by Julia Bright
Brent’s hair was damp, and she guessed it was from his shower after his workout since it wasn’t raining. What type of shampoo did he use? Was Marci with him when he'd showered? She’d assumed they were together based on how Marci talked to him and touched him, but Brent hadn’t done anything to make her think they were a couple. Asking if they were dating would solve the puzzle, but then she would sound desperate.
“How is your day going?” Brent asked when he made it to the counter.
“Better than yesterday.” She forced her desire for him away.
His brows knit together. “What happened yesterday?”
She chuckled and poured his coffee. “There was a cake incident. While you were here, actually. The top layer of a three-layer cake fell apart. I had to rescue Mia by cannibalizing a cake from the display. But don’t tell anyone.” She glanced at Brent, seeing his eyes crinkle in the corners. He looked so good when he smiled. She pushed away her desire and focused on work. “Can I get you anything to eat today?”
He shook his head though his eyes strayed to her cinnamon bread she’d just set out. “Not today, just the coffee.”
His blue eyes landed back on her and warmth spread. She would have to watch it with this guy. He could make her fall in love so easily. She didn’t know him, not really. It had to be his eyes. Sure, his body was fit, but the way he looked at her made her want his touch. He probably looked at everyone the same way and would be horrified she was interested.
“Okay, but I do have to say the breakfast sandwiches are very nice. I ran out of frittatas, but I have a few slices of my delicious smelling cinnamon bread. I’m baking fresh loaves today.”
Brent’s eyes crinkled as he smiled. “It does smell good, but just the coffee.”
She rang him up, wondering if the guy ever splurged. He looked amazing in his almost too tight shirts and pants which fit him like a glove.
Brent cleared his throat interrupting her lust filled thoughts. “The events at the Hollywood Bowl look interesting this weekend.”
She nodded absently, thinking about how she needed to exercise and then make more breads. “I haven’t looked in a long time. I have to get up early most days and they run so late.”
The bell over the door dinged and a group of ten senior citizens strolled in. Their voices filled the space as they chatted about seeing Matt Damon down the street. She handed Brent his coffee, and he gave her a five. Like every other day, she handed him back his change, and he dropped it into the tip jar.
“Have a good weekend and have fun at the Hollywood Bowl. I hear it has great acoustics.” She turned to the group and asked what they wanted to order. Brent waved and wandered off slowly like he wanted to say more. She wished he would stay, but he wasn’t there for her to stare at.
Like usual, Mia came out of the back to helped her until the line died down. It was a busy day, and she was more than satisfied with how much she’d sold. No doubt, she would have to spend the weekend building up her inventory. And she would have time because this would be another weekend spent alone, which was okay, but she really wished someone would ask her out without wanting her to fit some mythical mold of the perfect woman she obviously never would come close to.
Two
Brent stepped out of Sunshine and Sparkles, glancing through the window at Jennifer standing behind the counter. What the heck had just happened? Women fell at his feet for the chance to date him—scratch that, screw him. But Jen seemed oblivious. Jen laughed at something one of her customers said. He imagined her blue eyes were bright as they crinkled in the corners. Two days in a row he’d tried to ask her out and failed. Maybe she wasn’t interested.
He was running a little late for his meeting this morning, but he had to stop by to see Jen. His days were better when he went to her place for a pick-me-up. He took a sip of the coffee and moaned. He should be worried that seeing Jen was the highlight of his day. He knew Bruce would tell him to snap out of it. His friend would set up a weekend to show him that Jen wasn’t the type of woman guys like them dated. Hell, he wasn’t sure what type of women he should date. So far, he’d not had much luck in keeping anyone for any length of time. They all cheated on him in their quest to rise in some weird ranking system that meant nothing to him, or they left as soon as he put out.
One day soon, after he had his race, he would sample the whole case of food Jen had to offer. Maybe then she’d go out with him. Work called, so he left the store and headed to his meeting.
