by Toni Aleo
“Don’t tell me you had a one-night stand with him, too?” Avery said, her words full of annoyance.
“Me? I wish.” Becca laughed, but kept her attention on the man. “No. You’re Kyler Wilson.”
He nodded slowly, “uh, yeah. At least that’s what it says on my birth certificate.”
“No, I mean…” Becca stumbled over her words. “THE Kyler Wilson from the Renegades hockey team. Avery, this is KYLER WILSON from the Renegades.”
“Continuing to repeat it doesn’t make me understand it any better. I don’t watch hockey, so I don’t know who that is – no matter how many times you say it.”
“I can’t believe you don’t watch hockey.” Becca rolled her eyes. “I thought I taught you better.”
“I figured that’s why you ran out on me. Bunnies tend to do that.” Kyler casually commented.
“Bunnies? What does that even mean?” Avery asked, annoyed.
Kyler smirked a sexy as hell smile. “Bunnies. You know, puck bunnies. Young ladies who sleep with hockey stars simply to say that they did this guy or that guy.”
“What? You thought I was one of those girls?” Avery couldn’t decide if she was embarrassed or angry at his insinuation.
“No. I didn’t until you left the way you did. I really kind of figured you were down in the dumps, with the way you were drinking. I was spending New Year’s Eve alone, and that itself makes a man want to drink. Then too many drinks later…I can keep going if you’d like?”
“I don’t need a recap.” Avery said with snark.
Becca eagerly listened. “I do. Go on.”
“So, you really had no idea who I was that night?” Kyler asked.
He folded his arms over his chest, looking amused at her uncomfortableness. Kyler leaned his weight back against the glass display cases.
Avery saw him lean back and yelled for him to stop. “Kyler, don’t–”
“What?”
Kyler turned, his shoulder brushing against the cardboard display board that held her gingerbread house before she could lunge behind the counter. Avery’s fingers were inches from the board as it crashed to the floor. Gingerbread pieces crumbling everywhere, icing, and candies smashing against the tile floor.
“Oh my god,” Avery cried softly, staring at the mess on the floor.
“Did I do that? Shit, I’m really sorry. I didn’t know–” Kyler shrugged.
Avery shut her eyes, trying to control her emotions. “I just finished decorating that.”
“I’m sorry.” Kyler looked like he didn’t quite know what to say.
“You’re sorry? I needed that for the kid’s Christmas party!”
“Okay? Can you make another one? I’ll pay for it.”
“The party is in four days!” Avery’s face burned, and her temple throbbed. Anxiety balled up in her chest.
“Is that not enough time to make a new one?” Kyler asked, his face wrinkled in uncertainty.
Avery let out a heavy sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose between her fore finger and thumb. It was bad enough that out of all the bakeries in the city, he had to come into theirs, but now he ruined her hard work, and she was going to have to start all over again. “Sure, if that’s all I have to do. We have last minute orders of Christmas cookies piling up, not to mention the pastries we need to make daily.”
Her heart pounded in her ears. She was so angry, and now she felt like she might be having a panic attack.
“Avery,” Becca pleaded. “I can get Derrick to come in and help. Everything will get done. It’s fine.”
“All the cookies?” Avery asked, gasping for air. “And all the cupcakes? In addition to a new gingerbread house? With Christmas Eve only four days away? Becca?”
“I could help.” Kyler gently spoke up.
Avery snapped her head to look at him. Her words were sharper than she planned. “Haven’t you done enough?”
Kyler folded his arms over his chest and shook his head lightly, as if he was shaking off her harsh words. His strong stance told Avery that he was not backing down.
“What are you going to do, Mr. Hockey player? You going to write the orphanage a big fat check? Isn’t that what you guys do? Throw your money at problems and hope they go away?” Avery didn’t mean for it to sound so awful, but that’s how she felt inside.
