It wasn’t right for a guy to think “oh, shit” when he saw his mother. But that was exactly what went through Evan’s mind when he saw his mother approaching the pie shop from the opposite direction three days later.

In part, because she was with Jill’s mother, Holly, and Jill’s best friend, Liz.

And in part, because he was lying to her about his relationship with the woman who she was no doubt heading to the shop to meet.

Evan lengthened his strides and managed to reach the women on the sidewalk before they got to the pie shop door. “Hi, Mom,” he said with a huge smile. “Ladies.” He gave them all a quick smile as he leaned in and kissed his mother’s cheek. “What are you doing here?”

Diane Stone looked a little sheepish having been caught trying to meet her son’s girlfriend without him present. “We decided we were in the mood for pie,” she said, glancing at her longtime friend, Holly.

Holly nodded. “We were so happy to hear that the pie shop was open again.”

“They’re not open again just yet,” he said focusing on his mother and trying to sound regretful that he was going to thwart this particular attempt to ambush Ava. “Soon. The girls are working hard to get it cleaned up and ready for business again.”

“Are you sure they’re not open?” Holly asked, looking past Evan’s shoulder to the front of the shop. “There sure are a lot of people in there.”

Evan glanced toward the huge window as well. Then paused. There definitely were a lot of people in there. And one of them was Cori Carmichael. And she was, finally, in blue jeans. Kind of. She wore what looked like they’d once been jeans but had been cut off for shorts. The white fringes hung from the bottoms, brushing long, smooth, tanned thighs. Thighs that were streaked with green and pink paint that matched the façade of the pie shop. She was also wearing a fitted baby-blue tank top with a long sleeved white button-down shirt—also streaked with green and pink—open over it. Her hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun, but a long strand escaped as she tipped her head back and laughed.

Holy. Shit. For a second Evan couldn’t think of anything other than that. But the next second it hit him that he’d been coming to see her. That shouldn’t have been a revelation, of course. He should know why he was going somewhere. He’d left his office and turned in this direction with the purpose of coming to the pie shop. But he’d ignored the fact that he’d wanted to see Cori. Not Ava. The woman he was supposed to be dating. The woman he was now going to have to act boyfriend-ish with in front of his mother and two women who would really like for him to not be serious about Ava. Dammit.

“Weren’t you on your way in?” Holly asked.

He had been. Because Parker had called to tell him that the back door of the pie shop and the back door of the diner were both open and he’d heard glass breaking and swearing coming from the pie shop’s kitchen. When Evan had asked why Parker didn’t go check on things, he’d laughed and said that was above his pay grade. Since Evan didn’t know, without looking it up, what Parker was getting paid as the manager of Blissfully Baked, he couldn’t argue.

And it had been the perfect excuse to come down and see his girlfriend’s sister.

Evan rolled his eyes. “I am,” he finally answered. “Had a break and wanted to see how the cleanup is going.”

“Well, even if there’s no pie, coffee sounds good,” Holly said. “And it looks like they’re serving that.”

Evan was able to look back in the window and not just see Cori this time. Now he took a quick attendance and realized that all of the guys who used to hang out with Rudy were inside. Parker had to be happy about that at least. They weren’t taking up booth space and wanting constant refills at the diner.

“I guess it does,” Evan had to admit.

“Oh, and while we have you, we’d love to have you over for dinner tomorrow night. Your mom and dad are coming too,” Holly said.

Diane nodded.

“I’ll have to see if Ava has plans for us,” Evan said. She would. He’d make sure of it. “But maybe.”

“Oh. Ava,” Holly said. “I guess I was thinking it would be nice to have you over to catch up. It’s been a while.”

Evan lifted an eyebrow. “Just you and Larry and mom and dad and me?” he asked, knowing that was not what she’d meant.

“And Jill, of course,” Holly said.

Yep, that was what she’d meant.

“She might be leaving in a few days, you know,” Holly added.

He definitely caught the might. And the unspoken words unless something changes her mind.

Evan gave her a smile. “I don’t know how Ava would feel about me having dinner with a beautiful woman I have a history with.”

“Oh, you and Ava are really that serious already?” Holly asked. “She got you on a short leash quickly.”

“Well, maybe she knows how much wandering he does,” Liz said. “Even as recently as a couple of weeks ago.”

Technically, Jill had “wandered” over to his place, but he didn’t think pointing that out was a great idea. Both Holly and Liz were looking at him with barely disguised disdain. Evan sighed. He couldn’t even blame them. He’d slept with Jill and, according to the rumor already going around town, broken her heart. The whole story about him, Jill, and Ava had been startlingly easy to spread. And it seemed the town in general had no trouble believing that Evan had done Jill wrong. But it was, apparently, harder for them to believe that it was because he was madly in love with someone else.

He definitely needed to sell the idea that he’d already been interested in Ava because of the things Rudy had told him and that it had become much more once they’d met. For one, because while Jill was the leaving town, on to bigger and better things, Holly and Liz weren’t. Ever. And they could make his life very unpleasant if they held a grudge. For another, the more skeptical everyone seemed over his ability to actually have real feelings for a woman, the more determined he became to prove to them that he was, in fact, capable of a committed, adult relationship.

And then he remembered that he and Ava were faking the whole thing. And then he became even more determined to actually be a boyfriend to Ava. Maybe not in the usual sense of the word—at least in his usual sense of the word—but he could be there for her as she went through this transition in her life, help her adjust to living in a small town and running a new business, and make sure she relaxed and had fun too.

