Sweet Buns (Cedar Falls Book 1)

by Shea Balik

  Ethan took his bags inside while Zane helped Jesse back in the house and to the couch, where Ethan brought the first aid kit. It was something they always had on hand with Jesse around. How he managed to constantly get hurt, neither Zane or Ethan knew, but in order to always be prepared they kept a first aid kit in almost every room, usually in plain sight.

  “Still the same Jesse,” Ethan said as he examined Jesse’s foot before using the tweezers to pull something out. He followed by putting on antibacterial ointment and a bandage.

  As soon as he put Jesse’s foot down on the floor, Ethan jumped into Zane’s and Jesse’s laps. They all held each other while they tried to catch up on all the gossip. Even though they talked at least once every day, there was much they still had to talk about.

  As the room grew dark, they headed to the kitchen for dinner and more talking. It wasn’t until nearly midnight that Zane had to call a halt to the night. As much as he’d missed Ethan, he had an early morning and would need his sleep.

  “Do you need help bringing in the rest of your stuff, or are you going to do that tomorrow?” Zane prayed his friend would say tomorrow.

  “Naw, I’m good for tonight. I thought I would unload tomorrow,” Ethan said.

  Giving each of his friends a hug, Zane went to bed, falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow with the image of Aidan in his mind.

  Zane startled awake when he heard a noise in the room next to his. At first, his heart raced a million miles a minute as he thought it was an intruder, until he remembered that was Ethan’s room and his friend was finally there.

  Glancing at the clock, he groaned when he realized he’d have to get up in about twenty minutes. There was no way he’d be able to sleep at that point, so he might as well find out why Ethan was up. Not that it was unusual, Ethan had always had trouble sleeping, often roaming the cramped apartment they had lived in.

  Now that the weather had turned colder, Zane slept in soft lounge pants, so he didn’t have to put on something. It had taken some getting used to because Orlando only had two main temperatures, hot and suffocatingly hot, so he’d only slept in his boy shorts.

  Zane padded down the hall to Ethan’s room, opened it, and gasped. Ethan, who had been staring at his body in the full-length mirror hanging from the closet door, jumped at least a foot before whirling on Zane.

  Seeing Zane’s look of horror, Ethan started shouting. “Who said you could come in my room? Don’t you know how to knock? Get out. Get out now.”

  But Zane didn’t move, even when Ethan came over to push him out the door. The man was several inches shorter, and even with the few extra pounds on him, he didn’t stand a chance against Zane’s more muscular form.

  “I said get out,” Ethan shouted again as Zane continued to stare at Ethan’s bruised and cut body.

  A door down the hall opened to a sleep tousled Jesse. “You freaks might not mind this time of the morning but some of us need our beaut—” Jesse stopped talking as he saw Ethan’s body. “Who the fuck beat you to bloody pulp?”

  Ethan’s jaw set stubbornly. “None of your fucking business. Now get out of my room and next time knock,” he said even as he went to the bed to start putting on the turtleneck and sweatpants he’d worn on the drive to Cedar Falls.

  Suddenly things Zane hadn’t thought about in years started to surface. “That’s why when you first moved in with us you were wearing long sleeve shirts and long pants even though it was July in Orlando.”

  Ethan, who had been staring daggers at them, dropped his gaze to the floor.

  All this time Zane had thought the then eighteen-year-old kid from some hick town in Kansas was just shy. He’d actually applauded his and Jesse’s efforts of bringing Ethan out of his shell, but now he realized Ethan had just been waiting for the bruises and cuts to heal.

  “Seriously?” Jesse asked. “We’ve been best friends for seven years. Hell, we’ve been in jail together, twice.” Jesse looked ready to hit Ethan himself for keeping this from them. Not that Zane could blame him, but he figured they needed to be calm considering how badly Ethan was hurt.

  “Okay, Jesse, I get you’re pissed, but maybe we should make sure he’s okay first.” Several of those bruises looked really bad. Now that he was paying better attention he noticed how Ethan was favoring his right side. All night long he’d just thought it was the kinks of driving for so long. What an idiot he was.

