Sweet Nothings

  ALSO BY KIM LAW

  CAUGHT ON CAMERA (THE DAVENPORTS)

  SUGAR SPRINGS

  EX ON THE BEACH (A TURTLE ISLAND NOVEL)

  HOT BUTTERED YUM (A TURTLE ISLAND NOVEL)

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Copyright © 2014 Kim Law

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Montlake Romance, Seattle

  www.apub.com

  ISBN-13: 9781477809587

  ISBN-10: 1477809589

  Library of Congress Number: 2013907479

  To everyone who has lost loved ones of the furry variety. We lost one of our dogs during the writing of this book, and it left a new scar in my heart. We miss you, Blackjack.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Chapter One

  Joanie Bigbee checked the display and the backup stock of the pink- and red-topped cakes one last time to make sure everything was ready to go. Then she stared out at Sugar Springs High School as if the force of her concentration alone would make the doors burst open and the kids flood out. It was Valentine’s Day, so what better way to kick off her new business, Cakes-a-GoGo, than by taking advantage of teenage hormones and the need to express their love? Or lust?

  “A cupcake for your sweetheart” seemed like the perfect plan to her.

  She’d have only fifteen minutes before the break was over and everyone returned to their last class of the day. After that, she’d be off, turning her converted Volkswagen van toward Main Street to catch locals and tourists in their small Tennessee town who might also be in need of a sweet dessert. She ran her hands down the sides of her skirt and sucked in a deep breath.

  “What are you so nervous about?” Destinee asked. She was Joanie’s only employee so far. The girl worked afternoons as part of the high school’s school-to-work program. “You don’t get stressed.”

  “It’s my first day. I have a right to be a little nervous.”

  The girl rolled her eyes and let out a long, dramatic sigh. “It is not your first day. We’ve been open for two weeks now. If we weren’t, I wouldn’t be getting outta school early every day.”

  “Ah, so you’re just using me?” Joanie teased as she peered out the open order window. She was ready to kick this party off.

  Destinee was right—the actual business had been open for two weeks—but today was the inaugural trip for the cupcake van, thus making the full vision a reality. And yes, Joanie was nervous. It was rare, but for some reason Cakes-a-GoGo seemed to mean more to her than past ventures.

  “I thought you were working for me because you’re interested in learning about running your own business,” Joanie added. “Not simply to get out of school early.”

  Destinee produced a noncommittal shrug in a way only teenage girls were capable of doing. “Sure. And the fact that you need the help. You couldn’t handle everything yourself.”

  The smile threatening at Joanie’s lips remained hidden. Destinee had come into the space she’d rented on the square about a month ago as word had gotten out that Joanie had sold her beauty salon and would soon be opening a cupcake store in the postage stamp–size tourist town.

  The girl had done her best—both then and since—to hide her enthusiasm for being a part of seeing a business go from the ground up. Apparently it was uncool to be excited about working. But she’d failed in keeping her exuberance under wraps. Joanie had seen it, as well as recognized a bit of herself in the girl.

  There were services and shops that needed to exist, and if no one else was going to make it happen, then she would do it. She’d started and sold more local businesses in her thirty-two years than most people ever thought about. All of them thriving under their current ownership today.

  “The doors just opened,” Destinee squeaked, bouncing up on her toes. Heightened energy vibrated through them both.

  With a wide smile and a straightening of her shoulders, Joanie reached to the back of the van and flipped the two switches that would turn on the lighted sign atop the vehicle as well as pump sixties dance music through the outer speakers. Cakes-a-GoGo was open for business.

  Fifteen minutes later, Joanie flipped off the lights and music and slumped back against the counter as if her body had been beaten continuously since the school doors had opened. She was so happy not to be a teenager with all those hormones and emotions running rampant through her.

  “That was exhausting,” she moaned. “I’ve no idea how you go in there every day around all that.”

  “Girl,” Destinee began, “you ain’t that old. You hung in.” A gleam sparkled in the teen’s dark eyes as she began to wipe down the counter where more than one cake had ended up top down.

  “I feel like we did nothing but throw cupcakes out the window for a solid fifteen minutes,” Joanie said. “Like we were being attacked and the cakes were our only weapons. Did we actually manage to collect money or was that purely a fight we just lost?”

  Laughter rolled from the teen as she flipped open the cash box and waved her hand with a flourish over the mound of bills. “Poor Joanie. If you’re thinking of doing this every week, you’d better start eating a heartier breakfast. It won’t get any easier.”

  “I believe that.” She picked up one of the few remaining cupcakes and peeled the paper down to take a bite. “Or lay off the sugar. Nothing like a sugar crash when you need the energy to handle a hundred kids.”

  The two of them chuckled together and celebrated their mini success as they cleaned up the van, then they headed back to the shop to replenish their stock.

