Sweet Dream Lover Read online

  SWEET DREAM LOVER

  Karen Sandler

  Copyright © 2012 Karen Sandler. All rights reserved. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author.

  Originally published by Five Star as Chocolate Magic. Also published as Chocolate Magic by Kayla Russo.

  Cover design by Kimberly Van Meter

  “Kat and Mark's story is lighthearted and funny, topped with enough chocolate references to cause cravings and an emergency run to the nearest candy counter.” —Booklist

  “Chocolate Magic is like rich chocolate, sensually sweet, sumptuous, delicious and heavenly.” —Dee Herga, The Romance Studio

  “The second chance at love story line stars two wonderful characters and a horde of eccentric support characters who lovingly interfere with the lead duet. Sweet caring Mark will melt readers while bitter tart Kat receives less empathy. Yet together, fans will enjoy the tasty dessert headlined by the combating candy CEOs.” —Harriet Klausner

  Other Romance E-books by Karen Sandler

  Independently Published

  Another Chance at Heaven

  Dark Whispers

  His Make-Believe Wife

  Love Be a Lady

  Loves Me, Loves Me Not

  Published by Harlequin

  The Boss’s Baby Bargain

  Counting on a Cowboy

  A Father’s Sacrifice

  The Three-Way Miracle

  Her Baby’s Hero

  His Baby to Love

  His Miracle Baby

  Her Miracle Man

  Their Second-Chance Child

  The Family He Wanted

  Young adult science fiction by Karen Sandler

  Published by Lee and Low Books

  Tankborn

  Awakening (book 2 of the Tankborn trilogy, Spring 2013)

  Revolution (book 3 of the Tankborn trilogy, Spring 2014)

  Visit me on the web:

  http://www.karensandler.net

  http://karensandler.wordpress.com

  Twitter: @karensandlerYA or @karensandler

  To all my chocolate-loving friends—you know who you are.

  Chapter 1

  Katarina Roth froze in the act of pinching off another bite of her chocolate chip croissant as Mark Denham ambled into Starbucks, a petite blonde sashaying at his side. Tucked into the back corner of the coffee bar, Kat had no hope of slinking out without Mark spying her. She was trapped, with nothing to hide behind but an oversized cappuccino cup and a half-eaten croissant.

  You’d think with a population of millions in the greater Seattle area, she and Mark would never cross paths. And she hadn’t been down to Pike Place Market in months. The nerve of him choosing today to escort that knockout blonde for a lunchtime coffee and tête-à-tête.

  Damn, there ought to be a law against ex-husbands parading blondes in front of their ex-wives in public. Mark ought to at least have the common courtesy to have sprouted a post-divorce potbelly or a few gray hairs so he wouldn’t look so damned yummy.

  Appetite gone, Kat stuffed what was left of her chocolate- filled croissant back into the white paper bag. As Mark and his companion turned away from the counter, lattes and pastries in hand, Kat ducked behind her cappuccino cup, gulping a mouthful of tepid coffee. Mark hadn’t seen her yet and to her relief, he seated himself with his back to her. If she moved quietly enough and quickly, he might miss her entirely.

  Crumpled bag in her hand, she left the cup behind and threaded her way through the tables and chairs of the crowded coffee bar. The bag slam-dunked into the trash, Kat thought she’d made good her escape when he called out her name. Praying he’d think he’d mistaken some other tall, skinny woman with a short mop of hair for his ex-wife, she dodged through traffic across Pike Place and slipped inside the first shop she came to.

  Using a revolving display of cookbooks as camouflage, Kat peered out the store window at Starbucks across the street. Mark still stood there at the entrance, looking left and right, obviously searching for her. Why it seemed so important to him to track her down, Kat had no idea. Maybe he just wanted the chance to flaunt the blonde on his arm.

  Finally, Mark turned and reentered Starbucks, no doubt returning to his companion. Reluctant to walk past the coffee shop and risk seeing Mark and his chippie together, Kat turned away from the window to wander along the narrow aisles of the store she’d entered. It was a kitchen wares shop, a pretty ironic refuge for a woman whose idea of cooking was nuking a frozen dinner in the microwave. Nevertheless, as her gaze leisurely scanned the cluttered shelves from top to bottom, she found the plethora of incomprehensible gadgets fascinating.

