by Holly Renee
My mom’s eyebrows shot up, but I did not give her a chance to ask questions.
I quickly walked through the door and made sure to force it closed behind me. There was no way in hell I was letting my mother come out and embarrass me in front of Brandon.
“Hey.” I pushed my stray curls out of my face. “What are you doing here?”
He leaned down and rested his elbows against the counter.
“I just wanted to stop in and see how everything is going.”
“It’s going.”
The door behind me moved just the tiniest bit, and I knew that my mom currently had her ear pressed against it.
“The place is looking great.” He didn’t take his eyes off me as he spoke. “It looks nothing like it did before you moved in.”
“Thank you. I’ve been envisioning what this place would look like for a long time now, so I had some ideas.” I laughed.
I didn’t know why I felt so nervous to talk to him about the bakery, but in all fairness, I felt nervous to talk to him at all.
The door behind me moved again. This time too hard for me to play it off as a mouse or a rogue cupcake that may have fallen off the counter, and I closed my eyes and sent up a silent prayer as my mom walked out.
“Hi there.” My mom waved to Brandon as she made her way toward him. “You must be David.” She stuck her hand out toward him, and I fought the urge to jump between them and shoo my mother back into the kitchen.
He slid his tattooed hand into my mother’s and looked over at me with mischief in his eyes. “David?”
“Mom, this is Brandon.” I quickly avoided his question. “He owns this place.”
“Oh.” My mom giggled like ‘Oh, how silly of me to assume this hot as hell man was the guy my daughter was going on a date/non-date with tonight.’ “Well aren’t you handsome.”
“Thank you.” He grinned up at her, and I could have sworn I saw my mom swoon. “That means a lot coming from a beautiful woman like yourself.”
My mom swatted at his hand, and I inwardly groaned. The man I had been fantasizing about since the moment I met him just complimented my mom, and I was just a teeny tiny bit jealous. Or a lot. Whatever.
“Are you single, Brandon?”
“Mom, don’t be rude. That’s none of your business.”
“It’s okay.” Brandon stood up to his full height. “I am.”
“That’s shocking.” She started to take him in again, and I tried to distract Brandon away from her before she could embarrass me more.
“Are y’all having a busy day at the shop today?”
Brandon’s laughing gaze slid back to me. “Yeah. It’s always busy over there.”
“Good. You can send them over here to satisfy their sweet tooth once Charlie gets it open.”
Brandon’s gaze ran over me, and I fiddled with a stray string on my jeans to stop myself from squirming under his gaze. “Absolutely.”
“Are you going on the group date tonight?” My mom turned and picked up a box off of the floor like she didn’t just make me sound like the biggest loser ever.
“What?” He looked genuinely confused before his eyes lit up. “Oh shit. That David? That’s why we’re all going out tonight?” He looked down at his hands and frowned.
“It wasn’t my idea.” I quickly answered him. “I don’t even know him. Livy and Staci thought it would be a good idea if everyone went so there wasn’t so much pressure. It’s not even a date. Everyone is just hanging out.”
I. Was. Such. A. Loser.
He looked back up at me as if he was looking for something. “I’ll be there tonight.”
“Cool.” I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and tried to avoid looking at my mom who was grinning from ear to ear.
“Well, it was nice to meet you,” Brandon said to my mother. “I better head back to work so I have plenty of time to get ready for our group date tonight.” He winked at me, and I wanted to die.
“You too.” My mom grinned at him. “Hopefully, I’ll be seeing more of you around.”
Brandon chuckled then made his way to the door. “See ya later, Freckles.”
“Bye,” I barely managed to squeak out before I turned my death glare to my mother.
“Forget David.” She fanned herself. “I would be trying to date that one.”
“Mom,” I said frustrated, but I couldn’t admit that she was wrong.
She opened the door to head back into the kitchen. “What? I always did have a thing for bad boys. You should have seen your dad back in the day.”
CHAPTER 4
GROUP DATE
Brandon
I wanted to kill Livy and Staci.
Not that they had actually done anything wrong, but David was completely wrong for Charlie. I had barely even spoken to her and even I knew that.
I was sitting across the table from her as she sat awkwardly next to him, and I was one hundred percent sure that this wasn’t going to happen.
First of all, he was wearing a damn shirt that had more wrinkles than a ninety-year-old man’s ball sack. If he couldn’t put in more effort than that for their first-time meeting, then he definitely didn’t deserve her.
And I didn’t have the highest standards.
But all you had to do was take one look at Charlie, just one damn glance, to see how much thought she had put into tonight. She had on the sweetest green dress that hung all the way to the floor and made her green eyes shine even in the dim lights of the restaurant. Her wild red curls had been tamed into a perfectly put together bun that somehow drew extra attention to the smattering of freckles that covered her shoulders. I wanted nothing more than to put my hands in her hair and set her curls free. She looked like a different person without them falling in her face. She looked fucking hot, but…
What the hell was I thinking?
I was not attracted to women like Charlie.
