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

he wouldn’t play them with her. He wanted Erica Cole to know that he was one hundred percent available to her, if only she would open her eyes wide enough to see it.
    Two more customers walked into the store, and Gavin decided that all the messages—including Erica’s—would have to wait until the foot traffic died down. He and Tonya kept busy all afternoon. Ten minutes before close, Erica came through the doors.
    Gavin acknowledged her with a nod but before he could ask if she could wait ten minutes, Tonya said, “I can handle it out here.”
    “You sure?” he asked her.
    She gestured for him to head to the kitchen. “You need to get started on more chocolates. I have a list of what we’re running low on.”
    “Yeah, buddy. Get in there and make some chocolates,” Erica piped in as she approached the counter.
    “Hmm…,” Gavin said. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea to let her in the kitchen. I’ll have fewer chocolates than I started with.”
    “Hey, I provide a much needed service,” she said. Gavin raised a brow in inquiry. “Quality control,” she offered.
    He barked out a laugh.
    “It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it,” Erica said.
    “Come on. I heard you came looking for me.”
    “I did.” She followed him into the kitchen. “Heard you had a hot lunch date.”
    “Really? You heard my date was hot? I’ll have to tell Dalton. He’ll be happy to hear that.”
    “Dalton?”
    Gavin nodded. “My old college roommate and business partner at Technology Concepts. He and I met for lunch, although we chose to forego lunch in exchange for a pick-up game of basketball.”
    “So, you were out with your old roommate,” she said.
    That was relief he heard in her voice. There was no mistaking it. Before Gavin could address it, Erica continued, “So, do you want to hear about the phone call I got today?”
    No. He wanted to talk about why she was so relieved that he hadn’t been out to lunch with another woman.
    “Tell me about your call,” he said, knowing she would just brush off his other question. Using a box cutter to slice open the box of round chocolate discs that had arrived, he popped one in his mouth and tossed one over to Erica so she could sample.
    “Umm…good,” she said.
    “Yeah. I like this blend of milk and semi-sweet. It goes really well with the fruit-filled chocolates. So,” Gavin looked over at her. “What was the call about?”
    With an excited gleam lighting up those warm brown eyes, she said, “Your Wildest Dreams is about to go national.”
     

 
     
     
     
    Chapter Five
     
     
     
    Erica couldn’t help but laugh at the befuddled look on Gavin’s face.
    “Let me back up a bit,” she said. “I was at the zoo this morning—”
    “What were you doing at the zoo?”
    “That’s not important,” Erica said. “Well, actually, it is important, but we’ll get to that later. Anyway, I was meeting with the Audubon Zoo’s director of operations when I got a call, but, of course, I let it go to voicemail. Later, when I listened to the message, I learned it was from a Hilton Banks with an investment firm called The Hawthorn Group. They specialize in investing in businesses that are ripe for franchising.”
    “I had no idea you were even interested in becoming a franchise. And a national one, at that?”
    “I’ve never considered it,” Erica replied. “Really, why would I? Your Wildest Dreams is just over three years old. It takes most companies five times that long before they get any kind of franchising interest.” Erica shook her head. “I still can’t believe this is happening.”
    “So it is happening? You’ve already agreed to it?” Gavin asked.
    “No, no, no.” She held her hands up. “I’m getting ahead of myself, as usual. I’ve only had one call with the man from The Hawthorn Group. He explained exactly what they do and mentioned some of the businesses they’ve brought nationwide in the past.”
    “Anything around