Chapter Two
Finn
“Finn!” a very loud, very obnoxious female voice yelled.
I groaned, but ignored her.
“Finn!”
Dammit!
“Finn!”
I groaned, then yelled back, “What? I’m working on the Fenwick order!”
“You need to come out here!” she yelled back.
When I ignored that, she yelled my name again, and I knew that she wouldn’t shut the hell up until I walked out of the back room. So I wiped my hands on my apron and headed to the front counter.
“What?” I asked Layla, who was one of my best friends. My other one happened to be her husband.
She glared at me for giving her an attitude, then smirked and nodded toward the front of the store. When I saw what she was nodding at—or rather, who she was nodding at—I had to hold in another groan.
Then I whisper-yelled at her, “You could’ve at least warned me. I’m freaking covered in flour and dye and I’m wearing a bandana, for fuck’s sake.” I held up my hands to show her that I’d accidentally dyed my hands blue when I was coloring some fondant for the cake topper I was designing, then pointed to the rolled-up bandana I’d been using to keep my hair out of my face. I chastised, “I already mixed in the tylose powder, too. I’m gonna be pissed if it hardens up before I get back.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Dude, I’ve been working with you for years. I know it doesn’t work that fast. I’m not an idiot.”
I stuck my tongue out at her. Of course, she was right; I used the tylose powder mixed with fondant for my sculpted cake toppers, and it usually took hours to dry it out. I’d just wanted to give her shit about it since she’d been trying to hook me up with Mr. Perky Ass over there for a few weeks. We didn’t even know if he was gay, and I certainly didn’t think he’d be interested in me. All I really did know about him was that he was a party planner and had recently started ordering cakes and things for various events he planned. He was one of the hottest guys I’d ever seen, and I was, well, me. Nothing special there. I wasn’t fat, per se, but I was definitely a little… squishy. There were no hard abs or tight pecs. My arms and shoulders were okay, I guess. I mean, I had some toned biceps from rolling and dyeing fondant. But that was pretty much all I had going for me… and you couldn’t even see my arms and shoulders when I was wearing the bakery t-shirt I had on. At least my apron covered up my pudge a little.
Layla pushed my shoulder. “Go say hi to him.”
“Layla, I’m not going over there.”
She glared.
I looked up to the ceiling, looking for patience before looking back at her. “Seriously, Layla, he doesn’t want me bothering him. I’m just going to go back and finish that topper.”
“Gawd. You are so fucking frustrating. He likes you. Go over there and talk to him.”
“No.”
She lifted an eyebrow with a devious expression on her face and I knew I was screwed. The next thing I knew, she knocked the Free Samples tray off the showcase onto the floor on the other side of the case. Then the little witch smirked and practically dove through the door to the back room, leaving me to clean up her mess.
I sighed, then walked around the side of the counter to clean it up. I was so going to kill her later.
“Here, let me get that.” Mr. Perky Ass surprised me by squatting down beside me and taking the fallen tray out of my hand.
I was so shocked that I let him take it and literally sat there staring at him for a good minute before finally coming to my senses and helping him place the now-floor-ridden cake samples on the tray. “Thanks,” I squeaked out.
He shot me a smile and I was blown away by it. Not only did Mr. Perky Ass have the finest ass this side of the city, he had the most genuine and beautiful smile to go along with it. “No problem,” he said quietly before grabbing my hand and taking the piece of cake I’d been crumbling out of my fist and throwing it on the tray. “I’m Tad.” He glanced at my nametag, then back into my eyes. “Finn, right?”
All I could do was nod. He had these green eyes that almost radiated kindness. I was caught in his gaze.
His smile grew. “So you’re the one that made all these sculptures?”
I blinked at him, then glanced around and realized that he meant all the cake toppers I’d shellacked to save as samples. I looked back at Mr. Perky Ass, er, um, Tad, then I cleared my throat and corrected him. “Cake toppers. Yeah, I made them.”
He grabbed my wrist and pulled me up with one hand while his other held the tray. “You’re very talented.”
I coughed a little in embarrassment, then cleared my throat again. “Thank you.”
“Do you do the baking too?”
“Uh… I do a little bit… I mean, I know how to do it, but I usually just do the decorating. Layla and her husband Griffin do most of the baking. It’s not my… favorite thing to do.” When I was nervous, I couldn’t help but keep talking. “But yeah, sometimes I bake, like this morning because Griff had to run to the store since one of our deliveries got screwed up and we were running low on eggs. But typically I do the designs and decorations.” I shrugged. “Layla’s a much better baker than me.”
