Spiced Page 7
“Good?” he said with a self-satisfied smirk.
“Passable.”
“Delicious.”
“Most likely you’re a one-dish wonder.”
“I’m starting to see your issue with men. Aside from your taste.”
What was wrong with her that tossing around insults with Tony was turning into the highlight of her day? “Present company included, of course.”
She twirled the linguine onto her fork and sank into sheer bliss when the flavors met her tongue.
One bite. She could have one bite of pasta. And holy damn, the man could cook. “Is this all your mom’s teaching?”
“All Mom.” His eyes crinkled, but his smile held a hint of sadness.
She couldn’t relate, and a selfish part of her didn’t want to. She still had both parents and three of her grandparents. Gran had buried her one and only husband following a tragic accident when Pepper was four. Grief was something she’d only experienced in her repeated failed attempts to get pregnant this past year.
“You sure we can’t have sex?” he said. “Because you look like my librarian fantasy come to life.”
His words said I’m a hornball, but that don’t take me too seriously light in his eyes said he knew how to deflect a woman’s attention with a bad proposition.
She smiled sweetly. “How about you just fantasize about having sex with me, and we call it even?”
“Surefire way not to get dessert, Miss Blue. And if you like this…”
“Thanks for the offer, but I’m off cannoli.”
“I really want to kiss that tart mouth again.”
“If wishes were horses—”
“We’d all be eating steak,” he finished.
They blinked at each other.
“You’re a Firefly fan,” he said.
She smiled back. “We had a marathon at the bachelorette party.”
“So I shouldn’t call you Saffron.”
“First, I have a sister named Saffron. So definitely not. And second, I’ve already told you that I won’t be your Mrs. Reynolds.”
“Spices.” He tipped his head back and laughed. “You’re all named after spices. That’s nuts.”
“No, my aunt Petunia’s kids are all named after nuts. Peanut does okay for herself, but Walnut… And don’t ask about poor Pecan. It’s so awkward when people mispronounce it. She’s not a pee-can, you know.”
“You are a funny, funny woman,” he said softly.
“You’re a pain in the ass. But you’re hot and you can cook okay, so I’ll pretend to keep you for a while.”
He clinked his water glass to hers. “And we should have sex.”
He was impossible.
But maybe not as impossible as she’d first thought.
* * *
“Why can’t they all be skins?” Gran demanded. “I need to see Tony without his shirt on.”
“Hush, or we’re leaving.” Pepper settled onto the bleachers of the community center between Gran and Kimmie Kincaid. She should’ve been at Bliss Bridal, or running down the solution to the ticket issue for Bliss’s annual Battle of the Boyfriends this weekend, but Kimmie had popped in—waddled, really, poor thing—and mentioned a pickup basketball game featuring all the hottest men in Bliss, and Gran had insisted they come.
Since she would’ve gone by herself, Pepper hadn’t had much choice but to come along.
And there was a part of her happy to see that Tony was making friends on his own. She hadn’t called in any favors to get him invited here—apparently he’d taken Max a pizza at the garage next door, and that was that.
Friendship was so much easier for men.
“They can’t all be skins,” Kimmie said. “Poor Charlotte would bounce too much.”
“They make sports bras in flesh colors.” Gran lifted her shirt. “See?”
“Gran!”
Out on the basketball floor, Mikey Diamond did a double take, staring in horror at them, his bald head gleaming under the lights. Tony ducked in and stole the ball, dashing down the court, leg muscles stretching and flexing, his thick arm extending to toss in an easy layup. He pulled his shirt up to wipe his face as he jogged back to the other end of the court, showcasing hard abs and slick skin.
Pepper gulped.
Who knew making pizza all day could keep a man in such good shape?
“Eyes on the ball,” Mikey’s wife, Dahlia—another who had drunk the water in Bliss and was currently sporting a basketball-size bump of her own—called to him.
“His grandmother’s cheating,” Mikey called back.
