by Hart, Eve R.
“Hi!” a cute girl with like no tattoos from what I could see greeted me. She had excitement in her voice that set me at ease.
“Send them in here, Cami,” he called out and my eyes instantly went to where his voice had floated out of. “Come take my baby, she doesn’t need to see this.”
I tried hard not to laugh. I managed to muffle it to a chuckle.
“He loves his dog,” the girl, Cami, said with a wide smile and a shrug.
Yeah, I could tell that just from the few times I’d seen him with his dog. You wouldn’t think a tiny dog would fit with such a big man, but somehow they worked together. And the way he treated her, well, it would make anyone melt.
Yet another thing that should have told me he wouldn’t hurt me.
“Can I?” I asked pointing in the direction of the room I suspected he was.
“Yeah, go ahead.” She gave me another bright smile and I returned it as a way of saying thanks.
“Tell Charm and Abigail I won’t make dinner tonight. I’m leaving my phone here. And go tell Brand that I won’t be able to cover the shop tomorrow,” he said, his eyes closed. “Maybe longer.” Him adding that really cut me to the bone. It was the disappointment in his tone, the sad little hint that he hated letting people down.
“Um,” I said and cleared my throat. “It’s me.”
Like that explained it. It wasn’t like I had even told him my name before so me was as good as it was going to get. Though I was sure he knew it by now given the fact that it had been yelled out by Wade the first time I met him.
His eyes popped open and he sat up with a jerk. His lids opened and closed a few times as if he couldn’t believe that I was the one standing in his doorway. At the sudden movement, his dog stood up in his lap and looked as if she was ready to eat me. But at least she wasn’t barking and growling, so I took it as a win.
Then it hit me, I didn’t even know his name.
His patch said Blade but that had to be like a nickname or road name. I suddenly couldn’t think of anything but getting his name out of him.
“This is super awkward and all, but I don’t even know your name. I kind of think I should, you know, after that and whatnot.”
“Blade,” he said in a near grunt.
I think I’d figured out by now that he wasn’t trying to be a dick, that was just how he was.
“No, I mean like your real name. Or am I not allowed to know that? Is it like some big secret?” I was going for playful but the way he was just staring at me, face blank, made me think I was failing.
“Not a secret. It’s the truth. My name is Blade.”
He leaned to the side, reached around to his back pocket, and then whipped out a worn leather wallet. A second later, he was holding out and ID for me to see. And my gosh, his first name was Blade. It was right there in black and white, Blade Marcus. Strangely, I wasn’t all that surprised he didn’t have a middle name. In fact, the whole thing seemed to fit him well. That said, I really didn’t know what to think about a man having Blade as a first name. What in the world had his parents been thinking when they gave him that name?!
“Satisfied?” he asked, pulling back his ID and replacing it into the wallet before tucking it all back away in his pocket.
I looked up at him trying to gauge if he was playing or not.
What if he didn’t want me here? Maybe I was making it worse and should just say what I needed to say and skedaddle. Then make sure that nothing like what happened between us ever happened again.
“Well, that is… unique,” I said dumbly. “I’m Har—”
“Harley, yeah, I got it.”
He wasn’t making this easy on me. Then again, I supposed I couldn’t blame him. It very much seemed like he’d been waiting for the cops to show up and if I wasn’t mistaken, he almost sounded resigned to the fact that he would be arrested.
“I didn’t call the police,” I rushed to say. His eyes narrowed at me as if he was trying to figure out why. “I guess I should explain.”
I blew out a deep breath and took a step closer to him. I didn’t want to share this with everyone around.
The tiny dog let out a low growl as a warning to back off.
“It’s okay, Baby. Be nice,” he said calmly as his hand worked over her fur smoothing it back down.
I didn’t know why I did it, but I sent a small, soft smile down to the dog.
“Hey, Baby,” I cooed trying to make her see I wasn’t a threat. Then again, I had stabbed her owner right in front of her and I was pretty sure she could tell I was the reason he was upset.
“Biscuit.”
“I’m sorry, what? Are you offering me a Biscuit?”
He let out a short chuckle so low that I wasn’t even sure I heard it.
“Her name. Biscuit.”
“Oh, um, okay.” I looked back down at her. “Hi, Biscuit. Can I talk to your human for a minute, please?”
“Her Daddy,” the woman from the front said right behind me. Oh God, how long had she been standing there?! “I’m guessing you don’t need me to get Brand, now. Come on, girl, let’s go find a snack.”
To that, Biscuit jumped down and trotted out of the room like she owned the place.
I tried to center myself and continue on once we were alone.
“First, you did nothing wrong,” I said feeling a bit lame. “I don’t want you to think that you did. I was, well, in shock, I guess. A lot of things crashed down on me after, uh, we were done, and it hit me hard. My reaction was bad, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t need to be sorry. No one should ever tell you not to feel what you feel. And you shouldn’t have to keep it inside.” He stared at me with those piercing brown eyes but there was no expression at all on his face. “I didn’t think. I put you in an awkward position and didn’t stop to realize what was going on. For that, I take responsibility.”
