Honestly, the hard parts of the process were getting Ollie’s ideas from his head to paper and giving up on things on Dax’s wish list like life-sized troll dolls in their merchandise line. Everything else seemed to fall into place, and all five of them ended up being happy.
“Sorry.” Ollie did manage to look slightly contrite. “Just wanted to catch you before you left for the bakery.”
“I’m already back from the bakery,” Piper told him, stepping into the room with a cardboard tray of coffee cups and four bakery bags.
“Oh, I just was hoping for some lemon poppyseed muffins in my life,” Ollie said with a dramatic sigh.
“I got you lemon poppyseed and an orange muffin,” she said, handing him the bag.
“Do I like orange?” he asked, taking it and peering inside.
“You will,” she said confidently.
“You’re the best, Piper.” Ollie looped an arm around her waist and pulled her close, planting a smacking kiss on her cheek.
And in a very, very rare moment within the offices—in Chicago or Appleby—Piper Barry looked flustered.
Only Ollie could do that to her.
Dax grinned. He could have kissed her right on the mouth, with tongue, and she wouldn’t have done anything but laugh, push him back, and tell him to knock it off.
Ollie was the only one who made her blush and not be able to find her words right away.
He was also the only one who made her grind her teeth.
She had a bottle of ibuprofen in her desk too and Grant wrote OLLIE on it for her as well.
The only problem with any of that, was Oliver was completely clueless about his effect on their pretty, capable, amazing assistant.
Grant, Aiden, Cam, and Dax knew, though, and Grant jumped in to cover Piper’s blushing before Dax could.
“Dax wants to sell his part of Hot Cakes.”
Oliver let Piper go and swung to face them. “What?”
Aiden sat forward in his beanbag with a frown. “What’s going on?”
Dax sighed. “I’m not leaving Fluke. I just don’t want my share in Hot Cakes.”
“Why not?” Aiden looked not only confused, but a little offended.
Hot Cakes meant a lot to him. Appleby was his hometown, and the people working here were friends and neighbors. He felt strongly about saving the factory and the jobs as well as making it all even better than it had been before.
“Because he’s in love,” Grant said.
Dax shot him a look.
Grant sat back in Aiden’s office chair and opened his Buttered Up bag. He looked smug.
Every once in a while, Grant succeeded in one-upping Dax and making him the eye-rolling one who had to deal with a bunch of chaos and questions. It was rare, but Grant enjoyed it immensely.
“You’re in love?” Aiden asked.
“With someone other than yourself?” Ollie quipped, reclaiming his seat in the beanbag and digging into his bakery bag as well.
“I didn’t say love,” Dax told them. Though he wasn’t really protesting the term.
Jane was amazing. He wasn’t sure he was in love with her yet, but he wasn’t a dumbass. Not falling in love with her would be pretty stupid.
Especially after that kiss. That kiss was why he’d still been awake at 2 a.m. and had decided to fix the “you’re my boss” protest Jane kept offering up. There was an easy solution, and he was more than willing to do it to have her.
“You said you had met someone and that you’d never felt like this before and that the only way to be with her was to give up your portion of Hot Cakes,” Grant said.
Dax nodded. “Love doesn’t appear in that sentence anywhere.”
“Well, let’s see,” Ollie said, licking an orange muffin crumb from his finger. “You’ve felt lust and curiosity and affection for women before. You’ve also felt frustration and annoyance and fear.”
“Fear was one time, one girl, and that was all her, not me,” Dax protested. “She was a nutjob.”
He’d actually had a stalker for a while. She was very into Warriors of Easton and had been obsessed with its creators. Once she’d met Dax and Ollie at a few cons, she’d latched on to Dax. She showed up everywhere, sent him emails and letters and packages, posted on fan forums. It had been over the top, and the packages with her panties in them had been a lot, but it hadn’t been until she’d broken into his hotel room and he’d come in to find her in a full Warriors of Easton princess costume—complete with a sword—that he’d really gotten concerned.
