“They kind of deserve each other,” Brady said, snagging a brownie and taking a bite. The moan he released while he chewed made me instantly wet. All I could think about was that sound in my ear as he made love to me.
Stop it, Haylee!
I squirmed in my seat, refusing to make eye contact with Amber or Brady. Right now, all they’d see was a sex-starved twenty-nine-year-old woman reflected in my eyes.
“Good God, Haylee. These are incredible. I hope you made enough for tomorrow. They’re going to fly out the door when people get a whiff of them. How do you get them so moist and rich?”
“She uses homemade bonbons,” Amber answered, lifting one from the plate. “See,” she pointed to the tiny bonbons sliced clean through by the knife. She didn’t wait for him to answer, she just took a bite and closed her eyes, savoring the crème de menthe when it hit her tongue.
“I would make these a staple in my diet, but then I’d have to spend another three hours at the gym every week,” Brady agreed.
I huffed at the two of them. “I’m glad you like them, but it’s just a brownie. We make much more complicated confections here than peppermint brownies.”
Brady brushed off his hands and took a swig of coffee to wash down his treat. “Something doesn’t have to be complicated to be top-shelf, Haylee. Finding flavors that complement each other in a simple, non-complicated way, always makes for a winning combination. Don’t forget that.”
I couldn’t help but think the same was true about life and love. Complementing each other’s strengths and weaknesses in the business made us successful at The Fluffy Cupcake. As for complementing each other’s strengths and weaknesses in the bedroom, well, I was now going to try and stop thinking about that before I couldn’t concentrate on anything else.
I put my hand on the catalogs and took a deep breath. “Okay, we’re here for a reason. It’s time to strategize. We’ve done great already with weddings and special orders this year, but we have several more events to go, including the Lake Pendle Strawberry Festival.”
Brady pointed at me. “We should start there.”
Amber agreed while she swiped another brownie. “July tenth is only a month away, and you haven’t even told us what the cupcake would be for the bake-off.”
“It’s a closely guarded secret,” I said, shaking my head. “You know that.”
“True, but if I’m going to help you, I need to know what it is,” Brady reminded me.
I blew out a breath at the thought of him helping me at the bake-off. I spend every day baking with Brady, but the festival atmosphere always changed the charge in the air. It was going to be so much temptation working that close to him for hours. He was all male from his perfectly styled blond hair, his chiseled cheeks covered in a tightly capped beard, and a gym physique that didn’t quit. He had muscles in places I didn’t know you could have muscles. I glanced down at my less than muscular body. Some would say I was fluffy. Some would say the nickname fluffy cupcake fit me to a T. Well, at least Darla McFinkle thought it did.
My hips loved cupcakes, and my ass loved Brady’s artisan sourdough. Since I hated working out and got most of my exercise running around the bakery, lifting heavy pans of cupcakes out of the oven, and walking up and down the thirteen stairs to my apartment, that didn’t help my non-bodybuilder physique. In hindsight, my choice of professions may not have been the best one for my body type. C’est la vie, as they say
“Haylee?” Amber said, and I snapped my head up to stare into their confused faces.
“Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts for a second there.”
Brady was staring at me with intense concentration as if he could see right through me and into my soul. Like he could read my thoughts and know that I was lusting after him like a dopey girl making puppy dog eyes. It was making me uncomfortable, and I wanted it to stop. I grabbed the iPad and opened the photo app, moving the brownies aside so I could set it in the middle of the table.
“I give you the fluffiest of fluffy cupcakes.” I motioned at the image like Vanna White, revealing twenty-five thousand dollars.
Two heads leaned into the table to stare at the image on the screen.
“Stats,” Amber said without taking her eyes off the iPad.
“Time to make,” Brady added, his assessing gaze sweeping across the cupcake in a way that kept me hot and bothered in a way I liked far too much.
“A strawberry cream cheese cupcake, filled with a light strawberry crème filling, topped with a whipped strawberry sorbet icing, and garnished with a cream cheese stuffed strawberry dipped in chocolate.”
