Aiden hadn’t really thought that through. Camden had been plenty agreeable to the idea of buying Hot Cakes, but Aiden had assumed Cam would continue to avoid Whitney at all costs. As he had for the past eleven years.
Aiden might have miscalculated.
“I heard that word’s gotten out that you’ve got an offer and thought maybe we should talk before more information got out,” Aiden told her. “Assuming your dad agrees to the deal I just sent over.”
“He will,” Whitney said. “He’s very pleased with the idea in general. I can’t imagine what would stop him from agreeing.”
Aiden felt a rush of relief go through him. “That’s wonderful. I’m very pleased as well.”
“So yes, I suppose we should discuss how you want to roll this out.”
Aiden nodded even though she couldn’t see him. “I don’t want to roll it out. Yet.”
“What do you mean?”
“I need to keep the buyers, including me and Cam, under wraps for a little longer.”
“So it is you and Cam?” She didn’t sound surprised. Nor did she sound thrilled.
“And our other partners.”
There was a pause on her end. “The McCafferys don’t know yet?”
He blew out a breath. “How did you guess that?”
“Why else would Cam not already be here trumpeting in the town square about how he’s saving hundreds of jobs and pointing out to me that he’s saving my family from being even more hated and going deeply into debt?”
Well, at least she realized what they were doing for the town and for her. “Cam’s not…” But Aiden stopped mid-defense.
Cam would love to do all that. Camden had never had any trouble pointing out all the things he’d done for Appleby over the years and the chance to have something to hold over Whitney Lancaster’s head. Yeah, Cam might be older, a little wiser, and a tiny bit more mature than he’d been at eighteen, but maybe not that much. No one had ever gotten to him like Whitney had, and he’d never gotten over that. Or over her.
“We’re not ready to tell them everything yet,” Aiden amended. “But we knew we needed to step in with Hot Cakes now rather than waiting. We’re ready to move forward with the sale. We just need to keep the details private for a little longer.”
“Fine by me,” Whitney said. “I’m in no rush to admit that the town’s favorite sons are once again saving the day. This time by bailing the Lancasters out.”
“Your dad won’t say anything?”
She laughed but didn’t sound amused. “He honestly couldn’t care less,” she said. “He moved on a long time ago. I’m handling all this. He just wants it done. He doesn’t need or want the details other than how much we’re getting and when.”
“Great,” Aiden said. “We’ll keep working on the details and keeping things moving. Just without any publicity. For right now.” Cam would never go for keeping things on the down low for good. He’d want to make a splash, let Appleby know they were here, and that it was all going to be amazing from here on out. In their humble opinions, of course.
“Fine.” She paused. “Will I be dealing with you, then?”
Unspoken was the question about when and if Cam would get involved. “For now.” He hesitated. “Could I stop by later on and get a copy of employee manuals and all the compensation and benefits information?”
“Of course,” she said. “Or I can just email it all to you. We wouldn’t want someone to see you walking in over here.”
Aiden almost heard the smile in her voice. This was complicated and just plain weird, but at least they could all acknowledge that. “That would be great to start with. Thanks.”
“I’m happy to go over any of it with you. And we can do that off-site too. Of course, we’d probably have to go out of town.”
He actually chuckled at that. “I promise this isn’t going to be a secret for long.”
It couldn’t be. He had a lot to do. The business had been neglected by Whitney’s father for some time now. He needed to get the lay of the land and figure out how to bring it all back. And then some. Aiden knew Camden and Ollie well enough to know that by the end of the day, they would already have schemes to make Hot Cakes even bigger and better under their ownership. In fact, with Cam in Chicago with Ollie and Dax—the big idea guys—and without Aiden keeping track of them, God only knew what they might be cooking up. A bored Oliver Caprinelli was a dangerous thing. Egged on by a troublemaking Camden McCaffery… Aiden shuddered. The only good thing was that Grant was there and would put the kibosh on anything too crazy. Dax, of course, wouldn’t stop a thing.
