I wake up feeling like a million bucks. Even the usual shrieking tone of my alarm clock doesn’t unsettle me. It sounds better today, more manageable given how fucking great I feel.

My body is sore as hell, yes, but it’s the best kind of ache. A bone-deep feeling that tells me I’ve finally found someone who can really, truly satisfy me. Give me everything I want—everything I ever imagined and then some.

I stretch, luxuriating in this feeling, the warm, pleasant glow that suffuses my whole body.

That’s when I realize, stretching feels way too easy.

I roll over and find the bed beside me still warm, Caleb’s scent still on my sheets. I crack one eyelid and squint at the room. Nobody.

I roll the other direction and sit up to peer at the bathroom. Lights off, door wide open. Not there either.

I reach out to turn off the alarm clock. Then I stifle a yawn and sit up. But there are just my toys neatly stacked beside the bed, all of them squeaky clean. None of Caleb’s clothes are here anymore—not the boxers or shirt he left strewn around the place.

“Caleb?” I call, hesitant, knowing it’s a long shot.

The dead silence of my house answers the question. He’s gone.

I collapse back onto the pillows with a deep sigh. It’s fine, I tell myself. This is what I’m paying for, after all. I hired him to have a little fun. To get the release I was craving—the one I needed after two years without a partner in my bed. That’s all.

So why do I feel emptier now than I did before I was filled?

* * *

I get to the bakery on time today. Lara comes in later on Saturdays, so I open the storefront myself and set up the front of house while I wait on Jen to come in. She and Carl trade off on Saturdays. Normally it should be a lighter load today, but after the delays yesterday, we’ll still need to work our asses off to catch up.

I’m not looking forward to it.

Lara keeps insisting we should hire a third assistant, or that I should let her help out in the kitchen. Or at least let Jen or Carl take over lead chef position once a week, as practice.

“They’re good kids,” Lara keeps saying. “If you give them enough instruction, they can handle taking care of things for a day or two a week. To give you some time to recharge.”

I know, deep down, that she’s right—I’ll have to let them take on more responsibility sooner or later. Lara can supervise them when I’m gone—and hell, at this point, Jen and Carl have been with us for so long that they could probably handle running the whole store on their own for a while if need be.

But it’s so hard to trust anyone else with my baby. I built this company from scratch. It’s doing so well right now. But I’m all too aware of how fast successes like this can collapse in the food world. One wrong step, one terrible review, one vengeful customer with too much influence, and your whole empire can come crashing down around you.

I refuse to let that happen to my baby. Which means I refuse to leave my baby in anyone else’s hands, even for a single day.

Today, however, I’m distracted from said baby for once. It takes me three tries to count the register right, and I give up on balancing the account book entirely this morning. I’ll handle it in the afternoon, hopefully once my dose of caffeine kicks in, or once Lara shows up to smack my forehead and snap me back to reality.

In the meantime, I can’t stop daydreaming.

Reminiscing, really.

Did last night really happen? It feels like a dream now, a distant fantasy that couldn’t possibly have been real. No way did I find a guy that hot, a guy who was into the same kinks as me, and willing to get so down and dirty with me in the bedroom. No, more than willing—excited to.

That’s why they call them escorts, I remind myself. He’s paid to do that. To make me feel totally relaxed and at ease with myself. To make it seem like he’s feeling just as much as I am about our hot, wild night together.

My belly tenses. I bet he’s off planning another wild night like that with some other client. I’m probably just one in a million women with freakish kinks who he’s banged.

But something about it felt different. Felt like more than just a monetary exchange, a paid hookup.

Unbidden, I find myself opening my phone and flipping through to the website. To ogling the photos on his profile again.

Fucking hell, he looks even hotter in person than he does on this site.

Still, he doesn’t look too shabby on here.

I’m ogling one of his shirtless photos when Jen arrives and startles me into pocketing my phone.

“You okay?” she asks, eying me strangely.

“Of course!” I answer, my voice too high-pitched, my smile too wide. Really subtle.

