Sweet Dreams (A Sugar Rush Novel) (16 page)

“How much help do you have?”

“Just Clementine. I had to let most of the employees go, but Clementine refused to be fired. She’s more of a . . . volunteer than an employee, though.”

Luke studied her for a minute, and Polly could almost see the wheels and gears turning and clicking in his strategy-sharp brain.

“I can help you fix this,” he said.

“The bakery?”

He nodded. “The location is a hurdle, but I can help you with supply costs, P&L, branding, marketing. You need to streamline your products, fix your pricing and volume estimates, and get your business plan under control.”

Polly Lockhart was no fool. It was a massively huge thing to have the CEO of Sugar Rush offering to help her. This was a man who commanded hundreds of thousands of dollars for his consulting and lecture services, the man who had single-handedly transformed his family business into an internationally expanding conglomerate.

And while it was true that Polly’s first instinct about him had centered on his sexual expertise, she could learn more about business in one hour with Luke Stone than she could in a full year of community college business courses.

But . . .

“I . . . I can’t ask you to help me,” she said. “I certainly couldn’t afford to pay you for your consulting services.”

“I don’t want compensation,” he replied. “I’m offering pro bono.”

“But I have nothing to give you in return.”

Silence descended between them. Their eyes met. A current of electricity sizzled in the air before Polly broke her gaze from his.

“Well, let’s not go there,” she muttered. “My mother firmly believed people should live however they choose, but she would come back to haunt me if she thought for one second that my payment to you involved taking off my clothes.”

Luke shook his head, his mouth compressing. “This isn’t an exchange for sex. You know that. So do I. I’m offering to help you because I like you, you need a lot of help, and I know what I’m doing.”

Though Polly warmed at the phrase
“I like you,”
she still didn’t want to feel like she had nothing to give him but her body.

“Luke,” she said gently. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the offer, but honestly, it would just feel
weird.
The fact is you’re offering me a service for free that would normally cost a fortune, and neither one of us can pretend that doesn’t have something to do with the fact that I was buck naked in your bed the other night.”

“Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you got
me
naked,” he replied, his tone faintly irritated. “Maybe you have me under some sort of pagan witch’s spell.”

Polly couldn’t help grinning at the thought of Luke Stone being under anyone’s control but his own. With his sterile house, obsessively ordered refrigerator and cabinets, and three Mont Blanc pens lined up to the millimeter, he was a man ruled by order and control.

He paced to the windows and back. The line of his shoulders was tense, his spine straight as metal. She couldn’t help comparing the rigid CEO of today with the warm, sexy man who had surrendered to her massage two nights ago.

“How do you have fun?” she asked.

A deep crease formed in his brow. “Fun?”

“I mean, besides shoot pool every now and then,” Polly said. “What do you do that makes you happy?”

“I travel.” Luke shrugged. “Work out.”

“What about dating?”

“I don’t date. There are certain women I take to social events, but they aren’t dates.”

“What are they then?”

“Women I take to social events.”

“Do you have fun?” Polly asked.

He was silent for a moment. “Not really,” he finally said.

“Why don’t you think of the women as dates?”

“Because I don’t want to lead them on. I’ll never marry any one of them, and as my aunt Julia will tell you in her pit viper way, some women
of a certain age
are out to land a rich bachelor. So I have agreements with those women that our relationships have parameters and deadlines.”

“Parameters and deadlines,” Polly repeated dryly, even as an odd stab of sorrow hit her. “How fun.”

Faint irritation sparked in his golden-brown eyes. “Why are you asking me all this anyway?”

Find your happiness.

She had made progress with her quest recently, but finding an intangible emotion wasn’t nearly as easy as finding a missing sock.

And yet it also meant looking in new places. That was just one of the things she’d learned at Twelve Oaks. Though her family had left the commune when Polly was nine, she still believed in its basic principles of helping others, working hard, and giving back.

But until this moment, she’d lost sight of the other values imparted by the commune life. And standing there looking at CEO Stone with his stiff shoulders and perfectly knotted tie, imagining him at a gala dinner with a beautiful woman at his side, remembering the wistfulness in his voice when he talked about his love for Swirl Pops, reliving the sensation of his pliable muscles and warm, taut skin under her hands . . .

“When was the last time you napped in a hammock under the trees?” she asked.

Luke blinked. “Uh . . . never?”

“Played a board game?”

“I used to play games with my brothers. I think.”

“Listened to music? Juggled? Painted a picture?”

“I don’t have time for that kind of thing.”

“Neither do I. And I think that’s the problem. Luke, thank you so much for your offer. I would love to have your help getting Wild Child back on track.”

Bafflement appeared in his expression. “So you accept?”

“Yes. But in exchange, I’d like to take you out on a few dates,” she said, then added, “
Fun
dates.”

Luke scratched his head. “Okay.”

She smiled. “Good.”

“Why do you want us to go on dates?”

“Because I like you too,” Polly said. “And because maybe the best way to find happiness is to look for it with someone you like.”

AS LUKE DROVE BACK TO
the Sugar Rush offices, he believed his head might be spinning. That never happened to him. He always thought with clarity and logic.