“No.” Kyler said flatly. “I mean, if that’s what the orphanage needs then let me get my checkbook. Because I have the means to provide that, so yeah, I would donate whatever they needed. But I don’t ‘throw money at problems’. I prefer to fix things the old-fashioned way, with hard work. I’m offering my help to you guys with the cookies. I can be quite handy in the kitchen, especially with Christmas cookies. It sounds like you have a lot of work ahead of you, and now I’ve unintentionally created more. But it’s up to you.”
“You’re hired.” Becca said without any further discussion. “Leave your number with Avery.”
Avery flashed Becca an ‘Are you serious’ look, but Becca didn’t even flinch.
“Okay.” Kyler took a napkin and scribbled his information on it. He looked up at them and slowly took the coffee cup off the counter. “I uh, I’m sorry, but I have to go.”
“Right.” Becca said. “That’s fine. Can you come in tomorrow?”
“Me?” Kyler asked. “Not tomorrow. We have a game in Columbus tomorrow night. But I can come in first thing on Friday.”
Avery didn’t know why she was so annoyed by Kyler. Maybe it was the fact that he ruined all her hard work so close to the holiday. Or maybe it was coming face to face with the guy she had a one-night stand with. But it was probably that she hated how he made her anxious and excited inside. Spending time with this man might be her biggest problem. His strong arms, devilish smirk, fantastic six-pack… she caught herself day dreaming, and his stupid cocky attitude. She fell to his charm once, why wouldn’t she do it again?
Becca smiled before she handed him the dozen cupcakes and glazed donut that he originally came in here for. She sweetly added, “Perfect. I guess we’ll see you Friday.”
Chapter Four
Kyler (Thursday)
It was still early, and the team was on the bus to Columbus. Some guys were napping, some were playing cards, and others were watching movies. Kyler had his eyes closed, but his brain was buzzing with thoughts of Avery James.
All these months, Kyler thought Anna, or Avery as it was, ran out on him because she was a bunny. And bunnies don’t stick around for small talk after. But she honestly had no idea who he was. It was just a drunken one-night stand. Not that that makes it any better. But, knowing now that she fell into bed with him that night because she was attracted to him, not because she was looking to get a notch on her bedpost with a hockey player, was more of a boost to his ego. It made him feel better about not being able to get her out of his mind for the last twelve months.
Kyler never pined after bunnies, he knew what they were after. And honestly, when you are young, single, and on the road a lot, sometimes they are just what the doctor ordered.
But he was focused on Avery, and inquisitive to know what made her tick. Behind those big brown eyes sat something he couldn’t define. He wanted to know everything about her including the real reason she ran out. Now finding out that she didn’t know anything about him that night, he was even more intrigued.
Arriving at the hotel, the guys filed out of the bus and into the lobby. Kyler saw them out of the corner of his eye before they approached him – puck bunnies. Kris and Tyler made it very clear in the past that they were off-limits. A huge bunny-favorite, Patrick, recently made it clear when they wouldn’t leave him alone. Now they stuck to the younger guys, and that meant him too.
Normally he might take them up on whatever they were offering, especially at an away game, but not now. Now all he could think about was Avery. He brushed them off as he walked by, trying to get up to his room.
Once the elevator opened on the second floor, he thought he was in the clear, but there stood a bun
ny, waiting. How the fuck did she even get up here?
“Hey there, Wilson. Can I interest you in a massage?” She cooed.
“No thanks.” Kyler kept walking and quickly attempted to unlock his hotel room door.
“No thanks? Ugh! Are you serious?” The bunny stomped her feet.
Kyler didn’t respond to her tantrum.
“Prick!” She yelled before she stomped away.
Kyler quickly shut the door behind him and let out a breath. Avery was stuck in his brain, and no bunny could measure up to her.
Now that he knew her name wasn’t Anna, instead of getting ready for his game day nap, he searched social media for her or the Pink Ribbon Cupcakery – finding both.
After a short power nap, an energy drink, and a power packed dinner, he was as ready as he was going to be for tonight’s game.
When he got to the bakery Friday morning, Avery was hard at work piping white icing between the pieces of gingerbread to form the house that would eventually go to the orphanage. The replacement for the one he had destroyed.