He’d called Grant at 3 a.m. about that one. Grant had been just a few doors down and had been there, with the cops, in minutes.
“I’m just saying,” Ollie replied. “That you’ve felt a lot of things for a lot of women, so to say you’ve never felt this way before only leaves a few emotions. And,” he added, “this orange muffin is freaking amazing.”
Okay, Ollie had a point. Dax hadn’t really been trying to label what he felt for Jane, but it was very different, new, unique. And he loved that at least. He wanted to be with her all the time. He wanted to know all about her. He wanted to make everything better for her. Around her. For the people she cared about. If anything was even touching her life and wasn’t exactly what she wanted it to be, he wanted to fix it. He knew he couldn’t. He did acknowledge that. But he wanted to and that was new. The only people he felt that way about were his mother, the men in this room, Cam, and Piper.
“All I know is I want to be with her, and Hot Cakes is in the way, so I want to get rid of it.”
“Is it Jane?” Aiden asked, watching Dax with an expression that was part surprise and part concern.
“Yes,” Dax told him, meeting his gaze directly.
Aiden nodded. Jane was a friend of his. They’d gone to high school together. Zoe, Aiden’s girlfriend, was one of Jane’s best friends. It was important Aiden know Dax wasn’t just fucking around here.
That was also new. Usually Dax didn’t care if people thought he wasn’t taking things seriously. He knew what he was serious about and gave those things his all. What other people thought didn’t matter. Unless it was Grant, Aiden, Ollie, or Cam.
And there was also a niggle at the back of his mind that said he wanted everyone to know he was serious about Jane.
Which was interesting, because until that very moment, he hadn’t even told himself he was serious about her. He just didn’t get serious very often, about anything.
“You don’t have to give up your part of the business,” Ollie said. “That’s ridiculous.”
“She won’t date me because I’m her boss.”
Ollie snorted. “You’re not really her boss.”
“I own the company she works for,” Dax said. “At least a percentage of it. That does make me her boss.”
Grant lifted a brow. He was clearly surprised Dax would argue with Ollie but probably more so that Dax would consider himself a boss.
“And you want to date her that much?” Grant asked.
Dax shrugged. “I need to see what can happen with her more than I need to own twenty percent of a snack cake company.”
“You need to see what will happen with her?” Aiden echoed. “What could happen? You go out, have some fun, have some sex, and then you leave, right? Is that really worth giving up an investment like this?” His tone wasn’t confrontational though. He sounded more curious.
“I think there’s a chance there’s more there,” Dax admitted. For the first time out loud but probably for the first time to himself too. “She’s… amazing. Different than most women I know.”
“Worth giving up millions for?” Ollie asked.
Dax nodded. “Yeah.” He could admit it helped that he’d still have millions in the bank. He didn’t want to blow this “sacrifice” out of proportion. He wasn’t giving up fame and fortune here.
“And you want to make this grand gesture, right?” Grant asked. “That’s pretty typical. Do something big and crazy to make a point.”
It
was totally typical. “Well, the thing is,” Dax said, “and I’m sure you’ll find this amusing,” he told Grant specifically, “I’m not sure she’ll go out with me anyway.”
“No?” Grant asked. “When you take the one thing she’s worried about out of the equation?”
Dax shook his head. “I think the boss thing is a convenient excuse. There’s more reasons why she doesn’t want to let me too close. But I’m definitely up for showing her I’m serious here.”
Aiden was watching him carefully. “Jane is special,” he said. “She’s not at all like your usual girls.”
Dax nodded. “I promise you I realize that. I won’t hurt her.”
Aiden gave him a small smile. “I think I’m more afraid that she’ll hurt you, man.”
Dax frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Jane doesn’t have time for anything extra, anything silly or outrageous.”
Dax gave him a nod. Aiden’s words jabbed him in the chest. “Got it. I’m silly and outrageous.”
