I’VE ALWAYS HAD a sweet tooth and I’m craving some sugar now, but I am not thinking about baked goods.
All I want to taste is Dani.
Watching Crew kiss her made me want to stake my own claim, to press my lips to hers and see if I can make her sigh and lean into me. But I’m a patient guy and her roommate, Luna, has just given me a door to walk through. Literally.
I glance up at the sign affixed to the brick building over the door. Books and Buns. It’s adorable, like Dani. It makes me smile to see the colorful logo, the pastry perched on a stack of books.
Dani digs in her bag for her keys and I glance around the area, making sure there’s no one sketchy. It’s a nice neighborhood, but it’s late and it pays to be cautious. Even if I wasn’t wildly attracted to her, I still wouldn’t want her hanging out in the shop by herself. The minute she throws the lights on anyone walking by would be able to see she’s in there alone.
“Two of my favorite things right here,” I say.
“Hmm?” Her head jerks up and she simultaneously drops her keys.
We both immediately drop down to pick up the fallen keys. We end up face-to-face, only inches between us. She freezes.
“Let me get those,” I murmur, so close to her the exhalation of her held breath dances across my lips.
She’s not pulling away as I scoop up her keys, my eyes never leaving hers. She’s giving me a look that is sweet and filled with longing. She wants me to kiss her.
So I do. Just a light quick brush of my mouth over hers, a barely there whisper of a kiss that instantly makes me hard, and leaves us both wanting more.
Which is exactly what I want.
I stand up and reach my hand out to help her up. She takes it, her fingers trembling slightly.
“Books and baked goods,” I tell her. “Two of my favorite things.”
“Oh! Right. You like to read.” She smooths her hair back and tugs at the hemline of the tight Racketeers T-shirt she’s wearing.
It looks like it got shrunk in the wash now that I really assess it. It doesn’t seem her style and she has been tugging at it all night. I do appreciate the plunging V neck though.
“Which key?” I hold the keychain up for her. It’s an orange fuzzy pom-pom and there are three keys on it.
“The square one.”
“I do love to read,” I say, as I insert the key into the lock. “Fiction, nonfiction, classics. Thrillers, biographies, fantasy. Just about anything.”
“I love to read too. Obviously. Mostly genre fiction.”
“I don’t have as much free time as I’d like but being on the road with the team actually works to my advantage with my reading time. I usually read in my hotel room right before bed.”
“I read in bed too,” she says as I turn the lock and push the door open. “Romance.”
I stand back to let her enter first. “Romance books? That is one thing I can’t say I’ve read. Are they like rom-com movies? I enjoy most of those.”
“Some.” She flicks the lights on. “Some are funny, some are very steamy, some are emotional. Some even feature aliens and monsters.”
“Now I am definitely curious. Two aliens falling in love? Interesting.”
“It’s usually a human with an alien or a monster.”
“Even better.” I close the door behind me and lock it. “You’ll have to recommend a title for me to read.”
“Oh, well, I’d have to think about it. You need starter monster romance, not the hard core stuff.”
I’m not exactly sure what that means, but I’m willing to find out. I’ll start a monster romance book club with her if it means I can spend more time with Dani getting to know her better.
“Which kind do you prefer?”
“The steamy ones,” she says with a shrug. “I guess I’m living vicariously.”
If that guy she was with at the game is any indication, I can see why. It also reminds me that I need to take it slow with Dani, allow our attraction to slowly heat up to a boiling point. She deserves that. She deserves to be romanced. I sense a sweetness, maybe even a little submissiveness in her, that makes me hot and hard. The caretaker in me fucking loves that. The things I could teach her…
“Me too,” I tell her with a grin. “It’s been a lonely six months or so. I’m not leaving here tonight without buying one of your favorites to take on the road with me.”
She laughs softly. “I’ll do my best to pick out one you’ll like.”
I take in the shop. It’s cozy and charming. Immediately in front of me in a painted mural on the wall that reads, “Lead me not into temptation. Unless it’s a bookstore bakery.”
“I love the place,” I say, sincerely.
The aesthetic is warm and bohemian, with colorful rugs, exposed brick, and lots of plants. The book shelves are small and approachable, with rust and mustard colored velvet overstuffed chairs and ottomans scattered about. The bakery area is small, with only a few tables and cane back wooden chairs, with two glass cases that are currently empty. The Buns part of the Books and Buns logo is on a wooden sign affixed to a teal wall.
“Thanks. The cookies and pastries are all in the fridge.” Dani moves towards the cases. “When Luna does her displays, with all the various shades of brown in the baked goods, the wall behind it is a great contrasting backdrop. It photographs well for social media. She does croissants, cookies, pain au chocolat, and eclairs.”
“All the classic French baked goods.”
“Yes.” She glances back at me with a smile. “There should be a few left over from today. What’s your preference?”
Her.
She’s my preference.
