by Piper Rayne
Her face blushes and she licks her lips then bites her bottom one.
“You’re even dressed for the occasion.” I wink and my hands move up her cute summer skirt, hooking my fingers on either side of her underwear.
I drag them down her legs and fall to my knees. They hit the linoleum floor and I pull her to the edge of the flour sacks.
“Mmm...you smell fucking fantastic as usual,” I say while inhaling her delicious scent.
With the front of her skirt covering my face, I get down to business.
“Dane,” she pleads after a minute of me lapping at her. But instead of bringing her the relief she’s craving, I torture her and blow lightly on her clit.
Her hips wiggle and I dart my tongue to her clit, play with her swollen bud, and retract my tongue to tease her.
“Dane.” There’s a warning in her tone, as though she has any control over this situation.
I push my flat tongue along her center and her legs fall to the sides while a low moan escapes her mouth.
Hearing her response, I imagine her eyes fluttering back, her hands gripping the sides of the sack of flour and I stop, blowing again. Her body tenses immediately.
“Dane!” she half yells now.
“You are a demanding little thing, aren’t you?” I say against her perfect pussy.
“Will you please finish me off? I’m going crazy,” she pleads.
I chuckle into her wetness and do as she commands. I lick, I suck, I twirl my tongue, making it my own little plaything. Just when I think she’s there, I insert two fingers into her and arch up to hit her G-spot.
I’d like nothing more than to prolong this, make her squirm and beg for mercy, but we both have things to do.
“More,” she pleads and I pump my fingers in and out. Damn, she’s wet. My cock grows even more rigid in my pants, pushing against my zipper.
She starts grinding against my face while I flick my tongue then suck her clit into my mouth, signaling she’s almost there, like a rollercoaster teetering at the top of the hill.
“Oh my God,” she moans and her thighs shudder, locking my head between them and then releasing, locking again and then finally falling open once more. She comes all over my tongue and clenches around my fingers. I swear this woman and her pussy are addicting.
I slowly remove my fingers, come up for air from under her skirt, and admire her lying there like the satisfied woman I want her to be.
“So, not fair,” she mumbles, raising to sit on the sack of flour.
I bend down, taking her lips with mine. Our tongues glide, our lips moving in a rhythm we seemed to perfect last night. When I break apart the kiss, I love the fact her lips are swollen and red.
“I told you, I wanted my muffin.” I weave my fingers with hers and pulling her into a standing position.
“Did I object?” She raises on her tiptoes and plants another short kiss on my lips. “You want a real muffin now since you just worked up an appetite?”
She opens the storage room and then shuts it immediately, flicking the lock. She turns around and her eyes are as wide as saucers.
“What?” I slide by her and try to grab the doorknob, but she throws her hand over my mouth.
Backing us up from the door, she pushes me into the corner.
“My dad is outside that door,” she whispers.
Well, that got my heart racing like I was the one who just got off.
“I’m sure you don’t want to have the whole I’m-screwing-your-daughter-for-fun talk, so, stay here until I can get rid of him.”
Then she turns around, opens the door as I hide in a corner of the storage room, praying he didn’t hear her moans.
“Hey, sweetheart. Are you alone?” he asks, his voice echoing into the storage room from the kitchen beyond.
I’m starting to regret the fact that I gave my dad a spare key to my shop. “Yep. I was just stocking the room. Checking inventory.”
Their voices are close enough that I assume they must be hovering around the door.
“Ava, should you really be closing the store so you can watch porn?”
I choke on my own laugh, covering my lips and clamping my mouth shut so I don’t give myself away.
“Dad!” she screeches. “I was not watching porn!”
“Well, I heard voices and if you’re alone,” his voice echoes in the small room and I’m thinking he’s giving the door one more look over, “that’s about all it could be.”
“Maybe you’re hearing things. I was just doing inventory.”
The door shuts and I’m thankful not to hear them talking about whether Ava was masturbating to porn in her storage room because that image just makes me want to be the one masturbating in her storage room and if her dad yanked open the door and discovered me, how in the hell would I ever explain that?
I sit in the dark room that smells of sweetness from all the baking ingredients waiting until I’m given the all-clear. Ten minutes later, I’m playing some game Toby got me addicted to on my phone when a stream of light from the kitchen breaks through the darkness.
Ava stands in the doorway, the light silhouetting her perfect figure.
“You can come out, my own little porn video.”
I emerge from the corner, tucking my phone in my back pocket and laughing.
“Don’t laugh. My dad probably thinks I’m a nymph now.”
I wrap my arms around her waist, but she slides away from me, moving to the front door.
“You’re mad?” I ask.
“I’m not mad, we just can’t in front of the customers.”
Again, I look around at the empty room and quirk my eyebrow.
“When they come in.” Her voice is slightly bitter and I wonder if her dad just gave her bad news or something.
“FYI,” I lean closer, “you were the soundtrack of that porno.” I kiss her cheek and she pushes me in the chest.
“Go! Don’t you have a job to get to?” she asks, but now she has a smile on her lips.
“Call me.” I open the door, turning around and running right into Miss Betty, the town librarian. “Sorry.”
