His Desire (13 page)

Geez, it looked red and there was definitely no denying what it was.

“Here, try this.” Aaron whirled around at the sound of Lois dropping something onto his desk. A compact. He closed his eyes. It had come to this, had it?

“You’d better hurry though. I’ve rescheduled your first meeting, the one you missed already, but old man Stevens and his team are waiting in the conference room. And let me tell you, the old guy is very conservative. He almost yanked the account after Albert’s little fiasco. I don’t think the evidence of your sex life there is going to win you any favors with him.”

* * * *

“Kylie—you’re late,” Sarah said with a false smile planted on her face. Two men dressed somewhat casually were seated in the two chairs in the store’s dining area. Then it hit her. The Texas Monthly interview was this morning.

Was thirty minutes ago in fact.

“Oh, shit,” she said out loud and then was forced to apologize. “I’m sorry, Sarah. I completely forgot that was today.”

“Not to worry,” her friend said with another fake smile that told her how nervous Sarah truly was. “Warrick, Brad, and I were just getting acquainted.”

Sarah did a quick introduction before Kylie directed them into her office.

“You look terrible. Did you have a good time?” She smiled at Kylie’s embarrassment.

“Shh, they’ll hear you.”

“Ms. Monroe, as I’ve explained to Miss Evans already, we’ll ask you some questions and then I’d like to get some photos of the two of you together and at work.” Warrick, the older gentleman who was actually conducting the interview, told her while his partner roamed around the office. Kylie nodded.

“How long have you and Miss Evans been in business?”

Before Kylie would answer the first question, the phone rang. She lifted the receiver and heard Aaron’s seductive voice.

“Do you know that I can’t get this morning out of my mind?”

“Oh, hello,” Kylie said while smiling at the reporter and motioning that it would only be a second. Then she swiveled in her chair so that she didn’t have to look the man in the eye.

She heard Aaron laugh. “What’s the matter baby?”

“This is not a good time,” she told him, trying to keep her voice from reacting to the soft suggestive tone.

“The interview. Okay, I’ll let you go, but you should be a little embarrassed you know? After all, I had to endure Lois’ questions when she spotted the hickey on my neck that you, my love, left.”

Kylie sucked in air at a rapid speed, almost choking. “I’ll have to call you back on that,” she said and replaced the receiver to the sound of Aaron’s laughter.

“Now,” she said when she could face the three sets of very curious eyes once more. “Where were we?”

After an excruciating series of questions and endless photos, the crew from Texas Monthly left and Kylie could breathe again.

“Okay you,” Sarah told her as she closed her office door. “Spill it. I want to hear all the juicy details of your first real weekend with Aaron. Was it wonderful? Did you leave the bed at all?”

With anyone else, Kylie would have refused to answer any of those questions. But this was Sarah. Sarah knew everything about her.

“It was amazing. And no, we didn’t really leave the bed at all.” That much was certainly true. They’d spent almost the entire weekend in each other’s arms. Only leaving the bed long enough to eat and shower.

“I’m in so much trouble here, Sarah.”

“Why, are you kidding? Most women would kill to have a guy like that. He’s as hot as they come. What’s the problem?”

Kylie threw her a look that said she knew what the problem was. “Oh come on. This is Aaron Winters we’re talking about here. How long before he runs into one of those leggy models he’s so attracted to and I’m history?”

Kylie put her hands over her eyes. Just the thought of it made her sick.

She’d been wrestling with the inevitable since this whole thing began. “I don’t think I can be one of those women who simply walks away.”

“So, who says you have to?” At Kylie’s expression, Sarah added, “You know you really don’t give him or yourself any credit. Aaron doesn’t strike me as that type of man.”

“Where have you been this past year? Of course he’s that type of man.”

Even Sarah couldn’t find a lie to ease away that truth.

“This thing is going to end badly. I can just tell it. And I’ve got to start protecting myself. Otherwise, I’m going to be a wreck when Aaron moves on.

“If he moves on,” Sarah said without much conviction.

“When he moves on.”

