Five Alarm Donuts: Donut Day Collaboration

by Winter Travers

  “Blake,” she gasped. Her lips fell from mine, and she buried her face in my neck. “What the heck was that?” she panted.

  “That was hello.”

  “Hello?” she laughed. “I hope you don’t say hello to everyone like that. Abe doesn’t seem like he would be into that.”

  “I reserve that kind of hello just for you.”

  She wrapped her arms around my waist, and sighed. “I really didn’t expect that. I think I might have to deliver donuts to you guys more often.”

  “Donuts?” Karen and donuts was like a combination made in heaven.

  She leaned back, and smiled up at me. “I see donuts and I seem to rank about the same.”

  “Don’t hate the donuts, beautiful. You’re the one who brought them.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Is this what you wanted to talk to me about? Your love for donuts?”

  My love for her was what I wanted to really talk about. “No. We need to talk about you and me.”

  “Us?” she asked.

  I nodded my head, and pressed a kiss to her forehead. I wished that I could just keep kissing her, and she would get the point that I loved her. Although that was what we had been doing for over two months, and we were still in the hook-up zone. “Yeah, beautiful, us. I wanted to tel-.”

  The loud siren alerting us we had a call rang out followed by the monotone voice announcing what the call was.

  “That’s way louder in person than it is on the phone,” Karen called with her hands over her ears.

  It was freakin’ loud, but it did the trick of waking us up in the middle of the night. “Dammit, I need to go.”

  She waved her hand at me. “I know. I need to get back to the shop anyway. I left Brynn alone.” She pressed a kiss to my cheek, and smiled. “We’ll talk tomorrow, sparky.”

  She slipped out of my arms, but I grabbed her hand. “I’m sorry.”

  “Batman never complains when the commissioner sends out the bat signal.”

  I quirked an eyebrow. “Did you just compare me to Batman?”

  A laugh bubbled from her lips. “I sure did. You’re my own personal super hero.”

  “Anderson! Get your ass in gear. We’ve got a fully involved on Birch street,” Chief called.

  She pulled her hand out from mine. “Be careful, sparky.” A sad smile crossed her lips, and for a fleeting moment I wanted to wrap her up in my arms and forget about the alarm going off.

  I watched her stick to the side, away from the guys running around getting into the trucks, and she slipped out the door.

  “You wanna get your gear on, Anderson, or are you just gonna stare at the damn wall?” Chief barked.

  I snapped into motion, jogging over to my locker to pull on my bunker gear, and hopped on the ladder truck as Abe pulled it out of the station.

  “Got your head on straight?” Cal asked.

  I nodded my head. “I’m good, brother.”

  I was better than I had been before Karen came in. Last night after I had gotten off the phone with her I couldn’t sleep. I wondered if she had really meant that she loved me, or if it was just her being drunk.

  After the kiss she gave me, I knew she loved me. I just needed to get her to say it out loud without the aid of a pitcher of margaritas.

  *

  Karen

  “How did it go?”

  I locked the door behind me, and leaned against it. “I gave the guys the donuts, Blake kissed me breathless, and then they had a call. Now I’m here.”

  “Kissing is good.” Brynn leaned against the back counter. “So you guys are all good now?”

  “Uh, no. We kissed, that’s it. I was too discombobulated by the man to even think.”

  A dreamy smile spread across Brynn’s lips. “I get that way every time Abe is within 5 feet of me.”

  “Pfft,” I scoffed. “It’s more like within a mile radius of you.”

  She shrugged. “I really can’t argue with that. Although you really can’t give me shit about it because you know you are just as bad with Blake.”

  I hated when she was right. There had always been a pull between Blake and I ever since he had started coming into the bakery a year ago. It had taken Brynn and Abe hooking up for us to finally be pushed together, except we couldn’t seem to get past the hooking-up.

  Why were relationships so hard?

  “Can we finish the setup for tomorrow and order Geno’s?”

  “I knew you were going to want Italian for dinner. You are so predictable.”

