Wedding Vows: Just Married: The Ex Factor / What Happens in Vegas... / Another Wild Wedding Night

Nothing as permanent as love should start over anything involved in takeout.

Laurel wasn’t a bold woman, but she was intuitive and if she’d learned anything in the years she’d studied and practiced yoga and meditation it was to honor her instincts. Of course, she could be wrong. Ron might be entirely wrong for her in the long term but she wasn’t willing to ignore the strong feeling she had that the way they began would be important to their future.

Wanting to respect his idea of a first date, and yet still make it special, she called him.

When she picked up his business card to call him on Friday she accidentally left a purple icing thumbprint on the pristine card stock. When she identified herself he sounded instantly distressed. “You’re not cancelling, are you?”

“No. I’m not. I have an idea. Instead of meeting at a coffee shop, I thought we might have a picnic.”

There was a tiny pause. “A picnic coffee?”

“Yes. I will meet you at JFK Plaza.” She didn’t call it by its more familiar name, Love Park, named for the famous red-and-blue sculpture that spelled LOVE with the O tilted sideways.

“But it’s almost winter.”

“Wear something warm. I’ll bring the coffee.”

She was inordinately pleased with herself when he agreed. A first date at Love Park was the kind of outing to tell her grandchildren about. Even if the fountain wasn’t operating, there was a great view of the city by looking northwest down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, which was supposedly modeled after the Champs Elysées in Paris.

Laurel had no idea whether that was true or not. She’d never been to Paris, but she liked the idea that she could pretend. Besides, the art museum was at the other end of the plaza and she never tired of going there.

As she imagined their first date, thought about Ron, she began to create a perfect first cake to go with a perfect first date.

17

DEX HAD TAKEN TO texting her. She had no idea why, but the short, sexy, sometimes funny texts were getting to be a bad habit. Of course, it would be rude not to respond, so they began exchanging increasingly steamy messages.

Every time I see a takeout container I get hard, he texted.

She shut her phone and tried to ignore the surge of lust his words invoked. After her next appointment, she texted back: I can still feel your lips on my nipple.

The texts continued in this manner until she got one that puzzled her. Have dinner with me Friday night.

That’s not sexy, she texted back.

Trust me, it will be.

She laughed aloud from the parking lot where she’d picked up the message. Replied, I don’t trust you.

Hardly a minute had gone by when she had her reply. I know.

Even though a text message couldn’t have a tone, she felt sadness coming from the words. As she looked at her phone, wondering how to reply, it rang.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey.”

“So, dinner on Friday night is with the building owners and their wives. What do you say?”

“I’m not your wife anymore.”

“I know. But you’re a beautiful, interesting woman and I’d enjoy your company. Then, after dinner, we’ll head to my hotel room and I’ll demonstrate how much I’ve missed you.”

I’ve missed you, too, she wanted to say. Instead she managed, “I think I can make it.”

“Thanks. See you Friday.”

SHE’D NEVER LOOKED MORE GORGEOUS, Dex thought as he escorted Karen into the restaurant. In her simple black dress, she somehow managed to appear both elegant and sexy at the same time.

He’d loved her sexiness when he’d first met her but he liked looking at her even more now she was a little older. He liked her confidence and the tiny lines at the edges of her eyes. They lured him in.

She was still a great corporate wife, too, he thought, watching her charm the building owners and make friends with their wives. What could have been a boring business dinner ended up being so much fun that everyone exchanged hugs at the end.

As they walked away making the short stroll to his hotel in overcoats and gloves, he said, “Thanks, that was more fun than I expected.”

She squeezed his hand through their two gloves. “Thank you. Louise has a niece getting married next year. I schmoozed.”

He laughed down at her. Her face was alive, her cheeks pink with cold, her eyes sparkling. He couldn’t help himself, he leaned over and kissed her full lips.

Her hand slipped up to his shoulder. “What was that for?”

“Schmoozing, smooching, I get confused.”

“Come on, walk faster.”

“You cold?”

“No. I want to get naked with you, and fast.”