* * * *

The catering part of the business was the only part that wasn’t growing like crazy. Kylie was thrilled by the store’s success but the bakery was always just supposed to be what supported the catering business, which was her true love. As Sarah was quick to point out, never look a gift horse in the mouth. With money coming in from the sell of those mystery cookies, she and Sarah could afford to hire more help, which would allow them to concentrate more time on building the catering part of the business.

Not that there was much time for worrying about any of those things.

Business was booming. And so was her little affair with Aaron.

Aaron came home every two weeks. And every two weeks they spent most of their time in bed.

It had become their routine. Even their friends knew not to call them during those times.

“Guess what?” Sarah stuck her head in one afternoon as Kylie was going over the receipts for the day. It was two weeks before the Thanksgiving holiday and Kylie still wasn’t sure what she was going to do.

Her parents would be expecting her of course. On the few occasions she’d actually forced herself to ask Aaron about his plans, he’d said the same. His parents were expecting him as well. The only difference was Aaron enjoyed being with his family. For Kylie it was sheer torture.

“What?”

“I just had a call from Douglas Brady.”

“Who?” Kylie squinted at her.

“Douglas Brady of Grandma Brady’s Wholesome Best?” Sarah looked at her as if she’d landed from another planet.

“You did? What did he want?” Kylie asked without breathing. Grandma Brady was the largest gourmet cookie chain in the U.S. The name was synonymous with wholesomeness.

“They want to talk about your secret.”

Kylie was ashamed to say she wasn’t even thinking about her cookie recipe.

“Oh for crying out loud. The cookie? 'Your Every Desire'? Not everyone’s interested in your sex life,” Sarah added in exasperation.

“Oh. Oh. You think?”

“Oh yeah. I think they want to buy the rights to the cookie.”

“Oh, God. Sarah, that can’t be? I mean they have this reputation for being wholesome. I don’t see 'Your Every Desire' quite fitting into their image, do you?”

“Maybe not, but we are meeting with Grandma Brady’s grandson at eight a.m. sharp in the morning. So please tell me Aaron’s not in town?”

“You’re so funny. No, he’s not. In fact, he won’t be coming in for a while.

Things are finally starting to turn around at Shelby. He’s hoping to have it back on track by next year.”

“Well that’s something. The year will be up before you know it. And I love you, honey, but you are not the same driven woman I know and love when he’s around. You become this soft, sweet…ick. ”

“Well, thanks a lot. So I’m icky?”

Sarah watched her for a minute before adding, “What’s the matter? I can’t believe you still have doubts. Aaron is great. He’s prince charming and your knight in shining armor all wrapped in one. And he’s great in bed, right? He’s perfect. I hate you. Be satisfied. Most women would give their right arm for a second with a guy like that.”

Kylie had to laugh. Sarah was great but she just didn’t get it. Sarah lived for the moment. Permanent wasn’t even in her vocabulary. She just didn’t understand why Kylie would want anything more than great sex.

So why couldn’t she just live for the moment? It wasn’t as if she had been looking for anything lasting when she’d met Aaron. Kylie’s whole world revolved around making her dream a success. She was so close to accomplishing all of that. Why was she getting sidetracked by emotions that she didn’t really believe existed outside of a fairy tale anyway? Perfect love didn’t exist in today’s world. Her parents’ relationship, her brother, and her two sisters were living proof of that. No one person had it all. She should be happy with what she had with Aaron for the moment and start protecting her heart for when that moment was gone.

* * * *

Aaron couldn’t believe it was almost Thanksgiving and he still hadn’t committed to his parent’s plans.

His mother just couldn’t understand what the problem was. He always went to his parent’s house for Thanksgiving weekend. He’d never missed one yet.

And his lack of direct answers to her numerous attempts to figure it out had finally resulted in her calling in reinforcements. Aaron’s sisters had both called this morning. Ally, the less subtle of the two, had point blank asked him if he was disappointing his mother because of one of his ‘women’ as she was so fond of calling the girls he dated.

As much as he would have loved to tell her yes, he couldn’t. Because Kylie wasn’t one of those women. And he had never once in the past been this unsure of himself with a woman.

He wanted to spend the holiday with Kylie. She in turn had been so evasive about her plans that it had got him to wondering exactly what type of relationship she had with her family. Aaron knew it was strained because she rarely talked about them. But every single attempt so far to find out anything about her past had resulted in her quickly changing the subject.