  As she pulled into the space reserved for her, she noticed a shiny red, enormous four-door pickup parked in front of the real estate office a few storefronts down. She’d seen a similar truck in town a few weeks back, right around Christmas, and couldn’t help but wonder if this one was driven by the same man.

  A man who’d set her engine on purr the instant she’d met him.

  Not that she would do anything about it if it was him. He’d practically had “homebody” stamped across his forehead. She didn’t get involved with men looking to settle down. Period.

  Before she could call around to find out who it was, her cell phone rang. Glancing at the display, she saw the number for the nursing home where her grandmother had been living the last three years.

  She tossed Destinee her keys. “Go on in and grab the boxes in the back. I need to take this.”

  Destinee headed off to refill the van while Joanie slid her finger along the screen to answer. It would be one of two things. Either her ailing grandmother had finally passed, or they were calling about the bill again.

 
“Hello.” Joanie tried to keep a smile on her face, knowing anyone peeking out the surrounding storefronts might be watching her. Any sign of a frown could easily blow up into a rumor that would take on a life of its own. It was part of the fun of living there, seeing what kind of gossip spread on any given day.

  “Ms. Bigbee,” an efficient, female voice answered. “This is Gloria Williams, billing coordinator at Elm Hill Nursing Community.”

  Joanie’s shoulders sunk. It was about the bill.

  The insurance payment along with what she managed to send every month hadn’t been covering things for a while now, and she knew it. She’d assured them at the beginning of the year that things would turn around as soon as she had the new business stable. If only they’d give her a little more time.

  Ms. Williams explained how the home had to turn a profit or their owners would shut them down, then followed with, “We hate to do this, but we’re putting you on notice.”

  Joanie turned her back to the street and held her breath. She had no other way to take care of GiGi if she got kicked out.

  “You have two months, Ms. Bigbee. Get caught up on your bill, or your grandmother will have to find a new place to live.”

  Joanie’s breath whispered out from between tense lips. “I understand, Ms. Williams. I’ll take care of it.”

  Though she wasn’t sure she could accomplish it in two months.

  Joanie disconnected and pressed the fingertips of one hand to her forehead, feeling a rare headache coming on. She’d been planning to sell GiGi’s place for a while now to cover expenses, but the house needed to be remodeled before it could be sold. It was so outdated, she couldn’t imagine anyone willing to pay a decent price for it in its current shape.

  The funds to improve it were limited, as well.

  She let out another tense breath and scrolled through her contacts hoping she’d stored the number of the contractor she’d previously discussed renovations with. Might as well find out how much the work was going to cost her.

  Locating the number, she said a silent hooray that she wouldn’t have to figure out where she’d stashed the man’s business card, and pushed the button to place the call. Only when it started ringing did she remember that he’d left her a message over two weeks ago which she’d forgotten to listen to.

  As she waited for the phone to be answered, she tossed one last glance over at the red pickup, then headed into the shop so no one walking by would overhear.

  Destinee passed her on her way out, arms loaded with the remainder of the cupcakes.

  Three minutes later, Joanie hung up just as Destinee came back into the store. There was no way she could afford the repairs.

  Which put her back at square one. Sell the house for little more than nothing, or bring GiGi home.

  Neither was a viable solution.

  “I swear,” Destinee said, her voice low and humming with energy that grabbed Joanie’s attention. “That man is hot. Ms. Lee Ann did fine when she snagged him.” Destinee was facing the window, hands propped on her rounded hips, and Joanie followed her gaze across the street.

  The same nervousness she’d felt before the high school doors had burst open fluttered back through her. That was not her best friend’s fiancé.

  “That isn’t Cody, D. That’s his brother, Nick.”

  Wide eyes turned her way. “There are two of them?”

  Joanie nodded, not taking her eyes off Nick, and forcing herself not to wipe her palms down the sides of her skirt again. Why the man made her nervous, she had no idea. She’d taken in all six-foot-four of his lean, taut, manual labor–created muscles when they’d met at Christmas, and she hadn’t been nervous then.

  She’d been turned on, yes. But not nervous.

  And yes, it had been unnerving to be turned on by someone who looked identical to her friend’s fiancé, even when said fiancé did nothing for her but provide an attractive view. But while unnerving, only a dead person could keep from ogling a hunk of man like that.

  Only, along with her appreciation for his very fine form, she felt something new stirring inside her this time.

  Something that seemed to wake from a long hibernation and jabbed at her from the inside as if screaming, Me! Me! Let me have him!

  It disturbed her even more when she had a quick flash of the man her mother had run off with on Joanie’s thirteenth birthday. She hadn’t thought about him in years. Bill had been an out-of-towner, too. Just like Nick. And also in construction. As well as friendly, what she’d thought of at the time as genuinely nice, and a total cutie.

  Strike, strike, strike.

  Nick was hot, but he was off-limits.

