Chapter Three
Gabrielle
"For the love of all that is holy Gabrielle, go out there."
I hissed and waved my hand at Skylar, trying to quiet her. Pressing on the door to the kitchen just enough that it opened a few inches, I leaned forward and looked out into the lobby. He was still there. Staring at my truffles. The man was so indescribably gorgeous I had immediately lost my mind when he walked into the shop and disappeared into the kitchen. I'd been standing back here for several minutes now, occasionally peeking out to see if he was still there, and didn't really know what to do from here. If I walked out there now, I would not only have to try to talk to him, but I would also have to come up with some reason why I had gone into the kitchen and just didn't come back. If I stayed here and continued to engage in my mild voyeurism, oh, he might leave and take his sexy body and money right along with him. I knew that for the future of my business I should be more concerned about the money, but right then it was the body I was more reluctant to lose.
"Can I get some assistance, please?" he called.
Oh, damn.
"He's asking for assistance," my sister said. "Go out there and assist him."
"I can't," I said.
"Why?" she asked.
"I'm too busy," I said.
I looked around and then stepped up to the counter where I had been making tiny pink sugar paste roses to go on top of buttercream-filled domes. Though I already had three trays full and set aside drying, I made a big show of starting more. Skylar gave a dramatic shove and pushed through the door into the lobby. I immediately put down the sugar paste and went back to my spot beside the door. I caught the door as it swung toward me and held it just a few inches open so I could watch Skylar with the gorgeous man. He stepped up to the display case and pointed in at one of the trays.
"What's in that one?" he asked.
"Ummmm…" Skylar said.
"Coffee," I muttered under my breath, hoping that some sort of psychic sister link would make her hear me. "Coffee."
"That's….ummmm…."
She seriously needed to get better at her job.
"Coffee," I hissed a little louder.
Skylar stood on her toes and looked down through the glass top of the case as if somehow looking at the chocolates from a different angle would miraculously tell her the filling.
"It looks like...well, there's a little light brown swirl on top."
I no longer believe tiny paper signs clutter a display case. I no longer believe tiny paper signs clutter a display case. I no longer believe tiny paper signs clutter a display case.
"It's coffee," I whispered again.
Apparently being a few years apart in age kind of takes away that whole twinning thing you hear about.
Skylar let out a sigh.
"I'll be right back."
She turned toward the kitchen and I scurried back to the counter. I picked up the sugar paste again, hoping that she didn't notice that there wasn't a single new rose made. She pushed through the door and grabbed me by my elbow.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
She started pulling me toward the door and I tossed the sugar paste back onto the counter just before stumbling out of the kitchen and into the lobby. Skylar managed to remain in the kitchen even after tossing me out so I stood there alone, feeling framed by the black-and-white checkerboard of the floor tiles. The gorgeous man looked at me over the top of the display case, his piercing blue eyes seeming to hold me in place for a few seconds. Finally, I managed to take a step toward the case and give what I hoped was a smile that was friendly and welcoming, and not bordering on maniacal as I felt it might be.
"Hi," I said.
"Hi," he said.
His voice was silky enough for me to gather up with a spoon and pour into a dark chocolate shell and I felt my mouth watering just listening to him.
"Is there something I can get for you?"
He looked up at me and I saw his eyes trace my face and then make their way down my body, taking in the curves I had tucked in my pink and white uniform. In that moment I became intensely aware of the uniform and how I looked in it. I was very aware that as the owner of the shop and exclusive full-time employee, I had total control over what I wore. I could have gone for black slacks, and black shirt, and an apron for a sleek look befitting the gourmet concept, or a pair of jeans and a t-shirt for something more casual and approachable. And yet I had gone for a pink and white striped dress that looked very similar to something a young woman would wear when tending to a surprisingly healthy-looking patient in a 1940s hospital-themed porn.
I should have gone for about three inches more fabric.
