For His Taste (4 page)

He and Beth were both working for
something other than what they wanted.  She had her bakery, the giant cover up
to her own needs.  And Bobby had his job, the thing that kept him busy enough
to keep his mind silent about
other things
.  Those
other things
were undeniable right now as Beth handed him his order with a smile.

“Damn,” Bobby whispered.

“What’s wrong?” Beth asked.

She found herself somewhat instantly
okay with Bobby.  Even though he wore a tie, carried a folder, and looked like
the kind of guy that would be an ass, for whatever reason he personally chose
to be an ass for. 

“I wanted a cookie,” Bobby said. 
“Before they were wrapped up.”  Bobby took the cookies.  “No big deal.  I’ll
eat them later, at the hotel…”

The word
hotel
rolled from
his tongue like a lethal confession.  His eyes grew wide and he looked away. 
He shouldn’t have said hotel.  Hotel made him more of a stranger than he was. 
Normally, it didn’t matter that great of a deal, but with Beth, he wasn’t sure
how well he’d lie.

“Hotel?”

“I’m here on business,” Bobby said.

It wasn’t a lie and it wasn’t the
entire truth.  Bobby hoped she’d leave it at that.  Beth paused for a few
seconds and then stepped to the side, back to the cookie case, and took out
another cookie. 

She handed it to Bobby with a head
nod.  “Take it.  On the house.”

“No, let me pay,” Bobby said.

“I’ll be honest,” Beth said, “I
made these on a whim and nobody has bought many… even considering…”

Beth didn’t want to finish the
sentence.  If there was any chance that Bobby didn’t know about the robbery,
she wanted to leave it that way.

“Well, I bought some,” Bobby said,
“and I’m sure I’ll eat them.”  Bobby held up the cookie that Beth had given
him.  “Here.  Watch.”  He took a bite, chewing and swallowing.

“And?” Beth asked.

“If I have to be honest,” Bobby
said, “I hate oatmeal raisin cookies.  My grandmother always made them instead
of chocolate chip and I always hated them.”  Bobby half smiled and turned to
leave.  He should have mentioned more of why he was there but just seeing Beth
for those few minutes and talking to her made him understand he’d have to get
his feelings in check first.  This was just a woman.  A beautiful, curvy woman
with her own business and a talent to die for.

Halfway to the door, something
intrigued Bobby.

He was far from work.  His office
was a long ways away, along with Mr. Galloway.  Who’s to say that he couldn’t
figure things out here in town?  Get to know Beth, and maybe help Beth.  The
woman had just been robbed at gunpoint.  Did she really intend on keeping the
bakery here?  Sure, Bobby could have just spoken like that – blunt and to the
point.  But blunt and to the point probably wouldn’t give him a chance at
feeling those sexy curves against his body.  He wanted to taste Beth, hold her,
show her what it was like to be a woman.

He stopped walking and turned.  He
took another bite of the oatmeal raisin cookie.  After swallowing it, he said,
“My dear grandmother passed away a long time ago.  Now, I wouldn’t say this if
she were alive, but these oatmeal raisin cookies are the best I’ve ever
tasted.  Ever.”

Bobby added another bite and then
walked away.

“Thanks,” Beth managed to get out. 
Her breath had been taken away.  Something about the way Bobby had turned
around and looked at her, talked to her – not at her – made her body gush.  She
gripped the counter and felt her knees a little wobbly.  The suit on Bobby did
him justice, the way it hugged his body.  But a man like Bobby… would he care
for a woman like Beth?  Beth the way society pictured things.  The strong men
with skinny women.  That nonsense crap that was plastered everywhere, including
Beth’s mind.

Bobby paused again, with a hand on
the door, and asked, “Do you like coffee?”

“Sure, who doesn’t?” Beth replied.

“Want to get some?”

“I can’t.  The bakery… is mine…”

“You don’t serve coffee?”

“Never really thought to,” Beth
said.

Bobby nodded.  He smiled and didn’t
reply.

By the end of the weekend, the
bakery, and Beth, would be his.

