Free Sweet Dreams (A Sugar Rush Novel) by Nina Lane Page B

someone like him the most.
    She wanted to do more than live a little. She wanted to live a lot . And if the universe was telling her to get started with Mr. Luke Stone, then Polly would damn well listen.

    As she drove the bakery delivery van toward Indigo Bay, Polly thought it was a good thing Luke had insisted on driving to the restaurant. She’d had to sell her car after her mother died, and the van was her only means of transport—at least, for as long as it lasted.
    The ancient VW sported a noisy, burping engine and a bright exterior decorated with the flower-patterned Wild Child Bakery logo and colorful peace signs and rainbows. Though Polly loved the lurching van, she couldn’t imagine pulling it up to the valet parking of some expensive restaurant. The valet would probably tell her that deliveries were around the back.
    According to her phone’s GPS, Luke lived outside of town on what looked like an isolated stretch of land near the shoreline. After three wrong turns and a foray through another beach town, Polly finally found the winding road leading toward his house. The road came to an end at a large gate flanked by two brick posts. An intercom speaker sat in front of the left post.
    She eased the van up beside the intercom. As she did so, a security camera on top of one of the towers swiveled in her direction. Her heartbeat increased. What was she getting herself into?
    She pressed the button. A few seconds later, the gates slid open on huge rollers. She started forward again, a thousand second thoughts running through her mind. However “we are the world” she felt inside, it was very weird to rattle her old VW van up the long driveway to where spotlights illuminated the edifice of Luke Stone’s . . .
    . . . ugly, ice-cube mansion.
    Polly parked the van by the front porch and peered through the windshield at the house. Well, good thing it was isolated here on the cliff because she was pretty sure there were zoning laws against this sort of eyesore. It was a massive, blocky structure, all white concrete, steel, and glass walls everywhere.
    She’d been expecting something more traditional, like an English-style brick building or a beachfront villa. Not a modern architect’s wet dream.
    She grabbed her purse from the passenger seat and headed up the front steps. The door opened before she could ring the bell.
    Luke stood in front of her, holding his cell phone to his ear. He looked deliciously rumpled in torn jeans and an old T-shirt, his jaw unshaven, and his hair messy as if he’d been running his hand through it. But he didn’t look like a man about to go on a date.
    “Hold on a second,” he said into the phone, stepping aside to usher her in. “Polly, I’m sorry, but there’s a work thing I’m dealing with. Come in and make yourself at home.”
    Polly stepped a bit cautiously inside, peering at all the glass and metal. The walls of windows must provide a great view during the day, but right now the curtains were drawn. The furniture was all leather and glass, and aside from some weird abstract paintings, everything was in shades of black, white, and gray.
    Futuristic, egg-shaped lights hung from the ceilings, a glass staircase wound to the upper floors, and a stainless steel kitchen with white marble countertops and walls of black cabinets faced the sitting area. It was like walking into a cold, sterile space station.
    Except . . .
    Glass jars of Sugar Rush candy sat on the coffee-table and kitchen counters, the glossy Ribbon Twists, sugar-sprinkled Fruities, rainbow lollipops, and Choco-Drops creating little pockets of color against the black-and-white background.
    Polly turned to Luke just as he was ending the call.
    “So I guess I overdressed,” she said wryly.
    “No.” He sighed and shook his head. “You look great. There’s just some stuff going on that I have to deal with . . . shit.”
    His phone buzzed again. He looked at the caller ID and back to Polly.
    “Go ahead.” She waved