Can true love really be this sweet?

Getting the West Coast location of his family’s celebrated patisserie off the ground is a full-time job for Chase Drayson. The driven corporate accountant doesn’t have time for pleasure. Until the bakery’s beautiful barista places a steaming latte in front of him. Avant-garde jewelry maker Amber Bernard is the wrong choice for anything long-term. So why is Chase fantasizing about forever with his eclectic employee?

There’s more to life than the bottom line. But the seriously sexy number cruncher is her boss, and Amber isn’t ready to risk her professional future. Or be tied down. She’s committed to her art, not romantic dreams...even if the passion sizzling between them makes her believe they’re not as different as they think. Could an incredible leap of faith lead to a lifelong love?

“That’s sweet, Chase.” She was sitting in the chair next to him and leaned over and kissed his cheek. She hadn’t meant to. It was unconscious really, but her lips sought out his face. They lingered on his smooth skin, just a moment too long. He smelled good. Clean. Expensive. With a little bit of the heavenly scent of the bakery lingering on him.

She lifted her lips away, tried to back away before she got caught up, before she wasn’t able to make herself back away. But it was already too late. Because Chase slid his hand along her cheek and brought her face closer to his.

He kissed her. Not hot and fiery like she might have wanted, but slow and deep like she needed. That kiss gave her another glimpse inside of him. It told her how he might be as her lover, in her bed. He would take his time just like he was taking his time now, kissing her thoroughly, not leaving any part of her mouth untasted.

Dear Reader,

In Love and a Latte, you’ll meet Chase and Amber, a couple who proves that opposites really do attract. The conservative accountant and the bohemian jewelry-designing beauty realize that they have much more in common than the world thinks. Even though Chase’s family isn’t so sure about the match, he’ll do anything to prove that Amber is the right woman for him.

I hope you enjoy reading about them as much as I enjoyed writing about them.

Happy reading,

Jamie

Love and a Latte
Jamie Pope

www.millsandboon.co.uk

JAMIE POPE first fell in love with romance when her mother placed a novel in her hands at the age of thirteen. She became addicted to love stories and has been writing them ever since. When she’s not writing her next book, you can find her shopping for shoes or binge-watching shows on Netflix.

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To my father, James.

Just because he likes having books dedicated to him.

Acknowledgments

Pamela and Yahrah, thanks for putting up with the dozens upon dozens of emails.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Copyright

Chapter 1

Numbers were always something Chase Drayson excelled at. They were the only things in the world that always made sense to him. They were concrete. Always easy for him to figure out, to play with. He was unlike his sister and brother, who were good at those intangible things. Immeasurable things. Creative things like dealing with people and coming up with outside-of-the-box ideas that Chase just couldn’t wrap his head around. That’s why he’d spent his entire career in corporate finance. Growing the profits of the businesses he worked for as well as creating wealth for himself.

People who didn’t know him well might call him money hungry. But he didn’t like the phrase because it implied that he was greedy. He wasn’t. He’d just always liked to work. Earn for himself instead of being handed things. The summer he turned eight, he ran his neighborhood’s only lemonade stand, creating a market analysis summary complete with potential growth in his target markets. At fourteen he had organized a team of teenage lawn mowers who’d made more profit that quarter than one local landscaping company. And by seventeen he was doing pretty swift business employing his friends and classmates to walk dogs and feed the cats of his vacationing neighbors.

He definitely wasn’t money hungry. He didn’t buy diamond-encrusted watches or spend foolishly on flashy things with little value that he didn’t need. He was hungry for organization and structure. Hungry to see something that he managed grow into the something big and successful. He liked to know that his money was working for him. Know that each hour he invested was going to pay off tenfold.

He wasn’t sure how other people could go through life not doing that. People who were content just to sit back and let things happen for them. People who could just go where the wind blew them. The thought of that made Chase shudder. That’s why he was sitting in the café section of his family’s new bakery, Lillian’s of Seattle, far past closing time, going over the finances. Again. Tweaking the business plan. Studying the market analysis summary he had created.

They were doing well by most people’s standards. They’d had a successful opening month and were on track to maintain steady business. His parents thought he and his siblings were crazy for deciding to take on the running of a bakery when they had no experience. They were old-school, wanting their children to only have careers with steady incomes that they could always count on, but Chase, Jackson and Mariah Drayson sometimes had to ignore the well-intentioned advice of their parents.

They had to take this calculated risk because Chase knew it could really pay off. And besides, running a bakery seemed to be in their blood. Their extended family had been doing so in Chicago for two generations and were starting to branch out around the country.

His baby sister had left her job in advertising to bake for them after her divorce was final. She was surprisingly excellent at it. And a creative force, too, inventing the Draynut, a combination of a croissant and doughnut that people were going wild for. Mariah was bringing customers in by the droves and her creation was the boost their small business needed. But Chase knew all about fads and trends, and while things were going well now, they could crash and burn in no time. He knew that even businesses with successful openings had a high risk of failing in the first year.

In every job that Chase worked, he always did his best to succeed, but making Lillian’s a success was more important to him than any other job he had ever had. Because Lillian’s was all about family and tradition. The Seattle shop was the third bakery. The original, started by the Chicago branch of his family and run now by his cousins, was an institution in the Windy City. He wanted the Seattle shop to have the same legacy as the original.