  I was still hungover. I wanted to lay out on Brynn’s couch, binge a few episodes of Buffy, and eat my weight in marinara. Was that really too much to ask for? “I’m fine with predictable if it means we get extra breadsticks.”

  Brynn laughed. “I don’t think I’ve ever ordered a regular order of breadsticks. That’s just crazy.”

  “You order, because you’re paying,” I threw her a wink, “and I’ll start prepping shit.”

  Brynn ordered enough spaghetti, lasagna, and garlic bread to feed an army while I mindlessly weighed out the ingredients she would need tomorrow.

  Well, it wasn’t exactly mindless. I thought about Blake. A lot.

  The damn man was all I could seem to think about.

  *

  Chapter 6

  Blake

  “That was a long ass four days.”

  I grabbed my coat from my locker. “You have no idea.” Especially after Karen dropping in yesterday with donuts and a hot kiss.

  “You and Karen want to hang out tonight?”

  I shook my head. “Not tonight. Tonight I am nailing down Karen.”

  Abe wiggled his eyebrows.

  “Don’t ever wiggle your eyebrows at me again. That was creepy as shit.” I slammed my locker shut, and slung my duffle bag over my shoulder. “Tomorrow night we can do dinner with you guys if you want.”

  “You sure there is going to be a you and Karen tomorrow?”

  I pulled my keys out of my pocket. “I’m damn sure there is going to be a me and Karen tomorrow. Even more so than there is today.”

  I wasn’t going to dance around what was going on between the two of us anymore.

  She was going to be mine, and there wasn’t going to be a doubt in either of our minds that we loved each other.

  *

  Karen

  Red dress?

  Blue dress?

  Should I wear a dress? Would that be too fancy?

  I was a complete wreck. I had went through every possible item of clothing in my closet trying to find something to wear, and none of it was right.

  Blake had texted me half an hour ago that he had a couple of errands to run, and then he would be over.

  Cue to me now standing in front of a pile of clothes with only underwear and a Hanson t-shirt circa 1997. The Hanson brothers in all their glory were stretched across my chest. The shirt was two sizes too small, but I refused to throw it away, or take it out of my collection of shirts. Surprisingly I wasn’t the same size as twenty one years ago.

  A knock sounded on the door, and I knew I was out of time to figure out what to wear. He knocked again without even waiting five seconds.

  Shit!

  I sprinted down the hallway and plastered my face to the door to peek through the peephole. “What are you doing here?” I called. He looked handsome. Of course, Blake always looked handsome. Short, cropped hair, chiseled face, and a tight dark blue shirt stretched across his chest. A smile spread across his lips and I sighed.

  “I told you I was coming over, beautiful. Open the door. I got a bag full of stuff here including ice cream that is melting.”

  Mmm. Ice cream. The man totally knew me. “You can’t come in. I don’t have any pants on.”

  “I’ve lost track of the times I’ve seen you naked, Karen. You not having pants on won’t be that big of a shock. Less clothes I have to take off later.”

  “Shh,” I hissed. “My neighbors will hear you.”

  “Well, open the
damn door, and they won’t hear me.”

  Logical, but I also didn’t want him to see me in my too small Hanson shirt.

  “You remember last week, when I bent you over the couch and you ca-.”

  I twisted open the door handle, grabbed Blake by the shirt, and pulled him into my apartment. “Are you insane? Ms. Bright sits by the door, listening to people in the hallway. You’re going to give her a heart attack if you keep talking like that.”

  A knock sounded on the door. “Karen?”

  “Oh for God's sake.” I pointed a finger into Blake’s chest. “This is all your fault,” I whispered. “Now she’s knocking on the damn door probably needing a ride to the hospital.”

  He leaned close. “Why wouldn’t she call nine-one-one?”

  “Because she knows you are the guy they’ll call to give her a ride.”

  “I don’t drive an ambulance, beautiful.”

  I rolled my eyes, and smacked him on the shoulder. She knocked on the door again, and I dropped my eyes to the floor. “Just shoot me know.”

