Must Love Frosting (Must Love Diamonds 1)

Normally, he’d say five dollars for a cupcake was highway robbery, but Honor’s were worth every penny plus tax.

Over by the café tables, Darcy finished sweeping and wiping up, and picked up her cleaning supplies tote to carry to the back office. “All set here. Anything else before I go?” she asked Roxanna.

“Nope. Thanks, and I’ll see you Tuesday. Have a good weekend.”

“You, too. See ya, Asher.”

With his mouth full of the last bite of fix number two, Asher gave the bubbly, part-time blond a nod and grin before turning back to Rox. He washed the cupcake down with a swig of coffee while she unpacked another Himalayan salt lamp from her most recent order. He’d been listening to her bitch and moan about her frustrations with office paperwork and her hatred of balancing her profit and loss sheets, but with Darcy gone, she gave him a sideways glance.

“Have you talked to your parents lately?”

“Not since brunch last Sunday. They’ve been busy with the campaign. Why?”

She carried the lamp to an empty display spot and plugged it in. “I was getting a weird vibe at the party.”

“Wasn’t that from Honor?”

“No, this was different.”

Something odd in her tone set him on edge. Asher tilted his head with a slight frown when she came back to get another lamp. “What do you mean?”

“It’s hard to explain,” she said. “I was just curious if you’d heard anything from your mom or dad this week.”

“About what?”

“I don’t know.” Exasperation tinged her voice. “You know it doesn’t work that way.”

“Yeah, well, they would’ve called if I needed to know anything important.”

“You’re right.” She met his gaze and offered a brief, reassuring smile before taking the lamp in her hands to the left side of the shop this time. “It was probably nothing. There was a lot going on that night.”

“That there was,” he agreed. And yet, his stomach gave another uneasy roll. Because nothing was ever nothing with Roxanna.

“So…dinner with Honor tomorrow,” she said in an obvious change of subject. “Where are you taking her?”

“I have a couple places in mind,” he said vaguely.

She twisted slightly to look at him. After a long moment, she turned back to adjusting the lamp. “Go with option number two.”

He narrowed his gaze. “You have no idea where I’m even thinking of.”

“I got a feeling. Just trust me.”

“We’ll see,” he muttered. But he would trust her. He’d been leaning toward that one anyway.

The store’s lone customer approached the counter, and having helped here and there in the past, Asher rang up the sale with a friendly smile, then pulled the last two lamps from the packing box and set them next to the register for Roxanna to take care of.

It was just the two of them again, so he boosted himself up to sit on the counter and took another drink of coffee to fortify himself for his change of subject. “I have some news for you.”

Roxanna made a face as she joined him at the counter. “I don’t want to hear this any more than you want to tell me.”

Spot on.

“What makes you say that?” he bluffed.

She rolled her eyes as if he’d asked a stupid question. “Besides your voice being all ominous, your aura is all over the place, Ace. When I asked you about dinner with Honor, you were all light yellow optimism, and red sexual energy, with a little bit of lovey-dovey pink. But I could tell the moment you started thinking about your news. Everything shifted blue—and not the good shades.”

“Damn, you’re good.”