He secretly wanted it to be better than the original.

It was a challenge. He hadn’t had a real challenge in a long time. That’s why when Mariah sprung this idea on him, even though he was apprehensive, he agreed. As the eldest he felt it was his job to make sure this place flourished.

Chase had done his research. He knew an upscale, well-positioned bakery could do well in Seattle. It could outearn the original bakery if managed properly and he knew of no better man for the job than him. So he had taken a leave of absence from work and thrown everything he had into making Lillian’s a success. The only thing that was sticking in his side was the competition.

Sweetness Bakery. It had dominated the market in Seattle, and for the life of him, Chase couldn’t figure out why. He had gotten pastries there himself once or twice. But from what he remembered there was nothing exceptional about them. Nothing that made him want to go back. Not the decor. Not the coffee. Not the customer service.

Lillian’s was superior to them in every way. The homey, elegant interior. The superior coffee from their new partner, Myers Coffee Roasters, and the stomach-growling sweet smells from the pastries put them leaps and bounds above the competition. Even though the bakery was closed now, the scent of fine coffee and great baked goods stayed with him.

And it was then he realized that a large steaming coffee concoction and a plate of chocolate-drizzled butter popcorn cookies had been slid in front of him.

“It looks like you could use this,” he heard a soft, feminine voice say. He looked up to see a woman standing in front of him. She was the barista. He had noticed her before because she was cute. Petite but curvy with beautiful smooth brown skin and a head full of bouncy curls. And she always wore something bright. Yellow. Orange. Pink. She didn’t seem like the type of girl who hid in corners. And she was smiling at him now. That’s what he remembered the most about her, the way she smiled at their customers. Warm and welcoming. It was a smile that made a person feel at home. She was the kind of employee that they needed at Lillian’s. But for the life of him he couldn’t remember her name.

“Thank you...”

Annie?

Amy?

Ashley.

“You don’t remember my name, do you, Mr. Chase Drayson? Oldest of the Drayson siblings. Wharton School of Business grad and Mr. Money-Guy. I think I’m hurt.” She flashed him a smile he could only describe as flirty while she took the seat across from him. “I’m Amber. Amber Bernard. We’ve met before. I work here. In the bakery. As the barista. Remember?”

She had great eyes, too. Wide. Almond shaped. Almost innocent-looking. They kind of sparkled when she smiled. “That much I do remember. I’m sorry.” He felt a beat of attraction that wasn’t expected. He’d never thought he had a type, but she wasn’t the usual sort of woman he was drawn to with her flirty smile and funky style. He couldn’t help but take note of the flowy top and snug, body-hugging jeans she wore. “I was caught up in work. Everything else seems to fade away when I am.”

“I could tell. I was doing the cancan right in front of you for fifteen minutes.”

She smiled at him again and this time he smiled back. “Really? I’m sorry I missed that. It must have been quite a show.”

“It was.” She held her head haughtily, which caused him to laugh. “I may have short legs, but these girls can kick.”

* * *

Amber watched Chase as he picked up his steaming mug and took a long sip.

Good Lord, he’s a beautiful man.

And he was, when his head wasn’t buried in his laptop. She wasn’t surprised that he didn’t remember her. Every time she saw him, he was busy working or talking about work or walking around deep in thought. And she knew those thoughts must be about work, too. He was the most serious of the Drayson siblings. Mariah, who had become her friend, was sweet, creative and lovely. Jackson was personable and a flirt, but Chase... She didn’t know much about Chase except he worked hard, and his siblings not only loved him, but looked up to him. He was a brilliant, successful guy. It was written all over him.

“So how are things?” she asked him when he put his cup down.

“With the business? Or personally?” He nodded toward the mug. “That is excellent, by the way. What is it?”

“I call it caramel brûlé coffee. Made with milk, caramel sauce, brown sugar and whipped cream.”

“I like it.”

“I thought you would. A lot of men drink their coffee black because they think it’s manly, but I can tell you are a man who likes some things sweet.”

He gave her another smile showing off his perfectly white, perfectly straight teeth. He was just a beautiful man all around, and now that Amber was sitting right across from him she could see how handsome he was up close.

Handsome but buttoned up. Literally. It was late and yet he sat there looking almost as pristine as he did when he’d walked in that morning. She had the urge to rumple him up. Get him a little messy. Pop a few buttons on his shirt. Maybe see a bit of that big strong chest he was hiding under there.

There was no doubt she found him attractive. Not that she was interested or anything. She didn’t mix business with pleasure, and he was technically her boss. But she found him beautiful like an artist might find a sculpture beautiful. All fine lines and strong curves.

“Have a cookie.” She slid the plate closer to him. She should have just left after she cleaned up, like she had every other time she’d closed the bakery. She should have just gone home, but the only thing she really had to look forward to there was a textbook with her name on it. It was all a part of getting her MBA.

“I thought Mariah was crazy when she told me she wanted to put these on the menu.” He took a bite. “But they’re good.”