  Unfortunately, not intriguing enough to keep her mind from her ex-husband. Just the thought of him elevated her heart rate. Despite her best intentions, she still reacted to his six-foot-plus body as strongly as she had during their short, tempestuous marriage. Her heart may have stopped loving him, but her libido had yet to get the message.

  Even now, she could remember clearly his bare broad shoulders above her as they made love, the intensity in his face, the feel of his legs tangled with hers. The texture of his muscles under her hands, the way they flexed as he thrust into her, the moment of her release and the triumph reflected in his eyes.

  A sudden flush of heat drove her to remove the jacket of her dove gray power suit and sling it over the crook of her arm. The matching heels pinched her feet so she slipped them off and stuffed them into her handbag. So much for dressing for success.

  The little blonde had been wearing red, and the suit fit her petite body like a glove. Too impatient to wait for tailoring, Kat bought her suits off the rack. Unfortunately, clothing long enough to fit her tall frame was always baggy in the shoulders and hips.

  Seeing Mark just added to the aggravation of the day. She had enough on her plate with the pressing problems that awaited her back at the office. She’d hoped for a respite spending her Friday lunch hour at Starbucks, then a little relaxation roaming through the Pike Place Market shops. Instead, a close encounter with her ex had unsettled what little peace she’d gained in half a cup of cappuccino.

  Shaking off her irritation, Kat lifted her gaze to the kitchen store’s back window and the distant view of Elliot Bay beyond. Seattle’s April sky refused to surrender its gloom, although the drizzle had ceased by mid-morning. If the weather report could be believed, the upcoming weekend would be sunny. If only the same could be said for the financial picture at Roth Confectionery Company.

  As she returned her focus to the exotic merchandise crowding the store shelves, the urgency to return to her office closed in on her. She longed to blow off the afternoon, to retreat to her Capitol Hill condo and watch sappy old movies on the Romance Channel with her cat, Rochester, draped across her lap. Her assistant took an afternoon off at least once a month, with Kat’s blessing. Why couldn’t she do the same?

  Because she was Roth’s CEO. And if she wasn’t there to solve the problems, no one else would.

  With a sigh, Kat continued down the aisle to the end, pausing at a display of coffeemakers. Amidst the Brauns and the Krupps, an arrangement of foil-wrapped chocolates overflowed a crystal bowl. Coffee Buddies, the accompanying sign read. Another fine product from the Denham Candy Company. Leaning against the display, a chubby-cheeked chocolate “Buddy” doll grinned rakishly at her.

  If you asked Kat, Buddy looked too damn cheerful. Glaring at the cartoon character, Kat plucked up a chocolate, stared down at it in her palm. Envy tweaked at her as she studied the neatly wrapped cube. It wasn’t the high quality of the product that galled her, the way they melted so evenly in coffee to flavor it. And she didn’t r
esent that Coffee Buddies were a smash from the day they hit store shelves. Not much, anyway.

  What truly maddened her, what was nearly too much to bear, was that Roth had been a heartbeat away from releasing their own version of the treats when Denham beat them to market with Coffee Buddies. Roth’s Coffee Pals, although delicious in their own right, were also-rans in popularity. In fact, if sales didn’t pick up, they might have to discontinue the item since the fine European chocolate required to make them was so costly.

  If it had been Hershey’s or Mars or Ghirardelli who’d trounced them, she could have handled the defeat. But it was Denham. The company whose headquarters was a short drive up Fairview from Roth’s. The company chosen the number-three best place to work in Washington state, right after Roth Confectionery. The company co-featured with Roth two months ago in Fortune magazine.

  The company owned and operated by Mark Denham, her infuriating and drop-dead gorgeous ex-husband, creator of winning candy products, escorter of knockout blondes.

