Contractor's Cookies (Culpepper Cowboys Book 9) Read online

  “I’d like iced tea.” Felicity picked up her menu with her free hand. She’d only been in the diner a few times since her arrival in Culpepper, and she had no idea what she wanted.

  “Just a Coke for me.”

  After she’d walked off, Felicity quickly decided what she wanted before setting the menu aside. “You don’t think the zinginess means anything?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not saying that. I’m just saying that the zinginess doesn’t mean you should spend the rest of your life with someone. It just means that you have some attraction to them.”

  She shrugged. “I can believe that, but for a girl who has never had the zingy thing happen to her, it’s pretty darn miraculous, and I like it! So stop complaining!”

  He grinned, refusing to argue with her for another second. He was feeling pretty darn zingy himself. “So how are you related to Grace Wells?”

  “I’ll give you the whole rundown. Hope, Faith, Joy, and Chastity are quadruplets. They’re my cousins. Grace and Honor are their younger sisters, and are twins. Their mother never had a single birth. It’s the six of them in that family. Our fathers are brothers. Patience, the other founder of the bakery with Grace and me, is my sister. Simple, huh?”

  “Very, now that you’ve finally answered my question.” He looked down at their hands that were still joined in the middle of the table. “Are you planning on ever giving my hand back?”

  She shrugged. “Do you need it for something right now?”

  “Not at the moment, but I am right-handed and I will need to eat eventually.”

  “I might let you do that. Depends if the zinginess stops first. This is an important biology experiment, you know!”

  “So important I may not be allowed to eat?”

  “Sometimes you have to take one for the team. 'The team' being scientific discovery of course.”

  “Of course. What else would the team ever mean?” Allen made a face. “Should we see if we can increase the zinginess?”

  “Increase it? I’m not sure that’s possible.”

  “Oh, trust me. It’s possible.” He tilted his head to one side, studying her face. “You feeling brave?”

  Felicity nodded slowly, a little afraid of what he’d do. “I think so.”

  He brought her hand to his lips, kissing it softly, watching her face the whole while. “Well? Did that help the zings?”

  She sucked in a breath, shocked at what that did to her system. “Yup, that really upped the zinginess quotient of this whole thing. Craziness! I now understand why our church preached the need to marry before kissing. If there’s this much zinginess with just hand-holding and hand-kissing, I think you should be naked and horizontal before the kissing starts.”

  He blinked at her honesty. “Yeah, I can see why some people feel that way.”

  “You don’t?”

  “I do now. I feel like a hypocrite for saying it, though.”

  “Why?”

  “I married because my girlfriend was pregnant. We were just barely out of high school. I wouldn’t have married her otherwise. I’d have gone to Wyoming University on a football scholarship.”

  “Do you regret it?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t and can’t regret my son. He’s the most amazing kid in the world, and I love him. Do I regret the disappointment I caused my family? Of course I do. Do I sometimes wonder where my life would be today if I hadn’t married and gone off to college? Absolutely. I don’t think I’d change things if I could, though, because I wouldn’t give Tristan up for anything.”

  “I can understand that.” Felicity sighed softly. “I feel like I’ve been locked in a cage my entire life, and have no idea what’s going on in the world around me. I hate it.”

  He frowned. “So what are you going to do about it?”

  She laughed. “I’ve already done what I’m going to do. I left Kentucky, and I moved to Culpepper, opening my own business with two of my very favorite people in the whole world.”

  “Where do you live?”

  “I’m still staying with Linda Culpepper. We were all staying there when we first moved here, but as soon as we get to town, we start dropping like flies!”

  “Dropping like flies?”

  “Sorry, everyone got married very fast. My head was spinning. I came with the second round, and I’m the only one left!”

  “You haven’t found anyone special yet?”

  Felicity shook her head. “That should have been obvious by the lack of zinginess in my life before this evening.”

  “I guess it should have. You don’t want to marry?”

