Cupcakes & Chardonnay by Gabriel Julia

Author:Gabriel, Julia [Gabriel, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Serif Books
Published: 2013-02-11T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

"I like it, Suzie-Q," Brent said as Suzanne pulled her car up to the curb in front of the soon to be Napa Cupcakery. Suzanne had roped Brent and Seth into spending a lovely Saturday morning and afternoon helping her paint the new shop. "The building has a lot of character. But it looks like someone is already here."

The front door to the shop was already wide open and Suzanne could see men inside, some on ladders.

"Hmm ..." Suzanne said as she got out of the car and walked briskly into the building.

Inside, half a dozen strapping men were busy painting the walls and ceiling. Somehow, the walls had been already sanded, prepped and primed. Suzanne looked at the men in confusion and their faces reflected her confusion right back.

"What are you doing?"

One man, dressed in paint-spattered overalls, looked toward the kitchen.

"This is my store!" Brent and Seth came in behind her. Brent spoke to the man in overalls in Spanish. The man pointed back to the kitchen again. Suzanne headed off to see who was back there and nearly ran smack into Daryle. He reached out and gripped her shoulders.

"Whoa! You look ready to kill someone," he said.

"What ... what are you doing here? I came up here with Brent and Seth to start painting and ..." Suzanne looked back toward the front entrance.

"Well, I beat you to it apparently," Daryle replied. "I stopped in the other day to make sure the power had been turned on and I noticed all the brand new cans of paint and painting supplies. So I brought some guys over from the winery to do the painting."

Suzanne was speechless. It was a nice gesture, and the winery's employees would probably do a better job than she would. Still, it would have been nice if Daryle had given her a call or texted her. It would have saved her, Brent and Seth a trip up.

"Hope you don't mind," Daryle said, looking at her uncertainly. He leaned in and kissed her cheek, a friendly hello sort of kiss. The clean lavender scent of her shampoo filled his nostrils. He wanted to give her more than just a friendly kiss, but he was a little puzzled by her response. He'd thought she would be happy not to have to deal with the painting—who likes to paint walls?—but now he wasn't sure. He tilted her face upward, trying to read what was going on in that pretty mind of hers. Whatever it was, she wasn't revealing it. He kissed her gently, warily, on the lips. Hadn't it been just a week ago that she had let him make love to her? He'd been replaying that scene all week, so many times in fact that it had begun to interfere with his work productivity. Even now, he could feel the faint beginnings of a stirring in his groin.

"Hey, what can we do to help?" Brent's voice boomed into the kitchen.

Daryle took a quick step back from Suzanne, remembering his "interaction" with Brent at the museum.

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