Delicious Temptation Read online

  The only thing naughtier than a bad boy is a good girl…

  Amara Maria Robles is a good girl. So good that she gave up her dreams of becoming a renowned pastry chef to help her parents with their struggling Mexican bakery. Yet her parents reject any changes she suggests, and refuse to sell her mouth-watering confections. Clearly being a good girl isn’t paying off. So when her brother’s sexy ex-best friend walks into the bakery, Amara’s tempted to be very bad indeed…

  After a scandal twelve years ago, resident bad boy Eric Valencia has returned to make things right with his family and friends. One glance at Amara and her wicked curves, however, and Eric finds himself thinking about how she’d feel beneath him—something he promised Amara’s brother he would never think about, let alone do.

  But this bad boy is in deep trouble…because Amara’s determined to have her cake, and Eric, too.

  Chapter Ten

  Daisy walked around her like a lion circling its prey.

  “I already told you, it’s the bangs.” Amara blew them off her forehead in attempt to make her point.

  “It’s not the bangs. It’s something else.” She tapped her lips. “I can see it on your face but I can’t quite put my finger on it.”

  Amara bent over the pan of cupcakes that needed frosting, trying not to smile as images from the past two nights she’d spent with Eric flitted through her head. Her cousin hadn’t seen her in a few days, so as soon as she’d walked in that morning, Daisy had insisted there was something different about her. Sex with the man of her dirtiest fantasies did that to a girl.

  “Why are you smiling?”

  Amara nearly dropped the chocolate cupcake she’d been inspecting. “What? I’m not smiling.”

  “You were just a second ago. You’re happy about something. Your face is glowing, you’re smiling like an idiot, and I could swear I heard you humming earlier. What gives?”

  “I like how this batch of cupcakes turned out. That’s all.”

  Daisy folded her arms across her chest and cocked an eyebrow.

  “Okay, fine. I’m happy. What’s the big deal?”

  “No, you’re not just happy. You’re, like, over the moon happy. Why? Did something happen with the bakery? Did your parents decide they were going to go live permanently with Miguel and Trina?”

  “Ha! Yeah, right.” Amara laughed, and this time she didn’t care if her smile came back. She couldn’t help it.

  “Then what else would make you so happy that—” Her eyes widened. “Oh my God. You slept with Eric!”

  Amara froze.

  “That’s it, isn’t it? You had sex with Eric! That’s awesome¸ Amara. Good for you!”

  Daisy whacked her on the back and Amara dropped the unfrosted cupcake onto one of the perfectly frosted final products. Darn it. She sighed. She wanted to deny the truth about her and Eric, make up some excuse as to why she was so full of joy that morning, but she couldn’t think of anything else.

  So she admitted it.

  “I did, but you have to swear not to say anything!”

  Daisy grinned. “Of course, cousin. Your naughty secret is safe with me. I just need to know one more thing.”

  “What?”

  “How was it? I guess it had to be pretty good because you’re walking around here grinning like a cat who just swallowed the biggest mouse she ever had. Should I take that as you really did swallow the biggest—”

  “Daisy!”

  Her cousin pouted. “Fine. Keep the details to yourself, party pooper. So what does this mean? Are you guys together, like a couple?”

  Amara shrugged, picking at the rainbow sprinkles dusting the ruined cupcake. “We decided we’re going to keep it casual. No strings. That’s why nobody else can know, okay? We’re friends with benefits.”

  Daisy’s eyes widened. “Wow, I’m impressed. You’re using a hot guy just for sex.” She nodded. “Nice.”

  Amara frowned and leaned against the counter. “I’m not using him. We’re just two adults who decided we like having sex with each other so we’re going to keep doing it until…”

  “Until what? Someone gets a better offer?”

  She bristled at the thought of someone else seducing Eric into her bed. “No, until we decide we want to move on, or until he finishes the remodel.”

  “Hmm, that sounds very uncomplicated to me,” Daisy said. “Sex is usually really complicated.”

  “I guess it depends on the people.” Amara turned back to the cupcakes. Their arrangement would work as long as she and Eric accepted the fact that it would eventually end.

  “Well, I’m happy for you. Maybe I should go out and find someone to have uncomplicated sex with, too.”

  “If that’s what you…wait, what? No, that’s not what you should be looking for.”

  “Why not? It looks like it’s making you happy, right?”

  Was she happy? Remembering Eric’s lips on her neck and his hands on her breasts did make her smile. “I guess what I’m saying is that this is what makes me happy right now. Maybe in two weeks or two months, it won’t anymore. But I don’t know if I would want this for you. You shouldn’t be looking for someone to make you happy for a night or two. You should look for someone to make you happy forever.”

  “What about you?” Daisy asked. “You deserve forever, too, don’t you?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe. But I have other things going on that are more important to me right now than finding someone who will make me happy for the rest of my life. That’s why this thing with Eric works, I guess. It’s hard to explain. Maybe I just want to be bad for once?”