Brady sat back and rubbed his hands together. “Oh, it sounds like a winner to me.”
Amber agreed with a nod since she was chewing on another brownie already.
“How are you going to make a sorbet icing, though?” Brady asked. The confusion in his voice was evident as he thought about the heat of a July day.
“I won’t be making it out of sorbet, but it will taste like sorbet. I’m going to make a test batch this week, and you can tell me what you think.”
Amber raised her hand and waved it around wildly, dragging a laugh from both Brady and me with her silliness. He rested his hand over mine for a second and leaned down to make eye contact. “It’s already a winner in my book. I know the judges will feel the same way, cupcake.”
I fought hard not to roll my eyes at the man sitting next to me. His constant habit of calling me cupcake was disrespectful as my employee, but no matter how many times I asked him to stop, he never did.
“It’s going to be stiff competition this year,” Amber said, sipping from her coffee mug. “Darla is entering the bake-off, too.”
This time, I did roll my eyes. I rolled them so hard Brady grabbed the back of my head.
“Don’t lose those beautiful brown eyes back there,” he ordered possessively.
I swallowed before I responded, hoping my voice didn’t shake when I spoke. “Oh,” I said, waving my hands in the air, “look at me shaking in my boots with fear. Do you think Darla will ask Jerry to be her assistant?”
Amber almost choked on the swallow of coffee in her mouth. “I hope not. You don’t want to look at his creepy face all afternoon.”
Brady dropped his hand to rest in the crook of my elbow and glanced between us. “I dated Darla for about two and a half seconds, and I can promise you, you have nothing to worry about.”
Amber and I recoiled in horror. “You what now?” I asked, my voice filled with venom. “You dated my archenemy?”
Amber and I leaned in, waiting for his answer. He leaned back and held up both hands in the don’t shoot position. “It was before I knew of your history together. A guy I knew set us up when I first got to town.”
“Why haven’t you mentioned this before?” Amber demanded, her disgusted tone of voice saying volumes.
He motioned at the two of us without words.
I held up my hand, and we leaned back to give him space. “Fair point. I just can’t imagine anyone willingly dating her.”
“I only went to avoid upsetting my friend. I was new to town, and he was trying to help me out, but I knew she wasn’t my type.”
“Not your type?” I repeated, and he nodded. “She’s five-ten, one hundred and ten pounds, blonde-haired and drop-dead gorgeous. I had her pegged as your exact type.”
“I’m not into girls who are high maintenance,” he said, savoring another bite of brownie. “I also prefer women who are a little bit,” he motioned around with his hand, “less made up, have a little meat on their bones, so they don’t poke me with their hips, and have something between their ears other than cotton balls, if you know what I mean.”
Amber and I bit back our laughter at his parting shot. “You’re saying Darla is a scarecrow?”
“Let’s just say the date ended for me when she thought Jane Austen was a dress designer.”
Amber crumbled in on herself with laughter, and I had to cover my mouth to keep from doing th
e same, but my eyes radiated glee. “I’m not laughing at you, I swear. I’m laughing at your accurate assessment of Darla.”
He held up his hand and shrugged. “All I can say is, I hadn’t been in Lake Pendle long, so I claim a lack of knowledge of the landscape and its people. Of course, Darla always acts quite put out whenever she sees me now.”
Amber waved her hand at him. “Doesn’t matter. Darla is put out by anyone not willing to put her on a pedestal and carry her around.”
I sat up and shook out my arms. “Okay, enough about Darla. Are you ready to hear some new ideas for the bakery?”
Amber and Brady rubbed their hands together and nodded. “Wow us,” Brady said with jazz hands.
Nervously, I brought out the first catalog, which was dog-eared on several pages. I didn’t know if I’d wow them, but I’d be happy if I could convince them that my ideas would be worth the extra work in the long run. More than all of that, when I opened the first dog-eared catalog page, and Brady’s eyes lit on the products, I hoped he’d understand that I saw him as a valuable part of the team here. Maybe I couldn’t say those exact words, but we needed him at The Fluffy Cupcake.
