#2
“Thank you.” Her cheeks heated as she waited for the receipt to print. “Nia and I have worked really hard on it.”
He tucked his card back into his wallet. “I hadn’t stopped by before, but I’ll have to come back and get something for myself sometime.”
Why hadn’t she asked him if he wanted something? She knew why. “Here. Try one of these. On the house.” Brianna plated a strawberry scone.
Flynn smiled at her, which made her heart do a backflip. “Thanks.”
As Flynn sat down with the kids to help them with their cupcake wrappers and wipe their faces, Nia came back around behind the counter. “Aren’t they just the cutest things?”
“Yeah. Definitely.” Brianna stared at the bakery display. Wasn’t she supposed to be doing something? The huge list of things the shop needed had completely escaped her mind.
“You good?” Nia asked quietly. “Are you sure you’re not getting sick?”
Brianna felt better than she had in a long time. Her body vibrated with energy, but she couldn’t explain to Nia just then, not when Flynn was sitting a few feet away. “I’m fine. I just lost myself there for a second.”
“Sounds like the sugar rush is kicking in quickly for them,” Nia noted as a few of the kids began giggling. Cedar was wiggling around in his chair, and Orion was painting his face with his frosting. “Maybe we should pep ourselves up with a treat, too.”
“Forrest, you can’t do that here!” Flynn suddenly admonished.
Where Forrest had been sitting was now a little green dragon. He was just as adorable in this form as he’d been as a human. His big yellow eyes stared brightly around the room, and his tail dangled between the chair back and the seat.
“I’m so sorry,” Flynn said to Brianna and Nia. He looked helplessly at Forrest. “Come on, little dude. You’re going to have to change back.”
Forrest merely grinned, showing two large rows of pointy teeth.
Stella, seated across the table from him, fell out of her chair.
Flynn darted to grab her. His handsome face was completely stricken as he lifted a silver dragon instead of a young girl. “This is not good!”
Forrest jumped off his chair and flapped his little wings. He managed to raise himself only a few feet off the floor, flying more like a bumblebee than a dragon.
“Aspen, don’t—ugh!” Flynn had completely lost track of the situation.
It was almost a little amusing, except that a customer could come in the door at any moment. Brianna raced out from behind the counter. She flipped the sign on the door to ‘Closed’ and locked it. Then she moved all along the outer edge of the room, dropping the blinds so no one could see in.
The dragonlings had all crawled or attempted to fly out of their seats.
Nia flicked her finger in the air, encasing Forrest in a bubble and bringing him safely back to his seat.
The sphere of magic held him there while she retrieved Cedar from the top of the display cabinet and Aspen from under another table.
“Change back right now or we’ll have to leave,” Flynn told them. “You won’t get to finish your cupcakes.”
Aspen, still very much interested in her treat, instantly shifted.
Forrest poked experimentally at the magic that surrounded him. Seeming to see that it wouldn’t give way, he returned to his human. The rest followed suit.
Flynn collapsed in his chair. “I am so sorry about this.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Nia assured him.
“I’ll worry a lot less when they finish, and I can get them out of here.” He pressed a hand to his forehead and widened his eyes.
While they ate, Brianna occupied herself with fixing up the display case.
She filled in the gaps left by purchases and took away empty trays so it would still look appealing.
She noted what items she should probably make more of and which she should make less of, an ongoing process that ebbed and flowed with the seasons, but she wasn’t sure she’d remember any of it by the next morning. Flynn was one hell of a distraction.
She heard plates being set down on the counter and looked up.
“Just returning our empties,” Flynn said with a small smile.
“Thanks. I hope they liked them.”
“Enough that it was a good bribe,” he laughed. “The scone was good, too. I didn’t think I liked scones, but then I had yours.”
“It’s a recipe I’ve refined over the last few months.” She was leaning on the counter, twisting the toe of her shoe against the floor like a schoolgirl. Why did this man make her act this way?
“It’s paid off.” Flynn glanced over his shoulder to make sure the little ones were still at least mostly behaving themselves. “I really am sorry for making you shut down for a little bit, but I appreciate you letting us stay until I could get them under control. I owe you.”
“No, you don’t.” She waved her hand at him. “We can look out for each other’s secrets.”
“Still, I’d like to repay you. Maybe I can take you out to dinner sometime?” That intense fire had returned to his eyes.
“I’d love that.” Brianna’s wolf urged the answer from her throat, and her human side had to fight to keep it tame and civilized.