Chapter 3 Phoebe
PHOEBE
I put my phone back in my pocket and turn to my coworker and friend, Andie Reynolds.
“We have two tickets to the Devil Birds game tonight,” I tell her. “We’ll get them from the will-call window.”
Her blue eyes light up. She has a crush on one of the players, Colby Alvarez, so we’ve gone to a few games to watch him play.
If how often he comes by the bakery we work at is any indication, he’s interested in her too, but Andie is reluctant to date again after a breakup with her jerk of an ex.
We provided desserts at the New Year’s Eve gala the Devil Birds held, and I bid on Colby in the date auction so they could finally spend time together, but she insists they’re only buddies.
“How did you manage that?” she asks, her Texas drawl still coloring her words.
“They have a new player, Oliver King, and we’re friends, so he asked if I wanted to go.”
“King? Bigfoot shifter? The guy who was on Bigfoot Finds a Bride and told the whole country he’s a virgin? You know him?” She’s talking a bit too loudly.
We’re in the back of the bakery, away from the public, but she’s loud enough that customers at the counter could have heard her, and I don’t want that.
Ollie shouldn’t be ridiculed or treated like he’s odd for being a virgin at twenty-four.
It’s not that he couldn’t have been with women through the years.
He’s gorgeous and smart and so sweet. Now that he’s a professional athlete and making a great salary, that only adds to the allure.
If he wanted to do the mattress mambo, I’d be first in line.
And do my best to be the only one in line.
Ever since we met at our siblings’ wedding a couple of years ago, I’ve had a crush on him.
I was attending culinary school in Paris—and seeing someone in my program—and he was still in college out west, getting his degree in computer engineering, so nothing came of it other than friendship, but I’ve always hoped we’d be single in the same place at the same time.
It looks like that wish may finally be coming true.
To quote my favorite musical, “I’m not throwing away my shot. ”
“Hey, wasn’t your sister a contestant on Bigfoot Finds a Bride?” Andie asks as she pipes chocolate frosting onto cupcakes that she’s decorating to look like teddy bears for a baby shower.
I nod, not that Andie can see me with her attention focused on the cupcakes. “She was. That’s how Shelby met her husband. They didn’t end up together on the show, but they met again a couple of years later. They fell in love, got married, and now have a baby on the way. Ollie is Finn’s brother.”
That gets Andie’s attention. “Oliver King is your brother-in-law?”
“No…Ollie’s my sister’s brother-in-law. Ollie and I aren’t related.”
She gives a sly smile. “So you could hook up.”
I feel my cheeks burning, sure they’re as pink as the icing bag Andie is now holding to pipe bows on the teddy bears.
“We’re friends.”
Andie huffs out a laugh. “And friends to lovers is your favorite romance trope! Go for it!”
“His focus is on hockey, not romance. I don’t think he’s noticed me as a woman. Maybe he wants someone as innocent as he is.” I’m not ashamed of my sexual past. I’ve had some lovers, big whoop. Perfectly normal for a twenty-four-year-old woman in this day and age.
“Ooh!” Andie bounces on her toes. “Maybe he doesn’t! Maybe it can be like the “teach me” trope, where the innocent one asks for love lessons from the more experienced one.”
It’s not solely the joy of baking that bonds me and Andie.
Our love of romance novels and rom-com movies have brought us closer too.
We have a cottage baking side hustle called Snarky Sweet—I’m the snarky one, she’s sweet—where we make cookies, cakes, and treats of all types, often with sassy or risqué touches.
Our gray sweatpant sugar cookies with a prominent dick print are a bestseller.
We do cute stuff too, like for baby showers and birthday parties.
Our boss at the bakery, Jack, doesn’t want to deal with bulk orders or overly decorated stuff.
He likes to sell simple cakes, pies, cookies, and pastries for retail customers, so he’s supportive of us taking the orders for events and lets us use the bakery after hours if we need space for an especially large order.
Most of the time, we bake in the kitchen of my condo, where we can watch movies and relax.
“Maybe we should start reading some cozy mysteries and lay off the romance for a while, Andie. You’re getting carried away with the tropes.”
“Well, you should want to be carried away in his strong arms.”
“Let me know when you finally agree to a date with Colby Alvarez, and then we’ll talk.”
Andie narrows her eyes and quirks her lips to the side. “Would you ask Ollie out on a double date if I went out with Colby?”
Gee, twist my arm, why don’t you? I hate it when people force me to do things I want to do anyway. What a hardship.
“Yeah, okay. Whatever.”
She bumps me with her hip and sticks her tongue out when I glance her way.
I roll my eyes in response. We finally refocus on our tasks so we can finish our shift and get ready for tonight’s game.
I can’t wait to see Ollie again, even if it’s only watching him on the ice.
Depending on how late the game goes, I probably won’t get a chance to talk to him after because I need to get back to my sister’s cottage and get some sleep before work.
Four in the morning comes way too early.
He’ll be moving into my condo once his stuff arrives, so I’ll see him all the time. I can’t wait.
* * *
After checking in on my brother-in-law’s cat Marsha at their cottage and making sure she’s all set with food and water, I set out back to my condo to get ready for tonight.
I shower and decide to leave my hair loose.
For work, I normally have it tied back with a bandanna over it, and since I’m always working, it’s a treat to have my dark brown shoulder-length hair free to indulge in its natural wave.
It’s awkward because it’s not straight and it’s not curly, but rather than fight it with curling or flat irons, I let it be free.
Some scrunching and a bit of product, and I’m good to go.
