A short while later, Connor entered her bakery with his faded jeans and damn-if-it-didn’t-make-her-panties-wet, buff-colored tool belt slung around his waist that she’d grown to love.Today’s rock band t-shirt featured the patented colorful spaceship synonymous with the group Boston.
Mia had once said the Colorado Crush players wore suits for their pre-game arrivals to the arena in downtown Denver, but Aspen couldn’t imagine her wild Viking donning anything but thread-bare denim and silk-screened t-shirts.Not that she wouldn’t pay the price of admission to see him in a suit, but she could tell Connor felt most comfortable in casualwear.
“What’s up, buttercup?”
“Buttercup, huh?So, does that just make me ‘B’ on your nickname-o-meter?”She continued replenishing the display case with a supply of‘For Heaven’s Cake’cupcakes.These gems featured vanilla sponge with bourbon sauce filling and whipped cream frosting, topped with toffee bits.
“Nah, BB it is,” Wolfe replied, but his focus already shifted to the clunky air conditioning unit mounted in the corner of her shop.“Nice music, by the way.Is that for me?”
“More for me, actually, I’m starting to get into classical.It’s very calming.I like the Vivaldi pieces in particular.”
Connor shifted his gaze from the project he obviously planned to tackle straight on to Aspen.He immediately turned and walked around the counter, stalking toward her until they were standing only inches apart.
Aspen was rooted in the spot, a cupcake held in each hand.She really hoped if he kissed her that she didn’t smear icing in his hair while she wrapped her arms around his neck.
Wanton much?
“There’s nothing finer than the sweet strings of Puccini’sO Mio Bambino Caro, BB.I have plans for that piece,” he rumbled in a sexy-ass tone that caused her skin to prickle in awareness and desire.He then gently kissed her lips.“With you.”
At the touch of his lips to her own, Aspen panted as if she sprinted a sixteen-hundred-meter run at a track meet.
Cupping her face, Connor leaned down and brushed his lips across hers, gently nibbling.
Before Aspen could ponder what to do with the cupcakes she still held in her hands, Connor broke their connection and laid a gentle kiss on her forehead.He then turned to grab the ladder and place it against the wall.
“I’ve been checking around with some people and doing research on this ‘little engine that couldn’t’ air conditioner of yours, BB,” Wolfe climbed up the ladder and began inspecting the unit.“I’m going to take another shot at a fix, but I’m not making any promises.”
Still reeling from the kiss, Aspen shook the lusty cobwebs from her brain and placed the remaining cupcakes in the case.“I really appreciate it, especially since the hottest days of summer are right around the corner.”
For the next hour, each of them worked on very different projects in the bakery.Aspen replenished the coffee supply along with to-go cups and other items Mia would need when she staffed the coffee bar in the morning.Connor grunted and even groaned at times atop the ladder as he worked to improve the output of the air conditioner Aspen feared was on its last leg.
“What’s the verdict on the air conditioner?”
Please be fixable.Please be fixable.
“Hate to break it to you, BB, but it’s shot,” Connor worked his way down from the ladder and wiped his hand on a towel hanging on one of the rungs.“It’s days of actually cooling the space are long gone.”
“Ugh.Every time I seem to carve a path to get this business on the right financial track, something goes wrong.Correction.Somethingbiggoes wrong.”
“It’s not insurmountable,” Wolfe broke down the ladder and leaned it against the wall.“How about I buy you a new unit?”
Aspen would poop rainbows before she let that happen.She didn’t want to owe Connor, or anyone else, another dime.
“No.”
“No?”Wolfe made his way around the counter where Aspen finished her coffee replenishment duties.He casually leaned against the Formica, crossing his massive forearms covered in tattoos that appeared to be waves and chains and a large anchor.“What do you mean,‘no’.BB, I have the money.Let me help.”
“No,” she replied firmly.
“Ooookay.What about I buy it and you can pay me back?”
“Connor, I can’t,” desperation laced Aspen’s voice.“You’ve done so much for me—too much.I’m not going to let you shell out thousands on a problem that’s mine.Furthermore.Why?Why are you doing this?”
Connor looked at her and started to speak.Then stopped.He took a deep breath and paused.“I just want to help.”
Hiding.Once again not telling her the full story.
“Look.I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate all you’ve done around the shop,” Aspen tried to explain to Connor, even though she knew he withheld from her.“But I can’t let you continue to shell out this money for me.This is my bakery, my responsibility.I’m going to make it work on my own terms.”
