Triple B. Baking Co.

by Michel Prince

  Her legs unlocked, followed by her lips. He gazed down at her.

  She looked flushed and panting. “Five years huh?” She sighed and let her head drop back. “Damn, I’m one lucky woman.”

  He laughed and rolled to lay beside her.

  “I do have to work. Since Summer came in.”

  “I can only imagine what she’s envisioning.”

  “Man, a second chance at fun with notice.”

  “No,” he said shaking his head.

  “You cannot stop me. It’s been years since I got to have fun.”

  “Did I release a monster last night?” he asked.

  She hopped off the bed and her eyes traveled down his body stopping long enough at his waist that he pulled a pillow up and covered himself. Shaking her head, she came back to the here and now. A smile still on her full lips. “I usually take a break around ten…if you’re still here.”

  He looked at the clock on her nightstand. It was barely seven. He hadn’t called Hank for a rescue ride yet and they were probably still digging their way to the pig barns. No reason to bug them this early. Adjusting, so he was sitting up with his back on her metal spindle headboard, he crossed his feet at the ankle and fluffed the pillow. “I’m comfy.”

  “Good. I’ll run you up some milk and a cinnamon roll when they come out of the oven.”

  “Extra icing,” he smiled devilishly and Merryn’s face reddened. One night together and she could already read his mind. Licking that sugary, sweet, frosting off her nipples sounded like the best breakfast he’d had in years.

  * * * *

  When Austin walked from the back of the bakery to meet his farm hand Hank, the stares from the few people who’d ventured out from the storm made Merryn’s stomach tighten. He didn’t look at them, instead he locked his eyes on hers and she relaxed into a warm puddle. Giddy from a newfound—love— no that couldn’t be the word. Amazing sex. Although quiet in his demeanor, there was a way about him that could command a room.

  She turned her eyes down as she stood behind the counter. When his hands came into her vision, she looked up to see him smiling down at her. His tongue peeked out to touch the edge of his lip slightly and her nipples hardened in remembrance of his lips touch on her. The normally fifteen minute break in her office had turned into a half hour when she’d wandered up to her apartment.

  Leaning down, he cradled her face in his hand and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. Nothing strong and passionate like they’d discovered the night before. Instead, gentle and claiming. He’d just verified the assumptions and she could hear the murmurs coming from her customers. “I’ll need an egg salad sandwich on honey wheat,” he said when he released her lips.

  She turned her head to the clock on the wall. Eleven on the nose. It’d been a slow day, which was good, due to her lack of sleep.

  Summer blushed every time she looked at Merryn until she couldn’t take it any more and confronted her. “How long,” she gushed as they sat at one of the tables. “Is that why he’s always in here?”

  She wasn’t sure how to explain to a seventeen-year-old that they hadn’t really dated. And she’d just had sex with a guy that she knew only in passing. Summer had been with her boyfriend Preston for over a year. Merryn wasn’t exactly ignorant to the fact they probably were having sex in some form or another. That was for Summer’s parents to stay up nights worrying about.

  “I should’ve known he was into you. I mean who can eat that many sandwiches?”

  “By that logic, Darryl is in love with me too, since he practically lives here.”

  Both women turned to see Darryl sipping coffee while reading a copy of the Braden Bugle from the week before.

  He turned when he felt their looks. “I need a refill.”

  “Of course, you do,” Merryn said as she got up and leaned down to Summer’s ear. “I’ve got them begging for me.”

  Summer let out a snort, then covered her mouth.

  “I’m sure that the phone lines are already telling everyone about Austin and I, but it’s new and I’d really like to keep it low key.”

  “As long as people aren’t in the kitchen, you should be fine.”

  “What does that mean?” Merryn asked, suddenly self conscious.

  “More than people come down that staircase. Sounds travel.” Summer giggled and blushed again.

  “Good to know.”

  Merryn let Summer go early and closed up after the Worthington Arms picked up their last order. Retiring to her apartment, she got out of her work clothes and let her hair down. Flopping on the couch, she searched for the remote. Before she could find it, her phone buzzed.

  “Oh, my God Merryn, I’m coming to where you are!” Alicia squealed into the phone. “We’re shooting in this desolate part of the Rockies for three weeks.”

  Merryn’s younger sister had been a model since grade school and an actress, once she hit high school. Mostly bit roles, but Erik had thrown her a few bigger parts during their marriage. Since then, the raven haired vixen began taking over damsel in distress parts with gusto.

  “Rockies?” Merryn asked while pinching the bridge of her nose. “As in the Rocky Mountains?”

  “Yes. We’re staying in Boise, but we’ll be going into the mountains everyday.”

  “Boise? Would that be Boise, Idaho?” Merryn sighed and wondered if she’d been this thick when she lived in L.A. It was a very insulated area. It could be, because honestly, what was more important then the people of LA? Anyone who came there, quickly forgot their roots because they wanted to be seen as a native.

  “Yes, isn’t that near you?”

  “Yeah, only six or seven states away,” Merryn pishawed.

  “You don’t live in Idaho?”

  “No, I live in Iowa.”