“What are you having?”
“I want an eclair if there are any left. I love pastry cream.”
Now there’s an image to keep me up at night. Her sweet plump pink lips covered in cream… The thought morphs into a visual of her mouth wrapped around my dick, sliding me in and out of her wet warmth…
I clear my throat.
“Come on. Let’s raid Luna’s fridge.” Shyly, she reaches out for my hand.
I take it, feeling that tingle of electricity shoot through my fingertips at her touch. I understand the science of attraction. I’m a damn doctor. But this feels almost unexplainable.
She leads me into the back and I let her take control of the situation. She already had Crew panting after her and Nathan basically marking his territory earlier. She doesn’t need me doing the same.
It’s not a competition but I do have one thing they both severely lack. Patience.
I can take my time getting where I want to go.
Even if the idea of Dani sliding her tongue through the cream of an eclair makes me want to groan. This is about her, not me. And where we can go together, not just immediate gratification.
Dani lets go of my hand to tug the fridge door open and I shove it in my pocket so I’m not tempted to press her against the wall and kiss her until she’s forgotten what an eclair is.
She pulls out an eclair in plastic wrap. “There’s only one. We’ll have to share it. But there’s a cookie too.” She holds an enormous sugar cookie up in her other hand. “Unless you want one more than the other. You deserve first pick for being so attentive to me tonight.”
God, she’s nice. She fits in this environment, surrounded by books and sugary sweetness. She’s a redheaded ray of sunshine. “I think we should share.”
“I do too.” She smiles up at me. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.” It doesn’t even give me a tremor of alarm. I have no hidden skeletons in my closet. I’m not that guy. I’ve lived my life straightforwardly.
“How old are you?”
Even easier than I was expecting. “Thirty-five. And here I thought you were going to ask me my deepest darkest secrets or something.”
“Those too,” she says playfully, reaching for a couple of porcelain plates.
“I’m an open book,” I say, holding my arms out. “Easy to read. No secrets here.”
At times, that has actually worked against me. I’ve had women complain that they couldn’t understand me, that they didn’t trust I wasn’t hiding something. Apparently, if you’re open and honest, that’s suspicious.
“I’m a fast reader,” she says. She eyes me and gives a nod, like she believes she can trust me, which she can. “Can I show you something?”
“Of course,” I say without hesitation. That could mean anything, but I don’t get the impression Dani has any deep dark secrets either. I don’t think she’s secretly a webcam girl, has an incarcerated boyfriend, or a penchant for poisoning lovers.
If I had to guess, it’s something like a medical test result for a loved one she wants me to take a look at.
“Great. I’m going to make a latte. Do you want one too? Then we can go sit down and I’ll show you what I’m talking about.”
“I’d love one.” I reach out for the plates with the cookie and the eclair. “Let me get those.”
A few minutes later we’re sitting at one of the bistro tables in front of the pastry cases and Dani is cutting the eclair in half. It oozes cream onto the plate. I reach out and swipe my finger through it and put it in my mouth. It’s perfection. The taste and texture are exactly as they should be and I make a sound of approval. Dani’s eyes darken as she watches me. She picks up one half of the eclair and flicks her tongue over the chocolate glaze spread on top.
“Good, aren’t they?” she asks, when I take the other half and bite it.
“Amazing.”
“I think one bite is all I need,” she says, putting the remainder of the pastry back on her plate.
“Just one bite and you’re satisfied?”
“I don’t know about satisfied so much as on sugar overload. Besides, I want a bite of the cookie too.”
“Right. The cookie.” I reach out and break off a piece. I raise it to her lips and wait for them to part. I ease the cookie into her mouth, letting two of my fingers follow.
She takes the cookie into her cheek and her tongue flicks over my index finger, a damp slide along my skin, tugging at my senses. It’s a hot tease of what she could do to my dick and I clamp down on the urge to pump my fingers in and out of her mouth, hard.
Instead, I drag them back out, swiping a crumb off of the corner of her mouth and easing it gently back between her lips. She’s breathing harder now, her chest rising up and down rapidly in the tight Racketeers T-shirt.
I slowly pull back, and lick the tip of my fingers that were just in her mouth. She watches the movement, her pupils dilating. God I love this building tension between us. Rather than wrapping my hand around the back of her neck and pulling her into a kiss, I relax into the chair, spreading my legs apart and easing them out in front of me. “What did you want to show me?” I ask, lifting the cup of coffee to my lips.
“Oh! Right. Um.” She presses her lips together and pulls out her phone. She nods once, like she’s reassuring herself she’s doing the right thing. “I know you said you don’t read romance novels, but you like to read, so you know good writing. I… I have been writing my own serialized romance story and putting it up on an app called Habanero where people read it for free and critique it.”
“You wrote a fiction story? That’s so cool, Dani. I’d love to be creative like that. I can only consume any form of art, not create it.” It’s true. I went to medical school for a reason. My brain is attracted to logic. Find a problem, fix it.
