She loved it too. Clearly.
“You can’t just lick my nipples and suck my clit without cream or strawberry filling?” she asked.
Aiden felt heat jolt through him. Zoe had just said clit to him. And talked about him sucking on hers.
“Oh fuck yeah, I can.” He started to lean in.
She gave him a smile. “Exactly. So you better not show up with any Hot Cakes, and you better not have any in your glove compartment.”
Then she slipped around him and headed for the front of the bakery.
Aiden dropped his head. She was such a brat.
And he wanted her so damned much.
Grinning, he turned, intending to follow her out to the front.
The back door opened just then, and he glanced over to see Josie coming in. She stopped, clearly surprised to see him.
“Good morning,” she greeted.
“Hey, Josie.”
She looked toward the door that led to the front of the bakery. “Zoe made you come in and work this morning?”
He chuckled. “No. Thought I’d steal your free Wi-Fi and maybe some coffee and muffins.”
She nodded, hanging her purse on the little hooks by the door and then grabbing an apron. She slipped it over her head and tied it behind her. Then she crossed to the sink to wash her hands. “Well, you better get out there, or there won’t be much of any of that left. Zoe’s fan club is about to arrive.”
“Her fan club?” Aiden felt his frown.
“Oh yeah. Mornings are our busiest time in the front.”
“But everyone is coming in for muffins and pastries, right?” he clarified.
Josie tossed him a smile as she dried her hands. “That definitely seems to make sense.”
He planted a hand on his hip. “But that’s not it?”
She lifted a shoulder. “I’m just saying that—as you know—the recipes for the stuff we sell here haven’t changed at all over the years, but since Zoe took over, business has picked up in the mornings. Especially with the males in the twenty-to-forty-years-of-age demographic.”
“Forty-year-old men are coming in here because Zoe is waiting on them?” Aiden asked, scowling now. “What the hell? They’re a little old for her, aren’t they?”
“Too old to start their day with a cute girl serving them sweets?” Josie asked. “Is any man too old to want that?”
Aiden narrowed his eyes. “You’re a cute girl who serves sweets in here too. What makes you think they’re not in here for you?”
She laughed and started toward the front. “I didn’t say they all come in here for her.” Then she pushed through the door, letting it swing shut behind her.
Aiden shook his head. These two girls. They weren’t above flirting and smiling and curling their hair to sell a few additional muffins, huh? That was good. That was business. It was for good reason you never saw ugly, grumpy people doing commercials.
But he didn’t like it.
Aiden followed Josie through the swinging door out of the kitchen. He came up short immediately. It was only ten past six. They’d just opened the front door for business. And there was a line. Literally out the door to the sidewalk.
And they were almost all men.
Josie shot him a glance that said, “Told you.”
Aiden crossed to the coffee station, where the line was only slightly shorter. It wasn’t until he was in line for coffee and scoping out the tables where he could set up his computer for the day to make Buttered Up his makeshift office, when someone noticed him.
“Aiden Anderson!”
He turned to find Jerod Carpenter and Carter Jackson behind him, smiling huge smiles. Jerod worked at the bank and was one of the two men—including Aiden—in suits in the bakery. Carter was a good friend of Jerod’s and farmed his family’s farm just north of town.
“Jerod.” Aiden took the other man’s hand. “Carter.” He shook the farmer’s hand next. “How are you?”
“We’re just fine. Haven’t seen you in a while,” Jerod said. “How are things?”
Aiden glanced over his shoulder to where Zoe was bagging muffins and laughing and chatting with her long line of customers.
“Good. Really good.” He was. He’d just had his hand in Zoe McCaffery’s panties. It didn’t get much better than that.
“How long are you in town?” Jerod asked as they all moved up closer to the coffee station.
Aiden assumed the other guys had already paid for their coffees, but the counter that held the tall carafes and all the accompanying sweeteners and creamers just sat there opening inviting anyone to help themselves. He’d have to mention to her that she should at least store the cups behind the counter and hand them over only after they’d been paid for. Anyone could come in here, help themselves, and walk out with free coffee.
Like he was going to do.
But he was staying. He’d slip a twenty in the register or tip jar later. He’d been mooching off the bakery all his life. He hadn’t paid for a cookie or cupcake in… ever. But now it felt strange.
The bakery had always been successful. As far as he knew. But he’d never really asked or paid attention, or hell, even thought about it, honestly. Now, overnight, this all looked different. Who repainted the trim when it chipped? Probably Zoe and Maggie and Steve. Had they always offered both a light and a medium roast? Had they always offered three kinds of cream? Who thought through the details of how many kinds of cream to offer so that people felt like they had a selection, but they didn’t overdo on inventory? Maggie probably. They probably hadn’t made hazelnut creamer when Letty had run the bakery. And Zoe didn’t change things. Probably not even the creamer. He sighed even as he thought about how much he liked the stubborn little blond baker he’d known all his life.
She was stubborn, but it was born of a fierce determination to take care of her family and her family legacy. But it wasn’t all pink sugar and frosting and sprinkles. Suddenly he was looking at all the ways it could be complicated and stressful.