“That’s my girl,” he said, pulling her along the pavement at top speed. If he hadn’t been staying on the seventeenth floor he’d have run for the stairs. As it was, the time spent waiting for the elevator was agony. Once the car came and they were inside and alone, he pulled her to him, kissing her hungrily, pulling off his gloves and slipping his hands inside her coat to feel her up.

She giggled, but slipped off her gloves to do some exploring of her own.

By the time they reached his room they were both panting. His hands were unsteady as they pulled off her coat, her dress.

When he saw her underwear he nearly expired. Under that classy dress she had the sexiest, barely-there black wisps of nothing that he’d ever seen.

He had them off in no time. She pulled back the covers and slid into bed, watching with frank enjoyment as he ripped his own clothes off and then rolled into bed. And paradise.

“GOOD THING we slept over at the hotel,” Dex said next morning as they got ready to go down to the restaurant just off the lobby for a late breakfast.

“Why?” Karen asked.

“I don’t have to worry about a certain CPA showing up this morning and forcing a showdown.”

“Very amusing. To be honest with you, I think he dumped me for my cake decorator.”

“Wow. She must be hot.”

She swatted him and then gave him a shove that sent him sprawling. Luckily he’d had the forethought to grab her on the way down so they bounced onto the mattress together, still damp from the shower, still hungry for each other.

At some point, he knew they’d have to face up to what they were doing, but right now he was so happy to have her back in his life that he didn’t want to go there. Having that sweet, willing body back in his bed was enough.

For now.

“Dex,” she said, in a sexy, breathless tone, as she unbelted her robe.

He suspected breakfast would be late. And it would be room service.

18

WHEN RON ARRIVED for their coffee date, bundled in an overcoat, gloves and warm boots, his nose red from the cold, Laurel was already waiting on a bench. She got up and hugged him. He seemed a little taken aback but hugged her in return. She thought they fit nicely together, being of a similar height. When you were both average, average could be perfect.

She was wearing a man’s winter coat that she’d picked up at a thrift store, a woolen hand-crocheted hat with a pink crocheted flower on the side that an aunt had sent her for Christmas, and purple mittens.

“This is a very nice spot,” he said, seeming to see the LOVE sculpture for the first time in his life though he must have viewed it hundreds of times.

She was so happy he approved. He sat down on the bench and she reached into her bag and pulled out the thermos of coffee she’d made earlier. She only drank fair trade coffee, of course, and the brew was excellent.

She poured the coffee into china mugs she’d brought from home. They were pottery, made by hand at a women’s collective in Guatemala and she loved their heft and the connection she felt with these women who were using their own artistic talents to make a better life.

She handed him his coffee, then realized she hadn’t brought milk or sugar. “Um, I hope you like it black.”

“I do.”

Finally, feeling both bold and foolish, she unearthed a reusable cake box and handed it to him.

“What’s this?”

“A little something to go with your coffee.”

He opened it slowly and the grin that split his face made him look anything but unremarkable. He put down the coffee on the bench and removed his gloves so he could ease the cupcake out of the box.

She’d spent more time on that one cupcake than she’d spent on some four-tier wedding cakes. And his response was everything she could have hoped for.

The cake was spherical, with a flat spot on the bottom so it would stand. On it, she’d iced a simple variation of the continents, using blue gel with touches of green as the sea. On top of the world was a man made of fondant, a man with glasses and average-colored hair, in a gray suit—including a tiny blue-and-red striped tie—holding a briefcase in one hand and a gun in the other. She’d considered writing Top Secret on the briefcase but decided that was too obvious.

At first he simply looked at it, turning it every way so he could see the cake from all angles, not saying a word, but she could tell from his expression that he was pleased.

“This,” he finally said, “is the nicest cake I’ve ever had. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” She felt absurdly pleased. It was so rare for her to be present when her creations were consumed. Sometimes she never even met the final customers, she’d get commissions from Karen or Chelsea. To have the opportunity to watch someone she liked enjoy the fruit of her artistic vision and stove labor made her bubbly with excitement.

