Sweet Pleasures ✔︎

[9] 𝑫𝒆𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒔

Despite the fact that Jupiter hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, she sailed right through her test on aerated confections and nougat, successfully completed a pectin jelly exercise in her Jellies and Gummies lab, and learned about two new tax exemptions she could claim in her tax preparation class.

By the time she arrived at the bakery to take over the afternoon shift from Clementine, she was feeling both productive and still all loosely warm from her night with Josh. She was sore in an entirely pleasant way, and it seemed as if thick, rich honey had replaced the blood in her veins. Not to mention her mind kept Drifting off to replay the taste of his hot cherry-vanilla kisses, the glide of his big hand over her skin-

"You could take him to the Renaissance Fair." Freya held up her cell phone triumphantly, waving it at Jupiter from a table where she was sitting with Ramona and Tom. "Now that is a man I'd love to see decked out in velvet breeches and a waistcoat."

Jupiter tried to picture it and failed. The images of Josh in her head were all about crisp, tailored suits or just his long, muscular body stretched out above her...

She shivered, pressing her legs together and trying to focus on filling eclair shells with chocolate cream. Though she would happily jump right back into bed with him for the rest of the weekend, she did want them to have some fun that wasn't sex-related.

"There's a UFO meet-up and watch in Davis next Monday," Tom offered.

"Or you could bring him to my fortune-telling group on Friday." Ramona flicked one of her dreadlocks over her shoulder.

"Maybe you could get his-and-her massages," Freya suggested. "Or take him for a spa day. Soothe in Indigo Bay gives detoxification baths using mug from a volcano in Cartagena."

"Josh could just fly to Cartagena and go skinny-dipping on the volcano, if he wanted to." Jupiter spooned more cream into the pastry bag. "Besides, I have to do things that don't cost too much since I don't want him to both advise me about the bakery and pay for dates, especially since dating was my idea. I though I'd take him to the Snowflake Club for the Riders concert on Saturday night."

Freya looked doubtful. "Snowflake skews a little young for him, doesn't it?"

"His thirty-four, not fifty-four," Jupiter said, vaguely insulted on Josh's behalf.

"I'm just saying you might want to consider something more sophisticated." Freya approached the display cases, peering at the rather sparse offerings.

"He's the sophisticated one, remember? I'll bet he hasn't been to a dance club in ages."

"Neither have you," Freya reminded her.

True. But this whole thing with Josh started as a way for her to get back out into the world, and she was doing exactly that. So good for her.

Her phone buzzed, and she took it out of her apron pocket. A text lit up the screen.

J. KING : 𝖧𝗈𝗐 𝖽𝗂𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖢𝖤𝖮 𝖿𝖾𝖾𝗅 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖯𝖾𝖺𝖼𝗁?

JUPITER : 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐲?

J. KING : 𝖯𝖨𝖳-𝗂𝖿𝗎𝗅.

JUPITER : 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐨𝐰.

J. KING : 𝖨'𝖽 𝗇𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗋 𝗌𝗂𝗀𝗇 𝗈𝖿𝖿 𝗈𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗋𝖾𝗊𝗎𝖾𝗌𝗍.

JUPITER : 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤?