Raspberry Kisses (The Bakery Romance Series Book 1) (22 page)

Several minutes later, he drove through Maple Grove. The quaint shops and groups of people walking down the street beckoned him. This small town was like a slice of happiness on his injured soul. What if he didn’t get the pastorship? What would he do?

Maybe he could move to a small town like Maple Grove, settle down and maybe find a small church to pastor. Could that even work? He continued admiring the quaint town. Several small shops lined Main Street, and a few appealing restaurants dotted the downtown area. The small, charming town was a great location for Rhea’s bakery. They’d decided to call her bakery The Maple Grove Deli and Bakery. He slowly drove past Rhea’s bakery, his eyes widening. The line was long, spilling out the door. Their marketing campaign for the grand opening appeared to have worked!

He drove around, spotting a parking space several blocks away. Excitement rushed through him as he got out of his car, running toward Rhea’s. If the bakery took off, became successful, then what would happen with Rhea? Had she given their relationship any thought or prayer, as he’d asked? Did she want to give them a chance?

He peeked inside the building, spotting Rhea behind the counter. Candy was slicing bread and making sandwiches out of the freshly baked bread, as they’d been discussing during his advisory sessions. Rhea worked the cash register, ringing up orders.

Rhea’s smooth, caramel brown skin glowed while she focused on her task. Her hair was back in a bun, under a hairnet. She wore a white apron over her uniform and with quick hurried movements, she served others, getting cookies and apple tarts, placing them into her newly monogrammed bag.

The last time he’d fed the homeless with his church, Rhea had crossed his mind. If things worked out between them, he could imagine them serving the community together. She’d be a natural, feeding hungry people, serving the community. The next time he went out into the community with his church, he’d need to ask her if she’d be willing to come along.

Rhea’s mouth pressed into a tense line. He assessed the situation. Both Candy and Rhea appeared frazzled and worn out. Perhaps he’d better help.

If their business remained this busy, they’d have to hire more staff.

Amidst her busyness, she glanced up and spotted him. He entered, the fragrant smells greeting him. Chocolate, cinnamon and fresh bread…he sniffed. Those wonderful scents took him back in time, back to the days of running his own bakery. “Did you need some help, Rhea?”

She nodded, her mouth drooping while she rang up another sale. She leaned toward him. “We’re almost out of the cookies and tarts. I thought I’d baked enough this morning, but I didn’t realize there’d be this many people.” She spoke low so that only he could hear her. If business kept up like this, they’d need to plan better so that they wouldn’t run out of food.

“I’m on it. I’ll wash up and get to work.”

He spent the rest of the afternoon in the hot kitchen, making cookies and tarts. Things got so hectic that customers did not want to wait for the cookies and the tarts to cool.

Rhea sold warm cookies and tarts and Candy had to keep making pots of coffee. Rhea needed a larger coffee maker if she kept serving a crowd of this size.

Finally, it was six o’clock and most of the shelves were empty. “I can’t believe we got so many customers today!” Candy placed the CLOSED sign on the door. She removed her apron, dropping into a chair.

Rhea glanced at her employee, her eyes sparkling. “Candy, did you hear all of the comments about our new products?”

“I sure did!” Candy turned toward Martin. “Thanks so much for making those suggestions about changing our menu.”

Martin smiled at Candy. “I’m glad your opening day was successful.” He then turned toward Rhea. “Now, all we have to do is monitor your daily sales. See how much they increase.”

Rhea dropped into a chair. “I hope every Saturday is this busy.” She waved toward the door. “Candy, you can go home.”

“I can’t do that. We’ve got a lot of cleaning up to do.”

“I’ll help her.” Martin removed his apron. If Candy was gone, then he could spend some time alone with Rhea. Maybe she’d give him a definite answer to his question. Would she really have the courage to go out with him?

Candy rushed from the building, as if not wanting to give them a chance to change their minds. Rhea smiled, showing the hint of that cute dimple in her cheek. “Thanks for staying, Martin.”

He returned her smile. “You’re welcome.”

She glanced toward him, her brown skin reddening. She finally looked away, scratching the back of her neck. “I know you’d said you wanted to talk to be about…”

So she remembered! Thank God! He didn’t want to pressure her…couldn’t let her know how anxious he’d been to take her out on a real date. He flexed his fingers. What would she say if he held her hand again? Would she object? No, he wouldn’t try to hold her hand now. “Let’s clean up first, then we can talk.”

