In Her Wildest Dreams by Farrah Rochon Read Free Book Online Page A

chocolates,” Gavin stressed, despite the flash of disquiet that clutched his gut at the statement. Dammit, he was happy making chocolates.
    “Whatever,” Dalton said. “Just hear me out. It’s not as if I’m asking you to become company CEO—though I wouldn’t turn you down if you wanted to become an investor,” Dalton added, ever the salesman.
    Gavin rolled his eyes.
    “Don’t say no to this without coming back to my office and looking over their pitch.”
    “You’re not getting me in that building,” Gavin said.
    Now, it was Dalton’s turn to roll his eyes. Unlike Gavin, Dalton had remained at Technology Concepts after the takeover.
    “It’s been two years,” his former partner said. “You need to get over the crap that happened with Whitney. And you need to remember it was your decision to sell your share of the company.”
    “Which I do not regret,” Gavin said. “Still doesn’t mean that I want to go traipsing around my old stomping grounds.”
    “Traipsing? Really? Who even uses that word?”
    “Shut up,” Gavin said. “Look, if you want me to see this program, stop by my place with your laptop.”
    “So, you’re in?”
    “I didn’t say that,” Gavin warned. “I said to bring the program. I’m curious as to what these guys could have possibly put together that has you getting a hard-on.”
    “You’re going to be the same way when you see it, man. I promise you.”
    “Yeah, whatever,” Gavin said.
    After another twenty minutes of basketball, Gavin left Dalton at the court, back in the neighborhood where he’d grown up. He needed to get back to Decadente ASAP. Tonya had texted to let him know that the shipment of chocolate discs he’d been waiting on had arrived. They were running low on the praline truffles, one of their biggest sellers.
    This was the second time in the past two months that he’d nearly run out of chocolate, driving home Tonya’s point that he needed to figure out how much chocolate they had been selling and readjust their ordering schedule accordingly. She’d suggested she do it because she had a better idea of what left the store, but Gavin had told her he’d take care of it. He needed to get on that. Pronto. He couldn’t afford a misstep that would have them running short, especially with Valentine’s Day fast approaching.
    He’d been so far removed from those early days when Technology Concepts was a struggling start-up that he’d forgotten about the tedious legwork involved in running a new business. He didn’t have the luxury of having his staff take care of the grunt work while he did all of the chocolate-making.
    To be fair, Tonya had offered on several occasions to become more involved in running the business, but Gavin had quickly squashed that idea. He’d allowed his first business to slip away from him. He wouldn’t allow that to happen with Decadente. He’d just have to be more diligent at taking care of the business side of things.  
    Gavin stopped in at his condo in the Lower Garden District to take a quick shower, then headed downtown. When he arrived at Decadente, he was thrilled to find nearly a dozen customers in the store.
    “Pretty busy, huh?” he asked Tonya.
    “Plenty,” she said. “I’ve got a couple of messages for you in the back. And Erica asked to call her as soon as you returned.”
    “Why didn’t she call my cell?”
    “She didn’t want to interrupt, in case you were having lunch with…you know…someone who wouldn’t appreciate being interrupted by another woman.”
    The look Tonya gave him made it clear that Erica thought he’d been on a lunch date with another woman. Gavin bit back a curse. Just what he needed, to have Erica think he was seeing someone.
    For a second, Gavin warmed up to the thought of her being bothered by that. It was only fair after the numerous hours he’d endured listening to her talk about her dates from hell.
    But he’d never been one to play those kinds of manipulative games, and