Chapter 5
5
Sybil
“So, why do you need donuts to replace men?” Kieran opened the display case and began moving the leftover donuts from the trays into a bag. He was cute—tall with black hair and a sharp jaw. I couldn’t quite take my eyes off his arms, with their defined, corded muscles that looked like they came from work in this kitchen and not the gym. I’d never had a thing for men in uniform, but the apron was kind of doing it for me. I followed the lines of his torso as he twisted, and he handed me a donut covered in sprinkles when he caught me looking.
“Donuts and two hundred and fifty million dollars,” I corrected him, and took a bite of my second donut. “Well, two hundred and fifty million after taxes. I’m giving up on men, not trying to run afoul of the IRS.”
“Okay, why do you need donuts and two hundred and fifty million dollars to replace men?” He set one bag aside and began packing another. He must have caught my expression, and he shrugged. “There’s a shelter nearby. I drop them off.”
My face warmed and I wanted to say something, but my mouth was full, so I tried to grin with my eyes. I remembered seeing the flyer on the bulletin board earlier in the day, and knew I needed to fess up about taking the donuts that morning, but this felt like the moment my luck was kicking in, and I didn’t want to interrupt fate quite yet.
“It’s not a big deal.” He answered my silent response with humility and another shrug, those well-developed shoulders lifting toward that damn backward hat. Oh boy . “So, the story?”
“I found a lucky penny this morning.” I held it up, the light catching on its shiny surface. I admired it before setting it back on the counter. “But the day hasn’t really gone how I planned. I messed something up this morning, I got fired, and I was really excited about this guy I was talking to. It felt like maybe something was going right for me, and I might finally have a date who made me look serious to my family. Then, tonight, he was late for our date and sent this photo.” The store had long since emptied and, in one of my less well-reasoned decisions, I’d stayed and sat on the counter, legs dangling off the side while he cleaned.
“And it was such a sad little picture.” I held out my phone, Carl’s image on the screen.
“Let’s see this.” He dropped the bag of day-old donuts on the counter next to me and reached for my phone, his muscled forearms once again distracting me. I wanted to trace my finger along the lines of his veins.
I watched his expression turn from “I’m curious” to “I just drank expired milk” in a matter of moments. “You could have warned me it was a dick pic.” He turned the phone over and slid it across the counter, his arm grazing my thigh and pausing centimeters from my leg.
“I wanted you to get the full experience.”
“I definitely didn’t need that experience.” He was standing almost in front of me now, our eyes level, a smirk on his face. “And why is it lit so badly?”
“That’s what I said!” I laughed, taking the phone back. “Welcome to my world.”
His arm inched closer on the counter, so his elbow was just barely touching the outside of my thigh. He met my gaze. “I hate that your world is…” He motioned to my phone. “Like that.”
I shrugged. “A glimpse into the life of the modern single woman. The donuts helped, though.” I held up the last bite and two sprinkles fell from my hand, landing next to me. “Even though I’m a mess.”
He slid his hand over the countertop and pressed his finger over the sprinkles, then lifted it to show me the blue and orange sugar sticking to his skin. “You are a very intriguing mess.” His eyes flicked to mine and I waited, hoping he might lick the sprinkle from his own fingers, because, I’d decided, I would be into that.
Heat blossomed low in my belly at the thought of his long fingers. Suddenly, the donut wasn’t cutting it anymore, because losing my job and having to move in with my mom had meant very little privacy.
“You still haven’t explained why you’re replacing men.” He abandoned his cleanup duties and leaned one forearm on the counter, bending forward. “I mean, I get why you’re replacing that guy.” He pointed to my still-overturned phone. “But why all of us?”
I rested my hand on his shoulder to angle myself in his direction, and he flexed at my touch, his body responsive under my fingers. “That’s how it goes. You like a guy, imagine something more, and become certain your family might approve of him, and then you get a dick pic.” I grazed my thumb over his shoulder, appreciating how soft the worn cotton felt under my fingertips. “Donuts like this will always be delicious. And two hundred and fifty million dollars is reliable.”
“But surely your family doesn’t only plan to respect you based on the guy.” The backs of his fingers trailed a slow path over my knee, but his eyes didn’t leave mine. “And you’d be kind of lonely. Donuts are great, but they make lousy partners.”
“I wouldn’t be lonely.” I licked a bit of frosting from the corner of my lip. “I’d still have plenty of sex.”
He laughed, his head tipping back and his hand closing over my knee. I tightened my grip on his shoulder and admired the scruff on his jaw.
“It’s true,” I insisted. “I can give up on a meaningful connection with a serious person without giving up on toe-curling orgasms.”
“Donuts won’t give you toe-curling orgasms, either.”
