Pure Indulgence

A book in the Heat series, 2003

Chapter 1

"Oh, God," Jillian moaned in pure, unadulterated ecstasy. "Your triple fudge Bavarian torte is right up there with great sex-not that I've had any of that lately."

Kayla Thomas grinned at her sister's cheeky comment as Jillian sampled another bite of the new dessert Kayla had concocted that morning. "I can barely remember what sex is like, great or otherwise," she replied wryly. "That's how long it's been for me."

"Fortunately, you're surrounded by the next best thing. Chocolate." Jillian waggled her brows in a lascivious manner. "And lucky me, I get to be your official taste tester. This one is a definite winner and gets a five-moan recommendation."

Kayla laughed and continued arranging an assortment of petits fours on a silver tray. "Oh good, I'll be sure to put that on the packaging label." Thoughtful for a moment, she then added, "Since the torte has your approval, I think I'll include it as one of the desserts for the Chamber of Commerce function I'm catering tonight."

Jillian licked bits of chocolate from her full bottom lip, obviously not wanting to waste even a crumb of the dessert. "You'll have them all salivating for more."

With a smile at her sister's reply, Kayla glanced across the industrial-sized prep table separating them. They were alone in the kitchen area of Pure Indulgence since her two other employees were handling the front counter while Kayla prepared for the Commerce function that evening.

"I'll just be happy if I can drum up a bit of extra catering business," Kayla said.

"I have no doubts that you will." Jillian set her empty plate in the sink, came up beside Kayla, and started putting the small, fancy cakes onto a scalloped paper liner to help speed up the packaging process. "You're doing so great. Look at all that you've accomplished."

Jillian's tone was infused with genuine pride as she swept a quick glance around the back of the shop, taking in the cakes and pastries cooling on bakery racks, and the refrigerators filled with dozens of different desserts. "I always knew you'd be a success in your own right. No other place in San Diego comes close to creating desserts as outstanding as yours."

Kayla appreciated Jillian's support more than she could ever express. Despite a childhood spent with a mother constantly pitting them against one another, they'd managed to remain close. The bond had become even stronger after their mother had passed away and was no longer around to interfere in their lives.

"I learned most of my skills during those summers with Grandma Thomas. She taught me my way around a kitchen and how to bake from scratch," Kayla said fondly. "But you're the one that made Pure Indulgence, and all this, possible."

Her sister made a pfft sound that Kayla recognized as a dismissal of her gratitude. "I might have helped to get your own bakery shop opened, but you're the one who made it solvent after six months' time. I had nothing to do with that."

"You know I can't thank you enough for your help." Financially and emotionally, her sister had been a rock for Kayla the past year.

Jillian's green eyes softened. "It was my pleasure. Truly."

Kayla finished filling the tray and started on another, knowing deep in her heart that Jillian had more to do with her success than she'd ever admit or take credit for. When her sister had retired from her modeling career in New York nearly a year ago and returned to San Diego to start out fresh and new, Kayla had been working during the day as a secretary and spending her nights as a cocktail waitress. She'd been scrimping and saving so she could afford to open a small bakery. While she'd managed to accumulate quite a nest egg, she'd been years away from her goal.

Jillian, who'd made an ungodly amount of money as a cover model, had insisted on giving Kayla the cash she needed to open her bakery. Even after putting away every penny, Kayla would have been able to afford nothing more than a small shop in a run-down grocery center. Her sister had landed her a prime spot in SeaportVillage, one of San Diego's most exclusive shopping plazas.

Kayla had been overwhelmed by her sister's generosity and had sworn she'd pay back every last cent, but Jillian wouldn't hear of it. It was a gift, she'd said, so Kayla could finally follow her own dreams.

"You know," Jillian said as she absently bit into a mocha butterball she filched from a nearby tray, "since tonight's function is being held by the Chamber of Commerce, I'm betting there's going to be plenty of single businessmen milling about, which means this could be a ripe opportunity for you to snag a guy and end your run of celibacy."

Kayla rolled her eyes. "Easy for you to say, and not so easy for me to do," she teased.

