AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I regret it the minute I say it.
“He is?” Dani asks in pure delight, turning around quickly and peering across the back hallway of the arena.
I wince.
Telling Dani not to look is basically guaranteeing she’ll look. She is the nicest person I know, hands down, but she’s also the one who would die first in a horror movie. She has zero guile. Less than zero. Negative guile. She would stop to help the killer restart his sputtered-out chainsaw. That’s how generous and sweet she is.
She’s also in full matchmaker mode now that she is dating my brother, Crew, Dr. Michael Hughes, and Nathan Armstrong. She wants me to be in love, too, and that’s just not happening. I am way too focused on my bakery business to get wrapped up in all the complications of a relationship.
I wouldn’t mind having sex. But more than that? Hard pass.
“Dani!” I hiss as she cranes her neck and makes it beyond obvious what she’s doing. “Turn back around.”
She obeys, but she’s grinning. “He is definitely staring at you. You should go talk to him.”
“No. He’s… very intense.” He’s hot. That’s what he is. Like, he’s full-blown nerd sex appeal, with his expensive-looking glasses, a tight black sweater that shows off a lean but muscular build, and thick, dark hair with a hint of curl. Not to mention cheekbones that could cut glass and full lips that look like they were made to be wrapped around my nipples.
I almost smack myself at the thought. Which confirms my point.
No nipples, damn it. Nipples don’t exist in business plans.
Hot is too distracting right now. Hot is bad. Hot is dangerous. If I talk to any guy or have a hookup, it should be only with a semi-attractive one sporting a lukewarm personality, not one whose stare holds the heat and intensity of a laser beam. Like Kyle, my Tinder date from a month or so ago. If I’m desperate enough for mediocre sex, I can reach out to him.
But intense, smoldering sex with Laser Beam Boy? Nope. Not doing it.
The business I share with Dani, Books and Buns, is exploding from the publicity surrounding her Racketeers romance times three and I’m determined to capitalize on the hype. This bakery is my dream, a spark lit in childhood with weekends spent in my grandparent’s cozy kitchen, baking up a storm with my grandma Betty. I want Books and Buns to be a household name, and to that goal, I have a full Thanksgiving dessert menu with preorders running in the hundreds. I need to implement a baking and pickup day plan and sort out what I want to present to customers for the Christmas season. Then there’s New Year’s Eve trays and New Year’s Day brunch pastries, and then we practically roll right into Valentine’s Day with chocolate-dipped strawberries and heart-shaped cookies. This is prime baking season and I’m not going to blow it because I have a lady hard-on for a man who’s only said half a dozen words to me even though he’s been sitting behind me at every home hockey game for a month.
Not that I’ve noticed.
“You think he’s cute,” Dani says with a smile.
“He’s actually fucking beautiful,” I say begrudgingly, super annoyed by that fact. “But grumpy.” I can’t resist the urge to know if he’s still watching me, though. “Is he still staring? Look, but don’t be obvious.”
Dani pulls her phone out and announces loudly, “Let’s take a selfie!”
I roll my eyes. “Not obvious at all,” I mutter as she gestures for me to stand beside her.
She holds her phone insanely high so that when she flips her camera, we can see Cameron behind us over our heads. He is one hundred percent staring. He’s leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. He doesn’t look away. The opposite, in fact. He clearly knows we can see him and he drills his gaze into the camera.
My nipples approve.
My brain is outraged. Yet curious. What is his deal, seriously?
“Smile,” Dani says.
I obey, flipping my hair and tilting my head to give a good angle. Then I do something I haven’t done in years. I blow a kiss at the camera. I can’t help myself. I want a reaction from Cameron. I want to break that stare.
I’m rewarded with the slightest smile and him looking away. Finally.
“Aw, I love that!” Dani says, pulling her phone back down and scrolling through the multiple shots.
“Send that to me.” Not because he’s in the background or anything. But because Dani and I look cute. “What is taking Crew so long?” I say, checking the time on my phone. “I have to go.”
I need to do the employee work schedule for our pre-Thanksgiving baking days. It’s going to be all hands on deck, and we don’t have that many hands yet. We only have two employees, so I’ve been interviewing temporary workers for the holiday season.
“You seem really stressed,” Dani says.
“I am really stressed. I have like nine million things to do.” She may be living on love and sex endorphins these days, but I’m being fueled primarily by caffeine and determination.