In fact, he had to. That was part of their deal.

“This thing with Ava…was unexpected…” Well, that was true. “…for me too.” He glanced at the window and saw Cori, a hand propped on her hip, talking to the men at the table, all of whom seemed to be hanging on her every word. “It’s amazing how quickly a bond can be formed, though,” he said, not talking about Ava.

Cori was going to be a definite wrench in his Ava plan. Of course. Because he was naturally drawn to fun. Especially when he was supposed to be doing something responsible.

“You’re not just filling in as the guy she needs to date to get her millions of dollars?” Liz asked.

He turned his attention back to the women on the sidewalk. “It’s billions, actually,” he corrected dryly. Then added, “And once you meet Ava Carmichael, I think you’ll agree that she doesn’t need to ask anyone to ‘fill in’ for that. Or for any other occasion. Ever.”

That was true enough. Ava had agreed to this plan because it was a simpler means to the end. Not because she wouldn’t have had any other eager, temporary-boyfriend candidates. The guys in Bliss would have been lining up to spend six months with her.

“I went to New York to help her and her sisters understand the will, and I was prepared to be their liaison for anything they needed here, and their friend. But once we met, it became much more.” That was true too. They’d met and formed this plan. Which was more than just showing her around town or keeping track of the trust from a legal perspective.

It was him spending time with and committing to a woman for more than sex. Or, more accurately, for something other than sex. It was her settling him down and teaching him to be a boyfriend and not just a hookup, dammit.

Which was not something Cori could help him with.

Evan frowned. Where had that come from? That thought was completely unwelcome and probably unfair. He only knew what Rudy had told him about Cori, and he got the impression that neither Rudy nor Cori had really known the other that well. And just because Rudy had mentioned that Evan and Cori had a lot in common didn’t mean they had everything in common. Evan only went for short-term flings and fun, but that didn’t mean she did. And hell, there was nothing wrong with that anyway. She was a gorgeous, adventurous woman who liked to have a good time. So what if she didn’t know how to make a commitment or have a long-term relationship? He was hardly one to judge.

And none of it mattered at all. Ava was the one he was involved with. With Ava, it was a win-win situation. Cori and her feelings about relationships and settling down had nothing to do with him. Even if it felt like it all really mattered anyway.

“Anyway, I definitely shouldn’t be having dinner with another woman,” he told Holly. That was also true. He was serious enough about this relationship with Ava and what it meant for both of them to not fuck it up. He hoped.

“Well, then I’m even more interested to meet her. Since we also haven’t seen you out together. At all,” Holly said.

Right. The public appearance thing. The being in love in front of people. They were going to have to do that. Convincingly. Evan nodded. “She’s been very busy, relocating her life here, getting the shop up and running, dealing with her grief.”

He’d laid that on a little thick, but Holly did have the decency to look slightly abashed with that reminder of all that Ava was going through.

“Of course,” Holly said, her tone gentler now.

“Maybe we should come back another time,” Diane said.

Evan gave her a grateful smile. “That might be best. Maybe next week sometime.” After he’d had a chance to talk to Ava about how they were going to act in public. It might be best for them to not be overly touchy-feely. That would require less acting and would mean less chance of screwing something up. Ava was beautiful, but they didn’t have much chemistry. Every bit of this won’t be so bad that he’d felt in the hallway outside of her apartment had been because it was really Cori that he was feeling it with.

And there he was with Cori on his mind again. Or still.

“If you’re this serious, then there’s no reason for her not to say hello to your mother,” Holly said, pushing past him. “We won’t stay long.”

Evan sighed. Ava was a bright woman. She knew what was going on. Surely she’d be able to act happy to see him. “Fine. A quick hello.” He put a hand on his mother’s back and steered her around Holly to the door. When he pulled it open, he was surprised by the merry tinkle of a bell overhead. He looked up. Rudy had never had a bell. Then he was hit by the smell of fresh paint.

He hadn’t been able to see the entire shop through the window…okay, that wasn’t true. He hadn’t looked past Cori to see anything else about the shop.

Now the scene inside made him think of a preschool. There were bright pastel colors everywhere, it was a huge mess, several voices were talking at once, and someone was saying, “Okay, hold up your cups if you want more” in an upbeat, yet firm voice.

He zeroed in on that voice. Cori. She was refilling the coffee cups that had been hoisted into the air over one of the tables. That table had been pushed to the side, off of the huge plastic drop cloths that covered everything else. There were buckets of paint, brushes, two ladders, a long-handled roller, several rags, and paint trays scattered throughout the room. The wall behind the counter had been painted a robin egg blue, the wall to his left was the same green as the front of the shop, the wall behind him—he noted as he turned to take it all in—was a sunshine yellow, and Brynn was up on a step stool painting the last wall bubblegum pink.

“Hi.”

He focused on Cori again. She was coming toward him with a bright smile and a coffeepot. Two of his favorite things. Smiles and coffee. Not Cori and coffee. No, of course not.

“Hi.”

“What do you think?”

“I think it looks like a rainbow tornado hit the place,” he said with a grin.

She nodded and laughed. “Right? But hey, if the town likes bright colors, we thought, why not? The trim and the floor will be white. So will the chairs and tables, but we’re going to do different colored cushions on the chairs. Mix it up. Like a giant crayon box got dumped out.”

Her grin was contagious. “I didn’t know you were open for business,” Evan said, looking pointedly at the men sitting at the table.

