Tart (The Fluffy Cupcake Book 2)

by Katie Mettner

  I nodded and hung my head. “I’ll stay at my place when there are storms.”

  He helped me to the door and then out into the night, the sky already clearing off to reveal a smattering of stars here and there after the earlier downpour. There were puddles of rainwater on the sidewalk, but it was cooler, and a soft breeze blew across the lake. “It’s going to be nice sleeping weather tonight. I’m glad it cooled off. I love sleeping with the window open and the night air pouring in.”

  “That sounds like heaven. Living in a basement, I don’t get much of the night air unless it’s from the patio doors.” I paused at the doors to my apartment and grasped the handle. “Thanks for walking me home, and for listening, again. I feel like that’s all you do for me. I’ll bring you that loaf of sourdough bread and a cake to make up for listening to me whine.”

  He waved his hand at his neck and then grasped my shoulder. “Stop apologizing, Amber. I love talking with you, and I don’t mind listening. It’s not a huge burden to spend the evening with a beautiful woman like yourself. I’d do it all over again tomorrow night if you’d have me.”

  I nodded and offered a genuine smile. “More like if you’d have me because I love sitting in your yard around a cozy fire. I guess I’m not going to work tomorrow, so I might be over after all.”

  He returned the smile and squeezed my shoulder gently. “I’ll be there. Shout if you need anything before then, and I’ll come over. Until then, goodnight.”

  “Goodnight, Bishop,” I whispered, sliding the door open without turning. I was lost in the green eyes of the guy who, during any other time in my life, would have been real relationship potential. Unfortunately, that time in my life had passed.

  His head lowered until our lips were nearly touching, but it was me who closed the distance to make sure they finished the journey.

  Seven

  Was this happening? My lips were on hers, and I was instantly lost in the sensation of softness, warmth, and passion I didn’t expect to course through me the way it did. Lord, she was delicious. The kiss was closed-lipped, but she vibrated with a need for more. She vibrated with a need to be kissed hard by someone who would still respect her when the kiss was over. Hell, someone who would come back for more again and again. I was that someone.

  A moan rumbled deep in my throat, and she returned it with a soft mewling that made me instantly hard. Pressed up against her the way I was, there was no way to hide the evidence of what she did to me. I was a goner with this woman. She owned me already, and I had only spent a few hours with her. She was wounded but strong. She just needed to see that someone—anyone—understood her pain, her desire to stay independent, and her need to be held and comforted when life got to be too much.

  I poured that idea into the kiss, my lips gentle and undemanding of anything she wasn’t ready to give. When it was her who traced my lips with her tongue, my dick pulsed against her belly, an uncontrollable reaction to the way she took what she wanted without care. She was beautiful, talented, smart, and sexy as hell, and I wanted all of her. I had to bide my time, or I’d scare her away. Our discussion tonight made that obvious.

  She moaned low and needy when I opened my lips, tipped her head, and took a tour of her warm, silky tongue. I returned the moan, the sounds rocketing around under the portico of her apartment like an echo. She pushed my tongue out of the way, using hers to delve into my mouth. I wrapped my hands in her hair while hers were wrapped around my neck to stay upright. I made sure to lean back so she could rest against me and feel secure.

  The kiss was burning hot, both of us wanting more than we were going to get tonight, but knowing the promise was there for more the next time we saw each other. And there would be a next time. Amber Larson was more than I ever dreamed of dreaming about when I thought about my perfect partner. I had steered clear of relationships for years, too afraid to repeat the same mistakes I made with Sam. I swore that I would never let my libido lead me again, but this soft, unbelievably beautiful woman under my lips was making that resolve extremely hard to keep. It was making other things extremely hard, too.

  My thumb caressed her cheek while I slowed the kiss, and finally, with deep regret, let my lips fall away. I lowered my forehead to hers and gazed into her soulful grey eyes. “You’re incredible, Amber Larson, and I mean that exactly the way it sounds.”

