Puffy & Precious Read online

  “Probably hanging out with your ex. He was screwing someone else. We’re divorced.”

  “Ouch. It sucks getting dumped. It’s like we’re damaged goods now because we’ve been used and discarded. Why should the men have all the power?”

  I laughed because she was right. I did feel like I didn’t have as much to offer a man as I once had. Brett stole something from me that was never his.

  “I agree, but who wants to date after a break-up like that. I have no interest in men.”

  Tara gave me a salacious grin. “The sex is so much better though. Some men feel like they have to prove that it’s still worth it to be out there. Others just want you to forget about your ex. You really should try it.”

  I shook my head, unable to find the appeal. “I don’t think so. But I’ve only been divorced for a few months.”

  “Did you take him to the cleaners?”

  “No. I just wanted to be free of him.”

  “How did you open this place up?”

  “I’d been saving money in a separate account he didn’t know about. I think I always knew he couldn’t be trusted.”

  “I tried to tell you,” Tara teased. “But enough about our exes. Let me buy something. Since it smells even better in here than I expected it to, I have a feeling I’ll be back constantly. Any hot guys happen to hang around?”

  My mind immediately flashed to Graham. White hot jealousy tore through me, my fists clenching at my sides and my whole body heating.

  “Ooh, that’s interesting. I’m thinking there might be one man you do have an interest in. Tell me everything.”

  I shook my head and tried to play it off. “No, I was just thinking of something Brett said last time he was in here. Sorry.”

  “You know I can tell when you’re lying.”

  “How can you tell?”

  “Because you just admitted it, Abby! Who is he?”

  I nodded to the end of the counter where there were stools. “Sit and I’ll bring you something. Then we can talk. Any allergies or objections?”

  She gestured over her body. “Do I look like I have any objections when it comes to food?”

  I smirked and shook my head. “I’m with you. Coffee?”

  “Yes, please.”

  I grabbed two truffles, two chocolate scones, and two cups of coffee. Once I set everything in front of Tara she nodded. “Spill it.”

  I sighed, taking a bite of my truffle to bring me courage. “His name is Graham. He helped me turn this place into what it is. When I rented it there was basically a blank slate. He’s a carpenter and he built the display case and the tables I have in the kitchen. He installed the floors. He even built the tables when I couldn’t find ones like what I had in mind.”

  “Sounds handy.”

  “Incredibly.”

  “What’s the problem?”

  “There’s no problem. What do you mean?”

  “Why haven’t you jumped him yet?”

  “You sound like Sam,” I muttered.

  “Who’s Sam?”

  I smiled when I thought about my new group of friends. “She’s one of the women I’ve been hanging out with. Max just got married and his new wife has seven best friends. They’ve welcomed me into the fold.”

  “Nice. I’ve always wanted friends like that.”

  I hesitated for a minute. They wouldn’t mind, right? “You should come with me next time. We all get together on Tuesday evenings at Bite Me! My sister-in-law owns it.”

  “What in the world is Bite Me!?” Tara asked with barely concealed laughter.

  I snickered with her. “I know. It’s a bakery, but she uses all the good stuff. It’s delicious, but so dangerous. They’re all really nice. It’d be great if you came. Will you come?”

  I pouted so she knew I was trying not to beg, but really, I wanted her there. She would fit in well with Sam and Carrie.

  “I should be able to do that. Sounds like fun. Now, back to Graham. Why haven’t you slept with him?”

  I shook my head. “I’m not ready. I’ve been working on getting this place started and now I’ve got this big opportunity with the mayor and it’s just not a good time for me to get into a relationship. Don’t you feel raw? I feel like all my skin has been peeled off. I can’t imagine someone touching me right now.”

  “Maybe it gets better with time. Cameron and I split about a year ago. Granted I still hope something large falls on his head on set one day, but I’m not going to let how much I dislike him keep me from enjoying my life. You shouldn’t either. Brett isn’t worth it.”

  I sighed. “I know. But I don’t think Graham is right either. He’s a great guy and all, but I feel like he’s too close.”

  The door opened and I looked up into the green eyes of the man we were talking about. “See for yourself,” I muttered, nodding to Graham so Tara knew exactly who was walking in the door and looking like he might devour me if given the chance.

  Chapter 6

  “Hey, Abby,” Graham said when I got to the end of the counter where he was standing. His deep tone skittered down my spine, alerting every part of my body that he was there. Not that any had missed him.

  “Hi Graham. How are you?”

  For the first time, I was anxious talking to him. Even the day we’d met I wasn’t nervous. That day I was digging out the debris the builders had left behind. I was too distracted to have any sort of reaction to him. I was also going through my divorce and focused on that most days. By the time I realized just how sexy Graham was it was too late to feel awkward around him.

  But after talking to Tara about sex with him, I did.

  He gave me a confused look then answered, “I’m good. Did I interrupt something?”

  I shook my head and opened my mouth to answer, but Tara beat me to it.

  “I’m Tara Fisher. Abby and I went to college together. We were just catching up, but I’ve got to run. I’ll come back in soon, Abby. Oh, what do I owe you?”

