Muffins & Murder (Sweet Bites Book 3) (Sweet Bites Mysteries) (17 page)

Gregorio’s isn’t exactly a five-star restaurant, but it was nice enough to give me an excuse to put on a flirty black skirt with a deep burgundy top and matching strappy Jimmy Choos. I picked out some silver and alexandrite earrings, the red stones dangling below my ears to tease the side of my neck now and then. The matching necklace dripped glittering stones three inches below my collarbone, just above the neckline of my blouse.

It had been a long time since I’d had an excuse to dress up nice and I was almost as excited about that as I was the night with Jack. Well, no, I decided as I double-checked my makeup in the bathroom mirror. That wasn’t true at all. I was much more excited about the evening with Jack.

He was exactly on time in a deep blue dress shirt and black slacks. The man looked good in anything, but I loved the way his shirt brought out the color in his eyes. “You look beautiful,” he said when he caught sight of me.

“Thanks, you don’t look so bad yourself.” I grabbed a black wrap and the little clutch that went with the outfit.

“You’re all ready?” He helped me with the wrap, then took my hand and led me out to his car. “I’m kind of nervous,” he said when we were inside and he’d pointed the car north. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a date.”

“Why?” I asked. I wanted to comment that it had been three years since his divorce, so he should have been seeing other women before now. I decided to wait on that question.

“Partly because it took me a while to get my head on straight again after the divorce, partly because I have a little girl who needs my attention when I can actually be around, and partly,” he said with a glance at me, “Because I hadn’t met anyone I wanted to go out with enough to overcome all of that.”

That had the sizzle of excitement inside me zooming around with renewed energy. “It took you a while to get there, didn’t it?”

“Not so much,” he admitted. “I’m just a coward. You intimidate me sometimes.”

“Seriously?” I couldn’t help but interrupt him when he said that. “Why would I intimidate you?”

He adjusted his grip on the steering wheel. “You’re very confident. You don’t let a lot of people in. You seem to have no fear—always stepping in to dangerous situations. I don’t know, I just have a hard time putting myself out there with you, even though I wanted it more than almost anything.”

I didn’t know what to say about that. “Don’t be silly. It doesn’t make sense for you to be intimidated by me when it’s the other way around for me.”

He smiled. “And among other things, it seemed like you weren’t ready to date again until recently. Shawn Plumber aside.”

Ah, Shawn. How did I explain that? “Shawn and I have never been anything serious. We have fun together when he’s in town, but he lives in Nogales. I’ve never even considered anything more serious with him. He’s just too far away.”

Jack’s smile held relief. “Good. I wasn’t really sure what to think. You two seemed pretty cozy when he was here last.”

“That’s been a few months,” I pointed out.

“Again, with the coward thing.”

I couldn’t help but smile at the self-deprecating way he said that. It was easy going and kind of sweet. “Since I didn’t get up the nerve to ask you out, either, I say your cowardice is less than my own.”

His grin flashed and I changed the subject.

The restaurant lights were dim, the roving violinist was very good, and the food was excellent. As far as ambiance went, he’d hit it dead on.

We avoided discussion about the murders—the afternoon news had covered the fact that Cole had been found dead. Instead we talked about our childhoods.

“So the former fiancé scared you out of Chicago,” he said. “I knew he was being pushy and trying to get back together with you, but I didn’t know he was why you moved here,” Jack said as we shared a serving of tiramisu.

“He didn’t scare me. He infuriated me into wanting to leave the job—working for my ex and his new fling is not on my list of good times,” I said. “But while I ran here to lick my wounds, I stayed because this was so much more my home than Chicago or anywhere else I lived. I sold my parents’ house about a year after they died, but I couldn’t get myself to sell Grandma’s old place. The fact that Honey had been badgering me into opening a bakery might have something to do with that. She can be pretty pushy, and the option had grown more tempting as time passed.”

“You were getting sick of your job as celebrated pastry chef in Chicago? Come on, you live for accolades. I know you.”

