“What’re we going to call it?” Alfie asked. “Just ‘Tiramisu’?”
“Yeah, I think so,” I said. We didn’t usually go for elaborate or punny names, because I didn’t want to confuse people. It was much better for customers to be able to read the menu at a glance and know exactly what we had on offer. “It’ll need a warning for alcohol. And we can write up the whole allergen list, because I need to check what’s in the sponge fingers.”
“I can do it today,” Owen said. “Just let me make a bunch of cones and I can get it sorted before I do the ordering.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course.” He squeezed my little finger again and smiled. “You can make a start on the bases for next week.”
“I knew there was a catch.”
“Your shop, your bases.”
“Fine.” I gave his finger a final squeeze before releasing it so I could gather up the empty container and spoons and take them over to the dishwasher. “We should have another flavour for you all to test next week—the strawberry and basil cheesecake. It’s getting a bit late for it, but we might be able to put it on for a few weeks to see how it does, then we can think about if we should bring it back next summer. We’re also looking at doing a pumpkin spice one for September. I’m not sure how well it’ll translate to ice cream, but I want to give it a try.”
“With coffee?” Ellie asked.
“Not sure,” I said. “It might be a coffee base with pumpkin spice added, or we might try the standard clotted cream. I was originally thinking coffee, but I want to try both so we can compare.”
Owen nodded. “I think that’s the best plan. I’m pretty sure the coffee will be awesome, but if it’s too heavy we can always add a swirl of clotted cream through to soften the flavour.”
“We’ll figure it out. And if it doesn’t work, then at least we tried.”
“Exactly. We can cross it off the list and never speak of it again.”
I laughed because that was exactly what I’d do. I loved how much Owen understood my occasional desire for the dramatic, especially when something wasn’t going my way. There were so many little things he seemed to know about me; things he’d noticed, things he’d asked about, things he’d made an effort to discover.
Like the way I drank my coffee in the morning, and my love of musicals, putting on soundtracks for me to hum along to in the kitchen while we worked, and the fact I liked wildflowers and tiny tea roses and the big, ruffled ones with petals that looked like frills. He’d told me he was going to take me up to the castlenext time we were free so I could see the gardens there, because he thought I’d love them.
He’d bought me another colouring book too, full of plants and flowers, leaving it on the kitchen counter one morning for me to find with a Post-it note stuck to the top saying,To help you relax, Owen x.
That was another reason I was so nervous about labelling this as anything more than friendship with benefits.
I’d never met anyone who’d seen me the way he did.
Owen looked beyond the businessman and the ice cream aficionado and saw the man underneath, and offered me a hand out from under the crushing weight sat on my shoulders.
He was helping me to be happy again.
And if we got closer, made this into something real, it was going to be even more devastating when it ended.
So I wasn’t labelling it, and I wasn’t thinking about the future. I was going to live in the here and now, and enjoy the amazing sex, beautiful smiles, and late nights filled with joy and ice cream. Everything else could wait until later.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Milo watching me with a tiny, approving smile on his face. I was glad he knew at least. Maybe he’d be able to help me pick up the pieces when it finally fell apart.
“By the way,” he said as he looked back at Owen, a wicked gleam appearing in his eye and I sighed because I already knew what he was going to say. “When am I getting my banoffee pie ice cream?”
Chapter Fourteen
Owen
“What’re you doing tonight?”Darcy asked, sliding up to me with a mischievous glint in his eye as I finished putting some containers of sorbet into the freezer.
“Not much, why?” I asked with a shrug, pretending I didn’t know what he was hinting at. But it was only going to be one of two things, and Darcy didn’t seem to be in the mood to stay late and do more development.
“Just wondering if you fancied coming back to mine. If you’re not busy, that is.”
I smirked as I shut the freezer door, casually putting my arm above his head where he was leaning against the wall. I wasn’t really boxing him in, just drawing his attention to me. It worked too because Darcy’s eyes went wide and he swallowed. “Why would I do that, angel?” I asked teasingly, lowering my voice as I tilted my head down, hoping only he could hear me.
