Page 12 of Heartbreaker

Chapter 4

Ashley

What the hell was that? He’s gay, he shouldn’t be kissing me, and that was not the kiss of a gay man. God, I can still taste him, my stomach is still flipping as if a thousand butterflies have taken up residence in it.

Walking into the shop I try to calm my racing heart. “Hey you look…flushed,” Taylor says as I grab a bottle of water from the fridge. Taking the bottle, I roll it over my neck to cool my overheated body down.

“I’m going to kill Ben when I see him,” I say as I turn to face her, and there it is, that look she gives me when she is about to say something that annoys me.

“Well, he’s in the back waiting for you. But before you go, what is this?” she asks, waving her finger in front of my face.

“Let me go kill someone first,” I shout back to her as I walk past her. Walking through the door, I slam it shut so he knows I’ve just walked in. He jumps in his seat and turns around. I put my hand up before he even opens his mouth. “How could you do it Ben? I mean, I had a feeling that you were gay. If you had just told me I would have been fine with it, but no, you have to cheat on me with a someone that is with another guy. Do you know they have a daughter?” I say with my hand on my hip as I come to stand in front of him and wait for him to answer me.

Ben drops his head for a second and I have the feeling that I have just kicked a puppy. He looks up and I see the regret on his face. “First I’m sorry,” he says. “I know I should have told you, but you are so sweet. I didn’t want to hurt you, and second Brad is single and has no kids.” He stands and takes a step closer to me, and I’m more confused now than I was ten minutes ago. “Jackson, the guy at the café, I was talking to him about some business thing,” he says. “But if he is gay then I’ve missed out.” Ben lets out a little laugh making me smile. “Ashley I really am sorry,” he says leaning down to give me a kiss on the cheek.

I sigh, it is impossible to be mad at Ben, he is just too nice. “No don’t be sorry, we kinda of thought you were. I mean Taylor told me every day that she thought you were gay, plus now I have a gay friend that will tell me if my outfit is horrible,” I say with a smile and a wink. “You will keep in touch, right?” I ask him as he pulls me closer for a hug.

“You bet. Where else am I going to get the best Cointreau truffles in London from?” he says as he wraps his arm around my shoulders. “And Brad is going to love you, I’ll bring him round I promise,” he says as we walk to the front of the shop. “I’ll let you get back to work. Bye, Taylor.” He looks over at her and then leaves.

Taylor looks at me. “You were right, he’s gay,” I tell her and there it is, the look that says I told you so, but surprisingly she stays quiet.

“So, this hot mess look you have going on I want to know about that,” she says raising her eyebrows at me. “But before you do, I told you so.” She smiles, pokes her tongue out, and turns to the customer that’s just walked through the door. I take a look at the window display to see if there is anything that needs to be replenished, as Taylor talks to the man, which is good it gives me some time to get my head together. I mean my legs are still weak, from that kiss. I touch my fingers to my lips, the ghost of feeling still lingers.

Drinking some water Taylor turns and looks at me.

“Fine, I’ll tell you. He kissed me, and I don’t mean a little quick kiss on the lips. I mean, a full-on hot kiss that even now just thinking about it, has me all hot and bothered,” I say, leaning back on the counter.

She looks at me her face is a picture of confusion. “Who kissed you?” she asks.

“Jackson, gay Jackson, hot guy at the bar Jackson. He kissed me,” I tell her.

“Hold on, you’ve started this story from the end, start this from the beginning.” She shakes her head at me, and I look at her, her arms are folded over her chest waiting for me to say something to her, so I begin and leave nothing out. How I was going to get coffee for us, what I saw in the coffee shop, and how he kissed me.

“Was it really that hot? Did your lady parts get excited? Could you feel his dick on you?” she asks. I knew she would ask these questions, I mean is there nothing else she can say to me about this?

“Really? That’s all you want to know, but nothing about the fact he’s gay with a daughter, a boyfriend, and kissing me.” I push myself off the counter.

“He said he’s not gay,” Taylor replies.

“Yeah, but I think he only said that because he got caught cheating, and he didn’t know what to do. I don’t know but I’ve seen him three times now getting very friendly with a guy, which all screams he’s gay.” I tell her, and not wanting to have this conversation I start walking to the back of the shop. “I’m going to make some white chocolate bars,” I shout back at her.

“And daydream about him licking it off you,” Taylor shouts back, and I shake my head as a smile appears on my lips.

Now that would be heaven.

*~*~*

I spend the rest of the afternoon in the back making treats ready for the morning. I wanted to stay out of Taylor’s way, so she wouldn’t ask more question, but that didn’t last very long, she kept coming back with a comment or two. I have to admit that some of them even had me laughing. My personal favourite was the one where she referred to Jackson as the wolf, her words were, ‘Come on Ash let’s forget Prince Charming for a change and date the wolf, even if he’s gay, he kissed you. The wolf will see you better, hear you better, and eat you better, just imagine the sex.’ That one had me thinking, but no matter how hot the kiss was, he has a daughter and I am not getting the middle of that.

Taylor came to annoy me a few more times, whenever she thought of a new comment. ‘Was he hard as a rock? Was it big?’ The questions were never-ending. I throw a handful of truffles at her, hitting her on the nose with one which made me laugh so hard, I had tears streaming from my eyes.

Finishing cleaning the kitchen and the whole back room, I head to the front of the store to clean up there ready to close.

“What are you doing here? Do you need to buy some chocolate for your boyfriend, because you have a guilty conscious?” I ask Jackson as he stops talking to Taylor and looks at me.

Taylor walks past me and whispers, “Take the wolf, take the wolf.” Grabbing a box, she turns back around, to walk back to the counter.

“My mum loves this place. I thought I would pick up some of her favourite truffles,” he says. I can see him trying very hard not to smile.