Chapter Two Andy

"What the hell was all that?" Matt asked, bringing me back to my senses.

I shook my head, the fog clearing from my brain as the stranger's rich, smoky scent left with him. Blinking a few times, I looked over at Matt, then back at the lanky stranger as he stomped his way across the parking lot.

"Hello?" Matt insisted. "Earth to Andy."

"Sorry," I replied, finally tearing myself away from the brooding figure. "What did you say?"

"I said, what the hell was all that about?" Matt asked again. "Some rando walks up to your booth, and you basically ask him to have sex with you? Is that something you do all the time?"

To be honest, I felt a little embarrassed. That really wasn't my style. Everyone saw me as extroverted and jovial, but when it came to dating matters, I was extremely shy. But something about the way we connected when he touched me scrambled my brain. For a moment, all I could think about was him, that smoky scent, and those chocolate-brown eyes of his.

"Andy?"

"I… I figured you've gotta shoot your shot, right?" I lied. I was far too confused to go into detail about everything else I was feeling. That would need to be sorted out later. "It's not every day you get a new customer."

"You don't have a new customer," Matt replied. "If you keep using that method, you won't have any customers at all."

"That was pretty callous," Ace added, his brows furrowed under the brim of his cowboy hat. "And he's straight. You probably scared him half to death."

"Yeah…" I trailed off. "Not my best move."

I watched as the stranger got into his car, slammed the door, and headed out of the parking lot. It was an odd feeling to watch him go, like I'd lost something precious. But then logic kicked back in and I shook my head. The guy was a total stranger, and he was straight. Whatever connection I felt with him was nothing more than a fallacy. Besides, I already had a tendency to be attracted to straight guys. In fact, that's how I ended up in Shifter Grove to begin with. Obviously, I had yet to learn my lesson.

"Eh," I said at last with a shrug as I looked back at Ace. "Whatever. Straight guys have it easy, anyway. Maybe he needed a little scaring sometimes."

Ace and Matt both gave me a look, but they didn't say anything in retort. Maybe they knew it was just bravado, maybe they didn't. But it didn't really matter. Sam was the only person that knew my story and I planned to keep it that way. I wasn't the type to dump trauma on people. There was enough of that in the world already. The last thing I wanted to do was treat the few friends I had like a social media feed.

Besides, the stranger was no real loss. I wouldn't mind a one-night stand, but anything more than that would be too much for me, anyway. I had my bakery to run and that was hard enough without having to worry about a man on the side. For the last few months, I'd been desperate to find another baker to help me carry the order load. Finding a barista to run the counter was easy. But finding someone who knew anything about baking? Well, that was a much harder task.

Sure, I'd interviewed a few people and gave them a trial run. Most of them were old women who had been cooking their entire lives. While they knew what they were doing, they just couldn't move at the pace I needed them to. And most of them hadn't realized how big the operation was. When they walked into my kitchen and saw the giant mixer that could hold nearly five gallons of dough, they got overwhelmed. Making a pan of cinnamon rolls was one thing, but making twelve dozen pans of them every other day was something else.

I needed someone who had the energy to take on such a task. One who felt comfortable in a more commercial environment. Unfortunately, there weren't any people like that in Shifter Grove, wolf or otherwise. So, for the time being, I had to do all the baking, and that either meant turning down customers or losing sleep. Needless to say, I hadn't slept much in the past couple of months and it was starting to show.

"You doing alright, Andy?" Matt asked, coming back over to refill his coffee from my carafe. Ace always gave me veggies for my bakes, so the pair of them got as much coffee as they wanted. "You seem kinda spacey."

"Just tired," I smiled, rubbing my face. "Had a long night getting all this prepped for today."

"If I knew anything about cooking, I'd help you," he replied. He nodded toward Ace. "That's why I let him cook. I'd burn the damn house down if it were me."

"It's fine," I said, forcing a smile. "I'll find someone, eventually."