“Your sister is amazingly creative. It’s not work for her to create these recipes. She really thinks it’s fun.”

“Fun.” He nodded. “That sounds like my sister.”

“We’ve become good friends. I used to work for Everett at another location of Myers. I’m glad they ended up together.” Mariah had fallen in love with Amber’s widowed former boss and his young son and she was truly happy for them. Both of them had faced a lot of tragedy in their pasts, but they were on their way to becoming a wonderful little family. “She mentioned planning a vacation for them all after the Bite of Seattle festival in a couple of months.”

“She deserves it.” He nodded.

“What about you? You work hard.” She took a cookie off the plate and sunk her teeth into it. Butter and chocolate. Sweet-and-salty perfection. “Mmm.” She shut her eyes for a moment and just savored the decadent treat. She had worked around pastry for a long time, but the pastries at Lillian’s were enough to make anyone go off their diet.

“If that’s what you look like when you eat a cookie, then I wonder what you look like when...you do other enjoyable things.”

Her eyes popped open when she heard Chase’s voice. He was looking at her. Staring, really, and she felt self-conscious. Which was odd for her. Men didn’t normally make her feel that way, but Chase Drayson did. “Do you have any fun summer plans?”

“No.” He shook his head. “I plan on working.”

“Working? That’s incredibly disappointing.”

“Not to me. I like to work.”

She believed him. He looked like one of those men who lived for the opportunity to be chained to a desk. He was so different from her—who merely thought of a life sitting behind a desk and broke out in hives. “You can’t spend your whole life working. You might explode one day, or worse, look back on life when you’re an old man and regret that you didn’t live your life to the fullest.”

“You must think I’m a stuffy old son of a bitch.”

“I don’t,” she said truthfully. Sitting across from him in the dimly lit store, she could see how attractive he was, how tall he held himself, how his clothes fit his hard body The words stuffy and old hadn’t come to mind. “But I think if you spend your life only working and never playing that you’ll turn into one.”

“I went on safari last year. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I live,” he said, his voice kind of low and sexy. “I work hard so I can live the life I want to. If I have any regrets, not enjoying my life wouldn’t be one of them.”

“A safari?” That surprised her. “I’ve always wanted to do that.” He had a little bit of adventure inside him. Maybe Mr. Workaholic played as hard as he worked, and she found that extremely interesting. “Tell me what it was like.”

His eyes got this almost far-off dreamy look and she knew he was picturing the journey in his mind. “I don’t know if there are strong enough words to describe it.”

“Try.” She wanted to be inside his head in that moment. She wanted to be with him as he saw again what he’d experienced.

“It was a ten-day trip,” he started. “And each day was better than the one before. I went on the Skyline in a tiny gondola to the top of the mountain. You feel like you are literally on top of the world and nothing and no one can stop you from doing anything you have ever wanted to do. The sea is below you, and butterflies and birds are flying around you and there are lizards sunning themselves on the rocks. And you remember that nature is the most beautiful thing ever created and no man or machine could ever make anything as beautiful.”

“Sounds incredible.” She could almost see it. The way he spoke about his trip, the sound of his soft, deep voice combined with the descriptions kind of mesmerized her, kind of floated around and soothed her. He should narrate a movie. He should tell more stories. He had a beautiful voice even if it was a quiet one and she wanted to hear him speak more.

“That was just the first day. We went to the Cape of Good Hope and to Boulders Beach to see the penguins. And then there was a tour of the primate sanctuary.”

“Stop. Just stop before I die of jealousy.” She clutched her heart dramatically. “A primate sanctuary. Please tell me you have pictures.”

He shook his head, laughing. “Hundreds of them. I didn’t get to the actual safari part yet.”

“Save it. We’ll need something to talk about the next time I close up and you work late.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she knew she was inviting herself to get to know him better, inviting herself to see him again. It was a mistake. She’d come over here because he was so hard at work and he was her good friend’s brother, who she knew next to nothing about, and she wanted him to pull his eyes off his screen and put them on her. She hadn’t counted on being mesmerized by his deep chocolaty voice or slightly turned-on by the way his lips formed words, by the way his eyes lit when he talked about something he was passionate about. “I’ve got to get home anyway and hit the books.”

“The books?” He seemed genuinely curious. “What are you studying?”

“I’m in grad school. Going for my MBA. I’m an artist, or a jewelry designer, to be exact. I’m focusing on marketing and branding.” She lifted the intricately wire-wrapped pendant that was nestled between her breasts. “I specialize in wire work.”

He grabbed her wrist, lifting it closer to his face and she felt tingles rush up her arm and travel all over her body at his touch. It was unexpected and a little exciting. But it wasn’t the kind of excitement she needed in her life right now.

“You made these, too?” He studied the gold wire bracelets on her wrists. “This one says your name. I don’t think I’m likely to forget it anymore.” He ran his thumb over it. The sensation of his warm thumb combined with the smooth metal against her skin made her heart beat just a little faster. “Very impressive, Miss Amber. You’re the real deal, aren’t you? I don’t have a creative bone in my whole body.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” she said, hoping she didn’t sound breathless. “There are tons of way to be creative.” She looked up into his eyes. “You just haven’t found yours yet.”