  “Huh,” her sister said then refocused to tell her all about the latest movie she was shooting. A sure one for Sundance. “That’s close to you right? Sundance?”

  “No, that’s in Colorado. Have you looked at a map in your life?”

  “God, what barren wasteland do you live in?”

  “Iowa,” Merryn said for the second time in the conversation.

  “Fly over land, I have no idea why you went there. You’re not supposed to stop on your way to New York.”

  “I wasn’t going to New York.”

  “Then where were you going?”

  “Some place quiet.”

  “Are you at least finding yourself? You know, living on a lake and meditating all day.” Her sister continued her ramblings. “I just couldn’t sit around and do nothing but stare at potatoes growing.”

  “That’s Idaho again, it’s corn and pigs in Iowa.”

  “Gross, pigs, I’m totally off meat now,” Alicia chimed. “I won’t eat anything with a face.”

  “Well, that cuts your sex life in half,” Merryn joked as she picked up a pen and twirled it up and down her fingers.

  “Speaking of sex life,” her sister continued without missing a beat. “I saw Erik last week at the studio.”

  Merryn set the pen down and decided to listen to her insanely verbose sister. “And?”

  “And, he’s having another kid with that new woman.”

  “You mean his wife.”

  “His stick figure. She’s three months along and you can’t even tell she’s pregnant.”

  Merryn bit her tongue on that little bit of stupidity. Unless Alicia had to play a pregnant woman in a movie, she’d never understand the process or how showing at three months was beyond rare.

  “That’s two right?” she said. “Because when you divorced, she was already knocked up right?”

  “It’s two and no, she got pregnant close to the divorce, but after it.”

  “How do you even know? I was watching Maury the other day. This girl had to bring in like fifteen guys from over two months of sex.”

  “Yeah, she’s not only a slut, but a moron. There’s only a two day window to get pregnant.”

  “Two days?”
>
  “If that.”

  “You’re kidding me?” Alicia gasped.

  “No, I’m not.” If there was one thing Merryn knew, it was the female reproductive organs and the rarity and fragility of conception. Five miscarriages in between years of infertility until she could no longer go through the pain had made her more than aware the difficulty.

  “Well, since you live in Ohio and don’t have a job or anything, maybe you could fly out to Boise.”

  “Alicia, how many times can I tell you that I live in Iowa and I own a bakery?”

  “Yeah, so, my manager is trying to get me to invest in some chain of salons or something. Doesn’t mean I have to do anything but give them money.”

  “The Triple B is my own bakery, not a chain. I’m the one who bakes everything.”

  “Cook? Oh, my God!” Alicia’s nasal tone came out when she was exasperated. “Please say you’re not becoming some fat slob, all because Erik left you.”

  Merryn was going to end up biting her tongue right off if she kept talking to her sister. Size eight was far from fat in ninety five percent of the country. Sadly, her sister lived in a state where a number greater than zero was fat. “Tell me more about this movie,” Merryn said to get her sister back on the subject she liked the best…herself.

  A tick made Merryn turn. It’s not like the hundred year old building didn’t have the occasional settling noises, but this was different. Another tick sounded and Merryn looked at her front window. When the third one sounded, she noticed something hitting the window. Climbing off the sofa, she went to the window and saw Austin standing in the street.

  He was about to throw another pebble at her window when he saw her and waved.

  She placed the phone on mute…her sister wouldn’t notice she wasn’t acknowledging her. Just in case, she place pushed the button, turning it into a speakerphone. Opening her window, she felt the gust of cold air surround her. “Can I help you?”

  “I’m cold and hungry,” he said.

  She smiled. “What does that have to do with me?” she teased back.

  “I want pizza.”

  “You’re still on that kick huh?”

  “Okay, I want more than pizza.”

  “In that case, I’ll let you up. By the way, they have these awesome new things called phones.”

  “Please, you know we barely have indoor plumbing in these parts,” he kidded.

  She went downstairs to let him in through the bakery. Although she had a street entrance to her apartment, she never used it and kept it locked all the time. Maybe she should start leaving it open, now that Austin had taken to stopping by.

  When she opened the front door to the bakery, Austin stepped in and crushed his lips to hers. Her head swam as he picked her up and spun her around. “I’ve missed you,” he said as his hand slowly stroked back her hair and she clung to his body.

  “One night in a snowstorm and I have you whipped.”

  “Something like that.”

  When they made their way to her apartment, a strange noise caught her attention.

  “Shit,” she said as she ran to the phone and took it off mute. “Ah huh.”

  “Really, you think I should?” her sister asked.

  “You know best,” she lied, hoping Alicia was asking a basic question and not something life altering.

  “Then it’s settled. After this movie, I’ll check into rehab.”

  “Rehab?” Merryn clutched her chest. Had her sister been talking about more than the usual drivel? And here she was making out with Austin.

  “Please, it’s the easiest way to get press. Not only do I get spa treatments and massages everyday, but then I can hit all the great shows afterward.”

  “Faking a disease isn’t the best way to boost your movie.”

  “Bullshit. I can just play it off that I’d been researching too hard. I mean if I’m supposed to be a drug dealer on the border, it only makes sense.”

  “Right, then you can speak from experience and hopefully the studios don’t think you actually have a problem.”

