AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s good, Sonny. Blair Group would like to come to a tasting at your bar on Valentine’s Day,” she said, and my heart stopped.
“A tasting?”
“Yes, all the brands do it these days. Expect us at around seven, and I can’t wait to see what pairings you offer, Sonny. Until then.”
“Yes. See you.”
Fuck.
I had no idea what she meant, but I knew the names of some talented chefs in the area. Blair Group wanted a tasting party, so I guess had to give one. The Whiskey Bar, and more importantly, Whiskey Neat, my label, needed their support and if that meant some wining and dining, I could sure as shit provide that.
Afterward, everything would be gold. The scent of chocolate got stronger, and I frowned. I just had one annoyingly sweet problem. It seemed avoiding my neighbor would not work anymore. I readjusted my dick and gave my balls a pinch to keep the damn thing under control.
When I walked into the tight alley that connected our properties. I overheard a telephone conversation she was having with someone, a woman, I quickly discerned. Shamelessly eavesdropping, I leaned closer to the door. Once I heard what was being said, I couldn’t have walked away if I tried.
Holy. Fuck.
She’d broken up with that asshat. Finally, I had an opening. But what was she going to say when I asked her to close for a few days? I pursed my lips and cleared my throat. There was nothing else to do, so I raised my hand and knocked.
Time to confront the buxom beauty to find out.
Chapter One
Delani
I could not believe it. He cheated! That dirty, lying liar!
“Ugh!” I grumbled as I fought with the lock to the front door of my chocolaterie.
I’d stuck with Pete, my disingenuous ex for the last eighteen months, even though I knew something was just not there. Being a curvy girl I was used to having some not so wonderful choices with the dating world, but I never thought I’d be taken in by such a jerk.
Why was I even upset? Well, seeing Pete with little Peter—yes, the loser named his tiny prick—inside the waitress from the coffee shop next to his apartment was a shocker. I suppose I had a right to be angry.
After all, Pete had pursued me. No, I didn’t find him particularly attractive, but he was attentive and sweet. At least, he was at first. He said all the right things, took me out, brought me presents.
Then, about six months into our relationship, came the not-so-subtle hints to lose weight. The oh-so-polite hints to join a gym, avoid fried food, skip desserts, and my favorite, the ‘I’m only saying that because I love you babe’ suggestions about what I should wear and eat.
“Hello? Delani? Are you listening to me?” My best friend, Jan, yelled through the receiver on my cell phone, and I sighed.
“Sorry, Jan. It’s just it will be another Valentine’s Day alone. Again! I am fucking cursed,” I wailed.
I actually forgot I had her on speaker, and I felt slightly guilty, but not much. Jan could be a bit much and was better in small doses. Especially when I hadn’t had any coffee yet.
But the idea of another dateless Valentine’s Day made me cringe. What a cliché! The chubby chick stays alone while everyone else goes out and gets lucky every February the fourteenth.
Ugh.
“I told you Pete was a complete loser before you guys got to date three, remember?” Jam replied.
The infamous date three, of course, I remembered. We had this thing where we gave a man three dates to fall into one of our acceptable boyfriend categories. If he passed, the relationship could progress from there, but if he failed to meet some pretty important standards, we moved on to greener grass.
My favorite dates fell into the following three categories. The alpha male who treated you like a princess but knew when to let you fend for yourself. The cinnamon roll who was all things sweet and charming but knew when to pull a girl’s hair in the bedroom. And the tall, dark, mystery man who swooped in and made your wildest fantasies come true. Of course, there weren’t many of those on the ground, which was how I settled on Pete.
Sigh.
Yep. Several categories of male we could choose from. Dozens that Jan and I and some of our other friends had written out in this long Google doc we shared access, too. And it worked, mostly.
One of our own had actually just found her HEA ending. Rena and I were old college pals. She’d recently announced her marriage to her old high school flame and added a category to our list of acceptable ones. Men seeking redemption, worthy of second chances, were her top one now.