“I guess not.” He held her gaze, never looking away. Those eyes. The way he looked at her. It could make most women swoon. But technically he was her boss and she wasn’t looking for a boyfriend, a lover or any unnecessary attachment.

She had started this little interlude with the intention of simply being friendly. But it was ending with her feeling more than just that.

“I should go now.”

“You should. It’s late.”

“You should go home, too, Drayson.”

“I will.” He shut his laptop and stood. “Let me walk you to your car. I don’t want you walking out there alone.”

“I do it all the time without you, Chase.”

“But now that I know your name, I wouldn’t feel right about letting that happen. Especially if I knew there was something I could do to change it.”

Whoa. This man. She might be headed for trouble.

Chapter 2

Chase sat outside on the patio of the little sushi place next to Sweetness Bakery. It was still a little too cool to sit outside and dine this early May day, but there he sat, sipping the warm tea the waiter had brought him and watching the foot traffic going in and out of Sweetness Bakery. He was running numbers in his head. For every three customers Lillian’s had, they had five. Two-thirds of those customers took their purchases to go. One-third of those customers came out with large bakery boxes. It was too late in the day for people to bring doughnuts to work. Sweetness was selling a higher percentage of cakes and pies than they were.

“Spying on the competition, are we?”

He recognized the voice. It surprised him that he recognized it because he’d only had one conversation with her, but he looked up to see that petite, pretty female with the delicious smile and expressive eyes standing a few feet away from him. “Amber,” he said, feeling the need to tease her. “Amber Bernard. You work in the bakery. As the barista. I remembered.”

She grinned at him. “At least now I know I’m not forgettable.”

No, she wasn’t. In fact he’d thought about her all night after he walked her to her car. He kept picturing her face. The way she ate that cookie. The way she licked her lips and moaned filled him with a pure surge of lust that took him completely off guard. But it wasn’t just that that kept him thinking about her. It was her smile. The way her face lit up when he told her about his last trip, the way she made him forget about work, when that was the only thing on his mind 99 percent of the time. “I’m not spying. Well, not really anyway. I’m just running numbers.”

“You’re running numbers while sitting outside and staring at our biggest competition? I’m just an artist so maybe I don’t know how these things work.”

“Come sit. I’ll explain.” She looked apprehensive for a moment.

“I don’t think I can. I’m heading to the bakery now. I don’t want to be late.”

“You can’t be late if you walk in with the boss. Sit down for a minute.”

She walked over and he couldn’t help but notice the way her hips swished in the long colorful skirt she was wearing. Her style would normally be a little too bohemian for his tastes, but on her it worked. On her, it was a combination of sexy and adorable that he had a hard time taking his eyes off of.

“Okay.” She gave him a mischievous smile as she took the chair next to him. “You going to let me in on your evil plan now?”

“No evil plan here.” He looked into her eyes as he said it. “Everything with me is always all good.”

“I bet you say that to all the women you encounter.”

“No. Only the special ones.” He was flirting with her. He didn’t mean to, but there was something about Amber that made him want to. Besides, she had started this. He was just minding his own business when she walked into his world.

He liked women, went on his fair share of dates. But all of the women he went out with were very much like him. Driven. They had practical careers with a tried-and-true path for growth. He figured he would marry a woman like that one day. Not a woman like Amber. Not that he was even interested in dating Amber, but he couldn’t pass up the chance to engage in a little conversation with a woman whose eyes sparkled when she got excited and whose smile made a man feel funny on the inside. “Look at the consumers who are walking out of Sweetness. What do you notice?”

“Hmm.” She placed her hand on her chin and leaned a little closer to him to get a better look. Her arm brushed his. And there it was again. That little rush that was more than attraction and felt a lot like lust. “Their clientele seems similar to ours. Not a lot of construction workers. Business people mixed with hipsters. People who wouldn’t mind spending six bucks on a cup of coffee.”

“Very good, Amber. What else?”

She smiled at his praise before she looked back at the door. “Most of them are taking things to go. I see a lot of large boxes.”

“Excellent.” He touched her arm, which was a mistake because she had the smoothest skin and it made him want to run his hand up her arm and down her body just to see if the rest of it felt as good. “I counted fifty-nine people walking into Sweetness in the past hour. At Lillian’s we had thirty-five at the same hour yesterday. Our average customer is spending $5.19 when they visit. But just by watching them, I can see that a higher percentage of their customers are carrying out large cake and pie boxes. Their average customer is spending at least twice as much as ours. And while we have three times as many customers in the morning thanks to Mariah, their profits are still higher than ours.”

“Wow. My head is spinning. You really are into numbers.”

“It’s my job. I spent a lot of time doing growth projections at my last job.” He stood up and tossed money on the table to cover his bill. “Come on. I’ll walk with you back to work.”

They left the little restaurant and walked in the beautiful street toward the bakery. They couldn’t have found a better location than the Denny Triangle section of Seattle. It was a mix of beautiful old houses and up-and-coming businesses. There was a park nearby. The perfect location to enjoy a sweet treat from Lillian’s. Chase had been a little apprehensive when he was approached with the idea of running a bakery. But now his chest filled with pride when he walked up and saw the beautiful storefront in this busy section of town.

