one
Fletcher
“Hey, Ruby, there’s acustomer out front asking about her special order. I searched through the stacks of orders behind the counter. It wasn’t there.”
It’s the day before Valentine’s Day, our busiest day of the year. The day before Valentine’s Day is a close second. Misplacing an order could be grounds for a bad online review, and there’s no way I want to risk my perfect five-star rating.
Ruby jumps at the sound of my voice, spinning around to look at me with a guilty look on her face. “Um, I’m just finishing packaging it.” She spins back around just as quickly, slamming the lid shut on a hot-pink box and tying it with a black bow. It’s not our normal light-pink box tied with a white bow, which we use for Valentine’s Day. “I’ll take it out to her.” She rushes past me, a light-pink blush on her pretty face.
I follow her out of the kitchen and into the front of my candy shop, Sweet Spot. The candy shop has been in my family for generations. The people of Temptation Ridge, along with all the tourists, have kept the business thriving. Ruby has only worked for me for about two months—she started a few weeks before Christmas. She’s been after me to open an online candy store ever since.
“Oh, these are just as cool as Aspen said they were. My Instagram followers are going to flip out. You really need to set up an online store. Between these and the amazing chocolates the shop sells, you could make millions.” Ruby holds the box open for the customer’s inspection, but with her body angled, I can’t see what’s inside.
“Thanks, Rue.” Ruby closes the lid and reties the bow on the box. “I’m still working on him.” She glances over her shoulder, and her eyes find me instantly. Thoughts I shouldn’t be having about Ruby run through my head. Thoughts of her as my wife, the two of us running the shop together, side by side, not as boss and employee. I lock down the more graphic images—the ones where we’re both naked, and I’m licking chocolate off every part of her body.
I open my mouth to tell Ruby she can do whatever she wants as long as she never leaves, but instead I grunt a reply and make myself look busy by checking out the display case.
“So, I heard you and some of the single ladies are getting together tonight at The Rustic Ridge to celebrate Galentine’s Day.”
My ears perk up when I hear that Ruby is planning on going out with her girlfriends to the local bar. Since she’s worked for me, she’s never gone out. Hell, she barely goes outside. She lives in the apartment above the candy shop. Like me, she works long hours. She has the shop ready to go in the mornings before I even get here. After closing, she rushes up the stairs to her tiny apartment, waving as I lock the door behind me.
The thought of Ruby living in that tiny space makes me grind my teeth. She should be living with me in my cabin. It’s not huge, but it’s big enough to raise a family in.
Stop it. She’s twelve years younger than I am—way too young for my old ass.
Yeah, I know thirty-three isn’t that old, but Ruby is only twenty-one. She has her whole life in front of her—she doesn’t need me dragging her down.
“It’s only going to be a couple of us. We’re going to have a couple of drinks and talk.” Out of the corner of my eye, I can feel Ruby’s gaze on me.
“Right, that’s how it always starts. One drink, then another, until you’re dancing on the bar like in the movie Coyote Ugly—maybe hook up with a random mountain man for the night.” Rue’s description of what might happen tonight has me grinding my teeth harder. Like hell I’m going to let Ruby hook up with some strange man.
“I don’t go out or dance on bars, and I hardly ever drink. I definitely don’t hook up with random mountain men.”
Good girl, Ruby.
“There’s always a first for everything,” I swear I see Rue glance in my direction, but I’m too focused on taking fake inventory on the chocolate-covered strawberries to know for sure. “Have fun.” Rue picks up her hot-pink box containing the mysterious order and waves goodbye to Ruby.
“I should get back to dipping more strawberries.” Ruby’s gaze drifts from my face to the almost empty tray of chocolate-covered strawberries in my hand.
“Oh, those strawberries look delicious. I’ll take six, please.” A customer steps up to the counter, eyes fixed on thetray of plump, chocolate-covered strawberries decorated for Valentine’s Day.
Ruby makes her escape back to the kitchen while I package up the six strawberries for this customer and wait on eight more customers before I have a break to check on Ruby in the back. Normally, we have plenty of candy to get us through the day, but the strawberries are a hot seller today, as I knew they would be, and we still can’t keep up.
“So, you’re going out with your friends tonight, Ruby?” She jumps again at the sound of my voice. Something is definitely going on—she’s never this skittish around me. Normally, we get along just fine.
“It’s no big deal. It’s only going to be me, Marigold from the library, Lainey from the bar, and Esme from the flower shop.” She shrugs, dipping each strawberry into melted chocolate with care and placing them on wax paper to dry. “Marigold read somewhere about single women celebrating a thing called Galentine’s Day, the day before Valentine’s Day, with their single girlfriends, since they don’t have anyone to celebrate Valentine’s Day with. She even made us matching t-shirts.”
“Just be careful, Ruby.”
She nods, her eyes drifting down to my lips. I keep my beard trimmed, just in case I ever get to kiss Ruby. Which is so stupid. She obviously isn’t interested in me—I’m too old for her. Besides, I’m her boss. I’m not going to take advantage of her.
“Um, here.” She picks up a strawberry from the wax paper, one ready to be decorated. The chocolate has a perfect dried shell around the berry. “How does it taste?” She holds the chocolate-covered strawberry out to me. I know she expects me to take it from her hand before biting into it. Instead, I wrap my hand around her wrist and guide her hand to my mouth, taking the bite directly from her fingers while I watch her eyes the whole time. Her eyes widen in surprise, then soften into something that looks like longing as she watches me chew the strawberry, her gaze following the path down my throat as I swallow it.
“Delicious.” I let go of her hand and step back. I don’t know what’s gotten into me—whether it’s knowing she’s going out to a bar with her single friends to celebrate being single, or the fact that it’s also Friday the thirteenth, that’s making me act crazy. Or maybe it’s that I want her to celebrate tomorrow with her as my Valentine forever. “I should get back out front and help the customers.” I walk away, leaving her standing in the kitchen, staring at the half-eaten strawberry in her hand. It takes everything I have to walk out into the front half of the shop instead of taking Ruby upstairs to her small apartment and making love to her.
Against my better judgment, I take a quick glance over my shoulder just in time to see her bring the half-eaten strawberry to her lips and take a bite of the remaining half. My cock hardens against the zipper of my pants as the image of her lips touching the spot where mine had just been brings out the primal side of me. I know for a fact I’m going to be at the bar tonight, watching my woman and keeping any guy away who wants to steal Ruby away from me.
two