She didn’t want to talk about her family and he didn’t want to pry. Which meant he didn’t know what to tell his mom or his two nosey sisters.

“Ally, I’m busy. And frankly I don’t think that’s any of your business,” Aaron said, not even bothering to hide his frustration with his oldest sister.

“Oh course it’s my business. You’re my baby brother. Everything you do is my business. You know how much Mom frets over you?”

Frets? Oh crap, Ally was going to play the guilt trip. He had to put an end to this right now.

“Ally, I’m busy. Now is not the time to get into this. I’ll call Mom in a few days to let her know. I’m hanging up now.”

“Aaron, I’m warning you, if you don’t tell her something by the weekend then I’m coming down there to see for myself what’s going on.” At that threat Aaron slammed the phone down. Ally was bluffing. She hated Austin.

She would never come all that way from Tampa just to find out what he was up to. Would she?

Aaron wasn’t so sure. Ally was determined when she wanted to be and she’d definitely sounded like she wanted to be.

He sat staring at the phone wondering if he should call her back and make up something or just dismiss the whole thing all together. Chances are even if Ally wanted to go spying on him, Brad her husband wouldn’t allow it. Brad and Aaron were friends. Brad was the only person who could show any type of control over his sister. Ally actually listened to her husband most of the time. Brad would keep her in line.

* * * *

“Miss Monroe, it is a pleasure to meet you. Douglas Brady. Thanks for agreeing to this meeting on such a short notice.”

Douglas Brady didn’t look like what she’d pictured the grandson of Grandma Brady looking like. He was somewhere in his mid-fifties, graying with receding hair that was crowned by a really bad toupee, brown eyes and equally conservative gray business suit. The man reeked of conservative values.

Sarah, in her usually flamboyant short skirt and low cut blouse, probably had him wondering what he’d gotten himself into. Grandma Brady’s Wholesome Best…

She ushered Douglas and his entourage of assistants into Kylie’s tiny cramped office before going in search of more chairs.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Brady.” After quick introductions of the assistants, Douglas set back and got down to business.

“I’m sure your wondering why I’ve asked for this meeting,” he said with a smile very conservatively.

“Actually, yes. I was a bit conserva…curious.” Kylie quickly corrected. Her knees were actually knocking beneath her desk. She smoothed the lines of her black pantsuit and stuck her hands between her knees to keep the entourage from hearing. At least she looked conservative. She gave Sarah a look that was meant to convey, ‘what were you thinking wearing that?’ But Sarah wasn’t fazed. She’d worn the outfit deliberately to get a reaction. If Douglas’ covert glances her way were any indication, it was working.

Douglas laughed and the entourage followed his cue. “We’ve been following your success with great excitement,” he told her without smiling. He didn’t really look all that excited.

“Oh, I see. That’s nice. Are you here for pointers?” Kylie smiled as she said that. It took a few minutes to register. Then the entourage looked to Douglas for guidance. He laughed. They followed suit.

“Very amusing, Miss Monroe. You are as charming as your dossier led me to believe.” Dossier? She didn’t know she had a dossier. Welcome to the big leagues.

“As I was saying, we’ve been watching your success in a difficult market and it’s made us realize there’s room for growth. You’ve tapped into an interesting part of our market. One that’s ripe for expansion.”

“What market is that exactly, Mr. Brady?” Kylie asked, trying to keep her focus on the man’s face and not the really bad toupee. Why didn’t men realize those things didn’t fool anyone? They might as well be wearing a sign that said I’m losing my hair and can’t admit it.

“The sophisticated consumer. The twenty to thirty age demographic that want something a little more from their cookie.”

“I see.” Kylie glanced at Sarah for a clue. What exactly did that mean? It was a cookie for God’s sake.

“You’ve captured that need with 'Your Every Desire'. People see this cookie and think, wow. If I buy this I’ll be hip as well.”

“Really?” Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Sarah was trying hard not to crack up.

“And that is why we are here today. We at Grandma Brady’s Wholesome Best would like to tap into your market. We want to make you an offer to buy out the rights to your cookie.”