“We talked about what I do for fun, but we never talked about what you do to let off steam.”

“Oh, I BASE jump and skydive. There’s this thing called parkour, which is like a military-style urban obstacle course.”

“Really?”

“No.” She laughed. “If it involves my feet leaving the ground, it’s not happening. I love music festivals and traveling to beautiful historic places, but lately I’ve been focused on getting my degree and designing more jewelry. My dream—no, my goal is to get my jewelry into department stores one day. Everything I do is to get me one step closer to that goal. So it’s work and grad school, and in my free time I design. Designing doesn’t feel like work. It feels like...like...”

“Passion.” He could tell she had a lot of it. He could only imagine the type of passion she would bring to bed. He had to shake off those thoughts. He wasn’t supposed to be thinking about her that way. She was an employee after all.

“I do have passion for it. I can’t think of anything else I’d rather spend a lifetime doing.”

“It’s good to have passion,” he said as they walked up to the door. Chase always loved walking into the bakery and being greeted by the sugary smells and the feeling of hominess that enveloped him when he entered, but today he found himself not wanting to go inside.

It was a beautiful day in Seattle. The air was full of spring and for the first time he would rather blow off work and stay outside with this pretty girl than go to his office and bury his head in the books.

She was just so different from him. So much more interesting than the women he had dated recently. He barely knew her. He barely paid attention to the front-of-house employees, but he just wanted to talk to her some more. He wanted to know more about her.

“Are numbers your passion, Chase Drayson?”

“No,” he said honestly, looking into her big brown eyes. He liked numbers. He liked working and investing, but they weren’t his passion. He needed something he could be passionate about. “Maybe I’ll let you know what it is one day.”

He opened the door to let her in first. The bakery was busy. Not as busy at Sweetness had been, but they were doing pretty well so far and were on track to have a profitable first year, which was rare for new small businesses. Most of the time they only broke even if they made it to a year. He could see Mariah behind the counter, rearranging the stock. Jackson was there, too, chatting up some female customers, which was customary for him. But all of that kind of floated in the back of his mind because Amber was still in the front of it.

“One day? I’m not sure I can stand the suspense,” she said with a smile that made him feel like smiling, too.

“I’m sure you can.” He lifted her hand. She still wore the wire name bracelet, but she wore another one with it. It was also gold wire, but this one had three braided strands with white opals woven among them. “Did you make this, too?” He stroked his thumb over her pulse as he studied her creation. “It’s so well done.”

She nodded. “It’s my birthstone.”

“Do you think you could make me one?”

“I know you have a keen fashion sense, but I didn’t think you wore beaded bracelets.”

“I would like to send one to Lillian. Can you do this with pearls?”

“I can.” She seemed surprised by his request. She shouldn’t be. Chase knew good quality when he saw it.

“And one for Mariah, too. Her birthday is in—”

“I know when your sister’s birthday is. I can make her one, too.”

“Is five hundred enough to cover both the bracelets?”

“Five hundred dollars! That’s way too much. I can’t take that kind of money from you.”

“Why not? That’s what I’m willing to pay. Your work is good, Amber, and your time is worth something. Don’t ever forget that.”

“Mariah is my friend and I work for your family. It just doesn’t feel right to take that kind of money from you. I can do it for the cost of the materials.”

“Plus a hundred dollars. Think of me as an early investor. Roll your profit back into your business.”

“Okay, Chase.” They looked at each other for a long moment. He realized he still held on to her hand, but for the life of him, he couldn’t force himself to let it go.

“I have to clock in.”

“You do.” He let her go. “Have a good shift.”

“Thank you. I will. I’ll see you later.” She walked away from him and he watched her go. Hips swaying all the way.

“Hey.” His baby sister came over to him with a curious expression on her face.

“Hey.”

“You walked in with Amber?”

“Yes, I met her on the street on my way back from an errand.”

“Oh? That’s all?”

“That’s all.”

“Really? You were holding her wrist.”

Chase suppressed an eye roll. His sister had grown up into a beautiful, intelligent woman, but she was still his baby sister and sometimes she annoyed him the way she did when they were kids. “I was looking at her bracelet. I didn’t know she was a jewelry designer.”

“You were looking at her, too, Chase,” she said in a lowered voice. “You were looking at her the way a man looks at a woman he’s interested in, and you were touching her.”

“I ran into her on the street. I walked in with her. I looked at her bracelet. None of those things are a crime, and I’m pretty sure that none of them were your concern last time I checked.”

“What’s going on?” Jackson strolled over. “Why does Chase look annoyed?”

“He walked in with Amber. I just wondered how that came to be,” she said lightly.

“Amber, the cute little funky chick with the wild hair who makes coffee for us?”

“My friend Amber,” Mariah corrected. “The hardworking grad student and jewelry designer who works here and is doing her best to succeed.”

“Is there something you wanted to say to me, Mariah?” Chase felt more than annoyed at his sister at that moment. He was getting the strong feeling that she did not want him anywhere near her friend.

“No. It’s just that Amber is not your type.”

“And you have become an expert on what my type is?”

