Chapter 2—Aspen #2
Then, all thoughts swept away from her mind as she stared into those crystal-blue eyes with flecks of black – no, midnight blue – bursting outward in a starlike pattern from his now dilated pupils.
“My goodness,” Aspen whispered breathlessly as she continued to grasp the rounded balls of his shoulders. She didn’t even notice she was suspended in the air and may have even been kneading the thick muscles like she worked the dough of her ‘Sin-uh-Man’ rolls so popular during the Christmas season.
It was like the world melted away and they were the only two people in the universe at that moment.
As light and gooey as Aspen’s insides felt, the man holding her was all business.
Not an iota of warmth or friendliness touched his hardened features as his eyes slowly roamed her face and lower down her body.
Had she not spied his pupils expanded in awareness, maybe even desire, she would have been certain that he felt nothing.
Hell, maybe he didn’t feel anything. Maybe he just responded to the situation of Aspen’s precarious position on the floor and simply acted. Maybe he had the x-ray vision of a superhero and his perusal of her body ensured she had no broken bones.
Her mind swam with thoughts of her rescuer’s physique and how good his arms felt wrapped around her body. That’s a sign of interest, right?
Enough with the back and forth, girl!
“I’m fine. Really. You can put me down now.”
Aspen pushed at his shoulders to force the hulk to loosen his grip so she could find her footing on the ground.
Except he didn’t let go. Instead, he leisurely guided her down his body until her toes reached the worn linoleum of the floor.
Aspen’s eyes never left his during her journey back to earth and her return to reality.
“Give yourself a minute. That was a helluva tumble,” the man said, and just like that Aspen was sucked back into his vortex of hotness.
Aspen heard talking around her, but she couldn’t seem to tear herself away from the man and his massive hands loosely grasping her trim waist. His hands spanned her entire torso, his fingertips nearly touching, causing a shiver of responsiveness to rage through her body.
What kind of voodoo magic did he weave?
“...we really did want to just stop in and say hi. Introduce ourselves. Aspen, is it?”
It was then Aspen realized Mia’s brother was talking to her. With one final push away from her Viking-like rescuer, Aspen made her way over to Dante and extended her hand in greeting.
Act normal, Aspen. Act normal.
“Nice to meet you, Dante. Yes, I’m Aspen. Mia’s great. Wonderful really. It’s like we’ve known each other for a lifetime. I can’t believe she’s only worked here such a short time,” Aspen gushed out her words like a machine gun spewing shell casings in the midst of a battle.
“So glad to hear that,” he smiled in return. “This is Matty. And that guy is Wolfe. I’m Mia’s brother, Dante.”
“Wolfe? Really?” Aspen spun around, seeking out the man who now crouched down and inspected the offending baseboard that triggered her fall.
“Really,” Wolfe chimed in with a small smile tugging one side of his mouth that instantly caused her ovaries to stand at attention. “You need to fix this trim. You’re lucky you weren’t seriously hurt.”
Instantly, that smile dropped and he was once again all business.
Fascinating.
“Add it to the list,” Mia and Aspen said in unison.
There were a number of fixes needed in the bakery, but Aspen needed to walk the fine line of wants versus needs, especially because she needed every last penny and more to replace her current oven living on borrowed time.
“I’ve actually tried to hammer it down, but it keeps popping off,” Aspen moved over to where ‘Wolfe’ squatted down and gave the board a tiny kick in hopes it would reengage.
It didn’t.
“The board is warped so unless you trim it down or replace it and use a nail gun to fire in the finishing nails, it’ll probably continue to give you fits,” he continued to inspect the board in a crouched position.
The thick muscles of his thighs bulged; his pose representative of a feral animal ready to pounce.
“Actually though, you should consider putting vinyl in its place. Easier to clean and safer.”
He might as well have been speaking Swahili for all Aspen knew at the advice being dispensed, and her stare probably mirrored her confusion.
“What?” Wolfe asked, perplexed. “My da—uh, family is in construction. You want me to fix this for you?”
More time with the yummy bunny in front of me?
Yes please. Then reality set in, along with the reminder that she had no time for any man, let alone this man.
“I would love that, but I can’t ask for your help because I don’t have extra cash to pay you or even purchase materials right now.