  Daisy snorted. “I get it. You want to rebel a little. That makes sense. Especially with your family.”

  You’ve got that right. Amara smiled. “Let’s get back to work, okay? Johnny Bautista’s sixth birthday party isn’t going to cater itself.”

  The bakery descended into a comfortable silence, punctuated by Daisy’s occasional curse when her frosting didn’t come out as cleanly as she’d like. But despite doing what she loved, the longer they worked, the more Amara’s smile faded.

  Did she deserve forever?

  When she was younger, she thought she did. Then she went all four years of high school without a single date. She didn’t even have her first kiss until she was seventeen, and that was with a friend of a friend who turned out to be gay. In college she had a handful of first dates, but not many seconds or thirds. Then she met Martín after she moved to Chicago. She had just landed a job working as a pastry chef trainee at the five-star San Regis Hotel. He worked as a desk clerk in the hotel. They had sex on their fourth date, and if he noticed she was a virgin, he didn’t say. She’d been grateful to get it over with and didn’t even care if he called her again, but he did. And he kept on calling.

  That’s when she started to let herself believe that what they had could be forever.

  After all, they seemed perfect for each other. They each came from the same kind of family, grew up in the same kind of neighborhood, liked the same food, and read the same kind of books. They never really fought, but the lack of fireworks in the bedroom made her doubt the relationship. After six months together, she figured she could learn to live with it if it meant she didn’t have to spend the rest of her life alone.

  Then one day Martín met her after a Friday night dinner service and told her he wanted to see other people. He told her she was a good woman and would probably make a good wife, but he wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment. In fact, he didn’t even know if he wanted to get married—ever.

  Although she’d been devastated at the time, the breakup had given Amara the push she’d needed to apply for the pastry sous chef position at the resort—the one she eventually resigned from in orde
r to come back home.

  She huffed at the memory. “Forever” was overrated. She wanted fireworks instead. And Eric gave her that. Every single time.

  Just thinking of him made her tingle all over. Or was that the sudden vibration of her cell phone in her pocket? Probably both. And when she looked at the caller ID and saw Eric’s name on the screen, the tingles got stronger.

  “What are you wearing?” he asked before she even said hello.

  “An apron and—”

  “And please say that’s all.”

  She laughed and glanced down at her full-length jeans. “I don’t think the county health department would appreciate me wearing only an apron when I serve customers baked goods.”

  Amara looked up just in time to see her cousin’s jaw drop and blue frosting squirt across the counter, entirely missing the cupcake Daisy had been holding in her hand. Normally she’d be embarrassed. Not today.

  “The county health department hasn’t seen you naked,” Eric continued. “I have, and I can say from experience that I would appreciate your lack of clothing very much.”

  She could feel her goofy smile from coming back. “So am I supposed to ask what you’re wearing now?”

  “You don’t have to, but I’ll tell you. I’m completely naked.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’m serious. I’m fisting my cock and imagining I’m inside you. But I don’t want to imagine anymore. I want the real thing. Come over. Now.”

  She closed her eyes. The mental image of Eric doing what he said turned her on more than she thought it would. She never thought she could get into phone sex until him. He had a way with words, that was for sure. And those words were pebbling her nipples as if it were thirty degrees inside the bakery, not eighty.

  Afraid Daisy would mangle even more tubes of frosting if she heard the rest of their conversation, Amara walked into the kitchen and whispered into the phone, “And what? I’m supposed to show up on your doorstep and announce to your mom and abuela that I’m there to have sex with you?”

  “They’re not here. Today’s Mom’s day off. They left a few minutes ago to go visit my mom’s cousin all the way in Temecula. They’re going to be gone for hours.”

  Now, she was really considering it.

  He continued to try and convince her. “Come over and I’ll make you come. I promise. I’ve already decided that I’m going to take you from behind today. That way I get a nice view of that beautiful ass while I’m sinking my cock into your tight pussy.”

  Warmth rushed to all parts of her body, and she leaned against the sink for support. Yep, she was a sucker for the dirty talk. Who knew? Yet it wasn’t enough to make her drop everything.

  She cupped her hand over her mouth and the phone. “I don’t know, Eric. It’s in the middle of the afternoon…”

  “Haven’t you ever heard of an afternoon delight?”

  “That’s what that means?”

  Eric’s laugh was so loud she had to pull the phone away from her ear. “Be here in ten minutes. And think of something new you want me to do to you.”

  “Uh, I think you seeing me naked during the middle of the day is all the new I can handle right now.”

  He didn’t laugh this time, just sighed. “Aye, Amara, you are one of a kind, you know that? I’ve never been with anyone like you.”

  She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know what he meant by that. But she asked anyway. “Is that a bad or good thing?”