The coffee kept him warm in the presence of the coldest human being he’d ever had dealings with. This man actually made him question the existence of the undead on earth, because calling him human was almost a disservice to actual real, live people with hearts.
Sometimes he hated his job, but he was good at what he did. People had told him he was making a mistake by moving to California, that he should stay in New York or maybe Boston, but he’d done very well for himself.
The man he was meeting with was the owner of a large shopping center. He was cutthroat and didn’t care about rules, the contracts signed, or the people who had shops in his buildings. He’d recently purchased a space not too far from here and was planning on kicking people out. Brent wanted to tell the guy to go to hell, but he had been hired to manage this guy’s properties and losing this contract would mean a lot of money lost for the company he worked for. Being in property management shouldn’t be this hard.
Keeping his head and exercising tolerance had kept him from telling slimy clients to do something anatomically impossible with their head and their butt. Maybe he could talk this guy into changing his mind before he wanted the people gone from their shops.
It took the jerk almost an hour to shut up. Brent had a couple more meetings with his staff before he could leave. After work, he had a crazy idea and went by Jen’s bakery to see if he could finally ask her on a date. Why did he get so nervous around her? Maybe tonight he’d be able to talk to her.
He pulled into the lot in front of her store and realized the lights were off. Sure enough, the place was locked up and Jen was nowhere in sight. Disappointment filled him. He had to figure out a way to ask her out. Jen barely even acknowledged his presence when he came in for his coffee. Maybe she was already married or dating someone.
The weekend concert was great, but he would have rather spent the time with Jen. He’d asked his sister, Melissa, to attend with him. As a classically trained musician, she appreciated the invite and stayed at his place overnight. They’d stayed up late, discussing life and music.
It amazed him how easy it was for some people, but for he and his sister, they’d had to fight for everything they’d ever accomplished. His sister had received a scholarship like he had. Had they not worked so hard, they’d both be back in the scrub of the desert barely surviving.
His workout ran long on Monday and he had an early meeting, so he didn’t stop by Jen’s bakery. On Tuesday, there was an emergency in a building he managed, and he had to skip his coffee stop. Melissa had called late with a question. The London symphony had asked her to join them for a year, and she wanted his opinion. He told her to go, but she worried about having to give up her house in LA. He listened to her talk for almost an hour before he told her he had to go to sleep. He felt unsettled on Wednesday morning when he woke. His daily dose of Sunshine and Sparkles coffee called to him, but when he arrived, he found out Jen wasn’t there. Instead of working in the shop, Mia told him she was attending a class on creating cupcakes with a unique twist. He missed seeing her, which was crazy. They weren’t dating, and she hadn’t shown interest in him. Why did he care so much that he hadn’t seen her?
That morning, during a meeting, he lost his temper with an employee. He’d never lost his cool at work and silence fell. He apologized immediately, but the damage was done. They’d messed up with a client. Nothing terrible, but when people’s money was at stake, they tended to get upset. Dealing with the aftermath of the error had them all on edge. It was priority number on
e, and he was forced to worked late into the evening. On Thursday, he should have skipped the coffee shop, but he needed to see Jen. She didn’t know it, but she’d become important to him.
His nerves were off the charts and he blew out a breath before he got out of his car. Today, he would ask her on a date.
The bell over the door dinged as he stepped in. He feared she wouldn’t be there. The place smelled amazing. It was like chocolate and bread had come home and made a baby. He almost thought about getting a pastry, something like her chocolate croissant, but he had six weeks until the race he was training for and couldn’t bail on his nutrition plan. The race wasn’t anything important, he wasn’t hoping to qualify for anything, but he’d worked hard to compete in the half-Ironman. He hoped to finish in one piece. His coach, Dan, had drilled in the importance of good nutrition, leaving him feeling guilty for even wanting a treat.
