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There’s a fuse that looks blown, and I’m pretty sure the toolkit I bought Celia when she opened has some extras in it.
“Where’s that black box I gave you?” I ask her.
She bites her lip. “Um, I think it’s in the storage room. Let me go check.”
Celia runs off, and I lean against the wall while I wait for her.
When I close my eyes, I picture Kenzie’s hard nipples that I could see through her silk pajama top. I give my head a solid shake. I can’t have those thoughts right now. Not when I’m supposed to be helping my sister.
She returns several minutes later, huffing. “Found it. Under the register.”
I raise a brow and take it from her. “Probably not the best place for it.”
She shrugs. “I’ve had to increase my flour orders, and I’m running out of space to keep up with all of these dic—special cookies and now people want waffles, but I don’t think I can ship those and keep them fresh without increasing pricing too much. Though, I’m thinking of commissioning some molds that I can sell. Something where another company makes and ships them for me and takes a small profit. I could still make money and not do all the work, you know?”
I dig through the box and find the fuse I need. “That’s a great idea. You’ve made yourself a brand, and you should capitalize on that. Merchandising can be huge if you do it right. Do you have a marketing person to help you?”
Celia is all smiles. “I do. I just hired him in fact, so I’m glad you agree about merchandise stuff, because that’s what he recommended, too.”
I give her my full attention. “Hiredhim? Who is he?”
She shoves me. “Oh, calm down, big brother. You can have his name if he actually asks me out. Right now, I’m keeping things strictly business until I see how he performs.”
Oh, God. That word makes my mind go places it shouldn’t, so I can’t continue the conversation.
“Make sure he knows you have a brother who will murder him if he disrespects you.” I go back to fixing the oven, hoping this one fuse will solve Celia’s problems for the night.
Once I’m done, I straighten the mess of wires, plug the cord back into the wall, and push the oven back to where it was. “Try it now.”
I head to the shelves where I spot fudge brownies and grab a package as payment for my help. I open the box and eat one while we wait for the oven to hopefully heat properly this time.
Within five minutes, it’s up to temp and Celia is jumping up and down. Her arms wrap around my waist. “Thank you so much. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
I hug her back just as tightly. “Always here for you, Ce.”
She pulls back, but holds my hands before I can walk away. “I hope you’re happy, Bentley. You deserve that.”
Before I can respond to her, the front door opens and a shrill voice I recognize echoes through the shop. “Celia, honey. Where are you? Are you okay?”
Selene saunters in, flicking her perfectly straight ebony hair behind her shoulders, and wearing a worried expression that turns to feigned shock when she sees me.
“Bentley? I didn’t know you were coming to the rescue. The phone cut out before I heard what our Celia was going to do about her little baking problem.”
I glance at my sister, who shrugs. “I was on the phone with her when the smoke started.”
With a sigh, I step toward the door. “Well, everything’s fixed, so I’m leaving.”
Selene captures my hand and juts her lower lip out. “But I just got here.”
“And you’re welcome to stay.” I jerk my hand back and nod at my sister. “Let me know if you need anything else.”
She waves, and I make a swift retreat. I’m at my car door when I see Selene chasing after me in her obnoxious heels that click loudly on the concrete.
“Come on, Bentley. Just talk to me for a minute. After all we’ve been through, I deserve that, don’t I?” She waits on the sidewalk while I stew over her words.
I want to be a dick, but she knows just what to say to make me give pause, something I should have seen as a red flag over a year ago.
“About what? I thought we’d said what we’d needed to when you called before,” I reply, still holding on to my door handle.
