Always in my Heart (The Subzero Series, #2)

by Rebecca Elise

  “If you start squealing like a twelve year old girl, I’m walking out of here.”

  I turn slightly to put my hands on either side of Abby’s hips and pull her on top of me so that she is straddling my lap. Reaching up, I push a few strands of hair that have come loose from her ponytail behind her ears and softly caress her cheeks with my fingertips.

  “Are you getting a bit jealous?”

  “Me? Jealous? You think I’m jealous of three rocker chicks that you have already deemed as being so hot? Absolutely not.”

  I’m still not really sure if she’s being sarcastic or serious. Probably sarcastic with a smidge of seriousness mixed in.

  “Good because these brown eyes of mine are only looking at you.”

  Placing my hands on her arms, I give her a playful tug so that she falls into me. My fingertips trail up her arms, round her shoulders and slowly move down her back causing her body to shiver against mine.

  “So beautiful.” I whisper before pressing my lips against hers.

  I catch her bottom lip between my teeth and give it a gentle tug. She whimpers in response and presses in even closer to me. My hands lightly graze up and down her back one, two, three times before they clasp around her ponytail, pulling on it lightly. I dot kisses along her jaw line, getting dangerously close to that spot just below her ear that drives her crazy.

  I grab her shirt by the hem and lift it up over her head and toss it next to us on the couch. My hands roam over the warmth of her skin, stopping to trace the tattoo of an Irish claddagh inside a trinity knot that she has on her left rib cage. I have the same tattoo in the same spot. We got them done together to mark our one year dating anniversary.

  I gently push her back a little bit, one of my hands moving up her back, settling at the base of her neck to hold her steady, while the other one remains firmly on her lower back. I lean forward, pressing my lips softly against her tattoo.

  Abby’s hands move up my neck and into my hair. Her fingers massage the top of my head as my lips trail slowly across her rib cage and up the valley between her breasts. Abby pushes me back against the couch, moving her hands down to unbutton my trousers. Just as she flicks the button open, a loud knock sounds at the door.

  We look at each other and frown.

  “Were you expecting anyone?” She whispers.

  “No, were you?” I whisper back.

  “No...maybe whoever it is will go away.”

  She moves to undo my zip and I pull my shirt over my head, tossing it to the side with hers. I pull her close to me so that our bodies are tight against each other, warm skin to warm skin. I cover her mouth with mine, kissing her softly twice before parting her lips with my tongue.

  The knocking at the door continues and I am about to tell her to ignore it again when a familiar voice calls out me.

  “Tyler, I know you’re in there. Your car is in the parking lot. Get off yer arse and open the door!”

  Noah. In all of the years I have known him, I don’t think I have ever hated him as much as I do right now. Suddenly, I hear the jingling of the door knob and panic courses through my body. I grab Abby’s shirt and throw it at her as I slide her off of my lap and jump up to redo my trousers.

  “What is going on Tyler?” Abby asks, clearly confused.

  “Put on your shirt. He has a key.” I say as I grab my own shirt and pull it back over my head.

  “Why does he have a key?” She asks through gritted teeth.

  “When I first moved in I had a bad habit of frequently locking myself out. I felt bad having to constantly call someone from maintenance to let me in so I gave him a key because I don’t care about waking him up, especially since he is usually up all hours of the night as it is.”

  “That’s insane.”

  “I know, I mean how does he function properly? I was convinced for a while he was subhuman or something. I need a solid seven hours just to look beautiful.”

  “No, not his sleeping habits Ty! I meant that he has a key and we now have to stop because of it.”

  “Hello?” I hear Noah call out.

  “In here.” I call out regretfully as Abby gives me the look of death.

  I know she’s not exactly happy right now but he knew we were here or at least that I was. What was I supposed to do? Hide behind the sofa?

  “How good of friends are you with Noah again?” Abby asks just as he appears in the doorway.

  “Hey guys...what’s going on?” Noah asks, looking back and forth between the two of us. A knowing smile creeps on to his face.

