Chapter 14—Aspen
“So these are my cupcakes?” Mia held a ‘Fugetaboutit’ mini cake cupped into the palm of her hands at eye level, inspecting the chocolatey dessert filled with a perfectly whipped ricotta mixture, infused with orange liqueur, and topped with fluffy homemade chocolate whipped cream sprinkled with tiny chocolate chips.
“Are you going to hold the dang thing like baby Simba being presented in the Lion King or are you going to eat it?”
“Listen,” Mia deliberately peeled the cupcake liner striped in green, white and red that Aspen selected to symbolize the Italian flag. “It’s not often a girl gets a cupcake named in her honor. Excuse me for wanting to savor the moment.”
Aspen waited for Mia’s feedback.
Not patiently mind you, as evidenced by the drumming of her fingertips across the counter where they stood.
Mia extracted the liner from the cupcake and drew the baked good to her mouth, taking a hearty bite. Then stopped. Chewed a little more. Then closed her eyes as she finished the bite. Without saying a word, she repeated the process.
“Mia! You’re killing me here.”
Ignoring Aspen’s plea for feedback, she sunk her teeth around another section of the sponge, sampling the cake, ricotta filling and decadent fluffy chocolate frosting in one bite. Mia’s own chocolate-colored eyes snapped open wide as saucers.
“Omuyawd, deez mar ahhhmum.”
“Did you just say they are awesome?”
Mia gulped to swallow the massive bite.
“Yes! I love cannoli’s, but this cupcake blows a boring cannoli out of the water. But...” Mia turned serious, “now every time I eat these, I’m going to think of poor Matt nearly racking himself when he saw me shimmying in my sleep shorts.”
“I may not have named these treats Vixen, but we both know what inspired this decadent recipe.”
“Well, regardless of the inspiration, these cupcakes are going to fly off the shelves. You need to load this to the website, pronto dente.”
“Great idea!” Aspen began plotting the description of the cupcake to accompany the picture she’d upload to her site.
“How are things going with my uncle, by the way?”
Aspen’s mind twirled around her marketing efforts for the new cupcake she almost let the details from their recent dinner and hot make-out session slip. Almost. She stayed firm in her desire to avoid placing Mia in the middle of whatever madness zipped between herself and Connor.
“There’s nothing between Connor and me, Mia,” Aspen lied, and silently cheered at her ability to sound so blasé. “He’s a great guy who’s very generous in sharing his time and talents to help around the shop. End of story.”
“Uh huh. We’ll see. I’m watching you.”
Unfortunately for Aspen, Mia and her social worker mind wasn’t buying her bullshit line based on her dull response.
Mia squinted her eyes trying to get a better read on the situation.
Not going to happen, toots.
“Are you going to stare at me all afternoon or you going to count the drawer? Our day is done.”
Shifting her emotions on a dime, Mia’s face lit up in pure joy. No wonder poor Matt couldn’t remember the day with this beautiful young woman shining her light.
“Aspen, I’m going out with some mates...kinda-sorta a girls’ night out. Come to dinner with us,” Mia buzzed with excitement.
“Oh, Mia, I’ve got a million things to do tonight.”
“You don’t need to stay out late, just come and have dinner. It’s way better than those damn pot stickers I know you’re planning to eat,” Mia held her hands together to beg, her sweet doe eyes imploring Aspen’s capitulation.
Outside of wondering about Connor and replaying their kisses in her mind on repeat, there wasn’t much more to her night.
Lame, at best.
“Mia, I don’t know...”
“If it helps, we can talk about the hockey camp and where you’ll stage the snack tables. So see, it will be just like work.”
“And your friends won’t care? I don’t want to intrude on a standing girls’ night out.”
“The more the merrier, and believe me, you’ll be doing me a solid,” Mia must have sensed Aspen began to teeter and went in for the kill. “And we’re meeting at six, so you’ll be home by eight to get your rest, unless you want to stay out later, that is.”
“Fine. Sold. Thanks for the invite, Mia,” Aspen smiled, and felt light at the thought of meeting up with Mia and her friends. Much better than pining, noooo, pondering about Connor.
Speaking of Connor, her hunky handyman planned to visit her shop the next day, so dinner with Mia and company was needed to calm her nerves and other parts of Aspen’s body.
“We’re meeting at the Hickory House in Cherry Creek. Do you want me to pick you up?”
“Nah, I’ll meet you guys there.”
The pair quickly finished closing the bakery for the day and Aspen retreated to her apartment to get ready for the dinner.
Aspen used her diffuser to dry her thick coppery curls, but found her mind drifting to Connor. Their sultry kiss he left her with screamed of want, but he pulled back when things got interesting.
Alone with her thoughts, she contemplated her feelings about Connor and the want that filled her body both in his presence and absence.
In all honesty, Aspen wasn’t sure what she wanted.
She had far too few moments of frivolity, but she couldn’t deny her attraction to the enigma of a man with more facets than a five-carat diamond.
Enigma or not, the bright light and intense heat generated between them mirrored welding sparks and made her want him more with each interaction. But where did he stand? Why did he pull back? What did Aspen want?
Enough. She’d see Connor soon enough, tomorrow in fact, and talk through this connection that constantly simmered between them.
Aspen nearly barked out a peal of laughter at her bold prediction that she’d speak with Connor about their ‘connection.’ Aspen’s reality featured her chewing on her thick tongue trying to find words and tripping over her feet in bouts of clumsiness.
She knew she’d continue to bound along the stream like a bobber at the end of a fishing line when it came to Connor.
With that ridiculous thought, she put her hairdryer into her hallway closet along with fantasies of Connor and finished prepping for an obviously much needed girls’ night out.
Aspen donned a denim Ralph Lauren dress with capped sleeves that hit just above her knees and her go-to petal pink Vans, and made the trek to Cherry Creek where Mia and her gal pals were meeting.
Aspen hoped the noise of the eatery, along with the conversations with the women, would give her mind a reprieve from her business, whittling down her loan, and one incredibly hot hockey player who knew his way around construction, the kitchen and kissing. She definitely needed a girls’ night out.