I noticed how he didn’t say he was sorry or make excuses. He owned up to where he felt he went wrong and that was almost better than hearing ‘I’m sorry’ because it didn’t feel empty.
“Okay,” I said because it was clear there was no arguing with him. I gave a short nod and then stalled, not knowing what to do or say next. “Well, I’m gonna go now that we got that all squared away.” My head tilted in the direction of the door as I hitched my thumb over my shoulder just to make more of a point.
I waited for him to say something but he didn’t.
And the longer I stood there waiting, the more awkward the silence grew.
As quickly as I could, I turned on the balls of my feet and walked out.
“That was weird,” I muttered to myself as I crossed the street back to safety.
I didn’t look up as I walked inside my shop. I wasn’t ready to talk about it because I was still so confused.
“I’m going to shower,” I announced to the shop without stopping.
Yes, a shower was what I needed. And if I was lucky, I could wash away the strangeness of this day along with the dried spunk still clinging to my ass cheek.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Harley
It took me thirty minutes to pick out an outfit today.
Thirty fucking minutes.
Like I was getting ready for something special.
Now, I always took pride in my appearance, but thirty minutes of hemming and hawing over what to put on was a bit much for me. Why did it matter more than a normal day? Ugh, because I had it in my head that I was going to walk my ass across the way and try with Blade again.
Yep.
Why?
This would be the part where I shrug because I couldn’t tell you why it meant so much to me.
I felt like we’d gotten off on the wrong foot more than once now. Nearly every encounter so far. While I wasn’t one of those people that had to have everyone like me, I needed him to for some fucking reason.
Why was I trying when the guy didn’t even seem to want to talk to me? I got that what happened in the back room of my shop had probably
shaken him. I knew he hadn’t forced me and I’d told him that, but I didn’t think he believed me completely. I guess it was a pretty jarring thing to think that you could be that kind of person— even though he wasn’t. And I couldn’t even begin to speculate what was going on in his head. For all I knew, he wasn’t bothered by it and just couldn’t stand me.
Ugh!
Double fucking ugh!
I was not this person.
Not now that I’d gotten my inner strong woman back.
There was no way that I was going to let a man drag me down again or make me second guess myself. No fucking way.
“Well, hello there, pretty lady,” Didi said as I walked into the back door to the treat shop. Have I mentioned how much I love her? She is so cute and adorable, and just the sweetest thing. And being called a pretty lady was a quick way to get on my favorites list.
I raised my hand and waved as I headed to the work table in the middle of the room.
“So, I need something,” I told her looking over her goodies that were ready to be put in the display cases out front. “Like your best seller. Or a treat that conveys that I want to be friends and start over.”
She stopped, her head cocking to the side as she blinked those big eyes at me.
“What?” she asked, her brows pinching together like she couldn’t keep up with what I was saying.
Maybe I had been talking a little fast.
“I just need something extra special, okay?” I huffed out a breath of frustration. I already felt a little silly about this idea and the fact that she was making me pretty much spell it out wasn’t in the least bit helping.
“Well, I have these new banana and peach muffins I’m trying out today.”
“Are they any good?” I asked not thinking. “Yes, of course, they are. Sorry, I’m just a little…”
“Nervous?”
“Yeah,” I said with a rushed-out breath. “Is it that obvious?”
“Oh, yeah,” she replied with a frantic bob of her head that made her curls dance around her head in the most adorable way.
“Can dogs eat these?”
“Um, I don’t know.” She pulled out her phone and I was sure she was looking up to see if the ingredients were on the doggie okay list. “Yep. Should be good for dogs.”
She looked at me for a long moment trying to figure out why I would need something special for a dog and why I was so jumpy about it too.
“Oh!” she exclaimed with excitement once it sank in. She started bouncing, her hands waving frantically in front of her. “Oh! You like him! Is that it? Did I get it right?”
I busted out laughing.
“Maybe,” I told her after I’d gotten myself under control. “But I don’t know why. I can’t explain why it matters but I want him to like me too.”
“This is sooo cute. Oh, yay!” Her hands clapped wildly.
“Okay, let’s not start planning my wedding. I think I’d be happy if he actually just talked to me.”
“So you want to get to him by getting his dog to fall in love with you. Oh, that’s smart. I like that idea.”
“Whoa! Whoa! No one said anything about love. And no, I am not that crazy. I just can tell that his dog means a lot to him and so I don’t want to exclude her. And, yeah, I wouldn’t mind if she didn’t hate me. Or at least stopped glaring and growling at me.”
“Didi, I’m stealing some coffee,” Wade called out from the front of the shop. “I’m too lazy to walk upstairs and make some.”
I stayed silent not wanting her to know I was back here. I didn’t exactly want to talk about any of this and Wade had a way of making you talk without you even realizing it. If this whole thing blew up in my face it would be better the less people that knew about it. I wasn’t worried about Didi because she’d get busy and forget this whole thing in another hour or so.
But I heard Wade’s heels clicking closer and closer and I knew there was no way out of it.
“Hey,” Wade said blinking at me with her cup halfway to her lips. “Thought you didn’t come in until later.”
