I shuddered around him, clinging to him, as his hot release filled me. “I love you so much.”
“Madison Bailey, I’m so goddamn in love with you that I’ve been late for work all week.”
“Well, you missed work the whole last year and they didn’t mind, so...”
He grinned, pulled out of me, and gave me a quick kiss. “Worth it.”
After he helped me off the desk, I scurried to the bathroom. The old Flatlanders still had the same setup that Teller had worked so hard on, but instead of neon signs of alcohol brands, there were pictures of my creations over the last year. The bar was still a bar and the stools Jonah had made were in use, but those were for the lunch crowd. Cupcake displays and jars of homemade caramels lined the counter, and behind the bar, against the wall where bottles used to be stacked, were my various bread offerings. Those were my steadiest sellers. I used only Montana grains, some of them from Gideon and Autumn’s farm.
Next to the bar, the old storeroom had been cleaned out and opened up to the rest of the place while being cordoned off with plexiglass. The open kitchen was where I worked my magic. I baked bread and cupcakes, croissants and muffins, and anything I damn well wanted. It helped that I didn’t need this place. It was my joy. My passion. But if I had to shut down, I’d be just fine. Me and my sourdough starter would bake in my home and I’d give away my goods.
The room I used to stay in because I had nowhere else to go was now the storeroom. Every time I walked in, I pictured that little cot I used to sleep on, and then I imagined all the times Teller had had me on my back with his face between my legs.
Lots of good memories were tied to this building, and I was making new memories all over town these days.
Once I was done cleaning myself up and straightening my clothing, I opened the bakery. It’d been easier than I thought to give up the idea of running Flatlanders as a bar. It had functioned as one for a year and a half. The boys who’d vandalized the place had cleaned the paint, and their families had covered the expense of the windows. Once the sidewalk drama from the day I’d left town had burned through the grapevine, I’d become an underdog story. People rooted for me after they caught wind of the Damien-and-Wendi-and-Logan situation. Even Scott had been somewhat vindicated in the hearts of the people.
Still, I got a sense of justice any time someone who’d been hard on my family paid me for my work. I also enjoyed that they entered under a sign with my brother’s name. He hadn’t been a pillar of the community, but he’d been a part of it. He’d been a business owner, and because of him, I was one too. And each time someone walked in off the street, they had to acknowledge that. They had to accept that I’d gotten where I was because of a Townsend and not just the Baileys.
I was arranging a new batch of German chocolate cupcakes in the display case when the front door opened. The bell tinkled. “Welcome to Scooter’s Confections.” The greeting was automatic—in case they missed the sign. My brother’s legacy carried on in a different way.
“Hey, Madison.” Cassie sauntered in, taking in the booths, each with an aluminum print of a specialty cupcake. Junie’s stepdaughters had taken the photos for me. “Oh, that looks so delicious.” Her gaze was on a red cupcake with pink frosting. The top was decorated with red apple jelly beans.
“Thanks. I actually have a few available. How are you and Deacon?”
She grinned and affection shone from her eyes. Teller had told me that she used to be after him and Tenor, but the person who’d bought my place happened to be a bachelor who’d hit it big in the tech industry. He’d wanted to get away from living in big cities and work from home. While coming in and out of town, he’d met Cassie. Now their home was being built, and he and Cassie were still going strong.
I’d been talking with her since Teller and I had returned from my pastry and confectionery training. I could count her as another friend, along with the ones I’d made while at school.
She wiggled her ring finger. “I’m here to order a wedding cake.”
I let out a cheer and gawked at her sparkly diamond. “It’s gorgeous! Congrats.” Old anxiety started to creep in. I wished I was cured of it, and eventually I would be. “I don’t have a lot of wedding cake experience.”
She waved off my words. “Ruby showed me hers. We’re having a fall wedding, and I wanted the same with sunflowers and mums.”
“Perfect.”
“Having a party out here?” Teller came around the bar to stand with me. “Hey, Cassie. Tell Deacon I said hi.”
Deacon was also a bourbon aficionado. He’d met Cassie in the tasting room at Copper Summit.
“Will do.” She admired her ring.
I knew the feeling. Mine was safe in a jewelry box while I worked. I’d told Teller I probably wouldn’t wear it much, but he’d bought a huge diamond anyway. I loved it.
“It’s perfect timing,” she said, studying the cupcakes, “with you two returning and the bakery opening.” She tapped the plexiglass by the jelly bean one. “I’ll take two, please. I have to hear more about London. We’re trying to decide where to go for our honeymoon.”
“London was great,” I said as I retrieved two red apple cupcakes from the display. “I’ve got a million pictures.” Most of them were of my cowboy at London Tower. My cowboy at the top of the Eiffel Tower. My cowboy holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We’d been unrepentant tourists.
I had gone to pastry school for nine months. Teller had lived with me, and during my time off, we’d traveled all of Europe. The year before that, we’d traveled the US, Canada, and Mexico. I’d gone to bakeries, and I’d even done some training in Boston, but my heart had said there was more to learn. While I could do distance learning and practice in his kitchen, being on location had been worth it.
I’d loved every minute, but I was glad to be home. In Bourbon Canyon. With my family. My large, loud, happy family.
Didn’t mean we weren’t going to keep traveling. We had a trip to Japan planned this fall, a quick one, before I settled in to keep this place running. It’d been a bar until five months ago when I’d closed it to prepare for Scooter’s Confections. Cruz and Lane had managed the place, hiring and training staff for me.
Now they were on to their own adventures, building their own empire, and I’d forever be grateful to two guys who had become like brothers to me.
I packed Cassie’s cupcakes, took her wedding cake order, and chatted some more before she left. I’d come so far since that day when she’d been talking to Teller and he’d been blocking my emotional support jelly beans. He still bought me packages all the time. I had a container on my desk. We made sure to never knock that one down when we had sex.
