Sweet Nothings (32 page)

The bell tinkled again, and this time a family of six walked in, none of whom looked familiar, but the steady stream of tourists had been picking up all week thanks to the warmer weather and school breaks in many surrounding states. Joanie went around the counter to greet them and left Lee Ann waiting on a couple of regulars at the register.

“Good morning,” Joanie enthused, noting the mother’s widened eyes as she took in the University of Tennessee orange on the tips of Joanie’s hair. “Welcome to Cakes-a-GoGo. Where are y’all from?”

“Iowa,” the mother said, introducing themselves as the Fosters. “We drove down last night to spend the week hiking and driving through the park. We’re hoping to see a bear.”

The kids all agreed, though the smallest one seemed most interested in the cupcakes.

Joanie laughed. She always enjoyed chatting with out-of-towners. “They are starting to come out. There have been a couple sightings reported this week. Be careful, though. They’re going to be hungry. Make sure you don’t leave any food out if you’re picnicking, or you might have uninvited guests.”

Joanie and the Fosters continued talking, chatting about what there was to do in Sugar Springs as well as up in the park, about cupcakes, and about UT football since the cupcake of the week was Rocky Top Explosion. It was a white cake with sugared pecans and toffee, covered with a pile of orange icing. UT was her favorite football team, of course, so she’d saved this cupcake for her birthday week. The name had come from UT’s unofficial theme song, “Rocky Top.”

After they shuffled over to be waited on by Lee Ann, another family came in, this one from Kentucky, along with Brian Marshall, Gina Gregory, and Bert Wheeler from the pharmacy bringing up the rear. The place was packed. Joanie couldn’t be happier.

As she continued talking with her customers, she caught Brian’s eye. “Stick around if you have a minute. I wanted to talk to you about something.”

He nodded and Gina mumbled something about Joanie wanting all the men to herself, then declared she didn’t need a cupcake after all. She turned and left the store in a huff, leaving Bert and the family from Kentucky staring after her.

“Guess she decided not to share the gossip herself, after all,” Bert said.

The Kentucky family left with their desserts, and as Joanie closed the door behind them, she turned to Bert. “What gossip?”

She’d swear the man turned red from his neck up.

Brian merely snickered.

Joanie glared at all of them, Lee Ann included. “What now? It’s about me again, isn’t it?”

“Oh yeah,” Brian said. “And it’s a good one.” He had a chocolate cupcake in his hand—chocolate was his favorite—and gave her a sexy wink as he peeled the paper from the sides. “Seems you got Dalton eating out of the…” he paused and pursed his lips, his blue eyes just on this side of evil. “Well, I’ll just say it’s
not
the palm of your hand.”

Bert guffawed and Lee Ann lowered her head, covering her mouth to keep in her laughter.

“What are you talking about? Lee Ann.” Joanie turned to her friend. “What is it?”

Lee Ann shook her head, tears welling in her eyes. “I’m sorry, hon. I haven’t had time to talk to you alone since I got here.”

Joanie thought back over the last couple of days and couldn’t come up with anything that would have the town going. She lifted her hands, palms up. “What?”

Brian stepped forward and put a comforting arm around her. He gave her a wide grin. “Seems you might want to look into curtains for your living-room window, babe.”

“I have curtains on my living room window.”

Lee Ann shook her head, her eyes drying and now looking apologetic. “GiGi’s living room window.”

“I haven’t even been out there in days. What have people seen?” The worst she could imagine was a houseful of hot men, working shirtless laying her floors. Now that was a fantasy. Though it would be a nice view for anyone, she couldn’t imagine the snickers going on that she was witnessing.

Bert cleared his throat. “Apparently you were there last Thursday night. Gina was driving by and saw…”

Joanie looked from one to the other. None of them were looking at her anymore.

What had she been doing Thursday night? They’d watched a hockey game, she’d figured out he knew something about the bet… and Nick had driven her out of her mind with his mouth.