Aiden rubbed the middle of his forehead. He needed to get this thing with Zoe locked down, so he could dive into Hot Cakes before his friends bought a Hot Cakes blimp or something.
But he probably needed to call Piper first. She needed to keep even closer tabs on Ollie for a few days.
Did that mean he was going to instruct her to get into Ollie’s emails and listen in on his phone calls and absolutely keep track of anything he and Cam did together? Hell yes, it did.
“Well, I know I’m listed as the VP of Sales and Marketing,” Whitney said to Aiden, returning him to their conversation. “But I really know the business inside and out. That’s just… a title. I mean… I do marketing. Of course. I deal with all our accounts. But I do… more than that.” She sighed. “I feel like I’m applying for a job with you and failing this interview.”
Aiden knew that technically Whitney was put in charge of marketing mostly because she was beautiful and charming and smart and knew everything about the business. She could easily sell it to anyone. She hadn’t actually gone on to get a degree, having been given her position as soon as she turned eighteen and having learned what she needed to know by working in the company alongside her father.
“You don’t have to interview, Whit,” Aiden said, reverting to the nickname she’d gone by with friends in high school. “You can be as involved with the company as you want to be for as long as you want to be. We want to preserve all the jobs there, and we know that you’re a valuable asset to us. We’ve all eaten plenty of Hot Cakes, but that’s kind of the limit to our knowledge about the company.”
“I doubt very much that Camden’s eaten plenty of Hot Cakes,” Whitney said. She sounded like she might be rolling her eyes. But she also sounded a little sad.
She was right. Cam avoided all snack cakes from the Hot Cakes company.
“Camden is only part of the ownership,” Aiden felt compelled to point out. “We’re equal partners. You don’t have to worry about him interfering with this going through or him firing you or anything like that.”
“I’m actually more worried about working for him than being fired,” Whitney said. “But I can’t not work for him. I don’t know how to do anything else.”
Aiden realized that Camden being her boss might be… interesting. Especially with their history and Camden’s propensity to provoke people. Aiden might need to especially review any sections in the employee manual about harassment. If nothing else, they would need to have a talk about how Camden was going to act with and treat Whitney.
“I’ve got your back, Whit,” Aiden told her. “You don’t have anything to worry about.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“I’ll admit there are a few… complicating factors.”
Camden, for one. Definitely. But also Zoe.
Whitney laughed lightly. “That’s a nice way to say it.” Then she said, “But really, Aiden, thank you. I’m glad you called. I’ve been worried, and it’s good to know we’ve got a place to start.”
“You bet. And you can reach out to me anytime too. I’ll text you my email address.”
“Great. I’ll send all those materials over as soon as I get into the office.”
Yeah, Whitney and Eric might be the only people in Appleby who knew the names of the new owners at this very moment, but they couldn’t keep it under wraps for long. He needed to get to work on Zoe.<
br />
He grinned at that thought. That was hardly going to be work.
“I’ll talk to you soon,” he said to Whitney.
“Sounds good.”
They disconnected, and Aiden headed for Buttered Up.
He parked in the back and started for the door. And ran into Jane.
“Uh, hey.”
She smiled up at him. She had on a hoodie, the hood up, and was dressed in running clothes. She was leaning against the bricks beside the back door. “’Morning.”
“What are you doing?”
“Waiting for Zoe to bring me my breakfast.”
“By the back door?” Aiden grinned.
“I can’t be seen out front.” Jane shrugged. “Against company policy to shop here. It’s a gray area, since I don’t actually pay, so I’m not sure it’s really shopping, but you can’t be too careful when it comes to crazy family feuds.”
She was right. She was also about to be one of his employees and was breaking company policy right in front of him.
Yeah, that was the first policy he was going to look at when Whitney sent the materials over. They were axing that clause, first thing.
“Want me to go in and get her?”