He went into the back of the shop to clean the kitchen. Rhea cleaned the front. They worked companionably during the cleanup, neither one of them speaking. After Rhea finished mopping the floor, she finally pulled out the register drawer. “I’m going to count up my receipts.” She turned toward the office.

Would she mind if he came along? Swallowing, he finally followed her into the office, made himself comfortable in a chair.

She focused on her task, flipping through the receipts. She finally reached the end of the pile, grinning. “You’ll never believe how much I made today.”

“How much?”

She stood, her eyes sparkling. “I made over two thousand dollars. If this keeps up, I’ll be able to pay off my debt to Raven earlier than I thought, and I can move into a better apartment.”

“Honey, that’s great.” The endearment rolled off his tongue, and her smile faltered.

That frown was back again. Maybe he needed to give her more time to heal. Perhaps, she still grieved for her husband, and she still had too many doubts about dating a pastor. He could sit here and think about this all night if he had to, but, he couldn’t come to a conclusion until he knew what was going on in Rhea’s mind. What was she thinking? How was she feeling?

Did the success of her bakery mean that she was ready to toss him out of her life for good? Did she not want to see him again? Mentally, he groaned. He needed to speak to Rhea and put himself out of the misery of the unknown.

“I like you, Martin.”

Wow! He hadn’t expected her to say that.

“Are you serious?”

She gave a little nod, before looking into his eyes. He stood, walked over to her chair. He had to be cautious – he didn’t want to kiss her unless it was what she wanted. He took her hand, caressed her fingers, gently coaxed her to stand from her chair. Sighing, he pulled her into his arms, and she melted into his embrace. He kissed her cheek, and she placed her arms around him. He leaned closer to her, and kissed her.

She smelled of wildflowers, strawberries and chocolate and he moaned, opening his mouth, their lips locked. She tasted sweet and tantalizing, and he cradled her head, deepening their kiss.

Chapter Twenty-one

Goodness, what had she done! She pulled away from Martin, the scent of his aftershave lingering in her nose. For the first time since Stan’s death, she’d actually kissed another man. She touched her mouth, her lips burned as if they were on fire.

Wow! She had to sit down. She plopped back into her seat, and Martin sat in his chair, staring at her with his mesmerizing brown eyes. “I hope you’re not mad.”

“Of course I’m not mad.” Why would he ask her that? How could she be mad when feelings of warmth and joy swirled through her? She’d been riddled with guilt over her budding feelings for Martin. She’d even started dreaming about Stan again. Would he approve of her feelings for another man?

She cleared her throat. What should she say? Her heart pounded hard, and she blinked. She had to calm herself down. After that amazing kiss, she wasn’t sure if she should be spending time alone with Martin. What if it went further than a kiss? She needed to be careful about their strong attraction.

“I have an idea.”

They made eye contact, his deep voice washing over her like a warm tidal wave. She breathed deeply, swallowing. “What’s your idea?”

“Since you’re pleased with your increased sales, and your business is taking off, we should celebrate. Let me take you out tonight. There’s a place down in Millbrook that I think you’ll like.”

“Millbrook? That’s kind of far.”

“I know it’s an hour’s drive, but it’s worth it. I only go to this place on special occasions, and this is a special occasion.”

She glanced toward the wall, her skin still tingling with electrifying warmth. “I don’t know. It sounds too much like a date.” But, that’s what she’d been contemplating, right? Raven had still not reached out to her, letting her know it was okay to contact her. What could it hurt to go out with Martin and see what happened between them? She peeked at Martin, who’d returned to his seat.
Lord, he looks so gorgeous. Do You really think it’s okay for me to go out with him?

“It’s just a dinner to celebrate your success.”

Just a dinner to celebrate her success? She doubted it was only a celebration dinner, but, Martin seemed to be a cautious man. If he mentioned the word
date
, he probably figured she’d refuse his invite.

Martin had already done so much for her business, and she really liked him. She’d been thinking about their conversation – when he’d said he’d wanted to be more than friends – for a couple of weeks.

She’d thought about this, agonized and prayed about them. What should she do?
“
Martin, I can’t.
”

“You can’t or you won’t?”

Her heart skipped. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“A few seconds ago, you just said you liked me. You let me kiss you.”

And what an amazing kiss it was, too. So amazing…but, she just didn’t know if she was ready to actually go out on a
date
with Martin. It’d be a huge step and she didn’t know if she had the courage to go through with that.