His tongue briefly touched his bottom lip as he pointed to the chocolate that he had been asking Skylar about.
"I just wanted to know what's inside that one," he said.
"Coffee cream," I said. "The swirl on top is hazelnut."
He nodded.
"That sounds delicious," he said.
"Would you like to sample one?" I asked.
"Sure," he said.
I reached into the case and used the pair of delicate metal tongs to lift one of the chocolates off the tray and place it on a square of waxed paper on my palm. I held it out to him and he took it, our hands briefly brushing against one another. The touch of his skin sent a slight shiver through me and I felt color splash onto my cheeks and heat creep up the back of my neck. I chastised myself for my reaction. The man had just taken a piece of chocolate out of my hand. He hadn't popped me into his mouth. I watched as he bit through the chocolate in a way that said more about his class and upbringing than his exquisite suite and polished appearance.
As soon as the flavor touched his tongue, his eyes fluttered closed and he made an appreciative sound.
"That's amazing," he said.
"Thank you. It's my own recipe."
"I'll take a box of them, please."
I smiled and took out one of the small cardboard window boxes I had thought were wonderful and promptly over-purchased.
"Is that your biggest box?" he asked.
I looked up at him, somewhat confused.
"It's my only sized box," I admitted.
People generally bought either one or two individual truffles or a box of six. I hadn't gotten around to getting a box that would accommodate more.
Which, upon retrospection, might not have boded well for my self-confidence regarding my business.
"Then I'll take four," he said. "Do you have anything else that you came up with?"
I looked at the display case.
"All of it," I said. "They're all recipes I came up with. Except for the solid chocolate. That's just… chocolate."
Lovely. Very smooth.
"Then I'll trust you to pick the flavors for me. Three more, please. Four boxes of each."
I looked at him incredulously for a few moments. This man looked like nothing calorically-endowed had ever passed his lips and that he spent his life chiseling his body. What in the living hell was he going to do with nearly a hundred truffles?
"Are you sure?" I asked.
I realized that I was doing spectacularly well in trying to talk myself out of the largest single sale that I had seen in my business so far, but I was too stunned to stop myself.
"Yes," he said. "If that's alright, of course."
I nodded and started filling boxes.
"It's alright," I reassured him, trying not to sound as desperately grateful as I felt.
I filled the boxes and stacked them on the counter. I kept expecting Skylar to come out of the kitchen to help me, but I was on my own right up to the last box. When I finished, I added it to the stacks that I had organized by flavor, adding salted caramel, mint, and dark chocolate ganache to the coffee. He eyed the boxes and I realized that it was going to be difficult for him to carry.
"One second," I said. "I'll get something for you to put them in."
I shot through the kitchen door and into the stock room where I hoped that I would be able to find something that could hold all of the smaller boxes among my ingredients. Finally settling on the cardboard tray that once held cans of sweetened condensed milk, I rushed back out to the lobby.
Only to find it empty.
The gorgeous man was gone. So were all of the boxes of chocolates. I let out a defeated sigh before I noticed that he had left something on the counter. I walked up to it and found a note written on the back of one of the takeaway menus I kept stacked next to the register.
I'll be back. Come up with something else amazing.
I felt my heart jump a little in my chest. It started pounding, however, when I noticed the stack of bills that had been under the note. I picked them up and counted them. My hands were shaking slightly and I was still staring at them when Skylar finally came out of the kitchen.
"What?" she asked.
"He overpaid me."
"By how much?"
"Three times the cost of the chocolates."
Skylar gasped and I looked at her, shaking my head.
"It must be a mistake. He did it by accident."
"No," she said. "The prices are right there," she pointed to the price list on the wall. "That man did not look like someone who struggles to do math."
"Then why did he do it?"
"Because he liked your chocolates," she said.
I glared at her.
"Why didn't you come out here and help me?" I asked. "It took me forever to fill those boxes, and he was standing there staring at me the whole time."
"Exactly."
"What?"
