For His Taste (5 page)

Bobby set up the coffee pot and
then turned to finally face Beth.

“Can I borrow some water, please?”
he asked.

When he smiled, Beth felt like her
legs could melt.

“What… what are you doing?” she
asked.

“I offered to buy you a coffee,”
Bobby said.  “You said you were too busy so I’m bringing the coffee to you.  I
just need some water.  If you don’t mind.”

“Hold on a sec,” Beth said.

She found a large measuring cup and
filled it with water.  When Bobby came to get it, she inhaled his scent.  A man
smell that made her senses rage.  She watched him pour the water into the
coffeepot and then turn it on.

Before he returned the measuring
cup to her, he took out two paper cups, lids, packets of sugar, and even had
small creamer cups and lids.

Bobby came with a purpose.

Standing back at the counter, he
placed the measuring cup down and said, “There.  Now we’re all set.”

“I don’t understand…”

“Coffee,” Bobby said and pointed to
the table.  The coffeepot gurgled and the warm smell of coffee started to
filter into the air, mixing with the smell of fresh baked goods. 

“Why?” Beth asked sharply.  She
didn’t mean her tone but couldn’t contain it.

“Because I want to have coffee with
you.  That’s why.”

He kept it short and simple.  Bobby
attracted Beth’s interest.  Coming out from behind the counter would be
something new for her.  She enjoyed hiding behind the counter, covering herself
up with her apron and counter.  She hated the idea of being exposed so she left
her apron on.

The coffee finished and Bobby
poured two cups.  He sat down and pointed to Beth’s cup.

“All set,” he said.

“You know, I have work to do here,”
Beth said.

“I know,” Bobby replied.  “But a
quick coffee won’t kill you.”

As Beth moved from around the
counter, it was Bobby’s turn to enjoy the sight before his eyes.  Beth’s thick
body was beautiful, the only thing wrong was that she wore the apron.  He
wanted to see her without it, and for that matter, he wanted to see her naked. 
Watching her walk to him, her eyes sometimes looking at him, sometimes looking
to the floor, made his heart race.  He hadn’t felt this alive near a woman in a
long time.

Beth sat down and he slid her
coffee towards her.

“I’m glad you decided to join me,”
Bobby said smiling.

“I don’t think I had much of a
choice,” Beth replied.

“No, I guess not.  I would have sat
here all day, with my little coffee maker, waiting.”

“Where did you get that?”

“The hotel,” Bobby said.

“You stole the hotel’s coffeepot?”

“No.  I borrowed it.  I’ll take it
back today.  Before our dinner.”

Beth had her cup to her lips but
didn’t take a sip.  “Excuse me?  Our dinner?”

“Sure,” Bobby said.  “We can chat
over coffee here for a few minutes, but tonight, when we have dinner, we’ll get
to know one another.”

A voice in the back of Bobby’s mind
kicked up, telling him he should have brought the folder with the paperwork. 
He should have been discussing Beth’s options to move out of the building.  He
should have been focused on work, on securing the building, on finishing up Mr.
Galloway’s next big deal.

“You’re confident, aren’t you?”
Beth asked. 

A warm feeling came over her.  The
bakery sat empty.  A sexy man sat across from her.  He stared at her with
honest eyes, and he wanted to take her out to dinner. 

She sipped her coffee, waiting for
Bobby to speak again.

“I’m not all that confident,” Bobby
said.  “Just willing to speak my mind.  So?  Dinner?”

“Why are you here?  In town, I
mean?”

“Business,” Bobby said.  “I sort of
work in finance and real estate.  My company tries to clean up messes.  Blah,
blah.”

“So you’re in town for what, the
weekend?”

“Something like that.”

“So… we’d have dinner… and then…”

“Look,” Bobby said.  He moved his
coffee cup out of the way.  His hand started to move across the table but
stopped.  His fingers tapped the table.  He wanted to touch Beth but he didn’t
want to scare her.  “I’m here for as long as I need to be here.  I just want to
take you out to dinner.  We can be each other’s company.  Is that so wrong?”

Beth turned her head.  The
welcoming empty bakery now appeared to be a cage.  Maybe Bobby was right. 
Nothing wrong with enjoying herself once in a while.

