Janelle Denison - Pure Indulgence

Kayla turned around and poured the carrot cake batter into a pan, unable to bring herself to explain the whole aphrodisiac candy situation to her sister and unwilling to end up sounding like a complete fool. "I guess Doug did a bigger number on my confidence than I realized."

"Doug was an idiot and you can't compare every man to him," Jillian said from behind her.

Jack had told her the same thing the night he'd come to her shop to taste the cheesecakes.

"I have to tell you," Jillian said went on, "if you let Jack go without a fight, then you're being the idiot."

Leave it to her sister to be blunt, Kayla thought as she scraped the last of the batter into the pan. But as each minute of each hour of each day passed by and a deeper loneliness settled within her, she was inclined to believe that she was very much an idiot for allowing Jack to walk out her door two mornings ago.

Except she was having a difficult time getting past the fears and insecurities that kept her and her aching heart in their relentless grip.

Unable to turn around and face her sister, she squeezed her eyes shut, summoned an extra boost of fortitude, and admitted, "I'm scared, Jilly. Scared to believe in something so good."

"I know," she said, a deep understanding in her tone. "But aren't you more afraid of losing such a great guy?"

Kayla's throat closed up with emotion, cutting off her ability to speak. But the words still came, filtering effortlessly through her mind. Yes, she was petrified of losing Jack, which was part of the problem, too. Going after Jack meant taking a big risk… the risk that he might eventually end things with her. The resulting heartache and overwhelming sense of rejection could devastate her.

Yet she was beginning to accept and understand that loving Jack meant taking that risk and trusting him enough to believe that he'd never intentionally hurt her that way.

"Oh my God, Kayla!" Jillian exclaimed appreciatively. "These candies are fabulous . What are they?"

Jolted back to the present, Kayla whirled around and found her sister eating the leftover Caramel Caresses that Kayla hadn't touched since Jack had left her house. Her first instinct was to snatch the box out of her sister's hands and berate her for helping herself to something she had no business eating.

Instead of freaking out over this interesting turn of events, Kayla watched her sister consume another piece of the candy and decided to gauge her reaction to the Caramel Caresses. "Those are part of the new line of candies I'm creating for Pure Indulgence."

"Wow, they're very yummy." Jillian examined another piece closer. "You know, the shape of the candies kind of reminds me of a woman's breast."

"They're meant to look that way, to add to the sensuality of the candy." Kayla washed her sticky hands and dried them on a terry towel, but kept her gaze on her sister, who popped that third candy into her mouth and was chewing blissfully. "Jillian… do you feel anything at all?"

"Feel anything, like what?" Jillian asked, clearly confused as to what Kayla was suggesting.

Kayla recalled all the sensations those aphrodisiac candies had induced in her when she'd eaten them. "Warm. Tingly. Maybe a little… turned on?"

A frown creased Jillian's brows. "Are you having a nervous breakdown?"

"No." Kayla bit her bottom lip, looking for some kind of external sign that her sister was affected by those candies, but found none. "So, you don't feel anything sexual at all?" she persisted, needing to know.

"Look, I don't know what's gotten into you, but you're crazy for thinking a piece of chocolate, or two or three, can send a person's hormones into a frenzy. If that were the case, half the world's population would be walking around, completely turned on all the time."

Realizing that her sister truly wasn't affected by her candies, Kayla experienced a mingled rush of disappointment and relief. Disappointment because her exciting idea to start a new line of aphrodisiac candies at Pure Indulgence wasn't going to happen and she'd have to rethink her strategy with those new confections, and a huge surge of relief because the truth had just set a part of her free.

Free to believe, free to trust, free to love.

And most importantly, free to be herself.

"Why are you asking me these questions, anyway?" Jillian asked as she licked off smudges of caramel from her fingers.

"Because I put an aphrodisiac into those candies, and I needed to know if you had any kind of reaction to them."

Jillian was shocked, but became even more so when Kayla went on to explain that she'd used Jack for her experiment, and that she'd believed that every time they'd made love had been because of those candies.

She'd even fooled herself into believing her own libido had been affected by the stimulant. But it had all been in her mind.

Now Kayla understood what she couldn't bring herself to face that last morning with Jack. She'd wanted so badly to arouse Jack's passion that she'd read more into his sexual advances, certain they stemmed from an aphrodisiac.

The power of suggestion had been strong, her will to believe in something so mystical even stronger because she'd always wanted a man to desire her as intently, as completely, as Jack had when he'd eaten those candies. But she'd never believed it possible.

Jillian grasped Kayla's hand, directing her attention back to her. "Kayla, Jack Tremaine is absolutely crazy about you," she said with a smile. "I saw the way he looked at you that night at the shop when I interrupted the two of you. The whole time I was talking to him he was watching you move around the kitchen. What he feels for you is the real thing."

Finally, Kayla knew that, too. But was she too late to make amends?

"I know that the way Mother treated you, and Doug, too, is a big reason why you find it so hard to believe that a man like Jack can accept all of you, but it can happen. Don't let those damn voices in your head prevent you from moving on with your life. I know you're afraid of putting your emotions out there in the open and facing the possibility of rejection, but some things are worth risking."

And Jack was definitely worth the risk, she knew. "When did you become so smart?" Kayla teased.

"Trust me, there are plenty of brains beneath this blond hair," she said with a sassy toss of her head. "And we've both been in relationships that have played hell on our confidence and self-esteem, so I understand how you feel. But despite being burned before, I do believe that there's someone out there for everyone. A soul mate who'll love us for who we are inside. And I'm thinking maybe you've found yours in Jack."

Jillian's words were so profound, so full of hope and determination that Kayla found herself believing in true love and happily-ever-afters-for herself and Jillian.

And as Kayla gazed at her sister, she realized that despite how slender and beautiful and sophisticated Jillian was, she was just as capable of being hurt, and she'd had her own insecurities to bear, just like any other woman. It just underlined that a person was a lot more than what they showed on the outside.

Which was what Jack had been trying to tell Kayla all along.

Her relationship with Jack had never been based on her weight or body image. That had been her hang-up, her insecurity. And Kayla supposed her decision about whether or not to let Jack into her life was based on a question that every woman, no matter what size or shape, had to ask herself at some point… was she willing to take a risk with her emotions and trust another person with her heart?

Kayla's answer came without hesitation. She was ready and willing to take whatever risks were necessary to have Jack in her life. Even if it meant baring herself to him-heart, body and soul.