“Maybe you should tell him you’re a lesbian and that we are dating instead,” Luna announced.
“I see how it is. I offer to fake date you and it’s lame, but if Luna offers, you like it. I see where I am in your friend priorities,” Milo said, faking offense.
“I will always be the number-one priority, Milo, because I am her bestest best friend,” Luna said, putting her hands on her hips and sticking her chin out.
“For now,” he teased her.
I wasn’t sure why, but he loved to rile her up.
He turned to me, speaking in a softer tone than the frustrated one he had given Luna. “Stella, I’m happy he told Braden that. Hopefully, that loser leaves you alone now. But if he does come back here and harass you again, I’m happy to stand in as a fake boyfriend if you need it.”
“Same,” Drake echoed.
“Thanks, guys,” I told them.
“Alright, I’m headed to get a few things now that I have a way to pay for it,” Milo told us, heading back to the door. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
We said our goodbyes as he walked out. Milo was a good guy. He was a few years younger than me at only thirty-one, but he was a great employee. We had tried to get him to hang out with us outside of work, but for some reason, he and Luna got on each other’s nerves when it came to anything outside the bakery.
“Okay, tell me the rest,” Luna demanded.
“Oh, yes, tell me the good gossip,” Drake added, but Luna shooed him away.
“This is girl talk, so you’re not invited, sorry,” Luna told him, and he just chuckled and walked away, clearly not hurt at all that he wasn’t included.
I filled Luna in on some of the phrases I had been teaching him and the weird Swedish one he told us last night. I also told her about some of the comments he had made that seemed borderline flirty.
“Stella, he issointo you,” Luna said, grinning like a loon.
“I think that’s just his personality,” I said, brushing it off.
He hadn’t exactly asked me out or implied that he would, but I wished he would. There was this mystical magnetic pull when I was around him, not to mention he was so incredibly sexy. Several times during our “tutoring,” as I liked to call it, I foundmyself wanting to let his hair down from the bun he usually wore and run my fingers through it as he kissed me senseless.
We continued to chat about my visits to the bar with Axel while I decorated and Luna swapped out items in the oven.
Two hours later, the lunch crowd was just starting to trickle in when Luna came bursting through the kitchen door.
“Your boyfriend is here, and he wants to see you,” she sing-songed on her way over to me.
I rolled my eyes but did so with a growing smile on my face.
Why did this man’s mere presence put me in a good mood?
“Give me two minutes to put the next batch of rolls in the oven, and I’ll come up,” I told her.
“I can just send him back here,” Luna replied, not waiting for my response as she walked back through the door to the front room.
I worked quickly to swap the old cardamom buns out with the new so I could focus on whatever Axel was here for. It did have me wondering what he needed. Was it bad?
He had my cell phone, so he could have texted if it was something simple.
Oh, maybe he did.
I looked around for my phone just as he walked in.
“Axel’s here,” Luna announced like I hadn’t noticed that myself, but before I could give her some witty quip about it, Axel let out a small moan.
“God, it smells so good in here,” he said, smiling, and then his eyes got larger as he stared at the tray on the big prep table. “Are thosekardemummabullar?”