  With a growl, Kat dropped the chocolate back in the bowl, then turned to head out of the store. Just as she reached the door, Mark emerged from Starbucks across the street, the blonde glued to his side. The petite woman gazed up at Mark as she spoke, gesturing animatedly with her paper sack from the coffee shop. Mark nodded occasionally, flashing his devastating smile in the bimbo’s direction.

  Damn, they were crossing the street. Kat retreated again into the cooking store, crouching in the back until she was sure Mark had passed.

  As she straightened, she caught sight of the brimming bowl of Coffee Buddies, the perky cartoon Buddy grinning at her. She could almost see him prancing on the shelf, little squares of chocolate bouncing around him as they taunted her, Neener, neener, neener, we like Denham better. Buddy’s imaginary voice bore a striking resemblance to Mark’s high tenor when he was a ten-year-old and she a lowly six-year-old.

  Feeling a little like that six-year-old now, Kat stuck her tongue out at Buddy and snatched up a handful of the candies. I’ll get you, Buddy, and your little friends, too.

  One eye out the front window, Kat approached the register and spilled the handful of chocolates on the counter. “I’ll take these.”

  The grandmotherly clerk gave Kat a sunny smile as she rang up the sale. “Aren’t those the most scrumptious treats?”

  “I suppose.” Kat fished a few dollars from her wallet, then scrounged in the bottom of her purse for the change. “But Coffee Pals are better.”

  “Coffee Pals?” The clerk blinked at her through thick glasses. “What are those?”

  “Never mind,” Kat sighed.

  As she slipped from the store, she checked Pike Place, left and right. No sign of either ex-husband or sashaying blonde. A Coffee Buddy melting in her mouth, Kat returned to her car, reluctantly savoring the delicious smooth taste of the chocolate. They really were wonderful, and the marketing darned clever, with Buddy creeping into the hearts and minds of both children and adults. It still irked her that Denham’s concept had been so similar to her own for Coffee Pals. It had forced Roth to revamp their marketing strategy at the last minute.

  As she drove up Pike Street, she nearly had her third Coffee Buddy to her lips before she caught herself. Darn things were just as difficult to resist as their maker. She re-wrapped the candy and dropped it into the bag, then tossed the bag on the seat beside her.

  Pulling onto Interstate 5 for the short drive back to her office, she could almost hear the Coffee Buddies whispering, “Don’t you want another?” Her arm snaked out of its own accord. She’d nearly reached the bag when someone cut in front of her as she was about to exit the freeway. That took all her concentration, distracting her from the enticing candy.

  By the time Kat reached Roth Confectionery’s headquarters overlooking Lake Union, considerations of her afternoon’s tasks dominated her thoughts. Up on the twelfth-floor, she approached her office with a stack of pink message slips in one hand and the stash of Coffee Buddies in the other. Why hadn’t she left them in the car? Resolutely, she tossed the remaining treats in her wastebasket before she leafed through her messages.

  Her jacket tossed over the back of her chair, Kat glanced out her floor-to-ceiling window. Lake Union spread out before her and on its opposite shore she could just make out the Space Needle. When she’d become CEO, her parents had given her the choice of corner offices, this one with its view of the Seattle Center or the larger northwest corner suite. It had been a no- brainer. The northwest office overlooked Denham Candy Company headquarters. Gazing out at Mark Denham’s enclave as she sipped her morning French roast would have wreaked havoc on her blood pressure.

  Kat returned her attention to the stack of messages. She dreaded the upcoming meeting with marketing. Maybe she could sneak off to visit Roth’s research and development department instead? As she contemplated that possibility, her phone buzzed and she started like a guilty child.

  She answered. “Yes, Norma?”

  “Someone to see you, Kat.” Norma lowered her voice to a stage whisper. “It’s Fritz.”

  “Oh, Lord.” That was all she needed today. Her walking disaster of a cousin. Cousin-in-law. Ex-cousin-in-law? “Tell him I’m busy.”

  “Fritz, she’s...Fritz!” Norma called an instant before Kat’s office door opened.

  Fritz’s grin would have rivaled Buddy’s. “Cousin Kat! It’s so great to see you.” He strode toward her, five feet, six inches of trouble in a chocolate brown Armani suit.