He stood, came toward her, took her hand. Her palm sizzled as he leaned toward her, looking into her eyes. “Did you need more time?”

More time? She blinked, looked away. If she had more time, would she change her mind? He was probably willing to grant her more time because he wanted her to say
yes
to his dinner invite, but…it was so much to process. “I’m not sure what I need.”

He sighed, pressed his lips together. “Okay. I’ll just leave you alone right now.”

She didn’t turn around when the front door closed. She’d just hurt Martin’s feelings. What could she do now? She pulled the desk drawer open, removed her wedding photo, caressing the frame. “Stan, I don’t know what to do.” Was she a lunatic, sitting at a desk, talking to a picture of a dead man?

Her cell phone buzzed. Maybe it was Raven, finally reaching out to her to let her know what was going on. She checked the number.

It was her friend Taylor.

She pressed the answer button. “Hi, Taylor.”

“Hey you! How’d opening day go?”

“It went great.”

“If it went so great, then, why do you sound like you’re about to cry?”

“Oh, Taylor.” She told her best friend about her fabulous grand opening, Martin’s mesmerizing kiss, and her rejection of his dinner invite.

“Girl, are you
crazy
? At least go out with the man, just once, to see what happens!”

“But, I’m not sure if I’m ready.”

“You’ll never be sure if you’re ready, but, you have to at least try! Call Martin back and tell him that you changed your mind!” Taylor’s loud voice screeched through the phone so much that Rhea’s eardrum ached. She pulled the phone away for a few seconds.

“Well…”

“You mean to tell me you two lip-locked and then you told the man
no
when he asked you out?”

“That’s exactly what happened.”

“Well, stop being silly and call Martin back and tell him to come pick you up for your dinner date. That’s why you sound so miserable right now. You know you made a mistake.”

“Hmm…”

“Do it!” Taylor ended the call and Rhea stared at her phone. Could she really call Martin back and tell him she’d changed her mind? What would he say? Would he be disgusted with her since she couldn’t seem to figure out what she wanted?

She quickly called him before she lost her courage.

“Rhea.” His deep voice caressed her battered soul. She gripped the phone. She really needed to calm down. “Are you okay?”

No, she wasn’t okay, but, she needed to do this. “Martin…I’ve changed my mind.”

“What? Do you mean—”

“I’ll go out to dinner with you, unless you don’t want me to anymore.” Maybe Martin didn’t want to see her since her attitude was like night and day. It wouldn’t surprise her one bit if he’d changed
his
mind about going out to dinner.

“
Rhea.” His voice filled with relief. “So, you’ll really go?” His tone intensified.

“Yes, I’ll go.” She took a deep breath. No need to let him know how anxious she was to spend some time alone with him. “What time did you want to leave?”

“I’ll come get you around eight o’clock. I already made reservations for us.”

“You made a reservation before asking me out?” That was awfully presumptuous of him. How did he know she’d finally say yes? It was kind of shocking that he didn’t cancel the reservation when she’d initially told him no.

“Don’t get upset about my making the reservations. I’ve been wanting to take you out for the longest time. I just wanted to make the evening special.”

So, he really wanted to find out how things would work out between them. Her heart thudded. What would it be like to really date Martin, and see him regularly? Well, it looked like she was about to find out. “I’m not mad. I think it’s nice that you gave so much thought to our…” What should she call it? She didn’t want to call it a date, although, she felt that’s what they were doing. “Our outing.”

“I know it was presumptuous, but I wanted to make sure we had a table if you agreed to come.” He paused for a few seconds. “Wear a nice dress. This place is classy and it has a dress code.”

She swallowed, trying to relieve her suddenly-dry throat. “Okay, I’ll be ready,” she murmured.

*

Martin pulled his best suit from the closet. It was tailor-made, and his mother and sister were always telling him the charcoal-gray color looked good against his dark skin.

While showering, Rhea’s cute face kept popping into his mind. Would this dinner be a turning point in their relationship?

When she’d initially said no, he’d been stunned. Her rejection stung, and he’d wondered if she’d ever wanted to see him again.

The kiss they’d shared had been amazing! Her sweet lips were like nectar to his soul! So sweet and gentle, just like those desserts that lined her display cases. He closed his eyes, recalling how she’d shown him her favored raspberry cupcakes. Why was he thinking of her cupcakes now?

