Cappuccino Kisses

The sweetest merger of all...

Triple chocolate cupcakes can help get a girl through the tough times—especially after Mariah Drayson’s dream marriage ends in heartbreak. Now the gifted baker has been handed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: running the Seattle branch of her family’s legendary Chicago patisserie. The competition is stiff. Until high-end coffee importer Everett Myers comes up with a sinfully tempting proposition.

The finest ingredients. Limited distribution. Everett knows the secrets of success. Joining forces with the alluring pastry chef is making the millionaire widower believe in second chances. And when Mariah unveils her secret weapon—a decadent new dessert—he knows they’re a winning team. But the single father can’t coast on sugarcoated fantasies. Is Mariah prepared to reveal the secret that could cost her a future with Everett?

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” Everett said with a smile as he reached for another piece of heaven on that platter. He popped it into his mouth and chewed as he watched her intently. He was clearly waiting on an answer.

“I—I can’t,” she finally said. Awareness of him prickled across her skin and made her uncomfortable.

“Why not?”

“Are you always this persistent?”

“When someone is trying to avoid me, I am.”

“And I’m trying to avoid you?”

He smiled. “You know you are. And there’s no need. I don’t bite.”

Mariah wasn’t so sure about that. Everett Myers looked like just the sort of man she should steer clear of. He radiated a sexual magnetism so potent that she shifted, restless on her feet.

“I’m waiting,” he said, folding his arms across his amazingly broad chest. His voice was slow and seductive.

Mariah couldn’t help but notice how defined he was. With his football player physique, he looked as if he spent a great amount of time at the gym pumping iron. Everett Myers was sinfully sexy and he smelled equally divine.

Dear Reader,

Thank you for expressing your desire for more of the The Draysons: Sprinkled with Love after Delicious Destiny concluded the series. It’s been fun introducing the Seattle Draysons, Mariah, Chase and Jackson, and catching up with old faves.

Penning divorcée Mariah Drayson’s second chance at love with Everett Myers forced me to dig deep because it touched on her infertility struggles. I could relate to her desire to drown herself in sweets in order to avoid her truth. Can Everett love her if she can’t give him a family? Everett is the kind of stand-up man that every woman wants, and his slow and steady approach to woo Mariah proves he emphatically can.

Cappuccino Kisses will remind fans why they fell in love with the series.

For more info on my next project, the warring Knight Brothers, visit my website, yahrahstjohn.com, or write me at [email protected].

Best,

Yahrah St. John

Cappuccino Kisses

Yahrah St. John

www.millsandboon.co.uk

YAHRAH ST. JOHN is an international author of over twenty books, including several Harlequin Kimani Romance titles. St. John is the recipient of the 2013 RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award for Best Kimani Romance for A Chance with You. St. John has delivered numerous lectures at writing workshops and conferences nationwide. A graduate of Hyde Park Career Academy, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Northwestern University. She discovered her love of writing at the tender age of twelve when she penned her first story. St. John is a member of Romance Writers of America, but is an avid reader of all genres. She enjoys the arts, cooking, traveling, basketball and adventure sports, but her true passion remains writing. St. John lives in sunny Orlando, The City Beautiful. For more information and author updates, please visit yahrahstjohn.com.

To my love and friend, Freddie Blackman.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

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

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Copyright

Chapter 1

“Welcome to the Lillian’s of Seattle grand opening,” Lillian Drayson, founder of the renowned Chicago bakery told the large crowd gathered in her second location. “We Draysons—” she turned to look at her grand-niece, Mariah, and grand-nephews Chase and Jackson “—are excited to open up this new bakery in the Denny Triangle section of town. It’s a vibrant location with a plethora of professional and residential communities whose members will enjoy the delicious baked goods the Drayson family has been providing to the Chicago area for over forty years, and will now to the city of Seattle.”

Applause erupted as the entire Seattle Drayson family cheered on Lillian, the matriarch, whose name they proudly represented at the new bakery.

Mariah Drayson stood away from the crowd and surveyed her family as she sampled one of the salted caramel cupcakes from the back of the room. She knew she shouldn’t be eating another cupcake given that she’d already had one earlier that afternoon, but she had a tendency to eat when she was nervous. Opening her own bakery with her brothers was definitely something to make her worry. She’d used every penny of her divorce settlement from her ex-husband, Richard Hems, to cover her share, but deep down Mariah knew the venture would be worthwhile in the end. After the divorce, she’d chosen to go back to her maiden name. She was happy she did because Lillian’s was a family business run by Draysons.