Free Love Charm for Carlotta (A Short Story in the Love Charm Series) by Carly Carson Page B

mind me snitching a cupcake."
    "No doubt you kissed her down on the beach a time or
two." Carlotta didn't like the bitterness in her own voice.
    He grinned. "I'll never tell." He popped the rest
of the cupcake in his mouth. "She can't be old enough to have an eight
year old."
    "And a ten year old, as well. She's thirty, same as you." Carlotta tried to ignore the reminder that her
own thirtieth birthday was a mere two months away.
    Jace flashed her a half-grin.
"A man only gets better with age."
    "Keep your roving eye off Amy. Her husband is the
possessive type."
    He spread his hands in a show of innocence. "Got nothing to worry about from me. I don't mess with
married women."
    Carlotta snorted. That would be the only kind of women he
didn't mess with, then.
    He leaned closer. " Which brings us
back to you. Sorry about the divorce."
    She shrugged. "We never should have married."
    Especially when she'd been unable to
forget her high school sweetheart. She and Rob had called it quits after
only a year of marriage. They'd split up without any claims on each other, and
moved on. Last she heard , Rob was living on the west coast.
    "Tough, anyway," Jace said softly.
    "How about you?" She
regretted the words as soon as they were out. She had no intention of
reminiscing with him, nor of catching up with current
news. The sooner he was gone, the safer she'd be.
    "Nah." He leaned back
against the counter, and crossed his booted feet in front of him. Not that she
looked at anything below his neck. At least not
intentionally.
    "I never was tempted to hitch myself to anyone,"
he said.
    "So many women, so little time," she muttered. If
she didn't stop punching this dough, her pecan rolls would be hard as a hockey
puck.
    He laughed. "Yeah, that was a phase, but I got through
it pretty quickly."
    She rolled her eyes. "So now what—you're gay?"
    This time his chuckle was low, and intimate. "You know
that's not true."
    Her face flushed. Damn it, why did he have this affect on
her? She refused to remember those high school years. Yeah, he'd taken her
virginity. He'd even been careful and considerate about it. She twitched at the
memory of all that hard virility pushing slowly into her, filling her until she
started to panic. He'd sensed her distress immediately, and talked her down,
stopping all movement within her, but failing to withdraw. Until
she'd grown accustomed to his presence and began to feel a sense of urgency to
do something more.
    Of course, he'd known when that moment arrived as well. He'd
been a mind-reader then, and she didn't need him reading her mind now.
    She reached into a drawer, pulled out a linen towel and
snapped it open.
    "I have a lot of work to do," she said.
"Thanks for stopping by."

Chapter 2
    Jace continued to lean against her kitchen counter, unfazed
by her attempted dismissal. "Let me help you with the cupcakes," he
said. "Then we can deliver them to the Rosens .
They live next door, right?"
    "I'm perfectly capable of delivering them on my
own." She scowled at him. As far as she knew, he hadn't been back to the
island for twelve years. How did he know where the Rosens lived?
    "Come on." He plucked a toothpick out of her tray.
It looked comical against his large hand. "I want to do that dye thing
with the frosting that you used to do."
    "You just want to make a mess. Like a
two-year-old."
    He grinned. "If it were up to me, I'd make a mess in a
very adult way."
    "Jace! Knock it off." Her
cheeks heated up again, and she turned to reach into the refrigerator.
"You want something to drink?"
    Shoot. She'd been betrayed into being hospitable.
    "Love a beer."
    "No beer. I live here alone."
    His blue eyes darkened. "What happened to your parents,
Carlotta?"
    She shook her head. The wound was too fresh. If she had to
speak of their deaths, she'd start to cry. Especially when
she was already an emotional wreck due to Jace's unexpected appearance.
    She pulled a Coke out of the fridge and handed it to him,
then flattened her