"He looked like he was hungrier for you than he was for the chocolate. I didn't want to disturb that."
I felt myself blush and looked away, busying myself with rearranging trays of chocolates that didn't need to be rearranged.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
But I felt her words burrowing into me. I thought that I had seen something in his eyes when he looked at me, but I tried to ignore it, to tell myself that I wasn't seeing what I thought I was. I couldn't be. Someone that sexy and put together couldn't want anything to do with a sheltered virgin who was barely scraping by. He just really enjoyed the coffee cream.
Over the next few days, I cloistered myself in my kitchen both at home and at the shop, trying to come up with something new. I didn't even know the man's name, and yet I was turning myself into a culinary mad scientist trying to craft something that he would enjoy. Not knowing what he might enjoy, however, made this more difficult. Would he like something more classic? Or would he prefer an adventurous flavor combination? Would he want a solid, creamy filling? Or would he be excited by something liquidy or even crunchy?
The longer that I thought about the different flavor options, the more personal it felt, and I found my mouth watering and my body tingling when I thought about him putting the chocolate on his tongue and licking the sweet filling from his lips.
Three days after his first visit, he walked into the shop again. He was smiling, his eyes locked on me as he crossed the tile and came up to the counter. I offered him a smile, proud of myself for not giggling and somewhat hating myself that I would even feel like that was potentially a legitimate response.
"Hi, there," he said.
"You came back."
"I said I would." We smiled a little bigger at each other and he extended his hand. "I'm Jackson," he said.
I took his hand and he shook it.
"Gabrielle," I said. "It's nice to meet you, Jackson."
"Does anyone ever call you Gabby?"
My nose wrinkled.
"Not if they expect me to answer them."
Jackson laughed.
"Alright, then. So, Gabrielle, do you have a special treat for me?"
I felt a shiver roll through me. It felt like so much more than a question about truffles. I nodded.
"I do," I said. I reached into the case and pulled out the tray that I had tucked at the bottom. "It's a green apple pate de fruit surrounded by caramel and coated in white chocolate and then milk chocolate."
"What are the sparkly things?" he asked as I handed him one of the confections.
I laughed, not expecting that from someone who looked and carried himself like him.
"That's sanding sugar," I said. "I was inspired by the caramel apples I used to eat with my sister when we went to theme parks on our family vacations when I was younger. They always had milk chocolate and then white chocolate with colored sanding sugar."
"So why did you do the milk chocolate on top?"
"I like the way it looks," I admitted.
He nodded.
"Fair enough."
I felt strangely nervous as he looked at the chocolate again and then took a bite out of it. His eyes widened and he popped the rest of the chocolate into his mouth.
"That's amazing," he said.
Isn't that what he said last time?
"Thank you."
We've had this conversation.
"Pack them up," he said.
"How many?"
"All of them."
I blinked a few times.
"All of them?"
"All of them. I have clients I want to send gifts to and these are perfect. There's a good chance that several of them are going to be gone while I'm still in the car."
I packed the boxes, reminding myself again that I probably needed to start investing in larger boxes, if only for the chance that he would keep coming in and buying me out. Skylar hadn't come into the shop that day and the fact that we were alone was almost tangible. It took me several minutes to fill all of the boxes and I piled them on the counter again.
"I'll be right back," I said and went into the storeroom to get one of the plastic crates from the storeroom. I carried it back toward the front. "It's not glamorous, but it will hold the boxes."
Just like the first time, I came out of the kitchen and Jackson was gone.
Again all of the chocolates had somehow gone with him.
Again he had overpaid me several times over.
Again he left a note asking for something new and delicious.
And again I felt like my panties were going to melt with the heat that he created.
I wasn't expecting to see him again for a few days, but I was just opening the shop from lunch again when he walked back in. There was another man standing next to him and I had to look twice to make sure that they weren't identical. The second man was almost Jackson's copy, but when they approached the counter, both smiling that delectable smile, I noticed that where Jackson had intense blue eyes, this man's were an intriguing hazel. The longer that I looked at him, the more differences that I noticed between him and Jackson, but the similarity was still striking.
