Chapter 7 Stella
SEVEN
STELLA
“What the hell, Stella!” Luna’s voice yelled from the back door of the bakery. “Why didn’t you call me back last night?”
Luna had called me twice and texted about seventy—only a slight exaggeration—times after I had gone to the bar to meet Axel.
I sent her a text as I left the bar, letting her know that Axel and Vince had gone to talk to Braden in person and the message they’d sent was crystal clear.
He shouldn’t be a threat anymore, but she would have to wait until tomorrow for all the details since I was tired and had to be up early since Isabel was out today.
I put my phone on silent when I got home and promptly went to bed, where I proceeded to dream naughty thoughts about Axel all night long.
“Hi Luna,” I called back to her in an overly chipper voice.
“Don’t you give me that saccharin voice, hoping to avoid the question,” she shot back, coming to stand across from me at the giant stainless steel prep table. Her position made it virtually impossible not to see her, which was likely her plan.
Clearly, Luna was not happy she’d had to wait.
“I didn’t call you back because Isabel is off today so I had to get my butt here at six in the morning to start baking—which you knew,” I pointed out to her as I piped in the cream filling for the semla buns.
“Yes, but this is kind of important, so talk,” Luna demanded. “And don’t skimp on the details.”
I regurgitated every detail that Axel had told me about the interaction with Braden. What his reactions were to the questions they’d asked, including how he tried to act like I had been the one to flirt with him, not the other way around.
“What a little shit-wad,” Luna grumbled.
“Oh, and the best part,” I said, leaving the sentence hanging a little bit before I gave her the rest.
“What?” she asked impatiently.
“Axel told Braden that I had a man, implying that he was that man, and he would not be happy if Braden kept bothering me,” I told her, smiling as I told her the story.
Luna’s jaw dropped open, and then her lips slowly turned into the biggest smile. “Eeeeeek! That is so cute!”
“Luna, he did it so that Braden would take a hint and leave me alone, not because he actually wants to date me,” I told her, though I wasn’t entirely sure about that.
“What’s this? You’re dating someone who knows that Braden loser?” Milo’s voice chimed from the back door.
“What are you doing here?” I asked him, shocked that he was here so early. “You know your shift doesn’t start for another four hours.”
“I left my credit card here last night by accident,” he said pointing to something over by the computer. “I came here to grab it before I run errands, and then I’ll come back. But first you need to answer my question about dating someone who knows the weirdo.”
“It’s not what you think,” I started to tell him, but Luna interrupted.
“Axel and Vince from the security company went to visit Braden yesterday and scared the shit out of him,” she told him animatedly, hands moving wildly.
“They told Braden that Stella had a man now, and he would be pissed if he kept bothering her. Adding in the dating someone part was genius, especially coming from those guys, because they are big and scary-looking dudes.”
“I see how it is,” Milo said, shaking his head at Luna. “If I come up with the idea, it’s lame, but if the bulky security guys say it’s a good idea, then you love it.”
“What are you talking about?” Luna asked him.
“I suggested this same idea to you and Stella over a month ago so Braden would back off,” Milo reminded me. “Some guys get territorial like that. I told Stella to tell him that she was dating Drake or me.”
“Drake is like eighteen years old. No one would believe that,” Luna pointed out.
“Actually, I’m twenty-one,” Drake interrupted as he walked in carrying a tray of dirty dishes.
“Whatever. You get the point, though,” Milo said.
“I guess I just didn’t think it was that big of a deal at the time,” I told him honestly. “You’re right, though, I should have tried that.”
“Maybe you should tell him you’re a lesbian and that we are dating instead,” Luna announced.
“I see how it is. I offer to fake date you and it’s lame, but if Luna offers, you like it. I see where I am in your friend priorities,” Milo said, faking offense.
“I will always be the number-one priority, Milo, because I am her bestest best friend,” Luna said, putting her hands on her hips and sticking her chin out.
“For now,” he teased her.
I wasn’t sure why, but he loved to rile her up.
He turned to me, speaking in a softer tone than the frustrated one he had given Luna. “Stella, I’m happy he told Braden that. Hopefully, that loser leaves you alone now. But if he does come back here and harass you again, I’m happy to stand in as a fake boyfriend if you need it.”
“Same,” Drake echoed.
“Thanks, guys,” I told them.