“Hey, Brent, long time no see.” Jen called out as she wiped her hands on a towel. “I thought maybe you had abandoned me and took up with another baker.”
His body heated, and he tried to laugh, but it came out as a snort. “Um, never. I—”
Her phone rang, and she glanced over her shoulder. He thought he’d lost her, but the phone stopped ringing and he guessed Mia, the other woman who worked at Sunshine had picked it up. The door opened behind him and Jen’s smile widened. He turned and saw a very attractive man step in. His heart sped up as the guy made a bee line around the counter and hugged Jen. She squeezed him back like she’d just found the only person she would ever need. Disappointment filled Brent.
“Hey, Michael, it’s good to see you.” Jen untangled her arms from the Michael guy and turned to face him. “How was the concert?”
Her question threw him as he wondered if she was talking to him. Since her gaze was on him, he guessed she was. “Um, it was…” He watched as Michael stepped into the back area of the shop. Jealousy filled him and though it was irrational, he was still angry. Jen didn’t owe him anything.
Jen set a coffee cup, his usual, down on the counter in front of him. “The concert, how was it?”
He tried to focus on Jen and the question, but jealousy still beat its drum loudly through his thoughts. “Good. I went—um, had a good time. It’s Thursday and I have work, lots of work, and there’s this—”
The door opened and a group of young men stepped in. They were with some sports team and were rowdy. Their shouts indicated they’d won whatever game they’d been playing. He pulled a five-dollar bill from his pocket and handed it to Jen. Why couldn’t he get her to go out with him? All he had to do was ask. His tongue felt like it was a million times bigger than it really was, blocking the words from leaving his mouth.
“Happy Birthday, Jen,” Mia said as she stepped out of the back area.
Shock pulsed through him, causing his heart to stall. He had information about Jen, and he had to find a way to use it for his advantage. “I didn’t know it was your birthday,” he said as Jen handed him back his change which he dropped into the tip jar.
“It’s on Sunday but Mia is taking off the rest of the week and leaving me here to fend for myself.”
“I’ll be here,” Michael called out from the back room.
Great, just what he needed, the very good looking Michael spending the weekend with Jen. He had to act, but the soccer team crowded him out of the area. He was a total failure when it came to asking this woman out. He’d graduated top of his class from Stanford, was a successful property manager, had dated actresses and models, but he couldn’t ask out this baker.
He was about to leave the store when he glanced back at the counter. Jen’s gaze was on him, but not his face, no, she was looking lower, her teeth raking over her lower lip. She glanced up fast and her cheeks turned pink. Maybe he was wrong about her interest or supposed lack of interest.
He should stick around and see if maybe she would go out with him. Just then his phone buzzed. One glance at the screen and he knew he had to answer. Another group, this one senior citizens, stepped into Sunshine and Sparkles, crowding the store. There was no way he’d get any alone time with her so he could ask her out, not with and irate client demanding to know what he was going to do to fix the screw up his company had made.
Maybe he’d have a chance tomorrow. Work drained him. The error wasn’t that bad, but the asshole who it had affected was trying to make him pay for something else that wasn’t his fault. It took four hours of talking to the man to get him see that the other issue wasn’t Brent's fault.
He needed a break. Unfortunately, it didn’t come the next morning. Instead, he woke to the sound of thunder. Biking outside in weather like this would put him at risk and swimming was out of the question. Instead he stopped by a yoga studio so he could stretch out his muscles, lengthening them to prepare for his race. On his way to Sunshine and Sparkles after his yoga class, he saw two wrecks. He slowed down, concentrating on the road. It was crazy, but people forgot how to drive in bad weather when it didn’t rain for months at a time.
Three
Rain splashed on the pavement outside her shop and she and Michael watched in fascination. It was silly the way they were watching the rain, but it had been forty-seven days since any rain had fallen. Her heart sped up as she watched a car slide to a stop. Michael yelped, and they both laughed as nothing happened. It had been close, and she was glad she was already at work.