  Her eyes danced with the smokey hue of a turned-on woman, but I also saw fear and uncertainty in those eyes. I couldn’t make that disappear with just one kiss, but maybe, after one thousand more, the fear and apprehension would float away and leave her eyes clear and bright again.

  “I think you’re rather incredible yourself, Bishop Halla. I admit that it scares me, but I can’t deny the truth. Now I have to try not to think about you and your lips for the rest of the night.”

  “I will have to do the same, but the memory of your soft lips on mine will make that as hard as other parts of me are right now. Good night, Amber. Sleep well,” I said, dropping her hand and walking up the pathway. I turned to make sure she made it into the house safely. She slid the door closed and offered a wave through the glass that I returned before I walked back to my house.

  She made my body throb with desire and want in ways no woman ever had before. That wasn’t an exaggeration or dramatization of what just happened. That was the truth in ways that cut to my core and forced me to rethink my life. I had spent the last eighteen years alone, save for a few relationships that I knew would go nowhere, which made them safe. I was focused on my work and raising my daughter to be a decent human being. Now, my job was established, and my daughter was a wonderful woman who made me proud every day.

  It hit me that I was just given a new assignment to teach. That realization dawned when I walked back into my house, and the scent of Amber’s perfume still lingered there. It would be the most demanding assignment I’d ever taught, but if I did it right, the rewards would last a lifetime. I hadn’t known Amber long, but I knew she was worth the effort it would take to heal her. She would always suffer the consequences of that night, but she didn’t have to suffer them alone anymore.

  I grabbed a fork and my computer then sat down at the table and opened the laptop. The cake still sat on the table, so I stabbed a piece, bringing it to my lips before I typed information into the computer. It wasn’t hard to find the brace that she was talking about earlier. I chewed and read, clicking through on videos and spec pages until I was well-educated about the product. She was right. It was ridiculously expensive, but what it could do for her pain and her mobility was startling and obvious. She needed that brace.

  I surfed through some articles about the rods and nails they had put in her bones, so I had a little bit of background information about those procedures, too. Looking at some of those pictures, I couldn’t imagine the pain she must have been in after those surgeries. Needing one rod looked painful enough. I couldn’t imagine needing three. I had to force myself not to think about the asshole who decided to kick her just to hurt her more. His abuse was the reason Amber’s leg had gone downhill so quickly over the last few months. I could see why Brady and Haylee were scared shitless for her. When you love someone, you don’t want to see them in pain.

  Yes, loved someone. It didn’t matter that I’d only known Amber a few weeks and only spent a handful of hours with her. Those few hours had been some of the best hours of my life. She made me think. She made me smile. She made me want more out of this life. That was the most surprising part of all. I had found in that little tart all the things I’d been searching for over the years but just couldn’t find. There is love there, and where there is love, there has to be action.

  I rubbed my temple as I chewed absently on the sweet cake. I wanted to help Amber, but there wasn’t much I could do. She wasn’t going to accept money from me to help pay for the brace. I couldn’t bully her into going to the doctor to get the leg checked when her best friend couldn’t even convince her to make an appointment. All I could do was support her
and try to understand the position she was facing. Her position was precarious, and that was the problem. It wouldn’t take much to push her over the edge, and she’d be lost forever.

  I suppose I could try to find her parents. I had their phone number, given to me by Mrs. Larson in case I ever needed anything. Contacting them felt wrong, though. She was an adult, and from what I could gather tonight, they weren’t great at accepting her issues since the tornado had ripped through their lives. I didn’t want to make that worse for her.

  I tapped my chin with my finger while I stared at the Google search bar on the screen. It waited for me to tell it what to do next while I waited for some grand vision to tell me what that was. A thought struck me, and I hit a bookmark at the top of the page, waiting for it to load.

  The frequently asked questions page came up, and I searched for the information I was seeking. A plan was forming in my head as I read the information, clicking through other pages to find the exact information I would need to convince Amber even to consider the crazy plan I’d just hatched.