  She shrugged. “I think I do, but I want to marry the right person. It’s not a compulsion to wear white. It’s that I want to spend the rest of my life with my soul mate. So far, I haven’t found him.” Well, thanks to the zinginess, she was sure she had found him, but she was equally sure he’d have an argument as to why he wasn’t the right person.

  Their drinks arrived then and they placed their orders. “So tell me about your soul mate,” he suggested, taking a sip through his straw.

  “Well, if I knew him already it would be easier to do.”

  “Give me an idea of who you think he is.”

  She thought hard about that, sipping on her drink while she did. “I don’t care much what he looks like”–but he should look exactly like you if possible–“and he should be kind. I don’t care what he does as long as he has a good work ethic and does it well. Does that make sense? A trash collector who works hard is just as valuable to this world as a college professor. And more valuable than a college professor who doesn’t work hard!”

  “I understand what you mean. What else?”

  She shrugged. “More than anything, he has to be a good person. Someone who won’t cheat, will work hard, and love me with everything inside him. Is that asking too much?”

  He grinned, shaking his head. “Doesn’t sound like too much at all.”

  “It doesn’t? Well, I sure don’t think so, but people are always telling me I have unrealistic expectations.”

  “About what?”

  “Well, I once asked my doctor if he could do radiation on me, because I wanted to grow wings and get the power of flight, but he said that was unrealistic. If a man can develop the powers of web-spinning and climbing up walls from a radioactive spider, then I think radiation would give me some wonderful superpowers. He said no.”

  “What a killjoy!” Allen was surprised by how much he was starting to like her. Her perspective on things, loony though it was, made him smile.

  “I know! And my dad yelled at me when I mentioned it. He said I needed to keep my feet firmly planted in reality. Then he prayed over me for a while. And then I went into my room and read a romance novel I’d smuggled in.”

  “Romance novel, huh?”

  “Yeah. Who wouldn’t read a book where you’re guaranteed a happily ever after? People who read books not knowing what they’ll get at the end are crazy. I want my emotional payoff in every book, thank you very much!”

  Their food appeared before them, and Felicity smiled at the waitress. It was so nice to have choices in food—choices in everything! Her parents had only ever cooked extremely healthy foods. She hadn’t ever been able to live the way she wanted to live. Now she could do anything she wanted, and every day was a day of discovery—a day of endless possibilities—and she couldn’t be happier.

  3

  “Do I get my hand back now that the food is here?” Allen asked.

  Felicity thought about it for a moment, looking down at his food. “Well, you got a burger. It’s not like you need a fork to eat a burger. I think I’ll keep it just a little bit longer.”

  “This is a two-handed burger. Look at how big it is! I need both hands.”

  She sighed. “But if I give you your hand back, and I want to feel the zing again, is it gone forever? What will I do if I never get to feel that special zing again?”

  He shook his head at her. “If the zing do
esn’t come back with hand-holding, I’ll find another way to make the zing return. Now can I have my hand back?”

  “You make it sound like making the zing happen is work. I don’t want you to have to work so hard on my behalf.” She reluctantly released his hand for a moment, before grabbing it again. “We’re safe. The zing started as soon as I touched your hand again. You may eat.”

  “Oh, thank you so much! I had no idea eating dinner with you was going to turn into a quest for zinginess.”

  “Neither did I! It’s been wonderful, hasn’t it?” Her brown eyes were wide as she asked.

  He thought about it for a moment, and realized he’d had more fun with her in the thirty minutes since they’d sat down together, than he had since his wife left—maybe since high school. “I hesitate to admit it, but it has been pretty great. You’re an interesting woman, Felicity.”

  After they finished their meal, he paid for both of them. She tried to insist that he should let her pay, because he was her employee, but he refused. Walking out to the parking lot with her, he stopped at Linda’s vehicle. “I’m glad you insisted we have dinner together. I really enjoyed it.”

  She grinned at him. “Me too. We’ll have to do it again sometime.”

