AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Beckett grinned. “Perfect. Two cheese danishes for her, whatever her coffee order is, and the blueberry crumb muffin with a black coffee for me, please.”
Mentally replaying his order, I nodded and rang him up. Then I turned to Skinny Kenny, who was working the espresso machine, to relay the order. Poor kid was still living up to his nickname—another strange occurrence in this town. He could gain twenty pounds of muscle or fifty pounds of flub and he’dstill always be Skinny Kenny. That was just how things worked here. If you were lucky, or invisible like me, you could skate by without a nickname.
Moving to the display case, I loaded up the pastries into a small white bag, quietly adding in an extra petite lemon scone just because, and handed the bag across the counter to Beckett.
Behind me Rebecca, our longest-employed server, came through the swinging double doors from the back with a worried expression painted across her face.
“Sylvie... there’s an issue with this week’s produce order. Huck isn’t here, so someone needs to talk with Duke Sullivan. Can you do it?”
Heat flooded my cheeks as I ground my teeth. It was always something. I looked around at the bustling bakery and mentally calculated how bogged down we would get if I wasn’t up front helping to get customers through the line. I cast a wary glance behind Beckett at the growing line of customers. “Right now?”
Rebecca grimaced. “He’s waiting in the back.”
Of course he is.
Resigned, I sighed and wiped my hands on the front of my apron. “I’ll be right there.” I turned to Beckett to find a strange grin spreading across his face.
I forced a smile and ignored the wobble in my stomach. “Have a good day.”
I turned, steeling my back and gathering my breath before pushing my way through the saloon-style doors to the kitchen.
There was one thing guaranteed to ruin my mood, and he was standing in the kitchen with his hip cocked against the steel counter and his signature scowl furrowing his brows, arms crossed over his huge chest like he owned the place.
Duke freaking Sullivan.
With skin kissed by long hours in the blueberry field and muscles that showed off his life of hard work, he wasall man.Dark hair that bordered on too long threatened to cover his deep, moody eyes. They were the kind of intense brown that held whispers of secrets—secrets a man like him let few people privy to. The dark irises faded into black pupils and added an edge of mysterious danger to the oldest of Red Sullivan’s children.
It didn’t matter that he was the kind of hot that made women all over town stupid. He was a Sullivan, and I was a King. Decades ago our families decided they hated each other, and ever since then, we’ve been taking turns making each other’s lives miserable, usually in the form of ridiculous pranks.
Instead of growing up and letting the past die with the ancestors who created it, our families doubled down on the feud. Though it was a nuisance, it did keep life in our small town interesting.
Irritation rolled off Duke’s broad shoulders.
But that was the thing about Duke, healwayslooked irritated. It was probably because the Wranglers he wore were too damn tight—not that I’d ever noticed how they molded to his perfectly muscular ass.
Standing in front of him, I planted my hands on my hips. “You need something?”
He scoffed and kicked off the steel counter to face me. “I need you to not mess up my delivery schedule.”
My face scrunched. “Me? What did I do?”
Duke released a breath, which spoke volumes to how my mere presence was an annoyance. “Huck’s out of town, so I’m assuming it’s you who forgot to put his order for the week in?”
My eyes started to widen before I stopped myself and leveled him with a cool stare. Per Huck’s request, I had placed the bakery’s usual weekly order of blueberries with Sullivan Farms.
Right?
My mind raced back to the past few days, but it was blank.
Shit.
Between staffing issues, a temperamental oven that didn’t want to work unless you kicked it twice on the right side, and the early mornings prepping while Huck was gone, I must have totally forgotten to place the order.
Double shit.
My mouth popped open and snapped closed again when Duke raised his hand. “The usual?”
“Um... “ My mouth went dry with panic.
