He chuckled all low and warm, his breath tickling her ear, his fingers sliding down her chest to her stomach and lower to her belly button then lower still. Viv’s body ignited like a marshmallow on a stick that had reached flash point—from char to flambé in one second flat.
“I hadn’t planned to,” he whispered then rolled on top of her and kissed her until she was panting and moaning and locking her legs around his waist and demanding he show her what he had planned in every dirty, intimate detail…
Chapter Five
Monday morning Viv was back at Delish with a renewed sense of purpose. It was a fresh week with a clean slate and, after a smorgasbord of sex over the weekend, she was invigorated. She should have been exhausted what with working all day Saturday and Sunday and not a lot of sleep going down. But it was as if the sheer indulgence of long nights spent entirely naked, really getting to know his body and vice versa, had refilled her well.
It had certainly put a bounce in her step as she entered the shop. And a smile on her face as she thought about Reuben’s rather hasty exit from her cottage this morning after he’d slept past his alarm. It had gone off but the phone had fallen down between the couch cushions and its location had apparently been the last thing on his mind as they’d finally drifted off to sleep at about three a.m.
He’d assured her though, as he’d thrown on the uniform he grabbed from his place on Sunday when Viv had been at work, that even oversleeping his alarm like he had, there was still ten minutes before he would be officially late for work and the sheriff’s office was only a brisk five-minute walk from Viv’s end of Bramble Lane. So it had been really bad of her to walk him to the door naked and press herself against him like she had and kiss him goodbye with quite that much gusto.
Probably letting her hand slide down to cup his erection had been very bad.
But his groan had told her otherwise and when his utility belt, which he’d had in his hand, thunked to the floor and he pushed her up against the door and slid his hand between her legs, what else could she have done other than go with the flow? Although how her legs hadn’t given way as he’d made her come like that, Viv had no idea.
The man was becoming some kind of sexual ninja. He knew all the right buttons to push in just the right order to get her over the line with astonishing speed.
But, even so, stopping to get her off like that had made him late and Viv guessed it made her an even worse person that it made her feel just a little bit giddy.
A little bit naughty.
What had he told his boss when he’d finally arrived at the station? What excuse had he used? Sorry, Boss, I overslept? Sorry, Boss, I got a flat. Or sorry, Boss, I stopped to get someone’s cat down from a tree?
They were probably all more palatable than sorry, Boss, my horn dog libido got out of control again and I was busy doing debauched things against a door with the town pariah.
God…she should not be smiling about this. She knew the step they’d taken this weekend would probably have repercussions. But Viv was still on a sexual high and she felt too freaking wonderful to let the busybodies and the gossips bring her down.
This week she was kicking Marietta ass. And she finally knew how she was going to do it!
The idea had come to her as she’d walked past the Java Café this morning and three people left carrying steaming to-go cups of hot chocolate. She’d known it was hot chocolate as opposed to coffee because two of them were arguing with the other one about Sage doing much better hot chocolate than the Java because she specialized in all things chocolate and the idea had pinged into Viv’s head like the flick of a light switch.
She knew exactly how she was going to drum up interest in the shop and get people through the door because she kicked hot chocolate ass.
Delish kicked hot chocolate ass.
It would probably put the fox back in the henhouse again but it wasn’t like that ship hadn’t already sailed.
Putting her idea on hold for a moment, Viv went through her morning routine and opened the doors on the dot of nine. Of course, there were no hordes to greet her so she was able to get on with planning her campaign.
Flicking through her phone contacts, she found what she was looking for and tapped on the number. It rang three times before picking up. “Good morning. This is Copper Mountain Chocolates. Sage speaking.”
“Sage…it’s Viv. Can we talk?”
*
By the end of the day, with a lot of time on her hands given there’d only been a half dozen customers—no Reuben either, he must have been busy—Viv had pretty much set everything in motion for the Marietta Hot Chocolate Wars to commence in the morning. It wasn’t called that officially but there was going to be a competition between her and Sage and she wanted to win.
There were to be two categories. The first was the most popular, which would be a simple ballot paper count and everyone in town could vote multiple times if they wanted. Viv had no hope in hell of winning that one. But the second category was the best hot chocolate, which was to be judged by a professional in the field and Viv was totally gunning to come out champion.
Edwin Vidal, the new head chef from the Graff, Marietta’s poshest hotel, was suggested by Sage as someone who’d be a good judge. Not only impartial—professional ethics and all that—but with a trained palate for quality dining. He was apparently French born and French trained although he’d mostly grown up in Boston.
Viv had agreed readily and they’d set the date of the judging to take place during the famous Marietta Stroll on the first weekend in December.
Sage had been an absolute trouper about it. She’d loved the idea right out of the blocks and was already gearing up for some healthy competition. She’d even suggested that rather than them both carrying voting forms that they only be available from Delish and that people would only be given a form once they’d purchased a hot chocolate from Viv. This would force locals into buying from Delish, if they wanted to vote for Sage.
Which of course they would.
It was a win-win for Viv. All she needed was to get people through the door and the product sold itself.
After all the details had been hammered out with Sage, Viv printed up a couple hundred ballot papers then spent the rest of the day in a Delish apron, making the hot chocolate stirrers that were her secret weapon.
Well…not so secret really.
Anyone who had been to a Delish store anywhere in the country in December would know about them but Viv, who had already tried Sage’s and the Java’s hot chocolate, doubted they’d ever had anything like this around here and she was all about the wow factor.
Wow factor created buzz and word of mouth was what she needed.
Viv was confident people would come through the door begrudgingly because it was the only way to support Sage and then they’d see how Delish did hot chocolate and she’d have them hooked.
The stirrers were easily created in the commercial kitchens that were installed in every Delish store directly behind the counter during fit-out. They weren’t big kitchens as the vast majority of Delish merchandise was prepackaged, but big enough to make the odd specialty items for in-store promos. And every Delish kitchen ran red hot during December!
It was five minutes to closing and Viv was sampling the brandy hot chocolate stirrer in the kitchen when the bell dinged. She came out to find Reuben striding toward her looking better than any chocolate she’d ever eaten. Looking at her like she was better than any chocolate he’d ever eaten, too.