  “Karen. I’m just making sure that you are okay. I heard a man in the hallway saying dirty things, and I want to make sure he isn’t taking advantage of you.”

  Blake put his arm around my waist, pulled me close, and pressed his lips to my ear. “Get rid of her so I can take advantage of you.”

  I pulled out of his arms, and again rolled my eyes. “Go in the kitchen, and I’ll get rid of her.”

  “So she gets to see you without pants on?” he teased.

  I pushed him toward the kitchen. “Get in there,” I mumbled.

  I cracked open the door, and smiled down at Ms. Bright. “Hi.”

  “Karen, I heard things.” She leaned closely. “Dirty things.”

  Lord have mercy. “Um, really? I didn’t hear anything.”

  “Didn’t you just let a man in? I saw him walk past my door. You’re the last apartment, so he had to have come in here.”

  “Oh, him? That was my dad.”

  Her eyes bugged out. “Are you sure? He looked awfully young.”

  Blake chuckled from the kitchen.

  “Oh, um, you know. He has really good genes.”

  “Well, I’d love to meet him. I’ve never heard you talk about him before.”

  Shit. Shit. Double shit. “He just… ah… he just hopped into the shower.”

  “But I just heard him,” she insisted.

  “He was really dirty. He just came over after work. You know how dads are, totally dirty.” Jesus. I sounded like an idiot.

  She shook her head and tsked. “Such a shame. I could come in and wait for him.”

  I never should have opened the door. I should have pretended to play dead. “You know what, Ms. Bright. I’m just going to be honest with you. My dad just got fired, and he’s not very good company right now. Maybe next time he comes over you can meet him.”

  She sighed, defeated, but nodded her head. “I know how that is, darling. Tell him to hang in there and with having you in his corner he’ll pull through.”

  “Thank you so much. It’ll be nice for him to hear that.”

  She gave me an understanding nod, then shuffled back down the hallway to her apartment. I closed the door, and collapsed back against it.

  “Does this mean you’re going to call me daddy when I’m balls deep?”

  *

  Chapter 7

  Blake

  Her jaw dropped, and I could say in all honesty that this was the first time I had ever seen Karen speechless.

  “That’s not hot to you?” Cause it sounded damn hot to me.

  “Do you even have a filter?”

  “A filter on my mouth? Normally I do. Just when it comes to you I say whatever comes to mind so I can see your cheeks blush pretty pink.” I gave her a wink. “I have to say you didn’t disappoint this time.” It also helped that she didn’t have any pants on, and her shirt was so tight I could make out the outline of her nipples. “You got a bra on?”

  She looked down at her tits, and slapped her arm over them. “No I do not. I was trying to get dressed before you really knocked on my door.”

  “Told you I was coming over after I picked up some stuff from the store.” Ice cream sundaes were Karen’s favorite, and I had bought every kind of topping and sauce I could find.

  “I figured you would be longer than half an hour.”

  I pointed to the door. “I could go hang out with Ms. Bright while you rummage through your closet for twenty more minutes.”

  She tilted her head to the side and seriously thought about it. “I… uh, no. You’ll have to pretend to be my dad, and if she gets a close look at you she’ll know right away that I lied straight to her face.”

  “Then you need to decide if you wanna keep three little kids plastered to your chest, or go find something else to wear. I gotta tell you though, if you change I’m just going to take all your clothes off anyway.”

  “These are not little kids,” she insisted. “This is Hanson.”

  “Uh, should I know who you are talking about?” The instant the words left my mouth I knew I should have lied and acted like I knew what the hell she was talking about.

  She moved her arm from her breasts, and yanked on the hem of her shirt, pulling it so I could fully see the three kids on her shirt. “Taylor, Zac, and Isaac. Three brothers who make up the band Hanson. I know you have heard at least one of their songs before. Everyone has heard MmmBop before. It’s like a law.”

  “I thought that was chicks that sang that song.”

