âSo the best part of being a baker is giving people pleasure â¦?â
Danielâs grin made Angela catch her breath. His blue eyes had caught the late evening light. His white teeth were surrounded by golden, smoothly shaved skin that looked as if it smelled and tasted wonderful. Angela felt as if her body had stopped functioning. Certainly her brain had.
Daniel knelt at her feet; his fingers landed softly on her bare knee, shooting Angela through with arousal as if heâd touched her ⦠somewhere else.
âI think you could give me a lot of pleasure, even though we hardly know each other.â His voice was low and slightly husky, his eyes didnât leave hers, so blue and so serious, humor dancing at their edges.
Angelaâs cue. Her hands landed on the firm planes of Danielâs pecs, her mouth lifted toward his. âI think Iâd like to.â
âBut â¦â
âNo.â She put her finger to his lips, heart thudding. âWeâre here, Daniel, you and me. Weâre alive and weâre together. This is supposed to happen. For both of us.â
Then she let herself melt fully against him, and whispered, âYouâre okay with this?â just to be sure.
âYes.â He murmured the word without hesitation; his hand cupped the back of her neck and he bent to her mouth, his lips sure and sweet.
Dear Reader,
When I visited a friend in Seattle a few summers ago, I knew I had to set a book there. After the idea came to me for a series about friends whose businesses represent the five senses, I realized I could set three books there! Itâs a great town, clean, green and close to one of my favorite things in the world: the ocean.
Of course the five friends who own the Come to Your Senses building not only explore Seattleâs cultural diversity, great food, coffee and hot spots, they also find love. In this first book, Just One Kiss, expert baker Angela struggles with wonderful and sometimes overwhelming feelings for the unexpectedly sexy Daniel, who, finally throwing off past grief, is ready to taste everything she has to offer.
Itâs very exciting starting a new series. I hope you enjoy all the books in FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS!
Cheers,
Isabel Sharpe
www.IsabelSharpe.com
âYOU ARE WELCOME.â Angela Loukas handed the plump waxed bag across her sparkling glass counter to her favorite customer, Marjorie. The seventy-something woman came daily to Angelaâs bakery, A Taste for All Pleasures, between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. for her next-dayâs breakfastâtoday a cinnamon-pecan roll. Given that Marjorie weighed about a hundred pounds, Angela worried the bakery items were all she was eating. âWould you like a black-pepper fruit tart for dessert tonight?â
âOh â¦â Marjorie glanced doubtfully at the tiny tartsâraspberries, blueberries, kiwi slices and mandarin sections glistening with currant jelly glaze and speckled with crushed black peppercorns.
âOn the house,â Angela said impulsively. âFor a loyal customer.â
âOh, well. I canât say no to that.â She reached to accept the tart, fragile hand bones extending from her flawlessly tailored coral linen suit. âIâll eat it right away. It looks too good to wait.â
âI hope you enjoy it.â
Marjorie took a bite and chewed carefully. âHmm. Yes. Very nice. But your muffins are exquisite. And those cinnamon rolls ⦠my goodness. As if God had smiled on them.â
Angela kept her expression warm, but her heart sank. God hadnât smiled on the tarts? Maybe she needed to revise the recipe yet again. âThank you, thatâs very sweet.â
âYouâre welcome. Iâll see you tomorrow, Angela, dear.â
âSee you then.â Angela waved the tiny woman out of the shop, still pondering the reaction. Sheâd added the new section of European pastries to her year-old bakery in the last few months. So far, in spite of low prices and occasional giveaways, and in spite of Seattleâs relatively sophisticated population, her customers still seemed to prefer the standard cookies, muffins, cupcakes, simple breads and other familiar baked goods sheâd started with while she built confidence.
Her dream was to turn A Taste for All Pleasures into a European-style bakery known city-wide for its selection, quality and aesthetics.
Not there yet, but she wasnât giving up.
Her door chime began a phrase from one of Angelaâs favorite songs, Green Dayâs âWake Me Up When September Ends.â Seth Blackstone, whose music studio was upstairs in the building, had rigged the notifier to play her favorites when customers came in.
Angelaâs welcoming smile got wider when she saw Bonnie Fortuna, gifted florist and owner of Bonnie Blooms, the shop opposite hers in the building she and four other entrepreneurial friends whoâd graduated from Washington University together had bought a year before. Four businesses were arranged on the first floor, with individual apartments and Sethâs studio/apartment combination on the upper.