“That’s okay, as long as you’re all right. I was starting to get a bit worried,” he said.
A pang of guilt gnawed at my stomach, but I ignored it and plastered on a smile. “I’m fine, just slept through my alarm. I think I need to start going to bed earlier.”
“And stop staying late,” Alfie said, but considering he was smiling, it wasn’t a firm rebuke.
“We weren’t actually here too late,” I said. “But we’ve got some good ideas to test.” I wasn’t going to mention they were still only concepts because Owen and I had gotten sidetracked well before we’d managed to make anything. Hopefully we could sneak a coffee custard on at some point today in case anyone asked for a taste test. “We’re going to start with the tiramisu flavour, but I also want to revisit the strawberry and basil cheesecake because I think it’s all there, it just needs tweaking.”
“It was really good,” Alfie said with a nod and a slightly wistful smile, as if he was wishing some would magically appear in front of him. “And I like the idea of only developing one or two at a time. It’ll give us a chance to see how long they take to make, feasibility, costs etc. I know that’s boring, but?—”
“No, it’s good to be realistic,” I said.
“You know what you could do?” Milo said, as the three of us walked into the shop.
“No! I am not doing you banana and custard.”
“Oh come on! It would be so good!” Milo threw up his hands. “What the fuck do you have against bananas?”
“They are disgusting!”
“Just because you hate them doesn’t mean everyone else does. And I think flavours should be a group decision.”
“ButIhave to develop them.” And I was not touching bananas. Not if I didn’t have to. I loathed their texture, their taste, even their smell, especially if they were overripe. If I had my way, bananas and anything banana flavoured would be banished to the middle of the nearest black hole.
“So? You don’t have to eat it,” Milo said. “Stop enforcing your banana-hating ways on us! This should be a democracy, not a dictatorship.”
I sighed and rolled my eyes and Alfie chuckled, refusing, as always, to get involved in this debate. “Are you done?”
“No. I am fully prepared to start polling people. I’ll get a petition and everything.”
I rubbed my face and squeezed the edges of my eyes, where it felt like a headache might be starting to build up. The more Milo argued about his fucking banana and custard idea, the less I wanted to give in, but he was really starting to wear my patience down. And that annoyed me more.
“What about something with banana but not banana and custard?” The three of us turned to see Owen standing by the kitchen door with a smile on his face. He was just wearing his customary T-shirt and shorts, but he’d never looked better.
Except for last night when he’d been naked.
He looked fucking spectacular in the buff.
“I’m listening,” Milo said. “What’ve you got?”
“How about banoffee? Banana pieces, thick, Dulce de Leche caramel swirls, a clotted cream base, maybe a little bit of chocolate in there too,” Owen said.
“Fucking sold!”
“That does sound really good,” Alfie said, although he did have the decency to shoot me a slightly sheepish smile as penance for breaking his neutrality. But I couldn’t bring myselfto be upset with him because I was too busy staring at Owen and remembering the way he’d kissed me… and how good his cock had felt inside me.
And those memories made me forget why I’d been so resistant to Milo’s pleas in the first place.
“And, since Darcy hates bananas, I’m happy to make and test it so he doesn’t have to,” Owen added with a smile that made my mouth go dry.
“Okay,” I said hoarsely. “Fine. You can try it.”
“Yes!” Milo did a ridiculous fist pump before running up to high-five Owen and then attempting to pick him up in a crushing hug.
I just smiled and chuckled, not caring that I’d given in. I was too busy wondering how long it would be before I’d be able to get Owen alone again.
Chapter Ten
Owen
