Page 12 of Biker Under My Tree

I exhaled, set the whiskey glass down, and watched her a minute longer. She’d probably argue—tell me she had it covered, didn’t need a hand. Stubborn as hell.

But I couldn’t stand by while she ran herself ragged. Not when I was just a few steps away, willing and able. I was going to have to find a way to convince her to let me pitch in.

Downing the last sip of whiskey, I set my cup in the sink and rolled my shoulders.

Guess I’d just make sure she didn’t have a choice.

Chapter Ten

Snow

I looked down at the long list of sweets that needed to be baked between now and Christmas Eve, and I could feel a headache coming on.

Seventeen eggnog pies.

Fourteen coffeecakes.

Six Yule logs.

Ten dozen peppermint patties.

Thirty-seven dozen decorated sugar cookies.

Twelve dozen gingerbread men.

Eleven dozen snowball cookies.

And to top it all off, seven salted caramel cheesecakes.

Good lord.

I had enough sugar cookie dough made for Cheryl’s big order, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. Today, I needed to bake the cookies, make a mountain of icing for decorating those cookies, tackle Cheryl’s regular order, and maybe get a jump on the peppermint patties and gingerbread men. Next week was going to be pure madness, and I wasn’t quite ready to think about it. Right now, I just had to focus on this insane pile of cookies.

Right now, the furthest I had gotten was to pull the cookie dough from the fridge and turn the oven on.

A knock on the back door pulled me from my reverie. I glanced at the clock—way too early for any deliveries, so I wasn’t sure who would be stopping by. I wiped my hands on my apron, made my way over to the door, and opened it to find Bones standing there with a smile on his face.

“Hi,” I chirped, surprised.

“Good morning, Sugar.” His deep voice had a rough edge, the kind that would make anyone a little weak in the knees. “Iwas just stopping by to see if you had any deliveries today before I headed out for a bit.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Are you volunteering to be my delivery boy?” I laughed.

Bones shrugged. “It’s not that bad of a gig. I did get a free coffee yesterday.”

My eyes widened as I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t even thought to pay him for helping out with the deliveries. “Oh my god, I didn’t pay you anything! Let me grab my wallet. Will twenty be enough?” I started turning to grab my purse as guilt filled me. Bones wasn’t my regular delivery driver, and he’d been doing me a huge favor.

“No, no, no.” Bones quickly reached out, grabbed my arm, and stopped me in my tracks. His grip was firm and warm through the fabric of my sleeve. He was looking at me like I was crazy. “You’re not paying me anything, Sugar. I do things because I want to, not because I think I’m going to get paid.”

My eyes dropped to where his hand was still on my arm, and the heat of his touch somehow went right through me. My heart kicked up a notch and made my voice come out just a bit breathless. “Um…”

“You’re not paying me,” he repeated, and this time, he softened his grip but didn’t let go.

I tipped my head back to meet his eyes, which were dark and just a little too intense. “Um, okay,” I whispered, unsure why my voice came out like that. His gaze had a way of scattering my thoughts like powdered sugar, and now all I could focus on was how close he was standing.

He seemed to notice it, too, as his hand slid just a bit down my arm, like he was weighing whether to let go. “Do you have any other deliveries today?” he asked, his voice low and rumbling, a touch closer than before.

I shook my head, desperately trying to get my brain back on track. “Uh, no. I just need to bake and decorate my butt off today.”

---