-4

In his
hotel room, Bobby
placed the oatmeal raisin cookies on the table next to his laptop.  He opened
his computer, turned it on, and smiled at the sight of the cookies.  He wasn’t
lying when he told Beth that he hated oatmeal raisin cookies.  He also wasn’t
lying when he said he liked hers.  They had a perfect tenderness to them,
mixing with a sweet flavor that worked with the oatmeal texture.  They were
like they just came out of the oven, not hard, not crumbling.

By the time Bobby read through his
emails, he had eaten all the cookies.  He actually wished for more cookies.  He
checked the clock and knew for sure that Beth wouldn’t be at the bakery.  Part
of him felt tempted to go back to see if she worked late every night.  Then he
reminded himself that she had been through hell with the robbery and he decided
against his idea.  He had to focus. 

Beth didn’t know anything about
him, or his purpose.

She didn’t know he knew about the
robbery.  She didn’t know he was there to get her out of her bakery. 

For all Beth knew, Bobby was just a
businessman passing through town.

Seeing Beth had unleashed something
in Bobby.  Being far enough away from work to not have to care so much gave him
a sense of freedom he hadn’t tasted in years.  As Bobby licked his lips,
catching the last taste of sugar, he wished his tongue were traveling on Beth’s
voluptuous body.  He couldn’t stop thinking about Beth, and her body.  Big was
beautiful and Beth was perfectly beautiful.

After filtering through a few legal
and financial documents that Mr. Galloway had emailed to him, Bobby finally
called it a day.  A long day at that.  He thought about turning the laptop off
and watching television, maybe take advantage of the fact that Mr. Galloway was
paying for everything tonight and through the weekend.  While he thought about
it, he found himself scouring the internet to find Beth.  He managed to find
the same picture he saw in the newspaper.  The colored version online looked
much better than the cheap black and white picture.

He felt like a horned up teenager
again, sitting there, staring at the picture of Beth.

How would this even work?

Have sex with Beth and then
casually ask her to leave his hotel… and her business?

Bobby shook his head.

It wouldn’t be sex.

Well, it wouldn’t
just
be
sex.

Not with a woman like Beth.

Yes, he wanted to touch her.  Hold
her.  Fuck her.  But he also wanted more.

Just how much more almost scared him. 
Their conversation had lasted all of five minutes, and ended with Bobby asking
her out for coffee.  Even then, Beth didn’t have time to go for coffee.  That
made it clear her business was her life.

The thing about Bobby was that he
didn’t give up so easily.  If that were the case, he would have stayed away the
first time Mr. Galloway fired him five years ago.  Instead, he showed up to
work and closed a deal before lunch and managed to get Mr. Galloway to buy him
lunch and rehire him. 

From the corner of Bobby’s eye he
noticed something on top of the small counter that served as a make shift
kitchen.  He smiled and jumped from his chair.

There were two things he was sure
of going to bed that night…

First, he’d see Beth tomorrow.

Second, they’d have coffee.

**

Beth rolled to her left side and
stared at the clock. 

Midnight.

She had to be at the bakery by
five-thirty for some cake orders that came in last minute.  It seemed
everything today had been
last minute
, people trying to mask the fact
they were at the bakery because of the obvious reason. 

The robbery.

That’s what it would forever be in
her heart and her mind. 

The robbery.

Did the robbery really matter?  The
man took what he wanted and left.  It was Beth’s own fault and she told herself
that.  She also checked the front door lock three times before brushing her
teeth and preparing for bed.  When she finished, she made up an excuse to go
check the door again.

With her bedroom door locked and a
baseball bat under her bed, Beth knew she’d have to face the fact that maybe
the
robbery
did more than she originally thought.  The only thing that stuck in
her mind were the words the man had to use.  Bad enough a complete stranger
needed to steal money from her, but did he have to use such evil words? 

The thought of it made Beth feel
worse about herself.  Here she lay, alone, in a king size bed, touching her own
body, closing her eyes to pretend that if she couldn’t see, she couldn’t feel. 
Her hands moved along her curves and she shuddered, trying to determine just
how big and ugly she really was.  When she got to her hips and then around to
her legs, her fingertips made a hurrying move between her legs, almost
dangerously close to a sensitive spot on her body.  The sudden move made her
gasp for air and for a split second when she opened her eyes, she saw the man
from the bakery today.  The man…
Bobby
…

“Bobby,” she whispered.