  When Jesse looked like he was going to keep yelling at Ethan, Zane silently pleaded with his eyes. The man dramatically huffed, even throwing his arms up in the air. “Fine.” Those dark eyes turned on Ethan. “But we are going to talk about this friendship later.”

  Jesse left the room to grab the first aid kit out of the bathroom and ordered Ethan to sit on the bed. Meekly, Ethan did as he was told.

  “Now talk,” Jesse ordered.

  CHAPTER 5

  Exhausted and at least an hour behind in getting the bakery set up, Zane pushed himself hard. There was no way he would have enough for the first rush, especially with all the special orders he had this morning.

  It was bad enough that he hadn’t had time for more than a quick rinse-off in the shower, but he hadn’t realized until he’d gotten to the bakery that he’d put on one of Jesse’s neon green shirts that said “I’m so pretty” in capital letters. On Jesse it worked, but Zane so did not want to wear this shirt while serving the residents of Cedar Falls.

  Worse, he hadn’t even had time to make himself a cup of coffee. He would have to wait until Kevin came in to set up the coffee station. He opened the oven and put in six more batches of cinnamon rolls. It would cover the special orders plus give him six to sell. He’d have some angry customers, but he had quite a few orders for his other breakfast pastries that wouldn’t make themselves.

  Too soon he heard the back door open as Kevin arrived. Hoping his employee was just early, Zane glanced at the clock and grimaced, Kevin was five minutes late. Damn. He so didn’t need this today of all days.

  The talk this morning with Ethan had gone from bad to worse. Apparently Ethan’s father had started hitting him around age ten when it had become obvious Ethan would never be an athlete like his father had been.

  When he’d turned fifteen it had been painfully obvious Ethan was attracted to guys. He hadn’t been stupid enough to say anything to his dad, but he had confided one day to his younger brother, Henry. In a fit of anger Henry had outed him to their father.

  That had been his first trip to the hospital. From that moment on, Ethan’s life went from difficult to a living nightmare. Every day his father found a reason to hit and humiliate Ethan.

  His mother had begged her husband to stop, eventually divorcing Ethan’s father and leaving town. Why she hadn’t taken her son with her, Ethan didn’t know, but after that things drastically got worse, which from everything Ethan had described up until then, Zane hadn’t believed possible.

  Ethan’s brother, who had been their father’s prodigy as he was athletic and built a lot like the man, witnessed one of Ethan’s beatings. Instead of helping, he started smacking Ethan around himself.

  When Ethan had gone to help his brother, Henry, he’d hoped that because he’d been away from their father’s influence for the past four years of college, Henry would have changed, but apparently he’d only gotten worse.

  He’d absolutely refused to go into the details, saying only that he’d fled when his brother had been at a doctor’s appointment to which his girlfriend had taken him. Zane and Jesse had cried like babies after hearing the horror their best friend had endured while they’d been starting their new lives in Cedar Falls.

  “Hey, Zane, I saw you hadn’t made a pot of coffee for yourself yet, so I brought you a cup.” Kevin set the mug down, bringing Zane back to what he’d been doing.

  Looking down at the dough he’d been punching into a bloody pulp he sighed. If he didn’t get his head back into what he had to do, there would be very little to serve today. “Thanks, Kevin. I’m r
unning behind. Can you call Megan and ask if she can come in and help with the counter while I try to catch up?”

  “Sure thing,” Kevin said as he went back to the front.

  Now he had to pray Megan was sober enough to come in. Fortunately she lived just a few houses away from Zane, so it wouldn’t take her long to get there, but one of the reasons she worked the evenings was because she liked to go to the pub or the tavern in town to hook up with a guy after work but usually ended up drinking herself stupid instead.

  Zane worried about Megan. She was such a sweet person, someone he considered a good friend. He’d tried several times to talk to her about whatever had her behaving that way, but she’d refused to talk about it.

  The smell of burning dough wafted past his nose. “Damn it,” he yelled. When he opened the oven doors smoke came rolling out. Once it cleared he looked in dismay at the six burned batches of cinnamon rolls.

  He yanked out the pans and dumped their contents into the trash before tossing the pans into the sinks with a loud clatter. Thank God he had more pans because if he’d had to take the time to wash and dry them he’d be fucked, and not in a good way.