She shrugged. “The door was unlocked, these guys came in and asked if I had coffee, which of course I did, and so they pulled out chairs and sat down.”

“She asked me if I wanted caramel and cream in mine,” Walter said. “I said I’d never tried it and she said that she couldn’t let me leave here without at least one cup.”

Evan grinned. “And?”

“Maybe the best thing I’ve ever tasted,” Walter said. “Then again, I’m pretty sure Cori could make anything taste good.”

Great. Cori had a fan club. As if he was surprised. It hit him that Cori had the same openly accepting and warm air that Rudy had always had. He knew that she wasn’t aware of that commonality with her father. And he really wanted her to know that. He wondered if that was part of why these men were so drawn to her. It was clear that they were. Sure, the short shorts didn’t hurt, but Cori’s wide smile and willingness to drop her work for a cup of coffee and some conversation were definitely a lot of it.

Cori laughed. “I think the paint fumes are getting to them,” she said. Then she whispered, still loud enough for them all to hear, “I figured the fumes would get rid of them actually, but they’ve been here for over an hour.”

Evan gave her a once-over, which he made sure she noticed, then turned to where Brynn was stretching up to paint a high spot on the wall. She also wore shorts and her T-shirt pulled away from the waistband as she reached.

“Hot girls and hot coffee?” he asked. “They’re never going to leave.”

“Well, maybe we have our new marketing plan,” Cori said. “Like Hooters only with pie and coffee.”

“I’m in,” Walter told her.

“You’ll be rich,” Hank agreed.

Evan couldn’t help but laugh at the irony of that statement.

“Now you need to invest in a cappuccino machine or one of those fancy espresso things?” he asked.

“Can’t afford it,” Cori said. She tipped her head to the side. “Did you know that we’re broke, by the way?”

Ah. She’d been doing her job with the books and had made a visit to the bank. Yes, he did know that the pie shop account was dry. But Rudy had told him that the girls were supposed to figure everything out themselves. “Rudy and I—”

“Ahem.”

His mother elbowed him in the side and Evan realized he’d forgotten about the women who had accompanied him inside. Damn. But they were a great reason to not delve into the pie shop business right now. And the fact that he hadn’t warned the triplets about the financial situation. “Oh, hey, Cori, I’d like you to meet my mom, Diane. Mom, this is Cori, one of Ava’s sisters.”

“Hello, dear,” Diane said. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

“Evan’s mom?” Cori repeated. “Wow! It’s really nice to meet you too!”

“And this is her friend, Holly,” Evan said. “Her daughter Jill is a classmate and good friend of mine.”

Would Cori remember the conversation in the hallway outside of Ava’s apartment in New York? Would she realize who Jill was?

“Oh, Evan told me about Jill.” She grabbed Holly’s hand and pumped it up and down. “It’s amazing that she’s a wildlife vet. She must be so smart. He is really proud of her and the new job she’s going to be starting. I totally got sucked into that giraffe cam thing they had at that animal park in New York,” she said. “Does Jill work with giraffes?”

“Penguins, actually,” Holly said, looking a bit flummoxed.

Evan was impressed. Cori had managed to warmly welcome Holly, compliment her daughter, make Evan look like a great friend, and strike Holly practically speechless all at once.

“Oh, penguins are so cool,” Cori said. Then she flashed Evan a grin and a wink. “Get it? So cool?”

Holly actually laughed too and Evan felt a wave of affection for Cori that he couldn’t quite understand. She was…something.

“Jill and Evan have been friends their entire lives,” Liz interjected. “They’ve always been close. It will be hard for her to be away from him.”

Evan sighed. “Cori, this is Liz. One of Jill’s best friends.”

Cori nodded at her. “Hey, he must have that effect,” Cori said. “Ava was a bitch to live with for those few days when Evan came back to Bliss and we were still in New York.”

Evan bit back a smile. And the urge to kiss Cori. He had no doubt Ava had been hard to live with as they packed up their lives for a trip to Kansas they hadn’t expected and didn’t want, but missing him had nothing to do with it.

“But I’ve got to ask you something,” Cori said, moving closer to Liz and dropping her voice, even though everyone in the place could still hear every word.

The men drinking coffee at the table had gone silent. Evan rolled his eyes.

“What?” Liz asked.

“Well, in a town this size, since there aren’t that many people your age, do you all just eventually hook up at some point or another? I mean, I figure that must be the way it is.”

Clearly Cori had figured out that Jill wasn’t the only classmate and longtime friend that Evan had messed around with. Suddenly Evan had the urge to pinch her. The brat. Maybe right on the ass. Or spank her. On that ass that looked like it was made to wear cut-off denim…

Liz’s cheeks got pink, but she said, “Yeah, kind of.”

Cori nodded. “I knew it. I mean, Evan and Noah—”

She waved her hand in Noah’s direction, and Evan realized for the first time that his friend was even in the room. He had to have been out of the room when Evan had first walked in. But he was now rolling pink paint onto the wall right next to Brynn. How had Evan not noticed him coming into the room? Noah wasn’t exactly small. The ex-marine stood six-one and was wide and muscled. He was generally pretty quiet, and he supposed Noah’s training had taught him to be stealthy and stuff—Evan wouldn’t really know since Noah never, ever talked about his time in the Marines—but damn.

Of course, Cori Carmichael did have a way of pulling all the attention to her. At least his attention.

