“My pleasure.” Tippi smiled brightly. “Bye-bye, Vlad, it’s been really nice meeting you, and if you want some yummy adult desserts, come by my place. It’s on the corner of Beekman and Murray. I promise you’ll leave with an armful of scrumptious pastries. My treat.”
Meredith watched her turn and flounce out of the room, her hips swinging back and forth like a pendulum and her thigh-high skirt barely covering her ass.
Once she was out of sight, Vlad moved closer to Meredith and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Do I sense some competition going on here?”
“Just on Tippi’s part. She’s been around for almost a decade, and I’m sort of the new kid on the block. I think she’s afraid I’ll take away some of her business.”
He nodded. “Ah, the competitive kind.”
“Definitely.”
“But you’re not?”
“Of course not. But if she ever gives you, say, a dozen free cupcakes or muffins, let me know. I’ll see her dozen and raise it another dozen.” She reached over to the counter and took one of the extra cupcakes they’d made. “Here, consider this a small down payment,” she said as she offered it to him.
Vlad burst out laughing. “Nothing I like better than a noncompetitive woman.” He took the cupcake and bit into it, closing his eyes and smiling as he chewed a mouthful of rich chocolate-ganache filling.
Meredith couldn’t help being charmed by the sight.
Nice
. She could tell he was really taking pleasure in the cupcake. A man with a lusty appetite. In her opinion, there were few things in the world as good as that. Except maybe a man who had a sexy chin dimple and a great butt as well as a lusty appetite.
“Wonderful,” he said as he took another man-sized bite, handily demolishing nearly three-quarters of the cupcake.
He opened his eyes and gave her a long, slow smile that came close to singeing her skin. “So if you’re not the competitive kind, would you be the kind who likes concerts? Randy gave me the tickets he can’t use, and I’m new in town, so I don’t know many people.”
Meredith stared at him, both surprised and intrigued. Then to hide her confusion, she pulled a paper napkin from a dispenser on the counter and gave it to him. “If that’s an invitation, do you usually ask clients out?”
“That’s an invitation,” he admitted. “And, no, I don’t usually ask clients out. This is a first. Of course I’ve only been with the company one month, so who knows what I may do by the time month three rolls around.”
He wolfed down the rest of the cupcake, and his tongue flicked out to lick away a stray film of strawberry frosting from the corner of his mouth. “Look, I realize we don’t know each other, but maybe you’d at least be willing to go and give me a heads-up on life here.”
Should she? Meredith considered the question as she watched him pat the napkin against his lips, the lips that had given her that brief, hot smile. She’d only met him a couple of hours ago, and in that short time he’d made her overreact twice. So he obviously wasn’t trying to come on to her or he would have been sweeter and more complimentary from the start.
Then, too, she hadn’t been out with a man since Jimmy traded his expensive three-piece suits for an acrobat’s spangled tights. So maybe it was time to plunge in again. But just for one evening, of course. “Sounds interesting,” she finally said.
“I think so.” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and offered it to her. “If the answer is yes, care to exchange numbers and addresses?”
Meredith hesitated, her mind still nervously juggling options. Then with a shrug, she chose
why not?
One date with the man with the chin dimple and the singeing smile? It certainly couldn’t hurt.
Five minutes later, they’d exchanged information, agreed that Vlad would pick her up at her apartment for a pre-concert meal, and said their goodbyes.
Then he was gone, and Meredith leaned against the kitchen counter, still wondering if she’d made the right decision.
“The guy who just left, is that him?” Dana asked as she came in, wheeling the cart, which was now devoid of cake boxes.
Meredith jerked to attention. “Who?” she said innocently.
“You know who. The computer expert.”
“Uh, yes, that’s him.”
Dana propped her hands on her hips and gave Meredith the evil eye. “I swear, Meredith Crismis, either you’ve lost your eyesight, or your mind, or else you are one gigantic fibber. A low six, nothing. That dude’s a definite high six million plus.”
