Page 13 of Breathless With Her

“You’re thinking again,” Zoey said. This time, her voice didn’t hold any laughter, there were no jokes. And I knew that what I was thinking must be clearly written all over my face.

After all, I wasn’t good at hiding my emotions. Even though I tried. I attempted to be the ice queen that worked with icing, but it just didn’t work out.

“Anyway, let’s talk about good things.” Zoey smiled, but there was a little brittleness to it as if she were trying to make sure I was happy. But that was up to me. I was responsible for my own happiness. I’d learned that the hard way. So, I’d be okay. Because I had to be.

“We have the Proctor-Jordan wedding coming up, right?” I asked, working on decorating. I had everything in my head, as well as on my tablet and computer. I liked to be organized, liked to know exactly what I was doing. Since Zoey had her tablet out and was on the app that synced to mine, I knew we’d be okay. I didn’t have to stop working so I could work on something else. Yay, for multitasking.

“Yes. Now they want bright colors, not pastels. They want it so bright you can see it from space. Literally, those were their words,” Zoey said with a grin.

“I remember. I think we’re going for Crayola bright if I remember right.”

“Oh, you remember right.”

“They want it so bright, it’ll sear your corneas. Again, their words.”

“We’ll make it work. We have the next meeting where we go over the final design for the cake. We’re going four tiers and stacked. They want it a little haphazard, so not all of the stacks will make sense. And they want hat boxes rather than the traditional squares or circles.”

“Makes sense. They want it bright and fun and wacky. They’re a fun couple, though,” Zoey said with a grin.

“Yeah, Karen and Louis have been together for twenty years now, and they’re finally tying the knot.”

“They had their commitment ceremony about a decade ago before either of us was in business. But instead of going back to the person that helped them then, they came to us. It’s kind of nice. That we’re going to be there for this new moment in their lives.”

“I like that. Being part of their lives when they’re the happiest,” I said, letting my thoughts drift again.

Zoey tapped me on the nose once more.

“Stop it. They are going to be happy. And so are you. Got me?”

“You sure are forceful these days.”

“I’ve always been this way. I just reined it in before. Now, I won’t. Ever.” She threw back her head and laughed, and I just grinned, shaking my head.

The door opened, the bell tinkling, and I looked over the glass case since we were working in the front part of the kitchen in case anyone came in. I froze when I saw who entered.

Oh, God. I knew that face. Knew that strong jaw, and those bright eyes. I knew the way that dark hair slid over that forehead. I knew those broad shoulders and slender hips and thick thighs. Oh, yes, I knew this man.

Though I hadn’t slept with him, had never seen him naked, Ihadslept over at his house.

“Devin,” I whispered and then cleared my throat. “Well, hi there. How can I help you? Uh, how are you?”Smooth, Erin.

His eyes widened for a minute, and then he looked between Zoey and me, a grin spreading over his face. It made his beard look even sexier. And since he was wearing a T-shirt and jeans, I could see the very sexy tattoos all over his arms, and a little bit peeking out at his collar.

Dear God, had I noticed those tattoos before? Oh, yeah, I had. I’d had a vivid dream or four recently about licking every single one of those tattoos. And…other things.

No, I was staying away from penises. More specifically, I was staying away from Devin Carr’s penis. I didn’t want a man, didn’t want anyone.

I was completely fine by myself.

Just because he was sexy as fuck, didn’t mean I was going to do anything about it.

But, seriously. Sexy. As. Fuck.

“Hey, there. I didn’t know this was your place.”

I shivered at the growl in his voice. I should not be trembling at that. Damn him.

Damn all men.

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