Chapter Thirteen
Easter
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a couple as enamoured with each other as this American guy, Mason, and his British fiancé, Heaven. They’ve been here for at least 10 minutes, and Mason has not once removed his right hand from the small of his fiancé’s back, a protectiveness emanating from him. While Heaven is ooh ing and aah ing over the various chocolate creations that I’ve presented them with, tasting most of them, Mason has his gaze glued to him and him alone, his eyes swimming with pure adoration. I can’t help but wonder if I look at Benjamin the same way. Can people tell that I’m completely and irrevocably under his spell, besotted like I’ve never been before? Lord, I hope not. That would be… awful. Then again… would it really be that awful if the world knew that it’s happened? That lightning has struck. I mean, it only took my mother one glance at my face to see that I was happy. Happy. I’m happy.
Come to speak of it, why is Benjamin still in the back? I told him the wedding couple would be in this afternoon. He’s been in the storage room for ages, supposedly just looking for some of the heart-shaped moulds to show to the couple from America. He’s probably hiding. I’ve noticed he does that often when customers come into the shop. Unless it’s one of the regulars like Mrs Glass and her grown daughter Penelope. Then he’s ever so chatty and attentive, fussing all over Penelope, showing her his progress with the Easter window. And no, it’s still not done, but that’s mostly my fault because I can’t keep my bloody hands to myself whenever he starts fondling that bloody bunny… especially when it’s me, he should be fondling or whatever. Anyway, he adores Penelope. I don’t know the specifics, only what Mrs Glass has told me. Penelope has an intellectual disability of some kind and will always be dependent on her parents. She lives at home where she helps Mr Glass in the nursery that he runs. But yeah, Benjamin is an absolute sweetheart with her.
“...in white?” Heaven looks at me expectantly.
“Sorry, what?” I reply a little too gruffly, interrupted during my umpteenth daydream today involving Benjamin. Heaven continues to smile at me, though. He must be around the same age as my Benjamin, while Mason appears to be slightly older than me. “Wouldn’t you just love that too, Mase?” he bats his eyelashes at his fiancé, who seems to shake himself out of a love-induced stupor.
“Whatever you want, Evvie,” he murmurs, cradling the much smaller guy against his chest. “Whatever you want, my love.”
“Then I think I want them in white,” Heaven says dreamily, already miles away at a white wedding banquet, nibbling on white chocolate leaves.
“Yes, absolutely!” Benjamin beams, popping out from the back like a Bunny-in-the-Box. So he was spying, was he now? I’m going to have to talk to him about that later. “We can absolutely make those for you with a coat of white chocolate. They’ll look so pretty. We can even make different leaf shapes.” I can tell by the tone of his voice that he’s getting carried away, his enthusiasm for everything chocolate going straight to my cock.
“Oh, I would love that,” Heaven smiles, looking up from the display of chocolates and over my shoulder, an odd expression slowly forming on his face, while Mason has gone slightly pale, tugging his fiancé protectively against his side.
“Oh, excuse me, this is my shop assistant, Benjam—” I say as I turn in Benjamin’s direction and oh shit. Oh shitting hell. He’s wearing the bunny ears. And the fluffy white wristbands. I know he does it when he’s in the back or upstairs when we play our favourite game, ‘ Where has the naughty bunny gone? ’ but he always takes it off before entering the shop. He must’ve ‘ forgot .’ Right.
“There’s a man wearing bunny ears,” Heaven states the obvious, and my ridiculous hope they hadn’t noticed evaporates into thin air. Shit.
“Yes!” I blurt. “As you can see, we’re really getting into the festive season here at East of Eden !” Benjamin nods eagerly, then adjusts his ears when they flop into his forehead. “More people ought to celebrate Easter,” I continue, crap pouring out of my mouth with no end in sight, while Benjamin sniffs next to me. For fuck’s sake, first Mum’s surprise visit, now this. Will this day end already, so I can get my hands on Benjamin, carry him upstairs, and come my brains out on his perky arse?
“Oh, I love that!” Heaven near-squeals, blushing adorably, while Mason’s gruff expression melts away like strawberry ice cream on a hot summer’s day. As much as I pride myself on being the grumpiest grump to ever grump in His Majesty’s Kingdom—or at the very least in Southern Kent—I have a feeling this Mason chap could out-grump me on any given day. After all, I’m just a small-town grump, whereas he’s a big-city, executive-type grump.
“I’m a huge fan of Christmas myself,” Heaven continues, stepping around the counter and right up in Benjamin’s face. “Can I…can I touch them? They look soft ,” he sighs, nearly swooning on the spot, while Mason elicits something resembling a growl that spills over into a groan.
“Yes, of course!” Benjamin nods eagerly, smiling widely, as he throws me a quick glance, mouthing one of his infamous ‘ oopsies .’ I just shrug because what can you do when you’re dating a bunny? Wait, are we dating? Am I courting Benjamin? Huh, I’m going to have to revisit this later.