  “Why would that matter?”

  “Because they’d lower your pay and have a dozen extra clauses in your contract.”

  “But I’d have an Oscar.”

  “Sure you would.” Merryn rolled her eyes and then caught sight of Austin in the corner of her eye.

  He was spraying down his boots and placing them in the hallway to the outside that she never used.

  Bent over, she licked her lips and when he turned, she curled her finger to motion him to her.

  Not missing a beat, he came to her and began nibbling on her neck. His hands were nimble as they slowly popped the buttons of her pajama top off.

  Since she hadn’t been wearing bottoms in less than thirty seconds, she was naked sans a pair of boy short panties.

  Austin walked her to the couch, all the while she tried to catch at least a word of what her sister was saying. She stayed standing while Austin sat and used his lips and tongue to discover her belly. Licking the swell of her breast, Merryn gasped and her sister’s voice reminded her it was time to go. “Alicia, good luck on the movie and call me next week okay—” Merryn’s words were halted as she tried to not have the swelling hormone rush come across to her sister.

  They said their goodbyes as Merryn ran her fingers through Austin’s hair while his tongue created circles on her belly. With a nip, his teeth bit at the top of her panties and she helped him remove the fabric. Kissing right above the small tuft of hair, he grasped her ass and she knew what he wanted. And damn…if he wasn’t good at it.

  “Is there something I can help you with,” she teased as he looked up with devilish eyes.

  “I said I was hungry,” he growled and turned her around.

  Light nips on her ass cheeks had her looking for someplace to lean down on, but none could be found.

  A thump made the floor tremble a bit as he got on his knees behind her. Long strokes from his hands glided from her knees, over her hips then cupped her breasts. His lips were kissing along the dimples right above her ass cheeks on her back. He squeezed her breasts lightly and she moaned feeling the rush of wetness between her legs.

  Austin was still in the mode of going slow. Achingly slow to make sure she’d not only reached orgasm, but found more than one, when they had their encounters. Maybe every sexual relationship should start out with a resounding failure. God knew if he wanted to make up to her for one bad moment for the next fifty years, she’d be happy to stay on the receiving end.

  His hand slowly glided down her body, coming to rest on her hips as he brought her around and guided her to the couch. When she sat, he kissed her knee and slowly licked his way up her inner thigh stretching her legs out, then placing her left leg on his shoulder.

  Lightly, he blew on her center then returned to licking down the other side of her leg until he found her knee. The devilish grin returned as he moved deliberately, causing Merryn’s clit to tingle with anticipation.

  Fucking tease, she growled low and clutched the edge of the couch.

  When he reached her cleft, he looked up at her. “Hey,” he purred.

  “You’re horrible,” she said and flopped her head back on the couch, unable to stand the tease anymore.

  He must not have shaved when he went home as a light beard rubbed against her thighs right before his lips made contact and she melted against him. Long, slow licks soon became fevered as she arched against his mouth. His fingers locked on her legs with a grip so tight, she feared bruising.

  Long, lingering, licks were followed by him taking her cleft into his mouth and sucking. Instead of his tongue, thrusting inside her, he used his fingers. Widening her as they curled up and stroked her g-spot.

  She let out a scream that even people on the street probably heard. Maybe next time, she would have to find her way to his farm where her orgasm couldn’t be heard for miles. Sighing, she clenched around his fingers.

  Austin moaned in satisfaction as
he returned to lapping her core. Replacing his fingers with his tongue, he thrust deep.

  She begged for more. More of him. All of him. She needed the thickness between his legs. The pounding to her body even though she was still sore from the night before. When her first orgasm exploded through her, making a trail of ecstasy run along her limbs until her body melted against the couch unable to find a muscle in her limp form that worked in anymore.

  “You taste so damn sweet when you come,” Austin purred against her core.

  In the distance, she heard a belt unbuckle, as she lay unsure of what was happening until he lifted her waist and placed her knees on the couch. She was turned around with the back of the couch as support. Thickness slid between her folds and she moaned in pleasure as her back arched.

  His hands were balanced on either side of her hips. Slowly, he would pull out with the tip balanced at her entrance then with a hard fast thrust, he entered her again.

  The combination had her clawing her sofa. The tease of removal followed by the orgasm building hard thrust of return was agonizingly sweet.

  “You feel so damn good,” he growled as his advance quickened as he seemed no longer able to remove as much of himself, then his body was one with hers entirely. His legs and hips flush against her backside. Instead of the movement, he rocked against her body, but only for a moment. Forceful thrusts increased the speed until one final retreat led to a connection that had him pulsing against her clenching core. He fell on her back, kissing her shoulder as the grunt of release vibrated through both their bodies.

  * * * *

  There were very few things people in Braden missed. The sudden emergence of love especially. Speculations of sex versus love abounded, but Austin made sure the men he lived with kept their assumptions to themselves. They could guess all they want, but he was not in the mood to hear it. Entering spaces and having the discussion stop didn’t bother him. Not one bit. He’d grown up and as much as he hated gossip, it did mark his territory. Merryn was his and damned if that didn’t feel amazing to have everyone in town knowing.