“It’s not wrong,” Beth said.  “It’s
just… I haven’t been out…”

“And I’m a stranger in town,” Bobby
said.  “It’ll be different for both of us.  It’s perfect.”

Beth stared at Bobby and she
started to nibble on the left side of her lip.  She only did this when she was
nervous.  Her heart and mind battled.  There was probably a great chance that
Bobby just wanted
her company
and nothing more.  That was okay with Beth
too.  After hearing what the gunman had to say to her, she wanted to be
touched, felt, and enjoyed.  Right now she felt disgusting, larger than ever
before in her life, and maybe a hookup would cure that.  Or at least take the
sting of her pain away for a little while.

“What time does the bakery close?” Bobby
asked.

“I own it,” Beth said.

“Perfect.  What time will you close
up?”

Beth felt herself loosening up a
little.  Her flirty side made an unexpected appearance.  “What time will you
pick me up?”

Bobby laughed and shook his head. 
“I’ll get here when I get here then.”

He stood up from the table and
looked at the coffeepot. 

“I should take that back to the
hotel.”

“Or leave it,” Beth said.

“Yeah, then I’ll have to come back,
no matter what, right?”

Beth smiled. 

The way Bobby looked at her made
her feel beautiful.  And that was a feeling she couldn’t recall having for a
very long time.

6-

Time moved
faster the rest
of the day.  Morning turned to afternoon and afternoon turned to early
evening.  Business remained steady and Beth kept herself busy, not wanting to
sit and watch the clock.  A few minutes before six, the phone rang and Beth saw
herself answering it and having it be Bobby.  He’d make up some excuse as to
why he wasn’t coming, leaving her alone in the bakery, or with the choice to go
home alone.

She had to answer the phone though,
she couldn’t leave it ringing.

The call came with good news and
bad news.

The good news was that it wasn’t
Bobby.  That meant he’d still be showing up sometime soon, hopefully.  Beth had
made her peace that she wouldn’t be in her dream condition to be with Bobby. 
Then again she was never the type to spend two hours on her hair.  What did it
matter?  She always assumed at her size, nothing could help her.

The bad news, however, came with a
burden. 

A last minute order.

One of her regular customers,
Amelia Anders, needed some of Beth’s famous chocolate strawberry cupcakes with
a ring of chocolate chip cookies around them, served on a large platter. 
Amelia owned a house goods company and hosted parties, filling her house with
women – and sometimes a couple men – selling them decorative items for their
homes.  Ever since she ordered from Beth once, she swore by the baked goods. 
She told Beth that the first night she gave away baked goods, her sales
doubled.  From there, they tripled when she added more food.

The problem was that Amelia had a
rigid schedule which meant Beth needed to stay and bake.

That would mean her date would be a
no-go with…

“Bobby,” she whispered.

His figure appeared at the door as
he opened it. 

To her surprise, he wore the same
clothes as the morning.  He could have made himself up so much more but he
didn’t.  He looked the same, and so did Beth.

Something about the gesture put
Beth at ease, even though she had some tough news to break to him.

“You’re still working,” Bobby
said.  “It’s after eight and look at you.  You know, if you work too hard,
you’ll end up like me.”

“And being you is bad?” Beth asked.

Skipping the casual
hello’s
felt right, and sexy.  It made Beth feel closer to Bobby.  If that was part of
his strategy, then damn him, he was good.

So good.

He leaned over the counter and
looked at the cupcake batter in a large bowl.  There was a semi dark color to
it and a slight red.  It looked delicious.

“It smells delicious,” Bobby said
and nodded to it.  “I’m guessing… chocolate…”

“That’s right,” Beth said.  “What
else?”

Beth stopped working and turned to
face Bobby.  That instant connection came again and she felt hot all over. 
Aside from the ovens turned on, deep within Beth a fire had been started by
Bobby and she knew then, staring at him, that it wasn’t going to extinguish. 
At least not without his help.  Thinking that made her eyes look down and she
felt slightly disappointed that his waist was at the counter.  She wanted to
see all of him.

“What else…”  Bobby sniffed the
air, raised an eyebrow, and smiled. 

“You have no clue,” Beth said.

“Want to bet?”

“Bet?  Bet what?”

“Got anymore of those oatmeal
raisin cookies?”

“You want to bet cookies?” Beth
asked. 

“Okay, fine.  No cookies then.  How
about… at the end of our date tonight, I’m going to kiss you.”