He set the tray on the counter, then grabbed my wrist again and flipped my hand over so he was looking at my palm. “What are you working on that dyed your hands blue?”
“Oh.” I felt my cheeks flame up. “I’m working on this baby shower cake. The client’s having a boy, so I’m making this mother and son giraffe, but in blue, so I needed several different shades to make the spots and ears and everything. They’re going to be really cute.” Impossibly, my cheeks heated even more.
“I’d love to hear more about the other things you’re working on, but I have to get back to work. Would you let me take you out to dinner?”
I stared at him with wide eyes.
He chuckled. “What do you say? I could pick you up tonight?”
I stared for a few more seconds before nodding slowly.
He smiled and his eyes lit up. “Good.” He stepped closer to me so our noses were only a few inches apart and I gasped when he reached into my back pocket. He grinned, then stepped back and started typing on my phone that he’d stolen from my ass pocket. Then he stepped in close and replaced my phone while I stood stock-still in shock. This time he didn’t back up, he spoke quietly so his breath was a whisper across my lips. “Text me your address and I’ll pick you up at seven tonight.”
I nodded and licked my lips.
Tad tugged on my bandana, then let his fingers lightly brush my cheek as he dropped his hand, making me shiver as he whispered, “I’ll see you later, handsome.”
I nodded again, and the next thing I knew, he was out the door, jumping into his car out front. I leaned over, resting my hands on my thighs as I tried to catch my breath.
“Holy shit.”
I looked over to see Layla standing behind the counter with wide eyes.
“I assume you heard the whole thing?” I asked, still out of breath, but knowing she would've been eavesdropping.
She nodded, then a smile slowly spread across her face. “You lucky bastard.”
I started laughing, then stood to get back to work.
***
The first time we’d gone out, I didn’t think I’d ever been that nervous on a date before. I’d barely said two words the entire evening because my brain seemed to be incapable of forming sentences. But Tad was very patient and kind, and his smile never faltered. I could only assume that he thought my nervousness was funny, though it didn’t seem like he was laughing at me or anything.
We’d gone out twice more since then, and I was really starting to enjoy his company… but we hadn’t even kissed yet. And I didn’t know if I really wanted to.
“I don’t think your friend, Griffin, likes me very much,” Tad said to me.
I sighed. “He’s just… a little protective, I guess.”
Tad tilted his head. “Why?”
I shrugged. I didn’t really want to go into it. “He’s been like that since college.”
“You guys went to college in Baltimore, right?”
“Yeah. Layla and I went to South Benson Culinary School. And Griff went to Beckinridge University, but yeah, all in Baltimore.”
He nodded. “Where are you originally from? I can tell from your accent that you’re not from around here. How long have you lived here?”
I scoffed at that. “I do not have an accent.”
He grinned. “It’s not very pronounced, but it’s still there.”
I rolled my eyes good-naturedly. “I grew up in New Hampshire, but I’ve lived in the lovely Sunberry, Nevada for close to eight years. I moved out here with Layla and Griffin when they decided to move closer to their families and open a bakery.” I’d already told him that the three of us owned the bakery together. For the most part, Griffin did the books, Layla did the baking, and I did the decorating, though we all helped with all of the jobs, but that was where our passions lay. But Griffin or I helped Layla in the mornings since we were now doing breakfast foods too, and we all made deliveries on the weekends. Generally speaking, we all worked well as a team.
“So you met them in college and moved all the way out here with them.”
It wasn’t a question, but I still answered anyway. “Yeah. We’ve been stuck together ever since.” I smiled, remembering when I’d met Layla my freshman year, then how we’d met Griffin the following year. The two of them had been stuck at the hip since they started dating months after that. Though they never made me feel like the third wheel or anything. They were basically the only family I had left at this point.
“That’s nice,” he said. “I’ve been go—”
He never got a chance to finish his sentence because suddenly our waiter appeared beside me. Only I hadn’t realized I’d stuck my foot out to the side and the poor guy tripped and the tray, with all of our food, went flying through the air. Tad tried to duck and cover his face with his arms, but he was too late. The tray hit him right in the head and his temple started bleeding. Badly.
I heard him hiss in pain while the waiter on the ground groaned.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” I said to them both. “Are you okay?”
I reached down and helped the waiter off the ground before moving to the other side of the table to sit beside Tad and hold a few napkins to his bleeding head. I could tell the poor guy was in a lot of pain, but was trying to hold it in for my benefit. I lifted the wad of napkins and the cut started gushing blood. I pressed the napkins back down immediately.