She was far too good, and Lord knows she was too innocent. But something about her made me want to make her blush. She blushed almost anytime I was around her, and there was something so damn sexy about seeing her pale skin match the shade of her hair.
And I couldn’t imagine David doing that to her. I didn’t want to imagine him doing anything to her. The thought actually pissed me off.
Charlie looked bored as he talked her ear off. I hadn’t seen her open her mouth other than to give him small reactions to what he was saying. He didn’t ask her anything about herself. He didn’t want to know about her crazy ass mama who had me laughing like crazy that same morning. He didn’t seem to want to know what made her happy or sad or laugh uncontrollably.
But I did.
“Charlie, you should have brought your mama with you. She’s awesome.”
She turned her pretty green eyes toward me even though David was still going on and on about something.
Her full pink lips curved up in a small smile. “Don’t encourage her. She has a big enough head as it is.”
“She seemed to have her head on pretty straight. She did say I was handsome.” I grinned at her and out of the corner of my eye I saw that David finally realized she was no longer paying attention to him.
“That’s subjective.” Charlie shrugged her shoulders, but there was no chance in hell that I would have missed the way she bit her bottom lip to keep herself from laughing.
“Are you telling me that you don’t think I’m handsome?” I put my hand over my chest in shock.
“I didn’t say that.” She took a sip of her drink and looked back toward David. It pissed me off that she even cared that he was still there, but I knew it was completely irrational. It didn’t matter if she was worried about David sitting beside her, and it shouldn’t have made me giddy that her gaze slid right back to mine even though he was.
“So, you do?”
“I didn’t say that either.” She toyed with the thin napkin that rested under her glass, and I realized that her hands were always busy doing something when she was talking to me.
“I’m go
ing to have to work to get it out of you, aren’t I? It’s alright. I’m up for a challenge.”
She blushed, the light redness spreading from her face all the way down her chest.
“Brandon, how’s Alicia?”
I pulled my gaze away from Charlie long enough to look over at David, and man, did he look pissed.
“Who?” I asked him before taking a drink of my beer.
“Alicia,” he said the name again, slower this time as if I was dumb. “The girl you were with the other night at the bar.”
Charlie had been watching the two of us, but I watched her force her attention elsewhere at his words.
“She’s fine I assume. I don’t really know her.” I narrowed my eyes at him and the game he was playing.
“Damn.” He chuckled. “She seemed to know you pretty well.” He put his arm around the back of Charlie’s chair, and if Livy’s voice didn’t stop me, I swear I would have knocked that damn smirk off his face as I knocked him out of his chair.
“I’m glad Alicia isn’t around. She’s not good enough for you, Brandon.”
I winked at her. Livy was the kind of friend you always wanted around. She may not always agree with every decision I made, but she would fight to the death to defend me. As I would do her. I couldn’t have asked for a better wife for my best friend.
Except for the fact that she decided to set up this horrible night. She came into this on Team David regardless if she knew I was interested in Charlie or not. Hell, I didn’t even know if I was interested.
“Charlie, did you know that Brandon has this dog named Jughead that he rescued from the animal shelter?”
And just like that, Livy was back on Team Brandon.
“Really?” Charlie’s eyes lit up a bit. “You like Riverdale?”
“He was already named when I got him. He’s a few years old.”
“Oh.” She looked away as if what she said was stupid.
“But Livy has forced me to watch it, and I will say that I don’t hate it.”
She smiled up at me before looking away again.
“Don’t let him lie. He freaking loves it. He’s over at the house like thirty minutes early before every episode and he brings snacks.”
“That’s because Livy gets super hangry,” I fake whispered behind my hands to Charlie.
“You should come next week, but I’ll warn you that you should probably bring some treats. She treats me like the red-headed stepchild if I don’t bring snacks. I can’t imagine how she’ll treat you since you’re a baker.”
Charlie laughed softly. “That sounds awesome.”
I watched David squirm next to her.
“Charlie, I’m off next Saturday if you’d like to do something.” He said the words only for her, but I could feel something, anger, panic, maybe both, fill me. The thought of Charlie dating him or being alone with him or who only knew what with him pissed me off.
“We’re all planning on going to play laser tag on Saturday. You all should join.”
“We are?” Parker spoke up for the first time, and I prayed that he would just turn back to his conversation with Mason so he didn’t ruin this for me.
“Yeah. I forgot to tell you,” Livy quickly said as she laid her hand on Parker’s shoulder. “I told Brandon that I was one hundred percent sure that I could kick his ass at laser tag. He says I can’t. You know I don’t back down from a challenge. You all should definitely come. It’s going to be awesome.”
If everyone else wasn’t still around us, I would have fist bumped the hell out of Livy.
“That sounds fun.” Charlie looked over at David. “Does that work for you?”
David had his arms crossed over his chest, and I was willing to bet that he was seconds away from banging on his chest and chanting mine. But he was too big of a pussy.
“Yea. I’m a laser tag champion.”
I rolled my eyes, and Livy kicked me under the table.
“I hate to tell you this David, but you are all going down.” Livy ran her finger against her throat and gave us all her best death stare. Damn, I had the best wing woman ever.