  Don’t look at me like that. I can tell by the look on your face you know exactly what you just interrupted! This better be good.

  “Nothing,” I say, which earns me another dirty look from Abby. “What...uh...what’s up?”

  Noah gives me an odd look.

  “Ummm...you told me to come by. You said I could have supper and then we were going to watch The Avengers.”

  Damn...I did say that didn’t I?

  “Right, right, come on in.”

  “How are you Abby?” Noah asks as he walks into the room and takes a seat on the sofa.

  “Oh I’m good. Gonna get cooking in just a minute here,” She turns and gives me a smile I don’t quite trust. “Just have to go finish something I started real quick.”

  Abby doesn’t say anything to me as she turns to walk out of the room.

  “Do you need any help?” I ask hopefully.

  She turns and flashes the same smile she gave me a few moments before. “Nope, I can do this by myself.”

  Then she turns and walks out of the room leaving me standing here with drool on my chin, my jaw on the floor and a tall red haired goon to keep me company. I hear the bedroom door shut and I sit down on the sofa with Noah. He’s going on and on about music or girls or something, I’m not actually paying any attention to him. All I can think about is what Abby is doing in the bedroom.

  I can’t take it any longer. I’m going in there!

  “I’ll be right back. Do you need anything? A drink or something?”

  “Have you got any Guinness?”

  I shoot him a look of mock disgust. “Do you have to ask? Of course I have bloody Guinness! I’ll bring you one.”

  I toss the remote to the telly at Noah, jump up from the couch and hurry back to the bedroom. My imagination is running rampant at the thought of what I might see on the other side of the door. Grabbing onto the doorknob, I open up the door, rush through it and quickly close it behind me, just in case Noah happens to wander out into the hall for some reason. I turn towards the bed to find Abby sprawled out, flipping through a magazine.

  She looks up at me, a wicked smile forming on her face.

  “Wow...that didn’t take you long at all.” She says.

  “Wait...did you already...”I trail off.

  “No! Geez Tyler, did you really think I would do that with Noah out in the other room? What is wrong with you?” She has a disgusted look on her face but she’s laughing.

  “Well you said you were coming back here to finish something you started. What was I supposed to think?” I ask her.

  She holds up the magazine. “Yes, a terribly fascinating article on the damaging effects of getting your girlfriend turned on and stopping because you forgot you invited your friend over for dinner and a movie.”

  I walk over to the bed, climb on top and crawl my way up her body. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?”

  I dip my head down and alternate between kissing and sucking up the side of her neck.

  “Noah is in the other room.” She reminds me.

  “Who cares? I’ll kick him out on the street so fast he won’t know what happened. Who needs friends anyway?” I say.

  Abby laughs and swats me in the arm with her magazine. “You’re bad. I’m going to make dinner.”

  I move off of her and she scoots herself off of the bed. I watch her hips sway as she makes her way to the door. Just as she is about it open it, I jump off of t
he bed, swing her around and pressed my lips to hers.

  “I’m sorry about tonight.” I say.

  “It’s okay Ty. We have time.” She smiles.

  “I’m gonna marry you some day.” I tell her.

  “So you keep saying but you have yet to actually ask me.”

  I smile and shrug. “Someday.”

  Chapter Three – Abby

  The thing I love the most about opening up a freshly renovated bakery is that everything is brand new. The stainless steel appliances are spotless and shiny. The newly laid white linoleum doesn’t have a speck of dirt on it. The glass cases are so clean you can see your reflection in them. The air still has that new paint smell to it from when we painted the walls the very warm and inviting shade of Gobi Tan a couple days ago. I sigh as I wonder how long this newness will last.

  The closer it gets to opening day at the bakery, the antsier I am to get into the kitchen. I haven’t done much baking since I left my last job. I did at first, getting up and making enough éclairs, fruit and cream danishes and cherry turnovers to last a couple days. The only problem is they never last longer than a few hours with Tyler inhaling everything in sight or one of the boys popping over.