“There’s going to be a wreck,” Michael said.
She frowned when another car almost lost it in the rain. “I know.”
This wasn't a good day to drive. The rain would cause a dip in business, she’d already seen it this morning as fewer people came in off the streets. If business continued like this, she wouldn’t need to do extra baking this weekend, which was nice since it was her birthday. Not that she would go out to celebrate, instead she had planned a weekend filled with Cake Boss reruns and maybe a new episode of Master Chef.
The chime above the door rang, and she stood tall, trying to brush off the melancholy which came with birthdays.
“Hi Jen,” Brent called out as he entered and set his umbrella by the door. His smile made her heart warm. The last two months he’d been her best, well most consistent, customer. His excessive tipping wasn’t the only reason she liked him. He looked better today, happier. If ever she wanted to be a piece of cloth, it would be the shirt on Brent’s back or maybe his pants. She shivered and pushed away the lust. He wasn’t interested in her, just her coffee.
“How was your workout?” She wondered if he understood how good looking he was. Why he continued to stop by her place was a mystery to her. All he ever ordered was a plain coffee when she couldn’t even walk into her shop without getting something to eat. The fresh scent of baking bread, delicious muffins, cookies, and cakes crushed any willpower she ever gathered.
“It was interesting. The rain put a stop to what I wanted to do, so I did yoga.”
She lifted a brow and turned to glance at him as she filled his cup of coffee. “Nice. I like yoga.”
“It was good, but I need to go for a run this evening if the rain stops.”
“Be careful out there.”
She put a lid on his cup and placed it on the counter. He gave her a five, and she opened the register and pulled out his change which once again he dropped into her tip jar. He was the most generous customer she’d ever met. He tipped more than what he paid for the coffee which just amazed her.
“So, I was wondering if you could make me a special cake for a friend’s birthday?”
She froze, surprised he wanted her to make him anything from her bakery. “Really?”
He chuckled as his cheeks grew darker. “Yes.”
“But you’ve never eaten anything from my store.”
His eyes slid to her pastry case and narrowed just a little. The corners crinkled, making him look sexy. She wished someone would look at her the way he was eyeing her goodies. He moved his gaze back to her and shrugged. “I know your stuff mus
t taste good because it smells incredible.”
Her cheeks warmed from the praise. “Thank you. So what type of cake and what size and more importantly when?” Normally she required two days’ notice, but she would bake this man a cake right now if it meant he would eat her treats.
“Um, I’m not sure.” He looked at the cakes she’d baked yesterday and put in the display. They were medium in size because medium cakes sold almost every afternoon before school let out or before the workday ended. Some mom or dad would come in, realizing they’d forgotten to order a cake for their child’s birthday and they didn’t want a store-bought cake. She didn’t blame them. Though some store cakes were good, many were from a mix loaded with preservatives. Her cakes were made from scratch and everyone said they tasted the difference.
Brent pointed at the cakes and shook his head. “Those would be too big.”
“How many people will be eating cake?”
“Um, not many, but—” Brent glanced up, his gaze slamming into hers. He looked kind of panicked. He swallowed and his eyes grew wider in what looked like fright. “I-I want you to come too.”
She narrowed her gaze unsure if she’d heard him right. “Me?”
He nodded, his eyes going brighter. “Yes, I'd like it if you were there.” Brent rubbed the back of his neck. “I know you probably already have plans…but, um, well I'd like you to be there on Saturday evening, I guess that’s tomorrow, so tomorrow evening. It would be…um, please come that is if you’re not already busy.”
Cake Boss and MasterChef could wait. “No, I’m not…I mean, sure, I’d love to come. What’s the party going to be like? Formal or casual.”
“Casual. It’s very casual. It’s nothing big, I just—”
Brent stammered over his words and though it was adorable, she interrupted him. “I think it sounds great. Thank you for inviting me. So a small cake for five, ten people?”