‘Did I die in the shootout and wake up in some kind of fairytale?’ I say as I spot the line of extra-large gingerbread men in the shopfront window. ‘Whatever. There could be a super-sized wolf ready to eat me in there, but as long as this boy is as hot in real life as he is online, I’ll battle any beast to make him mine.’

Before leaving my SUV, I send a message over to my senior boss to let him know my concerns about what went down at the warehouse.

Luca Conte is a dangerous motherfucker and I’ve been saying for a long time that he needs to be dealt with – and when I say dealt with, I ain’t talking about a friendly sit-down discussion at Mario’s Mochas.

But all that shit can wait.

Now isn’t the time to be thinking about business rivals and scumbags.

I’m here to check out ChubbyCupcake01 and see if his cake is really good enough to eat…

I jump out of the SUV and make my way across the road.

Fuck the traffic – the cars can stop for me.

They know from my swagger that I’m Mafia.

And it’s with this confidence that I walk into Easy Side Sugar and scan my eyes across the place. Call it force of habit, but anytime I’m somewhere new I always have to make a quick check for threats and also clock the escape routes too.

All clear.

So why is my heart suddenly beating so hard?

‘DangerousDaddy911?’ the boy says, looking angelic but with a side serving of mischievous as he walks toward me in his pink t-shirt, apron, and cute dimpled smile.

‘Yup, but you can call me Nico,’ I reply. ‘Now are you going to be a good boy and tell me your real name too?’

‘Eddie,’ the boy replies. ‘Here, this is your cake…’

I don’t normally eat sugary snacks, but I can’t deny that this looks out of this world. This ain’t no ordinary cupcake…

Three layers.

Multi-colored frosting.

A strawberry slice on top.

I’m blown away that the boy has made this especially for me and it’s only right that I tell him that too…

‘I won’t lie, this is fucking outrageously tasty,’ I say, taking a bit of the cupcake. ‘Someone needs to give you a Cupcake Oscar.’

‘I don’t think there’s an Oscar for making cupcakes, silly!’ Eddie replies, blushing.

‘Easy boy, don’t make me spank you right here on the shopfloor,’ I growl, before then taking another bit of the sweettreat. ‘I’ve spanked boys for way less sass. But… this cupcake is so God damned incredible I’ll give you a pass this time.’

The boy’s blushing and looks like he knows I mean business.

That’s a good sign, and to be honest I like a boy with plenty of sass in his armory – especially an older boy who knows he can handle a real butt warming too.

‘So, what would you score my cupcake out of ten?’ Eddie says, knowing full well that I’ve enjoyed ever last bite of his cake.

‘It’s… a hard ten out of ten for me,’ I reply, unable to keep up my tough guy routine. ‘And the cake wasn’t too bad either.’

I can see that Eddie appreciates the compliment – and I’m not even exaggerating either.

‘How about we sit for a few minutes?’ I say, casting a look over to the bakery manager. ‘If that’s good with you, boss?’

‘Sure, no problem at all,’ the boss fires back at me, a smile on his face. ‘You two take all the time you need.’