”

  “Definitely,” she said as she got out her notepad and a pen. She wrote down her address and phone number.

  “What’s on the menu?” Besides you? He wanted to ask her just to see what kind of reaction he would get but he swallowed down the comment before it rose in his throat.

  Victoria thought for a minute. “We’re having lemon and panko crusted chicken scaloppini, roasted red pepper Alfredo, grilled asparagus with shallots, spinach salad with homemade vinaigrette, assorted drinks and cocktails and a strawberries and cream cake with warm white chocolate truffle sauce.”

  Dalton’s stomach growled in response. He licked his lips. “That sounds delicious. I can’t wait to taste your food. And, I know it will be wonderful because, naturally, you’re a caterer.”

  “Naturally,” Victoria concurred with mock arrogance.

  She got up from her chair. “Now, I invited you here so you could sample my treats,” she reminded him. “You could try a variety of brownies so you can pick out some for your mother when you come back after work.” She brushed past him, leaving the scent of vanilla around him. He breathed it in. It was a heady mix of sin and innocence. Fire and seduction.

  Dalton followed her to the back of the counter. He saw an array of chocolates, cakes, pies, petit fours, brownies and truffles.

  Victoria looked at him expectedly, placing a plastic glove on her hand. “Pick some. Try them and see how you like them,” she cajoled.

  Dalton pointed out a rich, dark chocolate truffle. Victoria placed it in his hand and he put the entire confection in his mouth. He bit down once and the taste made him think of hot and sweaty sex. It was a sensual mixture of dark chocolate and hazelnut. It was too delicious.

  “Mmmmm. This is wonderful,” he said as he swallowed the truffle. “You are a confectionary genius.”

  Pleased with the compliment, Victoria beamed exultantly. “Thanks. Try something else.”

  Dalton chose a white petit four. It looked liked a carrot intricately designed on top of the small cake.

  He chewed. Carrot cake with a cream cheese center and frosting. He nodded approvingly as he finished.

  “Would you like to try anything else?”

  Dalton mediated, wondering if it was wise to indulge in too many fattening sweets. “Okay. Just one more. I’m sure these have more calories than a day’s worth of meals. As great as they are, I would fatten up fairly quickly if I ate this every day.” He pointed to a small brownie.

  She gave it to him. “It’s true that they’re very decadent,” she acquiesced as she watched him bite down on the brownie. It was filled with fudge and caramel. “They are sinfully sweet. And, you couldn’t eat them whenever you wanted to without paying for it later on the scales.” She moved closer to him. “But it’s the temptation of them. It’s like something you want so badly but you know you have to wait for it. Just the smell or sight of them is enough to……whet your appetite. When you finally sink your teeth into it, it hits all your senses,” she concluded in a sultry whisper.

  Dalton caught the double meaning. He could see her every day for two weeks but he couldn’t have her until Friday no matter how much his hormones begged him to jump in and take her. He’d have to wait to get something that he wants right now. He would wait out the two weeks and then he’ll get what he’s been waiting for. Victoria. Naked. In bed.

  Dalton looked at her and whispered back, “Oh, I know it will be worth the wait, don’t you?”

  Victoria gulped. “Definitely.”

  Dalton glanced at his watch. “I better get going. I’ll see you when I get off of work. I think I want the caramel-fudge brownies for my mother,” he told her. “A dozen should do it.”

  Victoria nodded. “I’ll have them ready for you when you get here. See ya later.”

  Dalton waved and walked out of the bakery.

  “Melissa. Do you know what?” Victoria said as she started wiping down the counters. It was thirty minutes till closing.

  “What?”

  “Business is picking up faster than I anticipated. I think it’s about time to hire some permanent help. I know we have the temps but they can only help when they’re not working at their other jobs.” She looked at Melissa, waiting to hear what she
had to say about it.

  Melissa closed the ledger and considered Victoria’s words carefully. “You know, at first, I really loved being extremely busy. But, eventually, you begin to feel the wear and tear of awfully long work days. If we keep this up, we’re going to die of exhaustion. I say, yes. We hire some help. I can put an ad out in the paper tomorrow.” She got a piece of paper and held her pen above it. “What and how much experience are we looking for? Do we need a résumé and recommendations?”

  Victoria nodded. “I don’t think we need a résumé for anyone willing to work the cash register or serve the baked goods. I know there are teenagers looking for work during the summer and I think the experience will be a good thing. It’ll be easy to train them to run the register. We’ll need an impressive résumé for the ones who want to do any baking and decorating. They will need at least two years of culinary experience. We’ll have them come in and audition by preparing something for us to taste. I think we need three people for the register and food service and two more bakers.”

  Melissa jotted down the notes, folded the paper and stuffed it in her purse. “How many references do we need from these people?”

  “Two from the servers and three from the bakers.” Victoria stacked the cookie sheets and put them on the top shelf.

  “Do you mind if I go ahead and go to the newspaper office before they close so we can get this submitted as soon as possible?”

  Victoria waved her hand. “Sure. Go ahead. I’ll finish up.”

  Victoria started boxing up Dalton’s mom’s gift box of brownies when the door opened. She looked up from her packing and saw Dalton grinning at her.

  “Hey.” He looked at his watch. “I made it just in time. You’re closing in less than two minutes,” he stated.

  Victoria strode purposefully to the door and locked it with a knowing click. “No. We’re closing right now.” She gazed up in his green eyes, stepped closer and kissed him squarely and boldly on the lips. It was something she’s wanted to do since she saw him in his office. He wanted to kiss her, too, but didn’t make the first move.