“Alright, I’m headed to get a few things now that I have a way to pay for it,” Milo told us, heading back to the door. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
We said our goodbyes as he walked out. Milo was a good guy.
He was a few years younger than me at only thirty-one, but he was a great employee.
We had tried to get him to hang out with us outside of work, but for some reason, he and Luna got on each other’s nerves when it came to anything outside the bakery.
“Okay, tell me the rest,” Luna demanded.
“Oh, yes, tell me the good gossip,” Drake added, but Luna shooed him away.
“This is girl talk, so you’re not invited, sorry,” Luna told him, and he just chuckled and walked away, clearly not hurt at all that he wasn’t included.
I filled Luna in on some of the phrases I had been teaching him and the weird Swedish one he told us last night. I also told her about some of the comments he had made that seemed borderline flirty.
“Stella, he is so into you,” Luna said, grinning like a loon.
“I think that’s just his personality,” I said, brushing it off.
He hadn’t exactly asked me out or implied that he would, but I wished he would.
There was this mystical magnetic pull when I was around him, not to mention he was so incredibly sexy.
Several times during our “tutoring,” as I liked to call it, I found myself wanting to let his hair down from the bun he usually wore and run my fingers through it as he kissed me senseless.
We continued to chat about my visits to the bar with Axel while I decorated and Luna swapped out items in the oven.
Two hours later, the lunch crowd was just starting to trickle in when Luna came bursting through the kitchen door.
“Your boyfriend is here, and he wants to see you,” she sing-songed on her way over to me.
I rolled my eyes but did so with a growing smile on my face.
Why did this man’s mere presence put me in a good mood?
“Give me two minutes to put the next batch of rolls in the oven, and I’ll come up,” I told her.
“I can just send him back here,” Luna replied, not waiting for my response as she walked back through the door to the front room.
I worked quickly to swap the old cardamom buns out with the new so I could focus on whatever Axel was here for. It did have me wondering what he needed. Was it bad?
He had my cell phone, so he could have texted if it was something simple.
Oh, maybe he did.
I looked around for my phone just as he walked in.
“Axel’s here,” Luna announced like I hadn’t noticed that myself, but before I could give her some witty quip about it, Axel let out a small moan.
“God, it smells so good in here,” he said, smiling, and then his eyes got larger as he stared at the tray on the big prep table. “Are those kardemummabullar?”
“Yes,” I replied, loving the look of happiness that my baked goods brought to his face.
“I love those, and they smell just like the ones my grandmother made for Christmas,” he said, giving me yet another compliment.
“I’ll leave you two alone to talk about whatever you want,” Luna chimed in all chipper-like. “Just let me know when you’re done, and I’ll walk over to the bank with you.”
“I’m sorry. I should have texted to see if this was a good time,” Axel apologized. “If you need to go to the bank, I can wait or come back another time.”
“No, it’s okay,” I told him. “I haven’t filled out the deposit slip or summary yet, so I can go anytime. I just prefer to go when we aren’t too busy so Luna can go with me.”
“I can go with you,” Axel offered.
“Ooooh, that’s a great idea!” Luna added cheerfully. “He’s scarier than me anyway, so no one will rob you if he goes. But you should probably stick close…maybe have him hold on to you—you know, just in case.”
I tried my best not to laugh at her blatant setup, but the minute I looked over at Axel to see him trying to not laugh too, I couldn’t hold back and let my laugh out.
“I’m just trying to help,” Luna scoffed before heading back through the door to the front room.
“I’m sorry about her,” I told Axel, shaking my head.
“I like her. She’s what we would call fr?ck or busig,” he said, causing me to lift my eyebrow in confusion. “The closest English words I can think of would be cheeky and mischievous.”
I laughed at his accurate analysis of Luna, despite not knowing her all that well.
“You are spot on with her,” I said, putting the oven mitts down and grabbing my display case trays so I could transfer these out to the front room once they cooled.
“So, did you need to talk to me about something, or did you just stop by to get some more treats?” I asked while delicately sliding the cardamom buns so I didn’t puncture the soft, flaky crust while they were still hot.
“Why don’t you finish doing that first,” he said, pointing to my tray.
I appreciated that, because this really was something I needed to focus on. I moved swiftly but carefully, glancing up a few times to see him watching me attentively.
Less than five minutes later, I was done. I put my utensils in the sink and turned back to Axel. “All done. Thank you.”