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Sarah. “I’ve got enough problems with the women in my life. Tani wants to me scare some punk named Danny, Heather was around again on Friday, and I don’t have to remind you of Satan’s twin, Nancy and her trick of the week.” I walked out to the shop and he followed. I had left the mess of tools scattered on the floor from Heather’s little fit, so I went to work putting things back in their place.
“Your temper must have gotten pretty bad to make such a mess.” Monk leaned over and picked up a wrench.
“You mean Heather’s. She doesn’t take rejection well.” His hand came up to my forehead – as if to check my temperature. He was a damned comedian, and a good one.
“Were you ill, man? You actually turned her down?” He knew all about mine and Heather’s association and even had the misfortune of walking in on us once.
“She’s got to stop coming around.”
“So, go say hello to sweet Sarah next door. Maybe she’ll run her off for you.” His eyes met mine with a challenging glare. “I dare you.”
“I would like to meet a nice girl for a change. Someone Tani could meet, even.” I took one last swig of my coffee and headed to the door. I also never lost a dare in my life and I wasn’t about to let this be the first. “Challenge accepted.”
I pulled the door closed behind me and stopped to see what was going on over at the bakery. I walked over and looked up at the sign on the front window I’d seen her washing. Sarah’s Sweet Shoppe.
The bells on the door chimed as I walked in and Sarah was busy bent over behind the counter serving some old timer an eyeful of cleavage with his order. I cleared my throat and the old man looked away as if waking from a trance.
“I’ll be with you in a moment, sir.” The tag on her shirt confirmed that she was indeed Sarah and my cock even stood up a little to say hello.
“No rush.” We exchanged smiles and she rang up the old man, who wished us both good day and hurried out.
The place was decked out in pink and black and the front counter was filled with trays of the prettiest pastries I’d ever seen. Atop the counter were several different pies under glass domes and there was a large section of cookies and cakes. Tani would love it. I made a mental note to bring her by sometime.
“What can I get for you?” She leaned against the counter and I took a moment to slide my gaze downward. She was wearing a pink, fitted top and tight, black jeans that matched the rest of her theme. Across her front her shirt read: Sarah’s Sweet Shoppe, the sweetest spot in town.
I couldn’t help but wonder what Sarah’s sweet spot was like and with any luck she’d let me find out. “I’ll have a slice of apple pie.”
She smiled up at me with her big brown eyes sparkling. “I was wondering who would be the first to try my pie.” As I let that comment sink in, she pulled off the dome and took the pie to another counter. “For here or to go?”
I glanced over to the empty tables and decided to stick around a minute while she was alone. “Here’s fine. I actually wanted to come introduce myself. I’m Hunter Miller. I own the shop next door.” I nodded toward my place as she slid the pie onto a plate and grabbed a fork.
“Oh…hi Hunter. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Sarah Tillerman. Would you like a free cup of coffee? It’s my opening week special.” I nodded and she grabbed a cup and served me. After I paid and settled into one of the dainty chairs at her little round tables, she came around and glanced out the front window.
I took a bite of the pie and made a sound of approval. “This is some good pie.” I was really impressed.
“Thank you. It’s my grandmother’s recipe. She won awards for it at the South Texas State Fair years ago, back when they still had competitions for baking.”
“I bet she’s proud of you.”
“She’s gone now, but I like to think so. You own the motorcycle shop? I met one of your employees earlier. He said his name was Monk?” She gave me a sideward look as if she weren’t so sure about the name.
“Yeah, he’s my only employee right now and we stay pretty busy. I’m sure you’ll get an overflow of hungry bikers popping in pretty often.” I thought again about my expansion project and tried not to sound so bitter.
A noise rang out from the kitchen and she hurried around the counter. The buzzer kept going off and finally it stopped but I heard her curse and the sound of metal crashing to the floor. It was loud enough to make me worry and I hurried around her counter and to the back.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, but my oven’s falling apart.” Her brows were furrowed and she held what appeared to be the handle to the oven door in her hand.
CHAPTER THREE - SARAH
I stood there feeling like an idiot with my oven door handle in my hand, trying hard not to burst into tears. At least there wasn’t anything inside and I didn’t have to pry the thing open from the top.
As if things couldn’t get any worse, my hot next door neighbor was there to witness the whole thing. As if I wasn’t already sweating bullets from all the pressure of my grand opening, his deep gaze on me this whole time had my cheeks blazing. He had the
Next, I heard my damned front door bells chimed out as three new customers came piling in. I’d had no time to fix anything just yet and regretted buying third generation ovens from the used supply store.
I hurried out to tend to my customers leaving Hunter Miller standing in my kitchen and by the time I rang up the last person’s order, he was gone. I could only imagine he thought I was a complete loser. It was better this way. It wasn’t like I had time for another bad boy in my life. The minute he walked in my heart had been racing and my head had been telling me ‘no’.