CHAPTER 5
DIRTY WISHES & POWDERED SUGAR DREAMS
Charlie
I had left my “group date” feeling more awkward and confused than ever. David was nice. He was the kind of guy I normally went for, but there was no real spark between us.
Sure, it could have been because we were surrounded by a bunch of other people which put us both on the spot and made things more awkward, but he didn’t seem very affected by that. He only seemed affected by Brandon.
We were both far too affected by Brandon.
I wasn’t sure why he didn’t like David, but he made it clear that he didn’t. I had thought that they were all friends, but maybe I was wrong.
David didn’t seem that into Brandon either.
Livy had texted me about an hour after I had made it home to see how I felt about David, and I didn’t really know what to tell her. Lukewarm seemed a little harsh. So, I told her that I liked him. He was nice. It wasn’t a lie. He had been nothing but nice to me.
She told me that she was so excited for next Saturday, and I returned her enthusiasm. That definitely wasn’t a lie.
I had never played laser tag before.
My inner kid was far too happy to try it for the first time, and that small part of me that was a glutton for punishment, was far too excited to see Brandon.
There was something about him that was just so fun.
Being around him made me feel more fun somehow.
But he scared the living crap out of me.
I didn’t know if it was a good scare or bad, but I knew that I couldn’t quit thinking about him even though I had gone on a date with another man just last night and had a second date (if you could call it that) planned in just a couple days. I wasn’t that kind of girl.
Heck, I was more of the zero-man kind of girl lately.
Jumping from zero to one and a fantasy was serious business.
I thought about him as I ran to the post office, I daydreamed about his tattoos as I picked up supplies for the bakery, and I fantasized about what it would be like to kiss him as I finally made it to the bakery at eight o’clock that night.
I hadn’t been here all day, and I was praying that no one saw me here now. I was wearing a pair of cutoff blue jean shorts and a tank top that I had slept in the night before, and I was in stealth mode as I slid in the back door of the bakery.
There were three new recipes that I wanted to try tonight in preparation for the grand opening, and I worked best at night. I had been that way for as long as I could remember.
I threw the ingredients down on the counter and pushed my hair out of my face. My new stoves and ovens had been delivered yesterday afternoon, and I ran my fingers over the shiny silver metal before I turned them on for the first time.
If someone would have told me five years ago that I would be here, I would have kicked my old yellowish-white oven that was more temperamental than it was functioning and laughed. I needed to get Brandon off my brain and get my butt to work.
I pulled my curls up into a pile on top of my head and smiled as I opened the flour.
Baking was my true love. It had gotten me through a few breakups, it always helped me focus, and it was my go-to when I needed to clear my head.
It was exactly what I needed at that moment.
I got lost in the science of baking and the fun of decorating, and I hadn’t even realized how much time had passed when there was a knock on the back door.
I looked down at my clothes that were covered in flour, and I attempted to dust it off before I made my way to the door. I made a mental note that I probably needed a peephole if I was going to be here late at night by myself, but it didn’t stop me from opening the door to see who was outside.
“Hey.” I barely opened the door far enough to see out, but I could clearly Brandon leaning outside it.
“Hi.” He smirked and e
very bit of work I had just done to clear my head was absolutely useless. “Why are you here so late?”
I looked out at the pitch-black parking lot then back at Brandon. “What time is it?”
“Midnight.” He pushed off the wall and made his way toward my door. There was no way in heck that I wanted to let him in here. I looked like a train wreck, and he, he looked like some sort of god of bad boys or something.
“Oh.” I looked back at the mess I still had to clean up. “I was just doing some baking. I’ll be out of here soon.”
He nodded his head and laid his hand on the door. “Can I come in and see what you’ve been baking?”
I didn’t open the door an inch. “Don’t you have somewhere you need to be?”
I sounded rude. I knew I did, but he made me nervous and didn’t have time to think about what I said before I said it.
“Nope.” His smile got bigger. “But something in there smells delicious as hell. Are you really not going to let me in?”
“No.” I kept my body pressed against the back of the door. There was no way he was coming in here.
“Why the hell not?” He looked offended and like he had never been told no in his entire life.
“It’s midnight, I’m just finishing up, and I look crazy.” I tugged on the frayed edge of my shorts.
“You are being ridiculous. If you don’t let me in, I’m going to have to sit out here on the ground until you’re finished. There is no way I’m letting you walk out to your car alone this late at night. Your bakery is next to a tattoo shop for crying out loud. Don’t you know the kind of riff-raff that have tattoos?”
I laughed even though I tried my hardest not to and let my gaze run over the ink that decorated his skin.
“Fine.” I took a step back and opened the door. The cocky grin on his face fell instantly as he took me in. I tugged on the short hem of my tank top and tried to force it to meet the top of my shorts. I felt completely exposed in front of him even though I had run errands in this outfit all day without second thought. There was something about the way his eyes crawled over every inch of my skin as he looked me over from head to toe. His eyes seemed to glaze over, and his mouth tightened in a thin line.