“—and Parker,” Cori went on. “I mean, you have some very hot guys here. No way would I be able to keep my hands to myself if I’d grown up here.”

Yep, she was definitely why he hadn’t even noticed his friend painting a wall pink.

Liz’s cheeks were even redder now, but she was smiling. “We do have some really great guys here.” She’d married one of those great guys she’d gone to school with, in fact.

Cori sighed dramatically. “Too bad I’m taking a dating hiatus,” she said.

“Your dad said that you really like dating,” Hank said as he took a drink of his coffee.

Cori turned to him with an arched eyebrow. “Did he now? I’m not sure it’s very gentlemanly of you to repeat gossip about me.”

Hank chuckled. “Nobody’s ever accused me of bein’ a gentleman, darlin’.”

Cori’s face broke into a huge grin. “Then you’re just my type, Hank. Too bad I’m taking a break.”

Damn, no wonder they were all in love with her. Not only was she gorgeous but she had this…light. Something that seemed to glow from inside her that made a person want to get closer.

Or maybe that was just him.

All of the men at the table laughed at that, and Roger said, “I think you’d kill him on date one, Cori.”

Hank nodded. “But what a way to go.”

Okay, not just him.

Cori laughed, without so much as a faint blush, Evan noted, and said, “Well, I kind of like you, Hank. How about we keep our relationship about dark roast and caramel syrup and keep you alive?”

Hank held up his cup. “As long as we’ve got whipped cream too, darlin’.”

Hearing Hank, who was seventy-one and widowed, call Cori darlin’ annoyed Evan. Strangely. And stupidly.

But Cori winked at Hank and said, “There’s not much that I do that doesn’t involve whipped cream.”

And suddenly it hit Evan that he was incredibly happy about her dating hiatus. He couldn’t handle Cori dating the town of Bliss. With—or without—whipped cream.

Cori focused on Evan and the ladies with him, who were all watching her with avid fascination. “But thankfully, Ava’s not taking a hiatus and she grabbed this guy right up,” Cori said, gesturing at Evan with her thumb. “I’m guessing he’s got a waiting list of girls.”

Okay, now that was a little close to the situation with Jill possibly. She really was a brat. Evan’s gaze dropped to her ass again.

“He does,” Liz said with a nod. “Except that Evan isn’t the settling-down type.”

“Oh?”

“He enjoys dating, but he doesn’t take anything too seriously,” Holly said as if Evan wasn’t standing right there. “In fact, there have been many times over the years that his grandfather has said that the only thing Evan takes seriously is not taking anything seriously.”

His grandfather had definitely said that. Still, it was not okay that his mother’s best friend was warning his girlfriend’s sister that he wasn’t a good risk. “Holly,” Evan started, “I don’t think—”

“Well, then, everyone knows where he stands and no female hearts are getting their hopes up for a diamond ring, right?” Cori interrupted.

Whoa. Evan looked at her. But she was staring Holly down. Still, that was…the most defense anyone had given him in a long time.

“I mean, if Evan’s always been the fun-loving guy who doesn’t get serious, then the girls who…go out with him…” she said, clearly indicating that she didn’t mean only going out with him, “…shouldn’t be surprised when he’s that same guy the next morning, right?”

Yep, she knew exactly what Holly was getting at. And it was definitely getting harder to fight the urge to kiss her. Evan could feel the surprise radiating from Holly and he had to bite back a grin. He turned, grabbed a chair from the next table, and pulled it up between Hank and Walter. This was getting good.

The guys scooted a little to make more room and, almost as if she did it on autopilot, Cori grabbed a cup from behind her, filled it with coffee, squirted caramel syrup into it, and then added a swirl of whipped cream from the dispenser she’d obviously brought from New York. He grinned and lifted the cup for a sip. Then sat back in the chair, crossed one ankle over the other knee, and waited for the show to go on.

“Then your sister is aware of who he’s going to be…in the morning?” Holly asked.

Holly gave him an irritated look, but he’d perfected not reacting to jabs about his personality and habits years ago. If he could withstand digs from his own grandfather, Holly had nothing in her arsenal that could get to him.

“Oh, no doubt about it,” Cori said. “Evan’s been very up-front about what he wants from Ava.”

Well, that was true enough. Evan sipped again. And the girl made delicious coffee.

“Your sister doesn’t take things seriously either?” Holly asked. “She has a penchant for…sprinkles…too?” Her tone and the way her eyes dropped to the coffee cups on the table in front of her, made it clear that sprinkles meant all kinds of unflattering and unserious things.

Cori leaned over and shook some sprinkles on top of Evan’s cup. “Oh, Evan doesn’t want sprinkles from Ava.” She mimicked Holly’s tone perfectly on “sprinkles”, making it just as clear that she knew that Holly had meant it as an insult. And that Cori didn’t care.

And it was true that he didn’t want, or intend to get, sprinkles of any kind from Ava. Sure, he’d entertained the thought of a fling when he’d had her pushed up against the front door of her apartment and had been kissing the hell out of her. But then again, that had actually been Cori. And her sprinkles were a whole other thing.

Holly sniffed. “Well, Evan definitely needs fewer sprinkles in his life. He needs…”

“Plain coffee?” Cori supplied when Holly trailed off, unable to complete the analogy.

Evan had to cough to hide his chuckle. The men around the table were all watching, obviously taking mental notes to share with everyone they ran into later. Even Noah and Brynn had stopped painting to turn and watch. Liz looked a little uncomfortable, but she was watching Cori with a hint of admiration. And Diane had inched closer to the door.