“Dane Murray!” she scolds and hits me with her newspaper.
I exchange looks with Ava.
Her dad might think she was watching porn and I might get my ass kicked by the librarian, but that was one hell of a way to start the morning and we both know it.
19
Ava
I stand there looking out the window of my bakery, like a stalkerish teenage girl, watching my crush until he disappears out of sight.
My head knocks on the glass, and I close my eyes as a defeated feeling overtakes me.
What am I doing?
The door chimes and I straighten up, plastering a smile on my face that doesn’t reach my eyes.
Cat floats in with paint smeared along her arms and her hair strung up into a hastily made ponytail.
“Guess what?” Her expression is excited so I push the situation with Dane to the back of my mind.
“What?” I choke out.
“I got my mojo back and we’re having a party.” She walks around behind the counter, opens my case, and grabs a carrot raisin muffin.
“Help yourself,” I deadpan.
Needing to do something with my hands, I head toward the kitchen.
Cat follows, propping herself up on a stool, chomping on her free muffin. “You’ll come, right?”
“If you have your mojo, shouldn’t you be locked in that gorgeous hillside studio your boyfriend made for you?”
I pull out the eggs, sugar, and the rest of the ingredients to prepare my cupcakes.
“I have been. You mean you didn’t even miss me these past few days?” She pretends to pout and then places a chunk of muffin in her mouth.
“It’s been busy.”
“You mean, you’ve been getting busy.” She laughs.
I crack an egg and it drops from my hands, landing in the bowl, shell and all.
“Damn it.”
; “Well?” she asks.
I look up at her once I fish the shell out. “I don’t even want to hear it.”
She shrugs, her eyes zeroed in on me. “I’m not saying anything.”
The door chime rings and I wipe my hands on my apron to head out front.
“What’s up girlies?” Charlie screams into the store, walking straight back to the kitchen. “Except for Dane’s dick of course.”
I blow out a breath and walk back to the table, concentrating on my cupcake batter.
“Oh, that looks good.” She points to Cat’s muffin and scurries out to the kitchen. I can hear her open the glass case and she returns with a muffin in her hand.
“One day I hope to have paying customers,” I mumble to myself.
“Hey, I’m here to put an order in for a cake,” Cat whines as though I shouldn’t give her shit for stealing muffins and cookies all the time.
“And I’m like a walking advertisement for you. I was raving about you last night at Happy Daze. Those Sex on the Beach cupcakes are orgasm quality desserts.” Charlie gives Cat a look that says you gotta have one.
“I want one,” Cat whines again like she’s learned from Lily.
“I’m on a rotation of what to make for Happy Daze, but as soon as I make them, I’ll let you know so you can go to Happy Daze and buy one.” I give her a syrupy sweet smile then turn on my mixer, shuffling to the cabinet to grab more ingredients for the icing.
“Funny, I’ll gladly pay my way.” She fishes out a twenty from her back pocket and places it on the counter.
“Put your money away, I’m sorry. I’m just in a bad mood.” I grab my scoop and the cupcake trays to get the batter in the oven. I’m behind after the impromptu visit from Dane.
“Did Dane do something?” Charlie props herself up on my counter, biting into the top of the muffin.
“What? No. Oh My God, can everyone just stop with the gossip? Not everything is about Dane freaking Murray.”
“Technically, it’s not gossip if it’s true.” Cat raises those perfectly arched eyebrows.
I turn on the mixer again, just to drown out their voices.
Which was useless since when I turn it off, they’re both exchanging looks. So, I scoop the batter into the cupcake pan, trying to ignore them.
“What kind of cake do you want?” I ask Cat after a minute of silence thinking maybe I can change the subject to something other than Dane.
“Um.” She carefully folds the paper liner from the muffin. “I want something fun and colorful to celebrate fall.”
“What’s this about?” Charlie asks, her jean-clad legs swinging back and forth.
“We’re having a party. Marcus and I.” She smiles and I can’t deny that I’ve been envious of what Marcus and Cat share since they got together. Although I’m not ready for the time a relationship takes right now, I’m a little lonely when Cat is at Marcus’ and Charlie is at work.
Dinner last night with Toby and Dane was nice if I let myself admit it. The fire, talking on the patio after Toby went to bed.
“Hey,” I look at the two of them, each granting me their full attention. I stuff the cupcakes in the oven and turn on the timer. “Did you guys know about Toby and Dane?”
Cat glances to Charlie. Charlie nibbles on the inside of her cheek, something I’ve learned means she’s uncomfortable.
“Yeah,” Charlie answers first. I’d already figured she knew since she grew up in Climax Cove.
“And you?” I ask Cat.
She nods. “Marcus told me.”
“And neither of you thought to tell me?” I sit on the stool, smashing chocolate pieces off the huge chunk of Belgium chocolate in my hand.
“He told you,” Charlie says as a statement mixed with a little disbelief. A smile forms on her lips that suggests what everyone in this town wants to believe. That the baker and the bartender are hooking up.
“Only because I saw his sister in town yesterday.”
Charlie’s eyes widen. “Sara was here? I swear it’s been years since she’s been back. Is she sticking around”
“Did you know her?” I ask, ignoring her question.
