Being in a hurry and having no patience at all, Tess hadn’t judged things as well as she might have, and there was another car coming towards her as she moved into the oncoming lane. She barely made it past the huge truck and back to safety before the other car whooshed by, but as far as she was concerned, he was the one at fault; he was the one who had caused her to take her life in her own hands to pass him. She let him know it, too, giving him the old one-fingered salute in her rearview mirror as she sped well ahead. Tess barely made it to the shop in time to open, as she fumed about the selfishness of other drivers.
When her part time employee and good friend Pam came in at ten, Tess decided to treat herself to a coffee. Tess didn’t usually drink coffee as it didn’t like her much, but today she had a definite taste for some java. There was a coffee shop just down the street that she occasionally patronized when the mood struck.
The Udder Place was a very traditional New England small shop – definitely not a Starbucks. They didn’t do foam or pumps or ventis and just had three or four different flavors of good, real coffee – none of that fancy stuff. And although Tess was accustomed to getting exactly what she wanted, she figured she was probably the most demanding customer they had.
The line was nearly out the door when she arrived. She was immediately assailed by the smell of strong coffee offset by the enticing aromas of various baked goods. The line moved quickly, and before she knew it, she was up.
The owner of the shop was working the counter herself, as usual, and recognized her on sight. “Hi, Tess! How goes the flower business?”
“It’s going pretty well, if I do say so myself.” She smiled back at Helen. “Well enough that I thought I deserved a bit of a reward, so here I am.”
“What can I get you?”
“I think I’ll succumb to temptation and get a large decaf, three splashes of skim and three Equals, please, with just a slight shake of cinnamon.”
Helen had strategically positioned a huge display of luscious pastries right in front of her customers so they would have to look at them while their drink was made. When she handed Tess her coffee and saw the glazed look in her eye, she laughingly asked, “Anything else?”
Tess whimpered audibly, still staring at all the homemade delights and trying to decide just how good she wanted to be. Finally, she groaned. “You are cruel and unusual, waving all of these goodies under my nose. I’m starving, and I’ll have an apple-cider doughnut, warmed, with cream cheese frosting, please.”
Helen deliberately left the frosting off of some of her wares, only to later slather a generous dollop of some delicious flavor onto the top. With the doughnut warmed just slightly, all of that frosting would melt onto and into and over, and Tess could barely wait to sink her teeth into it.
As she took her coffee and the small box containing the confection, Tess warned with a smile, “I’m going to blame my first heart attack on you, you know.”
“It’s been done already,” Helen deadpanned back, already moving on to the next person in line who happened to be Sean Maddox, the man she knew was responsible for the puddles of drool already forming on her good tiled floor. The quiet owner of a local auto shop, Sean was the kind of man whose modesty about his good looks made him even more attractive. Even now, the majority of Helen’s mostly female clientele was either eyeing Sean or trying to catch his.
Sean wasn’t paying them any mind at all. His eyes were on Ms. Martin, who had taken only a few steps away from the counter before she had the donut out of its box and was sinking her teeth into it with a moan of pure pleasure. He found her oral display quite interesting; certain parts immediately stood at attention, forcing him to use his morning paper to try to maintain some level of decorum in a public place.
Sean knew he should stop staring at her – especially considering his overreaction – but he just couldn’t seem to drag his eyes away. She was enjoying her treat with such unabashed delight that all he could do was wonder if she’d be quite as vocal – or enthusiastic – when he had her beneath him in bed. The pastry had been so generously slathered with frosting that a bit of it remained just above the vermilion border of her full lips, as if daring him to lick it off.
“Sean?” Helen prompted loudly, rudely dragging him out of his reverie.
He recovered completely, clamping down successfully on his libido, at least for the time being. He thrust his head through the open door just in time to see where that thoroughly-enticing woman had gone once she’d left the coffee shop – about four doors down to the flower shop that had sprung up several years ago. He had noted the shop’s opening at the time, but since he had no reason to go buying flowers he’d never met her. He was determined to change that, and did so the very next morning.
Tess made it to work early the next day, having managed to avoid the annoying blue truck for once. It was about nine thirty or so, and she was futzing with her deliveries in the back – putting some of the flowers into the cooler, sorting out the ones she wanted to display – when she heard the bell ring that signaled someone had entered the shop. She wandered out front to find a man standing amid all of her flowers, looking incongruous among the blooms – and extremely uncomfortable.
He was one of the most classically beautiful men she had ever seen