A flash of irritation went through him. Just once, he’d love for his mother to stand up to someone. Even if it was him. She had never told him not to do something or that she was displeased with him. She’d left the stern lectures to his grandfather. She’d never once grounded Evan or even withheld his allowance. He hadn’t been a bad kid, but he’d, as Holly pointed out, never taken things very seriously—including school and chores and schedules and rules.

“I was going to say, he needs a nice girl to settle him down,” Holly said.

Cori shrugged. “I get it. But the thing is, when you combine coffee and sprinkles, the coffee doesn’t make the sprinkles less fun. The coffee becomes sweeter and more enjoyable because of the sprinkles.”

“What are you getting at?” Liz asked, her eyes narrowing.

“Evan is the sprinkles,” Cori said, as if it was obvious.

Evan swallowed his coffee down the wrong pipe and coughed hard. Hank reached over and thunked him on the back, without ever taking his eyes off of Cori and Holly.

He was the sprinkles? But as he coughed again and finally cleared some of the coffee from his windpipe, he realized that yeah, he was.

“Well, ‘sprinkles’ can make a big mess,” Holly pointed out with a frown.

Evan’s eyes, and everyone else’s, dropped to the table where there were sticky spots of whipped cream and caramel, and sure enough, several stray sprinkles all over the surface. Evan had to admit that he was impressed that she’d been able to make that analogy.

“No doubt about it,” Cori agreed. “And if you can’t deal with the potential mess, you shouldn’t choose sprinkles for your coffee in the first place. Or whipped cream. Or caramel syrup. You should stick with black coffee. In a cup with a lid. And one of those ring thingies that keep it from being too hot to hold.”

There was a beat of silence after that comment. And the insinuations.

God, he really liked her. The thought seemed to jump out of nowhere and smack Evan in the face. But yeah, he really liked Cori Carmichael.

“But you go for…sprinkles?” Holly asked.

Cori laughed. “Oh, I always want sprinkles on my whipped cream.”

Heat shot through him at that seemingly simple, but oh-so complicated—and hot—comment. And Evan realized that he had a not-at-all-small crush on his fake girlfriend’s sister.

“But there’s so much more under all the toppings, right honey?” Hank asked with a wink.

Cori smiled, but shook her head. “No, not always. Sometimes it’s just the fluffy, fun stuff.”

As her words sank in, Evan felt his hand squeezing his mug so hard, he was shocked it didn’t crack. There was so much meaning in what Cori had just said. He had no idea if everyone else in the room heard it, understood it, felt it. But he did.

And holy shit, he wanted to grab her and hug her and tell her that when the whipped cream and sprinkles were as good as hers, they became their own underneath.

“Maybe you and Evan both need to think about taking things more seriously,” Holly finally said.

Okay, enough was enough. Evan shoved his chair back and stood.

But Cori was already talking, “I think Evan and I have a lot in common, but, I wouldn’t say I don’t take anything seriously. I mean, there’s food. I really love food. And there’s Robert Downey, Jr. I don’t joke around about him. And,” she said, her smile fading as she met Holly’s eyes directly, “there are my sisters. I take them and their happiness very seriously. I’d feel sorry for anyone who screwed with that.”

Holly’s eyes widened, Liz coughed, and Diane glanced toward the door as if wondering if she could escape. Evan opened his mouth to interject—though he had no idea with what. Especially considering that he really liked the whipped-cream-loving Cori, but he felt a definite jolt of damn when she got serious and came to her sisters’ defense.

Suddenly, fortunately, there was a loud crash from the kitchen, followed by a fervent, “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

Evan saw Cori wince slightly, and the men around the table all picked up their cups, while Brynn and Noah returned to painting. All as if this wasn’t the first time they’d heard those things from the kitchen.

Oh, yeah. The reason Parker had called Evan down here in the first place.

“And that would be my lovely girlfriend now,” Evan said, breaking into the tense moment and hoping like hell they could now move on. Because that urge to hug Cori wasn’t getting any weaker.

“Good Lord,” Holly said.

“Yeah. She’s a firecracker,” Evan said with a tight smile.

There was a loud crash that sounded like metal hitting tile. Then another few expletives. Then it was quiet. The whole shop seemed to be holding its breath for a moment. Then Cori said, “Okay, who needs more coffee?” and three hands at the table shot up.

There was another loud crash from the back and Evan had to admit that, whatever she was doing in there, Ava had great timing.

“Should someone go check on her?” Diane asked, her eyes wide.

Cori and Brynn exchanged a look, then Cori set the coffeepot on the table, Brynn turned on her stool, and they quickly did rock, paper, scissors.

“Dammit,” Cori breathed when she did scissors to Brynn’s rock.

Brynn just grinned and went back to painting.

“Sure,” Cori said with mock brightness. “I’ll go check on her.”

“Tell her we’d love to meet her,” Holly said, moving to another table and pulling out a chair. “And I don’t care for whipped cream or sprinkles, but I would love some plain black coffee.”

“Shocker,” Evan heard Cori mutter.

Then she opened her mouth to say something louder, but Evan took her elbow and turned her toward the kitchen. “They probably don’t have enough cups, Holly. They weren’t expecting to have customers today.”

“Oh, they’ve got a bunch behind the counter,” Ben said, pointing. “Cori had to bring her collection down here because Ava told her she didn’t want them taking up all the space in the cupboards at Rudy’s place.”

