“Oh. Okay.”
He laughed and grabbed the bow at the front of her shirt, yanking her in close for a kiss. They both desperately needed to brush their teeth, and Katya was dying for a shower, but he still managed to take her breath away and had her contemplating how important her job really was.
“What happened to my little silver tongued vixen from last night?” he asked when he pulled away.
“She got left behind in the bottom of a tequila bottle. Thanks for a good time, Liam,” she said. He skimmed his thumb over her bottom lip, pressing down lightly.
“Thanks for the best time, Katya.”
He kissed her once more, then slapped her on the ass when she walked away.
It wasn't till she was in her apartment, showered and getting dressed for work, that she realized they hadn't even exchanged phone numbers. Hadn't set up another date. Hadn't even learned each others last names (or at least, she couldn't properly remember his, and she'd never given her own).
Holy shit, did I just have a one night stand with my hot next door neighbor? I am, I really am a bad ass!
*
Liam dragged himself into work not long after Katya left, but he wasn't getting much work done. He was staring at his phone once again. He'd saved the picture from her Eros profile, which was a good thing because the profile didn't exist anymore. She'd deactivated it.
Good. She's a naughty little secret that we should keep to ourselves for a little while longer.
She'd rocked his fucking world. He'd expected to call her bluff – that she'd take one look at his little club and turn tail. Her taking the shots had been surprising enough, but making out with him? Letting him take off her shirt? Jerking him off? He'd thought he was going to die.
Liam was no virginal choir boy – fucking was like an Olympic sport for him. He trained hard, and he trained often, so it wasn't like some girl wanting to have sex with him was usually so mind blowing. But that particular girl had been something else. Most of the women Liam slept with were old pros at having casual sex. Being with Katya, it was like discovering that lifestyle all over again. Her hands, trembling and full of excitement. Awkward and insistent.
It had made him excited and nervous. Caught between not wanting to scare her away, yet also not wanting to pressure her. Desperately wanting to touch her, but also wanting to do the right thing.
Anticipation. The best of all the feelings, in his opinion. Katya had practically had him begging her to touch him, praying that she'd go just that little bit further with her little bravery charade.
And ooohhh boy, did she go that little bit further. Little bit? Pfffft, try a couple extra miles. He still couldn't wrap his brain around the things she'd let him do to her. Schoolmarm to freak-in-the-sheets, in less than a day. She'd needed to cut loose, that much was clear, and why she'd chosen to do it with him, he'd probably never know, but sweet jesus, thank god she had.
Angel cake, I'd cut loose with you any time.
“EDEN!”
Liam groaned and rubbed his hand across his face. He tried to close the screen on his phone, but he wasn't quick enough, and his partner caught another eyeful of Katya before the screen went black.
“Hey, Riiicckkyyy, how's it going?” he asked, spinning around in his chair.
“You know I hate that fucking name.”
“Okay, Richard. What's up?”
“Not a whole lot. Just checking on my investment. How're things on your end?”
“Good, good.”
“How did the date with Susie Homemaker go?”
“Good.”
“Just good? I already heard some interesting things from the staff. Right out there on the floor, huh. Shocking. Not like you, Eden.”
“Yeah, well, this girl wasn't like anything I've ever experienced. I took my chance when I had it,” Liam explained.
“Was it worth your while?”
“More than you could possibly even guess.”
“Hmmm, interesting.”
“Did you want something, Ricky?” he asked, glancing up at the other man.
“No, just checking in. I'll go get us some drinks, we can go over the books.”
And with that, his partner walked back out of the office. Liam glared after him for a while. If random visits were going to start becoming the norm, he was going to look into working from home.
Hmmm, home. Which was roughly two hundred feet away from Katya's home. He leaned back in his chair and linked his hands together behind his head. They hadn't made any plans to see each other again – he hadn't even gotten her phone number. But just thinking about her had given him an uncomfortable hard on.
She seemed like she lived a very structured life. Liam was a great stress reliever. Maybe they could help each other out. He chuckled and adjusted himself in his pants.
Because I could definitely use some help right now …
5
“You what!?”
Katya yanked her cell phone away from her ear, wincing. Tori's normal speaking voice was loud, but when she got excited, she really went for being heard in the back of the room.
“Keep it down! I'm still at work,” she hissed, glancing around the tiny break room.
Of course, no one had cared that she was late – Katya had never, ever been late, the entire time she'd been working there. She was also head baker, and highly sought after, at that. After a prominent magazine had featured her culinary skills, her appointment book had been full. Wedding cakes by Katya Tocci had to be booked a year in advance, other events at least three months. She could show up to work high on meth, and as long as she made a perfect sugar rose, she wouldn't get fired.
“I know, I know, but still, I cannot get over this! You had sex with some random dude, in some random club! This is AMAZING!” her roommate insisted.
“He wasn't random, I knew who he was. Kinda. Sorta,” Katya tried to make it sound better.
“Oh, whatever, don't try to downplay it, you little slut. It's great! I cannot wait to hear all the dirty details.”
“I'm not -”
“You are, and you're gonna tell me everything. Length, girth, which hole, how many times.”
