The Sweet Spot (Sweet And Spicy) by Mary Eason Page A

and to the Rover. I took a cab to the airport, use the Rover today and whenever you like. Move in whenever you want. If you need help, call Sam. He’ll give you a hard time, but he knows that you’re moving in. I’ll call you later. Please don’t run away from me Cara. Aiden.
    She smiled at his consideration. But she wouldn’t call his high school friend. Most of the furniture was Miranda’s anyway. She only had a few personal things and her clothing. Cara wondered what he would say if he knew how much she didn’t want to run away from him.
    Her cell phone rang again. But she wasn’t ready to talk about it just yet.
    Cara turned off the coffee, put the spare key on her key ring, and decided it was time to get Shelby’s questions over with.
    * * * *
    “Where have you been?” Shelby’s question hit her before she even had the door opened.
    Cara had tried to put some respect to her appearance on the drive over to the store but she didn’t carry any makeup with her and there was nothing she could do about that freshly…
    She’d stopped for coffee. She needed all the help she could get to face the inevitable but there wasn’t anything pressing this morning. In spite of what she’d told Aiden the day before.
    “I’m sorry. I overslept. What’s going on?” Cara stopped as Shelby rolled her eyes when the phone rang.
    Cara stood half way to the cookie counter and listened to the strange one-sided conversation. She was even more confused when Shelby didn’t pick up on the fact that her top was on backwards. Shit.
    “Have you seen this?” She told Cara holding up a copy of the Dallas American Statesman. Cara could only shake her head. Aiden had gotten the paper delivered to his front door but she hadn’t thought about reading it. She could barely focus on driving much less read about the state of the world around her.
    “You made the cover of the Statesman,” Shelby exclaimed, coming to a stop in front of her.
    “What? How did they find out about this?”
    “Are you kidding, your picture’s in the paper. You’re big news. You’re the latest fad.”
    Cara swallowed with difficulty. Suddenly she was finding it hard to breathe. How could the paper have found out about the night she’d just spent with Aiden? She’d just spent it with him. And more importantly why would the news of it make the front-page of the Statesman?
    “Who told them about it?” she asked and saw Shelby’s eyes narrow as they traveled over her backwards top. And then it dawned on her.
    “Oh my God! You spent the night with Aiden!” She all but shouted as the phone rang again. “You did, didn’t you? Oh my God, tell me everything,” she exclaimed, ignoring the phone.
    “Aren’t you going to get that?” Cara wondered what had come over her friend.
    “No!” Shelby said as if she’d lost her mind. Let the machine get it. It’s been ringing off the hook all morning. Since the news is out about you.”
    “How did the paper find out?” Cara closed her eyes while trying to run damage control through her mind.
    “Apparently you’re the toast of New York. The article has gone nation wide. This is great.”
    “What?” At that point, Cara caught a glimpse of the cover. She took the paper from Shelby’s hands without answering. At the top of the page, the headline read:
    The Sweet Spot fulfills this New York critic's every desire…
     
    “Oh my God.” Cara stared back at a picture of herself, unaware of the camera, looking almost invitingly at someone. In the frame next to her picture was one of Shelby.
    “Where did they get this picture?” She asked.
    “Does it matter? This is great. You look hot. This will put us on the map big time.”
    At that moment, it dawned on her that this had nothing to do with Aiden. She felt the awful color creep into her cheeks as that same truth dawned on Shelby.
    “Oh, no. You didn’t? You did? No, Cara, you idiot, the article is about the shop. More importantly, it’s about your secret