I smiled, grateful for his support. “I promise.”
7
TEDDY
The morning sunwas barely peeking above the horizon when I pulled up to Shiloh’s Sweets on Monday morning, the bed of my truck laden with tools and supplies for the remodel. My stomach churned with a mixture of excitement and dread as I pictured working closely with Shiloh over the coming weeks. If I got through this project without making an ass of myself it’d be a miracle.
“Morning, Teddy.” Shiloh greeted me with a warm smile. We’d agreed to meet up this morning and go over the plans for the week so he could tell me if anything I wanted to get done would disrupt business. And since the bakery wasn’t open today, he’d offered to help with clean-up. I wasn’t sure how much I’d have for him to do but I understood wanting to be part of the process.
“Hey, Shiloh,” I replied, trying to keep my voice steady. “Ready to get started?”
“Absolutely,” he said, his enthusiasm contagious. “I’m still scared shitless I’m making the wrong decision but I’m trying to be optimistic.”
“That’s the best way to be.” I followed Shiloh out the front door and waited as he unlocked the other half of the building. “Eventually, we’ll put a temporary door between the two sides, that way you don’t have to come outside every time you want to see the progress.”
I planned on taking down the wall between the halves later in the process than I normally would to minimize the disruptions. It would be unsightly for a few days, but if that work started on a Sunday afternoon, I could make decent headway before he opened on Tuesday morning.
“Lacey will be in later to start on the bread we need for tomorrow’s catering orders. She said she might stop over to see what’s going on,” Shiloh explained as he started walking through the dark space. I pulled a small LED flashlight out of my pocket to light the way. There shouldn’t be anything obstructing his path but I didn’t want to start off with an injury. “Personally, I think she’s just nosy and wants to make sure I’m not getting in your way.”
“I’m sure you’ll be just fine.” I patted his shoulder, immediately pulling my hand away when he stiffened. “Sorry, I just…”
He glanced up at me, his mouth hanging slightly open. He swallowed hard a couple times. The tension between us was palpable. Our eyes locked for a split second before I turned away, feeling both embarrassed and hopelessly curious.
Today wasn’t getting off to a good start if I was already lusting after him. It was definitely past time to go out and get laid but that would have to wait until the weekend.
“No need to apologize. You startled me, that’s all.” He flipped on the lights, revealing a scene that would take at least half the day to clean up. “Seriously? I’m sorry, Teddy. It doesn’t look like we’re going to accomplish much today. I should have done a full walk-through before saying we could start today.”
“It’s not a problem. This is far from the first job that’s started with clean-up. A lot of these old buildings have stuff that was left by the previous tenants. I’d have been more surprised if there wasn’t anything back here.” It was something I actually loved about getting the chance to work downtown. When my dad used to bring me on jobs with him, he called it treasure hunting because you never knew what you’d find.
While the front of the store was relatively clean other than years of neglect and dust, the back was a jumbled mess of who knew what. It wasn’t the worst I’d seen, but I’d honestly expected Mr. Reynolds to have picked through whatever was left behind. He was an odd man, and was often seen wandering around town picking through garbage piles for anything he could sell to make a quick buck.
As we unloaded the truck and began setting up our workstations within the future bakery dining area, I couldn’t help but notice the meticulous attention to detail that Shiloh applied to everything. At one point, he told me he’d be right back and disappeared. I figured he had something to deal with at the bakery and kept working.
When he returned, he had a stack of large plastic totes. He spread them out and started rummaging through the junk in the back room. Not much of it was worth keeping, but there were some things he said he’d donate to the local thrift shop. “My grandma taught me to do this whenever going through a big project because it saves time over constantly getting up and throwing things away or putting them where they belong.”
The way Shiloh found small ways to inject his family in most of the conversations we had made it apparent they were close. I wanted to ask more, to learn about his personal life, but worried that would be overstepping.
While he took care of sorting and tossing, I got to work on everything that was obviously garbage. Dust flew through the air, leaving both of us dirty and sneezing. At one point, I heard Shiloh’s stomach growl, so I called break time.
“Come on. We both need something to eat,” I told him. When Shiloh tried to continue working, I pulled the box he was sorting through away from him. “You can get back to that after you eat something. Seriously, how does a man who feeds people for a living have such a loud stomach?”
I gave his body a quick once-over, letting my gaze linger on certain areas a moment longer than necessary. The way he fidgeted, two things were immediately obvious: he wasn’t oblivious to my appreciation and he wasn’t offended, either. That was handy information to know.
“I… well, when you’re around food all day, sometimes you forget to eat,” Shiloh admitted. His cheeks turned an adorable shade of pink. “And when I’m testing new recipes, I nibble. I don’t really need to eat a real meal most days.”
“I’m not sure if you know this, but man cannot live on carbs alone,” I teased. “Come on. I’ll run across the street for a couple of subs while you get cleaned up.”
“Let me get some cash,” Shiloh offered. I waved him off. “Teddy, I can’t let you keep paying for my meals.”
“I don’t recall giving you the option.” Fuck, I hadn’t meant to sound as stern as I did. Being bossy with someone I was attracted to was a dangerous move. It was even worse when Shiloh’s breath hitched. I took a step closer, testing the waters. “The only thing I want to hear from you is whether you prefer turkey, ham, or roast beef.”
“Why not all three?” Shiloh quipped. The tip of his tongue peeked between his lips, and his typically light brown eyes seemed darker. “You’re not the only one who likes his meat.”
I groaned at the double entendre. And did Shiloh seriously just let his eyes drift to my belt? He was going to kill me before this was all over. I did my best to pretend I hadn’t noticed. “Fine, a club it is.”
By the time I got back, Shiloh had pulled a small bistro table and chairs we’d found in the storage room into the main area and wiped it down. The table was set with two paper plates, bottles of black cherry soda, and two of the most decadent-looking brownies I’d ever seen.
“I can tell this job is going to be bad for my waistline,” I teased as I pulled our sub out of the bag. Since I also wanted the club, it was easier to share one than make the employees do the same work twice. “Those look amazing.”
