One word. That was all he had but that one word made me waver.
“Kellan.”
“Can’t we figure something out other than whatever it is we are doing?”
“Oh, you mean like have a conversation like adults?” I folded my arms over my chest and tapped my foot. “I tried that. You didn’t respond well to it. Remember all of those lovely men you sent over to my cafe?”
“You just sent thirty kids into my studio with cookies smeared all over their faces and hands. I’m going to be scrubbing mats all night.”
A smile spread across my lips. I hadn’t thought of that when I had planned this. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Kellan. I guess I hadn’t thought about that.”
“You know an apology is only sincere if you mean it, right?”
I shrugged. “Then, I guess I don’t mean it.” I put my hands on the cart and turned it around.
“We need to talk, Molly.”
I shook my head and pushed the cart. “That ship sailed when you decided to seduce me to get what you want. I told you this was war, Kellan. Gather your troops, or you’re going to lose.”
We headed back to the cafe, Sage hot on my heels. “Holy shit,” she wheezed. “You were amazing!”
My hands were clammy, and my heart was beating a mile a minute. I had never talked to someone like that before. It was a rush. “Thanks,” I mumbled. I wasn’t sure if it was a rush I wanted to experience again, though.
“Damn, he was mad. Although, I do have to say that I was surprised he didn’t yell or anything.”
Me, too. I had fully expected Kellan to hit the ceiling, but he hadn’t. I could tell he was upset, but he had managed to keep his cool for the most part. I wheeled the cart to the door and pushed it behind the counter.
“So, how did it go?” Bess asked.
Sage laughed. “We are out of cookies, and we pissed off Powerhouse. Mission accomplished.”
I grabbed the empty cookie trays and dropped them into the sink. “Except now we have to prepare for retaliation.” I realized we were going to be stuck in a never-ending loop of me going after him and then waiting to see what he did next. I was already racking my brain for my next move.
“We only have two weeks until the meeting, right? How bad can it get before then? We totally have this in the bag.” Sage and Bess high-fived. Sage gave Bess the rundown of what happened.
Bess threw her head back and laughed. “I would definitely say you are giving them a run for their money.”
I left Sage and Bess and headed into the storeroom. I closed the door and listened. I pressed my ear to the wall next to the racking and heard kids screaming and someone telling them to quiet down.
I turned around and leaned against the wall. It sounded like Kellan had his hands full, and I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my lips. Hopefully, Kellan realized I wasn’t someone to mess with.
Kellan said he always won; well, he had never played against me.
He was going down.
**********
Kellan
“How? How do they get chocolate smeared all over the bathroom mirror?”
Tate was in the bathroom cleaning up the chocolate disaster that had exploded in there, and I was picking up all the empty coffee cups. “Because they’re five years old. Whatever they touch gets dirty.”
Molly had definitely won this round. I was sure we would be finding cookie crumbs and chocolate around the studio for the next month.
“So, what are we going to do next?” Tate walked out of the bathroom and collapsed onto the mat. “We can’t let her get away with this.”
We couldn’t, but I really had no clue what to do. I was still bothered by the fact that she thought I was a douchebag, and I didn’t want to do anything else that would help to solidify that theory. “What do you have in mind?”
Tate shook his head. “Dante and I got this one. We’ve been cooking something up.”
“Like what?” I really didn’t like the sound of that. Tate and Dante coming up with a plan was never a good thing.
“You can just take a back seat on this one, man. It’s time we pulled our weight a little bit.”
Now was the time that Tate decides to help out? I didn’t need help with Molly, I needed help running the damn studio. “Just tell me what you two are planning?” I had been party to some of the pranks Tate and Dante had pulled. I was more than worried about Molly.
“Nope, not happening.”
I bowed onto the mat and looked down at him. “At least tell me when you are doing it, so I know when to take cover.”
Tate shook his head. “I’ll let you know when it’s done.”
“Are you trying to sound like Al Pacino right now?”
Tate grimaced and held his hand out. “I plan to make her an offer she can’t refuse.”
I grabbed his hand and hauled him up. “As long as she doesn’t end up sleeping with the fishes, I really can’t say anything.”
Tate clapped me on the back. “I promise not to throw her in the Mississippi River.”
“The fact that you had to make that promise to me actually scares me.”
Tate bowed off the mat and grabbed his socks and shoes. “Have no fear, Kellan. You just take the night off, and don’t even think about Molly.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and watched Tate tie his shoes. There used to be a time not very long ago where that would have been a possibility. Now, after I felt Molly in my arms, I couldn’t help but think about how I was going to get her close to me again.
I was trying to take Molly down, and now, all I wanted to do was go down on her.
Fuck me.
**********
Molly
I opened my car door and stepped one foot out. I was dog tired and really didn’t feel like working today. Thankfully, we were only open until one on Sunday, but that meant I still had eight hours left. My fingers felt around on the key fob, popped the trunk, and I slowly got out of the car.
My seven days a week were starting to catch up to me. I was going to have to take a day off before I fell over. Sage normally had off Sunday and half of Saturday so she’d have time with Sam. So, that meant I was here all of the time.