“You are,” Aiden agreed. “Intentionally.”
“Maybe Jane needs a little silliness in her life.”
“Maybe,” Aiden said. “But that’s going to be short term. The seriousness in her life isn’t going to go away. You’re not going to be able to just help her through a tough time and make it go away. That tough time is her reality.”
And Aiden didn’t think Dax had what it took to help someone through a tough time on any kind of ongoing basis.
That hurt.
But the worst part? Dax thought maybe Aiden was right. He’d helped his mom through her lowest periods, but he certainly hadn’t been able to get her to a happy place on any kind of permanent basis.
“And this is going to hurt me how?” Dax asked Aiden.
“You’re going to have to eventually just let it be what it is. And that’s hard for you. You keep trying to reform your dad, for God’s sake, and everyone knows he’s the man he’s going to be.”
Dax really hated this whole fucking conversation suddenly.
“Just buy my shares out, and then when this all goes to shit, you can buy me a five-pound bag of gummy bears and get me black-out drunk,” Dax said.
“Is that how you deal with broken hearts?” Ollie asked.
Dax could honestly say he’d never had a broken heart. Not over a woman anyway. He looked at his best friends and shrugged. “Fuck if I know.”
8
The next day sucked.
Not because of the tequila shot or the later-than-usual night out at the bar or the fact that she’d had a hard time falling asleep because of all the thoughts of Dax and that kiss running through her head.
But because her stepmother really was wicked at times. And her sister was a drama queen.
“Kelsey,” Jane broke into her sister’s ranting. “I am on my way over. Do not throw any more dishes.”
Cassie had basically grounded Kelsey because she’d gotten a C on her chemistry test. That meant Kelsey couldn’t go to the school dance that weekend. That meant Kelsey was going to be insufferable to live with, which meant Cassie was going to be even meaner and… Jane was going to be getting a lot of calls from both of them.
“It’s not fair! She’s not my mom! I don’t understand why she gets a say in this at all!” Kelsey said. Her voice was wobbly with tears, but they weren’t sad tears. They were teenager-pissed-at-the-world tears.
“Because you got a C. That’s not her decision. That was something dad and I put in place, and you know it,” Jane said, heading out the door of the factory toward the parking lot. Thankfully, her work shift was already over, and she hadn’t had to duck out early.
She really sympathized with Kelsey. Her sister was in a very tough situation in general. Her own mother was flitting around the world while her father sat in a nursing home, and she lived with the stepmother who punished Kelsey for anything she had—friends, great hair, a natural talent for dance and a place in the front row of the dance team at school—that Aspen didn’t.
But Kelsey also used her my-mom-was-never-there-for-me and my-father-is-sick stuff as an excuse to be a brat.
Jane had been there for her. Jane was still there for her. She didn’t do Kelsey’s laundry or cook for her or sleep under the same roof, but she went to parent-teacher conferences, showed up to every dance team performance, and went to bat for her when Cassie leaned too hard.
But Kelsey had to get good grades. She was capable of it. She just didn’t try because she hated chemistry.
Well, I have to do a lot of things I hate every day, Jane thought. Kelsey needed to grow up a little. Throwing dishes against the wall in the kitchen was not grown-up.
“I got a C!” Kelsey said. “Big deal! That’s passing! And she only grounded me because of the dance. If I didn’t have anything fun going on she wouldn’t have even bothered. And you wouldn’t even know about the C!”
“Well, to be fair, I know about the C because there are two plates lying in pieces on the kitchen floor.” Cassie had called Jane immediately. She’d even sent a video of Kelsey heaving the second plate across the kitchen.
“She would have told you anyway,” Kelsey said.
“Probably,” Jane agreed. “But that would have surely been after you told me because you know how much I hate hearing that kind of stuff from her.”
“It’s just one stupid test,” Kelsey muttered.