“I don’t know.” I licked the last bit of chocolate off my fingers. “Yours were pretty good.”
He followed my finger to my lips, something I’d noticed him doing earlier, and his eyebrow quirked. “Have you been having toe-curling orgasms this whole time without me knowing?”
“You’d know. I’m not subtle, plus life is too short to stay quiet.” I dropped my hand to his. “My sister thinks I’m sad that I can’t find a nice, reliable guy to love, but at this point I’d be happy with a nice guy to fuck me up against a wall with the fervor and gusto I deserve.”
His expression was hooded, and his fingers moved in small circles over my thighs. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.” I glanced at his long fingers and traced the lines of his body up his forearms. My palm rested on the hard wall of his chest, and his heart thudded under my hand. That made me smile, knowing he was excited, maybe nervous. “Are you a nice guy?”
“That’s not usually how people describe me.” He met my eyes again, hands still resting on my hips. “But sometimes, on special occasions…”
I held on to his shoulders and scooted toward the edge of the counter, settling him between my legs and taking the feel of him against me. “This feels like a special occasion.”
“You know, I found a lucky penny this morning, too. Maybe it was a sign.” His breath came fast at my touch. “I don’t usually believe in luck, though.”
I ran my nails through his hair, enjoying the way his eyelids closed as I gently dragged my nails along his scalp. “Will you make me a donut after?”
Edging closer, his lips dropping to my neck, he kissed and lapped at the spot just below my ear. “After?” The word vibrated against my skin, and his hands slid up my waistline with aching deliberation, fingers stretching up my sides as his lips trailed down my throat.
I let out a raspy breath when his thumbs stroked under my breasts. “After.”
“I can do that.” He pulled me to the edge of the counter, his fingertips digging into my hips. “My office,” he said on an exhale before dropping a heated kiss to my lips before his mouth trailed down my neck.
We crashed through a door into a cramped office and his tongue played over my lips, teasing before taking my mouth with an almost bruising intensity. The shy guy I thought I’d seen was gone, and his body crowded against me, backing me into the space until the backs of my knees hit his chair and I collapsed into it. “This isn’t a wall.”
He dropped to his knees in front of me. “What if we changed the plan?”
My stomach flipped in a delicious way as he stroked my stomach over the waist of my jeans. “You promised.”
“You got a donut. I want a treat, too.” He circled his thumb over the button of my jeans until I nodded for him to keep going, then his lips brushed across my stomach, sending a wave of anticipation to the tips of my toes.
Oh wow . I raised my hips as he pulled my jeans down. “You’re not playing around.”
“I take things seriously.” His lips returned to the inside of my knee. “And you wanted gusto.” He dragged the back of his finger along the wet fabric between my thighs, back and forth with slightly more pressure each time. “I think you mentioned fervor,” he murmured, sliding his fingers under the elastic of my underwear. “I want to know what you taste like.”
I nodded, my breath hitching. “This is good fervor.” The sudden absence of his hand was jarring, but he settled between my legs, and his mouth worked toward where I wanted him. This was officially the best impetuous decision I’d ever made.
“No time to waste.” He pressed my thighs farther apart and ran his finger through my slick folds before dropping his mouth to me.
I stared at him, disbelief wrestling with the wave of sensation from his tongue and lips on my sensitive skin, kissing and licking my thighs before edging closer. My head swirled with the turn the night had taken. Here I was with my legs spread in a donut shop with a hot baker on his knees. I was no virgin, but it had been a while since someone made me feel like that, like I was moments from lifting off from the first touch, like I was seconds from combusting. I sought more pressure against his finger, begging for him to slide inside. Maybe my plan would work—no need to keep looking for love when I could enjoy things like this, even if I stayed broke. At least it seemed like a sign that good things could happen to me. I moaned and ran my fingers over his hat, pushing it off his head, guiding him until it was the right pressure from his finger, the perfect speed of his tongue and…yes. “There, right there!”
I closed my eyes and gripped his hair as my body rose, the wave cresting until delicious heat washed through me. “Yes! Yes! Yes!” My words ricocheted around the small space as I rode the wave, my cries fading to murmurs as he pulled away from me, licking his fingers and then wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Dear God,” I said, catching my breath, my body still pinging. I’d never had someone go down on me with that much energy and enthusiasm, and definitely not with those skills. “A-plus gusto. World-class fervor.” I pressed my hand to my chest and sucked in a breath. “I am officially thankful for your fervor.”
He kissed my thigh and grinned. “You’re right about not being quiet. I would have noticed that. I—”
A knock sounded, and then a woman’s voice came through the door. “Kieran? Are you back here?”
His eyes widened. “Oh fuck.”