Mixing Temptation Read Online Free Page B

for her to name a time and place for their first date.
    A month or so ago, she’d asked him out when the memory of their first kiss still pushed her past fear and landed her in a big old pile of lust-­inspired insanity. She’d felt brave, bold, and maybe a little brazen.
    But today she felt as if she were dodging one bullet after another. As if her life was a series of obstacles, and at the end of the day her reward was survival.
    â€œAsk me what?” she said as she withdrew the key to the bar’s back entrance from her pocket.
    â€œDo you like whipped cream?”
    She turned away from the door and faced the redhead with the sexy smile. Maybe she’d dodged enough bullets today. Maybe she could pack her concerns about the wedding, and how she planned to blend in with the flower arrangements, away until after he left.
    â€œI love it.”

 
    Chapter 2
    â€œ M AY I LICK the whipped cream off your face?”
    Josh lowered his fork to the pie dish and waited for the Big Buck’s dishwasher to catch up with the conversation. Pie—­not flowers—­had offered him the perfect way to transition from the guy who found her in the woods to her friend. And he couldn’t resist the temptation to switch from small talk to damn near close to begging for a kiss.
    And a date, he thought. I’m going to ask her out today.
    Caroline raised one perfect, dark eyebrow. One hand clasped a spoon and the other rested on the stainless steel work surface that on busy nights held stacks of dirty pint glasses waiting for her attention. Right now, it was just the two of them and the pie. The bar wouldn’t open to Forever’s local logging population and the university students who outnumbered the men and woman born and bred in this section of the Willamette Valley for another hour.
    â€œNo,” she said. Her tongue darted out from between her pink lips that always looked as if she was wearing a kiss-­me-­now lipstick. Or course, he knew the woman whose ideas of accessorizing involved a concealed weapon tucked into the waistband of her pants did not bother with makeup. She licked the whipped cream teasing the edge of her mouth. “I’ve got it under control.”
    He nodded, refilled his fork and lifted another bite of key lime pie to his mouth. He always asked—­for a touch, a taste, a kiss—­but he never pushed. Caroline would shift the parameters of their dessert-­based friendship in her own time. Or she wouldn’t and he’d be forced to come to terms with the fact that the future he daydreamed about—­settling down with Caroline, buying his own home, maybe a dog—­would replace sleeping with Megan Fox on the top of his Never Going to Happen list.
    â€œYou’re going to Noah’s wedding on Saturday night?” he asked, sliding back into friendly chitchat. He’d waited a year to kiss Caroline the first time. And he’d sit tight for another if it meant more sugarcoated kisses. To hell with his siblings’ opinions.
    â€œJust because I can take the dishwasher apart and fix it every time it tries to quit on us”—­she nodded to the restaurant-­grade appliance behind her—­“doesn’t mean Noah wouldn’t fire me for missing his wedding. Plus, he’s closing the bar for the night. Everyone else is going.”
    â€œEveryone else is in the wedding,” Josh pointed out. Big Buck’s owner and manager was marrying Forever’s former bad girl, who’d burst into his life over a year ago, demanded a job, and quickly worked her way up to assistant manager. And the only other bartender on the payroll right now was the groom’s best friend and the bride’s big brother.
    â€œTrue. But I owe Noah. I can’t miss his wedding.”
    Fair enough, he thought.
    â€œA ­couple of months ago, you asked me out on a date,” Josh pointed out.
    â€œI was feeling brave