Every dollar is going into the business for equipment I need to buy. ”
“Aspen needs to get a new oven pronto dente,” Mia shared aloud, mimicking the thoughts in Aspen’s own mind.
“Yes, Mia. Pronto dente.”
“No worries. I’ll see what’s around my garage.”
Wolfe stood up and brushed imaginary dust off his hands, then wiped them off across the threadbare pockets of his jeans covering the tightest, roundest butt Aspen had ever seen.
She thanked her lucky stars he couldn’t hear her thoughts. She would have been embarrassed at their intensity and inappropriateness had he known what was in her head at the moment.
“That’s nice of you, but I can’t ask you to just donate your time and materials,” Aspen said, and began twisting her hands in front of her. “Can I at least give you a dozen cupcakes or muffins for your time? Your choice. Whatever I have is yours.”
Wolfe seemed to pause at Aspen’s words, possibly considering it a double entendre. Then, that small smile pulled at his full lips. A wave of dark blonde hair cascaded across his cheek and collarbone as he perused Aspen’s body in a lazy and lingering stare.
Yup, double entendre indeed.
What was it that I was just thinking about my ovaries?
“Thanks, but no. I don’t eat sweets, especially when I’m training.”
“Or any other time of year,” Dante mumbled from across the bakery.
“He smells sweets a lot, though,” Matt added on to Dante’s comment. “It’s kinda weird.”
Wolfe instantly whipped his arctic-blue gaze that had been trained on Aspen to where Matt was standing and offered him a menacing look. “Shut the fuck up, rookie.”
“Whatever,” Matt attempted to dish back, but the teasing instantly stopped as Wolfe held his ominous glare, causing Matt to shift on his feet. “Maybe if you had a freaking muffin you wouldn’t be so damn cranky all the time.”
“Oh, I’ll have my muffin, rook,” Wolfe explained and returned his stare to Aspen. “Of that you should have no doubt.”
Ooookay. Maybe Wolfe felt the same attraction as Aspen.
Alarm bells sounded in her mind at the intensity of his words and the oh-so-sexy possibilities.
“Wellll, I have a recipe for ‘Oat you Kidding Me’ muffins. They have no sugar, flour or oil, believe it or not,” Aspen cleared her throat and tucked a piece of her coppery hair behind her ear that escaped the tight bun on her head.
“There’s a batch with your name on it, if you would be so kind as to fix that stupid board. ”
“That’d be nice, but there’s no need. I’m just trying to help.” Wolfe pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans, causing his forearms to flex and the ink of the colorful tattoos covering the skin to dance at his movements. “I can come by the day after tomorrow, if that works.”
Aspen heard his words, but became distracted at the ink covering his arms. Was that tattoo an anchor plunging through the water?
What did it mean? Shit, Aspen didn’t think she was a ‘tattoo girl’ but she was utterly fascinated with the story woven across his skin.
Where else did he have tattoos, her traitorous mind pondered.
Then Aspen remembered she hadn’t responded to Wolfe yet. “Yeah, that would be great.”
“Great,” Wolfe said quickly.
“Great,” Aspen repeated.
“All right, boys. Let’s bounce,” Dante announced and grabbed a to-go cup of coffee Mia had poured for him after clearing the milk mess, breaking whatever connection pinged between Aspen and Wolfe.
“See ya, squirt,” Wolfe said to Mia in a no non-sense tone. “Later, BB.”
“BB?” Aspen asked in confusion at his parting comment directed her way.
“Boss Baker,” he clarified.
Wolfe offered Aspen a curt nod and turned to leave the shop with his teammates.
“Let’s go, rook,” Wolfe said, and gave Matt a shove when the youngest of the three seemed frozen in place.
“Nice to meet you, Aspen. Bye, Mia,” Matt called out over his shoulder only looking in Mia’s direction.
Matt barely got out Mia’s name before Wolfe gave him a sharper shove out the door.
And with their departure, they seemed to take the energy in the space with them.
What in the hell just happened?
Before Aspen could voice her thoughts, Mia turned to run her hand under the cold water at the sink leaving Aspen alone to replay the events that had just transpired.
And there was a lot to rerun.