“And the rule is ‘no C’s,’ so it doesn’t really matter.”
“You have to get me ungrounded.” Kelsey’s tone turned pleading.
“You have to get yourself ungrounded,” Jane told her. “Talk to your teacher about some extra credit. Do more chores. Beg. But this is on you.”
“You could take me out Saturday,” Kelsey said, ignoring everything Jane said. “And then I could go to the dance from your place.”
Sister time with Jane never counted as “going out,” so the grounding rules wouldn’t apply. Jane could take Kelsey anywhere and anytime, for the most part. There had definitely been times that Jane had let Kelsey spend a weekend or even three or four days with her just to give them all a break. She suspected Cassie liked that as much as Kelsey did. But this wasn’t going to be one of those times.
“You can hang out with me this weekend if you want,” Jane said, compromising. It was Friday night. Kelsey could spend her grounded weekend on Jane’s couch with ice cream. That was better than her shutting herself in her room to avoid Cassie, Jane supposed. “But you’re not going to the dance.”
“Come on!”
“No. I’ll be there in ten minutes, and I’ll help you with the chores, but you’re not going to the dance, and I’m not sweeping up broken plates. Pull yourself together. Clean the kitchen up, and I’ll see you soon.”
Jane took a deep breath and blew it out. Maybe she should start doing yoga. Josie’s younger sister, Paige, ran Cores and Catnip, a yoga studio and cat café. Jane could head over there right now, in fact. Cores offered yoga classes of all kinds along with a juice bar and cat adoption center. The sign even had a cat playing with an apple core on it. Paige really liked the cats best, but the yoga and juice bar actually made money while collecting cats did not.
Cores was the opposite of Buttered Up in almost every way. The bakery was decorated in bright yellows and had display cases brimming with multicolored treats full of fat and sugar. People came in to get a shot of sugar and caffeine so they could face their workday. On the other hand, the yoga studio was all soft creams and tans and was a quiet place. People came in and did yoga while cats lay around on the mats and purred. People stretched, breathed deep, drank smoothies, and petted cats. They even adopted them sometimes. If Paige could part with one.
Yoga sounded good. Relaxing. All that. Hell, maybe Jane needed a cat.
But truly, she probably needed to take up kickboxing. Pent-up frustration seemed to need something more like beat-the-hell-out-of-a-punching-bag than stretching and breathing. Or purring.
Jane tucked her pho
ne away and mentally went over the cleaning supplies that were at the house, wondering if she needed to stop to get anything on her way over.
So she was about thirty feet from her car before she realized there was a man leaning against it.
Her heart thumped and she felt her lips curving. It wasn’t just any man.
It was her very hot, very charming, hell-of-a-kisser boss.
And yes, she’d had dirty dreams about him and pie last night. Together. At the same time. Combined.
“I can’t wait until Saturday to go out with you,” he said with a shrug.
The stupid warm, twisty, aww-I-really-like-him sensation bloomed in her stomach at that.
“Saturday is tomorrow,” she pointed out, coming to a stop in front of him.
God, he looked good. He was in jeans, a black Hot Cakes t-shirt stretched over his chest and shoulders, and black work boots on his feet. They were pretty clean and a little shiny compared to most of the boots around here, but otherwise, he didn’t look awkward in them. He wore them with the same easy attitude he seemed to do everything.
Except kissing. The kissing had been pretty intense.
“Yeah, tomorrow,” he said. “And you didn’t come into the break room today.”
He’d been looking for her. Awww.
“I got a call from my stepmother I had to return over lunch,” she said.
He frowned slightly. “Everything okay?”
“Everything is… typical.”
“So not okay.”
She nodded. “Right. But it could be worse. So typical.”
“Well, I can’t stop thinking about you,” he said, pushing off the car and straightening. “And eight o’clock on Saturday is fourteen hours and thirteen minutes from now.” He stepped forward, nearly on top of her. “That’s too long.”
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