  “Oh it’s good. It’s very good.” The husky tone of his voice sent shivers down her spine. “Now you have nine minutes. See you soon.”

  The line clicked.

  Only nine more minutes until she’d be in his arms again. Only nine more minutes until she would feel his mouth on her skin and his hands all over her body.

  She threw off her apron and asked Daisy to cover for her. As she walked/ran to Eric’s house she didn’t care whether her cousin knew she was ditching work to have sex in the middle of the day. All she cared about was getting to Eric’s as fast as possible.

  And seven minutes later, she was in heaven.

  …

  “So, would you say that was delightful?”

  It sounded more like a purr than a question to him. Eric looked over at Amara, who was lying next to him. She, too, was out of breath and wearing only a giant, satisfied smile.

  “No, I’d say that was fucking amazing,” he told her truthfully.

  She looked at the ceiling and exhaled. “Yes, yes it was.”

  From the moment their lips met that afternoon, their need to be together was frantic and crazed. He had worried that Amara might need some more convincing to get her into his bed in the middle of the day, but she was just as hot for him as he was for her. She didn’t even hesitate in telling him when she was ready for him to enter her. And when he did, it was like they both couldn’t get him deep enough.

  A burning sensation on his back told him they’d reached new heights that afternoon. He reached for her across the bed and pulled her to his side. She rested her cheek on his chest. “I think you scratched me this time,” he said after kissing the top of her head.

  She looked up at him, surprise and guilt in her eyes. “Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry.”

  He shrugged. “Don’t be. I like being marked by you. It’s a sign of you taking control when we’re together.”

  “How? It’s more like I lose control, isn’t it?”

  He combed his fingers through her hair. “Well, in a way because you’re not worried about leaving a mark afterward. But when you’re digging your nails into my back it’s because you’re pulling me into you—you’re taking control of the rhythm. Does that make sense?”

  She sighed. “Too bad I can’t act like that in real life.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s getting easier for me to tell you what I want you do to me here. Out there, it’s not so easy.”

  “Like with your parents and the bakery?”

  “Yeah. Remember that day when you told me I was living their life?”

  The memory of their argument still stung. “I’m sorry. I should’ve never said that.”

  “Why? You were right. I did give up my life in Chicago to come here to help them save the bakery. But all I’m doing is exactly what my dad was doing before he hurt his back. Business is still slow. Now they might even lose the house if things don’t turn around. So me giving up my dream and moving back here will have been all for nothing.”

  “Hey, look at me, sweetheart.” She scooted up until she was inches away from his face. He turned onto his side and raised her chin with one finger. “I’m going to ask you a question and I want you to answer me honestly, okay?”

  When she nodded, he continued. “Do you really want to run the bakery? And I’m not saying just work there—I’m talking about taking a real ownership of everything from the menu to the entire management of it?”

  She took a second and then answered. “I do and I don’t. I’m afraid.”

  “Afraid of what?”

  “Of failing again.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She flopped back onto her back with a sigh, her arm over her eyes. “Two years ago, I borrowed money from my parents to open up a cupcake shop downtown. They both warned me that no one would want to go to a bakery that only sold cupcakes, but I begged and pleaded and eventually they gave me the money. By the first month, I knew I was in over my head, but I was determined to do it on my own so I pretended business was great…until I couldn’t pretend anymore. I had to close the shop and admit they’d been right. I had no idea what it took to run a business.”

  “What about now?”

  She rolled over to face him. “I don’t know. Part of me thinks I might be able to really do something with this place. Brandon is serious about selling my desserts in his restaurant. It would be huge for the bakery. I’m kind of excited about making it happen.”

  “Then tell them, Amara. Tell them what you want to do.”
/>   “And what if they say no?”

  “Then you tell them you’re going to do it anyway.”

  Her eyes grew big. “I don’t know if I can.”

  “Sweetheart, less than hour ago you didn’t think you could have sex in the middle of the day. But you did, didn’t you?”

  “That’s because you did it with me.”

  “Then I’ll do this with you, too. Let’s expand the remodel—do even more to make it into what you want it to be. I’m serious. If revamping the bakery is your new dream, then I’m going to help you build that dream with my bare hands.”

  He’d never meant anything more in his life. He honestly wanted to help her. And if it resulted in extending their arrangement for a few more weeks, that was icing on the cake. Pun intended.

  She opened her mouth as if to say something, but instead kissed him hard. Moving her hand to the back of his head, she pulled him closer, deepening the intensity of their kiss. She finally broke away after a minute or so, leaving him just as breathless as before.

  Then she took his right hand, which had been resting on his side, brought it up to her face and brushed her lips and the tip of her tongue against his palm. His cock, already awakened by their deep kissing, rose to full attention.

  Smiling, she looked into his eyes and moved his palm between her legs. “I accept your offer, but I think there’s something you need to do with these hands first.”

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

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