Tad closed his eyes and bit his lip.
The manager came over to speak with us, apologizing and saying that he’d call an ambulance if we needed it. Tad refused. But after the manager walked away, I said to him, “It’s not even slowing down. I think you need stitches.”
He didn’t open his eyes, but he did groan.
“Let me take you to the hospital, okay?”
“Great. Our date is off to an awesome start.”
I smiled at that, even though he couldn’t see me. “I think it’s going pretty good, actually. Much better than the one I went on where the guy left without telling me before we’d paid, so I got stuck with the bill.”
He let out a little chuckle, but it turned into a groan of pain.
“Do you have a headache?” I asked.
“Yeah. The light is making it worse.”
“Shit,” I whispered. “Okay, I’m taking you. Let me take care of the bill, and I’ll get you to the hospital.”
“’Kay.”
I waved the waiter over, but he’d already been heading my way with the first aid kit. I put a couple of butterfly bandages over Tad’s wound, though I was sure it’d need some real stitches since I had no clue what I was doing. The manager told us they weren’t charging for the wine or food—we’d only had an appetizer, since our plates ended up scattered on the floor. So I helped Tad stand and walked him to his car. Luckily he didn’t mind me driving his car, otherwise we’d have had to take a taxi.
Once we made it to the emergency room and checked in, we ended up sitting in the waiting room for a good twenty minutes before the triage nurse called us back. Tad asked me to come with him because he hated hospitals, so I obliged. I didn’t exactly like hospitals—who did, really?—but it didn’t bother me like it did some.
The nurse checked the wound and covered it with gauze for the time being, but told us we’d have to wait for a doctor to look at it. So we went to sit in yet another waiting room.
“Thank you for staying with me,” Tad said quietly.
I grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. “No problem. It’s the least I can do.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“The guy tripped over my foot, so it kinda is.”
He sighed. “Don’t stay just because you’re feeling guilty. You can go home. I know it’s late.”
I squeezed his hand again. “I’m good right here. I don’t leave my…” I was going to call him my friend, but I didn’t know if that’d be weird. Though for some reason, since our second date, I’d been getting more of a friend-vibe from him, rather than a boyfriend one, even if he was seriously hot.
He sighed again. “Friend… yeah… I know.”
I just stared at him, even though his eyes were closed and his head was tilted back, resting on the wall behind us. How the hell had he read my mind like that?
After a minute, he said, “I’m pretty sure my pride has been wounded, so maybe we can just start as friends and see what happens.”
“Oh, um… okay.”
He finally looked at me and sent me a small smile. “You good with that?”
I smiled back. “Yeah. I am.” I gave his hand another squeeze, though neither of us let go.
After another minute, he said, “My ex works here.”
“In the hospital?”
“Yeah, the ER.”
I could tell by the sound of his voice that whatever had happened between him and his ex had hurt him badly. Was still hurting him. So I whispered, “I won’t leave you, okay? Even if your asshole ex shows up.”
He cracked a smile at that. “Thank you, Finn.”
“You’re welcome.” I lifted his hand and kissed the back of it. Now that there wasn’t as much pressure on the whole dating thing, I felt a little more comfortable acting like myself. And I wanted to offer him some comfort.
He smiled at me, then scooted down in his chair and rested against my shoulder. It was kinda nice, actually. Minus the whole still-bleeding thing.
A nurse called us back to a room—an hour later—and made Tad lie on the hospital bed. So I sat in a chair beside the bed and resumed holding his hand once he was settled. The nurse then informed us that the doctor would be right with us.
“Oh my god, Tad,” a voice I immediately recognized said before I could see the source. “I saw your name up on the board and had to come see if you were o…” the man stopped in his tracks and stared at me, “…kay.”
The man I’d never thought in a million years I’d ever see again stood in the doorway. I opened my mouth in shock, unable to even comprehend what I was seeing. The man I’d loved as a teenager, the man I’d wanted to spend my life with, the man I’d left behind, stood there with his wide amber eyes.
I’d thought that back when we were eighteen he was sexy, but holy shit did he fill out. I could tell, even with his doctor’s coat on, that he was all muscle. He’d grown a couple of inches, which wasn’t surprising since he’d grown at least an inch in the last summer we’d spent together. He had some scruff on his face, like he hadn’t shaved in a couple days, which just added to his appearance. Holy shit. The last time I’d seen him, he’d been just a boy, but now… now he was all delicious man.
A myriad of emotions rose to the surface, but I let out a breath and whispered, “Aaron?”