Page 4 of Asking For It

“But more people than you think tend to balk at the idea of two men from out of town trying to pick them up at the same time.” There was a trace of humor in Barney’s voice.

I pinched myself. Ow. Nope. I was still here. I did it again. Still hurt. Still didn’t change the sexy dual scenery.

“What are you doing?” Barney asked.

“Trying to figure out what kind of dream this is.”Are you a good dream, or a bad dream? The voice in my head sounded like the good witch from the Wizard of Oz. Maybe I’d dream of yellow brick roads next.

They chuckled, and Barney’s smirk melted to something less cocky. “Since you don’t seem interested, I’m making a genuine offer to let you clean up, which will be followed by a genuine offer to buy you a fresh cup of coffee after. And then we’ll try again to seduce you.”

“That sounds like a lot of trouble to go through for the woman who just spilled coffee all over herself.” My brain wanted to saychubby girl, but I’d let the insult gnaw at me from the inside, rather than exposing it to them. “You could have let me walk away and found someone—” cuter, thinner, and less abrasive “—else to win over.”

“If we’d been interested in someone else, we would have approached them instead.” Did Fred sound... wounded?

A guy like this—like them—could smile at any other woman and have her. If he was hurt that I wasn’t falling for the charm, he may be more concerned with hearingnooryesthan who it came from. But he hadn’t struck me that way up to this point. If I’d gone to the bar instead of the bookstore, I probably would have accepted their offer. I’d have been there for a hook-up, and they seemed sincere enough.

Except for the fake names.

They were cute. They were flirty. I did hate being covered in coffee.

And if it was so easy to lie to me about who they were, they were hiding other things as well. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m going to call it a night, gentlemen. I hope the hotel elephant shower has hot water, and that the stone houses aren’t too drafty when you get back to Bedrock.”

Barney laughed.

Fred gave me a short bow. “Yabba dabba doo, Betty. Maybe we’ll run into you again before we leave town.”

“Maybe.” Unlikely. I’d probably avoid this bookstore for the next couple of weeks, specifically to keep that from happening. I was socially awkward that way.

There was a whisper of regret in my mind telling me stories of what could have been as I drove toward home. I couldn’t help but replay the conversation in my mind. I was used to pick-up lines that reachedhey baby, let’s fuckwithout much hesitation.FredandBarneyactually made an effort. Plus, they were hitting on metogether.

I’d made the right decision walking away, but everything about their attention painted a little smile on my face that didn’t want to leave. Their company was fun while it lasted, and it had been a while since I walked away from two attractive maybe-hookups, and felt good about myself.

I parked around the back of my house. My café was up front, and took up the entire ground floor of the converted Victorian home. The rear stairs led up to the bedrooms and living area on the second floor.

I’d gotten the house for an amazing price in auction. Low enough I could pay cash, and still have a little—very little—left over for renovations.

Until about a year ago, I’d always operated in the black. But I took a risk based on how well business was going, and secured a large loan to upgrade a lot of my equipment. Renovations slowed business enough both during and after, that I was struggling to pay that new bill.

There was an envelope slipped through the mail slot when I stepped inside. As I skimmed the formal notification on city letterhead, my heart sank.

A request for a zoning change had been filed, to remove residential properties from my area.

I’d had to fight to get my housing here to begin with. I couldn’t afford to move to a new place now.

****

THE SUN WAS SHINING, the birds were singing, and okay, it sounded cliché, but I felt great in the morning. Sleep gave me enough sanity to know I could deal with the zoning issue just fine when the hearing happened in six weeks, and I still had warm fuzzies from the attention I got from Fred and Barney last night. I didn’t mind blocking out the doubt, since it was a snapshot in time.

I put on one of my more fitted tops. It was sunny yellow, to match my mood, it did great things for my cleavage, and it mostly hid my tummy. I’d be standing to bake a lot of today, and wearing an apron, so I didn’t have to worry about the space between the buttons gapping apart when I sat.

Living above my shop made for a convenient commute. In under a minute, I was in my gorgeous, big, industrial kitchen. Stainless steel appliances lined the walls, including three double-sized ovens opposite a massive fridge. In the middle stood a large island—half stainless steel, half butcher block. I loved this place, even if it was part of the reason I was struggling to make ends meet.

Today it would help pay for itself. I’d started taking on catering jobs to supplement the café’s income. Tomorrow would be my biggest event yet. One hundred each cupcakes, bagels, croissants, and chocolate chip cookies, for the Digital Media company town hall.

Anne had teased me about working for the enemy—she was a game Director for DM’s biggest competitor, Rinslet. But she’s also told me if I happened to overhear any corporate secrets, she was happy to be my confidant.

She’d been joking. Mostly.

I set a pot of coffee to brew, and prepped my workspace for the pastries I needed to make for the shop this morning. Two hours later, I was on my third cup of coffee, and was setting the day’s sweets under glass in the café.

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