Sugar Rush by Elaine Overton Read Free Book Online Page B

attention and approval. And, although no one ever said it, Sophie did feel a certain responsibility for the girl.
    Mae reappeared in the door with a plate laden with so much food Sophie’s eyes widened in concern. “Grandma! What am I suppose to do with all that food?”
    Mae gave a look that seemed to question Sophie’s sanity. “What anybody would do. Eat it.”
    Sophie shook her head. “I will never understand why you and Granddad opened a bakery instead of a restaurant. The way you like to cook…”
    Mae’s age-worn face took on a softer look as she remembered her long-dead husband. “That bakery was your granddaddy’s idea—and it wasn’t his first, let me tell you! We tried a laundry service at one time, and we even tried a grocer’s store. None of it ever amounted to much.” She chuckled to herself. Sophie listened patiently with a smile, thinking of the man she had only the vaguest memories of. She’d heard all the stories of her grandparents’ failed business ventures a dozen times. Sophie also knew it was part of what kept her parents, aunts and uncles from stepping in to help when the bakery started going under.
    “Your granddaddy never had much of a head for business, but he had ideas and more ideas!” She looked at Sophie with a playful grin. “And I loved him so much, he could’ve wanted to sell sand in a desert and I would’ve been right there beside him.”
    She reached out and touched her granddaughter’s face. “You remind me so much of him, always with ideas.” She bent and placed a quick kiss on her forehead. “Now you just have to find a man you can sell sand to.” With a chuckle, she turned and walked out, wiping her hands on her apron, the habit of a lifetime.
    And for the first time since she’d limped into the front door, Sophie found herself completely alone with her thoughts. Once again they wandered back to her handsome new baker.
    With his copper golden skin and eyes that matched, he could’ve been the love child of Apollo, the sun god. He wore his hair in short locks, which were an unusual sandy brown. With his skin tone the color was likely natural. El did not look like the hair-dye kind of brother.
    He was tall, maybe six feet plus, and tended toward lean except in the shoulders, which were bunched with muscles visible even beneath the thin material of his shirt. Another factor that would rankle Wayne. The ex-convict was built like a bulldog, short and stocky.
    At first glance, she’d thought El was younger, closer to her age. But one look in his eyes, and there she found a man who knew something of life. Top all that lusciousness off with beautiful, perfect, bubble-gum-pink lips and he was scrumptious enough to go in the counter next to any of the confectionary treats there.
    She heard a light rap on the door and jumped, slightly startled to see El standing there smiling at her, as if summoned by her thoughts.
    He glanced at the plate of food. “I see Mama Mae’s struck already.”
    Sophie laughed. “Yeah. You’d think after a lifetime of her cooking, I’d be as big as a house.”
    His eyes roamed over her body appreciatively, as he said, “No but it looks like you filled out in all the right places.”
    Sophie decided to ignore the remark. They were already getting off to a less-than-professional start. She reached over and pulled up a chair. “Got a minute? I was hoping we could talk.”
    “Sure.” He took a seat, leaning forward slightly. “You sure you should be here? Just getting out of the hospital and all?”
    “‘Should’ is not the issue. I need to be here. We have just taken on a lot of big contracts including Morningside. We even outbid our competition—”
    “Your competition?”
    “Fulton Foods, out of Memphis. Heard of them?”
    “Yeah, I think I have. But they’re a really big operation.” He frowned. “No offense, but are you really capable of competing with them?”
    She bit her bottom lip. “Honestly—no. But we are going to