I smiled. So did she.
Joy stepped back and motioned to the register. "Why don't you try the next one?"
I groaned, wheeling myself closer. "Okay, fine."
The sound of someone clearing their throat had Joy and me glancing up in tandem.
And I don't know about her, but I felt my mouth drop open a little bit.
In front of the counter, with his hands tucked into dark jeans and ridiculous ropey-muscled forearms on full display—I would've sworn it on a stack of Bibles—was the love child of Brad Pitt from Legends of the Fall and Chris Pratt from Jurassic World. And he was smiling at us like we weren't staring awkwardly.
"Afternoon," he said, voice deep and warm and caramel chocolate lava cake gooey delicious.
A sound came out of my mouth that might have been hi, but all he did was widen his smile a little bit.
Joy snapped out of her stupor first. "Afternoon. What can we get for you today?"
"You're new," he said to me.
Like directly to me. While holding eye contact and aiming words in my direction.
Joy elbowed me in my shoulder, and I swallowed. "First day, actually."
He nodded, glancing at the menu and studying it carefully. "So you won't be able to help me much with what your top recommendation is, huh?"
Joy's eyes widened at me, and I wanted to smack her. "Umm, I haven't been able to try everything just yet, no." I lifted my chin and felt really frickin’ proud of myself for holding his piercing—piercing!—gaze. Why were his eyes so green? Why was I noticing? I never noticed this stuff. "But I hear the dill pickle cupcakes are out of this world."
He laughed, and Joy sighed dreamily.
Brad/Chris scratched the side of his face, which drew my eyes to the hard cut of his jaw. "If that's what the lady recommends, then I'll take two of those, please."
Joy nudged me again, and I clumsily punched the required buttons on the register while she pulled the cupcakes from the top shelf of the case and boxed them up for him.
"Five dollars is your total," I told him.
He handed me a ten, our fingers brushing as I reached over the counter to take it from him.
When Joy slid the box toward him, he opened it instead of taking the change I pulled out of the drawer.
"Is that a potato chip garnish?" he asked.
Joy nodded. "It is."
Brad/Chris took one cupcake out and held it up, examining it seriously. His change sat on the counter unnoticed. Then he pushed the pink box back toward me.
I stared at it, then back up at him. "You're supposed to take that with you."
Smooth, Abernathy. So very, very smooth.
He grinned, holding up his cupcake. "No, this is mine. That one is for you. I'd hate to be the only one trying this for the first time today." Then he dipped his chin. "Good luck on the rest of your first day."
My mouth dropped open as he swiped the five-dollar bill off the counter. Joy's mouth did the same thing as he tucked it into the tip jar next to the register.
"Ladies," he said and walked away whistling.
"What the f—" I said, only catching myself when I remembered that I was supposed to be a professional now. "What was that?"
Joy squealed quietly, doing a little shimmy. "He was flirting with you!"
"He was not."
Holy shit, he was. What the hell else would you call it when a man bought you a pickle cupcake?
She laughed when I pressed my hands to my hot, hot cheeks.
Men didn't flirt with me. Basically ever. Like at all. And trying to explain that to Joy felt too much like stripping back my skin so she could see what was underneath.
"Come on," she cajoled. "Aren't you at least going to eat the cupcake?"
Since we had no customers at the moment, thank the Lord, I pulled the box toward me and considered it carefully before I lifted the lid. "Maybe later."
She sighed again but didn't push me.
"That was so romantic."
I rolled my eyes. "Okay, let's just … go bake some cookies or something."
When she let me change the subject, I decided she wasn't all that bad.
Chapter 3 Levi
From the moment I met Joss outside of Donner Bakery at the end of her shift, her dog in the truck with his scary-ass head hanging out the window, she hadn't stopped talking.
Her arms waved around and her face scrunched up as she mimicked her trainer for the day, which was all fine and good. But as she transferred herself into the passenger seat so I could put her wheelchair in the back of my truck, it was the look in her eyes that had me staring unabashedly. It was something I didn't let myself do often.
Those eyes were happy. They were excited.
Feathers on an Indigo Bunting blue.
I saw one feeding from the large feeder in the backyard at my parents' house, and the first thing the color of that little bird made me think of was Jocelyn's eyes.
"Joy sounds like a real character," I said when she finally took a breath.
Joss leaned her head back on the seat and grinned. "She is. Even sitting in my chair, she's barely four inches taller than me."
As I turned onto the road that would take us back to my place, I glanced over at her so I could drink in that grin.
That was when I noticed her clutching a pink bakery box in her lap.
"What's that?"
Her fingers tightened around the edges, and she stared down at it. "A cupcake."
"Well, what the frick, Abernathy. Be nice and share." Nero shoved his big old head between us and sniffed at the curve of her neck. She smiled and scratched under his chin. He groaned, and I had a moment of trust me, buddy, I'd groan too if she scratched my neck. "Besides, this is my best friend perk. Shouldn't I get
