The Delicious Series: The First Volume

by Stella Starling

  “Dad thinks we should just hire professional models,” Hannah reminded him.

  “Well, it’s not Dad’s call. This is my department, and I really think having local people in the new ads will draw in more business.”

  “Have they all agreed?”

  “Almost all. I’m taking the last one to lunch today.”

  “And is she cute?”

  “He,” Ben corrected her. “It’s one of our business customers. And I think he’ll photograph well if he says yes. He has dimples.”

  Ben wasn’t sure why he’d added that last bit. Gavin Campbell was definitely a good-looking man, but he usually wore a slightly worried expression that somehow managed to look endearing on the young business owner. Still, Ben had definitely been picturing the dimples he’d caught sight of a time or two—too rarely, in his opinion—when he’d included Gavin on his list of customers to approach for the upcoming campaign. Of course, it wasn’t just about the dimples. Gavin had been a customer of the bank for almost two years, and even though business loans weren’t Ben’s department, he’d had a fair number of interactions with the other man and had always been impressed with him.

  Gavin was definitely someone who Ben thought the bank would be lucky to have represent them.

  “He’s probably about your age,” he said to Hannah, slowing to run behind her for a moment as he made way for a woman running the opposite direction with her dog. “But he’s amazing.”

  “But he’s amazing?” she repeated back to him, punching his shoulder as he came up beside her again. “And what am I? Chopped liver?”

  “You know that’s not what I meant,” Ben said, flushing. “I just meant… he started his business from scratch about a year and a half ago, and he’s really worked his ass off to make it successful. His numbers are impressive.”

  For some reason, the comment seemed to bother Hannah, and after a few minutes of silence Ben called her on it.

  “What’s wrong, Brat? You know I wasn’t trying to draw a comparison. You are amazing. Juggling your marriage, Gwennie, and your role at the bank is no small feat. You do it well.”

  She laughed, rolling her eyes. “I do it, anyway. I don’t know about ‘well.’”

  “What’s that supposed to mean? Is something wrong between you and Jack?”

  “No, not at all. Jack’s wonderful. Gwennie’s wonderful. I just… Ben, did you ever think about not working at the bank?”

  Ben’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. The answer was no, and he’d always assumed it had been the same for his siblings. Banking was in their blood. It was their family’s legacy, and he couldn’t ever remember a time growing up when the three of them hadn’t been involved with it in one way or another. All three had known from birth that they had a place waiting for them, and as far he’d known, Hannah—as the youngest—had been the most impatient of the three of them to take it. She’d finished her degree in record time, just so she could officially step into the role waiting for her all the sooner.

  “You’re not happy, Hann?” he asked cautiously.

  “No. I mean, yes. But… no.”

  She huffed out a breath. Even though they’d been running at a good pace, he knew it wasn’t because of that. Something was bothering her.

  “I want to be home with Gwennie, Ben,” she admitted after a moment. “I know day care is the answer for working mothers, but I just feel like I miss so much. And she grows so quickly… I’m never going to get it back.”

  “Take a leave of absence.”

  “I can’t,” she said, rolling her eyes.

  “Why not? You know Will is planning a whole month off for his honeymoon this summer. We can adjust if you need some time, too.”

  “That’s different. You know Dad thinks I should stay home, now that I’ve had a baby. As if my degree means nothing, just because I’m a woman.”

  “Well, of course it doesn’t mean nothing, and we’re lucky to have you. But you want to stay home, so what’s the problem?”

  “Ben, God. Easy for you to say. You’re the first-born son, you can do no wrong. You’ve never had to prove anything to him.”

  “You don’t either, Hann,” he said, grabbing her arm as he stopped and turned her to face him. “We may have been expected to join the bank, but no one can deny that you’ve earned your place there, too. If you need time, take some time. That place will still be waiting for you when you come back. There’s more to life than work.”

  Hannah frowned, looking away. “Don’t let your heart rate slow down,” she said after a minute, shaking his hand off and taking off ahead of him. “Come on, slowpoke.”

  “Fine, but you’re right,” he said, catching up easily. “Gwennie is growing fast, so if you decide to take some time, do it soon. You know I’ll have your back at the bank.”

  “Careful,” she said, pointing to a thick tree root growing across the trail as she continued to avoid the topic. “You don’t get a fancy track coach for PT if you get hurt anymore.”

  He laughed despite his concern, amused that she still brought up his college track injury ten years later. “I run this trail every day, Brat,” he reminded her, avoiding the root.

  She threw him a cheeky smile, taking off at a sprint.

  “But I still run it better,” she tossed over her shoulder.

  If that’s how she wanted to play it, Ben had no problem turning the last mile into a race. Besides, he needed to get into the bank early and take care of a few things before his appointment with Gavin Campbell.

  2

  Gavin

  Gavin’s head snapped up when he heard the tinkle of the little bell announcing a new arrival at Delicious. His best friend was manning the front counter, but even though Gavin was holed up in the little alcove he used as his office, his reaction was automatic. Every customer counted, and the bakery was his baby—his everything, really—so he did his best to stay on top of every detail. When he heard Danny’s voice call out a cheerful greeting, Gavin turned his attention back to the financial statements he was going over, clicking the pen in his hand nervously as he tuned out the conversation from the front of the shop.