Luckily Jen has never been the curious type. We work side-by-side in the back for most of the morning. Then, at lunch break, I’m back to the same site, scrolling through the pictures again.

My pussy tightens at the memory of the way his thick cock felt inside me. And his filthy mouth, goddamn. Or the way his cock tasted when he deep-throated me, my back pinned against the wall by that dildo…

My clit throbs with need. Fuck. At this rate I’m going to have to sneak into the bathroom to rub one out.

I duck out front, phone in hand, to avoid Jen stumbling across me again. And of course, I run smack into Lara coming in from the street, just arriving for her afternoon shift.

“Hey, careful there,” she scolds as she catches my phone.

I reach for it, flushing bright red.

Too late.

Lara squints at the screen. Her eyes go wide. Then her smirk does too. “Is this him, then?”

“No,” I spit, grabbing the screen and turning it off. My cheeks are still telltale neon red. “Maybe,” I amend with a sigh.

She laughs. “Well he’s definitely ripped. So how did telling him you weren’t interested anymore go?”

I am in danger of setting this store on fire with my blush.

Lara’s eyes widen all over again. Her mouth drops. “You didn’t.”

“I…”

“Oh my god. Look at your face.” She bursts into laughter. “Of course you did. Shit, girl, you are glowing.”

“Shut up,” I mumble, waving a hand.

“How was it?” She grabs my hand and, with a quick check over my shoulder at the back of the store where Jen is still busy working away, tugs me outside, to the safety of the parking lot out front. “Tell me everything,” she gushes.

“It was… fucking amazing,” I admit.

“Details,” she presses in a low whisper.

My cheeks burn even brighter. “Hell no! TMI is a real thing, Lara.”

“Oh god, you’re the worst. But fine, was he into the same stuff as you at least?”

I swallow hard, and manage to nod.

She beams. “That’s great! Hey, a guy just as insanely kinky as you, right? What is your thing, is it butt stuff?”

I groan and wave a hand in her face. “Stop it, Lara.”

“Foot fetish! I bet it’s a foot fetish.”

I burst into laughter. “Stop guessing.”

“Food? Maybe you like whipped cream smeared all over? I mean, you love baked goods…”

“You are the absolute worst,” I mutter as I push past her and storm back into the bakery.

“Well, at least you got your money’s worth, right?” she calls after me.

That’s when I stumble over my own feet, halfway back into the front of the store. Because I realize… I never paid.

At least, I don’t think I did? I never put my credit card on that website—I selected the cash payment option when it asked.

“What’s wrong?” Lara comes up beside me to peer at my expression. “What, was it that pricey?”

I shake my head. “It was fine,” I bluff. Then I sidestep her and pull up the site on my phone again, scrolling to payments. But nope, no card info. And I definitely chose cash. Damn. Maybe he charges me later, like an invoice or something? I refresh my email. But I don’t have any new messages from him. And I don’t have anything in my inbox about payments, either.

Weird.

Lara, for her part, has finally given up on asking questions, it seems. She turns to head back inside. “Well, at least you’ll be a little less of a stressball now,” she mumbles.

I stick my tongue out at her backside. Then I head back into work, still refreshing my inbox. Still confused.

That confusion only increases when an hour later, Lara ducks into the back room. “Carmine? Customer to see you.”

I dust flour off my hands, run them under the tap quickly, and duck out of my apron to head to the front. Halfway out the door, though, I freeze.

Lara leans in close, that mischievous grin on her face again. “Honestly, Carmine, way to pick ‘em. I didn’t even know guys like this existed in real life, but…”

Across the shop, Caleb leans in the doorway. He’s dressed in even better clothes than he wore last night—a really nice shirt along with dress slacks. The shirt sets off his jawline, and makes his gray eyes seem even more piercing than usual as he grins at me. The lopsided grin isn’t helping my knees function properly either.

“Is he as well-hung below the belt as above?” she whispers.

I manage to stomp on her foot without giving too much away, I think.

“Good morning,” I say when I’ve recovered enough to cross the store toward him.

