“Trying to remind myself this is my place of employment, and ravishing you here would be a bad idea.”
“A terrible one,” Amber said, coming out of the cooler with more cupcakes. “At least if I’m in the room.”
All three of us laughed, but it was when Amber left that he stepped up to me and closed the oven door after the last pan was pulled. “She knows?”
“She refused to open the door until I told her,” I admitted, my breath heavy with him so close to me. All I could think about was the way he felt warm against my thighs last night. “She could tell something had changed. It wasn’t like I could lie to her when you keep staring at my ass like it’s better than sliced bread.”
“Well, it is,” he said without pause. “Way better.”
“Hey, baker man?”
“Yes, cupcake?”
I pointed at the oven. “While you’ve been busy ogling my ass, your buns are burning.”
He jumped into action, pulling the buns out at the last second before they would be considered overdone, but not before he patted my ass.
I chuckled all the way back to the bench with my cupcakes in hand. “Maybe you’re the one who needs a timer.”
Fifteen
What the hell was going on? I set the piping bag down when I heard raised voices from the front of the bakery. It sounded like Amber could use some help with some unruly customers.
“I want the black forest cupcakes. If you don’t give them to me, I’ll report you to the Better Business Bureau!”
“That’s not how the Better Business Bureau works,” Amber said dryly. “Regardless, those cupcakes are for a special order, which is why they’re neatly packaged and awaiting pick up.”
“First come, first serve,” the woman demanded.
I rolled my eyes. Why does Darla always have to show up and ruin a perfectly good day?
“Is there a problem here, ladies?” I asked, stepping behind the counter to stand next to Amber. We decided when the store first opened that we’d always show a united front with customers—giving them the idea that our alliance was to anything other than the business wasn’t going to happen. Especially when that customer was Darla McFinkle.
“Yes, little Miss Fluffy Cupcake!” Darla exclaimed, tossing up her hands. Geez, this woman and her dramatics. How did she manage to get through life when she was always this worked up about things? “I want to purchase some black forest cupcakes and your business partner,” which she said with a mouthful of acid, “won’t let me!”
“Well, of course not. Those cupcakes are for a special order. They should be picking them up at any moment.” I dramatically checked the clock, mostly to hide the smirk on my face.
“Too bad. I’m here, and I want cupcakes. They should have to wait for you to make more.”
“Are you kidding me with this?” Amber asked, leaning forward on the counter with her palms. “The order was made three days ago and paid for already. Therefore, those cupcakes are already the property of the customer.”
“Possession is nine-tenths of the law,” Darla snarled.
This woman drove me crazy. She didn’t want the damn cupcakes. She wanted to start a fight, draw attention to herself, and make us look bad.
“You’re absolutely right, Darla,” I said, nodding with her. I could see in her sarcastic smirk that she thought she’d won. “Since I’m in possession of those cupcakes, I get to make the decisions. They will go to the person who ordered and paid for them. Can I interest you in one of our Chocolate Heath cupcakes?”
“What I want is a black forest cupcake! Since your establishment is unable to provide for the customer what they want, I won’t be frequenting it any longer.” She spun in a huff on her heel toward the door.
The snort escaped before I could stop it. “Well, that’s tragic. I’m sure I’ll go home and cry about that for at least zero minutes. I might even crack open that bottle of champagne I’ve been saving for a special occasion.”
“I’ll join you,” Amber said dryly.
Darla paused in her forward motion and spun back slowly, her jaw clenched and her hands fisted at her side. “You’ll pay for that comment, fatso!” she exclaimed, lunging over the counter at me.
Before I could react, she had my hair in her hands and was yanking me over the counter by it. Spittle flew from her mouth like a rabid dog as she grappled with getting me over the counter, but Amber grabbed hold of my waist and screamed for help.
“Let her go before you hurt her!” she yelled, her voice frantic and worried.
“What is going on in here?” a voice asked. “Darla, let go of her right now!” Brady boomed from behind me while my scalp screamed for release.
