Sweeter Pleasures Read online

  Sweeter Pleasures

  Lyssa Cole

  Contents

  Title Page

  Description

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Lyssa Cole

  Stripped Bare Preview

  Sneak Peek-Love in Disguise

  To my family

  Title Page

  Sweeter Pleasures

  By Lyssa Cole

  Copyright © 2017 by Lyssa Cole

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

  without the express written permission of the publisher

  except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  All characters are fictional and any representation or duplicity is purely coincidental and is not meaning to imitate any person. All sex and/or sexual content is consensual with parties over 18+.

  This is a novel with a HEA ending. No cheating, but there is adult content-content is intended for readers 18+. You have been warned-your panties might just sizzle right off you. Enjoy!

  Lyssa Cole Books

  Wingold Street

  Fall River MA, 02720

  www.lyssacolebooks.com

  Created with Vellum

  Description

  I thought I had it all. The perfect man. The perfect life. The perfect everything. But then when he left me on our honeymoon for some chick he met just two days into our trip, my world changed in the blink of an eye. I went home with my tail tucked between my legs and swore off men forever.

  Two years later, I had finally accomplished my dream of opening my own bakery. I planned on being so successful, I wouldn’t need a man. I got laid when I wanted to and had no one to answer to. What else could I ever need? A relationship would only complicate my life.

  That all changed the day my new baker came strolling into the kitchen. All muscles and ink, a sexy, charming personality, and an even more deliciously handsome face and that was it-I was done for.

  We began a whirlwind relationship, not being able to get enough of each other.

  But we both had our secrets lurking in the past. I was still married, the asshole never agreeing to sign divorce papers, until one day he shows up begging at my doorstep for me to take him back, telling me that he had made a big mistake.

  While Drake had a secret of his own that showed up too. But his was worse, much worse.

  Love complicates everything… but it is also the sweetest pleasure there is. Can it be worth risking all that you have worked so hard for only to be destroyed again?

  Prologue

  Life works in funny ways. You think you have it all-the perfect life, the perfect man, the perfect job, the PERFECT everything. But really what do you have? Nothing is perfect and most of the time you are getting fucked in one way or another whether it’s for pleasure or pain. Or because someone just doesn’t care.

  And I was one of those naïve bitches who thought that life could and would be perfect. I thought that I could have the perfect life, the perfect man, the perfect job. And I really did have a version of it. I worked part time at my mother’s flower shop which was easy and painless. My dream of baking hadn’t quite taken off yet but I hadn’t given up completely. I was just waiting for the right time.

  And the perfect man. Or so I thought. Kyle was everything to me. We were high school sweethearts and madly in love. I had been one of the semi-popular girls made more popular by dating hottest guy on campus. Kyle pursued me which shocked the shit out of me but we had been neighbors and friends since elementary school, so we did know each other a tiny bit. I just assumed he would go for a cheerleader or the like. Not boring Bree who liked to read and occasionally came out for some fun.

  Kyle opened my heart to love, light, and laughter. Emotions I had never felt before coursed through me mixing with my teenage hormones to create something heady and overwhelming. Obsessive and gut wrenching. Kyle was my one and only, my first true love, the only love I had ever wanted. A love I thought was pure and true, a real love that would last a lifetime.

  That is until we landed in Hawaii for our honeymoon. And my entire world shattered.

  Nothing was perfect anymore.

  I had fallen asleep poolside while catching a tan. When I had woke up, Kyle was nowhere to be found. I figured he must have gotten bored and went back to the hotel room. Kyle wasn’t one to sit around and do nothing.

  I headed back to the hotel room, ready for a long, hot shower before dinner. We had only been here for three days and I was already very used to this amazing lifestyle. A girl could definitely get used to bikinis, sun, and margaritas all day.

  As soon as I reached the door, I heard a woman’s laughter followed by a moan. My insides turned to ice, anxiety flooding through me. I slid my key card into the door and as soon as the door swung open, I wish I had never seen what I saw.

  Some Hawaiian chick was riding Kyle’s cock, her small tits barely bouncing. Anxiety rolled through me like a giant wave, each ripple sending a shock through every part of me. I scratched at my neck, feeling as if I couldn’t breathe. I screamed, a blood-curdling scream, and then the next few minutes happened in a flash. All I remember is running at the woman, screaming maniacally, my arms flailing wildly around me, my eyes only seeing red. She hopped off Kyle, taking the sheet with her, making a dash for the door.

  I caught her by her long black hair, pulling her head back with a loud snap. The bitch screamed herself and just as I was going to swing at her face, Kyle grabbed my hands, pulling me off her.

  I screamed again, throwing punches in every direction at him. “Let me go, you fucking asshole! Let me go!”

  The slut took off, fleeing the room, the door slamming shut behind her. I itched to go after her but Kyle was holding me down, not letting me go. Finally, he released me and I turned on him, my fury out of control. Tears began pouring down my face. My heart, my world had just been shattered into pieces all around me and I had no idea what to do. My breaths were coming out in spurts, my chest heaving with rage.