Charlie’s already shaking her head. “No. She’s older than Dane, so I was too young. But I’ve heard stories about her. If you think Dane is a wild child, Sara was...well, she was the typical small-town girl who wanted to escape. Looking for guys that would get her out.”
Cat stares on, listening intently, clearly hearing about Sara for the first time.
“So, Dane just took Toby for her?” I ask.
Charlie nods. “At first, she’d disappear for weekends, then long weekends, then a week. As the years went by it became months and Dane decided he wanted more for his nephew.”
“Do you find it odd that Toby calls Dane dad?” Cat asks, her chin resting on the palm of her hand now, looking like the high of finding her mojo is fading as sleep deprivation creeps in.
“Toby started calling Dane, Dad, one day and except for a brief period when he first found out that Dane was his uncle he’s never deviated from that as far as I know.”
“Dane told you that?” I ask, my voice shaking that they share such intimate things.
She hops down off the counter. “He did, but only because I pry. I asked him one night when I was working.” She approaches me, placing her hand on my upper arm. “I’m his employee, nothing more.”
I scoff. “Oh, I don’t care. Why would I?” I shake my head. “Please.”
Charlie stares at me for an uncomfortable amount of time. “Just thought you should know. Hey, aren’t peanut butter and chocolate Dane’s favorites?” She glances down to the frosting I’m currently making and the peanut butter jar on the table then turns on her heels. “See you later, I gotta go to work.”
“Bye, Charlie!” Cat hollers and the door chime rings a second later.
“You, go home to bed.” I point at her with my spatula.
“I thought you said not everything was about Dane Murray?” Cat asks, standing up from the stool and throwing away her muffin wrapper.
“Shut up.”
She giggles. “So, you can do whatever you want with the cake. The party is this Saturday, kids are invited. Just a barbecue before the weather turns.”
“Got it, I’ll bring the cake with me.”
“I’m emailing out the invitations tonight.” She stops right before she’s about to leave the kitchen. “You know, it’s okay if you like him, right? I know we all assumed he was this immature single dad who had no business taking care of a kid, but I think we were wrong.”
“He might not be who I thought he was, but he’s still not boyfriend material. We both know that.”
She gives me a tight smile and then turns around toward the door.
“See you later, Cat.”
“See you.”
Once the door chime rings, my ass falls to the stool, my body completely conflicted with how this friends-with-benefits has morphed into me wanting more.
No, I don’t want more. Dane can’t offer me more and my mind has to come to grips with that. Maybe we should stop. I know my pussy would not be onboard for that if she had a say. Truthfully, I’m not either. Never have I experienced sex like I have with Dane. Despite knowing how he learned all his moves he always leaves me begging for more. Only now it’s more than just his body I’m left wanting.
20
Dane
Charlie walks in, a huge smile plastered on her face.
“What’s so great this morning?” I ask her, placing the baskets of condiments on each table.
“I just started my morning with a muffin from Ava.” She practically bounces to the backroom.
“Funny, I did too,” I smile.
“Ew, spare me.” She exaggerates an intense full-body shiver.
A couple minutes later she emerges from the backroom wrapping her waist apron around herself.
“Tell me, what is the gossip around town?”
She looks up from behind the b
ar as she starts taking stock from last night.
“Well, let’s see. Miss Betty is on the warpath for a missing book, little Peter Caldwell peed in the fountain so now there’s a debate about whether it needs to be drained or not, and,” she taps her finger to her lips, “people are saying that Dane, the owner of Happy Daze should pay his best employee, Charlie, double what he pays her now.”
“Charlie?” I sit on the stool on the other side of the bar top from her.
“People want to know if someone finally got you to settle down.” She leans against the other side of the bar, sipping a cup of coffee I just prepared.
“How do people even know about us? We’ve been keeping a low profile.”
She lets loose a full belly laugh, bent over exaggerating her amusement.
“This is Climax Cove. Sometimes I’m convinced we live in a make-believe town like that Truman movie with Jim Carey. Where they made up his entire life?”
I shake my head. “Stay on course, Charlie.”
“You’re over there all the time, you’ve convinced Steaming Hotties to feature her baked goods in a basket on the counter by the till, Double D’s is taking her wedding cakes now, and you tell everyone to go there all the time.”
“Because she’s a great baker. Her goods taste awesome.”
“Well, I wouldn’t know about her goods, but her cupcakes are delicious.” That familiar smart-ass smirk is splashed on her face.
“Do you think Vic knows?” I’m a little afraid to ask. I know it’s Ava’s call whether or not her dad should know about us but I can’t help but feel like a douche for keeping it from him. No, we’re not besties and I’m not sure you could even call us buddies, but I do see him a couple times a month.
The smirk wipes off her face. I’m not sure how happy he’d be that a fellow Single Dads Club member would be dating his daughter. Fuck, I’m not even dating her, I’m fucking her. Plain and simple.
“Who knows. He doesn’t come down to town very often. Plus, he’s never been one to be in on the gossip.”
I nod because she’s right. Vic isn’t usually looking to gossip when he’s at the Single Dads Club get-togethers.