Darla stopped pulling but didn’t let go. “Back away, baker boy. This is between fatso and me. We don’t need your help to solve this.”
Brady walked into my line of sight and around the counter but didn’t touch Darla. “I don’t know what your problem is, but if you don’t let go of Haylee this instant, you’re going to have an even bigger problem on your hands.”
Instead of releasing me, she pulled harder, forcing me to slide my stomach up onto the counter to stop her from ripping out my hair. I grasped her wrists, not wanting to fight back but afraid she was going to rip my hair out if I didn’t do something.
“This ends now,” another voice said from the doorway. “Release Chef Davis and put your hands behind your back,” Officer Jack Stevens said, his gun belt clanking as he approached the still rabid woman. “If you don’t release her now, I will arrest you for assault.”
Darla’s hands went slack, allowing me to stand upright again. I rubbed at my scalp, fighting back the tears in my eyes while I glared at the woman in front of me. Brady darted behind the counter and put his arm around my waist, checking my head for any damage.
“I don’t think she hurt anything, but you can’t let her get away with this,” he whispered in my ear.
Darla was arguing with Officer Stevens when I tuned back into the space around me. “You can’t arrest me! I didn’t do anything,” she whined, faking tears. “I wasn’t going to hurt her.”
“You could have fooled me,” Brady said, his arm still around my waist.
“What? Are you two a thing now?” she asked, her eyes rolling. “What a shame. A guy like you with a woman like her. You could do so much better.”
“I think it’s time to take a trip down to the station,” Officer Stevens said before I could leap over the counter and grab her this time. “Haylee, do you want to press charges?”
I shook my head slightly. “No. Just get her out of here. She’s banned from The Fluffy Cupcake for good now. If she walks through that door again, I will call you, and I will press charges.”
Darla started huffing and sputtering until she noticed the look on our faces. “Fine. You know what? Who cares? I don’t need your stinking cupcakes! I can make my own!”
“You do that, Darla. Have a nice day. Thank you, Officer Stevens,” I said cordially, biting my lip to keep from laughing at the dramatic woman.
“You better watch your back, fatso. If you think I don’t have ways of making sure your business goes down in flames, you’re wrong!”
“Whoa,” Officer Stevens said, his hands reaching for his cuffs. “With that, we are taking a trip to the station.” He slapped the cuffs on her wrists while she twisted and turned frantically. “I knew you were dumb, but threatening someone’s place of business with arson in front of a peace officer is idiotic.”
“I didn’t! I didn’t mean it like that!” Darla yelled on the way to the squad car.
All three of us stood frozen in place, staring at the door while Officer Stevens forced Darla into his squad car and drove away.
“Did that just happen?” Amber asked, the words filled with perplexed curiosity.
“It most certainly did,” Brady said, turning me into him and hugging me fiercely. “I almost had a heart attack when I walked in here and saw you in a headlock. Do you need a
doctor?” he asked, kissing the top of my head.
I shuddered in his arms but shook my head. “No, I’m fine.”
“I can’t believe that woman!” Amber sputtered, her senses returning. “What is wrong with her?”
“She’s losing it,” Brady said through clenched teeth. “Do you think they’ll disqualify her for the cupcake bake-off now?”
I snorted and picked my hat up off the floor where it had fallen when she attacked me. “Not unless they charge her with something, which they won’t. They know she will find a lawyer to get her off, and all it will do is make her even more insufferable.”
“Let her show up and bake,” Amber said, her eyes rolling. “She can’t beat the dream team.”
“Now we’re the dream team?” I asked, joking with Brady.
“You’re the girl of my dreams, how about that?” he asked with a teasing lilt to his voice.
“Oh sure, the fatso is your dream come true. Darla’s right, you know, you could do so much better.”
“You’re both wrong, which we will discuss later, in private,” he said, his lips in a thin line.
“I’m in Brady’s camp, if that matters,” Amber piped up. “No one is better than my bestie. I hope that’s enough of a hint to him not to mess with you. He messes with you, and he messes with me.”