"It's not so easy for me either," Jillian replied in a guarded tone that Kayla understood all too well.

She watched Jillian polish off the gourmet candy, envying the way her gorgeous, slender sister could put away so many sweets without any weight gain, while all Kayla had to do was inhale the scent of sugar and an extra pound seemed to find its way to her already curvaceous hips. While their naturally blond hair and green eyes were sisterly traits they had in common, that's where the physical resemblance between them ended.

Despite Jillian's successful modeling career, the two of them shared the same self-doubts when it came to men. Kayla, who'd always been compared to her beautiful, thin sister by their mother, was especially self-conscious. Most men judged women by their looks, as Kayla had learned the hard way.

Kayla was softly rounded thanks to the extra twenty pounds she couldn't seem to shed permanently, no matter how hard she tried. In Jillian's case, all men saw were centerfold curves and not the warm, intelligent woman inside who craved the same kind of unconditional acceptance that Kayla did. It amazed Kayla how opposite she and her sister were in stature and appearance, how differently they were raised as children, yet as adults they shared a very common bond because of those contrasts.

When Jillian had returned from New York emotionally shattered after a relationship gone bad, she and Kayla had made a pact that neither of them would ever again compromise their identities to please a man.

Unfortunately, that alliance didn't help to soothe Kayla's more sensual cravings. To make matters worse, her needs had become heightened by the experimental chocolate aphrodisiacs she'd secretly started creating, and sampling. If all went well and she was able to substantiate that the candies did, indeed, boost a person's sex drive, she'd have a surefire seller to add to her current line of desserts.

But in the meantime, with only herself to test those specialty candies, her body and hormones were becoming increasingly stimulated. Just a few bites left her aroused and aching for the touch of a man's hands, the caress of his mouth on her breasts, the heat and friction of his body within hers. It had been much too long since she'd experienced those kinds of sensual intimacies with a man, and she was beginning to wonder if she needed to do something about her long run of abstinence, as her sister had suggested.

Her new creations would provide the perfect opportunity, if she was able to find a man she was attracted to. Based on what her candies did to a person's libido, she'd be able to reap the benefits of a short, fun affair at the same time that she conducted her experiment. Once she proved that her creations met certain criteria, she would be ready to take the candies public.

Shaking off her thoughts for now, she snapped a clear, plastic lid onto the full tray of petits fours and retrieved the cut-up fruit and fondue sauces from the refrigerator. She added them to the growing stack of items she planned to take to the banquet tonight. "Tell you what, I'll do my best to check out the unattached businessmen, but I won't make any promises. I'm there to work, Jillian, not troll for men."

Her sister made a playful face. "You know what they say about all work and no play…"

"Yeah, too much play makes the bills pile up and bankruptcy loom like a dark cloud." For good measure, Kayla jabbed her sister in the side where she was ticklish.

"Okay, okay," Jillian relented around breathless laughter. "Just try to keep an open mind while you're working. One of us has to find our Prince Charming and live happily ever after."

They spent the next hour boxing up the rest of the cakes and other desserts, then transferred them into the shop's van that Kayla used for deliveries. Just as Kayla came back into the kitchen after loading up the last of the order, she caught her sister eyeing a plastic container of candies with too much interest.

"Hey, what are these over here?" Jillian asked, slanting Kayla a curious glance.

"They're a new candy I just created." She wiped down the stainless-steel countertops, all the while watching Jillian to make sure she kept her hands to herself. "I'm calling them Heavenly Kisses."

An amused grin tipped the corner of Jillian's mouth. "I love the name. Very sensual. What's in them?"

"Espresso butter cream and caramel covered in white chocolate." And a secret ingredient that claimed to stimulate lust in the person who consumed it.

"Oh, yum." Enthusiasm deepened Jillian's voice, and before Kayla could stop her, she opened the plastic lid, picked up one of the smooth, creamy-looking candies, and inhaled its scent. "It smells wonderful. I bet it tastes just as good." She opened her mouth to take a bite.