Chapter 6—Aspen
The blue light from Aspen’s aging laptop illuminated the small space that housed her miniscule office in the back of the bakery. While Aspen should be reconciling her books, she instead found herself doodling hearts on a scratchpad she normally used to jot down notes and numbers.
Hearts.
Ugh.
She more resembled a middle-school girl focused on the proverbial bad boy in science class than a baker trying to operate a business.
Wolfe may be bad, but he certainly wasn’t a boy by any stretch of the imagination.
He exuded sheer confidence and masculinity.
The hulking blonde who barreled into the bakery and literally swept her off her feet, or the floor as it were, kept Aspen off-kilter and feeling things usually reserved for time with her bedside battery-operated friend.
Try as she might, Aspen had a difficult time removing thoughts of Wolfe from her brain and the memories of his body pressed against hers. She was trying hard to make sense of the numbers she was attempting to reconcile.
The feel of his strong body suspending her in the air.
The massively rounded balls of his shoulders that beckoned her caresses and snuggles.
The clean scent of aftershave that tickled her nose and had her longing to tuck her face into the curve of his neck and simply.
.. be. They all combined to form a primeval response of her body that silently screamed yes to whatever he may have asked.
Wait, Wolfe—or Connor—wouldn’t ask. He’d demand, and she’d comply because the destination would be worth the price of the ticket. And more.
Then, reality set in as she returned from her trip to Hot-Man-Land back to the office where Aspen sternly reminded herself she didn’t have time for a distraction like Wolfe/Connor.
That reality threatened to consume her with a reminder that she owned a business that seemed to be falling down around her, and the other small fact that Aspen owed a ton on her loan before she could truly call the bakery her own.
But even ‘her own’ was relative, as her parents constantly called to grill her about the business like they couldn’t let go. She thought they’d have better things to do now that they were living in a small condo in a Florida retirement village that she helped pay the mortgage for.
Although they left the business in shambles, much to Aspen’s surprise when she went to assume their loan, they were still her parents.
She listened to their constant advice and answered their many questions during their periodic phone calls.
The bitter pill she had trouble swallowing was their second-guessing of her decisions about the bakery.
Part of Aspen wanted to lash out and tell them they had their time in the bakery, but it was difficult to voice those thoughts.
They were her parents after all, and deserved her respect.
Even though at times Aspen felt she was destined to live in an I.O.U. world in the short term—hell, maybe the long term—she was adamant the bakery would ultimately be a success on her own terms. Hence, her foray into the catering arena.
Could she afford the salaries of Mia and the other two part-time employees she hired? Barely. But it certainly offered Aspen the opportunity to focus on other things instead of brewing coffee while trying to bake at the same time.
No, Aspen had plans to expand the business and it started with the catering component she was nearly set to launch.
Catching a glimpse of the ridiculous hearts she doodled on her notebook, Aspen violently slashed through the offending sweeps of ink with a Sharpie.
“Enough!” Aspen capped her pen and slapped the laptop closed before standing to exit the tiny office to lose herself in a batch of ‘Coo-Coo-for-Cocoa’ cupcakes.
“Damn hearts and sunshine,” she grumbled.
Aspen made her way to the front of the bakery and nearly tripped over her own feet as she spied Wolfe, or Connor—she really needed to figure out what to call him—leaning against the counter talking with Mia.
His stance may have seemed relaxed, casual even, but the buzz of powerful energy he produced crossed the empty space to where Aspen stood frozen near the kitchen and caused a million swooshes through her tummy and lower.
And when those icy-blue eyes shifted to spy Aspen, she nearly lost her breath.
Aspen’s mind instantly transported her to an imaginary world with Wolfe as a fierce Viking standing on the bow of a warship cutting through blue-black ocean waters heading into battle.
The frigid wind would whip his long, golden strands of hair across his face and his fur-covered shoulders while his fierce gaze remained as steadfast as his resolve for victory.
“Hey there, BB,” his sexy voice purred each syllable.
Aspen couldn’t find any words as her mind was instantly peppered with new images.
This time, Aspen found herself joining Wolfe on the same bow of the warship.
That same frigid wind lashed at his long hair, except this time the golden tresses slid across her own face as she was crushed against his granite chest. His massive arms would wrap tightly around her body while he consumed her mouth, neck and lower with seductive kisses that would set her skin ablaze.