  For the rest of the morning he worked hard to keep up. The new batches of cinnamon rolls had just come out of the oven when Kevin opened the front doors. Almost as fast as he’d put them in the display case they were sold.

  His only saving grace had been Megan. She’d come in right away, allowing Zane to stay in the kitchen to bake while she helped Kevin in the front. When the second rush finished, his kitchen looked like it had taken a direct hit from a tornado, but he’d managed to barely stay ahead of things and get everything done.

  When he looked at the total mess he needed to clean, Zane decided it was time for a little indulgence of his own. Up front he grabbed a plate, piled on the biggest, gooiest cinnamon roll he had left, grabbed a large cup of dark-roast coffee, and headed to his favorite of the five recliner chairs he had in the store.

  This spot had become like an island to him. His employees knew when he was sitting there not to disturb him unless the building was on fire. It also had a nice view out the window looking onto Main Street, yet it was slightly hidden from the rest of the bakery behind a post.

  He let out a sigh as he sat back and put his feet up. Normally he didn’t let himself indulge in eating the sweets that he made, but on days like today, he made an exception. Zane cut a piece off the cinnamon roll. When it hit his tongue the sugary pastry practically melted in his mouth in all its sweetness.

  Savoring each of the flavors that burst across his tongue, Zane sank farther into his chair. He’d forgotten just how good these were. For him, they were better than sex, and as an added bonus, they never disappointed. Okay, maybe comparing food to sex was a bit cliché but after the morning he’d had, Zane doubted sex could have him feeling as relaxed as this cinnamon roll did.

  The bell above the door dinged. Zane glanced around the pole he was behind and groaned. Figures when he was thinking about sex Aidan would walk in. Not wanting to be seen, Zane tried to keep hidden behind the post while the man went up to the counter.

  Zane swiped his tongue over his lips as he watched that tight, muscled ass flex as he walked. What he wouldn’t do for a bite of that. He bet sex with Aidan would melt him until he was a pile of goo. A moan slipped out before he could stop it. Piercing blue eyes zeroed in on him.

  Shit. So much for staying hidden.

  After Kevin handed Aidan his coffee, the man headed his way. For a time, Zane had forgotten about the shirt he’d been wearing until Aidan’s eyebrows suddenly went so far up his forehead they were nearly into his hairline.

  Heat suffused his entire body in embarrassment. He had to give Jesse a lot of credit for wearing something like this without caring what others thought, because Zane just couldn’t do it. Well, it was too late to try to hide it now, so he just sat there as the gorgeous man walked toward him.

  “Interesting shirt.”

  Figures Aidan would say something about it. Why had Zane thought he would ever catch a break today of all days? The heat in his cheeks rose until Zane was tempted to fan his face. Only his pride had him keeping his hands firmly in his lap.

  “Thanks.” The urge to tell Aidan it was Jesse’s shirt was strong, but Zane forced himself to not say anything. He normally wouldn’t be caught dead wearing the neon green monstrosity. Now that he had, he figured he shouldn’t feel so ashamed. There was nothing wrong with the way Jesse dressed, so Zane needed to man up and not worry about what others thought of him.

  Aidan grabbed a chair from the nearest table and pulled it close to where Zane was sitting. “I’m glad I ran into you. I was hoping we could talk.”

  There was no way he was going to sit there and talk to the man. Aidan was dangerous to Zane’s control, especially when his defenses were already weak after the morning he’d had. With his half-eaten cinnamon roll in his hand, Zane stood. “Sorry, too busy right now. I have a disaster to go clean up.”

  He quickly walked to the back without waiting for Aidan to say anything else. It wasn’t until he’d stepped into the back that he let his stiff posture relax a little. For a moment he looked at his usually spotless kitchen and thought about just going home so he could start this day all over again.

  Only the knowledge that the mess would be waiting for him even if he went home had Zane dumping the rest of his cinnamon roll. Disappointed that he hadn’t gotten to fully enjoy it, Zane got to work piling the various dirty dishes next to the sink. With a twist of the tap he had the hot water filling the first sink. When he turned back to gather more dishes he screamed like a girl when he saw Aidan standing in the doorway.

