She smiled. “I sure hope so. The kitchen’s just over here, by the way.”
I nodded and set down the bags. I knew I needed to makemy escape. Instead, I stayed and watched as she grabbed everything.
“Look at this!” she said as she pulled out the bread from the bag. “It looks so good.”
“Freya’s bread is incredible. You’ll enjoy it.”
“Do you wanna share some?” she asked. “I have nothing but time.”
I should’ve said no, but I didn’t.
“Of course I will.”
Piper’s smile made it worth it. She went to one of her cabinets and pulled out two small plates. Then, she cut the bread and grabbed butter.
“For you,” she said, handing me a plate.
“Thanks, but you get the first bite.”
She raised her brow. “Letting the lady go first?”
“I wanna see your face when you try it.”
Piper’s cheeks turned pink, but she nodded and took a bite. She moaned the second she did. “Oh,fuck. This is so good.”
I willed my body not to respond, but my shoulders tensed. I would be thinking about that later. “Told you.”
“It doesn’t help that this is the first thing I’ve eaten all day.”
I frowned. “You didn’t eat today?”
“I completely forgot. A bad habit of mine after my dad would punish me by not feeding me.” She sighed. “At least I’m eating now.”
She went back to her bread, but I couldn’t get what she said out of my mind. She mentioned forgetting to eat as if it were nothing.
But to me, it was not nothing.
I knew better than to comment on what a woman ate, so I kept my mouth shut and let her finish what she had. I didn’t want to solve all of her problems, but I wanted to make something a little easier for her.
She came into the coffee shop every day, but all I had to offer were drinks. A couple of people in town had mentioned adding other things to the menu. Maybe it was time to finally do that.
“Are you gonna eat yours?” she asked.
I pulled myself out of my thoughts. “Oh, yeah.” I took a bite and nodded. “It’s good. Like always.”
“You’ll have to take me again. It was way easier to do that when you were around.”
“I don’t get to go to the market as much as I’d like to. Today was an exception.”
“Maybe you should take days off. I hear it’s good for the mind.”
“And yet you’re in my coffee shop every day working.”
“I’m pretending to work. I mostly come in so I can see you. Take a day off and I won’t do that.”
My entire body felt hot, but I managed not to choke on my bread, which was a win. “Kelsey put you up to this.”
“She might have encouraged it, but getting you to blush is all my idea. Is it working?”