“Such a dirty old man,” Dahlia said with a smile. She was adorable, petite and dark-haired with glasses that made her seem far more innocent than she was. While Kimmie ran the best cupcake shop in Bliss, Dahlia owned and ran the ice-cream shop next door to Kimmie Cakes. The two of them had supplied dirty-themed ice cream and cupcakes for the bachelorette party, as they did for many bachelorette parties around Bliss. Dahlia nudged Gran. “Mikey likes you.”
“We have a bond,” Gran agreed.
“Goosing him at Saffron’s wedding does not give you a bond,” Pepper said.
Dahlia laughed and clapped her hands. “Oh, I wish I could’ve seen that.”
“I can do it again,” Gran offered.
“Do I need to warn Josh?” Kimmie whispered to Pepper.
“Probably.”
“Oh! The babies are jumping. Want to feel?”
“Absolutely.” She’d take any chance to nudge her own maternal hormones.
Kimmie took her hand and put it on the side of her belly. A bump slid across her palm, and once again an unexpected and unwelcome sheen coated her eyeballs. “Oh!”
“She’s going to be a handful.” Kimmie smiled. “I had a dream there were actually seven of them. I thought poor Josh was going to need a paper bag when I told him this morning. Probably I should’ve left off the part about three of them being frogs and the other four being cupcake flies that the frogs were trying to eat.”
“You have the best dreams, Kimmie.” Merry leaned into them. She was a relative newcomer to Bliss, with a life almost as interesting as Kimmie’s dreams. “I never remember mine. Which is probably a good thing.”
“You have more imagination in your pinky than I do in my entire subconscious,” Kimmie replied. “I could never write books like you do.”
Merry’s whole face went red. She’d only recently publicly claimed being the bestselling author of Pepper’s nieces’ favorite series of books, and from what Pepper had heard, she was still getting used to the attention. “It’s a good mobile career.”
“But you’re not leaving us,” Kimmie said.
Merry flicked a glance at the court, where Max was on the skins team, and a familiar glow overtook the blush. “Not a chance.”
“I haven’t goosed him either,” Gran announced. “But I got Tony when he came to strip for us.”
“In your dreams, Gran,” Tony called on his way past.
“Don’t encourage her,” Pepper called back.
He grinned at her briefly before focusing back on the game, and honeybees buzzed about her stomach.
It was a dang good thing she wasn’t dating him for real, because the only thing she needed buzzing in her belly was a baby of her own.
“Speaking of Tony,” Dahlia said, “spill.”
“He lives next door. Moved to town a few months ago to expand his pizza empire, my sisters mistook him for a stripper at the bachelorette party, I went to apologize later, and it turns out that despite the two of us getting off on the wrong foot, he’s irresistibly funny and needed some friends.” There. That sounded convincing.
“With benefits,” Gran added.
It was Pepper’s turn for heated cheeks. “You know what goes good together?” she said, because this was what she was supposed to be doing in exchange for him playing her fake boyfriend. “Pizza, cake, and ice cream.”
“Does he do dirty pizza flavors?” Kimmie asked.
“Do you know if you’re having a boy or a girl?” Pepper asked.
“Nope, and God help us either way,” she replied with a laugh. She suddenly bolted to her feet. “Yes! Go, Mikey!”
Mikey tossed the ball down the court to Josh, who flipped a backward layup into the basket.
“Beautiful shot, honey,” Kimmie called.
He blew her a kiss.
Tony grabbed the ball and tossed it in to Charlotte. The two of them made their way across the court, talking softly, while Luke Hart, the last member of their team, dodged Mikey, Josh, and Max.
“Who’s winning?” Pepper asked.
“You are,” Dahlia said.
“Charlotte’s team always wins,” Kimmie offered.
“And she’s pretty pissed at Max right now,” Merry added.
“What? Why?”
“For not telling her my, er, secret.”
Ah, that made sense. Charlotte ran the local bookstore. She and Pepper had invited Merry to a book club discussion of Amber Finch’s Phoebe Moon novels before Christmas, not realizing, of course, that Merry had written them.
