I flinched. “Thanks for that cheery message.”
“Gah, I’m sorry. I had a weird night, and I worry about you. What happened with Landon was bad enough.”
“You were the one pushing me into Jensen’s arms.”
“Yeah, but that was before you got all doe-eyed and decided he was different. I like Jensen just fine. He’s a great boss. He cares about his employees. He knows what he’s doing, and he makes us all a lot of money. But I can’t pretend that he’s this perfect person either. I’ve heard that he sleeps around when he’s at business meetings out of town.”
“Ugh! I don’t want to think about it. We’ve all done stupid things. I don’t want to judge him. Maybe he’s just a manwhore, and that’s what last night was about. But you should have warned me!”
“I thought you’d fuck around with him as a nice rebound, Em. I didn’t think it’d be anything.”
“Well, it’s not,” I said instantly. “It’s definitely not. Remember the whole dropped me off at Kim’s like he was taking out the trash? Because I’m pretty sure, no matter how different he was with me, that asshole sure shone through.”
“Good. That’s good. I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”
“I’m not going to get hurt. Now, what was this about a weird night?” I asked her.
She brushed her hand in front of her face and laughed. “Nothing honestly. I had a strange phone call, and I ended up talking to the person all night. It was unexpected.”
My eyebrows rose in question, but Heidi was already moving on to another topic.
“Do you want to go shopping with me and Julia sometime this week?”
“Two weeks before Christmas. Your favorite time to shop.”
“All the crowds and sales and screaming—it makes for a great horror flick.”
“Sure, I’m in. I can never resist a good bit of horror.”
Right then, my phone pinged noisily.
“Fuck,” I groaned, digging it out of my pocket.
I’d forgotten to turn the ringer off this morning. I’d taken a good long shower and an even longer nap once I got home and left the ringer on, so I could get Heidi’s text when she got out of her morning meeting.
I clicked the button, and my screen lit up. I had a text message from Jensen. My stomach dropped, and I glanced up at Heidi.
“Let me guess…lover boy?”
“Yeah.”
I swiped to open and read the message.
Emery, are you free this afternoon? I canceled my meetings for the day and wanted to see if you would be interested in getting coffee. I know this little place over by campus; it’s my favorite—Death by Chocolate. I don’t know if you’ve ever been since it’s pretty new. I could meet you. Say two o’clock?
“What does he have to say?”
I passed the phone over to Heidi. “I’m way more confused now.”
“He wants to meet you at Kimber’s bakery?” Heidi asked with a chuckle.
“I’m sure he doesn’t know that she owns it.”
“True, but damn. I wonder what happened in his head. Besides the fact that canceling meetings is so not like him. I’ve never heard of him willfully canceling a meeting. He must have realized how much he fucked up.”
“Maybe.”
“Or he wants round two.”
I snatched my phone out of Heidi’s hand. “There’s no way.”
“Well, are you going to meet him?”
“Did curiosity kill the cat?” I asked her.
“Yeah, but it had nine lives and shit.”
Death by Chocolate was the love child of my sister’s bachelors in food science and her achievements in culinary school. The sugary-sweet smell was what I always associated with Kimber. When we were younger, I used to jokingly sing the Bagel Bites commercial jingle to her with new words about all the baking she did.
“Cupcakes in the morning, cookies in the evening, chocolate at suppertime. When Kimber’s in the kitchen, you can eat baked goods anytime,” I hummed to myself as the bell dinged overhead.
It was a quaint and totally adorable coffee shop and bakery. The floors were black-and-white tiles, and the walls were iced in mint glaze. The countertops were powdered-sugar white granite, and the cabinetry was a buttery lemon bar. Each table was a different-flavored French macaron with cushioned fruit-tart chairs. Elaborate wedding cakes in glass boxes decorated the room. The best part was the bar filled with row after row of sweets hiding behind glass, just waiting to be enjoyed.
“Can I help you?” a girl asked. She wore a Death by Chocolate apron and looked to be a Tech student.
“I’ll take a snickerdoodle cookie and two of the strawberry macarons, please.”
“And a slice of death by chocolate cake,” Jensen said from behind me.
I nearly jumped out of my skin and whirled around. “Jesus, you scared me.”
“I didn’t mean to sneak up on you. I thought you’d have heard the bell chime,” he said.
My eyes traveled the length of him, and I enjoyed every single moment, as if I were looking at my last sunrise. He had on a midnight-black suit that had to have been custom-fitted for his body. His button-up was white and crisp with a herringbone texture that had always been my favorite, and his Texas Tech Red Raiders red tie. And, even though he was dressed as sharp as ever, it was his eyes that caught me. Dark as Kimber’s famous chocolate cake and looking at me like most of the customers did when the cake was presented to them.