2. Man Dessert
2
MAN DESSERT
Veronica
This kind of opportunity calls for a celebration.
Since my sister’s on deadline with her next novel, I text my friend Ellie and ask if she has time to meet me for a slice of cake.
Ellie: We have an evening shoot, and I’m due on set in forty-five minutes, but I can meet you for ten of them, and I promise to make it the best ten minutes of your day.
Veronica: I don’t know about that, honey. The ten minutes I spent with The Flyer this morning were pretty damn good. But time with you is always a treat too.
Ellie: As if I’d try to compete with The Flyer. No mere mortal, man or woman, ever could.
Veronica: I suspect that’s entirely true. See you at Peace of Cake.
I walk to my favorite cake shop in the city, stopping at the gleaming white storefront in Chelsea. A selection of mouth-watering delights beckons me from the lavish window display—luscious chocolate slices, delicate pink frosting on sponge cake, festive mint green slathered over vanilla.
This is heaven.
I push open the door, hunting for my friend in the empty shop, which closes in thirty minutes. I don’t see Ellie, but I find an absolutely stunning piece of dessert behind the counter.
Man dessert.
I’m gonna need a minute to gawk.
Hello, hottie. With a trim beard, strong jaw, and inked arms, the man arranging cakes in the display case belongs on the cover of one of my sister’s romance novels.
I’ll buy a dozen copies, thank you very much.
The man turns my way and flashes me a smile that zings straight down my body. Make that two-dozen copies.
I smile back, and as I head to the counter, my phone pings with a new text from my friend.
Ellie : Running late. Please forgive me. If you must start without me, I understand. Cake is just too hard to resist.
But cake isn’t the thing I’m going to have a hard time resisting.
Staring is.
At the counter, I meet the gaze of the blue-eyed man with a winning smile. “What can I do for you?” he asks. “We’ve got cake if that’s what you’re in the market for. But if you’re looking for the meaning of the universe, I make no promises.”
That’s a hell of an opening line, and it makes me laugh. It also challenges me to come up with something that matches the promise of him. “Are you fending off that many requests for existential answers?”
“I am. But the slogan says it all.” He points to the words on his apron . Cake Is Proof.
“That makes perfect sense.” I meet his playful gaze with one of my own. “Cake is, indeed, proof there is meaning in my universe.”
“What a wonderful universe,” he says with a spark that makes me want to keep playing word ping-pong.
“But I might have to add dogs and books to the evidence,” I say. “I hope you don’t mind the addendum.”
He scoffs. “Do I look like the type of person who’s bothered by addendums?”
I arch a brow, resisting a smile. “What does that type of person look like? I’m trying to draw a mental picture and I’m coming up blank.”
“What would they look like?” He points his thumbs at his chest. “Not this guy. I think addendums are fantastic. Especially when they involve books, dogs, beer , and cake.”
I’m giddy from the flirting. It’s almost too good to be true. “But see, I don’t think I’d include beer in my favorites. We’ll just have to agree on three out of four for our list.”
“Fair enough,” he says. “I can work with a seventy-five percent match.”
Match .
I’m zipping inside. “So, what’s good here these days?” I ask, glancing toward the cake selection.
“Is this your first time here?”
“No way. I’m definitely not a Peace of Cake virgin,” I say, savoring the way the V-word rolls off my tongue like sugar—and what it does to him.
His eyes darken. His nostrils flare. He takes a beat, then says, “Then you should have a little of everything. It’s our special today.”
“Tempting. What does a little of everything taste like?” I ask, hoping no one else comes in the shop this evening. An unlikely scenario, since Peace of Cake is almost always deluged with last-minute customers before it closes. This sliver of time with Mister Flirt will end all too soon.
“It tastes like what you should have.” The rasp of his voice thrums deliciously across all my erogenous zones, which, right now, include every single molecule in and on me. Then he exhales heavily, as if he’s recalibrating. Downshifting. “But I’d also recommend the vanilla celebration cake. It goes with polka dots,” he says, his gaze sailing up and down my dress.
“I’ll take it.”
As he moves to the display case, strong arms reaching in to grab the cake, I try to look away. And I fail miserably. I am officially an ogler.
True, I have a thing for blazing guns like his. But I’m omnivorous, really. I want toned arms, kind eyes, a clever brain, and a big heart.
I want it all. That’s probably why I’m holding my V-card at age twenty-six. I haven’t met someone who revs my engine on all cylinders.
I’m not sure one guy in a cake shop will tick all my boxes, but I’d like to learn how many checkmarks he can make.
He glances my way. “Want me to bring this to you at a table or the cake bar?”
There is only one answer. The cake bar runs along the counter. If I sit there, I can keep talking with him.
“The cake bar,” I say with a small smile as I move away from the register and along the counter, where I pop onto a tall metal stool.
“Good choice,” he murmurs. He slides a sharp knife through the cake, then serves it, handing me the plate and a fork. “I hope you enjoy it, Miss Polka Dot.”
I roam my gaze over him. “I hope so too, Mister Dessert.”
He smiles and then turns away to wash his hands. I check my phone. I’m a terrible friend for hoping Ellie might be later still.
The universe must be granting wishes today because a new message blinks up at me.
Ellie : Don’t hate me, but I can’t make it. Trains are slow, and I need to get to the set!
Veronica : I’m glad you didn’t make it, and I’ll tell you why later.
Then I put the phone away and take a bite of cake, chased by flirty, dirty hope.