Sometimes, seeing is believing, right?
Four
I took a deep breath and knocked on the door of Haylee’s office. When she glanced up, her eyes told me she was more than a little surprised to see me.
“Hey. I thought you went home.”
“I did,” I said, stepping into the small space. I glanced down at my black tech shirt as Haylee’s eyes roamed over my chest, taking in my hard abs in something other than my chef’s coat. I could see the appreciation in her gaze, and I liked it. I liked it a lot. “I was going to the lake and thought you might like to go, too. We could sit on the dock and drink this,” I said, holding up a six-pack of craft beer.
“Tempting,” she agreed, her brow in the air. “Extremely tempting, but it’s late, and I have to be back here to start baking in a few hours.”
I leaned against the door frame with my shoulder and lowered my brow at the woman. She was way too gorgeous and way out of my league, but I didn’t care. I hadn’t given up trying to convince her otherwise. “It’s only eight. It’s still light outside. One beer, and then I’ll walk you home. You work too hard, cupcake. Sometimes you have to take a break before you burn out.”
“I prefer to think of it as keeping my business alive,” she joked, but she stood from behind her desk at the same time. She wore a pair of hip-hugging denim shorts that made my groin tighten instantly. This woman was going to be the death of me if I didn’t figure out a way to make her mine. I’d taken so many cold showers over the last seven years I didn’t even need a hot water heater anymore. “I suppose I have time for one beer before bed.”
I offered her my famous Brady Pearson smile. “Excellent. It’s a beautiful night out, and it would be a shame to waste it locked up in the bakery.”
Once the lights were shut down and the business was locked up, we strolled toward the lake and the large, public dock that stretched out into the water. It was a favorite place for the locals to hang out on a warm, sunny day. Some liked to fish from it, some wanted to take a running start and dive off the end, and some just wanted to sit on the wooden boards and take in some sun.
Tonight, I wasn’t interested in the dock, the lake, or the view, unless you counted the picture-perfect view beside me. I struggled to keep my eyes in front of me instead of on Haylee’s gauzy blouse that billowed in the night breeze. Every time her ivory shoulders peeked out, they teased my senses with the suggestion of what else I would find if I ever pulled that shirt off her beautiful body. It was rare to see Haylee Davis in anything other than her white chef coat with her hair pulled up in a tight ponytail and covered in a very unsexy hairnet.
That wasn’t the case tonight.
Her gorgeous chestnut hair was down and bouncing against her shoulders with every step she took, the natural body of it curling against her neck. Haylee Davis made Little Brady stand at attention every time she moved for the sole reason that she was who she was. Between the gauzy blouse, the sway of her hips, the way she cared about everyone she worked with, and her gigantic brain I couldn’t hold a candle to, I was utterly smitten with her. I also felt like a teenage boy trying not to get a boner in the middle of math class when my crush walked up to the board to work out a problem. I’d be working out my problem tonight—alone in the shower. I moaned softly at the thought of how much better it would be to work out the problem in her bed together.
“It’s a beautiful night tonight. A little sticky, but it is June,” she said as we approached the dock. I turned left away from the public space when I noticed how many people were still hanging out there. I should have predicted it would be that way in early June when the air was finally thick with summer. Haylee hurried to catch up and grabbed the sleeve of my shirt. “Where are you going? The dock is back there.”
I cleared my throat before I spoke, so my words didn’t sound garbled. The heat of Haylee’s hand burned against my arm and made me think about what it would be like for her to touch me in other places. “Too many people. I don’t want to share the beer,” I joked, holding up the case again.
I noticed this time it was Haylee who swallowed hard. Her beautiful, long, sleek neck bobbed once before she stuttered about for words she couldn’t find. “But there’s no place else to go.”
Slinging my arm around her shoulders, I winked at her. “That’s where you’re wrong. I know this great little spot, right up there,” I explained, pointing at a small patch of sand on the shore of the lake.