“Oh. My. God.” She blushed clear to her toes. So much for not being one to get embarrassed. And she’d never even gotten the information out of Nick. That man was like Fort Knox. “Gina saw us?” she asked. “Did anybody else?”

Bert shook his head. “I think it was only her. She told Linda Sue about it yesterday.”

Joanie couldn’t believe Gina had managed to hold it in that long. But then, talking about Joanie and Nick like that, when not too long ago she’d complained about Nick not putting out for her, might make her look bad.

“At least no one believes any longer that there’s anything wrong in that department between you two.” This came from Lee Ann, and when Joanie turned to her, Lee Ann held her hands up. “Just trying to find the good in it.”

“
Ohmygod
,” Joanie mumbled, collapsing into one of the bistro chairs in the dining area. “I’m going to have to leave town over embarrassment.”

“Nah,” Brian said. “You’re tough enough to stick it out. But you might manage to hold the record for the most money collected on a bet.”

Joanie gritted her teeth. “What exactly
is
the bet?” she asked.

“Bert,” Lee Ann interrupted before he or Brian could say anything else. “What kind of cupcake did you want today? It’s on the house.”

Lee Ann practically threw a Rocky Top at him and ushered him out the door, trying to shoo Brian with him, but he stuck around. Two more families came in as Joanie eyed her friends. She was missing something. Why would her and Nick being seen
like that
make people toss down more money on when it would end?

Something wasn’t right.

When the last of the customers left, Brian came over to her. “What did you want to talk about?”

She sighed. “What’s with the bet?”

“That’s your question?”

“No.” She shook her head. “But I want to know that, too.”

“I can’t tell you that one. I’m sworn to secrecy.”

“Come on, Brian. Be a friend.”

He chucked her under the chin and gave her a wink. “I am, babe. I have my money on Monday.”

She growled as both Brian and Lee Ann laughed. Lee Ann came over with three more cupcakes and sat down with them. They each took one.

If they weren’t going to talk about the bet, she might as well toss her proposal out there.

“I was thinking about this place,” she said to Brian. “I’m looking for a buyer and wondered if you or your parents might want to make me an offer.”

The Marshalls had a thriving tourist business, and she could see them incorporating cupcakes into their packages. Brian merely raised an eyebrow while Lee Ann threw up her hands.

“Why do you want to sell?” Lee Ann asked. “You love this place.”

Joanie gave her a puzzled look. “I always sell.”

That was the way it worked. She opened businesses, she sold them, she moved on.

“You’ve only had it open for a couple months.”

Not even that, actually.

“It’s already making money,” Joanie pointed out. “It’s going to be a gold mine. A manager could easily be hired to run it. It would be a great investment.”

Brian licked orange icing off his fingers, his attitude laid-back, as always. “If you don’t want to run it, why not hire a manager and keep it as your own investment?”

“That’s not how I do things.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t start,” Lee Ann grumbled.

Before Joanie could reply, Lee Ann rose from her chair, the metal legs scraping noisily against the floor as she stood. “I’ve got a photo appointment to get to.” She scowled at Joanie. “But I’ve already told you what I think recently. Grow up. Quit running for once.”

“I’m not…” But she was talking to air. Lee Ann was already on the other side of the door.

Joanie turned to Brian. “What is she talking about? I always sell the businesses.”

He merely shrugged. “Maybe she’s thinking you should stop running from that, too.”

“Too? What are
you
talking about?”

Brian gave her a hard look, then simply said, “Dalton.” Joanie assumed he didn’t mean Cody.

She eyed her friend. “What about him?”

“You’re running from him.” He picked up the cupcake Lee Ann hadn’t finished and started on it. “From whatever you have with him.”

“No I’m not.” Joanie shook her head. “I’m dating him. That’s more than you’ve seen me do before.”

“But you’re sitting around waiting for it to end,” he said. “Right?”

She didn’t answer. She couldn’t help it. She didn’t know how to believe in it.

