Page 28 of Cupcake
Eleven
The bakery was finallyclosed, and I lowered myself to a chair at a table by the window.
“Tired?” a voice asked, and I raised my head to see Amber standing by the table, holding a sandwich and a cup of coffee.
I sat up and accepted the food and drink, offering her a smile while I took a bite. “Exhausted, but I think all the cakes are baked and ready for the morning. It’s been a long day.”
“Made longer by your need to walk around the other side of the bench rather than pass by Brady.”
I moaned and dropped the sandwich back to the plate, resting my forehead on my palm. “He kissed me,” I whispered, my voice barely audible in the now quiet building.
“Come again?”
I hadn’t, but I still wish I had. That was the problem.
“Did you just say he kissed you?”
I nodded slowly without making eye contact. “When we were locked in the cooler.” I lifted my head. “Wait a minute. How did we get locked in there if we were both inside, and you were the only other one here?”
She gave me the palms out. “Faulty latch?”
“Amber Phyllis Larson!”
“What?” she asked innocently. “It was an accident, I swear!”
“Accidently on purpose!”
She held up her hands. “It was an accident. I think I bumped into it when I got the first set of cupcakes out. I didn’t realize it until I went back for more, which is the reason I then let you out.”
“You didn’t do it on purpose?” She swung her head back and forth, and I could tell she was being honest. “Well, regardless, it happened. Now I don’t know what to do.”
“About?”
I tossed my hands up in the air like a lunatic. “The kiss! Brady! Everything!”
Amber grasped my hand and squeezed it. “Talk to Amber about it, sweetie. What’s the problem?”
I lowered a brow to my nose. “You know what the problem is. I’m his boss.”
“Maybe, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need to get laid.”
“Amber,” I moaned, drawing out her name in frustration. “You know what I mean.”
“Let’s start at the beginning. Why did he kiss you in the cooler?”
“He smashed eggs against my coat by accident, and I got worked up.”
“Shocker.”
I lowered my other brow, and she snickered but stopped talking. “He said I was sexy when I was all riled up. I told him he was dangerously close to sexual harassment in the workplace, and he said then he might as well go all the way.”
“But he didn’t. Go all the way, that is.”
“He went far enough! He kissed me, and—and grabbed my ass!”
She bit her lip, and whether it was to keep from being a smart ass, or to avoid laughing, I couldn’t say. “I noticed he couldn’t take his eyes off your ass all day. He even dropped an entire loaf of bread on the floor when he missed the pan.”
“When I told him about the date last night with Maxwell, he told me I should own being all hips and ass. He said he liked the way my hips and ass look in my bakery whites.”