I want to look cute but not like I’m trying too hard, so I go with black leggings, a black tunic, and my favorite blue Converse sneakers. The Devil Birds team colors are blue, gray, and black, so adding Ollie’s jersey to this base should work well.
Andie lives around the corner from me, so I pick her up and drive us to the game. She’s wearing an Alvarez jersey Colby gave her as part of the winning package from the gala. Her brown hair is in a French braid down her back.
“Hey, girlie,” I say as she climbs into my Ford Escape.
“Hey, long time no see,” she replies, causing us both to giggle.
We’ve been apart a whole three hours. The drive into Atlantic City takes twenty minutes, and we chat about our eagerness to hear from the Pastry Pro Championships.
It’s such a great promotional opportunity for our business.
Considering our cramped and nomadic kitchen conditions, we want to have our own permanent space, where we can bake and local clients can pick up their orders.
Maybe have retail shop hours too. Someday I want to have a family and not have to get up at four in the morning to bake bread, and having this kind of business would help with that.
I park and we walk into the pier, heading to the will-call window to pick up our tickets. I was expecting only a pair of tickets and my jersey, but we have food and drink tickets, hats, and coupons for the team shop to pick up Shifty the Seagull mascot plushies.
“Wow, they really gave us the hookup,” Andie says as we go to our seats. We’re in the lower section, not far from the Devil Birds bench, but to the side.
Looking around, I see people with signs, and I wish I had made one to welcome Ollie to the team. Hopefully everyone has been nice to him. I feel like a mom worried about her kid on the first day of school.
While we wait for the team to skate out for pregame warm-ups, Mallory Carter and Daphne Morris take the seats next to us.
Mallory is the coach’s fiancée, and they’ve commissioned me to bake the cake for their summer wedding.
She’s also the older sister of Trevor Carter, the first line center for the Devil Birds.
Daphne Morris is the team’s social media manager and my sister Shelby’s best friend.
Shelby and Daphne are both pregnant and due within a few weeks of each other.
Neither one knows what they’re having, but are hoping they’ll either be best friends or grow up and get married.
I can see Daphne’s husband, Logan, the team photographer, down in the bench area.
“I told him to make sure he got extra pictures of Ollie tonight,” Daphne says, leaning toward me.
Right as she says that, the music playing over the speakers fades, and we hear, “Let’s make some noise for our newest Devil Bird as he takes his welcome lap. Welcome to the flock, number thirty-six, Oliver King!”
Ollie takes the ice without his helmet on, his dark brown hair combed back from his face.
I know it’s weird to find eyebrows attractive, but he has extremely nice ones.
They’re dark and thick, but naturally nicely shaped over eyes the color of melted chocolate.
Not like woolly caterpillars or a unibrow.
They’re manly. Thank goodness he’s had to wear a helmet with a cage his entire hockey career—his nose is still straight.
It’s pert and slightly turned up on the end.
Friendly, if that makes any sense. Some noses are hooked or so straight and sharp they’re scary.
His nose reminds me of a bunny rabbit’s nose. I’m being ridiculous.
It’s adorable how hot pink his cheeks are above his dark brown beard line, and it’s not from the cold temperature of the ice.
He’s embarrassed by the attention. The arena isn’t full yet, but there are lots of cheers for him, and that makes me happy.
He’s not looking at the crowd, so he doesn’t see me waving.
After he finishes his lap by shooting the puck in the net, the rest of the team joins him and starts warming up.
“Go down to the glass!” Daphne says. “He doesn’t know where your seats are. Go!”
I make Andie come with me, and she catches the attention of Colby Alvarez right away.
She points at Ollie and tells Colby to get him.
He skates over to where Ollie stands at the bench, about to put his helmet on, and points to us.
The look of pure joy that spreads across Ollie’s face with a huge smile when he sees me is something I’ll never forget.
I’ve never had any man look at me like that.
“Wow,” Andie says. “Just friends, huh? None of my friends”—she does air quotes when she says the word friends—“have ever looked at me like that.”
“Shut up,” I say behind clenched teeth as I smile and wave to Ollie.
Ollie and Colby skate over to us at the glass. Andie has moved down a few feet for privacy— not sure if it’s for us or for them. Ollie waves and points to his jersey and then to mine.
“Is it one of mine?” he asks. I can’t hear him, but I can read his lips. His pink, bow-shaped, extremely kissable-looking lips. They’d look feminine if not surrounded by the hair of his beard. Wonder if his beard is soft or scratchy when he kisses. And how it would feel all over my body…
Focus, Phoebe.
Nodding, I turn around so he can see his name on my back. I look over my shoulder so I can see him.
Oh my ganache, the way he bites his lips as his eyes grow heavy-lidded turns me on.
My panties are wet and, with my luck, are going to freeze to my hoo-ha, sitting in an ice rink for hours.
Worth it though, for that expression. He shakes his head like he’s coming to his senses and gives me a more normal Ollie grin.
“Thank you!” he shouts, and I’m able to hear him this time.
“Nowhere else I’d want to be! Good luck!
” I yell back. He puts his helmet on and skates away but turns back one last time before collecting a puck on the blade of his stick and skating with it.
They wear full face shields in the Paranormal Hockey League, so it’s not easy to see their faces clearly, but I’m pretty sure he winked at me.
As I turn away from the glass to go back to my seat, my phone chimes. It’s a text from Daphne with a picture attached. Opening it, I see Ollie’s face when he was doing the lip-biting-smolder thing.
Daphne: For your personal spank bank.
She included the tongue hanging out drooling emoji, capturing my feelings exactly. Now I know why she’s Shelby’s best friend. I may make her mine too.