Page 3 of Crave

“Science is not everything. In my heart, he’s my son. Now, make sure you pull the ramp all the way down and roll the trolley off the van. Mrs. Clark or her housekeeper will tell you where to put it.”

“I’ll be sure to go to the back where I can blend in with the rest of the help,” I joke.

Mom chooses to ignore my sass and gives me more instructions. I walk around the cake, in awe of my mother’s talent. She’s self-taught and never spent a day in culinary school. Only working on instinct, she never has to measure, and until recently, didn’t have any of her recipes written down. It was only with my nagging and prodding that she finally sat down with me over the course of several months so we could write down what ingredients go in what.

Her cake is a beautiful, four tier piece of art with what I assume is butter cream icing. It’s decorated simply with silver sashes around each tier. There are light pink flowers around each tier as well, giving it an elegant look.

“I’m in awe of you. This is beautiful.”

“Tastes even better than it looks.” She grabs my chin and plants a kiss on my cheek. I smile at her and she smiles back, her warm brown eyes lighting up when she looks at me.

“Your skirt is too short. Be in church tomorrow. I can only imagine what trouble you and the girls will get into tonight,” she says with fake outrage. She’s known my two best friends since we were in elementary school, and she knows our nights out are pretty tame.

“Yes, ma’am.” I give her a kiss on the cheek before I grab the keys to the van and slowly back out of my mom’s driveway.

As I pull onto the street, my phone chimes with a group text from my girls. I wait until I arrive at my destination to read it, only to find they're pushing our meet up time back one hour. I text back ‘fine’ and toss my phone back in my purse. I drive to the side entrance of the massive, brick house, following the circular drive the entire way. There are several other catering vans parked on the side of the house, and as soon as I park, servers approach the van and wheel the cake inside.

Unsure of the protocol, I follow them inside, partly so that I can bring back my mother’s equipment to the van, but mainly out of curiosity.

The minute I step inside, I notice a blonde woman holding a glass of red wine while giving orders in the massive kitchen. She smiles warmly when she sees me and introduces herself as Lillian Clark. As soon as I tell her my name, she throws an arm around my shoulder and steers me out of the kitchen into an impressive family room. She swipes a glass of wine from a nearby table and hands it to me without once taking a breath.

“I love everything your mom makes. She’s so talented.” She sips on her wine.

Pride fills my chest at Mrs. Clark’s words. “She is, Mrs. Clark.”

“It’s Lil, darling. You know what I’m thinking? I think you should stay for the party, Sandy. You look gorgeous.” Mrs. Clark looks over my outfit. “My son’s friend should be here, and I can introduce you to him.” She then steps closer and puts her arm around my shoulder. “He’s a doctor,” she says with a wink.

I let out a small laugh. Most women would think landing a doctor as a boyfriend would be some sort of boon, but I’m in the very small minority who disagrees.

“Nothing wrong with meeting a doctor,” I say as I wink back. She hugs me tighter.

“That’s my girl. And don’t tell my son I said this, but he’s extremely handsome.” Just then I feel a presence behind us, and I see someone’s shadow in front of us. There’s a loud kissing noise and I hear Mrs. Clark shriek in joy.

“Was someone talking about me? You’re right, mother. I am extremely handsome.” The voice is a deep baritone that quickly catches my attention. I don’t turn around yet, eager to hear more of that voice before I turn and see who it belongs to.

“Jakey! You’re early.”

“I came to help my favorite mother on her birthday,” he says playfully. Mrs. Clark takes him into a hug. I still haven’t turned around fully as they hug beside me. I can see Mrs. Clark holding on to her son, holding him to her. It’s almost as if she’s afraid to let him out of her embrace. She gets on her tippy toes and kisses him several times.

I take a breath and prepare myself to turn around to face the man with the sexy voice. I almost want to laugh at myself for being so affected by someone’s voice. The universe, in its quest to always find balance, dictates that someone with a voice that sexy cannot also be good looking.

I finally turn around and extend a hand towards this Jake before looking up to see his face. I just want a few more seconds to savor the sexiness of his voice before I meet with the reality of his face.

Then I hear Lilian say, “Come and meet Sandy. Sandy’s mom is the talented baker who made my cake, and she just delivered it. I can’t wait to introduce her to Jason. Sandy, honey, meet my middle son, Jacob. He’s best friends with Dr. JD.”

His large hand totally engulfs my smaller one in a firm handshake. I look at the contrast of our skin tones, my mocha brown skin against his much lighter hue. He’s wearing a gray button down shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to just below his elbow. His arms looked tanned, the skin firm and taut.

I let out a shaky breath at the sight of his forearms, the muscles visible beneath his shirt. His chest is broad, and I can see the outline of his pectoral muscles. I take a small sip of my wine as my eyes continue to travel up his tall frame.

I swallow at the same moment our eyes collide.

Brown eyes lock with brown eyes as we study each other. He has a head of messy brown hair, complete with something that’s between a beard and a five o’clock shadow. Tash would probably call it sexy scruff. His eyes are a deep chocolate brown with flecks of green, and maybe it’s the lighting or the fact that I’ve had almost half a glass of wine on an empty stomach, but I could swear that they light up when he sees my face.

He smiles at me, revealing straight white teeth and a dimple in his left cheek. I’m too lost in his deep brown eyes to bother to smile back. Instead, I swallow again in an attempt to drown the sound of my moan.

I give myself a mental head shake before I finally smile back. His smile deepens when he sees mine and he squeezes my hand, causing goosebumps throughout my body.

“It’s nice to meet you, Sandy.” There goes the rich baritone again.

---