Barefoot in Lace (Barefoot Bay Brides Book 2) by Roxanne St. Claire

connection.”
    Was she nuts? “This is a connection.”
    “A physical connection.”
    “So? You never have sex just for fun?”
    “Not…no, I really don’t.” She shrugged, as if she didn’t care how provincial she sounded. “I like to be in a relationship, which I’m going to guess is a word you like only slightly less than ‘caution.’”
    He couldn’t argue with that truth. “Gussie, relationship and caution are up there with commitment, home, forever, family, and security on the Things That Tom Avoids List.” At the flash of disappointment in her eyes, he sat up. “I don’t mean to sound like an asshole, but I’m nothing if not honest.”
    “Not an asshole, just a bad bet. I don’t like to make those.” She pushed up. “You’re honest, so I will be, too. I’m not the kind of woman who throws caution to the wind along with the rest of my clothes and screws your gorgeous brains out right here on the warehouse floor.”
    He nodded slowly. “I respect that. I hate it,” he added, getting up slowly to end the almost tryst. “But I respect it.” He studied her for a moment, not even sure what the feeling was that wrapped around his chest and squeezed. Attraction, affection, yeah. He’d been through all that. This was something different. This was…
    A connection .
    Exactly what he never wanted to have. And she needed.
    So he should have been thanking her for putting a stop to the inevitable. Because with a woman like Gussie, it might not end as easily as he’d like.
    * * *
    For the second time in one day, Gussie was thinking about…expiration dates. Only this one was stamped on the egg carton and had passed three days ago. Would it kill her to eat them? Because she was starved, and the cupboard—at least the refrigerator—was bare if she didn’t count old lettuce and some jelly. The pantry was full of nothing but candy and junk.
    She lifted the edge of a plastic container that had once been a gorgeous chopped vegetable salad that Willow had made but was now a science experiment. She had to shop or—
    Ari tapped on the kitchen door, opening it without waiting for an invitation. That wasn’t unusual. Since the three of them had moved into the triplex Victorian and each taken a separate apartment on a different floor, they rarely knocked.
    “Should I have brought my Bit-O-Honey?” Ari asked with a teasing smile as she came in. “Or do I get Blue Raspberry Flipsticks for dinner?”
    “Either one would be an improvement over anything else in here.” Gussie closed the refrigerator door and leveled a look at her friend. “Do you really think I did the deed at the warehouse? Have you met me?”
    “You didn’t come back for a long, long time.”
    “But I did come back, and you and Willow were gone.”
    “We had to take Hailey and Rhonda over to Bud’s Buds for a last-minute check of the roses he got in, and then we zipped down to the Sweet Spot to talk cake issues.”
    “What kind of issues?”
    Ari waved a hand. “Name it. I tell you, everything that could go wrong for this stupid wedding has.”
    “The mother of the bride is the only thing that’s gone wrong with this wedding. How did it go with Bud?”
    “The world’s most miserable florist?” She pulled out a chair at the small eat-in table and slipped into it. “Somehow he managed to come through with blue roses that are not dyed.”
    “Awesome. He is grumpy, but good.”
    Ari tapped the table. “What’s on the menu?”
    “A marmalade omelet with a side of slightly tinged iceberg.”
    She made a disgusted face. “I want a burrito and beer.”
    Gussie dropped her head back and moaned with joy. “Yes! I’m so down for South of the Border. Let’s grab Willow and beat the dinner crowd.”
    “Willow?” Ari gave her a get real look.
    “What?” Gussie asked. “They have taco salads. I know she didn’t lose a hundred pounds eating burritos, but after fighting Rhonda and Bud, I’m sure she’ll want to vent.”
    “She