  “You know you’re supposed to wait for me to ask you out, right?”

  She shrugged. “You’re slow as molasses. So, when can I see you again?”

  He reached out and tapped her nose with his forefinger. “Tomorrow. I’ll be working for you all day.”

  She pouted. “But my sister and my cousin watch us every time we talk.”

  “They do?”

  “Well, sure. They know I think you’re the sexiest thing this side of the Mississippi, and I’ve never really thought that about anyone, so they’re curious.”

  Allen blinked. “I’m almost afraid to ask, but how do they know that you think I’m the sexiest thing this side of the Mississippi?”

  Felicity wrinkled her nose at him. “I told them of course. How else would they know? I even have my sister check for drool every time I go back into the bakery.”

  He choked back a laugh. “I’ve never noticed you drooling.”

  “Oh good. I’m sure it’s going to happen, but I’d rather you didn’t notice. How embarrassing would that be? I’m trying to be professional around you.”

  “And doing a marvelous job of it.”

  She sighed happily, smiling up at him. “If I wasn’t trying to be professional, I’d probably ask you to kiss me goodnight so I could see what the zinginess quotient of that would be, but I can’t do that. It’s probably best if I never kiss anyone before marriage. Seriously. I think it might kill me.”

  He leaned down and kissed her cheek. “There. That’s as close as I’m going to get to a real kiss.”

  She smiled. “Your cheek-kisses sure pack a zingy wallop.”

  “Good night, Felicity. Thank you for being your entertaining self and keeping me company for dinner.”

  “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She got into the vehicle and started it, forcing herself to drive away without looking back at him. She was sure he could see the longing in her eyes. That man had zinginess down to a science. She felt electrified from her head to her toes. He had to be the man for her.

  Felicity went into work an hour early on Wednesday morning, knowing she wanted to bake some of her specialty cookies for Allen. He was already hard at work when she pulled up. “Are you thirsty?” she asked.

  He nodded, wiping sweat off his forehead with the back of one arm. “I am.”

  “Coffee? Or something cold? Or I could do iced coffee!”

  “Something cold, but not coffee. Part of the allure of coffee is drinking it really hot.” He turned back to his work while she hurried into the bakery.

  Felicity immediately went to the glass case to see what was left of her cookies from the day before and selected one of her favorites. It looked like a simple chocolate chip cookie, but her cookies were never simple. She made them with a combination of milk and white chocolate so they exploded with flavor when you took a bite.

  Ignoring her sister and cousin, she took out a plate, added a doily, and put three cookies on the plate, arranging them nicely. Then she hurried over to the drinks they kept in a cooler, removing a bottle of water. She’d make him lemonade later, but water would have to work for now.

  She hurried back out the door and walked to where he was working. “Water and cookies.”

  Allen turned to her and grinned. “Couldn’t just bring water, could you?”

  Felicity shook her head. “Of course not! I’m plying you with cookies so you’ll make me zing some more later.”

  He laughed softly, reaching for one of the cookies. “Chocolate chip? One of my favorites.”

  She watched while he bit into one, his smile growing. “You like?”

  “I do like!” He opened the water bottle and took a big swig of the liquid inside, then proceeded to eat a second cookie in one bite. “Aren’t you going to have one?”

  She shook her head. “Of course not. They’re all for you.”

  He grabbed the third cookie and ate it quickly. “Do you ply all the men with cookies?”

  “Of course not. No other men make me feel like you do. I’d list all the places you make me tingle, but I’m being a professional.”

  “Of course you are.”

  “I’ll bring you more cookies later.”

  As she turned to walk away, he called out to her, unable to stop himself. “Hey, Felicity?”

  She turned back, a grin on her lips. “Yes, Allen?”

  “I think I’m going to call you Cookies. It suits you better than Felicity.”