That felt like a lie, but I didn't need anyone worrying about me. If there was one thing I took pride in, it was my ability to go it alone. I was very independent. That's why Ace and I got along so well. We understood one another on a foundational level. Matt had tried to go that route when he arrived in Shifter Grove, but he was a soft boy at heart. It was one of the things I liked about him. As much as I loved seeing the pair of them together, it was a harsh reminder every market morning of how lonely my life was.

Better that than getting beat to shit again.

"Brace yourselves," Ace muttered, glancing at the pair of us. He put on a big smile, waving toward the entrance of the market. "Here comes the hoard."

Matt got his coffee and jogged back to his spot next to Ace. I took a deep breath, preparing myself for the early morning onslaught of ravenous customers.

"Let's both sell out early today," I said, giving Ace a nudge. "I'll race you."

He tipped his cowboy hat in my direction. "You're on."

And we were off. The morning practically flew by as customers poured in. It was early September, and that meant pumpkin spice was all the rage. I'd brought in an extra carafe of pumpkin spice coffee to go with the pumpkin spice cookies, rolls, cakes, and donuts that I had in the stand. Not only that, but I had pumpkin spice creamer, pumpkin spice whipped cream, and pumpkin spice topping just in case my customers needed even more.

They showed up in droves in their Ugg boots, yoga pants, and oversized sweaters, buying everything I could throw at them. I didn't mind, of course. Late summer and early fall were the best sales of the year for me. People were gearing up for the holidays and craving all sorts of goodies, even though Thanksgiving was still months away. The leaves hadn't even begun to change color yet. But business was business, and I wasn't about to turn them down.

And selling pumpkin spice everything meant I got to go home early.

"Damn," Ace nodded, looking over my empty booth. "You weren't kidding today, were you?"

I smiled, giving him a little wink. "Pumpkin spice. I'm tellin' ya. It's like catnip for humans."

"At least half of your customers are wolves."

"So it's just catnip for everyone," I laughed. "I'd sell it all year around if sales would stay like this. Then I could retire to Florida."

"Ew…" Matt cringed. "Why would you want to live in Florida?"

"Have you ever been there?"

He shook his head.

"Well, let me tell you," I said. "It's a beautiful place to visit if you have money. Staying at a resort is probably the best thing ever. There's food on site, beautiful scenery, and more hot guys than you could ever possibly bang."

"And if you don't have money?" he asked.

"Absolute hellscape."

"Wow. You… uh… really sell it. Makes me wanna go right now."

"It's not bad," I laughed. "But I wouldn't live there unless it was like some fancy resort style condo community." I sighed, placing my hands on my hips. "No… I probably couldn't quit baking even if I had that much money. It's in my blood. And Lake Huron is way better than the ocean. All the perks with none of the bad stuff."

"Bad stuff?"

"Sharks, jellyfish, sharp animals, and venomous things."

Matt looked up at Ace. "Please never take me to Florida."

Ace just laughed. "I guess I'll have to come up with something else for your Christmas present." He turned back to me, holding out his hand. "Well, good job today, but you still lost the bet."

"I did not!" I retorted, swiping his hand away. "I sold my last loaf of bread like ten minutes ago! You just got rid of that last box of tomatoes!"

Ace lifted an eyebrow, his right hand pointing to the far side of my booth. I followed his line of sight, realizing there was one small box still sitting on my bench. It contained a single cinnamon roll that I'd completely missed.

"Fuck…"

"It was a good effort," Ace chuckled, patting me on the shoulder. "Someday you'll win."

"It's sugar!" I scoffed. "How the hell can people want a fucking tomato more than they want all this sweet scrumptiousness?! We're in America for god's sake! Nobody eats vegetables here!"

"I'll take it," Matt offered.

I picked up the box and tossed it at him with a huff. "You couldn't have done that five minutes ago?"

He caught the box easily. "Sorry, Andy," he grinned, pulling it open. "I like you, but this one is sleeping with me."

I looked up at Ace, who was barely holding back his laughter. "You're dead to me."