You cant let that asshole ruin your confidence, Kathy growled, lowering the book long enough to glare. It wasnt your fault your boyfriend was a using, lying criminal.
Well, it was my fault I let him dupe me, wasnt it? If I was so good at reading people, Id have seen what was going on. I wouldnt have let the glow of great sex cloud my vision.
Just thinking about it made her stomach hurt.
Shed thought she was in love. Shed fallen for Sean Rafferty hard and fast. The bakery owners son was everything shed wanted. Gorgeous. Funny. Sensitive. Her dream guy. Shed thought the fall was mutual, too. Great sex with an up-and-coming pharmacist who seemed crazy about her. He didnt care that she didnt have any special gift. And she hadnt cared that she couldnt seem to get a solid read on his body language. Hed said plenty. Words of love, of admiration.
Then Sean had been busted in an internet prescription scam. And, as if her shock of misreading him that much hadnt been enough, theyd informed her that she was under arrest for collusion. Apparently, her own true love had run his scam using her computer IP address, and then told the police it was all her idea. Itd taken a month, a pile of lawyers fees and the word of one of Seans colleagues shooting for a plea deal to convince the cops that shed been innocent. Clueless, gullible and stupid, but innocent.
Then Sean had been busted in an internet prescription scam. And, as if her shock of misreading him that much hadnt been enough, theyd informed her that she was under arrest for collusion. Apparently, her own true love had run his scam using her computer IP address, and then told the police it was all her idea. Itd taken a month, a pile of lawyers fees and the word of one of Seans colleagues shooting for a plea deal to convince the cops that shed been innocent. Clueless, gullible and stupid, but innocent.
His mother firing her had been the final straw. Whether she fit in or not didnt matter, Pandora had needed to come home.
Whats that book? Kathy asked, clearly trying to distract her from a confidence-busting trip down memory lane.
Pandora gave an absent glance at the book in her lap. Faded ink covered pages that were brittle with age. Some of the writing she recognized as Grammys. Some shed never seen before. Then, a tiny flame of excitement kindling in the back of her mind, she flipped the pages. Its a recipe book.
Oh.
Make that Oh! Pandora angled the book to show her friend the handwritten notes above the ingredient list. These are recipes for aphrodisiacs. Better than love spells, these dont rely on a gift. They just require a talent for cooking.
Oh, I like that. Maybe you can whip up a tasty aphrodisiac or two for me? Kathy said with a wicked smile. Id be willing to pay a pretty penny for guaranteed good sex.
Hot and fresh orgasms, delivered to your door in thirty minutes or less? Pandora joked.
Sure, why not? Maybe your éclairs arent quite as amazing as Mrs. Raes, but youre still a damn good cook. So why not use that? Use those recipes? Put the word out, see what happens. If nothing else, itll stir up a little curiosity, right?
It was a crazy idea. Aphrodisiacs? What the hell did Pandora know about sex, let alone sexual aids? The last time shed seen Sean, hed been behind bars and, probably for the first time in their relationship, honest when hed told her that shed been easy to use because she was naive about sex.
So unless it was a how-to-survive-and-thrive-alone, a do-it-yourself guide to pleasure on a budget, Pandora had very little to offer.
But could she afford to turn away from such a perfect idea? Her mother would say shed found this box, this idea, for a reason. Could she take the chance and ignore fate?
Pandora puffed out a breath and looked around the store. This was her heritage. Maybe she didnt have a gift like the rest of the women in her family, but couldnt this be her gift? To save the store?
While her brain was frantically spinning around for an answer, she paced the length of the counter and back. On her third round, Paulie lifted his black head off the carpet to give her the look of patience that only cats have.
I guess we should do some research, she finally said.
Dont you have all the recipes you need in that book?
Im sure I do. But I need to find out what kind of food is going to lure in the most customers. Then I can use the recipes to add a special dash of aphrodisiac delight.
As she reached under the counter to get a notepad and pen so she and Kathy could brainstorm, she had to shake her head.
Wasnt it ironic? It was because of sex that shed had to run home and now sex was going to be the thing that saved that home.
Two months later
I NEED A FAVOR A sexual favor, you might say.
The words were so low, they almost faded into the dull cacophony of the bars noise. Pool cues smacking balls and the occasional fist smacking a face were typical in this low-end dive. Sexual favors were plentiful, too, but usually they involved the back room and cash in advance.
Caleb Black arched a brow and took a slow sip of his beer before saying, Thats not the way I roll, but Christmas is coming. Want me to slap a bow on the ass of one of those fancy blow-up dolls and call it your present?
