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Something in him softened at her attempt to maintain a brave face. Maybe because he was a sucker for a damsel in distress. He had half expected someone so feminine looking, especially someone who worked making cakes and other sweet foods, to be soft. Her eyes told him there was fire inside her though. That was alluring to Chase. He liked a woman who was able to take care of herself when she needed to. Someone who was willing to fight back against anyone who tried to push her around. Someone who made him work to dominate her in the bedroom, too.Where the hell did that come from?
He snapped himself out of his daydreaming as he realized she was walking back behind the counter and disappearing into the kitchen again.
“Y’all just let me know if there’s anything else you need, alright? Keep boosting my ego like that about my baking and I might just let you take back some free samples to share around at your base.”
“How did you know we were stationed at the Marine base?” Lucas asked, raising his voice so he could be heard.
“Oh, I just had a hunch. Crew cuts, big muscles, tattoos, good manners? It’s not hard to put two and two together.”
“Ah, of course.”
Chase wondered if she liked to put two guys together to go to work onher, too. He had a feeling his friend was thinking just the same thing from the way he watched Summer walk away, eyes fixed on her perky ass.
Chapter 4
Summerlyn
She’d done a pretty good job controlling her reaction to those two hunks. She’d never been shy around anyone really, but she was nervous around some of the men who frequented her establishment. Marines were not the kind of men to take crap. Some of them got a bit rowdy when they realized there was a beautiful woman who owned the bakery, who was not only single, but also worked by herself. It could be difficult to make them take no for an answer at times.
She still wasn’t sure exactly how they all found out she was single. Jacksonville wasn’t the biggest city in North Carolina, but surely the guys around here had more to talk about than a bakery owner they thought was cute.Don’t sell yourself short, Summer. The one with the cheesy pickup line obviously likes you.
As she went back behind the partitioning wall between the front counter and the kitchen, she got back to work. The daily baking had already been undertaken of course. There was always plenty to do though, even when there were no customers in the store. As she went about cleaning, she splashed wash water on her apron and slacks.
“Oh, shit,” she exclaimed. Oops, I hope they didn’t hear that.
“Everything alright back there?” one of the men called out. It was Lucas, the talkative one.
“Everything’s just fine,” she frowned as she looked down at the quickly-spreading stain.
Embarrassed that they’d heard her swear, she finished the mopping and changed her clothes. Baking in her day clothes was a great way to ruin them. She was finished with the baking for the day, so she donned fresh black pants, and a simple long-sleeved pink top. The semi-casual look suited retail work. It was the kind of thing she usually put on once she was finished with most of the kitchen work for the morning.
Summer’s routine next was to tidy up the counter area and look over her books from the previous day. She cleaned the dining area before starting baking each morning, before the sun was even up, unfortunately.
Waking up early was all part of being a baker. That was probably one of the primary reasons she’d been single for so long. It was kind of tough to have a social life as a twenty-six-year-old woman when her bed time was the same as most ten-year-old kids. But these military men woke up early, the ones who were doing regular daytime hours anyway.
It was difficult not to ogle the two impressive Marines as she re-emerged from the kitchen. They eyed her up and down like two hungry predators. The imagery was completed by the fact they were both eating their bars and drinking their coffee like there was no tomorrow.
From her new vantage point behind the counter, it was easy to steal secret glances at them. They weren’t rude enough to keep staring once she’d stopped walking around or serving them. She’d bet the two big men could really take charge of a woman, throw her around like a five-pound sack of flour.
No one knew it, but Summer was what she thought of as a hobbyist submissive. She didn’t talk about it with anyone at all, let alone the men she’d slept with. The guys she’d shared it with usually thought that meant they could just do whatever they wanted, be real assholes and treat her like trash.
It didn’t help that certain books and movies portrayed submissive people as doormats who for some reason loved being in abusive relationships. So, she kept that little trait to herself mostly. Only the guys who could earn her trust first would be allowed to dominate Summerlyn Sweet. And even then, she only liked light stuff like blindfolding, maybe even handcuffs. It was more about the way she interacted with the right guy that really turned her on in that way.
She was lost in her own thoughts; partly doing some paperwork, partly thinking about Lucas and Chase having their way with her and didn’t notice they had finished up and were now standing at the counter.
“That was amazing,” Chase groaned, patting his stomach. “You’ve definitely got yourself a repeat customer, I can tell you that much.”
“Thank you, the coffee was great, too,” Lucas added with a suspiciously sweet smile. Like a wolf trying to impress a lost little lamb. “Say, it must be tough owning and running your own business like this. Don’t you have anyone who helps you out?”
“Are you asking for an application?” Summer asked with cheeky laughter in her voice.
“You’re very funny. And beautiful. My friend and I were just wondering if you ever got any time to yourself is all.”
“Well, to tell you the truth, it can be hard when you have to be up before dawn to start baking. And then I’m here until closing time most days. I do have a girl who comes to help me out occasionally when I need to run errands.
“What about when you want to go grab lunch with two potential new friends, like maybe us?”
Both of them? Her heart started to race. Maybe they really did just want to make new friends then. But why her? Why both of them? It was intriguing to say the least, but they’d have to do more convincing.
