I laughed at the mental image of Harvey being hit in the face with a pair of pink lace panties. Wrinkled nose, furrowed brow, gingerly picking them off his ear and dropping them on the floor.
“I can’t make them bake any faster. I can cool them in the fridge, but they might not keep as long if I do that, they could dry out faster.”
“A ten-minute shelf life would be more than enough right now. Come and see this crowd.”
Harvey looked at the dough he’d been rolling out. “I’m not sure I wanna see the crowd,” he said. “I’m not used to an audience.”
All my panic over not having brownies to give to the ridiculous number of people out there demanding them shut off for a second.
Harvey had spent his whole life hiding away, of course he wasn’t used to an audience.
But hedeservedthis one, dammit.
“Gimme your hand,” I said, holding mine out for him. “Because you gotta see this.”
Harvey hesitated another moment, then crossed the room and took my outstretched hand, fingers curling around it.
I tugged him out into the front of the shop so he could see the line, and watched his mouth fall open in surprise.
“All these people want one of my brownies?” Harvey asked quietly.
“Some of us want two,” someone in line called out.
“I told you they were good. They’ve always been good, Harv. Those brownies are why I like chocolate so much now.”
“I thought you were just eating them because I was your friend,” Harvey said.
“No, they’re really good,” Dante said between drinks orders and explaining smoothly to each customer in turn that brownies would be out in fifteen.
I was thinking about instituting some kind of lottery system for them.
I’d have to upgrade the kitchen. Harvey had been in awe of it when he’d first walked in, but I could see now that there wasn’t quite the right setup or equipment in there.
With what I was saving in ordering my baked goods in, I could afford to take out a small business loan and build Harvey the kitchen of his dreams.
I tugged on Harvey’s hand, drawing his attention, and then pulled him in for a kiss. Just because. Because I loved him, and I was allowed to, and he wasadorable.
I could feel his cheeks glowing as a few people cooed and wolf-whistled, but that didn’t stop him kissing back, hand on my waist, fingertips just hinting that he’d be squeezing my butt right now if it wasn’t for all these people.
If I lived to be a hundred and twenty, I’d never get tired of Harvey wanting to squeeze my butt.
The timer in the kitchen went off, Harvey breaking away with flushed cheeks and dark eyes. His cute, talented tongue peeked out past his lips to wet them.
He’d only been back a week, we hadn’t hadnearlyenough sex yet.
“Go take those brownies out before you start a riot,” I said, grinning at him.
“Can I come back for another kiss when I’ve got a minute?” Harvey asked, keeping his eyes on me instead of the crowd.
He’d get used to everyone loving him. I was going to make sure of it.
“You can always come back for another kiss,” I promised. “But seriously, the brownies.”
Harvey laughed all the way into the kitchen, and I couldn’t wait for every day of my life to be exactly like this.
31
Harvey
