Page 2 of Burn for Me
Fridays were always busy days at Decadence. Saturday was party day, and she was always inundated with orders besides the usual baking that was needed for the display cases out front. As always, the day flew by in a blur of preparation, production, and clean up before heading for home. In lieu of working on Saturdays, her assistant, Jazz, worked late on Fridays to help her get all the orders filled.
Thankfully, Saturdays were short days. The shop was only open in the mornings, mainly for customers to collect their orders. Since the majority of the surrounding offices were closed on weekends, walk-in trade was minimal. With all orders already complete, the casual staff working on Saturday morning simply had to box the orders as the customers came in to collect.
In the middle of the chaos that was life on a Friday, Jazz appeared in the kitchen wearing a big grin.
“Oh my God, Kitty, the most yummy-looking man has just walked into the shop asking for you. Archie is giving him the evil eye.”
“What man?” she asked as she rolled a trolley of baking tins into the industrial oven.
“He said his name is Grayson James.”
“Did he say why he was looking for me?”
“No, but does it really matter why he wants to see you when he’s a twelve out of ten?”
Laughing at Jazz’s sassy comment, Kitty shook her head and simply replied, “Tell him I’ll be out in a second. I just need to set the oven for this batch.”
Giving Kitty an irreverent grin, she replied, “Will do boss-lady,” and sashayed out of the kitchen.
Setting the oven and washing her hands, Kitty did a quick mental run through to assess her progress and found herself running a little ahead. That would have meant leaving a little early that night, but her unexpected visitor had just put a spoke in that wheel. Walking into the shop area, she spotted Archie Durwood at the counter looking over the day’s selection. Farther back, closer to the door, she saw her friend, Leyla Newman, sitting on a barstool at the window counter. Waiting for her, it would seem.
The three of them had gone to school together, but Archie hadn’t hung out in the same circle as Kitty and Leyla. While Kitty’s inherent sweetness and sunny nature had made her popular, Archie had never been able to claim the same. Being soft-hearted, she hadn’t been able to bear how badly he’d been treated at school.
As if it wasn’t bad enough that his parents had named him Archibald, he’d grown up to be downright plain. Insipid strawberry-blond hair, unremarkable features, and eyes too close together made it easy to overlook him in a crowd. But the clincher? Archie lisped. The kids had ragged on him mercilessly, making his life a living hell. Still, she’d been friendly and pleasant to everyone, and made no exception when it came to Archie.
Smiling, she waved at Leyla and showed her ten minutes with her hands. Layla nodded. Unfortunately, Archie happened to look up as she turned to ask Jazz where her visitor was.
A smile split Archie’s face as he saw her. “Hi, Kitty. Hi. How are you today?”
“I’m fine, thank you, Archie. How are you doing?”
“I’m great, Kitty. Great. Thanks,” he lisped.
“That’s good, Archie. So, what can Jazz get for you today?”
“Um, you seem to be out of mocha fudge. I always have the mocha fudge. I, er, I... I, er... I don’t know what else... What else should I have?” he stammered, looking very agitated.
“I’m really sorry, Archie. I didn’t realise you only ever have the mocha fudge. I’ll keep that in mind. In the meantime, why don’t you try the Chocolate Peppermint Delight? It’s very nice with the same moist texture as the mocha fudge. It’s my personal favourite.”
“Oh... Oh... I didn’t know that. I’ll have that one then, please. So, Kitty, er...”
“I’m sorry, Archie, I don’t mean to be rude, but I have someone waiting to see me. Jazz will help you. Have a lovely weekend.”
Looking none too pleased, Archie glanced around, looking for the other man.
“Um, sure. Okay. You have a good weekend too.”
“Jazz?” she murmured so as not to be overheard.
A mischievous grin broke out on Jazz’s face, and she surreptitiously pointed to someone standing behind Kitty.
Turning, she looked towards the man standing at the far end of the counter and simply stared. Apparently, her brain felt that moment was the perfect time to quit working. Standing a good few inches over six-feet tall with sinfully handsome face, he took her breath away. Dark blond hair and emerald green eyes framed by impossibly long, thick lashes completed the whole fallen angel look.
Then he smiled.Oh God!
Holding out his hand, he asked, “Ms Spence? I’m Fire Marshal Grayson James of the Cape Town Fire Station. I’m investigating the fire that happened down the road. I wondered if you might have a couple of minutes to chat to me?”
Kitty forgot how to breathe. She wasn’t sure if she was capable of speech either. In fact, she wasn’t sure she was capable of anything besides staring. The fallen angel had a voice to match the image – deliciously husky and deep. That was not right. No man should be tall, good looking, built for sin,andsound like that. Not right at all!