  She wasn’t her mother and she would never fall victim to a man, no matter how bad her insides flamed at the sight of one. And she certainly wouldn’t fall victim to the Bigbee Curse.

  Nick lifted his gaze from the paper he held in his hand and scanned the street before him, then spied her van out front. He swept a hand through his dark hair, pushing it off his forehead, and turned in their direction. The jabbing inside her intensified.

  “He’s coming over here,” Destinee whispered.

  Blood rushed through Joanie so rapidly she worried she’d fall over where she stood. Instead, she shook her arms and rolled her shoulders as if getting ready to go into battle. Whatever was going on inside her, she could put a stop to it. She’d seen plenty of good-looking men in her years. She’d even slept with a few of them. There was no reason this particular one was going to get to her.

  “He probably wants a cupcake,” she stated. “Let’s meet him outside since they’re all in the van.”

  Joanie pushed open the door as he reached the sidewalk, and couldn’t help but smile as they made eye contact. Dang, he was fine.

  Too bad she couldn’t have just one itsy-bitsy taste to put out the fire he lit.

  Nick Dalton paused with one foot on the sidewalk and stared at the woman before him. Joanie Bigbee had pale blond hair in wild ringlets bouncing all around her head… with light pink–colored ends. She wore a fuzzy sweater matching the color in her hair, a narrow, very short skirt in a similar pink, and completing her outfit were white tights over nicely toned thighs and yellow go-go boots up to her knees.

  He scanned her all the way to the bottom of the chunky heels, blinked to make sure he was seeing correctly, then back up to the wide smile beaming at him.

  She was a fantasy come to life.

  And the smile? It almost made him embarrass himself on the spot.

  Hell, she’d looked fairly normal when he’d met her at Cody and Lee Ann’s Christmas dinner a couple months ago. Sexy, but normal. She’d been charming and fun and they’d tossed out the innocent flirt or two, but he hadn’t had the urge to drag her to the ground and unwrap her like a present.

  Today he did.

  Today he was pretty sure he would if he could figure out how.

  “Joanie?” he finally croaked out. “Umm…”

  He sounded like an idiot.

  Light laughter floated through his foggy brain and he felt himself smile in return. That’s all, just standing there like a dolt, smiling for all he was worth.

  A movement at her side caught his attention and he forced himself to look away from her. A young, cocoa-skinned girl with hips that would one day drive men wild stood there taking him in with a look on her face that said she knew exactly what he was thinking. She glanced from him to Joanie, then back at him.

  “I think he likes the boots, Jo,” the girl said.

  I think he likes everything, he thought.

  He had to get a grip. Forcing himself to glance at anything but Joanie in the hopes that blood would once again make it to his brain, his gaze landed on the van—which was the reason he’d come over in the first place.

  It was an old Volkswagen model, and though it’d had extensive work to turn it into what appeared to be a traveling cupcake stand, it still looked like it belonged in the sixties. The aged yellow of the top and bottom panels ap
peared to be the original color, and the hand-painted flowers and cupcakes dotted all over the outside screamed groovy. It was one of the coolest things he’d ever seen.

  “Did you come over for a cupcake, Nick?” Joanie’s words jerked him back to her, and he gave her another once-over before remembering that yes, in fact, he had come over for a cupcake.

  “Looked appealing.” He nodded, then noticed the unlit OPEN sign in the store window behind her. The van was also boarded up tight. “Are you not open for business? I could come back.”

  Escaping might be best. He hadn’t come to Sugar Springs to hook up with anyone. He had priorities. Get to know Cody and his girls. Open a new branch of his company. And now, find a place to stay.

  When he’d spent a week in town before Christmas, he’d seen a lot of potential for business there. It was a thriving little tourist town, and had some amazing neoclassical architecture details in its historic homes. He wanted to get his hands on a few of those houses.

  To add to the charm, Sugar Springs was situated at the base of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Everything about the town was gorgeous. With the right improvements, traffic would pick up even more as people headed in and out of the park.

  He snuck another peek at Joanie’s legs and those boots, thinking about the weeks ahead. Focusing on business first didn’t necessarily mean he had to be a monk.

  A frustrated sigh pulled his attention to the young girl as she held up her hands in a sign of irritation and headed between them to the van. “Yes, we are open,” she said, her words drawn out in teenage angst. “You two stand there gawking at each other. I’ll get everything set up.”

  The words jolted Joanie, and Nick realized she’d been staring at him, same as he’d been doing to her. He couldn’t help the grin that once again covered his face.

  Interesting. Maybe he would ask her out. Why not have a little fun while here?

  Joanie jumped into action and disappeared into the van behind the girl, taking her legs with her, and his heart gave a momentary protest but then settled down to function as it was supposed to. Slow and steady. A dependable life force. Not the raging bull it had been since she’d walked out the door.