The Devil Served Desire by Shirley Jump Read Free Book Online Page B

the purchase of Easter Bunny bounty. She tore off a piece of tape and slapped it on the glass. "Come on, dish."
    Maria sipped at her diet shake, staying silent.
    Candace came around the counter, all thin and blonde, the complete opposite of Maria. If they hadn't been best friends, Maria would have had to hate Candace for being blessed with a metabolism that actually seemed to speed up with the consumption of chocolate. "Where'd you go Saturday night? You missed our standing movie date. Russell Crowe wasn't the same without you oohhing and ahhing in the background."
    Maria hung her coat on the rack by the door and took her time putting her purse behind the counter. "Sorry. I, ah, had somewhere else to go."
    Rebecca waggled a paper egg at her. "You met a guy, didn't you? I swear, you're like some kind of magnet. If there's a Y chromosome within fifty feet, he zones in on you."
    "It's the hips," Candace said, gesturing at her slim khaki-clad figure. "I wish I had some. I have the figure of a salamander."
    Maria snorted. "Are you kidding me? I'm rhino woman.''
    "Hey, have a kid and then complain to me." Rebecca gestured to her stomach. "It's like there's a permanent airship under there."
    Maria had no intention of discussing her hips with her friends. The grass was always greener on the other side of the dressing room door.
    She'd gotten on the scale this morning, naked and sure her linguine resistance on Saturday had made a difference. It hadn't. Her weight was exactly the same as yesterday, not even an ounce of change. Hence the diet shake, which tasted about as appetizing as a jar of school glue but promised less than two hundred calories of nutrition.
    "So, what's on the plan for today?" Maria said, changing the subject and reaching for the planner on the front counter. "Great! We have a few more of those hospital baskets to do." Last year, they'd teamed up with an ad agency to send gift baskets to all the new moms in Boston. The program had been so successful, it was being tested in other nearby cities, too.
    Rebecca climbed out of the window and put the extra decorations into a box by the kitchen door. "Vogler Advertising's campaign with that formula manufacturer has really turned out to be a great year-round thing for our shop." She straightened, pressing a hand to her back. "Or it will be, as long as Candace keeps making Michael Vogler happy."
    "Oh, he's happy." Candace sighed, one of those contented sounds that said Michael wasn't the only one getting his needs met. "Very, very happy."
    "Wait till you get married and have kids," Rebecca said, emphasizing her point with a shake of some purple Easter grass, like a cheerleader for the losing side. "I can't remember the last time I had more than six minutes for sex." She covered her mouth and stifled a yawn. "Or the energy for more than four. Damn, I'm so tired."
    "And then at three this afternoon—" Maria said, running her finger down the page.
    Rebecca yanked the book out of Maria's hands and thrust it behind her back. "Oh, no, you don't. You'll have to get up earlier than eight to fool me. You're changing the subject. And I won't quit till I find out why. Where'd you go last night?"
    Candace grabbed the glass dome off the cake platter on the counter and removed a glazed doughnut from the dish. "We have ways of making you talk," she said, waving the pastry in front of Maria's nose like a hypnotist's watch.
    Maria shook her head. "Nope. Won't work. I'm on a diet."
    Rebecca raised an eyebrow.
    "I'm sticking to it this time. I have incentive."
    "Incentive?" Rebecca asked. "What incentive?"
    "Antonio."
    Candace replaced the doughnut under its glass shrine. "Is that who you met last night?"
    "No." Maria paused, fiddling with the top of her can. "That was Dante."
    "Ah! I knew it!" Rebecca pounced forward. "You have that look."
    "What look?"
    "Like a cat with a chubby chipmunk."
    "I do not." She took a sip of her shake and forced herself not to gag on the taste. "Besides, Dante