“Are you sure that’s not private property? I have to work in the morning. I can’t spend the night in jail for trespassing.”
I grinned and motioned for her to go ahead of me. It was purely selfish. If she was in front of me, I could watch the sway of her hips. It was pure torture and pure bliss at the same time. I groaned at the thought of those muscular thighs wrapped around my waist while I brought her to orgasm.
Fuck, man. You have to dial it back a few hundred notches. She’s your boss and your friend. You’re worse than that horny teenage boy in math class.
When she turned back, I coughed and plastered a smile on my face. I already had half a hard-on and her delicious bottom was going to make it a whole one in ten more seconds.
“You’re right, it is private property, but I know the guy, and he told me I was welcome to use it whenever I want. It might be the size of a postage stamp, but at least it’s private.”
I helped her sit down on the sand and sat next to her, handing her a beer after I twisted the top off. We clinked the necks together and sipped the hoppy liquid in the warm night air. The sun was thinking about setting, and the sky was turning brilliant reddish-orange in the sky. The light reflected on the water until a boat broke the image for a moment. Idyllic was a good word for the sight before us.
“Lake Pendle is so idyllic at this time of day. The epitome of a small-town lake community,” she said, lowering her beer to the sand.
“I was just thinking the same thing,” I agreed, shaking my finger at her. “Being from Milwaukee, which is anything but a small town, this view always captivates me.”
Not as much as her body captivates me all day, every day, but I wasn’t going to mention that. I valued my job and my balls too much.
Haylee tipped her beer bottle at me before taking another drink. “I was just thinking today how surprised I was that you stayed in Lake Pendle. I didn’t think you’d last long here before you moved on.”
“Almost seven years now, and I have no intention of leaving, Haylee.” My arms stretched wide across the space in front of us. “What’s not to love about this?” I’d play off the lovely town before I’d admit that the reason I stayed was her.
Her head was nodding when I tuned back into the conversation. “I agree, but I grew up here, so I stay for different reasons. Most city slickers can’t find enough to do here, especially in the winter.”
I shoulder bumped her carefully and winked. “My boss keeps me too busy in the winter to worry about things to do. It’s bread, bread, bread, day in and day out.”
She chuckled, and the sound cut right through me. Her laugh was a faint melody that reminded me of wind chimes on a warm summer night. “She sounds like a real bitch. Can’t believe you keep working for her.”
My smile grew, and I wrapped my arms around my knees to keep from touching her. God, how I wanted to, but I was smart enough to know she didn’t want me to.
“You know—it pays the bills.” I shrugged, and she bumped me in the shoulder with a smile on her face.
“If that’s all it does, you should probably find something more fulfilling.”
I bit back a groan at the thought she’d be more fulfilling if I were filling her. Dammit, man. You have got to get your libido under control. She’s your boss. You’ve devoted seven years to your craft at The Fluffy Cupcake. You can’t risk that stability to scratch an itch. “As it turns out, she’s slowly warming to my sourdoughs and rye.”
Haylee’s brow lifted when I handed her a second beer. She hesitated, but finally accepted it and took a drink. Her left hand patted her ample thigh. “I’ve loved your warm sourdough and rye since the first loaf came out of the oven. After seven years, I think that’s made obvious by my one size bigger work pants.”
I had to bite my lip to keep from thinking about her work pants. I wanted to take them off and discover what was underneath. As it was, keeping my eyes on the lake and not on the way she caressed her thigh was hard enough. Speaking of hard. I was.
“At the risk of overstepping work boundaries, let me assure you, your work pants are perfect.”
We sat in silence while the sun continued to set, tossing the lake into shades of orange, yellow, and pink. My mind drifted to the meeting this afternoon and the changes she suggested. They had taken me by surprise, and I needed a few hours to think about it before I could ask any questions. I was more than curious about why she was doing this now, though, when she’d been resistant to change for years.
Cupcake (The Fluffy Cupcake Book 1) Page 3
