(The Good Check & the Good Eclair)

NOW

(Adena)

I opened the front door to the bakery and paused. The only other time I ever walked through the front door was the day I asked for a job.

Amy was behind the counter, organizing baked goods. She saw me through the glass and quickly stood up, straightening her body, her eyes going wide with shock.

I showed my hands. “I come in peace, Amy.”

“Right,” she said. “I mean, hey. Hi. What’s… up?”

“Nothing,” I said. “Mary Anne around?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I talk to her?”

“What for?” Amy asked.

“Really?”

“Sorry. It’s just… last time…”

“I know,” I said. “I shouldn’t have been back. I should have just stayed in the back. Or ignored everyone. Or just stayed home.”

“Are you okay?” Amy asked. “I mean, with everything…”

“I’m doing okay,” I said. “Thanks. “I just wanted to talk to her. And, well, I owe you an apology too. For that day. What happened. That was unfair to put you in that position. You tried to do the right thing as a good person and friend. I ignored you and I’m sure you took the brunt of whatever happened that day.”

“Well, to be honest, it wasn’t all that bad. That lady you threw the eclair at tried to cause a stir online. Mary Anne jabbed back a little, which was risky. But then people started to say she deserved it. Soon it became this event of people posting what they wanted to throw at her.”

“Oh. Wow.”

“The power of social media,” Amy said with a grin.

“So, about Mary Anne…”

“Right. I’ll go get her.”

Amy went into the back. I stared down at the glass case. All the delicious baked goods. I mentally thought about how I would have arranged everything. See, it was all about presentation. A feast for the eyes and then the stomach. To me, Mary Anne had too many big items on top. The top shelf should have been for the smaller stuff. The quick sales. The snack type stuff. And then lead down to the bigger items. The cakes, pies, whatever.

But, hey, it wasn’t my bakery, right?

“Well, there she is,” Mary Anne said, emerging from the back. “Figured you’d be trying out for a baseball team. Considering that ninety-mile-an-hour fastball with the eclair heard around the world.”

“Funny,” I said. “I wanted to apologize for that.”

“No need.”

“I wanted to give you something.” I reached into my pocket and took out the check Mary Anne gave me. “I don’t… not that I don’t want it. It’s just…”

“You don’t want it,” Mary Anne said.

“I mean, I could really use this. But it’s not fair.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know.”

Mary Anne put her hands to the counter. “Look. I know your bakery didn’t work out. I gave you the job here because you’re good at what you do. I’m sorry about your sister. I wanted to extend my condolences. Figured you could use the time off.”

“Do I have a job here?” I asked.

“If you show up,” Mary Anne said.

“I’m giving this check back because I’m not going to show up, Mary Anne. I’m sorry.”

“For how long?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I don't want to take your money and then take off.”

Mary Anne folded her arms. She took a deep breath and sighed. “Right. Well, here’s the way I see it. That check was your accrued vacation time. You never missed a day, Adena. You never got sick. You were always here, no matter the hell your sister caused you. I have to respect that. So you’re going to keep that check. As far as the other thing… okay.”

“Okay?” I asked.

“Okay.”

“So that means…”

Mary Anne crouched and a few seconds later popped up from behind the counter. She got a piece of tape and handed me a sign.

“Hang that up on the way out,” she said.

I looked down. It was a HELP WANTED sign.

I looked at Mary Anne but I didn’t say anything else. There wasn’t anything else to say.

I left the bakery but not before sticking the sign in the front window. That meant I was now simply a customer. And it also meant I had no job.

Yet it didn’t worry me one bit.

Why?

Before it could sink in, Evan called me…

* * *

“I’m pretty sure I lost my job today. For good.”

I was naked, hovering over Evan’s chiseled body. His hands held my hips tight, pulling at me, wanting me.

“What?” he asked, smiling.

“I don’t know why I just said that. Shit. I’m ruining this.”

“You’re not ruining a thing,” he said.

His hands eased up my body. I loved how rough his hands were yet his touch was gentle. He cupped under my breasts and slowly eased his thumbs across my nipples.

I dug my nails into his shoulders and sighed. “Evan…”

“So… tell me what happened.”

“What?” I asked. “We’re about to…”

I gently bucked my hips forward and felt his thickness touch me. I shivered. My body craved him. A deep need that hated me for what I had said to pause our moment.

“Dena, I want to hear about it.”

“Fuck.”

Evan let out an evil laugh.

He leaned forward and slid his arms to my back. Next thing I knew, we were at the opposite end of the bed. My head resting at the foot of the bed. On top of the covers. Our legs wrapped tight together. I felt the swell of his cock against my inner thigh, pulsing, ready to go.