Meredith shrugged. “To each her own.” She walked toward a cabinet to get the dessert stand for Tori’s cupcake cake. But halfway there, she stopped and turned back, knowing she’d have to tell the truth. Lies had no place in her relationship with Dana. “Okay, I’m fudging,” she admitted. “You’re right. He’s no low six, and he asked me to go to a concert with him because he’s new in town and Randy gave him some tickets he can’t use. Anyway, if you want to hate me for lying, go ahead. I deserve it.”
Dana shook her head firmly. “No, you don’t deserve it, and stop being such a goof. You know I’m the look-and-enjoy kind of gal, not a toucher or body-jumper. If I did anything else, Jake would be devastated, and no way do I want to hurt him or lose him. So go to that concert with Mister High-six-million-plus and enjoy.”
Enjoy
.
A wonderful thought. It was what Meredith wanted—one night to forget vicious hackers and overdue bills and too few customers…and to just enjoy.
Chapter Three
“Well, there’s one thing I can say for Randy,” Vlad said as he and Meredith walked toward her apartment after the concert.
“Really? What’s that?”
“He has terrible taste in music.”
She had to smile at that because he was absolutely right. “You mean the songs of Cosmic Collision didn’t do it for you?”
“Frankly, it sounded to me like the Cosmos didn’t just collide with something. It completely self-destructed.” He paused, and his expression turned cautious as though afraid he might have accidentally slimed her favorite group. “Wait! Did you like them?”
“Worst group I’ve ever heard,” she admitted.
He looked relieved that he hadn’t insulted her musical taste, and Meredith grinned to let him know it was okay, she really hated groups that played like untalented two-year-olds.
He took her arm as they crossed the street, holding it gently—more a protective than a seductive gesture, and yet to her somehow it still felt seductive.
At dinner, they’d shared life stories—his, being from Seattle, mother a psychologist, dad an engineer, two brothers, no sisters…her, from right here in town, mom a nurse, father a history professor, one sister, one pain-in-the-neck big brother. And the sharing had been wonderful, just as wonderful as the way he looked in his gray slacks and navy blazer. Sort of preppy, and much too handsome. Then she realized they’d reached her apartment building, and an unexpected sense of disappointment hit her.
“We’re here.” She nodded at the building as she stopped in front of it.
He glanced up at it. “So we are.”
Somehow she had the feeling he was also disappointed, and almost without meaning to, she said, “Care to come up for some coffee?”
His expression told her he was as surprised at receiving the invitation as she was at making it. But then he flashed a full-out smile, and Meredith felt a flare of warmth envelop her because she knew he was going to say yes.
“Love it. Care to see a movie and have dinner with me next Saturday?”
She stared at him with surprise. Another date? She certainly wasn’t interested in a serious relationship, not when she spent almost all of her time trying to make Divine Desserts a success. Still, taking just a few hours off to see a movie and have dinner shouldn’t interfere too much with business, should it?
“You’re just offering because of my chocolate-ganache cupcakes, right?” she finally said, trying to make light of it.
“That, and a few other things.”
“What things?” she asked, fascinated to see what answer he could come up with.
He bent toward her and lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “I noticed some muffins on the kitchen counter when I was at your company fixing your computer, and they looked seriously delicious.”
All right, either the man was a confirmed sugarholic or else incredibly fast with a comeback.
“You have great instincts. They
are
seriously delicious,” she said. “Okay, what’s your proposal?”
“You spoil me with some of those muffins as well as a ton of your chocolate cupcakes, and in return, next Saturday, I take you to dinner and a movie…any movie of your choice, except one that features tone-deaf musical groups.”
Meredith thought about it for a moment, then decided,
all right, do it
. The man was easy to be with, a fun conversationalist, and surprisingly knowledgeable about subjects they both enjoyed, like baseball and books. All very good things. As she nodded, she deliberately avoided thinking about his dark eyes, great butt, that amazing chin dimple of his, and the way she sometimes felt a little breathless when they stood close, as they were doing now.
“Sounds like a reasonable trade,” she said.
His waiting expression blossomed into a huge smile, and he held out his hand. “Wonderful. Shake on it?”
