Chapter Twelve
Breaking contact, reluctantly, Colton retook his seat. Though Maggie had agreed this was a date, she still twisted her hands together. He needed to take things slow. Just a small kiss. Because he found he couldn’t be that close to Maggie and not kiss her. He’d kept it light and brief, but it was still a sucker punch to the gut. Imagining what it would feel like to really kiss her…oh man, he couldn’t wait. But he would, because she was nervous and still unsure. When he truly kissed her, he wanted her to be as sure and hungry for it as he.
Discovering what Natalie said to her all those years ago made him furious. He knew his ex-girlfriend hadn’t liked him hanging around Maggie when they were younger, but he just chalked it up to teenage jealousy. He had no idea his ex actually threatened the poor girl. But it was in the past now—like his relationship with Natalie. This was the present. He wanted to focus on that and his new relationship with the strong, sexy, amazing woman in front of him.
“So, tell me more about your gran’s recipe box, and why you needed it so badly. You never really got around to explaining that yesterday.”
“What?”
Big green eyes gave him a startled look. Her fingers reached up to her lips; the lips he had just kissed. Then she scowled and dropped her hand. It might not be very enlightened of him, but he liked the fact he could make her forget everything with just a simple kiss.
“Well, the truth is, business has dropped a bit since I took over. Looking at Gran’s books, it seems to have been steadily declining for a few years.”
He shook his head. “I understand. The boarding and breeding has been going well, but our trail riding has suffered since the economy took a turn. It’s coming back around, but people tend to cut out the extracurricular activities when they have to count pennies.”
“Same goes for their sweet tooth.” She nodded. “I’ve been trying to branch out with my marketing more. I figure a good online presence is a necessity these days, especially for grabbing the tourist crowd.”
He agreed. Over half of their trail riding business came from online referrals. His parents had been lost dealing with a website for the ranch and the online advertising. Luckily, his cousin, Joe, was a computer nerd and had been programming since the age of ten. Colton and Dade knew the basics of computers and web use, but programming was out of their reaches. Joe lived in Denver now, working in the DTC as a freelance web designer. They hired him a few years ago to handle all their online needs, and so far, things were working out great.
“There’s this blogger—Guilty Pleasures: A Cross Country Food Journey is her site. She travels all over the United States reviewing unique restaurants and eateries. I saw she was planning a trip to Aspen and contacted her. I convinced her to come up here to review my shop. She really liked the ‘handed down through the generations’ story, so she agreed. She’s coming in less than two weeks, and the recipe I planned I can’t make anymore because my distributor is an ass.”
Maggie had rushed through the speech, but he locked on to that last bit. “What’s going on with your distributor?”
“I’ve been having problems with my deliveries for a few months now. First, they were delivered at the wrong time, then the wrong product came, and now orders are being cancelled. It’s a giant mess, and they keep telling me it’s my fault.”
“That’s not very professional.”
“That’s what I said!”
She took a healthy sip of her wine. Noticing the glass was almost empty, he grabbed the bottle and refilled it, then after a moment of thought, refilled his as well.
“So, you needed your grandmother’s recipe box for new ideas?”
“Yes. Since I can’t do the recipe I wanted, I figure I can work the ‘passed down through generations’ angle and make one of Gran’s recipes. She did make some killer cupcakes.”
Grabbing her now full glass, she smiled. The woman had a beautiful smile. He hadn’t seen enough of it since she came back to town.
Time to change that.
He raised his wine. “I’ll toast to that.”
They clinked glasses, pausing the conversation to drink to her grandmother.
“I hope you’re looking for a new distributor. You shouldn’t put up with poor service like that.”
“Oh I am. Especially after…” she tapered off, not finishing her thought.
“After what?”
Pushing the last few carrots around on her plate, Maggie averted her gaze. “It’s nothing.”
Bullshit—she was twisting her hands again. “Magpie?”
Dropping her fork, she glanced up, her brows drawn down, mouth tight. “Look. If we’re calling this a date—”
“It is a date,” he insisted.
“Fine, since this is a date…”
He grinned. “Thank you.”
“You have to stop with the nickname.”
“You don’t like it?”
She shifted in her seat. “It’s not that. It just, it makes me feel like a kid.”
He roamed his gaze over her body, eating up every sexy, womanly inch of her. “Trust me, sweetheart, you are all woman. But I’ll try not to call you Magpie anymore.”
“Thank you.”
“For now.”
She rolled her eyes, but the grin stayed on her face.
