In the Mood for Love Read Free Page B

memory. The faster she pedaled the more she craved the irritating man who’d worked wonders refurbishing her house. The more her heart raced, the greater her lust. The man was screaming alpha. Former military. Confident. Competent. A master carpenter and furniture maker who also painted and baked.
    Baked!
    He was also a widower with two little kids.
    Harper had minimal experience with children and she didn’t want children—or rather the responsibility of children. The thought of failing them or losing them to some horrid end iced her blood. Which is why she’d ultimately cut off her secret affair with Sam. Even though it was just sex. Even though they only saw each other whenever she visited Sugar Creek which was hardly ever. They’d never work long term. Not that she wanted long term. Not that he wanted long term with her. Via gossip among the Cupcake Lovers, her newest clients, Sam wanted a mother for his children. Harper was not mother material.
    So, yeah. No. She would not text Sam. There would be no racy exchanges. No amazing sex. No Sam.
    No. Sam.
    Heart pounding, sweat trickling, Harper pumped her stationary bike and stared out the same window Mary Rothwell had dogged for two long years. Mary had had blinding faith that her husband, a soldier gone missing in World War Two, would return. To her. She’d never lost faith in her beloved.
    That’s where Harper and Mary differed.
    “Not. Going. There. ”
    No dwelling on how she’d failed Andrew. Or how he’d wigged out. A public meltdown. A violent display. So like the spa shooting, although not really. Only in Harper’s wounded mind.
    Chest hurting, she pedaled past the pain. She would make it to the lake. She’d make it to the end of the lane. She’d make it into Sugar Creek. She’d disappointed a lot of people recently, but she would not disappoint the Cupcake Lovers. And while she was there, maybe she’d say hi to Sam just to be sociable. It’s not that she didn’t like him. It’s that she liked him too much.

THREE
    This isn’t easy for me … I’ve been thinking … Life’s funny …
    Damn .
    None of the opening lines Sam rehearsed felt right. Bottom line, he was bailing on an important organization. On the women who’d freely accepted him as the first male member of the Cupcake Lovers. They’d welcomed him into their world and now he was leaving at a crucial time. He wasn’t arrogant but he was savvy. He didn’t need Harper, a professional publicist, to tell him he was a valuable asset to the club when it came to generating additional attention. He was former military. A marine who’d served multiple tours overseas. And now he was baking cupcakes for other marines and every other branch of the military.
    He got why he was a perk to the club and he’d rolled with it. He was all about the cause although, granted, he’d joined the Cupcake Lovers as a way to shake up his morbid mind-set after Paula’s death. A selfish reason, but he’d honestly enjoyed the company of his fellow bakers. Then he’d fallen for Rae and there’d been that mess. He’d fooled around with Harper and now she was involved in the club. Another potential mess. In the last months, a few of the members had gotten engaged or married and three were expecting babies. The dynamics of the club were changing. The discussions more out of Sam’s realm. The “fame” factor was the tipping point. If he shared his reasoning, no one would blame him for quitting. Except Sam wasn’t one for baring his soul. I’ve lost my cupcake mojo was the best he could do. Hopefully they’d read into that and let him go without a fight.
    “Would you mind lending me a hand, Sam?”
    He’d been deep in thought. So deep that Rae’s soft voice startled him. Sam glanced at the woman he’d been enamored with for a good year, a woman he’d hoped to make his wife, a woman whose sweet disposition resembled that of his late wife. Like Paula, Rae would have been the perfect mother for Ben and