“Well, I thought it was cool too. I mean, I’ve always wanted to be a writer. It’s a dream, my one true passion. Not just to sell books, but to sell my books. But on the platform they all think it sucks.” Dani isn’t looking at me as she says all of this, but is scrolling through her phone. She finds what she’s looking for, swipes a few times, and then turns the screen to me. “Will you read it and tell me what I’m doing wrong?”
For a second, I’m surprised. Then I’m honored. “Of course I’d love to read it, though I’m not sure how much help I can be. Like I said, I can consume books but I can’t create them. My professor in college told me I have the creativity of a Vulcan.”
She laughs. “What? That’s clearly not true at all and I’ve only known you for a few hours.”
“Thank you. I agree. I understand emotion. I just can’t paint a masterpiece, do any sort of crafting, or write an essay that doesn’t sound like AI. So I’d love to read what you write, but I don’t know anything about editing.”
“I’d still just like your opinion. Everyone has been, well, harsh, and I’ve been just too embarrassed to show it to Luna or my family or other friends, because what if they tell me to give up? That this isn’t my future because I’m lousy at it? When it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do?” She’s looking at me with pleading eyes.
Well, hell.
This story could suck big donkey dick and I’m going to reassure her. No one has the right to squash anyone else’s dream. I’ll have to use my calmest bedside manner skills.
“I’d love to,” I say, taking the phone from her hand.
She clearly means right now.
“Just right here,” she says, pointing to the screen. “It’s the fourth scene. The hero and heroine’s first kiss. She’s been kidnapped by the mafia and one of the bodyguards has fallen in love with her and has released her from the cage she’s being held in.”
What the fuck? I didn’t see that shit coming. My sweet sunshine has a dark side? It takes all of my professional-mode skills to not react.
“Okay. Got it.” I nod. “I’ve seen every mob movie ever made. I’m on it.”
She smiles in relief. “Thank you, Michael. I really appreciate this.” She shoves her chair back and stands. “I won’t read over your shoulder. I’ll be over by the travel section.”
When I start to read the chapter, it’s clear Dani doesn’t actually have a dark side. At all. Not one teeny tiny fucking little bit. She wants to write this particular type of story for a reason only she knows, but her heart isn’t in it. She glosses over everything brutal with almost zero description and describes in great detail a very sweet and tender friendship blossoming between a one-handed bodyguard and a shy, glasses-wearing bookworm whose father owes the mafia so much money the only way he can repay them is to offer his daughter’s virginity.
The bodyguard doesn’t sound like a badass bodyguard.
We’re in his point of view and he thinks things like her wheat-colored hair flows dramatically over the high peaks of her creamy globes.
The only creamy globes I’ve ever seen are the milk glass pendant lights in my parents’ laundry room.
Beyond those developmental concerns, Dani writes well. She has evocative descriptions, fantastic pacing, and great character development. Aside from the bodyguard’s internal dialogue.
The woman in the story is perfect. Her reactions are appropriate, her emotions feel real to me, I can sense her longing for the one-handed bodyguard, whose name is Sturgeon.
I assume there is a dramatic backstory that came earlier or will come later as to why he’s missing a limb and that the heroine, Divine, will save him emotionally at the same time he saves her physically. Dani has built all that in enough to make me believe it.
Their conversation leading up to the kiss is filled with angst and raw emotion and makes me feel bad for both of them. They’re in a hell of a mess, what with the mafia boss’s lieutenant getting out of prison soon and wanting to marry her to exact revenge on his betrayer and all.
But the kiss is a little flat. Even though I don’t read the genre and don’t know what readers expect, I can assume they want a little more than this.
She’d waited her whole life for this. Her first kiss. His lips took charge of her mouth, and she found herself swept away on a river of passion.
A rat ran over her foot, startling her out of Sturgeon’s embrace.
Huh. I take a huge bite of the cookie on the plate and collect my thoughts. I’m not even going to address the fact that Sturgeon sounds like Charlotte Bronte. Maybe it’s intentional. Maybe there’s a plot twist where Sturgeon is actually a poet.
A text pops up from Luna on Dani’s phone while I’m rereading the chapter again to make sure my first reaction was correct.
You can come upstairs whenever. Kyle left.
Flicking the text away, I go back over the kiss. I think Dani is shying away from it. Scrolling through the comments posted below her chapter, the readers agree and make that brutally clear.
OMG all that build up and then one sentence???? She blue balled us!
Ugh. So disappointed.
Sturgeon sounds like a pussy.
I think this author has soooo much potential but that kiss was like my ex. Done before it really started. Girl, get an editor and keep writing! Don’t give up!
I stand up and walk toward Dani. I have the perfect way to encourage her. I’ll sweep her ass away on her own river of passion and show her it’s all in the damn details.
