Stress and The City. Stephanie Rowe

Cassie suspected the men lived for the hope that such a blessing would befall them.

      Men. A strange breed.

      “What in the world is going on? You call an emergency chocolate relief session and then make me wait all day without any details! What’s up with that?”

      As if she was prepared to talk yet. She needed medicinal treatment first. Cassie grabbed the biggest strawberry and dunked it into the bubbling vat. She held it up, letting thick drops fall back into the pot with a rhythmic, soothing blurp. Ah…she felt better already just watching the chocolate dance. “It’s Ty.”

      “Ty? The guy from New Year’s Eve? You saw him again?”

      Yes, I saw Sex God again. Smelled dreamy. No, she needed to regroup. Focus. “I’m supposed to de-stress him for his fiancée.” Wow, that really sucked, saying “Ty” and “his fiancée” in the same sentence.

      Cassie immediately plunked the chocolate-covered berry in her mouth.…Yikes! Hot!

      “You’re supposed to put those on the waxed paper to cool after you dunk them,” Leo said dryly.

      “Like I don’t know that.” The fact that she’d seared off the top layer of her tongue would be well worth it once the chocolate kicked in and soothed her stress.…

      “Wow. You’re really in bad shape,” Leo said.

      “Hang on.” Cassie held up a hand to stall Leo’s inquisition while she assessed her body. One strawberry ingested, but she still didn’t feel any better? Something was definitely wrong. Maybe the chocolate-fruit ratio had been off. Time to go full strength.

      She picked up a spoon, dunked it into the simmering pot and scooped up a decadent portion.

      “You must be seriously close to cracking up to assault your figure like that,” Leo observed. “He’s just a guy.”

      “My need for chocolate has absolutely nothing to do with him.” Gah. How pathetic did Leo think she was? Needing chocolate because of a man. Silliest thing she’d ever heard.

      Cassie blew on the chocolate to cool it off. See? Her instincts were still working. She was capable of learning from her mistakes. Burn the tongue on hot chocolate once. Cool it off next time. Someone on the verge of losing her mind would be entirely incapable of such brilliance. “He thought I was stalking him when I first showed up.”

      “I wouldn’t recommend the stalking thing.”

      Cassie raised an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you’ve been accused of stalking before?”

      “I might have been a bit overzealous in my pursuit of men in my reckless youth, but we’re discussing Ty. More specifically the fact that his engagement has sent you into a bout of depression so deep that it’ll take my store’s complete inventory to pull you out of it.”

      Cassie poured the entire contents of the spoon into her mouth and swallowed. “It’s not that he’s engaged.”

      Leo lifted her brows. “No?”

      “It’s that I nearly sampled his tonsils. How am I supposed to work with him?” Darn it. Still no relief. “Are you sure this is real chocolate?”

      “I think he still wants to jump your bones. And I’m insulted you could even question the purity of my chocolate.”

      “Jump my bones?”

      Leo grinned. “I told you. Biker date last night. I’m still in the mind-set.”

      Cassie folded her arms across her chest. “Well, Ty’s engaged, so it doesn’t matter if he wants me. Besides, the entire conversation is moot because I’m not going to take him on as a client and I’m never dating anyone ever again, anyway. And are you really positive it’s not diet chocolate or something?”

      “You’re going to turn him down? Are you kidding? You have one kiss with the man and you can’t cope with being in the same room with him? I’d have to go into isolation if I couldn’t handle being in the presence of any man I’d kissed. And of course it’s not diet.”

      But this kiss was different. It had been more than a kiss. It had been a connecting of their souls.

      “Is Ty stressed?”

      “No.” Liar! Liar! Liar!

      “Cassie…”

      “Okay, fine. There’s a distinct possibility he’s stressed. So what?”

      “So, you’re going to abandon a person in need of your services? Don’t you have any compassion?”

      “I—He—” Where was her brain? Cassie was totally unable to fabricate even a weak excuse, let alone a viable one.

      “Face it, Cassie. You called this chocolate relief session because you’re feeling guilty for refusing to help him because of your own baggage.”

      “I have no baggage.”

      Leo rolled her eyes. “The wedding? Finding Drew naked with another woman? Him declaring his love for you at the dance? Throwing yourself at some hot guy? Your first kiss in four years with someone other than Drew? Broke from your own wedding?”

      “Well, when you say it like that…” Forget the stupid red fruit. She needed chocolate straight up. Cassie scooped up another spoonful, blew on it, then dumped the entire contents in her mouth. Swirled it around. Twice. Swallowed.

      Nothing!

      No respite at all.

      Was she building up an immunity?

      Just what she needed: a resistance to chocolate. Not.

      It certainly couldn’t be that she was so tense that even her fail-safe stress reliever was rendered impotent. That would be unacceptable. Could she even imagine a stress-management consultant who was a complete basket case? Yes, that was definitely something that would add to her credentials.

      Leo set her cellphone in Cassie’s hand. “Call him.”

      Was she insane? “Ah…No.” Cassie tossed the phone onto the counter.