He opened his eyes, recalling how she’d said she wanted to perfect her cupcake recipe. His mouth watered, and he suddenly wanted to try one of her raspberry cupcakes again. The cupcakes were sweet, moist and tasty. Just thinking about the treats made him think about Rhea even more.

Now, maybe, she’d agree to be more than just a business associate. Would that be possible? He hoped so.

He gathered his keys and wallet.
Lord, please let Rhea accept me for who I am. Please let her understand my need to serve You with my pastoral duties. My feelings for her are getting deeper and I’m not sure if she feels the same for me. Please, let me show her how I feel during this dinner. Amen.

He opened the door and stepped outside. A slight breeze blew and the warm, balmy weather of the June night, washed over him. It was a perfect evening for his appointment with Rhea.

He drove over to Rhea’s. He couldn’t waste any time. He’d been waiting too long to get to know her, and he wanted to spend the evening talking, getting to know her better. Rhea was usually open with him, honest, but, he’d always sensed there was a wall…a separation between them. Were there things about her life that she chose not to share? Was she holding some of her emotions back because she was still not ready to move forward?

Well, even if she wasn’t ready, he’d be patient, wait until she felt it was the right time to get serious. It must be hard to move forward with your life after having your spouse to die so quickly, so violently. He sighed.
Lord, please help Rhea to deal with her pain.

He pulled into the parking space in front of her small apartment complex. He exited his car, quickly walking toward Rhea’s building. He opened the foyer door, cringing. This place was hideous! Cockroaches scurried across the dirty floor. He crushed a few of the bugs, before glancing at the numbers on the doors, finally spotting Rhea’s apartment. The dirty hallway floor was littered with broken toys, and the stench of cigarette smoke filled the putrid air.

When he knocked, a neighbor opened her door. Wearing a ratty nightgown, she puffed on a cigarette. Her thin, stringy hair matted to her head. She grinned, showing tobacco-stained teeth. “Ya got a date?” Her slurred voice echoed in the empty hallway and two small, dirty children peeked from behind her legs.

Martin smiled, again knocking on Rhea’s door. “Just going out to dinner.” This woman and her children looked about as needy as the homeless people he fed in the city. Did Rhea know anything about her neighbors? He knocked again. He needed to ask her about them during dinner. What was taking Rhea so long?

Finally, he heard her high heels tapping against the floor as she approached. When the door opened, he stared, mesmerized, completely forgetting about the squalor of her apartment building. She sported a silky red dress and matching high-heeled shoes. Red earrings dangled from her ears and matching lipstick colored her mouth. When he gazed into her caramel-colored eyes, they flickered with wariness and a bit of hope. She opened her mouth, as if she were going to speak, but before she could, he took her hand.

*

Rhea could barely speak as Martin squeezed her hand. She couldn’t believe she was really going through with this. This was a huge step she was taking, going out to dinner with Martin. “You look nice,” she commented. The charcoal-gray suit skimmed his muscular body, and thoughts of his holding her in his arms rooted into her mind. She sniffed, the familiar scent of his aftershave intoxicating her senses.

“You do, too. You’re not wearing your glasses.” He released her hand, continuing to caress her with his eyes.

“I’m wearing my contact lenses.” She paused. How could she explain this? “After Stan died, I didn’t feel like wearing my contacts anymore.” She shrugged. “I felt like dressing up tonight.”

“I like your dress.” He continued to stare at her. “You look even more like Raven since you’re not wearing your glasses.”

She bit her lower lip, looking away. Why’d he have to go and mention Raven now?

He touched her face. “Hey, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have compared you to your sister.”

“Don’t worry about it.” It was only natural that he’d compare them. People had been comparing her to Raven since she was a kid. They stood at the door looking at each other for a few seconds, almost as if they were polite strangers meeting at a social gathering for the first time. This was so strange, her, going out on a date. Stan had been the first real boyfriend she’d had, and he’d asked her out for a couple of months before she finally started dating him. Now, she’d finally agreed to go out with Martin…well, it was a huge deal for her to go out on a date.

Their strong attraction was almost too much to ignore, and Martin’s caring nature made her want to open herself up some more, let him get to know more about her. She glanced at her gold watch. “I guess we need to get going.” She pulled the door closed and locked it.

They were soon on the highway, headed toward Millbrook. Soft jazz music played as they drove. “I’m glad your bakery is making more profit now. I hope you’re able to find a new apartment soon.”