Sugarcoated

by Erin Nicholas

  “When did she tell you that?” Aiden asked.

  “A kid at school was making fun of this part of my hair that always sticks up.” Henry flicked at the cowlick on the back of his head. “I told her it was making me mad and asked her to cut it off. She said no way. The best way to get back at that kid was to get some gel and make that part of my hair really stick up and then tell everyone how much I loved it. She said people won’t make fun of things if they think it won’t bug you.”

  Steve and Maggie both smiled at Henry. “That hair shouldn’t bug you,” Maggie said. “It’s just hair.”

  Henry nodded. “Yeah, and when I made it stick up on purpose, that’s kind of what everyone figured out.”

  Aiden thought about that. It was all very interesting. Didi had proposed change, and that change had worked out. She’d made a point of that with Letty, even naming her company Hot Cakes because her cakes were selling like crazy, and in response, Letty had dug in, deep, on exactly what she’d been doing, absolutely not changing a single thing.

  They started clearing the dishes from the table and conversation diverted to lighter topics, probably by Josie and Maggie, until eventually, Aiden found himself in the dining room with Zoe alone, picking up an empty breadbasket and a handful of forks.

  “I assume you still want to get in my pants?” she asked.

  Maybe being in the dining room alone with her wasn’t an accident.

  “With everything in me,” he said sincerely, looking at her across the table.

  “Then I would suggest you quit thinking my grandmother was crazy and stop defending Didi Lancaster and Hot Cakes to me,” she said.

  Aiden sighed. “Zoe, come on. You know the factory needs to stay open. You have to be able to sympathize with all those people. This town. The town would be affected if that factory closed.”

  “They’re our competition, Aiden.”

  “They’re not really. And you know that.”

  “The Butter Sticks should have been ours.”

  He sighed. “That may be true,” he admitted. “But those don’t actually compete with anything you sell now.”

  “You don’t think people sometimes grab Peanut Butter Pinwheels or Fudgie Fritters rather than coming in for peanut butter cupcakes or fudge brownies from me because they’re easier and already packaged and cheaper?”

  He thought carefully about how to answer. Finally, he just went with honest. “Okay, yeah, they probably do.”

  “Of course they do,” she said with an eye roll.

  “But if Hot Cakes was in another town or even state, it would be the same thing. You could say the same thing of Hostess or Little Debbie. You don’t consider them competition, do you?”

  “I do,” she told him stubbornly. “But, of course, Hot Cakes is different because all that could have been ours.”

  He didn’t believe that, actually. Even if they’d kept the original butter cake recipe, they never would have packaged them individually and sold them in gas stations. He studied her for a moment. “So why don’t you do that?”

  “Do what?”

  “Prepackage some stuff and make it cheaper.”

  “I don’t have the machines or capacity to do something like that.”

  “You could figure it out. Just wrap or box things individually.”

  “Extra packaging costs more money. I have to cover my costs.”

  “Then make the stuff smaller. The Fudgie Fritters are way smaller than your brownies. For a reason,” he said.

  “The other reason is they’re mass produced and they can negotiate for bulk ingredients,” she said. “There’s a limit to what I can do.”

  “But you could do something. If your quality is better—which it is,” he said quickly, holding up a hand,“then people will pay more. Prepackage some stuff, and mark it down a little, and talk to the convenience store about some shelf space.”

  “How does marking it down help me make more money?”

  “At a lower price you could sell greater quantities.” She knew this, but he was willing to talk it out with her. “Or if you don’t want to do that, add some new products.”

  “I did. We’re doing cake pops now.”

  “With the leftover cake and frosting you already make. And only because Josie pushed. And you kind of hate them,” he said.

  She didn’t deny it.

  “Maybe you could offer something like cake-decorating classes instead.”

  “And teach people to make everything for themselves instead of paying us to do it?”

  “You have an excuse to avoid every single idea.” She was incredibly obstinate. But she made his heart pound. She didn’t think he was always right or perfect or some kind of savior. And that was probably good for him.