  As he rounded her desk, arms outstretched, his hip bumped against a Lenox porcelain candy dish, upsetting it. Kat dove for it, catching it just before it tipped off the desk.

  “Sorry, Kat.” He pulled her into his arms, gave her a Heimlich hug that popped the air from her lungs. “How ya doing, Cuz?”

  “Great,” she gasped. “And you?”

  He stepped back, still smiling. “Good. Really good.” He didn’t quite meet her gaze.

  His evasiveness set off warning bells inside Kat. She scrutinized him worriedly. Always a slight young man, he seemed a little thinner than he’d been two years ago when she’d seen him last. How old was he now? Twenty-three? No, twenty- four, eight years younger than she.

  The heart-stopping Denham good looks had skipped Fritz’s gene pool. Late-life son of Mark’s stuffy Uncle Neddy, Fritz took after his frail, dainty mother. Cute as a puppy, and just as vexatious.

  “So what brings you here?” Kat asked carefully.

  Nonchalantly, he leaned one hand on her desk, jostling a framed picture of Kat’s mom and stepdad. Kat rescued the photo, putting it out of reach.

  Straightening, Fritz shoved his hands in his trouser pockets. He grinned wider. “Your dad didn’t tell you?”

  Unease tickled the pit of Kat’s stomach. “Tell me what?”

  A rap on her office door pulled her attention from Fritz. Her assistant, Norma Wilson, opened the door and stuck her head in. “Marketing is waiting for you in the big conference room. The CM strategy meeting, remember?”

  As if she’d forget the dreaded strategy meeting for Chocolate Magic. But the marketing meeting now seemed a welcome diversion from the chaos that was Fritz.

  “Gotta go,” Kat said as Norma bowed out again. “Can we do this later, Fritz?”

  “Hey, no problem.” He waved his hands, striking the desk lamp which leapt to its death. Fritz retrieved it, righting it on the desk with an apologetic shrug. “I can replace that bulb for you if you want.”

  “No need.” Kat grabbed up her jacket and held it before her like a shield. “Norma will take care of it. Why don’t we do lunch sometime?”

  “Sure! Sounds great. After all, we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”

  She’d nearly reached the door when her belabored brain absorbed what he’d said. She stopped, turned to face him. “We will?”

  His hands plunged back into his pockets. “Well, I don’t start here officially until Monday, but we could have lunch anytime.”

 
“Start.” She blinked, once, twice. “Here?”

  He rocked back on his heels. “Your dad really didn’t tell you?”

  She shook her head.

  “He hired me today. To work at Roth.” He flung out his arms to either side and the lamp bit the dust again. “I’m your new community relations advisor.”

  Kat shook her head. “He can’t. Hire you, I mean. Not without telling me.” Except it wouldn’t be the first time her father had done an end run around her. Although still on the Roth board of directors, he’d retired as CEO only a year ago. Kat knew her father trusted her, but he still hadn’t quite gotten used to letting her run the business.

  But Fritz! What could her father have been thinking?

  She walked back toward her cousin, intent on prying him from her office. “Look, I really have to go.” She reached for his arm. “If you could just—”

  “So, how’s Mark?”

  The unexpected question jolted Kat to a stuttering stop. “I have no idea.” Gorgeous as ever. Dating knockout blondes. Ignoring the nasty little voice inside her head, Kat marched back toward the door. “Look, I’ve got a meeting.”

  “So you’re still single? Got a boyfriend?” His gaze roved her desktop as if in search of love interest evidence. “Engaged maybe?”

  “None of the above,” Kat said, her hand on the doorknob. “Come on, Fritz. I have to go.”

  Without missing a beat, Fritz slid open the center desk drawer, glanced through it, shut it again. As he moved to open the upper left drawer, Kat hurried back across her office. “Hey! Leave my stuff alone!”

  Fritz ignored her, pulling open the drawer. Kat grabbed his wrist, startled at how thin it seemed. Whatever else was happening in this boy’s life, he wasn’t eating enough. Shaking off her hold, Fritz fished inside the drawer all the way to the back. His grin grew sly as he retrieved the bit of folly Kat had hidden back there.