Kyler was exhausted after getting in late from Columbus, and sore from a hit he took in the third period. But seeing her working on that gingerbread house only had him feeling one thing: regret.
He usually wasn’t so much of a klutz. And yet coming face to face with Avery had him knocking shit off counter tops.
Clearing his throat and tilting his head, he eyed up her gingerbread house pieces. Kyler couldn’t stop himself from offering his unsolicited advice, it was a fault of his. He wasn’t trying to imply she didn’t know what she was doing, it just seemed to come out that way. “Are you using Royal Icing?”
Avery looked up at him, her expression was annoyed and confused at his comment. It was the same look he was sure to give someone if they told him how to play hockey.
“Good morning to you too.” She said snidely.
“I’d hardly call this morning. The sun isn’t even up yet.” Kyler motioned to darkness that was outside the windows that lined the front of the store.
“Well, considering this icing will take about two hours to set, and we have lots more cookies to make today for pick-up tomorrow… well, let’s just say we have a long day ahead of us. Hope you’re ready.”
Kyler knew all of this in his brain but hearing her say it already exhausted him. “Yeah. Good thing there’s an unlimited supply of coffee.” He nodded out the door, referring to the coffee shop.
“You’re probably going to need it.” She blew a puff of air out the side of her mouth, displacing a rogue hair that had escaped her pony tail, away from her face. Avery picked up the tray containing the new gingerbread house and moved towards the kitchen. “Okay. This is done, now it needs to set for a few hours before we can decorate it.”
Avery already looked spent, like she had been through a full day of work, and most people weren’t even out of bed yet. Her hair haphazardly tossed into a pony tail, her cheeks flushed, and flour smudged on her forehead. She turned back to her work.
“What time did you start working today?” Kyler asked.
She answered without looking at him. “Five.”
“You’ve already been here for two hours?” He was used to early days, because when you grow up in hockey, you have before school practices. And in the big leagues, on game days, he is expected be at the arena and ready to hit the ice by nine. But to be at the bakery by five astounded him.
“This gingerbread house isn’t going to make itself.” Avery answered, her words full of snark.
“Yeah, again, sorry about that.” She was not ready to let him forget about that yet. And he deserved the ribbing, because he would never forgive himself for knocking it over. Watching it crash to the ground was the things nightmares were made of.
As much as he wanted to know more about the orphanage, his brain was weirdly thinking about the icing. He might be a big bad hockey player, but he knew a little something about baking pastries. “Royal icing is the best choice. Yeah, it’s thicker, which makes it better for holding things like this together.” Kyler couldn’t stop the facts that were rolling off his tongue.
“Excuse me?” Her eyes flickered with annoyance.
“Sorry. Bad habit of mine. But, I am well versed in baking.” He sat his coffee down, clapped his hands together, and a little too loudly asked, “I’m here and ready. What can I do to help?”
Avery was cute, in a sweet kind of way. Or maybe it was her sugary pink surroundings. Everything in this place was bubble-gum pink, from the pink walls lined with white crown molding, the pink table tops, and right down to the pink mixers in the back. But the girl had spunk and her eyes, they were filled with fire. Annoyed or maybe just feisty, she put her hand on her hip, and her eyes ran over him. Unimpressed, she asked, “You know about baking?”
Kyler shed his winter jacket and hung it on a hook in the back room. “I do.”
Her eyebrows pinched together in confusion. But when she spoke, her words were firm and matter of fact. “So, Mr. Hockey Player, you think you can offer some advice that I don’t already know on how to do my job? ‘Cause I have cupcakes that need making and cookies that need baking. Then all of it needs decorating. If you’re such an expert, then you should get to work.”
“Avery, I never said that.” He crossed his arms again and chuckled at her defiant comment.
Avery rolled her eyes. He wasn’t oblivious, he sensed that she didn’t want him here. But she was cute when she was flustered. And he couldn’t resist continuing on.
