SWEET AS
SUGAR. SEXY AS SIN . . .
Carly
Taylor is pretty sure she's dreaming. It's not possible that Sam Weiss - rock
star god and sexy hotness personified - is actually in her bakery. This sort of
thing never happens in the too-small town of Haven. Or to her. And being
stranded in a secluded mountain cabin with the deliciously decadent Sam during
an ice storm? This is definitely not Carly's real life . . .
Now
there's just the two of them, a roaring fire, lots of food and drink, and a
sizzling attraction - one that just might make Carly do the unexpected. For one
night, she'll live the fantasy. For one night, nothing else matters. . . not
her struggling business, not her lonely life, not Sam's bad-boy reputation. But
sometimes one night can turn one crazy, beautiful dream into something real.
Carly Taylor
crouched behind the display case, peeking out between the blueberry muffins and
the orange-cranberry scones. A man stood just inside the door, baseball cap
pulled low, talking on his phone. He’d never come into A Piece of Cake Bakery
before. And it was probably just her imagination playing tricks on her, but she
could swear it was Sam Weiss. As in, one of the hottest rock stars in America.
Carly peeked at him
again from behind the scones, then leaned over to pick up the napkin she’d
pretended to drop to give herself an excuse to snoop. Sam Weiss probably lived
in Hollywood. There was no way he’d be standing here—sans entourage—in the
doorway of her little bakery in Haven, North Carolina, a town in the Smoky
Mountains so small that it barely registered as a blip on the map.
Nope.
She was
daydreaming, as usual. She’d listened to Sam’s latest album, Renegade, this morning while she baked,
and now she was imagining him here in her shop.
“What are you doing
down there, Carly?”
Carly looked up to
see her grandma, Marlene, peering at her over the glass countertop. “I, ah,
dropped something.”
“Lost in your
thoughts again?” her grandmother asked with a wide smile.
“Something like
that.” Carly climbed to her feet, clutching the dropped napkin.
Her grandmother’s
friend Dixie stood beside her, her blue eyes twinkling mischievously.
“Daydreaming about that handsome young man over by the door, I bet.”
Carly resisted the
urge to glance in his direction but felt herself grinning anyway. “I have no
idea what you’re talking about.”
“Well, we’re on our
way out,” her grandmother said. “Aqua aerobics to work off those muffins.”
“Worth every
calorie,” Dixie added.
The two women waved
as they headed for the door, walking past the mystery hottie as they left.
Carly’s grandma had created this bakery and ran it happily for over twenty
years. She’d retired six months ago, handing over the reins to Carly.
But owning A Piece
of Cake had been anything but a piece of cake for Carly so far. Profits were
down, way down. She needed to get her
head out of the clouds—and her mind off certain rock star look-a-likes—before
she ran her grandmother’s pride and joy straight into the ground.
With a heavy sigh,
she tossed the napkin she still held into the trash.
“What do you recommend?”
She looked up and
into the blue eyes of Sam Weiss—or his non-celebrity twin. Lookalike or not, he
was ridiculously hot, and she was a dork because her cheeks were burning. He
wore a leather jacket over a black T-shirt and dark-washed jeans. But his
eyes…wow. He still wore the baseball cap pulled low, with a sinful amount of
stubble on his cheeks that all screamed Rock
God.
“If you have a
sweet tooth, you should, um, try a cinnamon bun. They’re my specialty.”
He leaned in,
resting his elbows on the counter. “I do have a sweet tooth, especially for a
pretty woman who bakes. This your place?”
That voice.
Sweet Jesus. It was smooth as caramel with just a hint of a southern twang, and
she’d know it anywhere. Sam Weiss is in
my shop! And did he just hit on me?
“Yes.” She cleared
her throat because why did she suddenly sound like Minnie Mouse? “Yes, this is
my shop.”
A slow smile curved
his lips. “A pretty woman who bakes and
owns her own business. I like you already.”
“Thanks.” She
really shouldn’t keep staring, but whoa, her brain was short-circuiting
because…Sam Weiss. In her shop. Looking like sex on a stick, and he smelled
pretty awesome too, like some kind of expensive cologne. Yum.
“I’ll try one of
your cinnamon buns…” He paused, glancing down for the nametag she never wore
since everyone in town already knew her name.
“Carly,” she said,
still sounding a bit like she’d inhaled helium.
“Carly.” He met her
gaze again, and the sound of her name on his lips made her knees wobble. “And a
coffee, black.”
“You got it,” she
said with a smile that felt weird on her face, and God, why was she being such
an idiot? “For here?”
He nodded, watching
her intently as if he’d figured out by all her bumbling dorkiness that she’d
recognized him because, really, how could he not? At least he looked amused
instead of annoyed.
She dished up a
cinnamon bun and a cup of coffee without dropping anything or making a further
fool of herself, and he paid in cash—denying her the thrill of seeing what name
might be on his credit card. He probably went by some cool alter ego when he
traveled anyway.
“Thanks, Carly,” he
said in that butter-soft voice that made her feel all hot and fluttery inside.
Then he leaned in, winked, and pressed a finger to his lips, making a silent,
“sh.”
And oh my God, he knew she knew. Which meant
it was definitely him. And she grinned like an idiot while he walked to a table
in the back and sat, long legs stretched in front of him. A muffled beep from
the direction of the kitchen told her she’d forgotten to take the last batch of
butterscotch pecan sandies out of the oven.
So much for keeping
her mind on business this morning. But at this exact moment—her eyes still on
Sam Weiss—she didn’t care. Not even a little bit.
Rachel
Lacey is a contemporary romance author and semi-reformed travel junkie. She's
been climbed by a monkey on a mountain in Japan, gone scuba diving on the Great
Barrier Reef, and camped out overnight in New York City for a chance to be an
extra in a movie. These days, the majority of her adventures take place on the
pages of the books she writes. She lives in warm and sunny North Carolina with
her husband, son, and a variety of rescue pets.
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