“She—”
“Had a sudden craving for something sweet,” I rushed to say, cutting Didi off in the process. However, I should have known that it wouldn’t work. That my attempt to shut her up went right over Didi’s head.
“No,” she said, head cocked to the side like she was confused. “You wanted to get something to take to the man across the street.”
I cringed as I looked over at Wade. The steam from her cup curled in front of her face seeming to push that one arched brow up even higher.
“You have a thing for the dog guy?” Wade asked though it didn’t much sound like a question. And by the smirk that ghosted her lips, it was clear she’d already had her suspicions.
“Dog guy sounds really wrong,” I said, shaking my head at her. “Anyway, I’m not talking about it and I’m taking some of these with me.”
I walked to the front, grabbed a box, and came back to package enough to feed the shop across the way so I didn’t look like I was just there for him.
“I’m going to give you shit for this later,” Wade promised as I made my way to the front of the bakery. “I would now but I haven’t had enough coffee.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I said waving my hand in the air and rolling my eyes. “Don’t you have work to do? And Didi, looks like Trevor could use a little help out here.”
The poor kid. I would have guessed this was his first job. He was a good employee and tried his hardest. However, he didn’t have that much confidence which made him look like he got frazzled easily. This was one of those moments, three people in line and he wasn’t sure if he should ring them up first or get their goodies.
I walked out of the front door and locked eyes on the shop across the way.
I was going in.
And hoping that he was there so I wouldn’t make a bigger fool out of myself.
I opened the door to a quiet shop.
I almost called out when I heard a small yap from Biscuit a second before I heard her nails dancing across the floor in my direction. If she was here then that meant that her own was, right?
“Be right with you,” I heard him call out from somewhere in the back.
“Yo,” the skinny one said poking his head out of one of the rooms. “Sup, hottie? How’s your fine ass doing today?”
“Did you really just say that to me?” I asked with a hint of shock on my face.
“What?” he asked with a shrug. “Is your ass not fine? Blade, bitch from across the street got a fine ass, right?”
“Fuck,” I heard Blade say, then he appeared from the back room. “What are you doing here?” he asked the moment he saw me.
I ignored the gruff tone of his question and waited for him to come closer.
“I brought food,” I said, popping the lid open to the box and tilting it in their direction. “They are bana—”
“Fuck yeah,” the skinny one said, hand already inside the box to grab one. In a blink, half of the muffin was in his mouth. “Shit, that’s good. Are those from across the way? That Sugar Titties place?”
He was already moving to the door, his attention across the street.
“Uh, yeah. But it’s Sugar Didi’s. Like the name,” I called out but he was already outside and making very purposeful steps to Didi’s place.
With a shake of my head, I turned back to the man I’d come here to see.
He was staring at me blankly and hadn’t made a move to take one or even grab the box out of my hands.
“Well, anyway,” I said feeling really awkward as I set the box down on the counter between us since it didn’t look like he’d be taking it off my hands any time soon. This was a bad idea. “Even Biscuit can have one. Didi checked the ingredients and they are okay for dogs.”
Hearing her name, she made her way around the counter and sat next to my feet. Her little paw came out and scratched at my leg lightly. When I didn’t get the hint, she did it again. Without thinkin
g, I leaned over and scooped her up.
Blade’s gaze went from me to his girl and then back again. I couldn’t make out anything in his deep chocolate eyes. Nothing. Not a hint of if this was okay or not. Maybe he didn’t want me touching his dog. I couldn’t win with this guy.
“Can she have some?” I tilted my head down, both the dog and I giving him the begging, pleading eyes.
“Fine,” he grunted, his hands going to the edge of the counter, his arms bulging and straining as if he were trying to keep himself in place. “But only a little. She likes to watch her figure even though I tell her she’s beautiful no matter what.”
I blinked at him, my arm outstretched and my fingers almost touching the top of one of the muffins.
Was he making a joke?
Or was he poking fun at my ass?
I really didn’t think I should try to figure him out.
He cleared his throat and looked away.
“It was a joke,” he answered before my head spun out of control. His voice was low and flat and made me feel a little ditzy for not getting the fact that he was trying to be funny.
I let out a strained laugh and then pulled off a piece of muffin.
Biscuit gobbled it down the moment it was in front of her face. She must have loved it because she gave me a little kiss on my cheek. I continued pulling off little Biscuit-sized pieces and feeding her, all the while my eyes were on her stoic, unspeaking human.
She ate about seven bites then laid her head down on the top of my boob as if telling me she’d had enough. Blade’s lips curled up into a tiny smirk and I wished more than anything I knew what he was thinking about.
I brought my hand up and rubbed her little head as I dropped my gaze down to her. She was actually really sweet and cute when she wasn’t trying to eat me.
And now I wanted a dog.
Though I had a good feeling I wouldn’t find one as super cool as her. Overly protective but also really chill. Yeah, she was nearly perfect. I was still a little wary though, unsure if she would turn on me in the blink of an eye. Could I blame her? Maybe not, but I had never intentionally meant to hurt her owner.