“I mean I’m no pastry chef, but growing up, my mom did a lot of baking. From cakes to breads, she did it all. I picked up a few tips and tricks along the way. I was always at her side as her little assistant. That’s where I learned about Royal icing.” Kyler sat down at a table. “It’s been way too long since I’ve done any baking. But it’s like riding a bike, right?”
Avery’s eyes softened at his words. He didn’t know why, but she nodded in agreement. “Yeah. Let me put this in the back so it can set. We need to make eight dozen cut out cookies while that sets. Can I get you another coffee?” She called over her shoulder as she went behind the counter to wash her hands.
He didn’t know why she changed her tune so quickly, but he wasn’t going to question it.
“Yeah.” Kyler took the last remaining sip of the one he got earlier. “I could use another one, thanks.”
Avery returned with his fresh coffee. “So, are you going to help me with these cookies, or just sit here and brag about what a wonderful pastry chef you are?”
Kyler nodded, and trying to hide his smirk, he took a sip of the hot coffee, which was perfect for a cold morning like this.
“Follow me.” Avery called as she showed him to the kitchen. “So, you still help your mom bake a lot?”
“Uh, no, I mean, I used to help her a lot in the kitchen when I was younger. I even had my own apron.” The innocent memory had a grin tugging at his lips.
“Oh, I bet that was cute.” She mused, seeming a bit more relaxed.
This was a different side of Avery, and he liked it much more. The bitterness seemed to be gone. Kyler was sure the snarkiness was a put-on.
“Yeah, well, I was twelve, so… Haven’t done any baking for a long time. I get everything I need at bakeries like yours.” He looked around the shop.
“Oh, I don’t own this place alone. This is the brainchild of Becca. We are like co-owners. So, you don’t bake with your mom anymore? I can’t seem to stop baking, even when I’m at home, I’m always making cookies, especially this time of year.”
“No, haven’t in a long time.” She was dangerously close to uncovering memories he wasn’t ready to talk about. Kyler had gotten good at pushing them down and away from the surface, which is exactly what he did before he spoke again.
“We better get moving. We have to get eight dozen cookies in the oven, so they can cool before we decorate them. I also have cupcakes that I put in this morning that need to be iced. Think you can handle t
hat, hockey guy?”
Kyler shrugged confidently. “Absolutely. Just point me in the direction of the cupcakes.”
She fumbled with a pastry bag and set a tray of cupcakes on a table in front of him. “Here you go. Just like this.” Avery demonstrated how she wanted the cupcakes iced, and it seemed easy enough to Kyler.
He iced a few cupcakes, he was pretty good at it. Pausing, he took a minute to watch Avery’s flawless moves as she rolled the cookie dough and cut out shapes. Before he had six cupcakes iced, she had two cookie sheets full and in the oven. Refusing to be out done, Kyler iced a dozen cupcakes before he spoke.
“Tell me more about this orphanage party.” He diligently worked to get another dozen iced. Now he was getting the hang of icing the cupcakes it was going quicker.
“They have a Christmas Eve party for the kids every year. We’re providing cookies, cupcakes, and a gingerbread house. We do what we can to help, but it never seems like enough.” Her eyes dropped to the table.
“Yeah. I know what you mean.” Kyler had done a few charity things with the team, and Avery was right when she said it never feels like enough.
“You don’t know the half of it.” Avery’s face was sad. She picked up the tray with his two dozen iced cupcakes. Her lips smiled, but it never reached her eyes. “These look good. You weren’t lying about your talent for baking.”
Kyler was ready to brag when she put two more trays in front of him. His face must’ve showed his confusion, because she chuckled.
“You didn’t think that was all that needed to be iced, did you? ‘Cause we have about four more dozen. But you did those two pretty quick. After you ice, I’ll put the finishing touches on them.”
Kyler took the new trays and went to work. “Do you work with the orphanage a lot?”
“Yeah.” Avery shrugged. “I like to do what I can, especially at the holidays. But, I also make cupcakes once a month to celebrate birthdays. It’s too hard to celebrate each child, there are too many. Which is sad in itself. But, if I can bring a little cheer to their lives, I do what I can.”