  Kyle held his hands up in surrender, his eyes sad and full of pity. There was no way I was giving him any of my fucking pity. “Please, please Bree. Let me explain…”

  I held my hand up to stop him. I did NOT want to hear his fucking bullshit. “No. NO Kyle. There is no explanation. Your cock was just in another woman, in our honeymoon bed, on our fucking honeymoon for that matter. How could you do this to me? To us?”

  I backed away, needing to get out of there. I couldn’t even look him in the face. I felt like throwing up, the betrayal and pain cutting me so deep. I could feel it in every part of my being. My first love, who I thought was going to be my happily ever after, my one and only, had just destroyed everything. Everything I thought I knew gone in one quick puff of smoke, or should I say thrust of his fucking dirty dick?

  We had just gotten married and he cheats on our honeymoon? How could he? How fucking dare, he?

  I shook my head, the tears falling uncontrollably now. “You were never the man I thought you would be. How are you going to show your face back home? To our family? Our friends? Fuck you, Kyle. Enjoy your island life with your
Hawaiian slut because THAT’S ALL YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE NOW!!”

  Then I turned and left, never looking back.

  Chapter One

  Two years later

  I kneaded the pie dough, making sure it was at just the right texture. The year of baking classes taught me perfectly and my pies were now a big hit. Along with mostly everything else in my bakery.

  Yes, finally, I opened my own bakery. Girl power, hell yeah right? It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, and I mean a lot but I wouldn’t change a thing. I used my broken heart to fuel me and I accomplished my long-standing dream of becoming a baker and owning my own place.

  Now I ran and owned Sweet Bites, a small place I opened in the town next to the one I grew up in. It actually used to be a small schoolhouse and I had the entire place revamped inside but kept its old-school cute charm. It went perfectly with my baked goods and my vision.

  I shaped the pie dough into six small balls, wrapped each one in plastic wrap, and then placed them in the refrigerator. The dough needed to relax and chill in the fridge before being rolled out. I then proceeded to make the filling. I was making my popular berry pie and I had a few orders to fill plus I needed some back up pies for the case out front.

  The girls I have working the front kept it well stocked for the customers and I was always making more and filling up the backup areas. It was a perfect system and worked quite well.

  As I stirred the berries, I thought about how I was in desperate need for a baker. My last baker had just up and quit with no notice and I had been picking up all the extra slack. I didn’t have anyone else in the back with me as we didn’t do cakes but I needed the help to make the different breads, pies, cookies, pastries, and other various baked goods we made and featured. I liked to keep the menu fresh and exciting, introducing new items and specials weekly.

  I also had a couple of full time and part time girls for the front. That’s all my small bakery needed but I was feeling the loss of the baker big time. I couldn’t keep working here every day like this and run the business. It was too much.

  I think back over the past two years and everything that happened. I didn’t let the shit crush me though it was close a time or two.

  After finding Kyle with that bitch, I came home with my tail tucked between my legs and crawled back into my parents’ house. I had moved in with Kyle so I no longer had my own place to go to. They accepted me with open arms, shocked and appalled by what Kyle had done. My parents wanted to call his parents and begin this whole drama story but I told them to forget it, it wasn’t even worth it. It was a small town, people talk, and the shit would eventually get out.

  And it sure did. Boy did I love watching Kyle squirm when he got back here. The news had spread like wildfire and sure as shit when Kyle came strolling back into town like he was hot shit, he was put on his ass. As far as I knew, he only came back for his things as he was going to live in Hawaii with the slut. Good for them. I hope a hurricane ruins their house. He was gone within a few days’ time, never once saying anything to me or my parents. Not an apology, explanation, or even a simple hello. I didn’t care to see him but my parents cared about him and he shit on them like they meant nothing.

  I built a strong wall around my heart, stacking my tears of grief like cement blocks, vowing never to let love crush me like that again. If love is one of the sweetest pleasures we can experience, why does it cause so much pain? After a few months of hiding out at my parents, I shook off the dust and tears, took a deep fucking breath, and used my pain to pursue my dream. It wasn’t easy to do. In the early days, and weeks of being home, I wouldn’t leave my room most days, endless tears trickling down my face. I thought they would never run dry. Each day that slowly passed got a little easier but not much. He is still the man I thought I would spend the rest of my life with and that is so hard to move past. The pain still felt as fresh as the day it happened. But then those tears began to build my wall, the wall around my heart , the wall I was going to use to keep love out. I didn’t care anymore, I was finished with love and relationships and being left stabbed open to bleed. I never wanted to feel this pain again.