Brady put his hands up by his chest. “I can read between the lines. Speaking of the cupcake bake-off,” he said, to change the subject. “It’s in less than a week. We need to do a few more run-throughs to make sure we’re a well-oiled machine.”
Amber shooed us to the back with her hands. “Why don’t you two make another test batch while I clean up and wait for Mrs. Mack to pick up the coveted cupcakes?”
“Make a test batch so that you can eat them?” I asked teasingly.
“I’ll be real with you. Yes. Also, add more marshmallow fluff this time to the frosting. Did you try adding it to the cake itself? I think that would be divine.”
“What is this? The Great British Bake Off?” I asked, grabbing a clean apron from the hook on the wall.
“Don’t knock it until you try it,” she said, spun on her heel and disappeared back into the bakery to do her work.
“She might be onto something,” Brady whispered, walking up to me and pulling me into him. “But I don’t want to make cupcakes. I want to go upstairs with you and help you relax. Is your head okay?” He rubbed the sides of my head with his thumbs and then kissed my lips gently, grimacing when he remembered his promise not to kiss me in the bakery again. “I know I said I would stay hands off at work, but I was scared to death when I came around the corner and saw you in that bitch’s grasp.”
I chuckled and clasped his wrists with my hands. “It’s okay. I won’t tell the bakery police if you don’t. As for my head, it’s fine. I’m ticked off and shaking inside, but I’m not hurt physically. As much as I want to relax, I won’t be able to. Let’s whip up a batch of Berry Sinful, and maybe after I take my frustrations out on the cupcake batter, I’ll feel better about the day.”
He leaned down and kissed my nose. “I’m your guy then. Let’s perfect this recipe so we can show Darla just what The Fluffy Cupcake is made of.”
“Considering that’s what she calls me,” I said, leaving the sentence open.
“The bakery, not its baker,” he clarified, his brow down to his nose. “I’m rather fond of the baker and happen to know there is nothing fluffy about her. She’s all woman and all mine.”
He went off to gather ingredients for the cake while I braced my palms on the bench and sucked in a few deep breaths. Darla had always been the bane of my existence, but if she ever threatened me or this business again, I would make sure she paid for it in ways she couldn’t even fathom.
Sixteen
The woman lying next to me was warm, soft, and sleepy. I should probably leave her alone to sleep for a few more hours, but my appetite for her hadn’t been sated yet. She was fire, sass, beautiful, vulnerable, and wicked good at making me come way before I wanted the romp to be over. The most wonderful and the most disturbing part was that she didn’t even realize it. She doesn’t believe she’s the best thing since sliced bread, so I plan to show her over and over until she does. No matter what I have to do, this woman will know her worth is the same as Amber’s, Darla’s, and every other woman on the street, but she will understand that to me, she’s worth more than all of them.
“Are you fondling my cupcake?” she asked in a sleepy voice.
“I wouldn’t do that without your permission,” I promised, taking a bite of the strawberry cupcake in my hand.
“I’m talking about the one in your hand, not the one between my legs,” she said, laughter in her voice as she sat up.
“Then no, I’m not fondling the cupcake in my hand, but I was thinking about fondling the one between your legs.”
“Again?” she asked with mock surprise.
I leaned over her, the cupcake still in my hand, and kissed her hard. My tongue darted in to taste her sweetness that overpowered the cake. I moaned, and my dick hardened instantly at the thought of sinking deep inside her again.
“And again, and again and again,” I promised when I lifted my head.
She grasped my wrist and brought the cupcake to her lips, stealing a bite of the sweet cake. “Mmm, berry sinful.”
I leaned up against the headboard, naked as a jaybird with my dick at attention. “This part is brilliant.” I pointed at the center filled with marshmallow fluff. “It reminds me of a Hostess cupcake when I was a kid. The cake and frosting were terrible, but you knew that creamy center was waiting for you.” I stuck my tongue into the marshmallow and swirled it around, sucking and licking the cream from the center of the cupcake. “Mmm,” I sighed with contentment. “I love sticking my tongue into the center of a cupcake.”