  She laughed. “I’d like that.” Rushing back into the bakery, she put the plate into the dishwasher and grabbed the book of recipes she’d perfected. Flipping through, she found another one of her favorites. She called them lemon doodles. She’d make lemonade to go with them.

  Patience walked over to her and looked over her shoulder. “Lemon doodles? You’re pulling out the big guns!”

  Felicity nodded. “I’m in love.”

  “Oh, you are?” Patience studied her sister.

  “When I touch him, I feel this incredible zingy sensation all through me. He’s something else.”

  Patience just laughed. “Make your cookies. He’ll be eating out of the palm of your hand in no time.”

  Grace stood and watched the two sisters with a smile on her face. She said nothing as she got back to work, baking all the layers for another huge wedding cake. With all the recent weddings in Culpepper, she liked to have one in the freezer ready to ice at all times. Made it easier when she had a rush job to do, and she always seemed to have a rush job to do.

  An hour later, Felicity arranged some of the lemon doodles nicely on a plate with a fresh doily. Then she poured some of the freshly squeezed lemonade she’d made into a to-go cup and carried both out to him, with Patience calling out to her as she went. “You go, girl!”

  Felicity blew a kiss over her shoulder as she pushed open the bakery door. She walked to the front of the building, smiling as she saw that Allen had kindly removed his shirt, giving her a view of his bare torso. And shoulders. His shoulders were bare too! She was sure she wouldn’t be able to speak coherently when she saw them, but what did coherence matter when she could look at him?

  Allen was turned away from the bakery, bending over to grab a piece of wood, when he heard her voice. “Time for lemonade and cookies.”

  He straightened up, thinking for a moment about tugging his T-shirt back over his head, but he didn’t want to. He wanted to see her reaction to him in his shirtless state. “Sounds wonderful.”

  He turned to look at her, looking down at the prettily arranged cookies on the plate. “You know you could just throw those into a bag for me, right?”

  She nodded, her eyes glued to his shoulders. “I know. It’s more fun this way.”

  He reached for the glass and took it from her, stifling
a grin at her reaction to his bare chest. “What kind of cookies did you make for me?”

  She swallowed hard, forcing her eyes to his. “Lemon doodle.”

  He bit into it, feeling the mixture of sour and sweet explode on his tongue. “I’ve never heard of a lemon doodle.”

  “Of course you haven’t. They’re my own invention. Pretty amazing, huh?”

  His eyes were on her face as he nodded his agreement. “Incredible.”

  Her eyes dropped to his shoulder. “May I touch it?”

  He blinked a few times. “You can’t just ask a man if you can touch him.”

  She frowned. “So I should do it without asking?”

  “No, you should not do it without asking!”

  “So how can I see if I feel all zingy if I touch your bare shoulder? I’m not supposed to ask. I’m not supposed to just do it. What am I supposed to do?”

  He shook his head. “You worry me sometimes, Cookies.”

  She frowned at him. “Please?”

  He looked over at the bakery and saw three faces pressed to the glass of the door watching them. “Look over at the bakery door, and then decide if you want to touch me. If you’re still willing, then I am too.”

  Felicity looked at the door and saw all three of her co-workers standing there watching her with Allen. She waved them away, trying to get them to stop watching. When they just waved back, she sighed. “Fine, but leave your shirt off all day, and I’ll find a way to touch your shoulder later.” Her eyes met his. “Do you have any idea of how very sexy your shoulders are?”

  He’d finished the cookies, and handed her the empty to-go cup. “Is there anything you won’t say?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t have a shy bone in my body. Is that a bad thing?”

  “I’m trying to decide!”

  She laughed, walking back toward the bakery. “See you in about an hour!”

  He watched her go, charmed more than he cared to admit. There was something about Felicity Quinlan that made him want to throw her down and ravish her, just as soon as he was done carrying her around in his pocket protecting her.

  When Felicity got back into the bakery, she put her hands on her hips and glared at the others. “He would have let me touch his shoulder if you hadn’t been watching. You ruined everything!”