“Oh my God, Mase!” Heaven squeals, his face beaming brighter than a birthday cake. “You won’t believe how soft these are!”
“I know, right?” Benjamin giggles, giving his head a little shake so the ears move side to side, looking adorable and delectable and all tempting things that start with the letter D; drinkable, droolable, dickable. Fuuuck. “East got them for me,” he blinks. Sweet baby Jesus in a petting zoo, he did not just say that.
“Yes,” I mumble, brushing a hand through my hair. “They’re, uhm…they’re part of our Easter uniform. You know, to get into the festive mood,” I add, doing some weird gesture with my right arm to indicate that I am, in fact, in a festive mood. Fuuuck .
“East, I thought we didn’t have—” Bunny insists on throwing me under the bus, which is definitely not part of his job description. Neither is getting blown by your boss, the voice of reason adds, just to mock me.
“I love them,” Heaven near swoons, regarding Benjamin like he’s just encountered his spirit animal or brother from another mother. “You’re really pretty,” he adds, blushing, and Mason growls again.
“Ahhh, thank you!” Benjamin giggles again. “So are you.” For fuck’s sake. “How come you’re here? In England, I mean.”
“We’ve been to Paris,” Heaven sighs, and for a minute I’m afraid he’s going to faint real Regency style. “To pick out my wedding outfit.”
“Reeeaaally?” Benjamin’s brown eyes grow impossibly big in his delicate face.
“Yeah,” Heaven nods like he can’t really believe it either. “And then we came here because I’m from England. We’re going to a show tonight, and tomorrow we’re visiting some of my old coworkers and friends.”
“Oh, I see,” Benjamin nods, looking a little disappointed they’re not sticking around for longer.
“So, anyway,” Mason starts, moving around the counter towards Heaven and Benjamin, and now I’m the one bloody growling because he’s waaay too close to my pet now, mate. Fortunately, Mason doesn’t seem to notice, but the small shiver running through Benjamin’s body doesn’t escape me. That little minx. He’s playing with me. He’s gonna get it later. “Evvie, sweetheart, we need to wrap this up. Like you said, we have a show tonight in London, remember?”
“Yes, Mase, I know,” he nods, eyes still wide as saucers.
“Wow, you’re tall,” Benjamin gasps, tilting his head and taking Mason in. “He’s even taller than you, East, and you’re tall -tall.” The hell he is. I’ve got at least a few inches on this Mason guy. “How did the two of you meet?” Benjamin continues, decorum flying out the window along with my impressive height, apparently.
“On a plane,” Mason replies after a few seconds of silence, Heaven now transfixed by the wristbands. “We met on a plane,” his voice softens, his shoulders relaxing .
“Oh, that’s so romantic!” Benjamin hums. “You met on a plane and just flew right into love.”
“Benjamin,” I say, because this bunny is about to bounce right off to Bunnyland. But he doesn’t seem to hear me, too engulfed in the romance of this couple.
“We can order some aeroplane moulds for you,” he says. “We can make little chocolate planes for the wedding. With your initials on them.”
“Oh em gee!” Heaven laughs. “That would be amazing. Wouldn’t it be amazing, Mase?”
“Amazing,” he drawls, looking slightly tired now, apparently just as over this bunny meet and greet as I was.
“Oh, I’m so excited,” Benjamin bounces on his feet and Heaven laughs. “Me too.”
“Sweetheart, we really have to get going.” Mason takes one for the grumpy, growly boyfriend team—yeah, I’ve decided we’re boyfriends. “You have our details, right?” he turns to me.
“Yes, absolutely.” I accept the hand he’s offering me, shaking it with relief, squeezing it just a little tighter than I normally would. You’re on my turf, Yankee. I’m the shit here in Chocolate Land. I even get up on my toes, but yeah, Benjamin was right—they grow them tall in big old America.
“And it’s really not a problem shipping it to Wyoming?” he adds.
“Of course not. We ship worldwide.” I puff out my chest just a little. Because we do. People all over the world order from our webshop. Last week a bakery in Los Angeles ordered an entire case of T-shaped chocolates with orange cream filling. Yeah, no idea what that was about.
“Ugh, I wish we didn’t have to go so soon.” Heaven looks wistfully at the bunny ears.
“Me neither.” Benjamin slumps, looking truly sad that his new bestie is about to bounce out of his life again. I guess I just have to work extra hard later on putting a smile back on his face. Maybe I’ll finally plug him. He’s been dying to get stuffed by that bunny tail, nagging me daily since I showed it to him. Yeah, I think I’m going to do that.
“C’mon Evvie.” Mason grabs his fiancé’s hand and tugs him out of the shop, the chime of the bell sounding sadder than ever.
“He was sooo pretty,” Benjamin sighs once the door closes behind them. “Don’t you think he was pretty, East? With that blond hair and those blue eyes.”
“You’re prettier,” I grunt, surprising myself. “You’re way prettier, Bunny.”