My body was on fire.

Evan balanced himself on his left elbow, his right hand touching my cheek. He slowly drew a line down my face and paused at my neck.

“Go on, sweetheart,” he whispered.

“Evan…”

“Nope.”

I growled. “The lady that owns the bakery gave me a week’s pay after… you know… the funeral and stuff…”

“Okay,” Evan whispered.

He moved his finger down to my chest. Slowly, he began to circle around my left nipple.

I groaned. “So… I ended up throwing an eclair at someone.”

“You what?” Evan asked.

His finger kept moving.

“That’s a longer story,” I said.

“Okay,” he said.

Inching down, Evan added a second finger and made little circles as he climbed down my stomach.

“I shouldn’t have been there when it happened,” I said. “I went because it was a distraction. It was my fault. So I left that day. I never cashed the check. I never wanted it.”

“Of course not,” Evan said. “That’s not your style.”

His fingers paused at my lower stomach. My inner thighs trembled, waiting for him.

I looked at Evan. “What are you…”

“Keep telling me,” he whispered.

I bit my lip and swallowed hard. “Fine. I went there today to give the check back. She refused to take it. She said as long as I…” Evan started to move down some more. His fingertips were welcomed by my damp warmth. I sucked in a breath. “… as long as I showed up…”

His fingers eased down, cutting between my sensitive folds with ease. As his fingers curled, the pressure against my core made me shiver.

“Easy, sweetheart,” Evan teased. “Easy…”

My left hand grabbed his arm. “I fucking hate you right now.”

“You started this.”

“Shut up.”

“Tell me the rest of the story.”

“I told her I wasn’t coming back. So she told me to keep the check. Then she handed me a HELP WANTED sign and…”

Evan moved his fingers up and pressed against my tender nub. My hips bucked and my head fell back. I shut my eyes and felt a tingling warmth surge through my body.

“That was it then,” Evan whispered. His lips touched my neck. “Now you have no job.”

His fingers inched down and thrust forward.

I cried out as his fingers entered me. He was there and then just as fast, he was gone. He moved his hand up and rested against my most sensitive of areas.

I caught my breath and looked at him.

“I’m lost, Evan,” I whispered. “I can say that to you because I trust you. I don’t know where anything is going or what I’m doing.”

“That’s a lie, Dena,” he said. “You know what you’re doing. You’re here with me. We’re stealing back some of the time that was stolen from us. And everything else around us? Fuck it all.”

I smiled. “Fuck it all.”

His lips touched mine. He moved over my body and now wasted no time in lowering himself down to me. My hands snuck down and touched his stomach, feeling hard muscle flexing tight as he began to have me.

I kissed him as I groaned, my body still adjusting to that first shock of pressure. But, oh, what a shock it was to experience.

His hands traveled down my body to my hips and right back up. Evan grabbed my hands and inched them up over my head. My arms dangled off the edge of the bed. His hands gripped the edge of the bed right as he inched up to his knees. He thrust harder and I could feel him deeper, tempting spots that had been forever untouched.

He sent me over the edge of climax in record time, which seemed unfair, but who would ever complain about that? Plus, he was so good at it. Knowing when I hit that moment and the way he held there, pumping himself without exiting me, my body aching and clenching as I quickly reached for his back.

Evan pulled at me, almost sitting me up as his hands held me tight. He eased back until he was sitting at the top of the bed, me now on top of him. He was still inside me. Our bodies connected. And everything was still. At least on the outside. On the inside, my body waged ten wars and seventeen battles. Every single one of them I was losing and was more willing to lose. Each one brought me closer to Evan, going far beyond the physical contact between us.

His hands spread wide across my back. His stare was threatening to my heart. His right hand slid up into my hair. Curling his hand shut, pulling just enough to make me groan.

He thrust up at me.

I moaned.

“That’s right, sweetheart,” he whispered.

He pulled a little harder at my hair, forcing my head back. He ran his lips gently up and down my neck, not kissing me once, just torturing me.

Using his other hand, he grabbed for one side of my ass and didn’t need to say a word for what he wanted. Pulling, lifting me, then right back down I went.

After two times I reached back and grabbed his hand.

I put his hand to my chest and kissed him.

I curled my lip at him and whispered, “That’s right…”

Evan tried to smirk but I didn’t give him the chance. I kissed him. And I started to buck my hips, taking all of him, giving all of me.

Within seconds, I lost my mind.

Evan’s hands soon felt like he was covering my entire body.

I had no job. I had no money. I had… what felt like nothing.

But all I had to do was open my eyes as I felt Evan inside me. And look at him.

Just like that, I had everything.