“Oh jesus. I can't believe you weren't even worried when I didn't come home.”
“I knew where you were.”
“You did!?”
“Uh, yeah, you texted me about A MILLION times, don't you remember?”
“No. I told you, I don't remember anything from about midnight on.”
“Yeah, you were telling me about how fucking hot he is, and how good he gave it to you, and about how it didn't hurt as much as you thought it would,” Tori prattled off. Katya felt another bout of nausea sweep over her.
“Still. What if after the amazing sex, he'd taken me home to rape and murder me?” she pointed out.
“Oh, he took the phone from you after you started messaging gibberish. Sent me his address and phone number, just in case. He's one of the good ones, you can tell. When are you gonna see him again?”
A jingling noise came from the front of the store. The bell over the front door, meaning a customer had just come inside. Saved by the bell. Katya took a deep breath and smoothed her hand over her apron.
“I gotta go, customer is here,” she whispered.
“You can't hide from me! Everything! I want to know everything when you get home!”
Katya didn't bother with goodbye, she just hung up the phone and took a couple deep breaths. She glanced in a small mirror and cringed again. She hadn't bothered with blowing out her hair, but had just slicked it all up into a high bun while it had still been wet. Now that it was dry, it was starting to frizz up around the crown of her head. She was wearing the barest amount of makeup, just enough powder to kill the zombie look she was rocking.
She'd never been into wearing the whole chef's jacket and pants, usually opting for a pin striped apron and a smock. But that day, she'd barely managed the apron, and was wearing a pair of skinny jeans, ballet flats, and a loose b
louse. Maybe normal clothing for other people, but unheard of for her. She could just imagine her mother's reaction at seeing her dressed that way, in public, at her job.
Her parents were very proper people.
But shitty clothing and hangover be damned – she had a job to do. She took a deep breath and pushed her way through the double doors that led to the sales floor. Normally, she almost never went on the floor, unless it was to meet a client. But the counter clerk was on her lunch break, one of the assistant bakers was on a delivery, and the other was on vacation. Katya was on counter duty till the other girls returned.
“Hello, welcome to Fondants!” she chirped pleasantly, though she could hear how scratchy her voice sounded. Whether it was from the hangover, or from Liam making her scream his name, she couldn't be sure. She took another deep breath and fanned at her face as she turned to look around the shop.
The place looked empty at first glance, but then she saw him. A man was standing in the corner with his back to her, in front of a display of cupcakes, and he was talking into a cell phone. The bell above the door jingled again and Katya turned to smile at the customer who came walking in, but she was again ignored. It was a young woman who was dressed in a smart suit and skirt, and she didn't even look at Katya, just made a beeline for the man in the corner. She stood next to him, leaning in close to say something softly, then she stood back and fiddled around on a tablet.
Wondering whether or not she'd actually be needed, Katya busied herself with checking over the racks in the display case. She didn't usually bother with the donuts and pastries and croissants, but she had to keep herself busy. If she didn't, her mind would wander back to her activities from the night before, and then she'd blush like an idiot for the rest of the day.
Bad enough that I'm having trouble walking normal, don't need to be red in the face, as well.
She was pulling one of the racks out of the case, determined to change out the croissants that she just knew were stale, when the strange couple finally turned around and came to the counter.
“Angel food cake.”
Katya almost dropped the entire rack. It wasn't like it was really her nickname, but still. She would never be able to hear those words again and not remember Liam whispering them while he touched her.
“I'm sorry, what did you say?” she asked through gritted teeth while she worked to get the rack back into the case.
“Cupcakes,” the man said. “Do you make angel food cake cupcakes?”
“We could, sure. What were you thinking?” she finally got the display back to rights and she stood upright, brushing her hands against her apron as she turned to face the front.
“I was thinking I'd like a couple dozen.”
Katya froze as she stared into a pair of very blue eyes. She flicked her eyes to the other woman, but that girl was still looking at her tablet, moving a stylus back and forth across the screen. So Katya looked back at the man.
Holy shit, how long has it been? Eight years? Nine?
“You do speak English, don't you?”
Hmmm, not long enough to forget he's a total asshole.
Katya knew him, or at least, she used to – he'd grown up in the house next door to her, their families had been loose acquaintances. He was about six years older than her, though, so they'd never been friends. Not that they would have been even if they'd shared a birthday – he'd always been a jerk. Smarter than everyone else, richer than everyone else, more talented than anyone else. A gifted swimmer, there'd been talk of him going on to Olympic trials, but he'd pursued a college career instead.
He'd never paid any attention to Katya and her friends, or any of the other kids in the neighborhood, even the ones his age. He'd always been aloof. Snobbish. When she'd been fourteen, she'd taken a job babysitting his little sister for the entire summer. She hadn't realized he'd be home for the whole time, as well. No matter how rude he was to her, no matter how selfish or thoughtless, she couldn't help the small crush she'd developed. He had just been too good looking, and her bedroom had overlooked his pool. Watching him swim everyday hadn't been a burden at all.
She wondered if he still swam.
“Yes,” she finally answered. “I'm sorry, I don't normally work the counter.”