“You have a cup collection?” Evan asked Cori.

“Just one from everywhere I’ve traveled.”

He didn’t let go of her elbow, enjoying touching her way too much. “How many?”

“Forty-seven.”

He let out a quick laugh. “And you brought them all here with you?”

“I’m going to be living here for a year. Of course I did.” She smiled. “The bright side is that we don’t have to buy cups for the pie shop. And considering we have no money, that’s awesome.”

“Son of a bitch!”

He and Cori both sighed.

“You sure you don’t just want to go in and talk to her?” Cori asked, hopefully.

Hell no, he wasn’t going in there alone. He gave her a look that his mother and friends couldn’t see. “Maybe you could take over for her back there while she comes out and chats for a bit,” he said. That wasn’t ideal either. He wasn’t sure Ava was in a mood to make a good impression. And this would be their first real public appearance. In front of his mother. And two women who really wanted him and Ava to not work out. This was going to be great.

“But the kitchen is Ava’s domain,” Cori protested.

“Nice try,” he said, for her ears only. “But no dice.” Evan started for the kitchen with her elbow still in hand. “I’m sure Ava will appreciate your help,” he said for the room.

He was definitely not facing Ava alone.

Cori sighed, but let him steer her into the kitchen. “Help yourself to coffee,” she called out behind her.

“She has chocolate syrup too,” Walter said.

“Of course she does,” Evan thought he heard Holly mutter.

They stepped through the swinging door to the kitchen just as the back door to the kitchen slammed shut. The swinging door bumped Evan from behind as he and Cori stared at the back door.

Ava had just left.

And the kitchen was a disaster. There were bowls and spoons and measuring cups scattered over the countertops. There were four open egg cartons, all empty. There was a pile of apples next to the sink and the cupboard door under the sink was hanging open and water was slowly dripping from one of the pipes. The top of the oven was covered in pies. Or what should have been pies. Three were clearly burnt. One looked fine but had a hole dug out of the middle, as if someone had tasted it, and immediately abandoned it. And there was a fine dusting of flour over…everything.

“Wow,” Evan said simply.

Cori blew out a breath. “Yeah, she really sucks at this.”

“And you’re not helping her?” Damn, the skin on the inner side of her elbow was really soft and warm. And she smelled amazing.

Cori grinned at him. “Are you kidding? Did you hear the crashing and swearing?”

“Yeah, you could be helping her not swear and throw things, couldn’t you?” he asked. If he had to guess he’d say Ava had thrown the metal mixing bowl that now lay on its side against the far wall.

“No way,” Cori said. “She needs to yell and swear and break things.”

“You want her doing that?”

“That girl has so much emotion wound up tight inside of her she’s about to burst,” Cori said. “This is therapeutic.”

Evan looked around the room. “She’s really this bad at cooking?”

“She had to Google ‘whisking’,” Cori said with a grin.

He turned to face her. This woman who had defended him to Holly, who seemed to just get him, who thought she only had fluff to offer. “You know how to whisk, though.”

“Ava likes to figure things out for herself,” Cori said with a shrug.

“Did you even offer?” he asked, somehow knowing she hadn’t.

“She’d still look it up to be sure I was right.”

Evan shook his head. “Then you tell her that you’re right and insist she start trusting you.”

Cori swallowed and stared up at him. “There might be a better way,” she said with a shrug.

“A better way to whisk?” he asked. “Better than your way?”

She nodded. And he knew that she knew that this wasn’t about whisking. And that she wasn’t talking about Ava doubting Cori’s knowledge or skill. He suddenly hated that Rudy was taking this woman out of the kitchen, where she could show off her talents and get enthusiastic. Instead, she was adding and subtracting columns of numbers.

What a waste.

Evan’s phone dinged in his pocket and he reluctantly let go of Cori to reach for it. It was a text from Parker.

Come remove this woman from my kitchen.

Oh, boy.

“Ava’s over at the diner. In Parker’s kitchen,” he told Cori.

Cori looked around the room. “Okay, tell him to send her home. She’s had enough of this for the day.”

Evan typed that in and sent it, then paused. “If she goes home, she can’t meet Holly and my mom.”

Cori lifted a brow. “Do you really want her to in this mood?”

Of course he didn’t.

Parker responded She wants eggs. She came and took butter earlier. I’m not supporting the grocery bill for that pie shop.

Evan sighed. Send her home or keep her busy. She can’t come back over here. My mom’s here.

What am I supposed to do with her?

Teach her to whisk something. Evan grinned in spite of himself as he sent that and tucked his phone into his pocket.

“If they don’t meet her now, they’ll find her somewhere else, another time, when I’m not around,” Evan said to Cori. “I’d feel better if I was there to mediate the situation.”

Cori pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. Her eyes roamed over his torso from shoulders to waist.

Evan felt his body stirring, even with just her eyes on him. “Cori?”

She stepped forward and ran her hand over his chest. “Take your shirt off.”

Uh. Okay. Who was he to argue with…

Cori shrugged out of the shirt she was wearing over her tank top.

“Um, what are we doing?” Not that he was protesting.

“Take your shirt off,” she repeated. Then she stripped her tank off.

And Evan’s only thought was should have grabbed the whipped cream gun.

When he still hadn’t moved, Cori stepped forward and started unbuttoning his shirt. His gaze dropped to the amazing breasts that were now cupped in peach silk. He’d subconsciously memorized the shape and feel of them when he’d seen them under the tank top and then had them pressed against his chest in New York.