Happy that he put it there, he took another bite of dinner. “Now tell me, Maggie, what else did your distributor do?” Her hands started to twist together again, and he tensed.
“Well, I can’t be sure. I mean, it’s only speculation, but I think one of the delivery people might have tried to sabotage my shop.”
His fork fell to his plate with a clatter. “What?”
“I’m not one-hundred percent sure, but today I went to use my electric chopper and the cord had been cut and glued back on. Jamie didn’t know anything about it, and I sure as heck didn’t do it.”
He rubbed a hand along his jaw in thought. “No one else goes back there?”
She shook her head. “No. Just me, Jamie, and the delivery people.”
“And you don’t think Jamie accidently did it and lied because she doesn’t want to get in trouble?”
“No.” Her head shook emphatically. “She’s a great kid. If she made a mistake, she’d fess up to it. Plus…” She hesitated.
He didn’t like where this was going. “What?”
“The cord was cut clean. Not ripped or frayed as if by accident. It was a smooth slice like someone cut it with a knife. Purposefully.”
That wasn’t good. Not good at all. So much for light dinner date conversation. The thought of someone deliberately trying to harm Maggie’s shop made his gut burn.
“Why would your delivery person want to sabotage you?”
She shrugged, pushing her plate back. The dinner portion of the night was clearly over.
“I don’t know. Maybe I complained one too many times and they want to get back at me? Maybe it was just someone having a bad day, they needed to vent their frustration on someone, and my shop was a handy target. Or maybe it really was an accident and they didn’t want to get in trouble with their supervisor, so they attempted to fix it.”
He doubted that. By the look on her face and the nervous way she had started to fidget with her hands again, he bet she doubted it, too.
“It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m getting a new distributor tomorrow. I’ll find the perfect recipe from Gran, wow the blogger, and then people will come flocking to the shop.”
There’s my girl. Maggie’s can-do attitude had always impressed him.
“Wow, I’m just full of fun first date chatter, aren’t I. You must be counting the minutes ’til you can escape.”
“Actually,” he began at her self-deprecating laugh. “I’m having a great time, but what do you say we take our wine into the living room and watch a movie?”
She smiled, and his breath left his lungs. Damn, she was beautiful. A sight to behold. Her entire face lit up when she smiled.
“Sounds great, let me just get these dishes.” She stood and started to grab for the plates.
Reaching out, he placed his hands over hers. “I got them. You go pick out a movie.”
“Oh no, I—”
“Sweetheart, you know my momma would skin me alive if I didn’t take care of the dishes after a beautiful woman cooked me one of the finest meals I’ve had in years.”
Her lips pressed together, trying to hide a smile. “Flattery still won’t get you free cupcakes, Colt.”
Still holding onto her hand, he stood. “Then maybe this will.”
Pulling her to him, he captured her lips with his own. She tasted like rich red wine and heaven. Her lips were soft and so damn sweet. The hand he clutched tightened in his grasp while the other fisted in his shirt, dragging him closer.
Yes.
Placing his free hand on her lower back, he pressed her tighter against him. She gasped, and he took the opportunity of her open mouth. Plunging his tongue inside, he tasted her, fully tasted her. Damn, and she tasted good.
Her tongue came out to meet his. She wasn’t shy or hesitant, not his Magpie. She met his kiss with full gusto, rubbing that sweet little body of hers against his while their tongues simulated what their bodies wanted to do. If they didn’t stop soon, he would forget his mother’s lesson about doing the dishes, and he’d be doing Maggie instead.
As much as he wanted that, it was too soon. He needed to take things slow with her. Do this thing right. She deserved that.
Reluctantly, Colton pulled away. Her lips clung to his, and he kissed them softly once, twice, before pulling back.
They were both breathing heavily. Maggie’s eyes were closed, cheeks pink and warm. Her lips were parted, and her tongue peeked out to lick her bottom lip, as if savoring the taste of him still clinging to her. He groaned at the sexy little move.
Sometimes being a gentleman sucked.
“Okay, that will get you a free cupcake.”
He laughed, kissing the end of her nose. “Go pick a movie, and let me take care of these dishes. We can discuss cupcakes later.”
Her eyes opened. She grinned, turned, and walked into the living room. He waited until she was out of sight before reaching down to adjust himself.
Hot damn, the woman can kiss.
Had he ever been this hard just from a kiss? He didn’t think so.
Grabbing the plates off the table, he decided to forgo her small dishwasher. He needed to give himself a minute. Turning on the tap he set the water to cold, but with the taste of Maggie still on his lips, he didn’t think it was going to help much.