“You’re early!” Violet gasped as she dragged the grocery bag back into her arms. “Or am I late?” she glanced down at her watch. “Oh no! I’m late! I just rushed out to the store to grab some cream, just in case you wanted cream in your coffee, and then I realized that I was out of coffee because I’d spilled it all over the kitchen floor this morning. Then in the process of cleaning that up, I broke a bottle of vinegar. It crashed everywhere and, on top of four broken nails, a stubbed toe, a splinter I still haven’t been able to get out, I sliced my finger on the broken glass and…”
“Hey,” Creek said, touching her arm gently to stop her. Despite his reservations about the money, he was still charmed. She looked beautiful, he thought. Her hair was a wild mess of curls all over her shoulders, like she’d curled it earlier, but the humidity had caused it to look a bit more wild, her lipstick was smeared ever so slightly, drawing his eyes to the fullness of her lips, and there was a sheen of tears in her eyes.
He liked this nervous side of her. He was pretty sure it was all part of the act, part of the date night experience she’d perfected with the other men, but he didn’t care. It eased a small part of him that had been twisting around in his gut all afternoon at the way this transaction had gone down.
“You look lovely,” and he tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, soothing her as well as himself.
“You brought me flowers,” she whispered and the tears increased until he suspected one was going to spill over onto her pale cheek. “I love flowers. They’re so hard to get during the winter.”
Creek looked down at the colorful bouquet. “I thought they’d be a nice touch. Sort of add a bit of romance to an otherwise…” he didn’t have the heart to degrade this night. She looked so frazzled. And beautiful. He pushed aside all of the disgust he’d been feeling over his need for this slender woman. She was standing in front of him looking adorable and sexy at the same time, a potent combination.
“They’re beautiful,” she sniffed, blinking her eyes rapidly to try and keep the silly tears from falling over her lashes. She already looked ridiculous, but crying at this moment would really shoot her over the edge from frazzled to looking like a crazy woman.
He realized she might truly be on the verge of tears. He pulled back her hair and bent lower so he could see her eyes. “Hey, you okay?”
Violet felt his gentle touch, and her nervousness settled down. It was still there, but not as overwhelming.
This man was nice and hot and sexy as sin, she reminded herself. She couldn’t believe he would be interested in her but here he was, standing outside of her apartment because she’d rushed out to get things for him, and hadn’t been home in time to greet him with a smile.
“Let’s go upstairs and just…talk, okay?” she offered.
Creek had to tamp down the raging lust that he was feeling but her words obviously helped her gain control of her nervousness. “Sounds like a good plan.”
They walked up the wooden stairs to the apartment and, as soon as she’d opened the door, Creek knew that something wasn’t right. Something was obviously burning in the oven.
“Oh no!” she gasped, and dumped the grocery bag onto her countertop, rushing to the oven. “No! This is not happening!” she cried, as she bent over with hot-pads to pull something out of the oven. Whatever it used to be, it was now black and unrecognizable. Charcoal would be a better description for it at this point.
“What was it?” he asked, looking down at the black mess.
Violet sniffed. “It was an apple pie. It was supposed to smell amazing when you walked in and you’d be so impressed with my cooking that you wouldn’t notice how nervous I was and I was going to make mashed potatoes but I forgot to turn on the water to boil so the potatoes are still raw. The meat is…” her eyes widened as she realized that she’d forgotten to put the roast into the oven with the apple pie! She’d thought to cook them at the same temperature, and pull the apple pie out when it was done. “I forgot to put the roast into the oven!” she gasped.
Creek couldn’t stop the amusement that burst out of him. What had started off as a truly horrible evening had devolved into an adorable peek into this woman’s mind-frame. And he liked it. She might have the most delectable body a man could imagine and sold her body to whoever could afford it, but he could sense that she was genuine at this moment.
He lifted his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number. “I need a large pizza with everything,” he said and told the delivery person the address. When the guy had given him the price, Creek ended the call and looked back at Violet who had placed the blackened mess on the stove and was looking down at it with defeat. And those tears were just about to fall, something he couldn’t let happen.