  And let me tell you, pain sure is a way to keep you focused on a goal. I couldn’t be distracted by men or love. No, it was my time. My time to make my dreams come true. I had set my dream aside for Kyle, wanting to be his devoted wife and the mother of his children, but not anymore and not for anyone ever again. It was time to turn my life around the way I wanted it and not let a man influence my decisions. So to keep me distracted from what had happened, I used that pain to focus on my schooling. I dove into my classes with such passion even my Chefs and professors thought I had lots of experience when in fact I had none. But I did study my ass off and took a shit part-time job at a grocery bakery, learning the ins and outs of a kitchen, and how the whole commercial bakery industry worked.

  I knew I wanted to stand out and be different. I used my job as inspiration as to what not to make, only so I could offer customers something different. There are plenty of places to get cake, so why not offer specialty breads and pies people couldn’t get anywhere else? And not your basic pumpkin and apple pie, but delicious creations like my famous sweet berry pie or raspberry white chocolate pie. Would you find that in your local grocery store? Probably not.

  For an entire year, I lived and breathed baking. I went to my classes, went to work, came home and baked-inventing all of the new recipes and ideas I wanted to try. Once I felt ready, I began giving out samples to anyone who wanted to try. I just threw myself out there. My hometown just north of Boston loved every bite I had to offer. They had known me since I was a little girl handing out bags of free cookies. So I moved on to the next town over, and the next town, giving out samples with business cards, building a fan base for myself before I even got my shop opened.

  In the spring, when my graduation was only a few weeks away, I began hunting for a place to become my bakery. I had saved up any money I had gotten and my father offered to put a big down payment on a space for me. My samples had taken off so much that I was getting daily calls, asking for orders or where my shop was.

  I began taking a few orders here and there from the people that had tried my sweet berry pie and a new bread recipe I had tried, parmesan crusted sourdough. Soon the orders were coming in so fast, I knew I had to choose a place to make my creations. When my mother told me about the old schoolhouse across the way from our house going up for sale, I knew it would be perfect. I had always loved that little red schoolhouse from its Country charm right down to the sense of welcome it gave off. It had been shut down since before I was born but the city had kept up with it, trying to keep hold of a memory. As a child, I remembered always sneaking up to it and looking in the windows, picturing myself being inside, being the student, or even being the teacher. It going up for sale was an amazing opportunity for me. I jumped on it the minute I saw the realtor over there putting up the listing. She must have thought I was a crazy psycho, the way I ran over to her, offering her almost double the asking price. It had been listed for an insanely low amount, thinking there would be no bites. I decided to offer more so that there would be nothing standing in my way from getting this building and besides, it was way less than what I thought I would be spending.

  A month later and the place was mine; I had signed my name on the dotted line. I began a massive overhaul, the extra money I had from the low sale amount going into the makeover of the building. I had always had a vision of my bakery in my mind so I drew up my plans, gave them to the construction team, and let them take over.

  I had wanted a big kitchen, with plenty of working space, complete with commercial equipment. I needed mixers and ovens, a big standing oven, along with sinks and a couple of steel topped working tables. I wanted a modern sleek look with everything being stainless steel and a light colored oak for the bottom half of the tables. Out into the main area, I wanted a counter running along an entire wall, with display cases under the counter, both ref
rigerated and unrefrigerated. I also wanted plenty of space behind the counter for my employees, along with another counter behind them attached to the wall. This counter would be used for everything needed in a bakery-boxes, bags, order forms, a phone, a cash register, etc.

  These were the standards I needed just to run the place and make my baked goods, but the most important part was the dining area I have always loved the charm of the country, so I decorated the bakery with a simple them the exuded charm. It was soft warm colors, red and gold, along with warm browns mixing in. Stars have always been a favorite of mine so I added big red and gold ones throughout the shop to complete the country theme. There were sweeping gold lace sheers lining every window and I used soft lighting throughout the entire dining area. I had lights strung along the walls, white gold ones, including paper lanterns that hung throughout the area from the ceiling. Low lighting was key to keep the mood feeling relaxed and calm. There were a lot of candles, including a candle centerpiece on every table. The tables and chairs were a warm brown color with red cushions and there were about ten sets lining the area.

  I would pop in every day as the construction and design team worked, watching the place unfold beautifully before my eyes. I couldn’t believe my dream was finally coming true. We set the opening day to be in July, the month of my birthday, and I couldn’t be happier.

  The night before the opening, my mother came to me, telling me she had a surprise. She ran her hands through my long light brown hair, the curly waves inherited from my father’s side. Her hair had been pin straight. We did share the same brown colored eyes together, big saucers that were a perfect shape. Greg, my father, always said my mother’s eyes were his favorite feature of hers. My mother, Lilly, has been my best friend since I was a little girl. She would rub my head every night as we laid down together, telling me grand stories of princesses being rescued by Kings in far off lands. She never made me feel like true love wasn’t real and always insisted that one day I would be lucky enough to find my prince charming. I knew I would be like my mom in the way that she was a great business woman herself, running her flower shop day in and day out. It was her own dream she was able to accomplish, my father helping her along the way.