“Everyone knows your type, Chase,” Jackson said. “The type of women who speak three foreign languages and have hefty investment portfolios. Beautiful, dull, boring-as-hell women.”

“That is not true.”

Jackson yawned widely to make his point and Chase wanted to knock him on his ass then.

“She’s my friend, Chase. My first real friend since I moved back to Seattle, and I saw how you looked at her. I just wanted to know if there was something going on between you.”

“Because I walked in with her and looked at her bracelet? Well, you should congratulate me, because after one chance meeting on the street, we’ve decided to get married and move to Bora Bora. Amber tells me the snorkeling there is the best in the world. Neither one of us has ever tried it, but hey. You only live once.”

Mariah blinked at him. “Shut up, Chase.”

“Nothing is going on, Mariah.”

“I think you should go for it, Chase,” Jackson said. “She’s cute. She’s the opposite of you. You’ll have some fun with her. I’m in full support of you expanding your horizons and having a little fling.”

Mariah let out a noise that sounded suspiciously like a growl. “Sometimes I wish I had sisters.”

“No, you don’t.” Jackson set a loud smacking kiss on Mariah’s cheek. “We’re more fun.”

“You’re as fun as a hive of angry bees.”

She left them then, leaving Chase with something to think about. Staying away from Amber might be a good idea. She did work for them and she was his sister’s friend. And she had the potential to be distracting. With this business just starting, he needed to focus on growing it.

Something made him look over to the coffee café where Amber was already hard at work. She looked up at him and smiled, and Chase knew then that ignoring her was going to be a losing battle.

It was a battle he would be okay with losing.

* * *

“I’m going to head out for the night,” Nita, another barista, said to Amber as she slung her bag over her shoulder. “Are you going to be okay with closing up alone?”

“Get home to that cute boyfriend of yours. I know he has been working nights lately.”

“Thanks.” Her eyes traveled over to the corner table in the café section. “Chase Drayson is here. If you hear something move, it’s him. I was here a couple of nights ago and nearly jumped out of my skin. I thought the world’s largest rat had broken in but thankfully it was just him.”

Amber laughed. “Thanks for the warning. I won’t make that mistake.”

“I’m surprised he took the leave of absence from his job to work here. Salary-wise, I’m sure he made in one day there what he makes in two weeks here.”

She hadn’t thought much about it, but all the Draysons had taken a risk to work here. Jackson was somewhat of an entrepreneur and was used to taking risks like these. Mariah worked here because she wanted to escape the difficult past she had with her former husband. But Chase... She wasn’t sure why he had taken this risk, yet she knew he loved his younger siblings. She could see it in the way they interacted. “Maybe blood is thicker than money, so to speak.”

“I’m sure he’s got enough of it to last him a lifetime already. A few years ago, a woman claimed she was pregnant with his baby in the hopes of cashing in. But that Mr. Drayson is one careful man. Of course the kid wasn’t his. I’m not sure he ever slept with her, but that’s the type of woman Chase attracts. Gold diggers. He’s a quiet man, but not a weak one and he certainly isn’t stupid. He knows what he’s working with and he chooses his partners carefully, but I don’t think he trusts easily. He goes for a very specific type of woman.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Chase only goes for elegant, Ivy League–educated women from well-off families to avoid opportunists. He might have a little fling here and there, but no one ever knows about it. He seems like the kind of guy who should be married with two kids already, but I don’t think he trusts anybody enough to let them get that close to him.”

Amber nodded. It made sense. It made sense that he went for women who were the opposite of her. She usually stayed away from men like him. “How do you know so much about Chase?”

“He and his family are big in the Seattle society circles and so is my cousin, Simone, who used to date him. She always says he was the one who got away.”

“Oh. Tell her I’m sorry for her loss.”

“You’re no sorrier than she is.” She laughed. “I’ve got to go. I’ll see you later.”

She watched Nita walk out before she turned her attention back to Chase.

He was caught up in work again. Eyes glued to the screen, fingers on the keyboard. Forehead scrunched in concentration. She used to think that he was cold. Aloof. Maybe a little bit snobbish. But after talking to him a few times, she realized that he was none of those things.

What he was was incredibly focused.

And fine.

Amber was an artist so she could see beauty where others sometimes missed it, but no one could deny how handsome he was. How symmetrical his features were. How rich and deep the color of his skin was. She thought of chocolate diamonds when she thought of him. She loved her intricate wire pieces, but if she was going to design a piece of jewelry to represent him she would use chocolate diamonds and white diamonds swirled together in a beautiful necklace to be worn close to the heart. Something classic and elegant with a little bit of a twist.

It was no wonder he was a target for shady females. He looked like a man with a lot to offer.

She was staring at him this time, she realized as she wiped the same section of the counter for the dozenth time. He hadn’t noticed she was there. Hadn’t felt her eyes on him yet. She had noticed him at the sushi place. She hadn’t meant to stop. Told herself to keep on walking by, but she couldn’t go by without speaking to him, without having those gorgeous dark eyes of his focus on her. He pulled her in with those eyes. With that deep, smooth voice. He made her want to stay and talk and know more about him when she should have gone on and ignored him and stayed away from him.