  “Nothing,” I said with a shake of my head. “My treat.”

  Tara handed Graham $20 and looked into his eyes. “Get her to take this. Whatever means necessary. Do we have an understanding?”

  Graham’s eyebrow tilted up as he fought an amused grin. “Understood.”

  “Bye Abs. See you soon. Nice to meet you, Graham.”

  I wanted to shake the shit out of her for leaving me alone with Graham, but I was fairly certain that would be kind of obvious.

  “She seems nice,” Graham said with a smirk. “Full of energy.”

  I grinned. “She always has been. She just moved back after being in California the last few years. Do you want me to get her number for you?”

  I hated saying the words, but I knew I had to ask. Not to test him, although him checking out another woman was high on my list of reasons not to date a man. Right behind him having a penis and the ability to use it in someone else.

  Graham held my eyes and shook his head. “I’m not interested in your friend, Abby.”

  Was I crazy or did his voice drop and get even sexier? If I was crazy, so were my girl parts because they were doing a little happy dance.

  “What are you interested in?” I asked, unable to stop myself when he leaned forward.

  “How about I’ll start with a coffee and a chocolate scone. Looks like you still have one to finish. Wanna join me?”

  I glanced down to my scone, untouched across the counter from where Tara had been sitting, then back into Graham’s green eyes. Did he get closer when I wasn’t looking? His eyes were huge. Green overwhelmed them, but threads of brown circled each pupil. I wanted to stare into them forever and memorize the patterns there.

  But I pulled back. “Sure. I’ll join you.”

  His smile was even bigger than his eyes.

  I needed to quit talking about sex because it was making me want to have some.

  “How was your day?” I asked as I set a plate and coffee cup in front of him.

  He nodded. “It was good. A
productive day. I’m almost finished with the store I’ve been working on.”

  “Do you have another project lined up?”

  Graham nodded again. “Always,” he said with a grin that lit up his eyes.

  Jeez, I was in trouble.

  “Do you have anything for me to work on? I was going to stain the frames I made a few days ago, but I wanted to check with you first. I thought the whitewash we put on the floor would look good against the dark wall color. What do you think?”

  “Yeah, sounds good. That’s what I was thinking.”

  “Glad to know we’re on the same page,” he said, his voice dipping again. When I looked at him, he didn’t seem to notice anything was different. “We work well together, Abby. Really well.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, we do.”

  “So,” he began, leaning away from the counter. Maybe he was as flustered as I was. “What are you up to tonight?”

  I shook my head. “Nothing, really. Obsessing over my meeting with the mayor.”

  “You have a meeting with the mayor?”

  “Had. It was on Monday. I’m interviewing for the baking job for the Kick-Off The Summer Picnic. It’ll be pretty huge if I get the job, but I’m not sure.”

  “That’s great news, Abby. They’d be crazy to turn you down. Everything you make is amazing. I think my favorite are your doughnuts. They’re so light and puffy. Delicious. Anyone who’s ever eaten anything you make will fall in love with you immediately.”

  What! He didn’t mean to say that, did he? There was no way. He probably didn’t even know he said it. “Thanks,” I mumbled, feeling off-kilter.

  “When will you find out if you got the job?”

  I shrugged. “Next week sometime.”

  “It’s killing you, isn’t it?”

  I studied him for a long moment before I breathed, “Yes.”

  Graham chuckled. “I know that feeling. Whenever I put in for a big project it’s the same way. It sucks having someone else determine your fate.”

  There was something in his tone that told me he really did understand, and that he didn’t like it at all.

  “Did you always know you wanted to be a contractor?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not technically a contractor. I’m a general handyman with a few extra skills. I’m not a licensed contractor though so I couldn’t build a house or anything like that. But to answer your question, no. I didn’t always know I wanted to do this.”

  I leaned against the counter, anxious for more information about the man who intrigued me. “How did you get started?”

  He held my eyes for a minute before he ducked his head. “We never had a nice house growing up. My mom couldn’t really afford anything in a decent area. She was constantly picking up guys that weren’t any good for her. She’d bring them home and they’d live with us for a while. One of them was… He was a great guy. He tried to help my mom. I was older, 15 by then. He tried to teach me how to do small repairs to the house we were in at that point.” He paused and shook his head. “I was such an angry kid by that point that I never let him know how closely I was paying attention. He never gave up on me though. He kept teaching me. It stuck.”

  “What happened to him?”

  Graham shrugged. “One day he was gone. I went to school and when I came home his stuff was gone. I never saw him again.”

  “What did your mom say?”

  He laughed mirthlessly. “It was none of my business. The next day someone else moved in and I realized exactly what I’d given up by not talking to George more often.”

  I could tell by the clouds in his eyes that the second man was not a nice person. I hated to see his pain. Graham was a wonderful man. It was hard to imagine anyone not being kind and loving toward him.

  “Have you tried to look him up since you got older? How old are you?”

  I clamped my hand over my mouth. Why did I let my mouth run away on me? I had no right to know how old he was!

  “It’s okay, Abby. You can ask me anything. I’m 34. I won’t dare ask how old you are though.”

  “Why not?”

