The Sweet Spot (Sweet And Spicy) by Mary Eason Page A

Miranda and I were just…”
    “I don’t want to hear it, Aiden.” She couldn’t stand to hear Aiden tell her about how he and Miranda were lovers. She’d heard enough of that from Miranda.
    Aiden clearly didn’t like her reaction. But he was trying. Which should have been the biggest surprise of all. Aiden didn’t really have to try that hard with women. They mostly just fell into his bed.
    ‘Like you,’ her conscience reminded her.
    “Okay, you don’t want to talk about Miranda right now either. Look, maybe it would be best if we didn’t really have this conversation until you’ve had time to figure out what you want to talk about,” Aiden told her in a clipped voice.
    Cara didn’t say anything. She was pretty sure that time was not going to be the answer in this case. She never wanted to have this conversation with Aiden.
    “Look, Cara,” he said with a sigh. “I’ll be back home in two weeks. We can talk about it then.”
    Cara remembered that today was Aiden’s first day on the new job. She felt guilty about not remembering that sooner. She’d been so busy trying to avoid having this conversation with him that she hadn’t thought about what he had to face today on very little sleep.
    “You’re right. We can talk about this some other time. I’m sorry. I completely forgot that today was your first day at the new job. How did that go?”
    Aiden groaned and she felt even guiltier.
    “That bad?”
    “Oh yeah. The place is a mess. Its not going to be easy getting it back to profitability.”
    For the next half hour, Cara listened while Aiden told her all about Shelby Advertising’s problems.
    “So, how do you like living in Arkansas?” she asked, hoping to change Aiden’s bad mood.
    Aiden had been giving her such a hard time about coming to her senses finally and moving to Texas that when she’d first heard about the move to Arkansas and had gotten over the empty feeling at losing him, the irony of the situation was not lost on her.
    “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you? Well, don’t get too comfortable with it. It’s temporary.”
    “What do you mean? I thought you were taking over the controls there permanently?” From the little that Aiden had said about the move, Cara knew that he wasn’t pleased about it, but for Aiden, the job was the most important thing. Getting ahead meant everything.
    “I mean, I don’t plan on taking up citizenship here. One year, Cara. That’s all you get to tease me about this so I suggest you enjoy it.”
    “Have you tried the restaurants I told you about?” On his first trip to Little Rock, she’d given Aiden a list of places to eat. Among them were some very famous Arkansas Sooner hangouts.
    “Oh yeah, and thanks for that. Thanks to you, I just about got beat up. You didn’t tell me that ‘Longhorn’ is a dirty word here?”
    “Sorry, but you are in their territory now, Aiden. You should know better. They can pick a Longhorn fan a mile away.”
    Aiden told her about his first hand encounters with his university rivals. While she listened, she closed her eyes and occasionally mumbled a response. She hadn’t exactly slept all that much after all.
    “ Cara? Hey there, sleepyhead. Hang up the phone.” For a second she’d forgotten that she’d left Aiden telling her about his run in at the restaurant. Cara lay on her side, the phone propped up against the pillow next to her ear. Somehow, she’d fallen asleep.
    “What?”
    “You’re snoring.”
    “I don’t snore,” she told him with a yawn.
    “Uh-huh. Did Jason tell you that? Because I remember it differently.” She was wide-awake at that comment. She made a strangled sound while trying to think of a good come back when Aiden stopped her.
    “Never mind. Hang up the phone, baby. Get some sleep.”
     
    Cara did as he suggested because she couldn’t get her voice to cooperate enough to tell him again that she wasn’t one of his women. But the truth was she liked the way it sounded.