Janet Evanovich - Wicked Appetite

A warm flush ran from my chest to my stomach. “I love yellow cake and pink icing.”

“You look kind of goofy,” Clara said. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I was just thinking about the cakes.”

Clara powered up the big bread mixer. “And don’t forget Shirley increased her order.”

I got butter and milk from the fridge and set it out on my workstation. “I’m on it.”

Ten minutes later, I had a cauldron of cake batter in front of me.

“What are you doing?” Clara yelled from across the room.

“I’m making cake.”

“No, you’re not. You’re eating cake. I’ve been watching you. You’ve eaten half the batter.”

I stared into the bowl. Clara was right. There was a lot of batter missing.

“I’ve never seen you scarf down raw batter like that,” Clara said. “What’s going on?”

I told her about the SALIGIA Stones, Shirley’s ladybug charm, and my food obsession.

“I’m on board with the Unmentionable thing,” Clara said. “I understand that people have abilities in varying degrees and that sometimes those abilities are beyond normal. The SALIGIA Stones are different. They’re a tough sell.”

“Kind of Indiana Jones.”

“Yeah. Maybe Diesel has doctored the story. I could see him trying to get his hands on something valuable. I’m having trouble buying the hell-on-earth bit.”

I nodded in agreement. I was attracted to Diesel, but let’s be honest, it wasn’t much of a stretch to think he would fib if it suited his purposes.

“What do you think I should do?” I asked Clara. “I can’t lock him out of my house. He just lets himself back in. And I feel better about him than Wulf. At least when Diesel’s around, I don’t have to worry about getting burned.”

And he looks wonderful with or without clothes, I thought, and I like the way he feels when he’s next to me.

“Just be careful, and try to be smart,” Clara said. “And if you feel really uncomfortable about it all, you’re welcome to stay upstairs with me. And for goodness sakes, stop eating the cake batter.”

“I’m hoping after Diesel and the charm are out of my space for a while I’ll get back to normal.”

“That would be good, because at the rate you’re snacking on batter, we’re not going to have anything to sell today.”

At five minutes to eight, Clara stopped at my station to watch me tube pink icing onto the vanilla cupcakes.

“You haven’t eaten anything for almost an hour now,” she said.

I set my pastry bag aside and took up a shaker of red sugar sprinkles. “Yeah. And I have no desire to eat anything ever again.”

The back door banged open and Glo charged in.

“Oops, sorry,” she said. “Guess I pushed the door too hard. My mind was someplace else.”

“Where was it?” Clara wanted to know.

“It wasn’t in any place good. I have a big problem.”

“Gosh, imagine that,” Clara said.

Glo shrugged out of her black sweatshirt and into her bakery smock. “A couple months ago, I was at a party and one of the guys worked for an animal rescue group. He was a really cute guy, and that’s such a good cause. I mean, how could you not like a guy who rescues sad little baby animals? Anyway, I sort of signed up to give a home to one of the sad little abandoned babies.”

“Sort of?” Clara asked.

“Okay, I totally signed. It was a moment of weakness, and this guy was such a hottie. And I didn’t know back then that my landlord was allergic. And the bottom line is, I totally forgot all about it until the critter was delivered first thing this morning.”

“I don’t want it,” Clara said.

“I know!” Glo wailed. “And Lizzy already has a kitty. I’m so screwed. I don’t know what to do.”

“Just give it back to the rescue people,” Clara said.

Glo buttoned her smock. “I tried that. They said possession was nine-tenths of the law, and they wouldn’t take it back. I guess some of these animals have behavioral problems.”

“And you agreed to take on a pet with behavioral problems?”

“Did I mention how cute the guy was? And that he drove a Corvette?”

Clara and I exchanged glances.

“Where’s the problem child now?” Clara asked.

“In my car,” Glo said.

I had a vision of some poor, scared kitten locked up in Glo’s car all day.

“You can’t leave it in your car,” I told her. “I suppose I could see if it gets along with Cat 7143.”

Glo’s eyes opened wide. “Omigosh, that would be so awesome. That would be amazing!”

Glo ran out the door, and a moment later, she returned with a monkey on a leash.

“That’s a monkey,” I said to her.

“Yeah.”

“I thought you got something from animal rescue.”

“Actually, it was Monkey Rescue.”

“I don’t want a monkey,” I told her. “I’m not a monkey person.”

The monkey did a gruesome monkey smile, its lips pulled back to reveal a mouthful of monkey teeth, his monkey eyes overly big and bright, as if he was trying hard to look happy but was completely insane.

“Look how cute he is,” Glo said. “And he likes you. He’s smiling.”

I thought he looked like he was planning to chop me up into little pieces and stuff me into the blender.

“I have to open the bakery,” Clara said. “You guys are going to have to work something out with the monkey. He can’t stay here.” Her attention moved to the back door and her mouth dropped open. “Holy cow,” she said.

It was Wulf. He was standing in the doorway, his dark eyes fixed on me. He was wearing a black leather jacket, black slacks, black boots, and his glossy black hair was tied back at the nape of his neck. I felt a chill run through me, and I went breathless at the sight of him. He was terrifyingly compelling.

“I believe you have something that belongs to me,” Wulf said.

I opened my mouth to deny it, but it took a while for sound to come out. “N-n-no,” I finally said.

Wulf moved toward me. “We’ll see.”

I scrambled to the other side of the workstation, putting the island between us. “I swear I haven’t got anything.”

“Stay away from her,” Glo said. “Or else.”

Wulf’s focus never wavered. His eyes were fixed on me with an intensity that made my skin prickle.

“Come here,” he said. “Trust me, you don’t want to make me angry.”

Glo was standing by the table we used for the meat pies. She snatched a garlic clove out of a bin and threw it at Wulf. It hit him in the side of the head and bounced off onto the floor.

“Death to vampires,” Glo said.

Wulf flicked his eyes to the garlic. “If only it was that easy,” he said.

“Lenny’s inheritance got blown up with the chicken, and Diesel has Shirley’s,” I told Wulf.

There was a flash of fire and lots of smoke, and when the smoke cleared, Wulf was gone.

The monkey peeked out from behind Glo. “Eep!”

That pretty much summed it up for all of us.

“I’m impressed,” I said to Glo. “You were really gutsy to throw that garlic at him.”

“Yeah, but now I might fall over,” she said. “I’ve gotta sit down. I need a cupcake or something. Holy bejeezus, he’s one scary guy.”

Clara scooted a chair under Glo, and I gave her a cupcake. The monkey looked freaked, so I gave him a cupcake, too. Everyone took a moment to breathe.

“Okay, I feel better,” Glo said. “I’m not going to throw up or anything.”

“Someone’s pounding on the front door,” Clara said. “I’m ten minutes late to open.”

Glo and I followed Clara into the shop and looked out at Shirley hammering on the door. She was bug-eyed, and her hair was Wild Woman. She was wearing a misbuttoned white shirt, and her skirt was twisted off center.