Double Dare Read Online Free PDF Page B

expecting to be swept off my feet.” Emma threw down her pencil. “It would be nice. Settling isn’t for me. My parents didn’t settle and what they had was great.”
    “What they had was improbable,” Abigail said.
    Sasha smiled. “It was love at first sight.”
    “And settling is just another way of re-aligning your expectations to reality,” Abigail argued.
    Emma shook her head, looked between her two friends. “Being swept off my feet is just another way to ensure the man I fall for is healthy enough to carry me.”
    “Sweeping is a planned action.” Sasha frowned at the empty plate, but kept talking. “Any man can work out for weeks so when the time comes he can carry you up those stairs. You’re fooled into believing he’s your Rhett Butler. But the man that’s there when you fall and can catch you…” Sasha grinned this time, full of secrets only she knew. “Find the man with reflexes.”
    Graham had the reflexes. Within seconds, he had her wrapped in his coat and up against the window. Scratch that observation .
    Emma started to clean up. Her friends had devoured a little more than a dozen cookies between the two in less than twenty minutes. This recipe was a winner. She’d make more and set them out to sell.
    “Huh.” Sasha wiped her hands together dispelling any crumbs. “But why did his jacket smell like coffee?”
    “I probably smell like cinnamon,” Emma said.
    “Vanilla,” both women corrected her, and then glared playfully at each other before smiling. “Maybe,” Abigail said. “The new tradition should be jinx.”
    “I’d appreciate it.” Emma saw the argument brewing between the two women.
    “Anyway, I’m hankering for coffee all of a sudden. All those cookies.” Sasha smiled at Abigail and the other woman grinned back.
    They were amusing until they agreed on a point and put their forces together, against Emma. “No. I’m going to this meeting alone. Just because he’s a man doesn’t mean he’s available.”
    “You’ve refreshed your make-up,” Sasha said.
    Emma narrowed her gaze, knowing exactly where the conversation was going. “He’s passionate about coffee. I’m passionate about desserts. We align in business and business only. I’m tired of being the little bakery on the corner. I want to expand. I want to take risks. With my bakery only.” She emphasized the last sentence.
    They turned to her with what was supposed to be angelic expressions. Maybe fallen and forsaken angels. Emma shook her head, exasperated. She would have let them go over alone to Caff-aholic, but there was no telling the havoc they would wreck unsupervised.
    “If I’m taking you with me, you’ll be my selling points. Abigail mention you’re in advertising. Sasha, talk up how you designed my placards and logo.” Both women nodded in agreement. “Give me five minutes. I’m covered in flour.”
    Crossing the floor in a few strides, she entered the stockroom and then the bathroom. Three minutes later, she found Sasha behind the counter, placing something into a medium-sized box.
    “Business-warming gift.” Sasha smiled.
    Abigail said in a co-conspiratorial tone, “The coup de grace: Late Night Tennessee will get this guy to say yes to anything.”
    Emma quelled her friend with a look. The ebony-haired vixen got her current boyfriend after feeding it to him. It was four months before Miguel realized her friend couldn’t cook, other than breakfast foods. The dessert was like a siren’s call.
    “It’s dangerous,” Emma said.
    “It’s neighborly,” Sasha corrected. “Ready?”
    Emma shook her hands to dispel the sudden tremble. There was a lot riding on this deal. She wanted it now like she had wanted to open the store a few years ago. From the volley of e-mails, Emma could tell Tobias, through his yes man and woman, had high standards. Something she would need in a business partnership. She pushed down the smile of satisfaction.
    The meeting today was a formality. As far as