“Oh?”

Bobby nodded.  “That’s just me.  So
why don’t we get the after dinner kiss now.”

“That would make it a pre dinner
kiss.”

“Whatever you want to call it,”
Bobby said, “it’s a kiss.  And it’s a bet.”

“So if you guess right…”

“We kiss.”

“And when you’re wrong?”

“When?  Wow.  You have no
confidence in me.”

“Okay then.  What’s the other
flavor in the batter?”

Bobby closed his eyes. 

For a second Beth saw herself
moving to him and kissing him.  She stutter stepped even but didn’t move
forward.

Bobby opened his eyes and said,
“Raspberries!”

Beth laughed. 

“What?” Bobby asked.

“That’s wrong.  Very wrong.”

“Oh.  Damn then.  After dinner it
is then…”

“Wait a second,” Beth chimed in. 
“I get to choose something now.  You were wrong.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“I choose… a kiss before the bad
news.”

“A kiss before the bad news?” Bobby
asked.  “I like and don’t like the sound of that.”  He smiled and opened one of
his hands, moved his fingers, calling Beth closer. 

She moved towards him, her body
still on fire.  She wanted to kiss Bobby.  She wanted more than just kissing,
but time would tell that story. 

She leaned over the counter and
stopped halfway across. 

If Bobby wanted it, he’d have to…

Bobby came forward.  His lips were
just an inch from Beth.  Their eyes were open, their breaths entangled. 

Was Bobby breathing as heaily as
Beth?

Both their hearts raced and even
fluttered. 

When their lips touched, Beth moved
her right hand forward, touching Bobby’s fingers on his left hand.  He quickly
squeezed her hand.  Their eyes closed for a few seconds and then opened.  There
was a momentary pause as their eyes moved left to right to left, knowing what
the other one wanted.  Beth was the one who made the move this time, turning
her head a little, opening her mouth, offering her tongue.  She touched Bobby’s
lips and he opened his mouth too.  The tips of their tongues touched, sending
passion straight down Bobby’s body.  He became aroused, his erection pressing
against his pants.  Beth’s breasts were full, aching, her nipples even growing
hard. 

Their tongues softly rolled around
one another before Beth pulled away.

The bakery felt small, crammed, and
her feelings started to collide.  She wanted Bobby, wanted more of him, but a
part of her knew that having him meant showing herself to him.  Bobby was too
strong, too sexy for her. 

She knew it, and she knew he had to
know it too.

Right?

What would happen if she dared to
unclothe herself in front of him?

What would he do when he saw her
for real?  Her curves.  Her thickness.

Beth almost wished she had closed
the bakery and never let Bobby come in.  Or let Bobby goad her into this stupid
bet.

She exhaled and Bobby squeezed her
hand.

“I knew it was strawberry,” he
whispered.

Beth’s eyes grew wide.  She never
told him what was mixed in with the chocolate.  “Why did you say the wrong
answer?”

“I wanted to see what you wanted,”
Bobby said.

“Shit,” Beth said.

“Shit?  That’s not a good answer.”

“I don’t have good news.”

Bobby took a step back from the
counter.  He looked to the large bowl of batter.  He had an idea of what Beth
was going to say. 

“I have to work,” Beth said. 
“Right now.  Until my order is done.”

“How long is that going to take?”

“As long as it takes.”

Beth thought about the kiss and
felt her heart changing from racing to sinking.  She expected Bobby to wish her
luck and then leave.  Instead, he ran his hands up his arms, pretending to push
up sleeves that weren’t there.

“What are we baking?” Bobby asked.

“Excuse me?”

“What are we baking?  It may not be
a dinner date but it’s food.  Smells like good food.”

“You want to stay?  With me?”

“Of course I do.  But there’s one
rule…”

Beth knew it was coming then. 
Bobby would tell her they would just be friends, hang out, talk. 

“I need to do something,” Bobby
said and then he turned and trotted to the front of the bakery. 

Bobby turned the lock on the door
and then checked the light switches.  His pointer finger hurried between the
three switches, and he guessed which one to turn off.  It was the switch he
hoped to find, turning off all the lights in the front of the bakery other than
the ones right above the counter.  It gave a sexy lighting effect, leaving Beth
standing in her own beautiful glory.