“Aiden?”
He focused on Jerod and his questioning look. Then remembered the man had asked how long he’d been was in town.
“I’m here for good, as a matter of fact. Just moved back.”
Might as well lay that out there. Especially among the twenty-to-forty-year-old male demographic that seemed to be Zoe’s most enthusiastic customers.
Not that anyone here would have any reason to think his moving back had anything specifically to do with Zoe. But once they all saw him with her constantly, knowing he was here to stay, people could start putting two and two together. He was fine with that.
“No kidding,” Jerod said, clearly a little surprised. “No more Chicago?”
They moved up another spot, and Carter reached for a coffee cup.
“Been there, did what I needed to,” Aiden said. “I wanted to get out there and try some new things, and I’ve had a lot of amazing opportunities.”
That was all certainly true. He and Camden had both wanted to leave Appleby and do something big. They both felt like they could honestly say they’d done something big and impressive.
But when they’d gotten the offer to sell, Aiden hadn’t balked for even a second. He’d been ready to move on. Even before Zoe had shown up half naked and turned everything in his mind in a new direction, filled with a new possibility, he’d been ready for something else. Something more.
His mom had told him to make something of his life, to make it matter. He’d been struggling with the idea of Warriors of Easton really mattering for a while. It had given him money to donate to worthy causes. It had made lots of kids happy. Those weren’t nothing. But were they big enough?
They weren’t as big as Hot Cakes.
He didn’t mean monetarily or fame-wise. Saving the town, saving those jobs, mattered. Being someone who didn’t turn his back on his hometown, who used his good fortune—and his actual fortune—to make things better for people here mattered.
“Now there’s stuff here you need to
do?” Jerod asked as he and Aiden took their turn at the coffee station.
Yes. There was. Save Hot Cakes—and the town. Convince Zoe to marry him. Just to name two.
He glanced over at the bakery counter where Zoe and Jocelyn were boxing and bagging treats for their long line of customers.
“Yeah. I guess I felt like it was time to come home,” he said.
Jerod followed his gaze and his eyebrows went up. “Jocelyn?” he asked. “I didn’t know the two of you were a thing.”
Okay, so now he had a choice. He could shake that off and insist he was just friends with both women—which was true enough—and downplay what was going on with him and Zoe. Especially considering she hadn’t admitted anything was really going on with them.
Then again, she had been more than fine with what had happened in her kitchen at home this morning.
Or he could use this opportunity to tell Jerod—one of the men within the exact demographic of guys who possibly came in for more than muffins—that Zoe was off limits now. That she was his. Jerod would probably spread that news around like it was butter on these muffins everyone loved so much.
“Not Jocelyn,” he said, reaching for the coffee carafe and pouring sixteen ounces of nice, strong brew into his cup.
“Ah. Zoe.” Jerod nodded. “That makes sense.”
“Does it?” He sure as hell thought so. Maybe he’d have Jerod go tell Zoe. Aiden added a top to the cup and turned to watch Jerod add cream to his and then a lid as well.
“You’ve known each other forever. You’re with her family and at her house whenever you are home,” Jerod said with a nod. “And she’s never been serious with anyone here. Guess I just never put that all together.”
She’s never been serious with anyone here.
Aiden knew the caveman part of him who liked that very much was over the top. But he couldn’t help it. He wasn’t 100 percent certain she was still a virgin. If he were a betting man, he’d say she was. But this was Zoe. She was goal oriented. Annoyingly so. If she really wanted to get rid of that V-card, she would do it. That thought tightened his gut.
But the idea of her being emotionally close to, spending quality time with, talking and laughing with someone else as she would in an actual relationship, made his chest feel tight.
“That’s great,” Jerod said, clapping Aiden on the shoulder. “Welcome back, man.”
Jerod was now assuming Aiden and Zoe had an ongoing relationship that had been spanning a long period of time and was closer than the friendship that had been a part of him being so close to her family.
He was good with that.
They had a more serious relationship than she’d had with any other guy around here. He knew her. He knew her dreams and plans and likes and dislikes. He’d been there when her grandfather died. She’d been there when his mother had died. She’d been a kid, but they had that history. They were close. And dammit, they were now sleeping together.
Or would be.
Soon.
Very, very soon.
“See you around,” Aiden told Jerod.
“You bet.” He and Carter headed out of the shop.
Aiden went to stake out his table by the far window that looked out over the alley. He plugged his computer in, opened his email, and glanced over at Zoe, who was smiling and laughing and bouncing around behind the glass cases full of her homemade treats—though becoming less so by the minute—and sighed. He might have to become a morning person if he was going to be with her.
That was going to suck a little bit.
But then she stretched to reach up into a high cupboard behind the front counter, and his gaze dropped to her ass.
Yeah, sucking. He could get into sucking when it came to Zoe.
He quickly became aware, however, that he wasn’t the only one enjoying the view. A couple of the guys in line at the register elbowed each other, and one actually leaned in to see around the two men in front of him.
Aiden’s eyebrows shot up.
Then evidently not finding what she was looking for in that cupboard, she stepped back and bent over to search a lower cupboard.