Jane looked at her watch. “Nah, there’s another minute before our meet.”
“Does she pass it to you in an unmarked brown paper bag?”
Jane laughed. “She does.”
Aiden shook his head, smiling. “You’re both crazy.”
Jane shrugged again. “Don’t want to get fired but can’t live without my Buttered Up sugar fix. It’s a tough position to be in.” She gave him a mock frown. “You can’t tell.”
“Of course not.” He started to move past her to the back door but then slid her a glance. “So you haven’t seen Zoe yet this morning?” Did he want to know how Zoe was acting after their kitchen tryst? Yes, yes he did.
“Nope.”
“Huh.”
“Have you seen Zoe yet this morning?” Jane asked, clearly fighting a smile.
“I… have.”
“And was she in a good mood?” Jane asked.
“She was… after her… coffee.”
“Her… coffee.” Jane nodded. “Yeah, she hasn’t had any morning… coffee… from a guy in… a long time.”
He immediately turned to face her. “How long?”
Jane blinked at his sudden intensity. “Um.” It was clear she was trying to figure out how much to say. “Not sure.”
“Jane,” Aiden said, in his low, firm, I’m-not-fucking-around voice he had to use with Dax at least twice a week. “Get sure.”
“Well, if we’re talking about coffee…”
“We are not talking about coffee.”
Jane’s eyes got wide. “Are we talking about…”
He let her trail off and then lifted a brow. “Not quite. Somewhere between that and… actual coffee.”
Jane grinned. Aiden couldn’t help but grin back. He liked Jane.
“You got up early,” Jane commented.
“Zoe gets up early.”
Jane nodded. “And if you wanted… coffee… with her, you’d have to be up early.”
For some reason Aiden laughed. “You missed the emphasis on up. I mean, as long as we’re doing this insinuation and innuendo thing.”
She gave him a huge smile. “I’ll bet you didn’t miss the emphasis on up. Am I right?”
He laughed then shook his head. “You’re not going to help me out at all here?”
“If you want to know something about Zoe and her coffee, you’re going to need to ask her.” Jane pushed away from the wall and turned to face him. “But you do already know she takes her coffee very seriously.”
He did, actually. “Then why was she so pissed at me about not wanting Christmas coffee and wanting more serious coffee?”
Jane shook her head. “Because she had a recipe and now you’re throwing new ingredients in, and she has no idea how this is going to end up… tasting.” She sighed. “I’m not going to give you the info you want, but I’ll tell you this—because it’s something you already know—Zoe is really good at what she does. But what she does is what she’s always done. On purpose. Because she knows how that will turn out. She knows exactly how much butter and sugar and flour to put in and what temperature to bake it at and how long to leave it in the oven. She will have to really trust someone to change anything up and risk it turning out badly.”
Aiden thought about that. He glanced at the back door of the bakery. “She would also have to really trust someone to change up her… coffee routine.”
“You’ve got it,” Jane said with a little nod.
“But I really need to—” He was cut off by the back screen door to the bakery whacking him in the back.
“Oh, geez!” Zoe gasped. “Aiden! You can’t stand right in front of the door.”
Soft light and the scent of vanilla and buttercream and cinnamon drifted out, like Zoe was an angel arriving on a glowing cloud of sugar and spice.
“Um—” He tried.
But all he could think about was how he’d had his hand in her panties and her moaning against his mouth just a couple of hours ago.
“Here you go.” Zoe handed a plain paper bag to Jane through the door. “Double chocolate muffin.”
Jane took a deep breath, her eyes sliding shut in bliss for a moment. “I love you so fucking much.”
Zoe chuckled. “Get out of here before someone sees you.” She shot Aiden a look. “Someone else.”
“See you later, babe,” Jane said. She gave Aiden a wink. “You too. Enjoy your next… cup of coffee.”
