Sweet Nothings: A Karma Café Novella Read Online Free PDF Page A

decadently delicious as it smelled, wasn’t nearly as tempting as Bianca.
    “Hi Anja,” Bianca’s tone somewhere between grateful and frustrated.
    Jacob frowned. The frustration he could understand. His ego—and thankfully just his ego—swelled at the disappointed look on her face. But his ego wasn’t thrilled at the excitement in her voice over the interruption. How could she be both? She should stick with frustrated, dammit. He might not be a player, but he knew when a woman was coming on to him.
    And she’d been coming on hard.
    Now she was moving away fast.
    He glared at the woman in the doorway, his sexual frustration shifting to irritation in a blink.
    “I didn’t realize my rent payment didn’t include privacy,” he bit off, shifting a step toward the bedroom. It was one thing to be standing here in just a towel with a intriguing woman who clearly had sexual interest in his body. It was another to be almost naked with two women, both fully clothed and neither looking like they planned to do anything to change that.
    “We haven’t been introduced yet. I’m Anja, one of the owners of the Karma Café. Mother asked me to deliver breakfast,” Anja’s tone was serene and friendly, with just a hint of laughter. She lifted a tray as evidence. “She said you’d be expecting it.”
    Jacob had some vague recollection of Natalia mentioning that breakfast would be included during his stay. But he’d thought that meant breakfast he went downstairs for, that he'd choose himself. While actually wearing underwear.
    “I didn't mean to interrupt, though. I can see the two of you are... busy.” Wicked delight gleamed in Anja’s gypsy dark eyes.
    "Why don't you just leave the—"
    “Nope, not busy,” Bianca said at the same time, her words so rushed they tumbled over themselves. She reached out to grab Anja’s arm, just below the elbow and above the wide swath of bracelets. “Why don’t we let, um, your renter get dressed and eat his breakfast? I can finish installing the sink later.”
    She tossed a quick, apologetic smile toward Jacob, but didn’t meet his eyes. Then she tugged a frowning Anja from the room before Jacob could protest. Or, hell, even blink.
    Nonplussed, he stared at the closed door.
    His mood, and his towel, sagged.

Chapter Four
     
     
    “Okay, what’s the deal?” Anja asked, pulling her arm away, then making a show of adjusting the ruffle of her flowing sleeve as she gave Bianca a chiding look. “When I walked in it looked like you were about to lick that towel off that very well-built, very sexy man. The heat almost fried my muffins. Then you ran us both of us out of there so fast you wrinkled my blouse.”
    Bianca danced with impatience as she waited for Anja to open the door to her own apartment. She wished the other woman would hurry. Otherwise Bianca might rush across the hall, rip open the door and snag that towel off those sexy hips to see if the promising bulge was real or just a terrycloth illusion.
    And make a complete fool of herself.
    As soon as opened Anja’s door opened, Bianca hurried inside. Maybe another layer of wood would save her from feeling like a total idiot. What had she been thinking, that she could handle something that sexy?
    “Fry your muffins?” she asked, dropping onto Anja’s swing-style couch and shaking her head as if she could toss off the confusing blur of desire.
    “I was bringing breakfast when I walked in on your sexy seduction. Remember?”
    “Oh, God.” As much out of frustration as to hide her red cheeks, Bianca dropped her head to her hands.
    “I’m confused. Was that not a sexy seduction going on back there?” Anja asked.
    “Yes. No,” Bianca corrected. Then, lifting her head, she gave the other woman a pathetic look. “I don’t know. Hell, I practically had an orgasm just looking at the guy. I wanted to tug that towel right off his body and drop to my knees to see if he was as tasty as he looked. What's wrong with