Sugar Lust

Chapter Twenty-Four

Emmeline saw Joel waiting outside the restaurant when she pulled into the parking lot. She checked the clock; she wasn't late. He was early. Impressive, since he said that he was regularly late for his boss. This was a good sign.

She parked the car and walked around to meet him with butterflies in her stomach. Joel sat on the edge of a long granite planter that ran the length of the restaurant. She was so nervous. She mostly wanted to run away. She tried to remember what she felt when she first met Nicholas, but it hardly counted. They were in high school, and they saw each other in the hall. This, she realized, was her first date!

"Crap!" she accidentally said out loud. She hadn't thought about that before.

"Emmeline!" Joel

said, with that grin on his face. Soft lights shone up from the planter, hitting his face, practically making it glow.

I am totally out of my league here! she thought.

Joel kissed her on the cheek as he greeted her, and as they were shown to their seats, she managed to make polite talk without saying something stupid, which seemed like a miracle. Emmeline tried to take in her surroundings. She wanted to remember every moment of this night, in case this was the start of something special. The restaurant was decorated in red, with paper lanterns that hung down with golden tassels. Lacquer work adorned the walls, which were painted a decidedly beige color. The chairs were black with rich cushions on them and

The server handed them a menu each, and they took a few minutes to order. The food came quickly, and he was right; it was delicious. It was a shame that she had never been there before. She had been missing out.

The evening went by fast, like eating ice cream on a hot day, leaving her wanting more. Emmeline felt like she was in a dream.

If this was what dating is like, sign me up!

When dinner was over, the waiter brought them bill, which Joel quickly grabbed, leaving no time for Emmeline to offer. Emmeline took the fortune cookies left behind with the bill and hid them behind her back.

"You have to pick one," she said.

"Is this some sort of cookie tradition I'm unaware of?"

"Nah, just what I do. Pick a hand."

"The left one."

She handed him the cookie on her left and then pulled the crinkly wrapper off her own. Cracking the cookie in two, she pulled out the slip of paper. She watched as Joel did the same.

"You ready?" she asked. "Read yours first."

"Food can be sweet and sour, so can your mood," he read. "So what do you think? Am I sweet or sour?"

Emmeline blushed and squeaked out, "Sweet." Confidence up, girl, she chastised herself.

"What does yours say?"

"The love you seek is within your reach." She paused briefly and then added, "Apparently, the cookie thinks we're having a good date."

"That we are," he answered. There was a brief silence, and then he said, "You know, the best thing about these cookies are the fortunes. They actually taste terrible."

Emmeline crunched loudly. "Yeah, I know. I don't know why I always eat them. It just doesn't seem like the meal is complete without them."

"When in Rome," he said, shoving the dry cookie half into his mouth.

He paid the bill and then walked her to the car slowly. Emmeline wanted to make the steps last as long as possible. She was on cloud nine. The butterflies in her stomach were gone, and she mostly felt like she was floating.

She really liked him. It wasn't just that he was easy on the eyes—that was an understatement—

but he was interesting. A food blogger for a travel company, he worked from home and only went into the office from time to time. He had been everywhere. He usually was gone at least three months a year

reviewing restaurants, trying new local cuisine, and then he would come back and write for the rest of the year. It all sounded so glamorous. Before Millie, Emmeline always imagined that she would travel, maybe after college or something, but she never gave it much thought. It was always something way off, not really true. She had been so focused on her friends or passing her exams, not that that was hard. Here was someone who had traveled the world, saw things that she could only imagine, things she hadn't even thought of. For a moment, her world seemed so small. Not that she didn't love her life. She loved Millie more than anything, but he was opening her eyes to a world of possibilities, and it was exciting.

She clicked the button and unlocked the car, Nicholas's car. After all these years, it was starting to show its age, but it was fun to drive the little sports car. She leaned against the car, reached out, and grabbed his hand. He squeezed it slightly and moved in close. He smelled like spruce, vanilla, and something else deeply masculine that made her want to suck it all in. Her heart beat fast, and she took a deep breath.

He leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips. She opened her mouth slightly, and he deepened the kiss as she melted into his arms. A few seconds later, he backed off, resting his forehead on hers. She felt the electricity of it shock her body back into life. No wonder she was drawn to him the moment she first saw him. This was seriously real. She wanted him to kiss her again, badly. She held on tighter to his hand and smiled shyly, looking at the ground. She knew she'd have to leave—the idea was to take things slowly, and she could see herself jumping in with two feet that she had promised herself in the days leading up to the date. So far, she hadn't broken any of her resolves, yet the temptation was great.

"I should probably go," she said and bit her lip. Mostly to keep herself from saying, "But I won't, so you can kiss me more." Her cheeks at her boldness.

"Yeah," he said, his voice husky and deep.

Emmeline's inside turned to goo, and he took her into his arms again. He kissed so intently she could have forgotten her name, forgotten completely who she was. His touch, his lips, his tongue, immediately knew her. Grappling to keep her head, she pulled back.

"I, um," she said, stumbling to gain control of her thoughts, "should get home, Millie, um, still wakes up in the middle of the night."

"I guess you better go, then." He pressed his body into hers and nibbled on her ear for an earth-shattering moment before whispering, "I'll call you."

She nodded and fumbled around for the door handle until she could lift it up. Joel stepped back and opened the door the rest of the way, and Emmeline got in, regretfully.

He watched her drive away. As soon as she was well out of Joel's sight, she started screaming. "Oh. My. Goodness! I can't believe this is happening! Oh my goodness!" She was grateful that no one could hear her.

She got home and found Pernella fast asleep on the couch, with a horror flick on the TV. Zombies were munching on half a dead woman's face.

"Yuck," said Emmeline. Pernella never chose the sweet movies. She put a blanket over her and then checked on Millie upstairs. She had got up at some point and was now curled in one of Pernella's oversized suitcases from the seventies on the floor of her room, with her blae-blae covering her. All of her dolls and stuffies were in another suitcase beside her.

Why a suitcase? Emmeline wondered. That girl had a mind of her own. She pulled the covers down on her bed, picked up Millie, who hardly stirred, and tucked her in. She covered her and kissed her on the forehead.

She left for her own room, excited and exhausted. The entire experience was so overwhelming and unbelievably perfect. How could anything go wrong?

Emmeline settled into a hot bath, then fell asleep dreaming of honey-sweet kisses.