  Gavin had opened the doors of Delicious almost a year and a half ago, and he knew the numbers looked good—better than his projections, actually—but still, he worried about whether they were good enough. He still wasn’t sure why his banker had asked to meet with him, and even though he couldn’t see anything that might have caused concern, his recent new hires and the expansion of the online portion of the business had incurred more costs than he’d originally planned.

  “Oh, Lord. More paperwork? You definitely need to get out of here, Gav. Let me steal you for lunch.”

  Gavin looked up again, breaking into a smile. His friend Jeremy was leaning against the doorway, sipping one of Danny’s signature mochas. Jeremy owned the bookstore down the street, and even though they’d only known each other for a couple of years, being able to share the woes of self-employment had quickly turned them into fast friends.

  “I can’t,” Gavin said, shaking his head as he glanced at the clock on the wall behind Jeremy’s head. His lunch meeting was in half an hour.

  “I told you so,” Danny said, coming up behind Jeremy and slinging an arm around the nerdy-cute bookstore owner’s shoulders. “Our Gav is a creature of routine. Work, bank, gym, then home to sneak in more work, then to bed at a ridiculously early hour. Rinse and repeat. Actually taking a real lunch break would disrupt the cycle.”

  Gavin laughed ruefully. It definitely wasn’t sexy, but yes, Danny had pretty much described his life to a T. Still, he couldn’t resist trying to ruffle his friend’s feathers.

  “I’ll have you know that I can’t today because…” he drew out the pause dramatically. “I already have a lunch date,” he finished, stretching the truth far enough that it was probably going to snap back and slap him in the ass. Worth it, though, for the shock that appeared on both Danny and Jeremy’s faces for the split-second before they started grilli
ng him.

  “A date?” Danny squeaked, bouncing excitedly.

  “Is that why you’re all dressed up?” Jeremy asked, eyeing the tie and blazer Gavin had thrown on with his jeans that morning instead of his usual Delicious-logo t-shirt.

  Gavin blushed, glancing down at himself. Was it that obvious?

  “I’m just trying to look professional,” he said defensively, brushing a little bit of nothing off his chest.

  “Wait, what?” Danny asked, narrowing his eyes. “‘Professional’? I thought you said this was a date.”

  “I may have exaggerated,” Gavin admitted with a grin, not even trying to hold out. He really wasn’t good at dishonesty, no matter how good the cause.

  “Spill,” Danny demanded.

  Gavin sighed, worrying his lip between his teeth as he tapped the stack of his papers in his hand against the desk to straighten them. Now that he was back to the truth, his nervousness about the unknown purpose of the meeting hit him full force.

  “My banker asked me to lunch, but I’m not sure why. I’m current on my start-up loan, but he called right after I submitted my most recent financials, so…”

  “Is there a problem?” Jeremy asked, his brow furrowing in sympathy. “Do you need—”

  “The bakery is fine,” Danny interrupted, flapping his hand at Jeremy impatiently. “Stay focused.” Then, to Gavin, “Is this the hot banker you told me about? Brian? Blake? Brad?”

  “Ben. And yes, he’s the hot one. The hot, straight one, so it’s definitely not a date.”

  “We don’t know that he’s straight.”

  “I’m pretty sure he is, Danny.”

  Danny looked like he wanted to argue, but since he’d never met Ben, they both knew he didn’t have a leg to stand on. Instead, he tried a different tactic.

  “You’re wearing a tie, Gavin. That hasn’t happened since…” Danny’s voice trailed off, his brow furrowing as he made a show of thinking back.

  Gavin rolled his eyes. Fine, maybe it had been a while since he’d made an effort, but, Lord, there was always so much to do.

  “I just want him to take me seriously,” Gavin said, hoping to end the speculation. And also because it was true.

  Mostly.

  Although it obviously didn’t hurt to look halfway decent when going out in public with a hot guy, even if it was strictly business. Which it was. And sure, the fact that it was also the closest thing Gavin had had to a real date since opening Delicious could have been depressing… if Gavin had chosen to dwell on it. So he wouldn’t. No need to go looking for things that weren’t going to be there, no matter what color lenses Danny insisted on seeing the world through.

  “You go to the bank every day, honey,” Danny said, refusing to drop it. “This guy sees you in casual wear all the time. And obviously that didn’t stop him from asking you to lunch, hmm?”

  “He only wants me for banking purposes, I promise,” Gavin said.

  A shame, but really, even if Gay Cupid had miraculously shown up and shot an arrow into Ben’s extremely toned ass, Gavin wouldn’t have had the time to do anything about it. And that would be the least of his problems if there actually was an issue with his financials or the loan or the new payroll expenses or… he took a breath, forcing himself to stop speculating.

  “I’m just not sure exactly what the banking purpose is,” he added, drumming his fingers on the desk. “Ben was a little vague about it when he called.”

  “Of course he was,” Danny said, waving a hand dismissively. “Because he was probably just using it as an excuse to ask you out.”

