GINA

 

The usual morning rush consisted of people who needed their caffeine and sugar fix for the rest of the day. But the start of the weekend meant there weren’t as many people in the bakery. There were just enough customers to keep me occupied but not enough to have me scrambling all over the place. I didn’t have weekends off, so I was grateful that I could enjoy my Saturdays the same as everybody else in town.

It was the middle of the day on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

“Hello, Gina!”

I looked up as the bell attached to the front door rang. My boss Lydia waddled forward with a big smile on her face. Every day she looked closer and closer to exploding. I giggled at the sight of her.

“Hey, boss,” I responded.

“How are you doing this afternoon?”

“I’m… I’m doing just fine.”

I was focused on cleaning the display case. So focused I didn’t notice her standing right next to me, staring at me.

“What’s with you?” I asked.

“So… How was it?”

“How was what?”

“Oh, come on! You went out last night. For the first time in a long time. I take it you had a good time.”

“Well…”

Lydia wasn’t just my boss. She was my best friend, too. There was nothing I would have been ashamed to talk to her about. But there was something about the obnoxious grin on her face that made me reluctant to spill all of the details about the night before.

“It went fine,” I said nonchalantly. “I had a drink. I danced a little bit.”

“And then?”

“And then I went home.”

“And then?”

“And then I fell asleep.”

“Gina…”

She used the same tone of voice my parents would use when they thought I was hiding something from them.

I couldn’t deny that the time I spent with Dorian was still on my mind. Just hugging him as I rode his chopper through the streets would stick with me for a long time.

I bit my lip as I tried to stop from grinning at the thought of it.

“I’m not gonna leave you alone until you tell me,” she said.

“Yeah, well, hopefully your water breaks before then…”

“Hmm… He must really be something special.”

There were only a few customers in the bakery but the place was small enough for them to overhear. I sighed a deep breath knowing my boss wasn’t gonna let this go.

“All right,” I sighed.

I walked to the back of the bakery and Lydia followed right behind me. She plopped down into a chair and leaned forward with her eyes wide and her grin even wider.

“What happened?” she said. “I want all the details.”

“I don’t think that’s appropriate.”

“Oh, please! I’m not some prude. You can tell me.”

“Since when did you carry about the details of my sexual exploits? Sean not giving it to you good enough?”

“Sean’s giving it to me just fine. Not lately, because of the baby and all. But I’m curious. Maybe you can give Sean and me some ideas.”

“Hmm… I never thought of it that way.”

“So, tell me.”

I shrugged as I tried to figure out a way to explain it to her.

“What’s there to tell?” I said. “I met a guy.”

“Okay. What was he like? Hot?”

“Really hot. Tall. Tattoos. Leather vest.”

“Okay, okay. Club member?”

“Yeah.”

“Go on…”

The eagerness on Lydia’s face kept making me giggle. I turned around to see if there were any customers waiting for me, hoping for a chance to escape my nosy boss.

“We talked,” I said. “I had a drink.”

“And then?”

“And then we did some stuff and he gave me a ride home.”

“Hold on,” she said as she put her hands up. “You skipped over the best part.”

I looked at her and sighed again. I knew she wasn’t going to stop until she got every last detail.

“He took me out back,” I said. “And then I went down on him. That’s it.”

“That’s it? Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. I wasn’t drunk.”

“That seems kinda tame coming from you, Gina. Most of your stories are kinda wild…”

“I guess it’s wild if you consider I was sitting on Sheriff Sutton’s police cruiser while I was doing it.”

“You gave a club member head while you were sitting on Sheriff Sutton’s car? I knew you still had it in you!”

She rocked her head back and cackled like some sort of evil villain. I couldn’t help but giggle right along with her.

“It was fun,” I said. “That’s all it was though.”

“That’s all that matters,” she said as she stopped laughing.

She used all of her strength to push herself back up to her feet. Lydia put a hand on my shoulder and smiled softly at me.

“I’m glad you had fun,” she said. “After what happened to you… You shouldn’t let that stop you from going out there and being who you are. If there’s anything you need from me…”

“I know. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. I’m fine, really. It was a good night out. I don’t know when I’ll do it again but it was nice to get it out of the way and party like I used to.”

“You’re still young. You shouldn’t hold yourself back. Speaking of which…”

“What is it?”

I raised an eyebrow, curious at her sudden change in tone.

“I hired a few new workers,” she said. “Once the baby comes, I won’t be around here as often as I can be.”

“You shouldn’t even be around here now with that baby ready to come out.”

“Maybe you’re right. In any case, you’ll be training some new staff. You won’t have as many hours but it means you’ll have a pay raise.”

“A raise, hmm? That’s always nice.”

“And you’ve got more free time. I know you want to get out there, Gina. I know the bakery isn’t as important to you as it is to me. I appreciate all of your hard work. But I can’t ask you to do any more than you’re already doing. Fewer hours means you’ll get more time to yourself.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good thing,” I sighed. “In this town, it’s tough to find something to occupy myself with.”

“I don’t think you’ll have much trouble.”

