Tied with Me

The doors open, and I forget my fear of heights.

“Oh, it’s so beautiful.”

I walk to the railing and gaze out at the city that I’ve come to love so much. It’s dark now, and there is a sea of glowing lights below us. The air is still warm. There’s a light breeze, making the ends of my hair tickle my cheek.

“Come this way.” Matt holds his hand out for mine and leads me around to the opposite side of the deck that looks out over the sound. We can see lit-up ferries and boats floating over the water.

“Gorgeous,” I whisper.

“Yes,” he murmurs.

I glance up to find him looking down at me.

“You’re a charmer,” I inform him with a laugh.

“One thing you’ll learn about me, little one, is that I rarely say what I don’t mean.”

We’re standing side by side, not touching, watching the city around us. It’s amazingly quiet up here.

Peaceful.

Suddenly, Matt reaches over and grasps my hand in his, linking our fingers. He doesn’t look down at me, just holds my hand as we watch our city.

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Okay, maybe Bailey is right. I need to give this a chance.

Chapter Four

~Matt~

It’s been a long fucking night.

Asher and I caught a case that kept us up all night long, bouncing from the crime scene to the hospital¸ interviewing family members and speaking with the doctors.

Domestic disputes are rarely this bad, but when they are, it’s exhausting.

I arrive home at just before nine Saturday morning. The only thing I can think of is taking a hot shower and climbing into bed, succumbing to oblivion.

I strip my clothes off, leaving a path of dirty laundry behind me on my way to the bathroom. I turn on the shower and step in before the water even has a chance to heat up all the way, scrubbing the night at work off my body. Just as the water hits scalding level, I shut it off, towel myself dry and pad into my bedroom as my cell phone rings.

I scowl when I see Asher’s name on the display.

“Yeah,” I answer and sit on the edge of the bed.

“Hey, I just picked up the cupcakes for Casey’s birthday party tonight, and I thought I should call you.”

“What’s wrong?” I ask, my body already on alert and the fatigue forgotten.

“Nothing’s wrong, but I thought you’d like to know that your girl is swamped in her shop today.”

“My girl?” I ask drily.

“I’m not stupid, man. I don’t know what you have going on with her, but I can tell there’s something there. She’s shorthanded and running ragged today. She seems okay, just thought I’d give you a heads-up.”

“Thanks, partner. I’ll go check on her.”

“See you tomorrow,” he responds and hangs up.

I glance longingly at my comfortable bed and resign myself to being awake for a few more hours.

There’s no way in hell that I’ll leave her to fend for herself today. Not if I can help her.

I dress quickly in jeans and a black T-shirt and drive quickly to the bakery.

Sure enough, it takes me five minutes to find parking, and when I finally step inside, there is a line to the door. Nic is smiling widely but clearly overwhelmed, bustling behind the glass case, back and forth between plating cupcakes and ringing up customers.

This is a two-person job.

She hasn’t even noticed I’m here when I slip back into the kitchen and grab a spare white apron, pull it over my head and tie it around my waist.

Oh, we’re going to have fun with her apron very soon.

Before I can spend too much time daydreaming of tying her up with her apron and fucking her blind here in her kitchen, I join her behind the counter, startling her.

“Matt!”

“How can I help?” I ask calmly.

Her cheeks are flushed and her hands are shaking as she brushes a piece of hair off her face.

“You don’t have to,” she replies but swallows hard.

“Clearly, I do. We’ll talk later, just tell me what you need.” I smile reassuringly and brush her soft cheek with my fingertip.

“Can you fill cupcake orders while I make coffees and ring them up?” she asks.

“I can do that,” I reply.

“I need two minutes,” she informs me and disappears into the kitchen.

I’m just filling a white box full of a half-dozen carrot cake cupcakes when she returns, chewing on something.

“Better?” I ask.

She nods and returns to the cash register, attending to her customers. That red ribbon is tied around her head again. It seems to be a part of her uniform. I do believe we’ll find a way to have fun with that as well.

God, she’s fucking beautiful.

We work side by side for the better part of the morning without a break. I can’t believe how busy her little shop is. I grin in pride when an elderly man approaches Nic to ring up his sales.

“My Margaret and I sure do love your sweets, girlie.”

“Thank you, Mr. Larsen. How is your pretty wife?” Nic asks with a grin.

“She’s been a little under the weather, but these will brighten her right up.”

“I hope so,” Nic replies and drops some chocolate-covered cherries into a bag to give to him as well. “These are new. I’d love it if you two would let me know what you think.”

Mr. Larsen winks at Nic and grins before walking out with his purchase.

Nic knows most of her clients’ names and deals with them all with humor and grace.

At two thirty, there is a lull in customers, so Nic slips in the back for a few minutes and returns with more trays of cupcakes to fill empty slots in her case. She has a stick of string cheese hanging out of her mouth, chewing away on it.

“So what happened?” I ask as she arranges the case.

“Anastasia, my other part-time helper, called out sick this morning,” she replies with a sigh. “Tess is in college, so she can’t help during the week. So that left me.”

“Maybe you should hire someone full time to help out,” I suggest, but she glares at me from across the space.

“Trying to tell me how to run my business now, Matt?”

“Hey,” I reply, holding up my hands, “it was just a suggestion.”

“I’m sorry.” She sighs and rubs her forehead with her fingertips. “I haven’t had enough to eat today. It makes me grouchy.”

“You close at four?” I ask. I walk behind her and begin kneading the tight muscles in her shoulders.