The ride from the ranch into town was short as I pulled up in front of the bakery. Buns of Delight wasn’t far from the ranch, and I was sort of shocked I’d never been to this place prior to now. I took my helmet off, exchanging it for my olive-green baseball cap instead. The thing had seen better days, but it was one of my favorites—not as if I was here to impress this chick.
Truly, I hadn’t thought of many women besides the fierylittle brat I’d been with last week. I’d thought about messaging her on the app countless times since I’d gotten home that night, but every time I stopped myself. That was until last night, after the turmoil of burying a body with my brothers and my sister-in-law almost dying. She’d seemed just fine parting ways when we finished, and I wasn’t trying to be some clingy weirdo, but she also seemed totally down to meet up again.
I shook my head. This chick met me punch for punch, and that had been something new for me. I was used to sweet, docile women in bed; it’s what I thought I preferred. I liked them to do what I wanted, let me take care of the both of us, and let me leave. But her? She was a feisty thing in a small, curvy package.
I pushed thoughts of little Poison Ivy from my mind and started towards Buns of Delight. Work mode needed to be activated, not Wyatt in full-on player mode.
The outside of the bakery was a historic brick building with a giant window that took up the front of the first level, Buns of Delight scrawled in feminine cursive handwriting across the glass. Opening the door, I did a quick look around the place. It was cute in that online social media type of way—the type of place women liked to take pictures of their coffee and post them online for their thousands of followers to drool over.
Three of the walls were made of whitewashed wood, the other was exposed brick, a long glass display counter separated the seating from the work area. The wall behind the counter held matching wooden shelving units housing different plants, pottery, cups, coffee, and more necessities I’m sure they needed. There was some fancy contraption that I’m sure made coffee fancier than I’d seen in my twenty-six years, a stainless-steel sink, and of course, all different typesof breads, bagels, and more carbs I definitely would be down to inhale at the first chance.
The exposed wooden beams of the ceiling reminded me of my mom’s place, but instead of custom-made wind-chimes we’d all crafted over the years, the owner had hung long, vined plants and small string lights.
Overall, the place was comfortable and welcoming. Plus, it smelled like heaven. Some type of coffee bean smell that wasn’t the normal commercial smell I associated with coffee. Cinnamon, honey, and something sweet that I couldn’t name.
I must’ve been sniffing harder than I thought because by the time I reached the counter, a small and absolutely stunning redhead was smiling up at me. “It’s the cinnamon rolls. I just pulled a tray out and put the icing on them. They tend to be very potent,” she said, her voice enunciating the ‘t’ in a way that made me want to be closer to her—physically and possibly emotionally.
Could she be my Poison Ivy? That would be nice because she was stunning. Which was an insane thought, but I just wanted to hear her talk more, about anything really.
What I really wanted and needed to focus on was forming words, but nothing was coming to mind. I stared down into her deep brown eyes that, at any other moment and on any other person, I’d compare to chocolate, but that didn’t feel good enough to describe them.
They were deep pools of rich cocoa, the finest coffee grounds known to man, only to be mixed with flecks of pure gold.
I tore my gaze from her eyes only to get stuck on the smattering of freckles that covered her nose and cheeks, her little button nose, and then my eyes inadvertently dropped to her plush pink lips.
Fuck me, am I fighting a semi right now? Over her voice and freckles?
I cleared my throat and forced my gaze back to her eyes.
“Uh, are you good?” she questioned.
“I’m sorry. What?” Had she been speaking? I hadn’t seen her lips move, and I’d been staring at them quite intently, so I would’ve noticed if they moved.
Her eyebrows pulled together. “Did you need something? Or did you just walk into my bakery for the free heat and to stare at my mouth?”
Fuck me, she was a spitfire. What was my deal with these fiery women lately?
“Um, fuck. Yeah, I’m fine—good even. Aspen sent me over. I’m supposed to be meeting the owner? I’m a couple days late, but it’s been a rough couple of days for my family,” I said as quickly as I could. Hopefully, she’d point me in the direction of the owner, and I could move on to try to do my job. None of which included drooling over stunning women.
“Oh. Well, you found her.” She waved awkwardly, and I had to bite my tongue to keep my mouth from dropping open.Sheowned all of this? She looked like she was all of twenty. What the fuck was happening? I found myself looking around the store again and then back to the woman in front of me.
“This is all yours?” I knew as soon as the words fell from my lips, they were the wrong choice. My tone could’ve helped me a ton here, but alas, I was an idiot. I could tell the absolute second they landed that an inner rage grew in her chest. The name Ember didn’t fit her—not really. There was nothing small about this woman. She was more of a blazing inferno than a small dying out bit of fire.
“Yes, big guy, this isallmine. Did you want to buy anything? If not, the door is that way. I’ve got the resthandled.” She pointed a single, unpolished finger back towards the door, and I internally groaned. Aspen was going to kick my ass, even while she was half broken right now.
“Did you hear what I said? Aspen sent me. I’m the computer guy?”
“Oh, I heard you just fine. I’m not interested. You can go.”
This time, the groan couldn’t be contained and was vocalized. “Okay, I’m sorry. We’ve clearly stepped out on the wrong foot here, and that’s totally on me. I didn’t mean to insult you, nor did I mean for it to take almost a damn week to get here. My sister-in-law texted me that day, and said you could use some help, but like I said, family emergency, so I’ve been pretty busy. Something about your bank? If you don’t let me help, I’ll never have another decent meal with my mama again. Aspen will turn the whole family against me, truly. She has that ability.” I let out a long breath as her expression didn’t change for even a moment. “What do you say? Can we start over?” I pleaded.
She glared at me and rolled her eyes. “Don’t insult me again. Yes, this is mine. The whole building is actually. I live upstairs, so don’t gape at me again. Makes you look far stupider than I imagine you are if Aspen sent you, becausesheis far from stupid. Also, I’m sorry about the family emergency. Was it about Aspen and her shitty ex? Ivy told me about it when she stopped in the other day to grab them pastries. Is she okay? I only got the Cliff Notes version.”
I ran my hand over my face and rubbed my eyes before allowing myself to look back at her. “You’re right. She is far from stupid. I’m somewhat of an idiot, so I apologize. Again. I’m not the best with words, as I’m sure you now know. She’s doing well now. She’s home, and that fucker…he won’t be a problem anymore.” I let out a breath before continuing. “But I am good—no, great, at my job. So please, tell me what the problem is. If you’re friends with Aspen and Ivy, I want to help. They mean a lot to me, so let me help. Please.”
I wasn’t sure I’d ever said please so much in one breath, especially to a woman who wasn’t my mom or sister, but fuck, this woman had me off kilter. The world seemed to be spinning the wrong way, pigs would fly tomorrow, and the sun may come crashing down, but I was still here. Still staring into those deep, endless brown eyes of hers.
She waited another moment before letting out a sigh. “I’m sorry. I’ve been a bit…snappy this week.” She cleared her throat before pulling out a manila folder from behind the counter. “Aspen said you’d be coming today. This is everything I have so far. I received a call a week ago from my bank letting me know that someone was trying to wire money into an offshore account from my account. Not sure who, why, or anything really. But they froze my accounts while they tried to figure it out. However, they also froze my business account. As you can imagine, that doesn’t do me a single fucking favor. I’ve since had multiple calls from debt collectors; someone had been taking out loans in my name and of course, not paying them. I filed a police report that night, but I haven’t heard anything. So here I am, somewhat begging for any help you can give me.”