  “They’re all risks,” Zoe said.

  “You mean they’re all changes.”

  She frowned.

  Aiden smiled. God, she was stubborn. And gorgeous. And a pain in the ass. And he’d never wanted a woman more.

  “So about me getting into your pants…”

  “Not tonight,” she told him with a look that said that should have been obvious.

  “And why’s that?”

  “You’ve been arguing with me all night. And judging me. I’m not taking my clothes off for you after that.”

  But that sure as hell sounded like there was a chance that was going to happen in the future. If he toed her line. He grinned internally. He’d do whatever he had to. He could work on softening her feelings toward Hot Cakes more slowly.

  “For future notice, if I want to get you naked, I need to always go along with whatever you say, do whatever you want, and generally agree that you’re always right.”

  She nodded. “Yes. Definitely. Absolutely.” She tilted her head and looked him up and down. “And wearing a suit doesn’t hurt.”

  Then she turned on her heel and headed into the kitchen.

  He looked down at his t-shirt and jeans. And chuckled.

  But if she thought she’d just stumped him there, she was very wrong.

  He had plenty of suits. And as she’d pointed out, plenty of money to get more.

  Was that also privileged of him? Yes, yes it was. Because getting Zoe McCaffery naked was absolutely going to be a privilege.

  7

  She’d totally lied to him.

  Aiden did not need to agree with her and think her ideas were all brilliant for her to want to sleep with him.

  In fact, arguing with him about things of substance—business and employee benefits and the effects of Hot Cakes on the town and people of Appleby—had been… interesting.

  And surprising.

  It wasn’t that they’d never argued. Lord Almighty. They’d argued about Hawkeye football play-calling and if pineapple belonged on pizza—it definitely did—and if she’d cheated at poker—another definitely. But this was different. This felt grown-up. Important. Challenging.

  She’d liked it.

  She hadn’t been lying about the suits though. Him wearing a tie definitely made her more inclined to take her clothes off. Whether or not she wanted him to take the tie off in bed remained to be seen.

  The dining room and kitchen were finally cleaned up, and the huge perk of her family loving Aiden became apparent when her mom and dad and Henry all settled in the living room with him and started chatting. It gave Zoe the perfect opportunity to pull Jane and Josie out onto the back patio after all.

  “Tell me what to do,” she demanded of her friends as soon as she slid the glass door shut behind them.

  “About?” Jane asked. But she was already smiling.

  “Aiden. Living with me.”

  “Be grateful for all the water you’re going to be saving?” Jane suggested.

  Zoe frowned at her. “What?”

  “By showering together.”

  Jocelyn giggled.

  “That’s not helpful,” Zoe muttered.

  “True. The showers will probably be even longer if Aiden is in there wit
h her,” Josie said to Jane.

  “Good point,” Jane said. “Well, less laundry because you’ll only be washing the sheets on one bed?” She shook her head. “No, because you’ll probably be getting those sheets even dirtier than usual, so you’ll have to wash them more often.” She shrugged. “Sorry, I’ve got nothing. There is nothing good about Aiden living with you.”

  Zoe huffed out a frustrated breath. “I know.”

  Josie and Jane both laughed.

  “Come on,” Jane said. “Aiden’s awesome. And clearly he’s regretting his Christmas decision. That’s got to feel good, right?”

  Zoe sighed. “That’s the thing. He doesn’t regret it. He’s not sorry for turning me down at Christmas. Thinks that was the right thing to do.”

  “What’s he want now, then?” Jane asked.

  “Her.”

  Zoe shot Jocelyn a look. “What?”

  “That’s what he told me. I asked why he was here, and he said he’s going to sweep you off your feet.”

  Zoe felt her heart do a little flip. She frowned. That was so annoying.

  “Wow.” Jane looked from Josie to Zoe. “Well, awesome, now you can get rid of that pesky V-card, once and for all, just like you planned.”