I chuckled. “The reputation was nice, for sure, but working for someone else, in an organization of that size can be stifling too.”

“True enough.”

I savored a creamy bite of dessert and decided to ask the question that had been burning inside me almost since the day we met. “So what happened with you and your wife? It’s not very common for the dad to get full custody.”

He grimaced, but didn’t freeze me out like I’d been afraid of. We’d been friends for months now, growing closer all the time, and it was somewhat more than idle curiosity on my part.

“We were married over five years when she got pregnant with Sadie. Trina wasn’t really ready for motherhood, she said, so she wasn’t too thrilled about it. She didn’t like being pregnant, the feel of the baby inside her, the promise of holding Sadie in her arms later. I figured it was just the really terrible morning sickness, the swollen ankles. When she held our little girl, surely the rest would all fade to the background like everyone says it does. But it didn’t.” He sipped at his drink, taking a moment before he continued.

“I passed it off as postpartum or something, but it didn’t get better. Sadie started to grow and my wife didn’t fall in love with her, could barely stand to hold her. Even now she sends gifts, but she’s only visited three times in three years.” He shook his head. “I still can’t believe I didn’t realize what she was like, that I could have just downplayed her concerns and ignored the warning signs when we dated. And I don’t understand how she could not love Sadie. She’s so amazing.” Grief and confusion filled his face.

I slid my hand over his on the table. “Yeah, she is. You’re really lucky to have her.” A wistful twang sounded in my chest as I thought of how much I would like a family of my own. “So did Trina decide she didn’t want motherhood?”

“Motherhood
or
me. We were a mis-match, really. She’s a corporate barracuda, and I’m a small-town paramedic. My schedule is crazy and inflexible; I wasn’t able to be there for her events all of the time, and my job wasn’t prestigious enough for her. I don’t know, really. She just came to me one day when Sadie was a year old, and said that she didn’t want to be married anymore. I can’t say I was surprised. If there was more to it, she didn’t offer, and I didn’t ask. I suggested seeing a marriage and family counselor, but she refused, and said she didn’t want custody. I applied for this job and we moved here.” He said the words very matter of factly, his voice flat and with no inflection. But I could see the hurt that still lingered behind his eyes. And I couldn’t blame him. It hurt to know someone you loved couldn’t love you back the way you wanted them to.

I squeezed his hand. “Sorry, maybe I should have skipped on asking you about that. It wasn’t really my business.” But I was glad to know. It made sense. Made me understand him more, made me appreciate what he was doing, how much he’d accomplished here, and what a great parent he was.

“Don’t worry about it. Especially since I’m going to pry about what happened between you and your ex-fiancé.”

“Turnabout is fair play, I guess.” And I’d moved past the hurt and anger leftover from both of my failed engagements. “The question is which ex-fiancé you want to know about.” I tried to keep my expression calm. I didn’t like thinking about my failures, never mind talking about them to others, but after his honesty, I couldn’t keep part of it to myself.

His brows lifted. “How many times have you been engaged?”

“Twice. Both engagements lasted a few months and no date was ever set. Lance backed out at that point, saying he changed his mind, that it was a bad idea after all. Which I have to admit is true, with a little hindsight. He wasn’t ready to get married. Heck, I probably wasn’t ready, either. I was only twenty-three, just out of my internship in France, and was more in love with love, than in love with him.” It didn’t hurt to admit it, even if it made me feel stupid.

He nodded. “And what about the other one?”

“You met Bronson. He was my boss—head of the hotel where I worked in the restaurant. We kind of circled around each other for more than a year, not wanting to make that step into a romantic relationship. I’ve never been sure whether that was because the timing was bad or we were both cowards, or something else entirely. When he finally did ask me out, we got serious pretty fast.”

“You’re not really big on the initiative when it comes to relationships, are you?” Jack asked, teasingly.

“I can be, when the time is right,” I denied. “I just choose my moments.”

He smiled, then motioned to me, “Sorry, go on, will you?”