But ever since Polly Lockhart had crashed into his life, he’d been . . .
off-balance.
Unable to stop himself from kissing her, then getting possessive about her and asking—okay, ordering—her out on a date. Then he had some thorn in his side about not wanting her to leave his house, and then they’d made each other come so hard the bed shook, and then he’d slept until nine-fucking-thirty-four . . .

And now he was offering her pro bono consulting services and wondering how she’d managed to get under his skin so fast that
his head was spinning
.

Not good. Bad, in fact. Really goddamned bad.

But he couldn’t just let her bakery go under when he, of all people in the world, knew how to fix it. Polly was standing in quicksand, and he had the rope to haul her out. He couldn’t walk away from her now. He
wouldn’t.

He turned off the highway to the Sugar Rush campus. After parking in his assigned spot, he stalked into the building, nodded a curt greeting at the receptionist, and took the mirrored elevator up to his seventh-floor office.

“Mr. Stone, you have some papers to sign.” Kate rose from her chair as he approached. “I left them on your desk.”

“Thank you, Kate.” He handed her the box of éclairs and doughnuts Polly had packed up for him. “Get someone to take these around to the others.”

“Yes, sir.” She took the box and peered inside with a murmur of delight. “Also, there’s a call from Miss Peterson asking if you were still planning on attending her yacht party tomorrow night. It’s leaving from Pier 40 at nine.”

Luke groaned. There was only one place he intended to be tomorrow night, and it was not on Miss Peterson’s yacht.

“I’ll tell her you have an unexpected work meeting,” Kate said quickly.

Kate was the best hire he’d made in the past two years. After his former assistant retired, he’d intended to hire someone with years of experience. At twenty-five, Kate had had almost no experience, but she’d so impressed Luke during her interview that he’d hired her on the spot.

That time, his instincts had proven correct. He thanked Kate again and went into his office, forcing his brain to the multiple tasks at hand. He first did a crime report check for the neighborhood where Wild Child was located.

Though he wasn’t surprised by the multiple reports of robbery, theft, weapons violations, and drug investigations in the area, his jaw clenched harder the more he read. Because the public incident reports were incomplete, Luke called the Indigo Bay police chief to ask for more details.

“I’ll have to get back to you since that’s not my jurisdiction,” Brad said. “Give me a couple of hours, okay?”

“Sure. Thanks.”

After ending the call, Luke reminded himself of his main priority and turned his attention to company business. He reviewed several budgets, allocated funds to the retro product development, returned five calls, then checked his email. A message from Polly appeared on the screen.

TO: Luke Stone, Megalomaniac Willy Wonka

([email protected])

FROM: Polly Lockhart, Tea Brewer Extraordinaire

([email protected])

Mr. Stone:

Attached are the password-secured Important Financial Documents you requested. I will be at my desk until five p.m., should you have any questions. If not, I will be at your office at two p.m. tomorrow for our meeting.

Sincerely,

Polly Lockhart

Luke hit the reply button.

TO: Polly Lockhart, Pagan Witch

([email protected])

FROM: Luke Stone, Master of the Universe

([email protected])

Miss Lockhart:

Received and noted. You have a great ass.

L. Stone

He printed out the documents and logged out of email. He’d been expecting that the bakery’s finances would be a mess, but he hadn’t expected this level of disorganization. Polly’s business assets were nonexistent, and her profits on a steady decline. She had no cost of sales or even a list of expenses.

He wrote up a preliminary business plan, studied other bakeries in the nearby area, looked into the suppliers Polly had been working with, and redid her projected cash flow and balance sheet. By mid-afternoon, he started to think he had some solid ways for her to get a handle on her business before it dropped out from under her.

He nodded with satisfaction. That was all he had to do. Go on a few dates, help her get the bakery back on track, and teach her how to run it properly. She was a smart girl. Once she had the tools in place and knew how to use them, she’d be fine.

And
then
he could walk away.

The intercom buzzed. “Mr. Stone, your . . . shit.”

Kate’s voice dropped off just as the door opened and Julia strode into his office, looking like she’d just stepped out of the pages of
Vogue
in a gray tweed Chanel suit.

Kate followed, her expression both worried and irritated. “I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t realize she would take the stairs.”

“Thanks, Kate,” Luke said. “I’ve got this.”

His assistant left, closing the door behind her. Julia approached his desk with her usual predatory “give me intel or I will crush you” look.

“Who is she?” Julia asked. “Evan said she was there the other night when he and your father arrived.”

Luke made a mental note to have a
talk
with his little brother. “Evan needs to stop gossiping.”

“Well, when I threatened to turn my matchmaking efforts onto him rather than you, he sang like a canary.” Julia arched an eyebrow. “Do I know her?”

“No. You’ve never met her. In fact, we just started seeing each other.”

Julia looked at him skeptically. “Since when?”

“Uh, last week.”

“You started seeing her
last week
and you had her at the house?”

“
My
house,” Luke corrected.

“And is there a reason you didn’t tell me this the other day?”