Free How Sweet It Is by Bonnie Blythe Page A

to do
otherwise.
    Brad’s gaze was teasing. “As long as you’ll
have me.”
    Delphine lowered her eyes to hide a flash of
disappointment. She hated being right. This was all just a mildly
entertaining game to him.
    That’s what I get for
wanting more than I deserve .
     
    ****
     
    A week later, Delphine stood close to Brad in
a local home improvement warehouse, close enough to feel the warmth
of his body. They were supposed to be choosing a wall color, but
Brad’s proximity jumbled her thinking.
    She thought about his help over the last
week. She’d leased the shop and began the task of cleaning it in
the afternoons after her job at the bakery. Brad had showed up
every day, looking ridiculously handsome in frayed jeans and a
variety of bright surfing T-shirts. She had to admit he worked
hard, and she could scarcely deny him tagging home with her each
night for dinner.
    Her parents viewed him in the light of a
suitor and poured on the charm, which the like-minded Brad soaked
right up, apparently without a qualm. And despite her best attempts
to remain immune, his lighthearted nature was working its insidious
way into her heart, threatening her hard-fought stability.
    Delphine also realized she was coming to
depend too much on him. But was it his congenial company and hard
work, or his effusive sweetness that she found so necessary?
    The memory of their meeting in Belgium played
havoc with her resolve as she wondered what it would be like to
receive a kiss she actually welcomed. Despite his teasing and
flirting, he’d never tried again. Her face grew hot at the
outrageous direction of her thoughts.
    Silly girl! Especially since
he no longer treats you as a romantic interest .
    Tempering her growing attraction was the
dismal fact that in so many ways she felt beholden to him. How
could she ever repay his help, his support? Fear of a failing
business paled in comparison to losing Brad’s friendship.
    He held out a color wheel for her
examination, interrupting her disturbing reverie.
    “I think the bluish-green or,” he tilted the
card to read the title, “Oceania, would go well with the stone
tiles you chose for the lobby. What do you think?”
    She nodded, amazed at how well their ideas
meshed. They shared the same tastes in color and textures, and
choosing the interior decor with him had been absurdly
pleasurable.
    “Delphine, are you listening?” Brad looked
down at her with a smile. “The color is a bit dark but it will give
an intimate ambiance to the shop, especially with all the recessed
lighting we’ll install.”
    Intimate .
    The word conjured up thoughts and feelings
which were becoming more and more difficult to suppress. She gazed
up at him, wondering if she had what it took to get him to see her
as more than someone available for light flirtation. His eyes were
so very blue, like Oceania…
    Brad fanned the color samples in front of her
face. “Yoo hoo. Earth to Delphine. Is this the one you want?”
    “Perfect,” she replied, squashing all fluffy
nonsense from her mind.
    After she settled on her choices and had
everything loaded into the back of a pickup Brad had borrowed from
a friend, they headed for the shop. Delphine spent the rest of the
day in strictly utilitarian pursuits of prepping walls and
painting.
     
    ****
     
    “It’s really coming together,” Brad said
with a satisfied expression.
    Delphine tucked a strand of
hair behind her ear as she surveyed the transformation. She
remembered her dismay the first time she’d seen it. Wow, I can’t believe this is the same
place!
    All the shop lacked now were rows and rows of
chocolates.
    Brad had been a tremendous help. He’d put
down new vinyl flooring in the kitchen area of the shop. In the
front where the customers would gather, they laid the stone tiles.
After they put in recessed lighting where it would highlight the
product, they added the glass cases, wooden prep table, racks, and
myriads of copper cooking pots which she’d