Page 14 of The Night Ride
“I can’t turn down a good peanut butter or chocolate chip.”
“If you like chocolate chip, you tend to be sweet, kind and reliable, which are all good traits to have but are also like most of the population, which makes you kind of basic.For the peanut butter, it means you’re rather captivating and mysterious.Makes a person want to get to know all the parts of you that you keep hidden.”
I pressed a hand against my chest and replied with mock outrage.“You wound me.And here I thought we could be friends.”
She leaned in, giving me a bird's-eye view of her plump cleavage that I wanted to dive into, and said, “We are friends, or I never would have allowed you to buy me a drink.”
I set my arm around the back of her barstool and leaned closer.The heat between us rose.Her pupils dilated, displaying her interest.The green in her hazel eyes became vivid.I would convince her to come home with me.That was my new goal for the evening.A night spent exploring this enchanting beauty was just the ticket to get me out of my funk.I doubted Evan would show unless the woman he’s banging decided to kick him out.
Her face lit up as the jukebox played a new tune.“I love this song.”
It was a sappy love song by Patsy Cline.I couldn’t refuse a woman who loved such a classic.
“Dance with me.”I held out my hand and waited for her to take it.
Her smile widened while she bit her full bottom lip.I couldn’t wait to get her alone and take my time learning the contours of her lovely mouth.The moment our palms touched, fire erupted beneath my skin.I wanted to caress every inch of this woman with her sultry hazel eyes and slender hands.
And I would before the night was done.
***
Present Day
Wyatt signaled our exit pulling me from visions of the past.That night with Beth would forever live in my memory for a multitude of reasons.We crossed the Interstate 64 bridge from Illinois over the Mississippi River into Missouri.The Gateway Arch glimmered, a stunning silver beacon in the sunlight.
I shook off the memory.I hadn’t seen Beth Ryder since that fateful night five years ago.When I experienced a kiss with a woman I never should have tasted.And I ended up betraying a member of my unit.
The past needed to remain buried.I would deal with this stop and move on.
Evan and I were never right after the night I kissed his sister.As much as I tried paying penance, Evan wouldn’t permit it.
As we neared Beth’s home, the only emotion I could settle on was fury that she hadn’t attended the funeral.
Why had she skipped out on being there to lay her brother to rest?
Chapter four
You’vegottabekiddingme.
Why was Aiden Miller standing outside Sweet Dreams Bakery?Was the universe trying to make me lose my shit?
Today was my worst day as a business owner andhehad to appear on my doorstep.As if I didn’t have enough on my plate.Because one of my employees was stealing from the bakery.Over the past few months my accounts haven’t been balancing without showing repeated losses.I thought perhaps I kept making an error in my accounting, which wasn’t one of my strengths.Given the loss of funds, I hired a forensic accountant to review my books.
Ms.Jenna Grant had emailed me her report this afternoon.After extensive research, she uncovered over twenty thousand dollars in missing funds from the last year.It wasn’t my dubious skills in accounting at play either.She suggested I contact the police and hand over her findings so they could open an investigation.
She had used words like embezzlement and theft.
It’s why I was still at my bakery after hours, handing over her report along with a list of my employees to a pair of police detectives with the Kirkwood Police Department.
Andhejust had to make an appearance today of all days.I felt like a puppy that had been kicked repeatedly given the magnitude of betrayal.It all made me want to march into the kitchen and inhale a bowl of brownie batter to make myself feel better.
But I doubted even that would help given the level of betrayal swimming inside my chest.And for reasons unbeknownst to me, the universe had decided to kick me when I was already down.They had delivered the guy I had a crush on throughout high school onto my doorstep.The man I wanted to give myself to, body and soul, on a clear fall night five years ago.
But the jerk had walked away as if our time together had meant nothing—as ifImeant nothing.Yet, he had been right there with me up until the moment my brother ruined it all.
In a single night, I went from the highest of highs, thinking I had found heaven, only to be drop kicked back into a reality that mirrored hell.
If my mother was still alive, she would tell me I was being too dramatic again.That a girl like me needed to be more realistic when it came to men and not to reach too high.But then, my mother treated me as if I was an ogre, because I’d carried extra weight as a teen.