Yeah, he wasn’t going to be able to do something as complicated as unbuttoning.

“Cori?”

She looked up at him as she freed his last button and ran her hands up over his ribs to his shoulders where she pushed the shirt off. “Yeah?”

“I really like your sprinkles, but is this the best time for this?” And when will be the best time, because I can be available whenever.

Her mouth curled into a half smile. “I like your sprinkles too, Counselor. But right now we need to convince Holly, and everyone else, that you’re crazy about Ava’s sprinkles.”

Ava. Right. The reason that there wasn’t going to be a best time for him and Cori. Fuck.

She reached behind her and grabbed a plastic measuring cup. She threw it on the floor, where it bounced and then slid up again the oven. “Dammit.” She looked around, grabbed a glass bowl and chucked it, sending it arching and then crashing into the floor. She smiled at that. “Better.”

“What the hell are you—”

But all thoughts of, well, everything else in the world, were obliterated by the feel of Cori’s hands untucking the T-shirt he wore under his dress shirt and sliding up underneath to touch his bare skin.

“I really need you to take this off,” she said, her voice huskier than it had been before.

And he officially didn’t care who walked in or who thought what or even what was going on. Because Cori was going to reach behind her and unhook her bra next. Evan reached behind his head, grabbed the back of his T-shirt and yanked it off.

Cori’s gaze tracked over him and she started to lift a hand, but seemed to think better of it at the last minute. Instead, she held her hand out. “Can I have it?”

“My T-shirt?”

She nodded and he handed it over. Her eyes stayed on his chest as she put her hands through the armholes of his shirt and then pulled it over her head. So no naked breasts. Great.

“What are you doing?” he asked as the white cotton draped over the body that he officially wanted to never have covered again, ever.

She tugged the neck hole until the shirt hung off one shoulder and then tied a knot in the bottom, making it hug her waist. “Changing my clothes as much as I can,” she said. She stepped past him and took an apron from the hook beside the door. She put it over her head and tied it behind her. “They need to think I’m Ava.”

“Oh.” He looked at the swinging door.

“She’s not here and we don’t really want her back in this mood. But I can stand in for her.”

“Oh,” he said again. He supposed that would work. He shrugged back into his dress shirt.

Then Cori reached up and pulled on something, causing her hair to tumble down. The wild waves cascaded past her shoulders, and Evan felt his cock stir again.

Without thinking, he reached up and threaded his fingers into her hair at the base of her head. Cori seemed to freeze. He drew his fingers through the warm, silky tresses, untangling them. “No one’s ever going to believe you’re Ava,” he said, his voice strangely rough.

“They will,” she said softly, with a nod.

“You’re…too…different.” That wasn’t really what he’d meant to say, but how did he go on and on about how much freer and warmer and happier Cori was without seeming like an obsessed idiot? Which he feared he was becoming where this woman was concerned.

Cori’s eyes softened for a moment, but she shook her head. “You just don’t know her.”

Of course Cori would defend Ava.

“I’m way more attracted to you than I am to her,” Evan confessed. “They’ll be able to tell the difference when I’m with her.”

The heat in her eyes flared, but she shook her head. “People see what they want to see. If we make this first impression, then that’s what they’ll see in the future even if there’s less…”

She trailed off and Evan smiled slightly. He didn’t think Cori was at a loss for words very often. He knew she was right about people seeing what they expected to see. At least at times. Yet, he suddenly hated that in her experience people didn’t look deeper. But they didn’t have time to go into all of that at the moment.

“Less heat?” he supplied. “Less chemistry? Less chance that someone is going to end up with flour all over her bare ass?”

She lifted an eyebrow, and he looked at the flour-covered countertop and then back to her.

She swallowed and nodded. “Yeah, less of…that.”

“We’re going to go out there and you pretend to be Ava long enough to satisfy them and get rid of them,” he said. He looked at the door again.

“Do you think that you can act like you’re crazy about me?” she asked. “Act like we’re the ones who fell head over heels so quickly?”

Evan looked down at her and felt a jolt that went from his chest through his gut. He cleared his throat and said, “Yeah, I think I can pull that off.”

Cori broke the eye contact, reached for some flour and dashed it onto her cheek and chin. “Okay, then. Let’s go introduce your mom to your new girlfriend.”

* * *

What the hell was she doing?

Oh, yeah, playing a very dangerous came of pretend. Pretend to Be Crazy About the Guy You’re Crazy About While Pretending To Be Your Sister.

Yeah, nothing could go wrong here.

But Cori pasted on a bright smile, then dialed it back about three notches so it was more like an Ava smile, and pushed her way through the swinging doors with Evan’s hand in hers.

“Hi, everybody,” she greeted, sounding exactly like Ava. It wasn’t like this was the first time they’d pretended to be one another. Switching Places was Chapter One in the How to Be An Identical Twin or Triplet handbook.

“Everyone, this is Ava,” Evan said, wrapping his big, warm arm around her waist and resting his hand possessively on her hip.

And Cori had to bite back a moan. Stripping off their shirts together had been spontaneous and she hadn’t thought of the consequences—like raging lust after seeing his chest and abs—before she’d done it. Which was typical. Thinking through consequences was not a strength of hers.

She caught Brynn’s eye. Her sister arched an eyebrow, but Cori knew she wouldn’t blow her cover.

“Ava, it’s very nice to meet you,” Diane said. “I know you’re busy. Thanks for coming to say hi.”