  Those blue eyes twinkled with amusement. Zane just glared at the man before continuing to carry the trays to the sink. He had to admit surprise when Aidan picked up a washcloth and started wiping down the nearest counter.

  For a moment Zane just stood there with his mouth wide open as he watched the sexy man work. The play of Aidan’s muscles as he scrubbed the flour stuck on the surface of the table had Zane mesmerized. If only Aidan were shirtless so Zane could see the man’s mountain of muscles better.

  “As much as I like you staring at me, those dishes won’t wash themselves,” Aidan teased.

  There was a chance Zane would combust with how hot his face got at being caught staring. How was he ever going to be able to stay away from this man when Zane was undeniably drawn to him?

  Casino.

  He just needed to remember Aidan was in charge of that monstrosity being built on the edge of town. With the casino came the mob.

  His heart dropped into his stomach as a horrifying thought came to him. Was Aidan working for the mob? Was that why the man had taken an interest in Zane? What if Aidan’s bosses had known Zane was making waves and they wanted him silenced?

  Giving himself a mental shake at the crazy thought, Zane carried the next load of dishes to the sink. Logically, he knew this wasn’t like the show Vegas, but that didn’t make him any happier about the casino, or the sexy man who seemed determined to insinuate himself into Zane’s life.

  Zane poured all his frustration into scrubbing the trays and bowls clean. Even washing the dishes wasn’t enough to take his mind off how hot Aidan looked bent over the counters, scrubbing them. It was torture to be so close to the one man who seemed to get under his skin without even touching him.

  Doing his best to keep his attention on the task at hand, Zane couldn’t help but listen as Aidan went around the kitchen cleaning. The tension in his body from being so acutely aware of Aidan was killing Zane. More than anything he wanted to walk up to Aidan and lose himself in the man.

  Each time Zane went to put something away he would steal a glance at Aidan. He would probably have to rewash all the dishes later because he was rushing so he could keep sneaking a peek at his Adonis.

  Wait. His Adonis?

  Zane cursed himself for being every kind of fool for starting to think of Aidan as hi
s. There was no scenario where Zane didn’t get hurt if he got involved with Aidan. Even if Aidan wasn’t part of the mob, he’d leave Cedar Falls as soon as the casino was built.

  He had to get the man out of his head, but how?

  Finally finishing the dishes, he turned, nearly colliding with Aidan as the man stood directly in front of him. Those eyes that Zane could lose himself in were pinning Zane where he stood.

  If Zane were totally honest, he didn’t want to move from this spot. Well, maybe a step closer to that hard body before him. As if reading his mind, Aidan took that step so their bodies were lightly touching.

  “I don’t know why you’re running, but I’m more than willing to be patient.” Aidan lifted his hand and placed two fingers under Zane’s chin. Slowly, torturously, Aidan’s head descended until their lips were a breath away. “You’re more than worth it.”

  Zane nearly cried when Aidan turned and left.

  CHAPTER 6

  Aidan cursed when he got back to the construction site and his cock hadn’t softened at all. Being around Zane was going to kill him if he didn’t find a better way to control his arousal. Giving himself a thump with the heel of his hand, he gritted his teeth at the pain, but it was worth it to not walk around with a hard on.

  Actually, walking around hard was a small price to pay for the look of arousal he’d put on Zane’s face. The fact that Zane tried to hide how interested he was in Aidan was frustrating, but Aidan wasn’t put off. It helped that Zane wasn’t good at hiding his feelings.

  Now he just had to figure out how to ruffle the man’s feathers enough to get all that stiff reserve relaxed. He knew it wouldn’t be easy, but Aidan was more than up for the challenge, especially when the rewards would be getting Zane into bed.

  A voice deep down tried to deny his thoughts of a quick fuck, replacing them with something more permanent, but Aidan just pushed the thoughts back down. He still didn’t plan on staying in Cedar Falls when all of this was over. Sure, he managed to find an amazing cup of coffee, but that didn’t change the fact that Cedar Falls was just too small for Aidan.