She anticipated his first bite. Would he be delighted at the cake she’d chosen for him? A plain white with lacings of hidden lemon flavor? She wanted to see him with icing smeared around his clean and proper mouth, to watch him gobble the tiny figure of himself she’d crafted so painstakingly.

After admiring the cake again, chuckling over the details and peering closer until his nose almost touched Africa, he said, “I can’t believe how accurately you’ve delineated the continents in such a small space. It’s quite remarkable.”

Then, as carefully as he’d eased it out of the box, he began to replace the cake.

She couldn’t stop herself from crying out in protest.

“What is it?” he asked, the thriller cupcake half in and half out of the box.

“You’re not diabetic, are you?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then why don’t you eat it?”

He appeared as shocked at the idea of eating the cupcake as she was at the notion of him not eating it. “I can’t do that, it’s a work of art. I want to enjoy it. Make it last.”

“You can’t,” she said, understanding the joy of her profession in that moment as she never had before. “Any more than you can make a perfect sunset last, or an amazing live concert, or a belly laugh. If you put that cake in the fridge until it rots, you’ll have missed the joy of eating it. Please.” She leaned over and touched his leg with her purple-mittened hand. “I made it for you.”

He blinked at her slowly, then with a nod that contained a hint of sadness, he withdrew that perfect cupcake. And, after staring at it again from all angles, as though to commit the image to memory, he bit into Australia.

He didn’t seem to mind that he got blue gel all around his mouth, didn’t stop for a second to wipe up. Instead, he gave himself over to the pleasure of that first bite. “Mmm, mmm, that is so good,” he finally said, licking his lips. “Usually commercial cakes are so disappointing, as though all the work went into the decorating for show, and then inside it’s a boring cake. But this.” He seemed unable to find words. Closed his eyes briefly. Then smiled at her. “I think I get it. You made an ordinary cake and filled it with a surprise flavor.”

She nodded, pleased with his perception, and so he went on.

“It’s like a thriller novel. Everything seems normal on the surface, but there are secrets to be uncovered. And the protagonist may seem like one thing on the outside but be full of surprises.”

“Exactly. It’s what I love about thrillers.”

“And new relationships?”

He was gazing at her with those warm gray eyes that were anything but ordinary. Her stomach jumped and then settled. “Exactly.”

He offered her the cake and she bit into the other side. Even she had to admit it was one of her tastiest, most inspired creations.

“This is a very different first date for me,” he said, sipping from coffee that steamed in the cold air.

“I’m glad. How do they usually go?”

“I have a list of questions I can ask to keep the conversation flowing.”

“Such as?”

“Tell me about yourself,” he said.

“That’s a good one to start with.”

“I think so. Well? How about it? Tell me about yourself.”

She sipped her coffee, thinking. What was there to tell, really, that a down-to-earth man like Ron would find interesting? When she reviewed her history, even with careful editing, she knew she’d sound like a flake. So she cut to the chase. “I’m a flake.”

A quiet rumble that could have been a chuckle shook him. “Really? Have a bit of Antarctica.”

He passed her the cake and she bit into it.

“I am, you know,” she said around the flavor. “I don’t like schedules or do normal things. I practice a lot of yoga—and I started a long time before it became popular, by the way. I’ve spent much of my life drifting.”

She tipped back her head and contemplated the gray sky above. “All of it, really.”

“Perhaps I could have some specifics?”

Suddenly, she laughed. “You see what I mean? I can’t even have a normal conversation with details. I’m even a flake in conversation.”

“I like that about you.”

“You do?” If he’d told her he liked that her hair was four colors because she could never decide on one she couldn’t have been more shocked.

“For the same reason I like your hair,” he said, knocking her mouth wide open. As though he could hear her thoughts. “It’s free and unfettered by rules and order. Oh, don’t misunderstand me. I like order, I live by rules. Accountants have to, you know. Numbers don’t have a great deal of room for whimsy. I saw you and something lightened in me. I think I have a tendency to be too serious.”

