Pretty, bright eyes—dark brown with flecks of gold. They seem to warm on me. He has a small beauty mark next to the corner of his mouth. It moves when he smiles.
Why is my hand still hot?
I stretch and flex my fingers.
Get your shit together. I clear my throat. “What else can I do to help today?” While this isn’t real to me, it is to him.
I want that elephant.
But maybe I want him to succeed too.
I push back my hair, thinking about business I have no right to. “So,” I say casually. “Hear from that asshole date?”
Sawyer shakes his head. “No. Blocked. Not dealing with that again. I don’t care how desperate I am.”
“Why don’t you just go on an app and find some guy? Easy and done.”
“Not everyone just wants sex, Aiden.” I scoff. “I don’t.”
“Isn’t sex like the be all and end all of awesome shit?”
“Is it like that for you?” he questions, but heat slaps my face and I swallow, trying to calm my racing heart. “Are you a quick good time?” he teases, not seeing the war within me.
I have no idea what I am. Or what I like.
I just know that whatever the fuck is happening here, I hate it.
“No,” is all I say.
“Yeah, well, me either.” He pulls the stool out and sits down. “I don’t need sex. I need intimacy. I also need to not have this conversation with my new employee who could sue me for sexual harassment.”
“Why the fuck would I do that?
Sawyer ignores me. “Also, you don’t need to dress up. You can just wear sweats and a T-shirt or whatever you’re comfortable in. We’re going to be moving a lot of things tomorrow.”
“I am comfortable.”
Sawyer looks me up and down. “Wearing a dress shirt and pants?” He shakes his head. “Unless the store’s open, I’m in sweats and a ratty-ass T-shirt like this.”
Ratty? I look at the soft red shirt he’s wearing. Yeah, there are holes in it, and it looks worn through in places... The soft red looks good on him. “I like my clothes.” And I also don’t have much else to wear. This is pretty much it, and then my gym clothes.
“It’s okay. Just letting you know in case you didn’t. No dress code right now.” Sawyer puts his pen down and his fingers dive into his hair before he rubs them through. Strands stick up a bit here and there. This is stupid.“I have to buy the ingredients for the event by the end of this week, so I need to solidify this. I want something romantic—chocolate, cherries, strawberries. Sexy.”
“How can dessert be sexy?”
Sawyer’s heavy gaze lands on me. “Dessert can be very sexy, Aiden. I’m thinking a truffle bar. Like maybe ten or so different flavors. They’re easy to eat and delicious, and there are so many different ways to make them.” He writes that down. “Maybe I’ll do a spread of different flavors I like.”
“What else are you doing during the event?”
“We’re going to do a speed-dating thing. It’s going to be for anyone who wants to meet new friends or maybe form a romantic connection. We’re going to have a dessert bar, and a coffee bar. There’ll be full-sized desserts in the case to purchase, and the dessert bar is going to be sample-sized. During the speed-dating part, my friends are going to hand out samples of things I make for the window on normal days outside of the event. Noah wants to hold a poll on our social media page and ask everyone what their favorites were after.
Music startles us both, and Sawyer grabs his phone. “Oh, shit.” He answers it. “Hey. Oh yeah, at Hunter’s?” I hear a voice on the other end of the phone. “Sure, um... yeah, I just need to call a ride. No, yeah, no problem, I get it. Yeah. I wouldn’t let you drive my car either, Noah. No, I know I don’t have one, but I if I did, I’d know enough not to let you use it. Yeah. Yup.” Sawyer laughs. “Okay, I’ll get ready in a bit.”
He gets up, and since he mentioned the wardrobe rule, I can’t stop looking at his clothes, soft and worn to his body. He bends and grabs something out of a cabinet, and my eyes drag up his legs and then his ass before I can stop myself.
He turns sharply, and I’m staring at his dick.
Or at least the outline.