  Her jaw dropped for the second time. “I can’t believe you said that. You can clearly tell they are men.”

  I pointed to her chest. “Those are not men.”

  “Well, no,” she admitted. “I think they are like thirteen, eleven, and sixteen respectfully on this shirt. It’s from nineteen ninety seven.”

  “And how old were you in ninety-seven?”

  She tilted her head back, and counted on her fingers. “Eleven. Possibly twelve. It’s horrible that I can’t remember.”

  I ran my fingers through my hair, and started to wonder if Karen was drunk. “So you liked Hanson.”

  “Like.”

  “What?”

  “I like Hanson. Not liked. They just came out with a Christmas album last November, and it was phenomenal. I even listened to it the other day.”

  “Beautiful, it’s April.”

  She shrugged her shoulders and let go of the hem of the shirt. “Yeah, so? It makes me happy.”

  I guess I couldn’t really argue with that. If something made ya happy, why not do it, or in Karen’s case, listen to it. “So you’re still a fan of the little guys.”

  She scoffed. “They grew up, Blake.”

  “Are we really having this conversation right now?” Here I had planned everything down to a tee what Karen and I were going to talk about and do. Now we were facing off about some silly band from the nineties.

  “It’s a typical conversation I have with people after they find out I like Hanson.”

  I pointed at her shirt. “Is it going to be an issue between us that I really don’t care for these guys?” I knew the song she was talking about, and in my opinion, it was crap.

  She tilted her head and squinted. “Probably not. Just as long as you don’t tell me they’re crap. That wouldn’t be good.”

  Thank God I hadn’t elaborated on why I didn’t like them. “You’ll never hear those words come out of my mouth, beautiful.” I hitched my thumb over my shoulder at the ice cream that was slowly melting on the counter. “You in the mood for some ice cream sundaes?”

  She stood on her tip toes, and leaned to the right to see around me. “What all do you have there?”

  She was intrigued. Jackpot. “Vanilla bean ice cream, caramel, chocolate sauce, fluff, sprinkles, cookie crumbs, peanuts, and gummy worms.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “No cherries?”

  “I know you got a jar in the fridge.”

  “
Maybe I ate them all while you were working.”

  “I thought that. I had Brynn check when she was over here yesterday.” I had started planning tonight as soon as I had hung up the phone with Karen after she had said that she loved me. I wasn’t leaving anything to chance.

  “You know, I’m really starting to wondering where her loyalty lies. First she makes me take donuts to you, and then I find out she was spying for you.”

  I shook my head, and turned back to the gallon of ice cream. “Grab bowls, beautiful, and stop acting like you’re not salivating at the thought of ice cream with all of these toppings.”

  She mumbled under her breath, but moved to the cabinet next to me. “It’s a good thing you brought ice cream because if you hadn’t I don’t think you would still be standing in my kitchen after telling me you didn’t know who Hanson was.”

  “I told you I knew what song you were talking about.”

  She huffed, and set two ceramic bowls next to the toppings I had laid out on the counter. “We probably shouldn’t continue talking about this.” She grabbed the sprinkles, and dumped them in the bottom of each bowl. “You trust me to make yours?”

  I nodded, and pulled open the silverware drawer. “You’re a sundae connoisseur. You can make mine.”

  She preened a little under my weird compliment. “It’s good to know you can recognize greatness.”

  I laughed, and started scooping ice cream into the bowls. “So, did you miss me while I was working?” I finished scooping the ice cream, and snapped the lid back on the pail.

  She grabbed the ice cream, and stuck it in the freezer. “Did you miss me while you were working?”

  “I asked you first, beautiful.”

  She bumped me out of the way with her hip, and nodded toward the living room. “You wanna find something to watch while I work my magic?”

  “As soon as you answer my question.”

  She started dumping all the toppings on methodically. “Can I answer it after I finish slaving over these for us?”

  I popped my hip against the counter and crossed my arms over my chest. “You’re dumping shit from containers onto the ice cream. I hardly call this rocket science.”