“Definitely. Still want that coffee?” she asked, forcing herself not to dwell on the warmth of his hand as he grasped hers and tightened his hold for a lingering moment before releasing her.
“More than ever,” he said, his voice deep and mellow and that chin dimple of his winking at her in the most enticing way.
“Perfect,” Meredith murmured and found her pulse quickening with anticipation as he slid his arm around her shoulders, and they walked together up the stairs of her building.
****
“You know what I thought the funniest part was?” Vlad asked.
The movie had just ended, and they walked slowly down the street to a nearby restaurant.
Meredith considered his question for a moment. “Where they were stuck in the elevator, and he was too scared to climb out and get help, so she had to do it,” she finally said.
“Nope. Where her parents visited and found him under her bed naked.”
“Seriously? God, you are such a guy.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s what I’d expect a guy to say.”
“Okay, guilty. I
am
a guy.”
She made a face at him. “I’m aware of that. But you still surprise me.”
“How so?”
“I always thought tech geeks were intense and totally focused on their computers. But you’re so laid-back.”
“I learned long ago that being too serious can only cause stress, and stress makes you stressed and—” He stopped abruptly, his smile dimming, then completely disappearing as though a sudden memory had drained the laughter from his soul.
“And what?” Meredith nodded, her voice soft. She desperately wanted to know what lay behind the sadness in his expression, but she didn’t want to pressure him.
“Sometimes dead,” he murmured.
She sucked in her breath. All right, now she understood. “Someone you knew?”
“My favorite uncle. Marty. God, I loved that guy, but he was always working his butt off and trying to do things for everyone. Running here, running there. Massive coronary. Dead at forty-two. Nobody saw it coming, not even his doctor. It taught me life’s short and happy’s better than stressed and dead. I think it’s one of the best lessons you can learn when you’re ten years old.”
She saw his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed hard. This was a Vlad she hadn’t seen before. She liked the new depth she sensed in him, but not the sorrow, and she automatically grasped his hand, squeezing gently to offer comfort.
Her touch seemed to bring him out of the past, and he flashed a half-smile to let her know it was okay, he could handle the memory without being torn apart by it.
“Hey, don’t get me wrong,” he told her, the familiar laid-back Vlad finally reemerging. “When there’s something important to me or to someone I love, I can be as focused and unrelenting as a junkyard dog. That’s why I practiced dancing like mad before I went to the senior prom, so I wouldn’t embarrass myself in front of everyone. And I was the star of the evening, even if I do say so.”
Meredith grinned, trying to imagine him amazing everyone at a senior prom. “You’re a dancing star?”
“Hey, don’t you believe me?”
She cut the grin, nodded, and held up her hands to placate him. “Of course I do.”
Vlad narrowed his eyes. “So why do I get the feeling you’re really a total nonbeliever?” He pointed a finger at her. “Okay, nonbeliever, I’ll prove it. We’ll find a club, and next Friday I’ll demonstrate. Agreed?”
His smile was back in place, as bright and disarming as before, and Meredith knew there was only one answer she could give to having a third date with him.
“Definitely.”
****
The music sped up, becoming faster and faster as the song the DJ played in his booth near the dance floor reached a crescendo. Locked in Vlad’s arms, Meredith moved faster too, laughing as he swung her around the floor with the other couples.
Then it was over. The final blast of sound erupted in an ear-shattering climax, and the set came to a close. Breathing as though she’d run a marathon, Meredith almost collapsed against Vlad, grateful he was there for support.
They clung together for a moment, then he gestured to the open doors of the terrace across the room.
“Care to cool off for a while?”
Meredith nodded. “Love to.”
They walked out into the night air and stopped near the marble balustrade surrounding the terrace.
It was their third date in less than two weeks. Whirlwind didn’t begin to describe their relationship. Yet to Meredith it felt so right. After all, they liked the same music…enjoyed the same films…agreed on which sports teams were worth watching and which provided nothing but a good yawn…even saw eye to eye on most political subjects.
She looked up at the sky, gleaming with a wash of distant stars and a brilliant half-moon. Then she turned to him and found him already looking back at her, a vague smile on his lips