Sugar On Ice (Cedar Bluff Penalties #2)

Chapter 1

Mornings at Honey & Hearth were my favorite kind of sweet chaos.

The smell of cinnamon rolls fresh out of the oven, getting their sugary icing poured in the kitchen, wafted through the air, drawing people in the front door.

The old-time bell over the door chimed every few minutes, and I couldn’t hide the smile I got every time I heard it.

It signaled a new arrival, a new customer coming in to say good morning and get a goodie on their way about their day. And there was something so fulfilling about that to me. As if I had somehow helped make their morning a little more…sweet.

Behind me at the main counter, the chalkboard menu listed the day’s specials in swirly letters that took way too long to perfect, but they were worth the effort.

I truly believed that the extra touches of warmth in the handwritten menu boards, fresh flowers on every table, a fire in the hearth, and easy music playing softly through the speakers helped everyone who walked through the front door leave their worries outside and just immerse themselves in the peace inside my bakery.

Perhaps I was just a hippie nutcase who had fallen off her rocker, though.

But I couldn’t change my ways, even if I tried, it was just who I was.

No matter how many times I stepped back and admired every little detail of my bakery, I was still always amazed that I had made it with my two bare hands.

And a lot of tears.

But it was worth it to see every table in the place occupied at ten am on a Tuesday morning.

“Morning, Goldie!” Mrs. Peters, Cedar Bluff’s retired librarian, beamed as I set her usual tea and scone on the counter before she even asked.

“You’re too good to us,” she said, smiling at me with that motherly warmth most people from Cedar Bluff naturally gave to everyone.

“No such thing,” I teased, and she laughed, handing over a tip bigger than the actual cost of her breakfast.

“Sweetheart,” a voice floated to me from the cash register, and I looked over my shoulder to Jasper, my best friend, employee, and full-time sass master.

“If you don’t slow down, you’re going to give yourself premature wrinkles.

” He wore a honey-gold apron like I did, but he bedazzled his to match the gems on his glittery sneakers.

His caramel-highlighted dark hair was perfectly styled, and his eyeliner was sharper than my paring knives.

I was pretty sure we were both the wildest things Cedar Bluff had seen since the Woodstock era.

And that was fine with me, I never wanted to blend in. In a town this small, that was too easy to do.

“Wrinkles are earned,” I said, sliding a box of blueberry scones across the counter to another customer. “And if you keep stealing muffins for your dates, you’ll earn dish duty for the day.”

He gasped dramatically, clutching his chest. “Accusing me of carb theft before I’ve even had my morning latte? Rude. Tragic, even.”

The line of customers laughed as they always did when he and I got going on with our jokes.

That was the thing about Jasper Wilde—he not only worked his ass off at my side day in and day out at the bakery, but he gave the bakery warmth and comedic relief.

And there were times that the world outside my front door was too scary to face without a little of both during your morning coffee run to refuel the soul.

The bell above the door chimed, and I swore the entire room tilted for just a second when I saw who was walking in.

Tanner Brooks.

Officer Tanner Brooks.

As if he needed anything to make him hotter in my eyes.

Cedar Bluff’s golden boy.

The man’s broad shoulders were wide enough to carry a tree sideways, and he was as tall as he was muscular. Which would have been enough to convince me to take him for a spin around my bedroom for a night all on its own. But there was more.

His dark hair always looked perfect, even after wearing a uniform-issued ball cap every day, and his smile—the damn panty-melting pretty boy smirk three thousand—God.

That damn thing even made Mrs. Peters in the corner booth swoon when he tipped his hat at her on his way to the counter.

But again, that wasn’t all. He was also, hands down, the nicest person I’d ever met before.

There was something so incredibly calming about being in Tanner’s presence.

He was kind and easygoing, and I found myself leaning into that sense of peace when he was near.

He always looked like he’d stepped out of a recruitment poster in his black uniform with his golden boy smirk and kind eyes, though he swore he was just doing his job.

Well, I wouldn’t mind being his job for one night.

“Morning, Goldie,” he said in his perfect, smooth, whiskey-like voice.

“Good morning, Officer,” I replied as I grabbed his usual order and slid it into a bag. “Coffee, black, and a bacon croissant. Right?”

“You know me too well.” He said with a grin.

Jasper leaned on the display case between us and stage whispered loud enough for us both to hear, “I think what our dear Officer Brooks really wants is you, Goldie-girl. But sure, let’s pretend it’s about the bacon.”

Heat rushed to my cheeks as Tanner’s ears turned the slightest shade of pink, though the corner of his mouth twitched.

The worst part of it all was that he didn’t deny it. Then again, maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.

Before I could recover, a sharp voice cut across the bakery from the pickup line.

“This is outrageous,” a man in a gray suit snapped, glaring at his watch.

He didn’t look like a Cedar Bluff resident, too polished and pressed as if he belonged in a high-rise office.

“I’ve been waiting eight minutes for a sandwich while others just walk in and get what they want right away.

Do you people have any idea how to run a business? ”

The warmth in the bakery drained a little, and my chest pinched with that old, familiar panic that came with confrontation. I poured my blood, sweat, and soul into Honey & Hearth, but it would still never be enough for some people.

Before I could defend the bakery or my employees, Tanner turned and approached the man.

“Sir,” he said, voice calm but carrying like a foghorn in a storm.

“I know it feels like a long wait, and maybe where you’re from it is.

But this is a small-town bakery, where everything is made fresh by hand.

I promise it’s worth the extra few minutes if you can bother yourself to remember your manners and treat everyone here with the respect they’re due. ”

The man huffed, “I don’t have time to wait, I have a meeting—”

Tanner didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t puff his chest. He simply met the man’s eyes with a quiet authority that made you want to listen.

“You do, actually.” Tanner said firmly. “Because you came in here. By choice. So, take a breath, enjoy the atmosphere, and trust Goldie’s got it all covered.

Or if you’re in that much of a hurry, I can point you in the direction of the gas station on your way out of town.

The coffee’s instant. And their food is processed and stale. But there’s no wait at all.”

The man’s jaw worked, and then he glanced around, realizing every eye in the bakery was on him.

Finally, with a mutter, he shoved his phone back into his pocket as Sasha, one of my kitchen employees, popped out of the swinging door, whistling an oblivious tune with her earbuds in, and held up a bag.

“Order for Harold.”

The man reached out and grabbed the bag in a huff and left without so much as a have a nice day.

“He looked like a Harold,” Jasper rolled his eyes, going back to cashing people out as Tanner turned back to me.

My stomach flipped. Not because he scared the man quiet—he hadn’t. Tanner handled him, though. Calm, firm, and steady, as if nothing could ruffle him. The entire room exhaled as warmth crept back in, laughter and conversation bubbling again.

“Thank you,” I whispered, gripping the edge of the counter, watching the man who’d just defended my people and me, without raising his voice. Somehow, he made calm look like the sexiest weapon in the world.

Yeah, that made me feel things. Things I didn’t have time for.

“Anytime, Goldie.” Tanner replied firmly.

“Hey Officer,” Jasper fanned himself dramatically with a sassy look, and I groaned, already preparing for whatever gift he was about to bestow on us all. “Can you de-escalate me like that sometime? Though I usually prefer a more hands-on approach.”

The bakery roared with laughter again, feeding on my best friend’s natural ability to be the center of attention. Tanner’s ears pinked up even more, and he gave Jasper a look that was half exasperated, half amused.

And me?

I was going to go stand in the walk-in cooler until the lunch rush hit.