“That is unfortunate. I was hoping to deal with the manager, or at the very least, someone professional,” he sighed. Katya felt her feathers getting ruffled.
“I'm head baker here, sir. Anything you need, I assure you, I'm the person to help you with it,” she informed him.
“So you can make my cupcakes for me?” he asked.
“Depends.”
“On what?”
“On when you need them. I have a waiting list,” she said.
“You have a waiting list?”
“Yes. If you'd like me to make them, I can have them to you in roughly three months. But if you'd prefer for one of the intern bakers to make them, I'm sure they could get something together in a couple days,” she said. Normally, she never would've spoken of her coworkers that way, but he'd pissed her off.
“A wait list,” he chuckled, rubbing at the side of his jaw. His very smoothly shaven jaw. Katya refused to be taken in by his good looks again and looked away from that jaw. Into his disgustingly blue eyes.
“I'm sorry, but I'm very busy today. If you'd like to look at my portfolio, I can give you our website, or I can you give you the phone numbers of some other very good bakeries,” she offered, moving to grab a card from the counter top.
“No, no, three months is fine. We're having a party in about five months time, so if you think you can pencil me in, that would be great,” he said.
Katya got him an order form, and while his assistant filled it out, he prattled off some details, what kind of design he wanted, other desserts he might be interested in ordering. The whole time, his eyes wandered over the display cases, or his phone, or his assistant's tablet. He hardly even looked at her, and certainly didn't recognize her. Didn't even ask for her name. By the end of the exchange, Katya was ready to shoot fire from her nostrils.
A whole summer I practically lived at his house. Fetched him food and drinks at his every command, and he doesn't even fucking remember me.
“I think that'll be it. My assistant will be in touch if we need to add anything else to the order,” he said as they wrapped everything up.
“You have until four weeks before the delivery date to change your order – after that, we charge a fee. One week before, no changes allowed. We'll expect a deposit on your order in the next week. No refunds for cancellations,” she said, handing her card over to the silent assistant.
“Sounds good. We'll be in touch about the deposit.”
And with that, he walked out of the bakery. No goodbye, no thank you, no nothing. The assistant followed in his wake, still poking at her tablet. The door slammed shut behind them, jingling the bell.
“Prick,” Katya muttered, resting her elbows on the counter and massaging her fingertips against her forehead. The bell above the door sounded again and before she could stand upright, she heard quick footsteps moving across the floor.
“Hi,” Katya started. “Welcome to ...”
Her voice trailed off as she watched the smartly dressed assistant hurrying towards her at a clipped pace. The other woman was tiny, even in her heels, and she had to stretch to reach her arm over the display case. She had a card pinched between her fingers and Katya tentatively took it.
“Mr. Stone said to meet him here at seven o'clock,” she said in a sharp voice. Katya stared down at the card. It was simple, all white, and had a restaurant's name written on the back of it.
“I'm sorry … what?” Katya was confused as she flipped the card over, taking in the impressive name and even more impressive job title.
“Seven o'clock. Sharp – Mr. Stone does not like to be kept waiting,” the assistant said, then started moving back towards the door.
“What's going on?” Katya demanded. “Is this about the or
der? I don't meet clients outside of work hours.”
“No, Ms. Tocci,” the assistant replied, shocking Katya. She'd never said her last name. “This is not about the order. Seven, sharp. Please don't be late.”
Katya stared at the door, long after the assistant had disappeared through it. Long after the black town car had pulled away from the curb. Ms. Tocci. The assistant had known her name. Known it because someone must have told her what it was, someone who'd known Katya. Someone who'd remembered her, after all. She finally shook her head and looked back down at the card. The Stone Agency was embossed big bold letters at the top. An address was at the bottom in regular print. In between the two was a name, with the letters “CEO” after it. A name she hadn't heard in almost a decade.
Wulfric Stone.
6
Katya left work early in order to go home and figure some shit out. She wanted nothing more than to sit in the bottom of a shower and decompress, maybe take a nap, but she was in for a surprise when she walked through the front door. Tori was sitting at their kitchen table.
“What are you doing home?” Katya asked. Her roommate shrugged while she flipped through a magazine.
“Took the day off. Had to mentally prepare for our girl's night in tonight,” she teased.
“Don't get too prepared,” Katya groaned as she dropped into a seat. She winced upon contact with the wood, then immediately blushed.
“Why not? You have to spill. Look at you! You look like a lobster!”
“I know, but … I think I might have a date tonight,” Katya said.
“Wow! Mr. Sex Club must have really given it to you good!” Tori laughed.
“Ummm … it's not with Mr. Sex Club.”
“Holy shit! Don't tell me you're a sex addict now.”
“I'm not.”
“Another guy from the Eros dating site?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Katya took a deep breath.
“Some guy from back home. It's not really a date, I don't think. He came into the bakery, and I thought he was just some asshole who didn't recognize me, but then snooty-pants-assistant-lady came back in, and she told me seven o'clock sharp, and -” she began to explain, talking in one big rush. Tori finally held up her hand.
Neighbors (Twin Estates #1) Page 5