  Gavin rolled his eyes as he laughed at Danny’s stubborn insistence on clinging to his happily-ever-after worldview. That was… highly unlikely. But at least laughing about it made him relax a little.

  “Not all of us can be lucky enough to have Prince Charming show up and sweep us off our feet, Danny,” Gavin said, glancing down at the engagement ring on his friend’s finger.

  Danny got the dreamy look on his face that always appeared when the topic turned to his fiancé. Gavin knew they’d lost his attention for the moment, and he shared a look with Jeremy in silent commiseration of their mutual lack of love lives. In Gavin’s opinion, Danny deserved all the happiness he’d found… but that didn’t mean Gav wasn’t occasionally just the tiniest bit jealous. And he knew that Jeremy—who had an almost comically bad track record with men—felt the same.

  “Well, in light of these mysterious ‘banking purposes,’ I’m going to go ahead and let lunch slide for now,” Jeremy said. “But you really do need to do more than just work all the time, Gavin. And I’m sorry, but if your banker just wants to go over those—” he nodded toward the financial statements Gavin was still holding. “—then today definitely doesn’t count as ‘not working,’ no matter how hot this guy is.”

  “Ben didn’t say he wanted to go over them—”

  Jeremy rolled his eyes, holding up a hand to cut him off. “You’re missing the point. You need to have a little fun. Listen, my cousin is visiting from Seattle in a few weeks, and I think you should totally hook up with him while he’s in town. He’s hot, single, and unlike what’s-his-name—”

  “James,” Danny offered, coming out of his I’m-so-in-love-swoon for a moment to toss out the name of the last guy Gavin had dated.

  Ugh.

  James.

  Gavin had finally gotten sick of the man’s never-ending string of bullshit and cut him loose just before opening Delicious. Which meant it had been far too long since he’d actually gotten laid, and yet still not quite long enough to stop the sound of his ex’s name from leaving a sour taste in his mouth.

  “—my cousin Cash is not an asshole,” Jeremy finished, ignoring the interruption.

  Gavin looked at the clock again, tucking the financials into a folder and reaching for his keys.

  “If your cousin is just visiting from Seattle, it doesn’t really sound like a recipe for love to me, Jeremy,” he said, already checking out of the conversation as he mentally reviewed which route to the restaurant that Ben-the-hot-banker had picked would have the least traffic at this time of day.

  “I think I mentioned having a little fun, Gav,” Jeremy said with a laugh. “Love wasn’t really what I was suggesting. I’m definitely not trying to overpromise, here. Do you have an objection to getting laid?”

  “God, no,” Gavin said, a little too adamantly. He felt his cheeks heat up as his friends laughed, but seriously. It had been a while.

  “Then do it.” Jeremy insisted, grinning. “I’ll let you know when Cash is in town.”

  “I really don’t have time,” Gavin said, squeezing Jeremy’s shoulder as he brushed past. “I can barely keep up with all the different hats I have to wear for this place.”

  “Isn’t that why you hired Lucy? Is she not working out?”

  “Lucy’s great,” Danny said, jumping in with his support of the woman Gavin had brought on to manage the growing online side of the business. “In fact, Gavin should really be letting her do a lot more around here.”

  Gavin shot him a mock-glare. They’d had this argument too many times already, and even though Danny wasn’t wrong, the idea of putting his livelihood in someone else’s hands made him want to hyperventilate. Gavin had lost both his parents too young, but even before they’d passed—his mother from cancer and, later, his father in a car accident—his childhood had been buffeted by the uncertainties caused by his father’s difficulty in holding down a job. Despite the heavy workload, owning his own business gave Gavin a sense of security that he’d been sorely lacking for the majority of his life. Even if it meant he didn’t have as much fun as his friends thought he should, he was prepared to do whatever he had to in order to hold onto that.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” Danny called after him with a hint of steel under the teasing tone of his voice. “You know I’m right about Lucy. Besides, we’ll never get to start doing wedding cakes if you don’t let her take on a little more responsibi
lity.”

  “You just want to decorate your own,” Gavin said, laughing as he reached the door.

  “Well, of course I do,” Danny replied with a cheeky grin. “No one else would do it justice. But seriously, Gav, do you know how many requests for them we get? And you used to make the best cakes…”

  “Wedding cakes would require a whole different marketing plan, Danny, and I don’t have time for that.”

  “Exactly,” Danny said, the triumphant word the last thing Gavin heard as the door to Delicious closed behind him.

  Even though he didn’t interact with him every day, Gavin had definitely noticed Ben Edwards during his daily visits to the bank. The man was larger than life, and not just because of his size. He had a way of filling the room with his deep voice and radiant smile and the genuine interest he seemed to take in everyone he talked with. From what Gavin had seen, Ben knew just about every bank customer by name; he could be found in the lobby more often than in his own office, and he always greeted Gavin by name when he stopped in to make his daily deposit. And, as Gavin had told Danny and Jeremy, the man was also fucking hot.

  Which, thanks to the conversation he’d had before leaving Delicious, he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about now that he was seated across from him at the trendy little café Ben had suggested.

  Although he really had to, because it was distracting.