“Bronson’s family liked me—even though I wasn’t as high class as they were. And his grandma—a serious dragon of a lady who runs the whole family—adored me. After I split with Bronson she contacted me for an address so she could keep me on her Christmas card list.” I smiled as I said this, pleased by it.

“So why did you break up?”

“I caught him kissing the kitchen manager—who I complained about almost every day because she was so abrasive and not even a good fiscal manager. She’s the reason Lenny ended up moving here, because he couldn’t stand her, either. Anyway,” I waved as if it would move the subject back to the one I’d started with. “I wasn’t pleased to see him kissing someone else, and Karen made it sound like it was far from the first time, so I dumped him, quit my job and came here to lick my wounds.”

“That really sucks,” Jack said, twining our fingers together on the tabletop. “But I’m kinda glad, since otherwise you wouldn’t have moved here.”

“It was a blessing in disguise,” I agreed. A very, very lucky one. “If it hadn’t been Karen, it would have been someone else, eventually, so I know I dodged a bullet.”

His eyes shone in the candlelight and I knew I was much better off where I was.

When he walked me to my door later that evening, I was not ready to say goodnight. “Would you like to come in for a bit?”

“Yeah.” He gave my hand a squeeze before releasing it so I could retrieve my keys and let us in.

“We’ve been avoiding discussing the situation with Francine all evening,” he said when we walked inside and I hung my wrap on the peg by the door. “Did you want to talk about that?” His voice sounded funny and a look at him told me he was nervous about being alone with me tonight.

“Not much to say. I’m at a dead end—I even went to the neighbor’s house and picked her brain about Francine to see if there was another stalker following her besides Cole.”

“You heard about him, didn’t you? On the news?”

“I heard. Tingey thinks it’s the same killer.” I moved to the fridge. “Would you like something to drink? I have juice, milk or I could heat some water for tea.”

“No, I think I’m fine, thanks.” He followed me into the kitchen. “And something will come up about the killer soon. It has to.”

I turned to him and saw the look in his eyes, then remembered the comment he made about initiative and Honey’s advice to test the waters. My heart started to pound with anticipation as I stepped closer to him. “How about if you take my mind off of my dead ends?” I slid a hand down his sleeve to just above his elbow. “Distractions can be a good thing.” I was trying to be smooth, but wasn’t sure if I succeeded.

His hands touched on either side of my waist, drawing me close. “Is this you taking the initiative, then?”

“Yeah.” I could smell his cologne—it had been driving me crazy all through dinner and his lips quirked, making me focus on them even more than I had been. “You okay with that?’

“Very, very okay.”

I touched his face with my palm and leaned in. He met me halfway, his lips pressing ever so softly to mine. The kiss teased and tempted me to more, slow and seductive. He pulled me closer and I let my fingers dive into his hair, curling in the soft texture, as he tipped his head and took the kiss a level deeper.

I was lost, wrapped up in the moment so that when he pulled back, setting me away from him, I felt dazed and fuzzy around the edges. “Wow,” I said.

“I gotta second that.”

“I guess maybe that’s what anticipation can do for you.” I could barely breathe, barely think.

“I’ve been anticipating that since April. I don’t think I want to wait that long for the next kiss.”

I laughed, pulling away completely. “No, definitely not.” I wanted to ask him something, but hesitated.

“What? I can see the questions on your face,” he teased. “Just ask me.”

“You’re going to the wedding Saturday, right?”

“Yes.”

My throat seemed to close up, but I pushed my way through. “Would you like to go with me as my date? I mean, I’ll be there early to set up, but you could meet me there and stuff.”

He leaned in and brushed his lips over mine. “I would love to.”

I felt the tension in my shoulders ease and I let out a relieved breath. “Good.”

He pulled away slowly. “I ought to go. Work starts way too early tomorrow.” The reluctance in his expression was enough to have me believing him.

“I have to be up early to start cinnamon rolls, too.” I decided not to mention I still had a few hours before my burgling adventure. I took the hand he held out to me and walked him back to the door. He leaned in for one more far-too-brief kiss, and then left.

I nearly floated to my room to change my clothes.