Just Desserts Read Online Free PDF

dad or the diner and the sweet cookies would banish Bryan from her brain.
    The mixing bowl was glued onto the base from something sticky and ancient. She didn’t want to think too hard about it. Sadie wet a towel, wrapped it around the hardened crust, and let it soak to soften it up. After a tug, the bowl clicked and just as she freed it, she heard the crunch of gravel as a car pulled into the front drive.
    Since her bath, Sadie hadn’t bothered to turn on any lights in the rest of the house. She crept into the darkened family room and pulled the edge of the bamboo shade from the window. Peeking out, she saw a bronze-colored Jeep. Sadie stepped back and almost lost her footing. She righted herself by grabbing her dad’s game table and knocked over his Asian spirit chess pieces. What the hell was Quinn doing here?
    She opened the door, but not the decrepit wood screen door. Crossing her arms, she stayed out of his sight thanks to the expanse of the wrap around porch between the house and the drive. She watched as he cut the Jeep’s engine and glanced at himself in the review mirror.
    Vain.
    He tugged off his baseball hat and combed his fingers through his hair. When Quinn hopped out of the Jeep and laid eyes on her, she quivered.
    Quinn sauntered up the porch stairs. “Hi.”
    “What are you doing here? How did you find me?”
    “I wanted to make sure psychedelic sunshine-boy hadn’t come to drag you out and into the dark side. However—” He stopped and scrutinized her dress, “—you look ready for a retreat at Mother Superior’s evil lair.”
    “I’m baking.”
    “Baking what? Black pudding?”
    “Ha. No.” She opened the screen door and ushered him in. “I’m making peanut butter cookies. Please tell me you’re not allergic to peanuts.”
    “Uh, no, only cashews,” he said teasingly. His abundance of wheat-colored lashes didn’t hide his eyes when he glanced at the snuggly elasticized top of her dress where a bit of breast showed. He averted his gaze and looked at the limestone fireplace in the family room. “Nice.”
    “Thank you.”
    “The hearth. I mean the fireplace.”
    A blush spread under his freckles. Sadie disabled her grin before it turned into a smile. “If you’re satisfied that I’m not going to follow my pseudo ex-boyfriend into a padded white cell or a hash house, you’re more than welcome to take your leave. Or you can stay and roll balls of peanut butter cookie dough in sugar.”
    “Rolling balls in sugar sounds kinky. I’ll stay.”
    “You’re a per-vert. ”
     
    ***
     
    To Quinn, Sadie looked like one of the porcelain dolls his sister collected when they were kids. He conjured up the name, Madame Alexander, to lasso in his baser instincts. His mind kept wondering about positions and games. What could he play with Sadie to get under her black dress and peel it off? “No perversion. I’m a contractor. Bricks and mortar kind of guy.”
    “Really? I’ve heard that you’re more than a brick layer.”
    “I have my strengths. What have Lindy and Eddie told you?” Quinn spotted a smudge of flour on the back of Sadie’s matronly dress, right above her left cheek.
    As they walked toward the kitchen, he couldn’t remember what he had decided. Was Sadie off limits or not?
    “That bricks aren’t the only things that you like to lay.” She turned and smirked at him.
    Her oceanic green eyes locked onto his.
    Quinn broke free from the momentary trance and perused Sadie’s house. The sectional sofa, placed around the giant stone hearth, was covered with faded orange and pink fabric. He couldn’t tell if the design was of flowers or popsicles. Stacked on the sofa’s back cushions were quilts that looked artsy enough to be hand-stitched. Actually, the room wasn’t as country cliché as he’d expected. When he’d driven up to the clapboard farmhouse, he’d actually glanced into the review mirror to see if the shed was a shed or an outhouse.
    “Love your ceiling. And the