Life in Bliss was way more interesting than Pepper had thought it would be when she moved here.
“I love your secret,” Kimmie announced.
“My baby’s going to need a signed set,” Dahlia added.
So would Pepper’s. Five more days, and it would be official.
“Holy hotness, Batman!” Gran fanned herself. “I forgot my ones.”
“Gran, they’re playing basketball, not stripping,” Pepper said.
Gran’s eyes twinkled. “One team’s halfway there, young lady. You know what would make this game even better?”
“If they were shirts and pants?”
“Dang right. Love me some jockey shorts at lunchtime.”
That would put Tony on the pants-less team.
Pepper’s thighs clenched. “You are a terrible influence on me.”
“Only get one life. Gotta live it.” Gran pulled her dentures out, popped two fingers in her mouth, and gave a whistle.
Tony glanced over at them. His lips parted at the sight of Gran, and he lifted his brows at Pepper. Gotta love her, right?
She couldn’t help herself.
She nodded.
And then she laughed.
Having him as a fake boyfriend wasn’t real, and he wouldn’t have been her first choice, but it was definitely proving to be fun.
5
One of the biggest lesson’s Tony’s mom had imparted to him was to never show up empty-handed. So Thursday night, after getting a personal invitation to dinner from Gran, he knocked on Pepper’s door with a plate of cannoli in hand.
Pepper threw the door open and dashed out onto the porch in jeans that hugged her long legs, a soft green sweater that brought out her eyes, and panic written in the tight lines around her eyes and mouth. The little white dog yipped behind the door.
“Gran’s decided we’re having two boys and two girls, all named after varieties of pizza cheeses, and that’s only because I convinced her Mozzarella and Provolone were more classy than Anchovy and Sausage. If you fake puke right now, I’ll have to take you home to play nursemaid all night. Man up, Tony. Start gagging.”
How was a guy supposed to turn down an order like that? “That’s the sexiest thing anyone’s said to me all day.”
“She brought a date for herself, and he smells like overcooked liver and onions.” She was close enough for him to smell flowers and something sweet. Her fingers rested on his chest when she glanced over her shoulder. “Cinna’s here. She’ll keep him from getting frisky. But if this is going to work, you need to toss your cookies now. Can’t be me—that’ll keep us stuck here.”
“If we go back to my place, are we playing hide the cannoli?”
“If you weren’t doing me a huge favor, I’d have a few highly unflattering and rudely suggestive things to say to you right now.”
He peeled the aluminum foil back from the plate. “What? My sisters and I used to play all the time. Whoever finds the most, eats the most. I should warn you, I usually win.”
The door swung open, and Cinna poked her head out, dog in hand. “Hey, pizza man. You treating my sister right, or do I have to beat you with a slab of pepperoni? Ha! Pepper-ony. Get it?”
Pepper’s eyes pinched. “I’m replacing her shampoo with honey tonight.”
And now he was imagining her in his shower, honey drizzled over her body, his for the licking. Zero to full salute in oh-point-two seconds.
This woman was definitely good for him. At least, certain parts of him.
“Are you two coming in, or are you going to stand out here playing kissy-face all night?” Cinna asked.
“We weren’t—” Pepper started, but Tony interrupted her by covering her mouth with his. He shoved the plate toward Cinna, mildly surprised when she took it, so he could wrap both arms around his pretend girlfriend and kiss her silly.
She’d left his house on professional terms the other night. A handshake and an insistence she could walk herself home, and a repeated reminder that she wasn’t putting out for him. Yesterday, after the basketball game, she’d given him a quick peck on the cheek. He’d been hot and sweaty, and she’d been in a dressy pantsuit thing and needed to get back to work.
But they needed to sell this relationship to her family.
Yep, that was the only reason he was kissing her. Nothing at all to do with enjoying actually being turned on by a woman.