He takes a moment to let his gaze drift over my body in that way he has, drinking in every inch of me before he responds, the grin still on his sexy fucking mouth. “You look good today, Carmine.”

“Back at you,” I respond, unable to help myself. “Tell me, do you always stalk your clients after encounters, or did you make a special visit just for me?”

His eyes dart past me when I say the word client, probably looking for Lara. But she’s too good at reading situations to have stuck around for this—I know she ducked into the back room to give us privacy.

Caleb relaxes a little. “It’s not normal practice, no. But then again, you aren’t normal, are you, dirty girl?”

“Only as filthy as you,” I remind him, voice lowered so Lara won’t hear me from the back room.

His grin widens. “Actually, I came to ask a favor.”

“You never charged me,” I say, already reaching for my wallet. “Did you forget, or…?”

But he’s shaking his head and wrapping a hand around mine, closing the wallet again between us. “I don’t want your money.”

My heart leaps into my throat. “Why not?”

“First round is free.” He winks.

“Sounds like bad business practice to me,” I point out with a raised eyebrow. Mostly to disguise how hot that makes me feel. My pussy is already getting wet just at his proximity.

He laughs and steps closer. His scent wraps around me, warm and familiar already, even after just one night together. “I’m kidding,” he says, and my heart sinks again.

Damn.

But he’s still holding my wallet shut.

“I didn’t charge you because I need a favor,” he says.

My brows contract, and I tilt my head with a frown.

“My sister needs a cake for her daughter,” he explains. “It’s her birthday on Monday. She actually…” He glances past me at the calendar on the wall. “She actually already booked one with you guys, but you got in touch and said you needed to cancel it next week. You offered a huge discount on another cake at a later time, which, don’t get me wrong, we totally appreciate, but it’s my niece’s birthday, and she had her heart set on this cake…”

My cheeks flush. Figures. You go and cancel just a few orders when you’ve gotten yourself snowed under, and what do you do? Decline to bake a cake for a nice little girl. A nice little girl who’s the niece of the hottest man on earth. The man who stuffed you fuller than you ever imagined possible just last night…

My whole body heats up with the memory of our night together, and it takes every ounce of energy I have to step away from him and draw in a deep breath of air. “I think we can work something out.” I frown at the calendar. “We’re booked solid today, but tomorrow, I could come into the store on my own and make something…”

“Actually.”

I glance back at him, eyes widening.

He lifts an eyebrow, still wearing that grin. “Would you like an assistant while you do?”

I blink. “Both our cooks will be off tomorrow, since it’s Sunday…”

“I meant me, silly.” He steps closer once more. I let him. I’m pinned between him and the counter now, the hard edge digging into my side. But I don’t move. I’m too distracted by the way he’s gazing down at me, desire white-hot in his eyes. He trails a fingertip up my arm, from my wrist all the way to my shoulder. It sends a riot of shivers throughout my body—not to mention a wet sensation starting between my thighs. “I’m eager to help you in any way I can, Carmine. I remember how much you enjoyed my assistance last night, after all.”

I swallow around a lump in my throat. “I… This is my… I work here, Caleb. We can’t hook up in the store.”

He laughs softly. “Who says I want to hook up with you here?” He tilts his head and playfully pushes my bra strap off my shoulder. “Although, now that you mention it, that does seem like just the dirty idea a girl like you would come up with…”

I clear my throat loudly. “Caleb.”

He laughs again. “I’m kidding. I’ll behave. I promise.” He steps back and fixes me with a stern look. “That is, if you can keep your imagination in check, filthy girl.”

My cheeks flush.

His smile widens. “Perfect. So see you tomorrow.”

“But.”

He raises a brow.

I clear my throat. “This is just a professional arrangement. Trade for a trade.”

His eyes search mine. “Of course, Carmine,” he says. Am I imagining the note of disappointment in his tone when he says that?

I must be.

I nod. “See you tomorrow, then.”

I watch the door swing shut behind him. But it takes far longer than that for my heart to stop racing. And as for the pool in my panties? Well, that’s going to take even longer to dry.