He stared at her. “Let me get this straight. No football-mafia type shenanigans. No girlfriends on the side. I have to like Nora and Simon, and I can’t shoot up or snort lines of cocaine whenever I feel like it. That about it?”
“Make fun if you want, but yes. That’s it.”
Mitch started laughing. “Man, Becca. You drive a hard bargain, but okay. I’ll ditch the drugs and the women as soon as you leave tonight. How’s that?”
“Laugh it up, player.” She kissed him.
He kissed her back, and their union turned from playful to passionate.
“Still working with condoms, right?” he asked between kisses.
“Um.”
He took that as a yes.
And then he showed her how very gracious a football player could be with a girlfriend, even if she wasn’t a football-mafia type.
Whatever that was.
******
Becca knew she’d sounded like an idiot when she’d come up with her conditions, but to her shock Mitch hadn’t done more than laugh at them, then call her his girl.
Two days after their big dating revelation, she still felt warm and bubbly. So unlike her. Becca loved working hard and being Simon’s mother. She took comfort in her son and her job. But now she felt happy about Mitch too. And more and more she felt apart from her past grief, from the man she’d once called her soulmate.
She wanted to feel more guilt about moving on, but even Neal would have wanted her to find someone by now. She just wished she knew if these feelings for Mitch would last. He seemed almost too good to be true.
Intelligent. Handsome. Kind. Sexy. And of course, rich. Becca wanted to be beyond superficial trappings, but knowing she wouldn’t have to financially support her new boyfriend felt nice.
Boyfriend.
She couldn’t believe she had one of those again. Or that she’d done the unthinkable and confided to Nora about him.
Now everyone knew.
Simon came into the tea shop an hour after school had let out. She’d told Simon about dating Mitch that same evening after she’d confirmed it with herboyfriend.
Simon hadn’t batted an eyelash, the stinker. Instead he’d congratulated her on making a move—whatever that meant—and told her he’d had a talk with Mitch already. Simon approved of her new relationship, even though she’d cautioned him not to take Mitch too seriously. That she and Mitch were new and most likely wouldn’t last.
He gave the same amount of attention to her warning as he reserved for his ninth grade literature class. None at all. Instead, he’d asked about getting a dog again.
At least her son wouldn’t prove an obstacle to Becca having a social life.
“Hey, Mom.” Simon put on a half apron and took a spot behind the counter, giving Becca the break she needed.
The shop had been particularly busy today, customers coming in to check her out, most likely, since she’d overheard a lot of speculation about her new “girlfriend-to-the-hunk” status. Yep.Nora strikes again.
“I’ll be in the back making more cookies. Can you handle it out here?” Between him and Ruth, they’d have enough hands to handle the customers.
“Sure. Feel free to hide in the shadows.”
She narrowed her eyes at him but took the bait, ignoring his chuckle. At home in the small kitchen, she relaxed in the familiar. Brown sugar and molasses. Flour, eggs. Cinnamon and vanilla. Spices that made the air smell of holidays and sweetness.
And if Mitch had happened to mention how much he loved her cookies, so what? She had a business to run. She would try to remember to bring a few cookies home with her, for when he popped over tonight.
Her first official date with Mitch Flashman. A movie night at her place. With Simon.
How romantic. Not. She laughed at herself and continued to bake.
Until Linda Madison walked in and ruined her day.