Something about him carried with
her.  The way he looked at her – again and again – and the way he talked to
her.  She swore she picked up flirting in his voice.  She didn’t feel like the
flirting kind of woman to attract a man in a suit like Bobby, especially when
she considered the way he looked. 

Tall.  Handsome.  Wide shoulders
that pulled at his suit jacket.  His tie tight enough to show his care to his
work but loose enough to hint that he was capable of the unexpected.  A round
jaw line with just enough scruff to make a woman sigh.  Eyes that packed a
wicked punch of sexiness and mystery.

Beth remembered it all, even the
way he asked her for coffee.

Was that a date?

Had he asked her out?

It couldn’t have been.

She then remembered seeing the
folder in his hand. 

Maybe he was some kind of salesman,
using his good looks and her non-existent self- confidence to close a deal.

But that didn’t make sense.

His eyes wouldn’t lie, nobody’s
really could.  As Beth thought about looking into Bobby’s eyes her body heated
up.  Things happened that hadn’t happened in a long time.  Her breasts suddenly
felt full and lonely.  Between her legs, a flame kicked up and wetness tickled
her.  Her fingertips started to take that small climb back to where they were. 
When she touched herself, pressing against her pants and panties, she moaned,
hoping Bobby would kick down her bedroom door and have her.

Who knew, if he really did like
those oatmeal cookies enough, maybe he’d come back for more…
a woman can
dream
…

5-

The next
day the bakery was
back to its normal pace of things.  The crowd outside didn’t exist and
insistent forced buying all but stopped.  A few extras lingered, and some even
just walked by the bakery, pausing to look in the window to see that she
actually remained open after the robbery.

Beth fought off her apprehension
and anxiety by thinking of Bobby.  It was silly, yes, but there was nothing
wrong with fantasizing about a stranger.  They had met, they had exchanged a
few glances, and with that, Beth had something sexy to think about for a little
while.  The best part was that no matter how wild her thoughts ran, she’d
probably never see him again.

A call came in around nine for a
wedding cake.  Beth loved making wedding cakes, even though they came with a
pressure she didn’t like.  Working under pressure wasn’t exactly Beth’s dream
in life, which is why she chose baking because it took their time.  Everything
was a calculated process that led to something delicious.  And if it didn’t
come out tasting delicious, you could just do it all again.  With a wedding
cake, it was more or less a one shot deal.  You have one shot to make a cake
that will serve as the centerpiece for a couples’ wedding.  It’ll be the cake
in the pictures.  It’ll be the cake that all the guests eat. 

Granted, Beth never had a wedding
cake disaster, but she still got butterflies in her stomach when an order came
in for a wedding cake.  The woman she spoke to on the phone seemed to be in a
hurry and gave a basic description of what she wanted.  Three tiers and a mix
of vanilla and chocolate.  Hearing the way the woman spoke, Beth got the idea
that the only reason she got the call was because of what had happened.  Beth
insisted the woman come to the bakery to go over the design of the cake, so she
agreed but not without a hint of nervousness in her voice.

That made Beth realize that people
probably thought the street and neighborhood was infested with crime. 

That wasn’t the case at all.

The morning became quiet and as
Beth began to build a new supply order, she heard the door open.  Each time the
door opened, her heart would jump for a few seconds, expecting a man wielding a
gun to come after her.  When she turned this time, she froze in place.

Bobby had come back.

**

Today he was dressed down and
looked even hotter than yesterday.  He looked at Beth and nodded, but didn’t
say a word.  She looked to his hands and couldn’t believe her eyes.

Bobby had come to the bakery with a
small box. 

“Good morning,” she managed to call
out, trying not to let her voice crackle.  She was instantly heated up just
staring at Bobby.  The stranger that had come to her bakery yesterday and now
came back again.

Bobby looked at the walls until he
found a table near an outlet.  He put the box on the table and went to work,
moving casually.  He took out a coffee pot and Beth smiled.  When he bent over
to plug it into the wall, Beth’s eyes widened and she felt a pulse up and down
her body, the only time it stopped was between her legs.  She felt tempted to
lock the front door and go after Bobby.  Thinking about it was one thing, but
as Beth’s hands touched her thighs, she remembered why she would never do
something like that.  She was too big to have that kind of confidence.