Hunters dead-eyed look didnt intimidate, but it did make Caleb hide his smirk in his beer. Caleb was known far and wide as a hard-ass dude with a bad attitude. But when he was around Hunter, he came off as sweetness and light on a sugar high.
The man was a highly trained FBI special agent swiftly rising in the ranks thanks to his brilliant mind, killer instincts and vicious right hook.
He was also Calebs college roommate and oldest, most trusted friend. Which meant poking at that steely resolve was mandatory.
Okay, crossing blow-up doll off my shopping list, Caleb decided. But you should know that my sexual favors dont come cheap.
From what Ive heard, dirt cheap is more like it.
Calebs smirk didnt change. When a man was as good as he was with women, he didnt need to defend his record. Knowing Hunter would get to the point in his own good time, Caleb leaned back, the chair creaking as he crossed his ankle over his knee and waited.
Always quick on the uptake, Hunter pushed his barely touched beer aside and leaned forward, his hands loose on the scarred table between them. Even in the dim bar light, his eyes shone with an intensity that told Caleb the guy was gonna try to sucker him in.
But Caleb had learned suckering at his daddys knee.
Youre coming off a big case, right? Hunter confirmed.
Not quite the tact hed expected. But it wasnt his game, so Caleb just nodded. And waited.
Word is youve hit burnout. That youre taking some time off to consider your options.
The smirk didnt shift on Calebs face. But his entire body tensed. He wasnt a sharing kind of guy. He hadnt told anyone he was burning out except his direct superior, whod sworn to keep it to himself.
Word sounds like a gossipy, giggling teenager, was all Caleb said, though. Whos the gossip and when did you start listening to that kind of crap?
Its amazing how much information you can pick up through speculation. Hunter sidestepped. So while youre considering those options, maybe you might be interested in doing a friend a favor?
Im more interested in lying on a beach in Cabo with half-naked women licking coconut-flavored oil off my body, Caleb mused, taking another swig of beer.
What if I used the owe-me card? Hunter asked quietly, his gaze steady on Calebs. Intimidation 101.
Last week, Caleb had faced down a Colombian drug lord whod preferred to blow up the building he stood in than be arrested when he found out his newest right-hand man was actually DEA.
It would take a lot more than 101 to make Caleb squirm.
Then again, he did owe Hunter. Back in their first year of college, Caleb had been a better con than a student. Overwhelmed by the realities of college life, hed cheated on his midterm psych project. Hunter had caught him. He didnt threaten to turn him in. He didnt lecture. He simply threw Calebs own dreams back in his face until hed cracked, then helped him pull together a new project. He hadnt snagged the A hed hoped for, but Caleb had found a new sense of pride hed never known.
Shit.
Caleb hated unpaid debts. Especially sappy emotional ones.
Cut the bullshit and get to the point, he suggested.
Realizing hed won, Hunter didnt gloat. He just leaned back in his chair and took a sip of his own beer. Youre from a small town in the Santa Cruz Mountains, right? Black Oak, California.
It wasnt a question, but Caleb inclined his head.
You still have family there.
It wasnt a question, but Caleb inclined his head.
You still have family there.
Maybe. Probably. He knew his sister was living just outside of San Francisco, playing the good girl. And who the hell knew where his brother was. A chip off the ole block, Gabriel was probably fleecing some rich widow of her wedding ring. But their fathers family had founded Black Oak, and while Tobias Black hadnt ever gone for the political game, hed always kept his fingers on the strings of his hometown.
But Caleb hadnt lived there since hed left for college twelve years before. And he hadnt been back at all since hed graduated and joined the DEA.
Eight years before, two months before Caleb had graduated, theyd had one helluva family brawl. Ugly accusations, bitter recriminations and vicious ultimatums.
Tobias Black had raised his three kids alone when his wife had died, keeping the family tighter than peas in one very conniving pod. But with that explosion, theyd all gone their separate ways. Caleb had grown up with an almost smothering sense of family. These days he was more like an orphan.
Just as well. Spending time with Tobias was an emotional pain in the ass at best, a conflict of interest at worst.
Its an interesting little town. Quaint even. Your maternal aunt is the mayor, but word is that its actually your father who runs the town. Tobias Black, a known con artist with a huge FBI file and no convictions. Estimates of his take over the years is in the millions. And even knowing he was behind some of the major scams of the century, theyve never gathered enough evidence to convict him.