“Oh, I will,” he promised. He watched her jog down the alley and turn the corner. Then he looked over at Zoe. “She parks a couple of blocks away?”
“She jogs down here from home,” Zoe said, pushing the door open wider so he could step inside. “That way people think she’s just out for a run. She tucks the bag inside her jacket on the way home.”
“It’s so dumb she has to sneak around like that,” he commented.
“Of course it is,” Zoe said. “But I guess if Josie came in here munching on a Cinnamon Curl from Hot Cakes, I’d be a little annoyed.”
“You wouldn’t fire her though,” Aiden said, shutting the door behind him as Zoe moved across the kitchen.
Zoe shrugged. “I’d tell her I didn’t want it to happen again.”
“If you found a bunch of Hot Cakes wrappers in Jocelyn’s car, you’d be upset and have a talk with her with the expectation she stop eating them?”
Zoe looked at him across the worktable, and for just a second he flashed back to last night then to that morning in the kitchen. He could smell her, feel her, hear her all over again, and he lost his train of thought.
Damn. This woman. How had this all happened so fast? Suddenly, almost overnight, he couldn’t even keep track of a conversation while standing in a room where he’d kissed her.
Then she said, “By eating those, she’d be supporting my enemy. Yeah, I would ask her to stop.”
And he was right back on what they’d been discussing. He sighed. “Your enemy? That’s a little strong.”
She shook her head. “This again? Already? Everything was going so well between us too.”
He moved farther into the room. “You mean when I was making you come?”
She sucked in a quick breath. “Uh… yeah. I really liked you right then.”
He grinned. “I can make you like me a lot. Often. And even more.”
Her eyes were wide as he came around the corner of the worktable and into her space. She swallowed hard. “I would be okay with that.”
“I would be very okay with that too.” He lifted a hand and dragged his thumb along her jaw. She was so soft. He wanted to touch her all over.
“Aiden?”
“Yeah, Zoe?”
“You better never show up eating a Hot Cake in front of me.”
Dammit. This really was stupidly complicated. It shouldn
’t be. It didn’t need to be. He really wanted to fix it. But right now, it was.
“You’re saying that if I had one hand in your panties and the other holding a Mint Munchie, you would tell me to stop fingering you?”
She wet her lips. Her pupils were dilated. But she nodded. “Yeah.”
He braced his hand on the worktable next to them and leaned in. “You’re saying that if I broke open a Hot Cakes cupcake, took that cream filling, painted it over your nipples and then licked it all off, you’d still push me away, because it was Hot Cakes cream?”
Her chest rose and fell with her deep breath. But she nodded again. “Yep.”
“And if I dipped my finger into a Strawberry Swirl and then swirled that strawberry filling over your sweet little clit and then wanted to suck it clean, you’d say no because it was Hot Cakes strawberry filling?”
It took her a little longer to reply that time. She cleared her throat. But then slowly nodded. “Yeah.”
Her yeah was very breathless.
He didn’t believe her. He shook his head, making sure he looked regretful. “That’s too bad.”
“But I make cream and strawberry filling,” she said quickly.
He grinned. There was no question Zoe’s was superior to the Hot Cakes fillings. Those fillings were mass produced and needed preservatives, so they had a longer shelf life. Zoe’s were fresh and made by hand in small batches. Which was the entire point. They weren’t the same thing. They weren’t competitors.
Though both would work for nipple and clit sucking.
“But I probably won’t have your filling in my glove compartment, convenient for when we’re randomly out parking by the river and the need to lick your nipples and suck on your clit comes up.”
God, he loved talking dirty to her. This was Zoe McCaffery. He’d known her forever. Five years ago, he would have never thought about talking to her like this. He would have never imagined anyone talking to her like this. Actually, if he had, he would have wanted to punch them in the face. Hard. Repeatedly.
But that was because he’d never seen her cheeks flush pink or her lips fall open or her nipples bead behind her light blue t-shirt.
Sugarcoated Page 13