He wasn’t her type of guy. He had money. He practically smelled of money. That may be a positive with most women, but it wasn’t for her. People with a lot of it didn’t often realize how hard it was to get. He didn’t bat a lash when he tossed a fifty-dollar bill on the table to cover a tab that couldn’t have been more than ten. It nearly took her breath away, though. She had to work hours to make that much money.

And then when he asked her to make the bracelets, he offered her more than she could have imagined. And he did it all while telling her to value herself more.

No man had ever told her that. No one had ever told her that.

He was all wrong for her. Too rich. Too organized. Too buttoned-up. But she still couldn’t force herself to stay away.

She turned back to her espresso machine and a few minutes later she once again slid a steaming drink in front of him along with a plate of shortbread cookies.

“You must have read my mind.” He looked up at her as he lifted the cup.

“You needed a caffeine fix?”

“No. I was thinking I needed a beautiful woman to bring me my caffeine fix.”

She tried to stay cool, but the line made her blush. “Oh. You’re smooth, sir. I thought you could use a break.”

“Please. Sit down.” He smiled over his mug just before he took a long sip. She watched him drink the special coffee she had made just for him and watched his Adam’s apple move as he swallowed. She wondered what it would be like to pop a button on his shirt and place her lips on his throat. She wondered how his skin would feel beneath her mouth. She wondered how he would smell. A clean scent. Or something a little darker, a little spicier. Either way she was sure it was intoxicating.

She mentally shook herself. Where did that thought come from?

She would stay far away from that neck. She didn’t like to mix business with pleasure. She made it a rule. She needed this job. It was helping her pay her way through school. She couldn’t afford a fling with her boss.

“Myers’ coffee is always good, but you did something special to this,” he said to her.

“Mexican coffee. My own special recipe with just a hint of vanilla, cinnamon and chocolate. When I serve it at parties, I go all out and make it with tequila, Kahlúa and melted vanilla ice cream. But I toned it down for you tonight. This bakery doesn’t have a liquor license.”

“Do you throw a lot of parties?”

“Between working here, getting my master’s and designing jewelry, I don’t have time to throw any parties. The last one I threw was for my ex’s thirty-fifth. I went through a lot for trouble for it, only to break up with him a month later. I’m kind of wishing I had broken it off before I bought him the most expensive thing I’ve ever purchased in my life.”

“Don’t tell me you bought him a car?”

“Do I look like the kind of woman that would go around buying men cars?”

“I don’t know. Women do all sorts of things for the men they love.”

He was right. She had been so much of her life leading with her heart. She had been prepared to give up a lot of things to please Steven, but in the end giving up herself seemed too big of a price to pay.

“What did you get him?”

“An original James Van Der Zee photograph. Do you know who he was?”

“A photographer. Famous for capturing the Harlem Renaissance through his lens.”

“Exactly.” She smiled at him, impressed that he knew who she was referring to. “I found a small photograph of his in a shop and thought my ex would love it. He didn’t. He was hoping for a new camera, which would have cost even more than the photograph.”

“Some men don’t know how good they have it. You must have really loved him if you gave him such a gift.”

“I thought he was the love of my life at one point. But I think I loved the potential of him.” She’d bet her ex wouldn’t say the same thing about her. He loved what she could do for him. He felt like he was a serious photo journalist, while she was just playing at her jewelry design. Jewelry making he called it. He referred to it as her hobby instead of her dream, treated it as it something that she merely liked instead of had a passion or talent for. She put up with a few years of slights and digs, with him diminishing what she did while lifting up his own work.

The truth was, they had been in the same places in their careers. He’d had one piece picked up by a national magazine the year before they met, but nothing big after. The only jobs he could get were for small local newspapers and unpaid gigs for bloggers. Amber’s business had been growing at the time; she had designed some pieces for the wealthier set and gotten her work carried in a few small boutiques. And she had supported him, too. Picking up the slack by taking on extra shifts when his jobs had all but dried up at one point, but she stuck by him, a lot longer than she should have, because she had been in love then. She’d thought with her heart instead of her head. But that was all done now.

Chase seemed similar to her ex. Serious about his work. Focused. Driven. He was being nice to her now, ordering bracelets for the women in his family, but he probably thought her jewelry design was just a hobby, too. And one man in her life like that had been too many. She never wanted to experience that again. That’s why finishing her degree and learning the business end was so important. She was ready to show the world and anyone who doubted her that she was a serious artist and that she had a lot to offer.

That’s why she was adopting a no-men policy. Chase was incredibly good-looking, heart-poundingly so, but she was going to keep her distance. Some conversation. A shared plate of sweets was just enough.

Amber couldn’t afford any entanglements in her life right now.

“What do you mean by that?” His eyes swept across her face, studying him. “Potential?”

“Everybody has potential,” she said, remembering that she had said that about her ex. “Don’t you think about a woman’s potential before you decide whether you are going to date her or not? Her potential to be a good partner. Her potential to be a wife. Her potential to be a mother. Her potential to further her career. I’d bet you’re the type of guy who has a spreadsheet with fifty-six characteristics a woman must have in order to date you. And each woman you meet is put into a column. Fling, casual partner or lifelong mate.” She thought about what Nita just told her. Amber knew she was the exact opposite of the women Chase normally dated, but that was okay. She wasn’t looking to be his potential partner and she didn’t want him to think she wanted anything else from him either.

