Page 24 of Cupcake of the Month
The lean lines of Josh’s body held her mesmerized as he fixed himself a plate of biscuits, eggs and ham. She enjoyed the warmth filling her belly at the sight of him. He’d always been beautifully made.
He turned to throw away a paper towel and caught her staring, the coolness of his blue eyes assessing her arrival and reminding her of why he was there. Jordan pressed her lips together and nodded a greeting. He wouldn’t be in this situation if it hadn’t been for her inopportune arrival at Essie’s. He would have been able to clean up the garbage before his manager got the wrong idea.
“I’m here to help clean up.” She crossed the room to the three-compartment sink, but instead of washing the mound of pans, she tapped a finger against her thigh. She needed to apologize. “Look.”
He didn’t let her get much further. “Don’t worry about it, Jay.”
A swell of emotion hit her at once as she realized what happened at Essie’s must be on his mind, too. Pleased and annoyed that he knew what she was going to say. Loss that she hadn’t been able to apologize. Guilt for still needing to do so.
Josh put his plate on the island and took a seat. He mumbled something she couldn’t hear, then he cleared his throat. “Getting experience as an executive chef will be good for my resume.”
“Well, okay, then.” She squeezed soap on a sponge and scrubbed at a pot, maybe harder than necessary, then put it in the clean water and picked up another and scrubbed some more. “I won’t be hanging around here the whole time, but I have work to do, too.”
There was a pause and she glanced at him over her shoulder.
“Don’t let me disrupt your routine. I’ll be gone in a month anyway.” He took a bite of that really tasty-looking ham on his plate as if there was nothing wrong. As if they hadn’t shared a past of friendship and heat between the sheets and then desertion.
Damn him. All over again.
She went back to the pans as he finished his breakfast. He brought his plate to the wash sink and lingered a moment, his natural fresh scent evident even under the heavy grease and dessert odors of the kitchen. Her body became alive with Josh next to her. She forced herself to ignore the electricity that drew her in.
It had been that way since they met in college, knowing their bodies had that undeniable combination of heat and desire. They had prolonged the inevitable until the powerful pull between them exploded. And afterward he had run, abandoned her without a word. Left school. Left town. And while she wasn’t mad anymore, a part of her needed to know what had happened. She had searched the Internet, but never found anything.
Thinking about it now wouldn’t change anything.
Her phone rang, and she dried her hands before glancing at the display. It came from Macon. Which was better than an unknown number from Connecticut. She headed toward the back door, relieved to have an excuse to move away. “I’ll be right back.”
He nodded.
Anthon was relaxing in one of the brown and tan wickerchairs on the brick patio outside the kitchen, so she kept going until she was in front of the stables. “Jordan Shoenover.”
“Ms. Shoenover, can you hold for Congresswoman McGraw?
Wow, she must really want that pickup game. “Sure.”
“Just a moment, please.”
Jordan waited, closing her eyes as the cooling breeze drifted over her. Soon a male voice came on the phone. “Jordan?”
“Yes?” There was something familiar about him.
“Luke McGraw.”
Without thinking, she recited his stats from his senior year. He laughed. “I can’t believe you still remember. How are you?”
“Doing well. And you?”
They spent a few moments reminiscing, and then he got to the reason for the call. “My mom couldn’t stop talking about meeting you the other night.”
“The honor was all mine.”
“She was wondering if you could come to her office sometime soon. She’d like to talk to you.”
Jordan was instantly on alert. “About what?”
“Actually, she has questions about your business.”
“Oh.” Her stomach dropped to the bricks on the patio. The lawsuit filing was public, so it wouldn’t take much sleuthing to find it. Jordan didn’t want this looming over her all week. “I have time today, if she’s available.”