  “Shh!” Zoe glanced at the house. There was no way anyone inside could hear them. “You can’t let him know that’s still a thing.”

  “But…” Jane frowned, confused. “Wait… what?”

  “He thinks maybe I already got rid of it.” Zoe winced after she said it.

  Jane’s eyes widened. “Why would he think that?”

  “I might have insinuated that.”

  “Why?” Josie asked.

  “I can’t have him think I’ve been pining away for him for five months!” Zoe said.

  “But…” Jane looked at Jocelyn and then back to Zoe. “You haven’t been pining for him. But you haven’t been with anyone else either. There’s a lot of space in between those two things. Why can’t he know that?”

  Zoe sighed. “I don’t know. I sort of… panicked, I guess. He just struts in here after all this time and says ‘Okay, let’s do this,’ and I’m supposed to just melt. That’s so typical. And insulting.” She crossed her arms. “Especially when he turned me down so easily before.”

  Jane grinned at her. “That’s your ego talking.”

  Zoe rolled her eyes. “Well, yeah.”

  “How is that really different from what he’s doing?” Josie asked. “You expected to walk into his bedroom at Christmas and say, ‘Hey, could you give me a quick orgasm, please?’ and he was supposed to just be all in without a single thought.”

  Zoe stared at her. “Well, first, I didn’t expect an orgasm.” She knew enough about sex to know those didn’t happen every time, and very often they didn’t happen the first time. “And second… yeah. I did expect him to just be all in. It’s sex.”

  “It’s sex with you,” Josie said. “We told you even back then that makes it all different.”

  “Argh!” Zoe let her head fall back, covering her face. “I thought going to someone I knew so well would make it easier. Instead, it’s complicating everything. Now he thinks we need to get married!” She looked at her friends. “I need a one-night stand. With a stranger. Who’s not an ax murderer but who I will never see again. Can you help me out with that?”

  Josie’s eyes got wide. Jane started laughing.

  Zoe propped her hands on her hips. “What?”

  “That is the last thing you need,” Jane informed her.

  “You would be terrible with a one-night stand,” Josie said.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Seriously,” Jane agreed. “You’re not one-night stand material, Z.”

  “I. Just. Need. Sex.” Zoe was gritting her teeth. Good Lord. Everything in society made it seem that a young, healthy, relatively decent-looking, willing woman could have sex—especially no-strings-attached-sex—very easily. That was very much not turning out to be the case.

  “I know you think so,” Jane said, a little sympathetically now. “I understand everything you’ve said about being a twenty-five-year-old virgin and everything. I do. But honey, you don’t do casual. You don’t do short term. You don’t do superficial. I mean, the guy you thought of to take your virginity is literally the one nonrelative male you’ve known the longest.”

  “Because I can trust him.”

  “Exactly,” Josie said. “There is no way in hell you could go to a hotel room with some guy you just met at a bar and get naked. No. Way.”

  Zoe frowned at her. “And you could?”

  “Maybe.” Josie lifted a shoulder. “He’d have to be a very good flirt. Very charming. He’d have to be funny and make me laugh. He’d have to do something sweet—like rescue a kitten or help an old lady carry her groceries or something. But I wouldn’t have to know his whole history.” She nodded as if thinking it all over. “Yeah, a funny, cute, sweet guy could definitely get me naked on the first date. If he was wearing a t-shirt that said something like ‘I’m very good with my rod. I make fish come,’ I’d be all over him. Even if it was one night.”

  Zoe actually snorted at that. Josie was sweet. Like sweet. But clearly she’d given this some thought.

  “I saw Sam Carson wearing that shirt the other day,” Jane said. “Naughty girl.” She gave Josie a grin that looked almost proud.

  “Sam is definitely someone who would be fun. For one night.” Josie winked.

  Sam was a nice guy. Funny. Goofy even. But he wasn’t all that bright. Josie would be bored with him after one night for sure.

