Fortune's Heart. Marie Ferrarella

soon.” She turned her back to him again.

      Piper looked at Colton, and he wiggled his fingers and smiled at her. She smiled coyly, then giggled.

      Stacey glanced over her shoulder at Colton.

      “What?” he asked.

      She made a huffing sound and turned away to arrange a display of cupcakes. Colton couldn’t help noticing Stacey’s backside. He couldn’t help remembering squeezing her curvy hips as he slid inside....

      Colton felt his body instantly respond to the memory and visual. He shifted his stance and cleared his throat. “How have you been doing?”

      Stacey immediately whipped around and stared at him with a wide-eyed gaze. “Since when?”

      Colton shrugged. “Since last week.”

      “Oh, you mean since the day we had sex twice in your bed and you rushed me out the door because you didn’t want your family asking questions and then chose not to call me. Even once.”

      Colton’s gut twisted. Just in case he’d wondered, he now knew that Stacey had wanted him to call. He’d been unsure about how she’d felt since he’d taken her in his bed. Before, during and afterward, he’d wished that he could take her somewhere more private, but he’d been so hungry for her, and she’d seemed to feel the same way about him. Someone had to get control in this situation, although he was pretty sure he was nowhere near control. He didn’t know if he could trust Stacey’s feelings for him. To be honest, he wasn’t sure if he was a rebound man for her.

      “I wasn’t sure you wanted me to call,” he admitted.

      She screwed up her face in a confused expression. “Why would you think that?”

      “Well, you left pretty fast,” he said.

      “After you pushed me along,” she said.

      “I was trying to protect you,” he said. “Did you really want to have to explain to anyone in my family why you were walking out of my bedroom with your hair all messed up and your coat on the floor in the hallway?”

      Her hostility lowered a couple of notches. “I guess not,” she said and paused. “But that still doesn’t explain why you haven’t called,” she practically spat at him and turned around as the first attendees began to wander toward their booth.

      After that, everything turned into a blur. It seemed that everyone who stopped at the booth wanted a pie or cupcake. The cupcakes went first because they were pretty and inexpensive. Every time Colton sold one of those cupcakes, he had to resist the urge to eat it. Red velvet with cream cheese frosting. His mouth watered. He kept hoping he could persuade Stacey to give him one of the defective cupcakes, but they were moving so quickly that he was losing hope. The booth was so tight she brushed against him every time she moved from the front to the back. He didn’t know which was worse, the temptation of Stacey’s body or of her red velvet cupcakes. Another brush of her sexy hips against his and his question was answered. He wanted Stacey a lot more than he wanted cupcakes.

      “I need to ask a favor of you,” she said, pulling at the straps of her baby carrier.

      He shrugged. “What do you need?”

      “To go to the bathroom. I’d prefer to go without Piper. Can you take her for a bit?” she asked.

      “Sure,” he said, feeling lame for not offering sooner. “Can I have one of those cupcakes in exchange? Half?” he added when he saw her frown. He needed some sort of consolation for how much he wanted her and couldn’t have her, although he suspected a cupcake wasn’t going to do the job.

      “Half,” she said, and eased the carrier from her shoulders. “You want to put her on your back?” she asked.

      “That sounds good,” he said, and turned around so she could help strap the carrier on him.

      “I’ll put her so she’s facing away from you. That way she’ll keep her fingers out of your hair. I’ll be back soon,” she said.

      “We’ll be here,” he said.

      Piper made an indistinguishable noise, but she didn’t cry, so he figured he was good. He continued to sell pies and cupcakes, although the cupcakes were growing scarcer. “I need to put this cupcake in a protective place,” he murmured and hid the treat behind his cup of coffee at the back table.

      He smelled a peculiar odor, but was too busy to focus on it when a rush of attendees bought pies. Thank goodness, the pies were popular. Colton couldn’t deny, however, that he was ready for this to be over. He’d rather be driving posts in dry ground than this.

      Stacey returned, appearing breathless. “Sorry. The restroom was on the other side, and there was a line.”

      “There is always a line for the ladies room,” he muttered and turned his back so Stacey could help disengage him from Piper.

      “Oh, no,” she said. “Oh, no.”

      “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Is she okay? She’s been quiet for a while.”

      “That’s because she fell asleep,” Stacey said.

      “And that’s bad because?” he asked.

      “That’s not the bad part,” Stacey said. “Piper pooped all over your back.”

      “Oh, great,” he muttered. Now he understood the source of the strange odor. “I’m glad someone feels better.”

      Colton and Stacey shut down the booth until the next volunteers were scheduled to appear. They were mostly sold out, anyway. Stacey helped Colton out of the baby holster, and she took Piper to the restroom while Colton headed home. This was one of the rare instances that Colton didn’t have a fresh shirt in his car, so he drove with his windows open due to Piper’s stink bomb.

      He headed straight for the shower, stuffed the shirt in the washer on rinse, then fixed himself a bowl of soup from the Crock-Pot on the kitchen counter. Colton parked himself in a chair in the den to watch an action movie. He wanted to think about anything except Stacey and Piper, and it wasn’t just because Piper had cut loose on him. He had been trying to dodge his feelings for Stacey since they’d been together, and seeing her today had felt like a slap in the face. Even though he saw his orderly life veering out of control when he was with her, he’d missed her terribly, and now he didn’t know what to do.

      A knock sounded, and Colton rose from his chair and opened the door. Stacey stood on the front porch holding a small covered plate. “I’m really sorry about what happened with Piper. It doesn’t happen that often, but, well, babies can be messy. I kept back a couple of the cupcakes for you. I hope you’ll accept them along with my apology.”

      His chest tightened at the kind gesture. “That was nice of you,” he said. “Would you like to come in?”

      She bit her lip. “I have Piper in the car.”

      He hesitated. “Bring her in. There’s chicken noodle soup in the Crock-Pot. I’m just watching a movie.”

      “Are you sure?” she asked, her gaze searching his.

      “Yeah, I’m sure,” he said.

      Stacey returned to the car and pulled Piper from her car seat, along with a diaper bag. Colton rushed to take the bag for her. He wouldn’t admit it aloud, but he was still a little gun-shy with the baby.

      Stacey pulled a blanket from the diaper bag and spread it on the floor in the den while Colton ladled soup into a bowl for her and poured a glass of water. Colton returned to find the baby propped against some kind of pillow thing that kept her from falling over.

      “Does she like that?” he asked.

      “She can actually sit by herself, but she eventually topples. She didn’t get much of a nap today, so I thought she could use a break,” she said, and placed a couple of toys next to the tot. “I’m hoping for an