  He chuckled. “My mom was a little crazy, but she taught my brother and I never to ask a woman her age.”

  I waved my hand. “Please. I can’t help my age. If you judge me because I’m only 27, that’s your problem, not mine.”

  Graham smiled. “I have no problem with your age. Or anything else about you.”

  Damn. It got hot all of a sudden. He was lethal when he wanted to be. I wasn’t sure I could handle much more of him. When I glanced at the clock I realized I wouldn’t have to. In about ten minutes I was closing.

  “Since you don’t have plans tonight, do you want to help me stain the frames? I’ve got them in my car. You can tell me where you want them all hung and we can get some hooks in so you can put them up whenever you have the pictures printed.”

  “How do you know I don’t have any plans?”

  He laughed. “You told me. Just a few minutes ago. I asked what you were doing tonight and you said obsessing over your meeting with the mayor. We changed topics and never went back to the reason I asked in the first place.”

  “Oh,” I said, feeling as sheepish as I sounded. He was right. I didn’t have plans, but I wasn’t sure I could handle being cooped up with Graham for the evening either.

  “It’ll probably take an hour, maybe a little less to get stain on all of them. Especially if we work together.”

  An hour. He was helping me out. I could handle an hour. I shook my head. I was being silly. It was Graham. I’d been alone with him plenty of other times. There was no reason for it to be any different just because I’d been fantasizing about him.

  “Yeah, that’s fine. Do you want to bring them in here?”

  “Sure. If that’s okay with you. I don’t want to stink up the place.”

  I shrugged. “I’ll leave the doors open. It should be fine.”

  “I’ll go grab everything then.”

  An hour later we were finished with the frames and I realized staying open later was huge for my business. I’d always intended to keep the doors open into the evening to entice the foot traffic the plaza brought in, but I never had the energy, or money, to do it. My plan from the beginning was to hire someone to work the evening shift so I could have some down time, but like the things Graham was checking off the list, hiring someone got cut from my plans when I ran out of money.

  Graham hammered in one last hook and stepped back from the wall we were well on our way to creating. “I think you could use a few more frames. What do you think?”

  I studied the wall with him. It was a huge wall. A collage would work well, but what I’d intended did seem too small. I knew it would look much different with the pictures hung, but I didn’t want it to look like I didn’t have enough pictures to fill the wall.

  “You’re right. I’m going to need a bunch more.”

  “Do you have pictures?”

  I nodded. “Some of them.”

  “Can I see?”

  I kept my laptop in the kitchen during the day. Most evenings I balanced my books while I was fixing dinner or watching HGTV, but I liked to have my computer at SkinnyCakes just in case.

  Instead of staying in the cafe like I thought he would, Graham was right behind me when I turned with my laptop to go back out. His hands steadied me, but my stomach did flips. He’d never touched me except to hand over his money or accept change. We’d never been so close.

  I looked up at him through my eyelashes. Up close he was even more attractive. The coffee color of his skin made his eyes even brighter when I was so close to him. Thick, long lashes blinked over them as he sucked in a breath. His hands tightened almost imperceptibly on my arms and my body swayed toward his. I breathed, needing to draw air into my lungs before I passed out, and drew him in with the air I was desperate for.

  Beneath the spicy masculine scent that I ached to put a flavor to I caught a faint whiff of his manly sweat. Not overpoweri
ng, but enough to remind me he’d been working all day. I wanted to dive into him, explore him, find out what other scents he was hiding on his body.

  “Is anyone here?” I heard a voice call from the cafe.

  We jumped apart, me nearly dropping my laptop. Graham ran his hands over his bare head and locked his fingers behind his neck. His arms jumped with the flex and I wanted to feel them wrapped around me.

  The bell on the counter rang and snapped me out of my fantasy. “Go, Abby. I’ll be right there.”

  His voice was harsher than I’d expected. I pushed into the cafe and forced a smile for the couple standing at the counter.

  “Oh, you are here! We got worried when you didn’t answer the bell when we first rang. Are you still open? The sign on the door says you close at five, but we figured if the doors were open you were.”

  The hopefulness in her voice brought me back to myself. I had no business sniffing or tasting Graham. It was ridiculous. I belonged behind the counter, helping my customers. And he belonged with someone who didn’t have enough baggage to overwhelm an airport.

  “What can I get you both?”

  As I filled their orders Graham came out from the kitchen. He packed up everything we’d been using and carried his tools out to his truck. When he didn’t come right back in I thought he left without saying anything to me. As the couple was walking out, boxes and coffees in hand, Graham came back inside.

  “I’m sorry, Abby,” he said without meeting my eyes. “I never should have done that.”

  “Done what?” I asked, even though I knew exactly what he was talking about. “Nothing happened, Graham. Can we just put it behind us?”

  He nodded, appearing grateful I let him off the hook so easily. “Sounds great. Hey, I gotta go. I’ll see you tomorrow though.”

  I nodded and watched him leave until his truck was out of sight. I locked the doors and closed out the cash register. It wasn’t until I was leaving almost an hour later that I realized I never showed him the pictures he’d asked to see.

  It was probably for the best.