  I shake my head and sigh as I think back to the last time Noah was over. I have never seen 2 grown men polish of a dozen éclairs like that before and I hope I never have to again. It was like feeding time at the zoo. You put out a plate of pastries on the counter, the boys catch one whiff of the decadent smell of chocolate in the air and come running in to stuff their faces like it’s a timed race and then you’re left with cream filling all over the place and no pastry for yourself.

  I just hope they don’t think they’re getting tons of free pastries. They’ll end up putting me out of business in the first week!

  “This place looks fabulous Abby.” Juan Pablo, my new pastry chef says as he walks into the bakery with one of my new cake decorators, Caroline, and my new bakery manager, Marci.

  “Thanks! Things are definitely coming along in here!” I say.

  I am excited to have Juan Pablo here. His resume was quite impressive having learned at Le Cordon Bleu and working in top bakeries all over the world. He is over qualified for his job and making far less than what he is worth. When I asked him why on earth he would want to work at my little bakery, his answer was simple. He wanted to work in a place that wasn’t so demanding and let him come in early so he could leave early and spend more time with his wife, especially now that their kids were all grown and out of the house. He said he just wanted to be able to get up and bake whatever he felt like baking that day and be able to put all of his love and passion into it. I could understand and respect that and I am happy to have him here.

  I feel the same way about Caroline and Marci. The things Caroline could do with modeling chocolate and sculpting tools was insane. During her interview, she sculpted an Asiatic lily that looked so life like. I have a feeling Marci is going to be the bakery mom, which would be nice since my own is so far away. The three of them are the first ones I hired and, since they all had management positions, they helped me interview the rest of the staff. Marci brought breakfast for us all and made sure we took the time to eat lunch. She is sweet and she kind of reminds me of my mom.

  “What are you working on there?” Marci asks me.

  “Just going over some staple menu items and pricing.” I say as the three of them pull up chairs around me.

  “Did you talk to Theo about the scheduling?” Juan Pablo asks me.

  I nod. “Yes, he said he was interested in having a set schedule too and he isn’t a morning person. He doesn’t mind closing if you open.”

  Juan Pablo smiles, places his elbow on the tabletop and shakes his fist in triumph. It’s nice starting off with staff that was willing to help each other out. I’m sure it won’t always be that way, but hey, I’ll take it for as long as I can! The majority of the staff has rotating schedules but honestly, as long as all of the shifts were covered and they cleared it with their manager, I don’t care if anyone wanted to work it out with someone else so that they had more of a set schedule. I mean, who doesn’t like having the same schedule every week?

  “Oh Caroline, before I forget, this is a present from my sister.” I grab the bag containing the airbrush color from the seat next to me and set it on the table in front of her.

  She smiles as she pulls each box out of the bag.

  “This is great,” She says. “I can’t wait to be able to use some of this color. I hope people start putting in orders for custom cakes straight away.”

  “I was thinking we should make a cake for the Grand Opening. Everyone that stops in can get a free piece of cake.”

  She thinks for a moment. “You should make a half chocolate, half vanilla cake with raspberry filling and I can make a replica of the bakery to go on top.”

  “Speaking of raspberry filling,” I turn to Juan Pablo. “Do you want to go to the farmers market with me the weekend before we open? I called a couple of farms and they said we could put orders in for whatever we need and pick them up at the market. Plus maybe we might even find some other things there that we want to use.”

  “Yes, I actually have a few things I want to get from there.”

  “Alright,” I turn back to my notebook. “Let’s go over the menu items while you guys are here.”

  “Are we going to have set items or flavors that we always offer?” Marci asks.

  “We’ll always have cupcakes, cookies, biscotti, pies, fudge, krispy treats, small round and rectangular cakes,” I say reading from my list. “Juan Pablo, what are your thoughts on the daily offerings of pastries?”

