Flavor Of The Month (Kiss & Tell Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

me,” Reilly murmured under her breath as she finished with the dough then shook the stiffness out of her hands.
    Normally Efi was her favorite out of her seven nieces and nephews. You didn’t have to twist her arm to work. Say the word and she was there and ready, flinching away from nothing, and seeing to everything with a quick, cheery efficiency that made Reilly smile. You had to stop Efi from working, whereas Tina you needed to light a fire under every five minutes to scare her off the phone or get her to put her nail file away.
    “I’m sorry, Aunt Rei,” Efi said, pushing from the counter and coming to stand next to her. “Did I hit a sore spot?”
    The teen draped her skinny arm over Reilly’s shoulders and gave a squeeze. Reilly briefly leaned into her and smiled. “Not only did you hit it dead-on, you delivered a TKO.”
    “So it sucked being…chubby, huh?”
    “Yeah,” she said quietly. “It sucked being designated as the class fat girl. The occasional taunts I could handle. The pig noises I could have done without.”
    “Pig noises? Oh, how rank.”
    Reilly smiled. “Yeah.”
    It had been a while since Reilly had thought about that time. Really thought about it. Sure, she’d constantly watched her calories lest she began to regain any of that hard-lost weight. But it had been a good, long while since she’d remembered what it was like to feel uncomfortable in your own skin.
    Of course, she also realized that Efi’s question wasn’t all that had brought back the memories. For some reason her awkward exchange with Ben Kane that morning had made her feel like that fat girl all over again. She’d remembered with horror how the captain of the football team had asked her to the prom in her junior year, and she’d gushingly accepted…only to find out later that day that it had all been a cruel joke. On her.
    And Ben Kane represented everything that was that football captain. He was tall and handsome and dated all the best girls in class…in the city. What could he possibly want with her? Her love life wasn’t just slow, it was nonexistent. Sure, when she’d first dropped the weight, she’d given her new body a trial run. But the men she’d dated weren’t really worth mentioning and made her rethink the casual sex thing since she wasn’t really getting anything out of it anyway. Especially once she’d explored her body while in the privacy of her own room and turned herself on more than any of the men she’d dated combined.
    But Ben…
    God, just looking at him made her want to buy new batteries for her vibrator.
    “And that’s exactly the reason you should stay away from him,” she whispered.
    “What was that, Aunt Rei?”
    “Hmm? Oh, nothing, Ef. I was just talking to myself.”
    Out front a horn blared.
    “That would be your sister,” Reilly said with relief.
    “Right on time.” She kissed Reilly on the cheek. “You sure you don’t want me to stay and help finish this up? I could crash upstairs with you tonight.”
    Reilly smiled. “Thanks, but I think I can manage. Tell your Mom thanks from me.”
    “Thanks for what?”
    “For talking about my Chubby Chuddy days.”
    Efi laughed. “I will.”
    She watched her niece go, pinching off a sloppy end from one of the strips of dough. Then she systematically transferred the lined baking sheets to the industrial-size refrigerator, her mind going over everything that had happened that day, and wandering, as it had almost every five minutes, back to Ben Kane and his tempting offer.
    “Get real, Chubby Chuddy. Ben Kane is a calorie-packed double, double chocolate cheesecake and you’re on a diet.”
    But nothing she said could stop her from hungering for him anyway.

3
     
     
    M IDNIGHT . B EN’S RESTAURANT was closed. The infamous L.A. traffic had slowed to a trickle. The city’s residential streets were deserted. And Sugar ’n’ Spice still looked inviting, even with the lights dimmed and the tables empty.
    Ben reached for the