"Hello, Gabrielle," Jackson said smoothly.
"Hi, Jackson. Back so soon?"
"It turns out that my brother, Lucas, here, just can't get enough of your sweets."
"Hi, Lucas," I said.
I was starting to feel more confident around Jackson, but just being near him still made my belly tremble.
"Hi," he said. "Jackson has been bringing home your chocolates and it just so happens that our older brother is having a birthday tomorrow."
"Well, happy birthday to your brother."
"Thank you. I'll be sure to tell him that you said that. The thing is, Talon has never been the biggest cake guy. But you can't have a birthday without something indulgent, right?"
"That is one of my personal philosophies of life."
"So, Jackson and I were thinking that a few of your chocolates might be perfect."
"Aren't you getting tired of chocolate?" I asked, eyeing Jackson.
"Never," he said. "My sweet tooth is the stuff of legends."
"He isn't exaggerating," Lucas told me. "When we were little, he was known to sneak into the kitchen and steal the bag of sugar so he could sit in his room and eat it."
I looked at Jackson with a widened eyes and he nodded in confirmation.
"That's pretty bad," I said. "Even I don't like sweet things that much."
"Well, at least my tastes have changed as I've grown up."
"That's a relief." I looked at the display case and gave a thought-filled sigh. "What flavor do you think your brother would like?" I asked.
"You are the chocolate expert," Jackson said.
"If it's a birthday, then I think ice cream flavors might be appropriate."
"Do you have anything like that?"
"It just so happens that I do." I reached into the case and pulled out two of the more sophisticated, improved version of Sundae Bite I had crafted in high school. "This is one option."
They each took a bite.
"That's so good," Lucas said. He looked at Jackson. "We definitely have to get some of these."
He looked at me and gestured toward his brother.
"It seems this one got the official seal of approval. We'll take two boxes of these. What else?"
"Butter Pecan?" I asked. "I also have Neapolitan, Pistachio, and Mint Chocolate Chip."
"Two boxes of each, please."
"Two boxes of each?" I asked. "Are you sure?"
"She's right," Lucas said. I nodded. "We should probably go for three."
I was stunned, but I didn't argue. Jackson was rapidly paying my bills and I wasn't going to talk myself into stemming that flow. Eventually, he was going to get tired of eating the decadent candies, but I didn't want to end it too soon. I filled the boxes and stacked them on the counter.
"Thank you," I said, realizing that I hadn't yet thanked him for his business.
If this was the last time that he came in, I wanted to make sure that he knew how much I appreciated him.
"No. Thank you."
He was staring at me and I knew that he expected me to walk back into the kitchen as had become our ritual. I wasn't sure why he insisted on his mysterious disappearing act, but I was willing to humor him.
"I'll be right back," I said as I always did, and stepped into the kitchen.
Rather than going back into the stock room, though, I hesitated just inside the door where I had stood the first time that he had come in. I could hear them murmuring to each other, but couldn't decipher any words. I remained there until I heard the door open and close, waited a few more moments, and then stepped out. The scene that awaited me was what I had come to expect when I saw Jackson walk into the shop, but that didn't take away the impact of the missing boxes and the stack of bills in their place. This time there were two stacks and I could only imagine that Lucas had contributed as well. My hands shook as I picked up the cash, but I felt a flicker of disappointment move through me when I saw that he hadn't left a note. I tucked the money into the register and leaned down to rearrange the display case, unable to take my thoughts away from Jackson and Lucas. They hadn't left a note this time and part of me worried that that meant they wouldn't return.
I felt disappointed but told myself that was ridiculous. I barely knew Jackson and what I did know of him told me that he was completely out of my league. I should just be grateful for the stroke of good fortune that they were for the time that they were and keep moving forward.