  “Cannoli’s made to order, éclairs, crème puffs and mini fruit tarts but the flavors for those two will probably change daily, bear claws, turnovers and danishes, again the flavors on those will probably change daily.” Juan Pablo says.

  “Uhhh...there’s some strange man peaking in the windows.” Marci interrupts.

  We crane our necks trying to look out the window without it being obvious. Juan Pablo is blocking my vision so I can’t see anything. I consider moving to get a better look but I don’t want to get caught staring at some passerby that is probably checking the place out simply out of curiosity.

  “He’s going to the front door. Should we lock it really quickly?” Juan Pablo asks.

  “I don’t know,” I say. “I can’t see him. Does he look shady?”

  “Shady? I mean, his clothes are clean and he looks like he may have showered today. I can see a tattoo of flaming drumsticks on his forearm.”

  I let out a laugh. “Does he have blue hair?”

  “Yes...have you seen him before?” Carolyn asks.

  “Yes, nearly every day for the past year and a half.”

  I walk over to the door and pull it open just as Tyler reaches it. He looks me up and down and gives me a smile that makes my heart stop for a second.

  “Can you stop poking around the windows? You’re making my staff uncomfortable.” I say, attempting to keep my composure over what the sight of him is doing to me right now.

  “Well this should help with that.” He says.

  Tyler grabs me by the waist, pulls me in close and leans in to give me a slow, sensual kiss, slipping his tongue into my mouth the first moment he gets a chance. Pulling away, I bite my lip and wrap my arms around his neck and whisper into his ear “Would you mind waiting to kiss me like that for when we can actually finish it?”

  Tyler dips his head into my neck and laughs; his warm breath tickles my skin. Shaking my head, I turn away from him and face my three employees, who are seem as though they are trying very hard to look anywhere except at us. Tyler grabs ahold of my hand and squeezes it tightly.

  “Marci, Caroline and Juan Pablo, this is my boyfriend, Tyler,” I say. “Tyler, this is my bakery manager Marci, pastry chef Juan and my top cake decorator Caroline.”

  “It’s nice to meet you all,” Tyler says as he glances around. “So
I guess you decided against the Elvis theme I suggested.”

  I bite my lip to keep from laughing. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if Tyler was serious or not when he told me to decorate with an Elvis theme. I’m still not sure actually.

  “No, decided to go in a more bakery-esque direction but it was a fabulous suggestion.”

  Tyler looks at me, smiles and shakes his head. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better that you turned down my suggestion. I can tell by the cheeky look on your face. See if I ever help you again.”

  Tyler walks around looking at all of the pictures we have on the wall and flipping through the menu. “It really does look fantastic. I’m so proud of you.”

  A beaming smile spreads across my face as I glance around the room. I walk over to where Tyler is standing and wrap my arm around his waist. He bends down slightly and kisses the top of my head.

  “I have to go love. I’m a busy man and just wanted to pop in for a quick kiss, which I succeeded in getting,” He says with a smile and a wink. “Now I have to get on with my day. Want takeaway tonight? I’ll pick it up.”

  “Sounds good. Orange chicken and a couple spring rolls.”

  Tyler nods. He pauses for a moment next to Marci, Caroline and Juan Pablo to turn and point to me. “I’m going to marry that woman, you just wait and see.”

  “So he says, but he has yet to ask me or put a ring on my finger.”

  “It’s coming.” He says as he turns to walk out the door.

  “He seems sweet.” Marci says as she watches him walk down the sidewalk to his car.

  “Yeah, sorry we about branded him a creeper and nearly called the police.” Caroline adds, looking a bit embarrassed.

  “It’s okay, really.”

  I walk back over to where we were sitting and pick up my notebook. Caroline, Marci and Juan Pablo sit back down around the table. Juan Pablo leans over to Caroline.

  “Is crazy colored hair in now? I’ve got a neighbor whose hair is every color of the rainbow. I just thought he was high or something.”

  “Crazy hair color is always in.” Caroline says with a laugh.