Just as she finished, the bell on the front door rang. I didn’t think much about it as I headed back out to the front of the bakery. But as soon as I saw him, my heart stopped in my chest.

Shit.

It was him. Dorian. In the flesh. Sauntering his way toward the front counter in the only way he could.

Leather kutte. Baggy blue jeans. The ink on his arms more apparent underneath the sunlight. He looked just as handsome as he did the other night.

“Hey!” he greeted me. “Look who it is.”

“Dorian… What are you doing here?”

“I came here to see you and say hello.”

“How… How did you know I work here?”

“Come on, Gina. It’s a small town. The other Reapers know you. It’s not that hard to figure out.”

“I guess not…”

“Well… Who do we have here?”

When Dorian walked into the bakery, I’d forgotten that my boss was still there with me.

“You two know each other?” Lydia asked.

“Lydia,” I said. “This is Dorian. I went to high school with him.”

“Oh! That’s right! Now I know why you look so familiar. You were in the papers!”

Dorian nodded.

I bit my bottom lip to hide my smile but I couldn’t stop my cheeks from blushing. I never got embarrassed around a guy but I couldn’t help it now. All of a sudden, it was like I was back in high school.

Lydia shifted her eyes back and forth between Dorian and me. I could practically see the gears turning her head. The smirk forming on her lips made it clear what she was thinking.

“You’re a Reaper,” she said as she glanced down at the patch on his chest.

“Black Reaper,” Dorian said with a nod. “Finest in Ivory.”

“Not bad, Gina.”

Lydia turned back to me. I rolled my eyes, trying to hide the embarrassment I could feel burning through the rest of my body. Dorian stood there with a bit of confusion on his face, wondering why my boss was grinning like a moron.

“Gina says she knows you from high school,” Lydia said. “How about a donut? It’s on the house. A friend of Gina’s is a friend of mine.”

“No thanks,” he replied. “I’m not a big fan of sugar. Though I do know how delicious the donuts are here.”

“Suit yourself.”

“Lydia,” I said. “You know, I was having a bit of problem with the mixer in the back. I was wondering if you might be able to go back there and check it out for me. You were always better with the machinery than me.”

I clenched my jaw and widened my eyes at her, trying to tell her to go away without so many words. Lydia smirked at me then turned back to Dorian.

“It was nice meeting you, Dorian,” she said. “Don’t be a stranger now.”

She gave him a wink before waddling to the back of the bakery. I sighed a deep breath as soon as she disappeared.

“What’s her deal?” Dorian said.

“She’s just teasing me. I told her about what happened last night and you just happened to show up.”

“Oh, right. Bad timing. Sorry about that.”

“There’s no need to be sorry. I’m happy to see you. So… what really brings you here?”

He gave me a confused look.

“You,” he said.

“Me? You mean you’re really not here to pick up some donuts or a cup of coffee?”

“Is it that surprising?”

“No, it’s just…”

I looked into Dorian’s gray eyes. He seemed sincere enough. But he still had a youthful face despite being a year older than me. I couldn’t help but think of the popular guy in high school who never paid attention to me. Here he was now, going out of his way just to talk to me.

“It’s just what?” he said.

He scratched the side of his temple in confusion, his dark brown hair patted down on his head. Even the muscles on his arms were distracting and making it hard for me to focus.

“It’s nothing,” I said, blinking and shaking my head to clear my thoughts. “What was it you wanted to talk about?”

“There’s not much going on at the clubhouse. With the feds in town, every club is on lockdown. The club isn’t holding any events and the meetings aren’t being called. And I’ve got a late shift at the station, so I’ve got a lot of free time.”

“So you decided to come here and pay me a visit?”

“Sure. Unless you’re too busy—”

“No, no, no! I’m not busy. I’m not busy at all. I could use the company, actually.”

“You don’t mind if I hang around?”

With Lydia still in the back, I was a bit hesitant of having Dorian in the same building as her. But I wasn’t about to kick him out.

“Make yourself at home,” I said. “I’m gonna be working for a few hours though, just to let you know.”

“That’s cool. I was thinking… Maybe later tonight we could hang out.”

“Hang out?”

“Like dinner. Is that… something you’re interested in?”

He stared at me with a confident smile on his face. Looking into his eyes, I couldn’t get past him. Dorian Sullivan. The most popular guy in high school was asking me out to dinner.

“Gina?”

“What?”

“Do you wanna have dinner tonight?”

“Oh! Right! Sure… That sounds like it would be all right.”

“I really don’t have much to do, so I’ll probably be sitting around here for a few hours.”

“The lounge chairs are pretty comfortable.”

I laughed awkwardly. Dorian smiled as he took a seat at the corner of the bakery. I went back to work cleaning the display case.

Lydia waddled back out to the front of the bakery and saw Dorian sitting by himself.

“You know, I can let you off early if you want—”

“That’s all right,” I said. “I’m not in any hurry.”

She leaned in close to me and whispered.

“He’s hot. Nice catch.”

She gave me another obnoxious wink as she left me to my work. I was already looking forward to spending some time with Dorian tonight. Not having to deal with my nosy boss only made me want the hours to go by even faster.