“You think you know me so well? First you think I’m boring and now you magically know what I want in a woman.” He raised a brow at her and smiled. She found it incredibly sexy. There was a little dimple on his cheek. The urge to kiss it came over her. She wondered what he would do if she leaned over and kissed his face. How he would react? What would be his next step?

She shook her head, trying to shake off the feeling of wanting to kiss him for the second time that night.

“I just know you’re organized. I saw the business plan you constructed for this place. I’m learning how to write them for school, but yours was incredible. Beautiful, really. I’ve never seen so many colorful charts in one place. And you say you’re not artistic.”

He took a long sip of his coffee as he looked at her. She felt like blushing with the way his eyes kept passing over her face. It was silly. She was an adult, but the way he looked at her made her feel like a girl again. “How did you see our business plan?”

“Your sister showed me. I was having trouble with an assignment and I asked for her help. She showed me your work. I was incredibly impressed, but I guess I shouldn’t be. You went to one of the best business schools in the country. You’re a pro at it.”

He nodded. “I spent many years in the corporate world. If you ever need help with an assignment, you can come to me. I won’t even charge you for my time.”

“How sweet,” she said, wanting to take him up on his offer but knowing it probably wasn’t a smart idea. She was pushing the limits of her willpower by being here with him tonight. “I might take you up on that.”

He nodded and reached for a cookie. “I still want to hear about this guy with potential that you bought the Van Der Zee for.”

“He was a photographer. I met him while I was taking an art class at the local university. He was one of those people with big visions. He did what he called artistic photo journalism. Wanted to change the world with his work.”

“That sounds admirable.”

“It was, but the relationship was a little one-sided. And being with somebody who just takes can be draining. I felt like I was sacrificing what I wanted, so he could live out his dreams. I couldn’t do that. I watched my mother do that. Give up her dreams to be a wife. To raise a family. I know she loved us. And not once did she treat us like we were a burden, but I knew she wished she could have lived out her dreams. She was an illustrator. A great one. Some of her work made it into magazines, but I think her dream was to do children’s books.”

“She gave it up completely? Was your father not encouraging?”

“He didn’t discourage her, but there were four kids and my brother was always sick when he was younger. Life got in the way. Money needed to come in. My mother had no choice but to be practical. She sacrificed her dreams for us.”

“And you don’t want to be like her?”

She shook her head. “I want to have a career for her. I feel that there’s always a little sadness in her. A little regret that she was never able to share her work with the world.”

“You should encourage her to try again. Even if it doesn’t get her anywhere, you should encourage her to draw again. Maybe take a class or two. I know a woman who gives scholarships to African American women over forty for school. I can recommend her for one.”

His kindness took her by surprise. And it was then she knew he wasn’t all that similar to her ex. Steven would have never thought about someone else’s dreams, much less go out of his way to help them achieve them. “You would really do that?”

“I’ll make the call tomorrow if you want.” He took a card out of his pocket and wrote a phone number on the back. “My home number is on here. Talk to your mother. If she wants to go through with it, call me and I’ll make it happen.”

She picked up the card and studied it for a moment, studied the bold handwriting, the sleek design of the card, anything so she wouldn’t have to look him in the eye. She was feeling a little more emotional than she would like. She was feeling as though she really wanted to kiss him. “I’m sure she would love to go back to school. She’ll be grateful.” She looked up at him only to find him already looking at her, those beautiful intelligent eyes sweeping across her face. “I’m grateful for this.”

“I admire creative people. You may think I’m all about numbers, but I’m a big believer in dreams. This bakery is here all because Lillian had a vision and a dream. There’s nothing wrong with a little dreaming.”

“That’s sweet, Chase.” She was sitting in the chair next to him and leaned over and kissed his cheek. She hadn’t meant to. It was unconscious, really, but her lips sought out his face. They lingered on his smooth skin, just a moment too long. He smelled good. Clean. Expensive. With a little bit of the heavenly scent of the bakery lingering on him.

She lifted her lips away, tried to back away before she got caught up, before she wasn’t able to make herself back away. But it was already too late. Because Chase slid his hand along her cheek and brought her face closer to his.

He kissed her. Not hot and fiery like she might have wanted, but slow and deep like she needed. That kiss gave her another glimpse inside of him. It told her how he might be as her lover, in her bed. He would take his time just like he was taking his time now, kissing her thoroughly, not leaving any part of her mouth untasted. He would do that to her body and she could just see him starting at her toes and working his way up. His lips caressing her calves, her thighs, in between her legs.

She moaned, arousal spiking even though it was just a soft kiss, even though he probably hadn’t meant for it to be so sexual. But she was that attracted to him. “You deserved more than what that guy gave you,” he said softly as he lifted his lips from hers. “I’m glad you realized that.”

He sat up straight then, drained his coffee mug and shut his laptop, as if nothing had happened, as though he hadn’t just kissed the hell out of her. “It’s getting late. Let me walk you to your car.”

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