  SLEEP HADN’T COME EASILY. Between thinking about Haylee and the bakery, and lusting after my kind, sexy neighbor, I spent most of the night staring at the ceiling. I had come to a few conclusions about the bakery, but conclusions about Bishop were more elusive. The pros and cons were easy to delineate when it came to the man. He was sweet, gentle, a good listener, understanding, supportive, sexy as hell, and after that kiss we shared last night, obviously interested in me.

  The cons were more complicated because they had nothing to do with him and everything to do with me. My life was a dumpster fire, and I didn’t see that changing anytime soon. Not to mention, he was a gym teacher. He’s not going to date someone like me for very long. Not when the only physical activity I can manage is sitting at a campfire. The cons of Bishop Halla don’t outweigh the pros. The cons of how Amber Larson would destroy Bishop Halla’s life do.

  My previous dating experience was a nightmare. I wasn’t in the mood for round two. Did I think Bishop was going to hurt me? No. Not even a little bit. That didn’t change the fact that I was experiencing too much upheaval to trust myself right now. It wasn’t fair to draw someone else into my nightmare, either.

  My fingers left the steering wheel and traveled to my lips. Why were you kissing him last night, then? I asked myself for the nine hundredth time since the kiss. It wasn’t like anyone was forcing you to stand there and let him stick his tongue down your throat.

  I growled and banged my head on the headrest. This morning was starting the same way last night ended—too many questions, too few answers, and not enough patience. I pulled the key from the ignition and unbuckled my seatbelt, deciding the only thing I could do was start trying to solve my problems instead of making more for myself. The only way to do that was not to be run roughshod over. I know my best friend and her beau had nothing but good intentions, but that didn’t mean I had to agree with them completely.

  The one thing I did agree with them on was we needed to change how we were doing business at The Fluffy Cupcake. We were all run down, short with each other, and running on fumes. If we didn’t make some changes immediately, we weren’t going to survive another year at this pace. That was the reason I was at my business this morning. I had worked out a plan last night that would mostly satisfy everyone. We’d all have to give a little on our demands to be successful, though. Having spent the last twenty-six years with my bestie, I already knew she’d agree to the changes I’d come up with during the night. Her forte is baking. Mine is business.

  I pulled the door open to the bakery and stepped in, immediately enveloped by the loving scents of fresh bread and sweet pastries. The sun was shining, the coffee was brewing, and Taylor was loading the bakery case with the last of the fresh Danish.

  “Hey, Taylor,” I said, crutching behind the case to greet her. “How are things this morning?”

  “Hi, Amber,” she said, standing upright from the case. “Busy as always, but that’s good, right?”

  “Busy is good, but overworked isn’t,” I said, deciding that honesty was the only thing that would start to sort out where we were going with our business. “I think we’re all feeling the overworked part.”

  Taylor shifted nervously, uncomfortable with the situation, her answer, or both. “It’s always this way in the summer.”

  “Tactful,” I said on a chuckle. “I know you’ve only worked here for three summers, so you’ll have to take my word for it that it hasn’t always been like this.”

  I shifted the crutches under my arms better to take some weight off my leg. “We’re in a bit of a crisis here, Taylor.”

  She motioned at the crutches with a slight grimace to her brows. “I’m scared to death about your leg. It’s not getting any better, is it?”

  “It needs some work,” I said, deciding that going into how bad things were would only muddy her decision. “Nothing I’m not used to. I’ll be seeing a doctor about it this week. I do have a question for you.”

  She leaned her hip on the edge of the cashier’s counter and nodded. “Sure, hopefully, I can answer it.”

  “If you had the opportunity to work in the back of the bakery full-time, is that something you’d be interested in doing?”

  Her eyes widened double in size, and she swallowed nervously. The answer was evident on her face while she searched for a way to say it without losing her job or making me angry.