“This is what you wanted, Molly,” I mumbled as I grabbed the clean laundry basket out of the trunk and slammed the lid shut. No life, but a successful cafe was what I had.
“Molly!”
I dropped the basket full of clean aprons and towels and spun around. I clutched my chest and winced, thinking for sure this was the way I was going to die. All alone in a parking lot with a laundry basket, barely awake, “Please don’t kill me!” I squealed.
“Molly, it’s me, Kellan.” I peeked open one eye and saw Kellan walk around the back end of a Challenger
I opened both eyes and looked around. “What are you doing here? Do you know what time it is? Is this your next plot of revenge? Because if it is, I’m way too tired for this. Can we reschedule for tomorrow?” Apparently, when I thought I was about to die, I became chatty.
“You haven’t gone in yet, right?”
I tilted my head. “Um, no. I just got here.”
Kellan walked over to the basket that had dumped at my feet. “I’ll walk you in.”
He kneeled down, gathering all the towels, and I looked down at him. I should have helped put them back in the basket, but he was the reason I had dropped them in the first place. “Um, you still haven’t told me why you’re here. I’ve never seen you here at the butt crack of dawn.”
Kellan chuckled. “Butt crack of dawn?”
It was an accurate description of the time of day. “Yes.”
“I’m always up at this time, Cookie.”
“But not here.”
Kellan finished shoving everything back in the basket and stood up. “No, not here.” He grabbed the basket off the ground and looked at the cafe. “You wanna open the door, and I’ll bring this in?”
“Only if you tell me why you are here.” I wasn’t goin
g to budge until he told me his motive.
“Tate called me late last night.”
“That’s nice. I hope you two had a great conversation.”
Kellan tucked the basket under his arm. “He told me yesterday that he was going to take over the next maneuver in the war.”
I narrowed my eyes and glared at him. “Go on.”
“He wouldn’t tell me what he did. Just said he would let me know when he was done.”
“So, he called you last night to tell you he was done.” He nodded and glanced at the cafe. “Something is going to happen when I walk through that door, isn’t it?”
“Honestly, I have no idea. He called me for two seconds. Said ‘The crow flies at midnight. It is done,’ then he hung up. I didn’t even get a word in.”
I closed my eyes and tilted my head back. “You gotta be kidding me.”
“That’s why I’m here. I have no idea what they did, and I just want to make sure it wasn’t something ridiculous.”
“They? You said it was Tate. Now it’s they?” I could be walking to the world's biggest boobie trap right now.
“Uh, yeah. It was Tate and Dante.”
I opened my eyes and looked at Kellan. “Dante is the silver fox, right?” I slapped my hand over my mouth. Shit, that was not what I wanted to say out loud
Kellan smirked and shook his head. “You know I’m going to have to tell him that now, right, Cookie?”
I curled my lip and growled. “You better not.”
“We’ll see. Right now, I’m more concerned with what’s going on in your cafe.”
I looked over my shoulder at the cafe. “You think they let a wild animal out in there?”
Kellan busted out laughing. “An animal?” he wheezed.
“I have an active imagination.”
“Cookie, you are giving those two way more credit than they deserve. I’m assuming they rigged a bucket of water over your door or something juvenile like that.”
Oh, well. I could handle something like that. “Just for that, you’re going to be the first one walking in.” I held out my keys. “Give me the basket, and I’ll follow you.”
Kellan grabbed the keys and shook his head. “See, now you don’t mind me being here, do you?”
I rolled my eyes and nudged him towards the door. “Hurry up, I have cookies to pull out and coffee to start brewing.”
“If you had any cookies in there, I’m sure they are all gone. Dante sniffs your cookies out no matter where he is.”
I snorted.
Kellan turned around and shook his head. “Wrong cookie, Molly.”
I shrugged. “Don’t tell me you didn’t think the same thing,” I mumbled.
He stuck they key into the door and cautiously opened it and stood off to the side. “I did, I just didn’t think you would think the same thing.”
I cautiously peered over Kellan’s shoulder and didn’t see anything unusual. “It looks exactly how I left it.”
“That’s what they want you to think. I know they did something.”
We walked in, and I set the basket next to the door. I twisted the lock on the door and turned on the lights. “So, what do we do now?”
“Now, I walk around and try to figure out what Dumb and Dumber did.”
I grabbed Kellan’s arm. “Wait, how did they get in here?”
Kellan ran his fingers through his hair and looked down. “Uh, well. I have a key.”
“How did you have a key to my cafe?”
“I think her name is Sage? She knew who I was.”
“Sage? Sage gave you the keys to the cafe?” That traitor! Whose side was she on?
“Yeah.”
“Why would she give you the keys to the cafe?”
Kellan shrugged. “I don’t know. I told her I wanted to sneak in here and scare you, and she got this kind of dreamy look in her eyes and gave me the keys.”
That bitch. She was dead to me. Well, at least for a couple of days. “Give me back the keys, right now.” I held out my hand.
“I can’t. Tate has them right now.”
I growled. “Then, give me your keys.”
“What, why?” Kellan scoffed.
“Because until I get my keys back, I’m going to have yours.”