Her lips parted, and he angled his head to deepen the kiss. To taste the inside of her lip, feel the smooth surface of her teeth, let her tongue take the chill out of the winter night.
He’d never been so hard in his life.
Or so grateful to be sporting wood at all.
“Get a room,” Cinna said.
Pepper pulled back. She swept a quick glance at him, and her cheeks went pink.
“Have to sell it, sweets,” he murmured to her dangly emerald earring.
“Yeah.”
That breathy quality in her voice made more blood surge south. He put a hand to her lower back and guided her before him into the house, subtly adjusting himself. As soon as he stepped across the threshold, the little poodle launched itself at him and made a go at his leg again.
“Just remember, I offered you an out,” she whispered.
“And turn down an opportunity to hang out with three beautiful women? Never.”
“Kiss-up.”
“Happy to kiss you anytime you want me to.”
She shivered beneath his fingers, then pulled out of his grasp. “Here, I’ll take your coat. Gran and Eugene are in the kitchen. Hope you’re up for Cards Against Humanity. And don’t let Gran have any beer or tequila, no matter what she tells you, unless you want to see her in her birthday suit.”
He swallowed a chuckle. When she turned away to hang his coat in the coat closet, he settled his hands on her shoulders and pressed his thumbs along her shoulder blades. “Relax. Just a night of fun.”
She melted into his touch, and something more than his groin pulsed.
Might’ve been that dangerous organ in his chest.
“Thank you,” she said quietly. Begrudgingly, almost.
And suddenly he wished he’d taken her suggestion to fake throwing up.
* * *
Pepper’s kitchen was her favorite room, and she loved any excuse to be in it. Gone were the worn, fifties-style cabinets and eighties-style linoleum, replaced with custom maple cabinets and a dark cherry wood floor. She’d knocked out the wall between the kitchen and the small back office to expand the room into an eat-in kitchen, and she’d hung white lace curtains. Sadie had her own little dining area in the corner—with an added bowl for George now—and she’d splurged on an Amish oak table that reminded her of her
parents’ table back home, though she needed far fewer expansion leaves than they did.
Tonight, after the meal Tony had served her the other night, she was worried that her Crock-Pot balsamic chicken would taste like garbage in comparison. But there were compliments all around and burps from Eugene, whom Gran had apparently picked up at the grocery store pharmacy after he told her stories of his years in the Navy. Tony’s cannoli—dirty man—went over even better, and by the time they settled around the kitchen table to deal out cards, she was honestly beginning to relax.
Eugene’s hair was ashy and his brows were bushy enough that they probably needed to be checked for small field animals, but other than a few off-color stories from his time in the Navy, he seemed fairly tame for Gran’s usual taste in men.
Gran had asked more requisite boyfriend-grilling questions—did Tony have any guns, were any of his bills overdue, and what size shoe did he wear?—but she hadn’t mentioned marriage, children, or politics. Tony had handled every question with ease, and he hadn’t once said anything she could even remotely construe as a sexual innuendo.
Except for maybe when he told Gran he polished his favorite baseball bat every day. That, she was fairly certain, was TMI. It had also put another tingle between her thighs.
Cinna added her own questions—Cubs or Cardinals, what was the secret ingredient in his pizza sauce, and was he really man enough to take on dating Pepper, knowing that every other man she’d ever dated had married someone else posthaste?—but otherwise, she behaved herself too.
It was oddly disconcerting.
George had retired to Gran’s room for the night, so Sadie had come out to eat dinner and was now curled up at Pepper’s feet. Tony’s knee brushed her thigh when he scooted his chair closer. He’d said hello nicely to Pepper’s pup, which had gone a long way toward making Pepper relax.
She couldn’t fault him for being protective of his own cat when she was so protective of her dog. Especially after getting a look at Lucky in her natural environment. The cat was skittish, and apparently rightly so.
Now, the black Cards Against Humanity cards had been dealt, and everything around her suddenly felt homier than she could ever remember. Family, food, fun, and a snoring dog.