Nick straightened. He was stark pale, and pain glimmered in his eyes. “Everyone stop it. Right now.” His voice was a hoarse bellow.
Gerty hurried toward him. “My baby. Are you okay? How bad are you hurt?” She looked over her shoulder at a trio of waitresses behind the bar, watching us with their eyes wide and their mouths open. “Please get us some ice. Or frozen peas.”
“No.” Nick held up a hand, still not standing completely upright. “Everyone just stop. Thank you.” He glared at several teens over in the table section who held their phones up, catching the entire situation. “Stop filming and stop taking pictures. I mean it.”
The teens didn’t even twitch.
I looked around at the mess. We all had different frosting or cream on our hair, faces, and clothing. The tile floor was covered with pieces of pie and donut. Teddy helped wipe off Kelsey’s face while Tessa shook out her shirt.
Nonna wiped cream off her neck to taste. Her eyebrows lifted. “It’s good.”
Two uniformed officers walked through the front door and took in the scene. I wasn’t sure if I was happy or not that one of them was Bud Orlov.
He looked at me and sighed.
Yeah. I agreed. Chocolate frosting dropped from my chin to my shoe. When had she thrown chocolate cake?
Gerty moved toward Nonna. “I’m not sure this was a good idea.”
Nonna’s eyes widened in panic. She looked at Tessa and then at Nick. “Oh, this is just one little hiccup.” Even she didn’t sound sure about that, though.
Bud shook his head and drew out his notepad.
I bit my lip. Hopefully I hadn’t just ruined another romance for one of my sisters. I licked my lips and tasted coconut. What a freakin’ disaster.
After givingour statements to the police, I watched Nonna drive off after she dropped me outside my office building. The sun beat down on me, and my skin started to itch from the pastries. I wiped my hands off on my skirt again and then fetched my phone from my purse to dial Aiden.
“Devlin,” he answered.
“Hey. Where are you?” I asked, wanting to kick off my shoes and wipe off my feet.
Voices echoed in the background. “I’m buying motorcycle parts from Newman’s. What’s going on?” Newman’s was over on Cedar Avenue and just a few blocks away.
“You’re in town? Good. I need to talk to you.” It was time he got his house in order. Two fights were all I could get Tessa involved in, and right now, it seemed like Nick was running as fast as he could in the other direction. I couldn’t exactly argue with him. “I’m outside of my office. How long will you be?”
A motorcycle revved up. “I’ll be right there.” He clicked off.
Good. I walked over beneath a sweeping maple tree and sat on the wooden bench beneath it. Benches lined up and down most of the streets near downtown. Once seated, I tried to wipe off as much of the pastries as I could.
I heard Aiden’s motorcycle before I saw him, and soon he rolled to a stop in front of me. He parked the bike and swung a leg over, watching me carefully. “What happened to you?” he asked.
“If you’re in charge of the Lordes, you need to start acting like it.” I flicked a piece of coconut off my arm and hit him in the chest.
He cocked his head. In his faded jeans, black tee, and motorcycle boots, he looked exactly like the badass I knew him to be. “How about you explain what you mean by that statement?”
Oh, I did. In great detail, I told him about the food fight. When he obviously tried to stop a grin, I flicked more coconut at his black shirt. “Tell those women that I’m not to be bothered again.” I stood as my temper started to warm to the heated temperature around us. “In fact, tell them to leave Kelsey, Teddy, and my entire family alone. Got it, Devlin?”
His smile was slow and sexy. “Yeah.” He wiped his finger along my collarbone and then licked it clean. “Chocolate. Nice.” Then he leaned in and licked along my ear. “Mmm. Coconut.”
My body performed a full body roll. “Knock it off.” I shivered, even though it was in the nineties today.
“Mmm.” He wandered along my neck, and no doubt tasted strawberry. “This might be my favorite afternoon ever.” He leaned back. “Wanna ride? We can go to your place.”
Oh, I wanted a ride. Definitely to my place. “I have meetings this afternoon.”
He looked me up and down, his gaze doubtful. “You’re covered in food.” Then he tugged on my hair. “Is that peanut butter?”
“I don’t think so. Maybe vanilla cream filling,” I muttered. “I’ll wash up the best I can, and then I’ll head home after I meet with the clients who’ve made appointments. What’s your plan for tonight?”
