Sweeter Temptation (Kimani Hotties) Read Free Page B

you’re staying at your grandmother’s place doesn’t mean you have to live like an old lady.”
    “I am not a goody two-shoes.” Nia rolled her eyes skyward at the nickname Amy had teased her with since the second grade, after she’d tattled on her friend for swiping Oreo cookies from their teacher’s secret stash. “A woman doesn’t have to be stuck up under a man 24/7 to be happy, you know.”
    “Then you haven’t spent any quality time underneath the right one.” Amy nudged her with an elbow and snickered. “Or on top of one. For instance, Candy’s own Deputy Butler who’s been smitten ever since you came back to town.”
    “Don’t start that up again,” Nia warned.
    “He’s not so bad,” Amy said. “You could do a lot worse.”
    Nia’s brain automatically filled in the words her friend was too kind to say. An ordinary-looking woman like her didn’t exactly have eligible bachelors knocking down her door. Unlike her mother, Nia was no great beauty. It was a fact she’d accepted long ago.
    She slowed the truck to a stop in front of her friend’s house. Even if she were in the market for a bed warmer, the idea of getting down and dirty with the deputy didn’t rouse her libido from its long hibernation.
    “Girl, get out of my truck with that matchmaking mess.”
    “Okay, okay,” Amy relented.
    The wind whipped through the pickup’s cab as Amy threw open the passenger-side door. More lights came on and Matt appeared on the porch. He trudged through the snow toward them.
    “Thought you were working second shift tonight?” Amy asked, when he took her hand and helped her down from the truck.
    Matt shook his head. “Not enough work. They sent us home. So I’ve got dinner on the stove and a bottle of wine chilling.”
    He stuck his head inside the truck. Snowflakes clung to his hair and eyelashes.
    “Evening, Nia. You okay driving home?”
    “I’m good,” she said.
    Nia watched the couple walk up the snowy drive and climb the porch, Matt’s arm wrapped protectively around his wife. He whispered something in her ear, and Amy’s girlish giggle rode the night wind.
    Nia felt a pang of longing, but quickly dismissed it as she put the truck into gear.
    Once she sold the Ellisons on her proposal and got her long-awaited promotion, maybe she’d take Amy’s advice—kick off her sensible, goody two-shoes and replace them with a pair of sky-high, do-me stilettos.

Chapter 3
    K yle clenched the padded-leather steering wheel barely managing to maneuver the sports car out of another skid.
    Driving his new Ferrari to Ohio had seemed like a good idea back in Nashville, where daffodils were popping up all over town. However, five hours north the temperatures had done a free fall, and the colors of spring had given way to a blanket of white.
    He’d only half heard Margie when she’d mentioned the Ellison jet was down for maintenance, and an impending snowstorm had made it impossible for her to book him a charter or commercial flight. He’d been too busy replaying the scene with Uncle Jon and Logan in his head.
    By now, Uncle Jon had offered his cousin the vice-president job, and Logan had undoubtedly accepted. Kyle relaxed his clenched jaw before he ground his teeth to dust.
    Like it or not, his ascension to the CEO job was no longer a sure thing. So, in addition to his image problem, he had to prove he’d make a better CEO than Logan, who already seemed to have an ally in Uncle Jon.
    Kyle switched on the satellite radio, and the soothing strains of classical music filled the car’s interior. His strategy was simple. He had to make quick work of shutting down the Peppermint Lane Candy Factory and haul ass back to Nashville as soon as possible.
    He glanced at the dashboard. According to the GPS, Candy was only twenty-eight miles away. He looked forward to getting out of this weather and settling into the hotel Margie had booked for him in the adjacent town of Brookville.
    The cell phone on the