“What’s baking today?” he pressed, not with a smile, but with a look of craving in his eyes that made Aspen’s heart rate soar to heights not even sugar and caffeine could take her.
Get real, Aspen. Don’t read too much into this situation. And maybe lay off the bodice-ripper romance novels, she mentally chided herself.
“As if you’d eat anything sweet,” Mia chimed-in from behind the counter promptly catapulting Aspen back to reality.
Although Wolfe wasn’t smiling to begin with, the subzero glare he shot Mia over his shoulder made Aspen shudder at its potency. Talk about the full gamut of emotions.
“Are you coming by for a cup of joe this morning?” Aspen asked and moved toward the pair at the counter, tying a clean apron around her back in hopes of hiding the shaking of her nervous hands that seemed unsteady in Wolfe’s presence.
“Remember, I said I’d come by and fix that loose baseboard so you didn’t kill yourself? Unless you’d rather have me scoop you up in my arms every time you walk behind the counter,” a smug, but sexy smirk danced across Wolfe’s face.
Annnnnd just like that Aspen was propelled to the moment when Wolfe held her in his thick arms in the bakery, or maybe the fantasy Viking ship from the yummy scene she’d spun in her mind. Regardless of the situation, she couldn’t seem to forget the intensity of his body as he enveloped hers.
“I didn’t really expect you to come by and fix anything,” Aspen explained desperately trying to focus on anything but Wolfe’s massive arms covered in ink that added even more mystery to his larger-than-life presence.
She moved to wipe the face of the display case to erase imaginary fingerprints but found herself catching glimpses of Wolfe. His stare remained unwavering and fixated on Aspen.
“I always do what I say I’ll do,” Wolfe’s brows pinched together, seemingly pissed that Aspen hadn’t expected him to return to the bakery.
A blush washed over her lightly freckled cheeks, and she instantly felt embarrassed that she dismissed his kindness.
Aspen folded the towel and tucked it into her apron tie. “I really appreciate your willingness to help, but I can’t pay you right now. And since you don’t eat sweets, I can’t even bribe you with baked goods.”
Wolfe paused before speaking and slowly perused her body from the tips of her Sketchers to the massive coppery bun planted atop her head. “Oh, there are other ways you can pay me back, BB.”
Aspen’s eyes widened as Wolfe’s intense gaze took a leisurely jaunt up her body to meet her own bewildered stare.
Aspen could feel a red wave of humiliation pulse against her cheeks.
Actually, if she was honest with herself, the heat was arousal that settled in the pit of her stomach like a thousand butterflies fluttering in sync to a hip-hop song.
A feeling similar to the one she experienced when she first spotted him leaned against the counter talking to Mia.
“Again, I can’t pay you right now,” Aspen forced confidence into her voice that she didn’t feel in her body, as she couldn’t help but be mesmerized by Wolfe’s towering frame from his wide shoulders encased in a cloud-white t-shirt that tapered to his narrow waist where a tool belt hung like a cowboy’s gun belt and holster.
“But I will accept your generosity and let you get to that baseboard.”
Without waiting for Wolfe’s response, Aspen quickly made her way back to the kitchen.
A teenage girl has more confidence and charm in her gel-polished pinky nail than you at this moment, Aspen scolded herself.
Shaking her head at her inability to form a coherent thought around Wolfe—outside of her very realistic mental video reel of images of the hockey hottie as a marauding Viking—Aspen shifted her energy to gathering the ingredients for the chocolate cupcake concoction she intended to bake.
“I’m done for the day,” Mia called out to Aspen and tossed her barista apron into a hamper in the back of the shop. “I’ll see you in the morning, girl.”
After giving her ‘uncle’ a peck on the cheek, she turned to exit the shop.
“Thank you, Mia. As always,” Aspen called out and offered a genuine smile to her friend.
“For you, the world,” Mia wiggled her eyebrows at Aspen and headed out the door.
Mia may be several years her junior, but she was smooth.
Brat.
Losing herself in the ‘Coo-Coo-for-Cocoa’ cupcake recipe she created, Aspen thought about the crazed orange Cuckoo bird who tried to avoid the cereal’s chocolatey goodness from the commercials she’d seen as a child.
She felt a certain kinship to the bird when he reached his breaking point, eyes spinning, just before diving into the tasty bowl of sweetness.
Wolfe symbolized the bowl of cereal and she the loony bird.