“I went to see him,” Brian said. “Did he tell you that?”

“No!” Joanie sat up straight, her cupcake now forgotten. “Why would you do that?”

His big shoulders moved under the navy T-shirt he wore. “Someone has to watch after you.”

She gave him a frustrated sigh and punched him in the arm. “When did you go?”

“Couple weeks ago.” He said nothing else, clearly intending to make her beg for information.

“And?” she prompted. “What did you find out?”

He smiled then, a look many women had appreciated over the years, and she had to wonder why she hadn’t just taken him up on his offer and kept things simple. Then she wouldn’t be in the middle of “a relationship,” and she wouldn’t be fighting the urge to tell a man she loved him every time she saw him.

“Come on, Brian,” she pleaded. “Tell me.”

He angled his head at her and gave her a droll look. “He’s over the moon for you, babe. You could do no wrong.” He picked up her hand and kissed the back of it. “You might want to think about hanging on to this one.”

She sat quiet for a minute, letting Brian’s words soak in. She was aware Nick was crazy about her. Heck, he’d been about to tell her he loved her a couple weeks ago, but she’d stopped him. But yeah, she knew how he felt. She felt it, too.

Yet something still held her back.

Something terrified her about them.

It was frustrating, because she
did
want to believe in them. She
did
want them to last.

She wanted a life with Nick.

But she was scared out of her mind at the thought of it.

“I can’t believe this is coming from you.” She said the words expected of her, even if she couldn’t quite believe in them anymore either. “Aren’t you the one who proclaims himself to be a confirmed bachelor? What do you call yourself? ‘Sugar Springs’s George Clooney.’”

Long dimples appeared in his cheeks. “Every town needs one.”

“Then why can’t I be the female version of that?” The words didn’t even sound believable to her own ears.

Brian rose then, and she felt tiny sitting there looking up at him. She liked knowing he had her back.

“Because you aren’t.” He looked around the room, taking in the display counters and the work station on the back wall, the small tables in the sitting area and the van parked out front. Everything she’d worked so hard to set up just the way she wanted it. Then he looked back at her. “This is you, babe. I think you finally found the one that fits. Don’t sell it. And Nick? He’s yours, too, if you’ll let him be.”

“Nick lives in Nashville.”

“Yeah well, I suppose that’s what compromise was made for.”

With his words, Brian gave her a wink and walked out the door, and she was left sitting there wondering where her friend had gone who understood she was just like him. She wasn’t meant for permanence. Why had he changed?

Or had she?

Chapter Nineteen

T
he truck turned to the right, and where Joanie expected to feel the crunch of gravel, she instead felt the smoothness of asphalt. Or maybe concrete. Or maybe they hadn’t turned into GiGi’s driveway at all.

“Where are we?” she asked. She was sitting in Nick’s truck, blindfolded with a tie that belonged to him, as he took her to GiGi’s to show her the finished result. The truck rumbled to a stop and she felt him shift into park.

“We’re here.”

A breath caught in her throat. “The drive?”

“Yep.” He chuckled. “Paved. A freebie present, just for you.”

She couldn’t hold back the smile. It was a combination of excitement and nerves. The last time she’d been this nervous had been when she’d seen Nick’s truck parked across the square six weeks ago. She practically bounced on the seat. “Then get me out of here. I want to see it. I want to see everything.”

“In a minute.” He laughed again, the sound low and close and making the hairs on her arms stand up.

Before she realized what he was doing, his lips touched hers and she responded by opening her mouth and inviting him in. It was a good kiss, a hot one, and exactly the kind a girl should get on her birthday.

He broke contact and whispered, “Happy birthday, sweetness.”

She surprised both of them by gripping his head and kissing him again, this time in a way that had her ready to rid both of them of their clothes. She was continually shocked by how badly she wanted him. They’d been sleeping together for almost a month now, dating for two weeks of that, and she was still as needy for him as she had been that first night.