Haylee’s moan was low and almost a whine, but I heard it for what it was—desire. She squirmed next to me, her hand going down to rub her triangle as my tongue finished swiping out the center of the cupcake.
I grasped her hand and twined her fingers in mine. “Oh no, cupcake. Only one person gets to touch you there tonight. He’s drooling at the thought of it, but first,” I paused and held up a finger, grabbing another cupcake off the plate and holding it up.
“You’re going to get sick if you eat more sugar,” she moaned, squeezing my hand and then dropping it to try and get hers around my hardness.
“I’m not going to eat it,” I said while I knelt next to her. My finger swiped through the frosting until it was full of it. “Well, I am going to eat it, but not the way you think. See, this icing is soft, fluffy, and sweet as can be.” I ran my finger across both nipples until they were covered in icing. She shivered under me as it trailed to her navel. “Those three words sum up who you are, cupcake,” I promised, grabbing more frosting to paint her beautiful naval and then lower until her entire mound was full of frosting.
“See, you do think I’m fluffy,” she said, her brow drawn down to her nose. “I said you could do better, and you said I was wrong.”
“You are wrong,” I said, setting the cupcake down and holding my finger to her lips until she sucked my finger into her mouth and curled her tongue around it, sucking the frosting off. I moaned when the thought struck me how incredible it would feel if it was my dick instead.
I lowered my lips and did the same to her nipple until her hips were in the air, and she was begging me to take her. Before I switched to her other nipple, I grasped her chin with my fingers. “First of all, if what you are is fluffy, then I fucking love fluffy. I can’t get enough of fluffy. My dick is hard and straining to be inside you again. If I thought I could do better, would I be this hard for you?” I asked, letting her squeeze me once before I pulled back and sucked her other nipple between my lips, licking and tugging until she was surely wetter than I’d ever made her. I trailed my tongue down and dipped it into her navel, swirling it around until she gasped and grabbed my hair with both hands
.
“God, Brady,” she sighed, her hips in the air until I grasped them and lowered them to the bed.
“I don’t think soft is a problem, either. These hips and this ass are soft, and I love holding them while I pump into you.” I licked my lips and eyed her core, still covered in frosting, and already plump from our earlier lovemaking. “I happen to love sweet things, and when you come all over my tongue, it’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever tasted.”
“Mmm, you’re saying you don’t think I’m a fatso, and you can’t do better?”
I didn’t answer her with words. I lowered my lips to her mound and systematically licked off every bit of frosting until I made my way to her slit. She was glistening with wetness, and while my tongue finished my snack, I slipped two fingers inside her and offered pressure where I knew she wouldn’t be able to do anything but come the moment I touched my tongue to her.
“Brady,” she cried, the spasm that hit her was almost instantaneous when I sucked her clit into my mouth. Her moans and mewls filled my head like an orchestra, and when she settled back into the bed, sated and happy, I rested my chin on her belly. “The sounds you make when you’re coming are like listening to an orchestra play. Your moans fill my head and make me want to come without even touching myself. I don’t want to fucking hear that we aren’t perfect for each other ever again, do you understand me?” I asked, already rubbing her again until her gasp told me she was more than ready for me to enter her. “Do you understand me?” I asked again, poised with my tip at her opening.
“Yes,” she cried, wrapping her legs behind me and pulling me forward until I slid inside her on a moan. “I understand you. Just fuck me, Brady.”
I grasped her hips and moved inside her, carrying her up onto a fluffy cloud made of frosting, marshmallow, and the truth about who we are and what we can be together. My hips stroked hers until I couldn’t hold back a second longer.
“Now,” she called, her back arching off the bed and shoving her breasts into my face when I lowered myself over her to go even deeper. “Now, Brady!”
Cupcake (The Fluffy Cupcake Book 1) Page 12