She thought of the way he’d described his dating strategy to her, playing some kind of mathematical numbers game, and she had to agree.

“If you want whimsy, you’ve come to the right girl.” She blew out a breath. Usually she was uncomfortable talking about herself, but she figured if she liked the guy enough to spend half a day making him a cupcake, she liked him enough to tell him about her life. So she tried.

“The only truly constant thing in my life has been cakes. I knew that’s what I wanted to do when I was a teenager. But apart from that, I’ve moved around a lot, spent some time in India, never really been able to settle. My parents were hippies and somehow I never got out of the habit, I guess. I’m thirty-two years old and my longest ever relationship was two years. Everything I own fits into the world’s tiniest apartment. Which I rent.”

There was nothing left of the cupcake now but the little fondant man in the gray suit. Ron glanced at her as though he were about to ask if he could keep the little icing guy, but he surprised her, he leaned forward, holding the replica of himself between his thumb and forefinger. His eyes held hers. “I want you to take the first bite,” he said softly.

Maybe it wasn’t the sexiest remark a man had ever made to a woman, but it was the most erotic statement anyone had ever said to her. Perhaps because of the way he was looking at her. This buttoned-up accountant had sexual intent blazing in his eyes and she knew he was inviting her to do more than chomp a chunk of icing.

She leaned forward slowly. Opened her mouth. Like a perfect sunset, a great concert or a belly laugh, she knew this moment would be gone all too soon, and all she’d have would be the memory, so she tried to imprint every sensation. The feel of the cold breeze on her nose, the sound of traffic in the city, the cry of some hardy seabird in the distance, and the warmth of the man beside her. The expression of tender lust on his face, the way his lips curved slightly, a tiny smudge of blue lodged adorably on his chin.

He slipped her version of himself between her lips and she bit down, taking half of him into her, enjoying the burst of sweetness and the punch of almond. Because, as with the cake, she hadn’t wanted the icing to taste predictable.

She licked her lips. He continued to gaze at her as he pushed the other half of his fondant self into his mouth and chewed. His eyes widened slightly as the unexpected flavor hit him, and they went squinty at the sides with humor.

Then he leaned over and, taking her chin in his hand, scanning her face for a long moment, he kissed her.

She was flighty and dreamy and whimsical and—deep to her core—romantic. She’d dreamed of Princes Valiant and Charming and every variation in between. The kind of men who rode steeds and crashed down doors and swept innocent, heart-pure maidens off their feet.

Ron wasn’t anything like that. She couldn’t imagine him on a steed. He seemed like the kind of guy who might be afraid of horses. She couldn’t imagine him sweeping her off her feet, but he’d hold a door open for her, he’d be able to figure out even her income tax, which was a lot more practical in the real world.

It was only his kiss that made her feel like a fairy tale princess.

This was sweeping her off her feet, the way he took possession of her mouth, teased her with his tongue, so she tasted again the sweetness of sugar and almond, the hints of lemon from the cake.

She got the feeling he was as stunned as she was by the powerful attraction between them when their mouths met. She made a sound in the back of her throat, embarrassingly like the purr of a well-stroked kitten, and he pulled her in closer, until their bodies rubbed together. She felt all the frustration of winter. Coats and sweaters, possibly thermal underwear on one of them, which oddly enough didn’t put her off but kind of excited her since it was so new and strange compared to what she’d been used to.

Guys who could unerringly find their Chi but didn’t always have as much luck finding the clitoris.

Not that she knew a great deal about Ron, but somehow she felt he was the kind of man who, once shown, didn’t forget important details like that.

His hands were rubbing up and down her back. She could tell he wanted to do more and was holding himself in check.

For her benefit or some odd notion of his own?

She rubbed her breasts provocatively against his chest, as provocatively as she could with all the layers between them and she was pretty sure he groaned in a quiet, self-contained way.

Hmm. She let her hand stray to his knee, slowly track north. He sucked in his breath when she brushed against a flatteringly hard erection. But he didn’t pick up on her obvious invitation to do some more exploring of his own.

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