“Hell no. I don’t know what you would do to the studio. I’m not an idiot.”
I lunged at his pocket and managed to get my fingers inside. He clamped down on my wrist and held onto my arm. “Get out of my pocket, Cookie.”
“Never,” I said through clenched teeth. My fingers were wrapped around his keys, and I wasn’t about to give up.
“Molly, I don’t want to hurt you.” Kellan’s voice was low and rough next to my ear. He had pulled me close and wrapped one arm around my waist while the other held my hand in his pocket.
“So, then don’t.”
“Let go,” he insisted.
“Not happening. You broke into my cafe.”
“It’s not breaking in when I have a key.”
I growled and tried to yank my hand out. “A key that you aren’t supposed to have!”
“But it was given to me.”
He moved backward and pinned me against the door. “Molly. Let. Go.”
“No. This isn’t going to work, I’m onto you.”
Kellan sighed and pressed his hips into me. “What are you yammering about now?”
I shook my head and tsked. “You tried to seduce me into giving what you wanted before. I’m not going to be that stupid twice.”
Kellan pulled my hand out of his pocket, twisted my arms over my head, and pinned them against the door. “You are far from stupid, Cookie. I was the stupid one.”
Well, that was the last thing I expected him to say. I struggled against the hold he had on my arms, but I couldn’t move. How did I always seem to get myself in these situations with Kellan? Pushed up against a wall twice in a week weren’t good odds. “Please let me go.”
“Drop the keys.”
“Never.”
“Then, I guess we’re at a standstill until one of us let’s go.”
I assessed the situation and knew I was on the losing end. Having Kellan this close made me realize the man was built like a brick house. His arms were not only holding my wrists, but they were caging me in. He shifted his weight, and his biceps flexed, making me appreciate the fact he worked out.
He pressed his hips into me, and his chest was crushed against mine. He was all hard muscles and warm heat seeping through my clothes. If he kept this up, I couldn’t be held accountable for my actions. I was only human, and I couldn’t ignore the fact Kellan fit perfectly against me. I licked my lips, and his eyes heated with desire. “Kellan,” I breathed out.
“Let go, Molly.”
His words could mean two things. Let go of the keys, or let go and just kiss him already. “I can’t.”
He leaned in, his lips only a breath away from mine. “Molly, please.” His plea was low and rough, and I felt it straight to my core.
“I don’t know what you want.”
“I don’t know what I want any more either.”
I bit my bottom lip and tried to get a grip. It was Kellan. The asshole from next door who had been making my life hell. But now, he was also Kellan, whose body fit against mine perfectly, and whose lips I wanted to taste. “What’s happening?” I whispered.
“I think I’m going to kiss you.”
My breath hitched, and I gasped.
“Tell me to stop, Molly.”
The one word to make him stop was stuck in my throat, and I didn’t try very hard to get it out.
“Fuck it.” His mouth was on mine, and every coherent thought I had flew out the window. His lips were demanding and unyielding, taking what they wanted. He released my wrists and trailed his hands down my arms and into my hair. “What are you doing to me?” he mumbled against my lips.
The same could be said of him. This wasn’t what I should be doing, but it felt so right that I didn’t ca
re if it was wrong. I draped my arms over his shoulders and hummed as his lips traveled across my jaw and kissed their way up my neck.
“Tell me to stop,” he growled.
I shook my head and leaned into his touch.
He pressed a kiss below my ear. “Tell me to go to hell.”
My fingers delved into his hair, and a moan ripped from my lips. I didn’t want to talk right now, all I wanted to do was feel.
“Tell me I’m an ass.” His tongue licked the shell of my ear, and a tremor rocked my body.
“You’re an ass, but don’t stop.”
His body shook with laughter.
He still was an ass, but I couldn’t help the way he made me feel. His lips were electric on my skin, and I craved his touch like my next breath.
Kellan buried his face in my neck, and my body relaxed into him. “This just made everything a whole lot more complicated.”
Kellan sighed. “Sure fucking did, but it felt damn good.”
“I need to make coffee.”
Kellan pulled away, and I felt beyond awkward. My arms dropped to my sides, and I realized I had dropped the keys when Kellan and I had been all hands and arms. I spotted them on the floor next to my feet and looked up at Kellan. He was too busy looking anywhere but at me and had moved back two more steps.
I could tell he regretted kissing me, and while that sucked giant donkey balls, I was still pissed off at him for getting the keys to the cafe. I crouched down, grabbed the keys, and side-stepped around him.
“Hey,” he protested. “Give me back my keys.”
I darted behind the cash register and held my hand up to stop him. “No. As soon as you give me my keys back, you’ll get yours.”
“Molly.”
I shook my head. “You’re giving me a severe case of déjà vu, Kellan.” If we kept arguing over the keys, we were either going to end up sprawled out on one of the tables together doing something we might seriously regret, or I was going to beam him upside the head with the damn keys. As much as I’d like to feel Kellan pressed against me again, I was leaning towards hitting him. “I need to make coffee, and you need to figure out what stupid thing your friends did.”
Dropkick My Heart: Powerhouse M.A. Series Page 9