  I held up my hand to calm her fears. “You don’t have to worry about upsetting me. I want to solve the problem we’re having here. I can’t do that if people aren’t honest with me.”

  Her shoulders deflated, and she nodded, but I noticed her neck bob with emotion all the same. “I would love to work in the kitchen full-time, but at the same time, I know that you need me in the front. I’m not going to make things harder for you than they already are.”

  I waved my hand in the air. “No, you wouldn’t be making things harder on me. You’d be making things easier on my business partner and sister, so either way, it’s a win for me. I already know I need to hire help for the front of the bakery. In that process, I want to move people around to do jobs that interest them the most. I want you to stay at The Fluffy Cupcake, Taylor. You’re a wonderful person and employee. You are talented in so many aspects of the business that it’s hard for me not to spread that around, but I know that spreads you too thin. If I can count on you to help me train a few new counter people, then I’m more than happy to let you find some happiness again working here.”

  “Seriously?” she asked, her excitement obvious now that she knew I wasn’t going to be upset. “I would love that so much!” she said on a squeal. “I would never leave you in a bind here, so whatever you need, Amber. I’m here to help. I know a couple of people looking for part-time hours if that helps.”

  “It would,” I said quickly. “Have them come in and fill out an application, please? We need at least two more part-timers and a full-timer. If I don’t have to advertise, that saves time. Besides, I know you don’t hang out with people I can’t trust.”

  She grinned and bounced up on her toes. “I would never let anyone work here I didn’t trust, Amber. Never. I’ll text them and have them come by today.” She cleared her throat and looked over my shoulder for a minute. “My good friend, Sara, she just got laid off from her server job in St. Paul. She’s looking for full-time work right now. She’s organized, a quick learner, and knows customer service like the back of her hand. Should I start with her?”

  I folded my hands and shook them. “Please. That would be heaven if we could get someone in here this week. The other boss has told me I’m not allowed in this place until I get my leg fixed.”

  “Which makes me wonder why you are here,” said a familiar voice from the doorway.

  I rolled my eyes at Taylor, where only she could see. “I’m here because even though my bestie thinks she runs the place, she doesn’t. Blindsided or not, I have decisions to make.”

&nb
sp; Hay-Hay made the snorting sound she always made whenever I decided to pull the drama queen card. “Blindsided. Please. You’d have to be blind not to see what was going on here the last year. I’ll be in the office. Join me with a pastry or two when you’re done here.”

  My eyes rolled again, and Taylor was biting her cheek to keep from laughing. “She’s so bossy. Geez, you’d think she owned the place or something.”

  Taylor couldn’t hold in her laughter any longer and let it out, filling the bakery with a light that even the sun couldn’t offer. “She loves you, so we’ll forgive her. We all love you, and we don’t want to see you in pain the way you have been the last few months. You can’t keep going like this.”

  “I know,” I said on a sigh. “It sucks to get smacked in the face with the truth sometimes, but at least it was by someone who cares and wants what’s best for me. We’ll figure this out together, I promise,” I said, taking her hand in mine. “Just be patient with us as we shift things around. Hopefully, by August, you should be in the back full-time, especially if your friend works out. I need to find someone I trust to take over the majority of my hours up here for the foreseeable future.”

  She held up her finger and grabbed a bakery paper and a container, setting two Danish in it. “I’ll call her as soon as I carry these, and two hot, black coffees into the office for you. Even if you weren’t offering to let me work in the back full-time, I’d be doing anything I could to get you out of pain. I know Sara will be here before your meeting with Haylee is done.”

  “It’s seven a.m.,” I said, laughing. “You can give the girl a chance to wake up.”

  “She’s up. She’s an early bird like me.”

  I waited while she poured two cups of coffee and then followed her back through the bakery to the office. Brady was at the bench, and I growled at him as I went by.

  “Geez, who spilled your coffee this morning?” he asked lovingly.