  Zoe immediately thought of Aiden. She wouldn’t get bored with him.

  Wait. What? She would get bored with him. Right? She knew everything about him. How was that not boring?

  But bantering with him was fun. Sassing him was fun. Kissing him was definitely fun. Seeing him with her family made her happy. And listening to him talk business tonight had been interesting. Arguing with him was fun. He took her seriously and listened to her, even when he didn’t agree with her.

  Sure, he thought her beloved, recently deceased grandmother was crazy. But… he’d still loved her. He would have still sat at the dining room table with her tonight and been respectful and sweet and teased her and made her laugh. He might have even gotten away with teasing her about being so stubborn and a little crazy. He might have even gotten away with teasing Letty about Hot Cakes. If anyone could pull that off, it would have been Aiden.

  He had a way about him. A way that even Letty McCaffery wouldn’t have been able to resist.

  Zoe sighed. He definitely had a way with her.

  Could she come home at night and talk about her day with him? Not just about how they were making poop emoji cupcakes for some kid’s birthday party, but about things like how amazing all the reviews for her last wedding job had been or how she was worried about her favorite vendor increasing prices on her?

  Yes.

  She didn’t even have to think about it.

  Talking about muffin pans and spatulas might not seem exciting exactly, but being able to share her business, her day-to-day thoughts and issues would be nice, and yeah, Aiden would get it.

  He’d care. He knew what Buttered Up meant to her and her family and respected that. He knew the bakery inside and out and understood their business, the town they did it in, the people they dealt with. He also understood business on a big-picture scale. Profit margins, dealing with vendors, taxes, and everything else that went into it all.

  “Did you sleep with Sam Carson?” Jane demanded of Josie.

  “No.” Josie laughed. “I’m just saying I wouldn’t rule it out.” She focused on Zoe again. “But Zoe would definitely rule Sam out.”

  “I’m not attracted to Sam,” Zoe said.

  “Sam is hot,” Jane said.

  Zoe thought about that. Yeah, he was. She frowned.

  “But you could never be comfortable enough with Sam to get naked,” Josie said.

  Jane was
studying Zoe. “But she knows Sam really well.”

  Sam was just a year older than Zoe and Josie. He’d grown up in Appleby and farmed with his dad.

  “She does,” Josie agreed.

  “And Sam is a nice guy,” Jane went on, almost contemplatively. “He wouldn’t talk about their one night together.”

  “Nope,” Josie agreed again.

  “I’m not attracted to him,” Zoe repeated.

  “I know,” Josie said. “Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?”

  “Wonder what?” Zoe asked.

  “Why you’re not attracted to him.”

  “Yeah,” Jane agreed. “He’s got everything Aiden does. Except the money.”

  No, he didn’t. He didn’t have a history with her like Aiden did. No one did. Dammit.

  “Because…” Zoe just shrugged. “Attraction is hard to explain, isn’t it? It’s a chemistry thing.”

  Josie grinned as if Zoe had just given the perfect answer. “It really is. And more goes into chemistry than good looks or someone being nice or how well you know them.”

  Zoe sighed. Two people she knew very well were these two women. “You’re trying to make a point.”

  “Yes I am.”

  “Can you just get to it?”

  Josie nodded. “Fine. I think you need to think about why you’re a twenty-five-year-old virgin and why Aiden was the one you thought of to change that.”

  “Yeah,” Jane said, joining in. “I mean, you’ve dated a few guys. Some who really liked you a lot. Some who I’m sure would have helped you out there.”

  “I’m a virgin because I’ve never been with anyone I thought I could be with long…” Oh. Damn.

  Josie nodded. “Exactly. You didn’t think any of them would be long term. You’ve always been thinking along those lines. But you want to sleep with Aiden.”

  Zoe felt her stomach flip, but she shook her head. “I just went to him for a one-time tutorial.”

  “I think that was a really good excuse you came up with to make yourself get into that lingerie and walk down the hall,” Josie told her with an affectionate and gentle smile.