“Well, of course.” Cori thought for a second about hugging Diane. She was Evan’s mom for God’s sake. But Ava would never do that, so Cori held back. She turned her attention on Liz and stuck out her hand. Ava was definitely a hand shaker. “Hi.”

Liz took it with a polite, “Hello. I’m Liz. I’m an old friend of Evan’s.”

Uh-huh. This woman had slept with Evan. Somehow Cori knew that Evan had messed around with a lot of girls in Bliss. And Jill’s bestie was on that list. Liz had seen him naked. She’d had his hands on her… Cori tamped those thoughts down quickly. Clearly, it hadn’t meant anything. And Cori wasn’t the jealous type anyway.

And if she was going to be jealous of someone, it would be her sister, who, pretend or not, could be out here right now with Evan’s hand on her hip and his big, hard body pressed up against her side, and his soft cotton shirt caressing her skin and surrounding her with his scent in a horribly wonderfully distracting way.

“Nice to meet you,” Cori said, coolly and politely as Ava would.

“And this is Holly, Jill’s mom,” Evan said. Then he added, “The one I told you about.”

Ah. Evan wanted an Ava response to Holly and her earlier bitchiness. Cori had been surprised by how blatant the woman had been about her disapproval of Evan and her suspicion about his relationship with Ava.

Okay, truthfully, she was probably right to be suspicious if Evan really was the laid-back playboy that it seemed he was. And okay, there wasn’t really a relationship, so she was kind of right in that case. But the way she’d been all judgmental? And the way Evan’s own mom hadn’t stepped in? What the hell?

“Oh, yes, Mrs. Morris. I’m glad I have the opportunity to assure you that you don’t need to worry about Evan getting his sprinkles on anyone else around here. I intend to keep them all to myself from here on out.”

Yes, that was really more something that Cori would say. But they didn’t know that. And the snooty voice she’d used was all Ava.

Holly was clearly taken aback. “I just hope that Evan can take this seriously enough for you.”

“Well, I find it interesting that you’re so sure he can’t, yet you want him to be with your daughter,” Cori said. Because that really was weird in her opinion.

“Jill and Evan would be great together,” Holly said.

“Well, I think Evan, and Jill, both deserve better than great.” Cori knew, even as she said it, that she was issuing a challenge. That her sister was going to have to meet. But she couldn’t help it.

Holly lifted her chin. “I guess we’ll see. I’d hate for you to have moved to a new town, started a new business, and a new relationship, just to see it all fall apart.”

Cori felt Evan’s fingers curl into her hip. “Holly,” he said, his voice low and full of warning. But Cori had this. Or Ava did anyway.

“There’s something about Ava Carmichael that you should probably know,” she said, with complete honesty. “She’s never not gotten something that she wanted and worked for.” Talking about ‘herself’ in the third person was obnoxious, but it was all true. And that truth was what was keeping Cori optimistic about the pie shop that had no money in the bank, a loan to pay off, and—for now anyway—no baker.

“Then I hope it all works out,” Holly said, her tone chilly.

Yeah, Cori did too. And if she was doing this on her own, she’d have her doubts. But she had Ava and Brynn. And Evan. He was definitely on their side. And that made her feel strangely better.

Holly stood up from her seat and stepped toward the door. “I’ve changed my mind about the coffee.”

“Sorry to hear that,” Cori said.

Holly clearly knew that she didn’t mean it. “Liz, are you coming?”

“Sure.” Liz smiled tightly at Evan and then Cori. “It was nice to meet you, Ava. Take care of him.”

Cori hugged Evan against her, even as she felt like a piece of lead had settled in her chest. She wanted to take care of him. But not only did he not really want that, but she wasn’t good at that.

Holly and Liz headed out the door and waited on the sidewalk for Diane to join them.

“I would love to get to know you better, Ava,” Diane said. “Maybe lunch sometime.”

This time when Cori felt Evan’s fingers dig into her hip, she knew it was a warning. She smiled brightly and said, “I’d love that.”

Evan’s hand slid to her butt and he gave her a little pinch. She jumped, then smiled bigger to cover it.

“We’ll set up a time then,” Diane said. She looked at her son. “Can I walk with you back to your office?”

“Sure, Mom. I’ll be right out.”

Diane joined her friend on the sidewalk, and Evan turned to Cori.

“You’re trouble,” he said.

“You have no idea.”

“Oh, I think I just might.” Then he slid his hand into her hair, tipped her head back, and kissed her.

The kiss was definitely not a goodbye kiss. This was a see-you-later-and-you-better-meet-me-at-the-door-naked kiss. She took a fistful of Evan’s shirt and arched closer. She ran her tongue along his lower lip and his resultant groan rocketed through her, settling low and deep and hot in her pelvis. He stroked along her tongue with his own and she could practically feel the just-wait-until-I-get-you-alone.

Finally, he broke the kiss, lifted his head, and stared into her eyes. “Well, I’m convinced,” he said gruffly.

She ran her tongue over her tingling lips and asked, “Convinced of what?”

“That we’re crazy about each other.”

Oh. Yeah. Damn.

He let go of her, gave Noah and Brynn—who Cori had completely forgotten about—a brief wave and then sauntered out of the pie shop, joined his mother in front of the shop, turned back and gave her a wink, and then sauntered on down the sidewalk.

Cori lifted her hand to her lips as she watched him go.

Sprinkles, indeed.