A couple more men leaned to get a look.
Yeah, no.
Aiden got up, shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over the back of his chair. He pulled his tie off and tossed it over his computer. Then he headed behind the counter to join Zoe and Josie.
Looked like they needed some help.
He rounded the end of the counter to join the ladies.
He moved in behind Zoe and when she rose, put a hand on her lower back—yes, it was a possessive gesture especially for the guys watching from behind her—and said near her ear, “Let me get it.”
They were far enough away from the register and the line of customers-slash-admirers that no one could hear their conversation. But they could see.
She looked up at him, clearly surprised. Then her eyes narrowed. “You don’t know what I’m looking for.”
“I know if it involves you stretching and bending in front of a bunch of other men, I’m going to get it.”
She rolled her eyes. “You want to just pee on me to mark your territory and get it over with?”
“I don’t think that’s necessary.” Then he leaned in and kissed her.
10
It wasn’t deep or long, but it did the trick.
It also caused her to relax into him, her lips softening. For just a couple of seconds.
He pulled back before she could push him away, because he sensed she was about to. That wouldn’t help with his narrative here at all.
She pressed her lips together briefly then shook her head. “My mom’s going to hear about that.”
“I don’t care.”
“What if I do?”
“Shove me. Slap me. Throw a cake in my face. Yell. Tell me to leave you the hell alone in front of all these people.”
He could tell she was thinking about it for a moment, probably playing each of those out in her head and maybe enjoying them a bit, but she didn’t do any of them. The surge of satisfaction and hell yeah was strong as he realized this was a big win.
“My mom would hear about that too,” she finally said.
“Yeah.”
“She’d be mad if I slapped you. Or wasted cake. Or swore in front of customers.”
“Uh-huh.” Those were all true. And not at all why she wasn’t doing them.
“I need more plastic containers for a half-dozen muffins and cupcakes,” she said. “They’re not up here, so we’ll have to get them from the back.”
“You go,” he said. He glanced behind them. The line was still there. Most of them were staring with their mouths hanging open. “I’ve got this.”
“Oh, I don’t—”
“I can get cupcakes and muffins and scones out of the case.”
“Bet you don’t know how to run a cash register,” Zoe said.
“I… don’t.” Aiden frowned. He’d never run a register.
“Bet you also can’t smile and flirt them into buying double what they came in for,” Zoe said, giving him one of the smiles that probably got guys buying by the dozen.
Considering 90 percent of the line was male, that was a pretty good bet.
“Fine, where are these containers?”
She grinned, clearly pleased with herself. “Storeroom, second shelf, right-hand side.”
He went after them, returning with a huge stack only two minutes later. It was still enough time for Zoe to dive right into waiting on people again. With a big, bright I’m-so-happy-you’re-here, you’re-so-funny-and-charming-and-handsome smile.
“He’s back to stay, then?” Garrett Green was asking her.
Aiden set the containers next to her.
“I guess,” Zoe said, looking up at him.
“I am,” Aiden confirmed. “To stay.”
“I see,” Garrett said. He didn’t look happy.
Aiden didn’t really fucking care if Garrett was happy. About this or
anything else.
“What can I get you?” he asked the next guy in line. The man looked familiar, but Aiden wasn’t sure who he was. It wasn’t like Aiden knew every person in Appleby. Even in a small town, if someone had been behind him in school four or five—or more—years, he wouldn’t have been on any sports teams or in class with them, and he wouldn’t have really known them. It was also possible, of course, people would have moved to Appleby since Aiden left.
“Need a blueberry and an apple cinnamon,” the guy said, making direct eye contact but without a smile. He looked almost annoyed.
“That it?” Aiden asked.
“Yeah.”
Aiden started to turn toward the case to grab the guy’s order.
“Oh, Caleb, that will only get you through your first cup of coffee,” Jocelyn said, coming up next to Aiden. “Especially because Brian will take the blueberry if you don’t eat it first.”
Caleb’s expression softened and he smiled at Josie. “Yeah, you’ve got a point. I should eat that one first for sure.”
“Or get two and then tell Brian he owes you one when he comes in on Thursday,” Josie said with a wink.
A wink. Aiden rolled his eyes. He would put very good money down on the fact these men intended to buy more when they walked through the door but wanted Josie and Zoe to flirt with them before they increased their orders.
Dicks.
Caleb chuckled. “Yeah, okay. Two blueberry, an apple cinnamon, and you better give me a lemon poppyseed or Dan will be mad.”
Aiden shook his head. Transparent dicks.
Josie nodded, punching that into the register. “That’s more like it.” She looked up at Aiden. “You know which ones are which?”
“Guessing the blueberry have blueberries in them and the lemon poppyseed have poppy seeds?” His tone was dry as he moved toward the case.
Josie grinned and handed him a pair of thin plastic gloves to wear. “Wow, quick learner.”
He pulled the gloves on and grabbed all the muffins and a bag, wrapping them in the paper on top of the case before stuffing them in the sunshine-yellow bag that said Buttered Up on the side and handing it over to Caleb, who had moved down after paying Josie.
“Thanks,” Caleb muttered.
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