20. Mr. Baker Man

20

MR. BAKER MAN

LIVVIE

A month later…

A s I passed through the kitchen where Grayson Baker rolled out pie dough on his first day here, I could not help at all, gawking at the handsome man. Not that Blake had any competition or anything to worry about.

“Did you find everything need? Just ask Connor if there’s something else and we’ll add it to our weekly order from our suppliers,” I said, eyeing the ripples of muscles across his back as I rounded the island in the kitchen.

“Let’s just say Minnie’s way of baking pies and mine are worlds apart. She’s old school, and I respect that. But fortunately for me, I travelled here with some newer tools of the trade to help ease the process.” He pointed to a pile of stuff that I wouldn’t begin to know what to do with.

“Okay. As long as the customers are happy. You know…they could probably spot the difference between her pies and yours. I’d hate for our business to lose money.” Now that Meadow put me in charge of running Minnie’s—although Blake liked to call it Livvie’s Pie Shop now—I took things seriously, throwing myself into her daily lunchtime lessons with me to learn every aspect of the business.

“Trust me. My pies and pastries will have every mouth watering within a hundred mile radius. You might need a bigger diner,” he gloated with a southern drawl. Meadow told me he grew up here in the south.

“Well, as my mother used to say, I’m from Missouri, the Show Me State. You’ll have to prove it before I’ll believe it. I cannot wait to take a bite of the first apple pie this afternoon.” I half-teased back, but was actually serious. Although his first cooking attempt this morning resulted in the most fabulous danishes. People raved about them.

When I approached the dining room, at the counter sat Hartlyn and Chloe. They were meeting Blake for lunch to plan Thanksgiving dinner. Apparently, he went on hunting trips with his fire house buddies this time of year. But he decided he wanted to spend this year’s holidays at home, to enjoy all of his first holidays with River. So he and his sisters were to plan something big for Thanksgiving.

I never had a big Thanksgiving, or many holidays for that matter once Mom passed away. Wasn’t it just about the turkey?

“Oh my who is that? ” Chloe asked, breathless.

“Grayson Baker, our new pastry chef. He’s worked in Paris, Los Angeles, and a few other places. Anyway, he’ll be helping out through the holidays.”

The man popped out of the kitchen with his water glass in hand, a mop of dark hair lazily falling into his eyes. “Ladies.” He nodded and winked with such style and finesse, Chloe swooned and sighed as he refilled his glass. She also watched his ass and bit her lip as he picked up a sack of flour one-handed, hoisted it up over his shoulder and headed back to his post.

I glanced around the diner and giggled; Hartlyn and every other woman here stared at him, too. For that reason alone, I’d kept it to myself that instead of carrying the flour, sugar, and apples from our morning delivery back to the store room one bag or box at a time, he could use a cart.

Hartlyn elbowed Chloe. “Mr. Baker Man can bake me a pie as fast as he can.”

“Shut your mouth. You’ve got Cody Love. You’re taken.” Chloe opened her laptop to work, never without it, although she wasn’t fooling anyone with one eye on Grayson.

I sat next to her and opened my laptop, too, thanks to Meadow for buying the shop a new system for managing things. I studied the delivery receipt and entered the goods into our inventory. My shoulder was getting better day by day, and I was back to work, happily managing the shop and learning everything I could about operations of a diner like this. Of course, I’d entered a round of physical therapy to help with mobility, and had to promise Blake I’d take it easy and let Connor or Beverly do the heavy lifting for a while.

Hartlyn sighed, dropping her chin into her palm on the other side o Chloe. “I don’t know. Things haven’t been great between Cody and I lately. I think the Harvest Festival ruined us. It was so successful, he and Charles Montgomery are full-steam ahead on a dozen more money-making schemes for the ranch now. I hardly see him. I think… We’re done.”

“No. Hartlyn, don’t give up. Talk to him. You’ll figure things out.” Chloe quickly hugged her, encouraging.

“Not this time. I don’t think I want to. I need a break from love. Literally. Sex, though. I’ll take sex. No strings attached, no getting deeply involved, just plenty of fun and sex?—”

“Excuse me,” a deep voice beside her gave her deer caught in the headlights look. We all looked up to see the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome standing beside her, holding a map. “I’m new to town and a little lost. Can someone point me to the Kissing Springs Clinic?”

With Hartlyn speechless peering up at the stranger in a suit too classy for the likes of this place, and Chloe’s attention taken up by Mr. Baker Man pounding on something at the island complete with some sort of hip thrust against the island, I was the only one with sense enough to guide him.

“Walking or driving, because it’s about a five minute jaunt from here,” I said.

“Walking sounds good. I’d love to see more of this cute town. Maybe you could point me to the nearest grocery as well.” His eyes of green with a strong jawline could be enough to send any woman into heat. Good thing I had my heart firmly planted in Blake’s care.

I walked with him out to the sidewalk and pointed the way. A minute later, back on my barstool. Hartlyn grilled me with twenty questions about him.

“The only thing I learned is that old Dr. Jack is retiring from the clinic and hired this man to take over. That’s it. But next time do you want me to ask more questions for you?” I wiggled my brows.

Chloe snorted. “Yeah, since all she wants is sex, why not inquire about the size of his?—”

“Shut your mouth, Chloe. God, forget I said anything.” Hartlyn crossed her arms. I giggled at the pair, fast becoming my good friends. Other than Nancy, it’d been a long time since I had friends.

Later, when Meadow came to check on me at closing time, while she moaned through a slice of Grayson’s apple pie, we talked about his first day and what a success it’d been. She was lucky I reserved a slice for her because everything he made sold fast. I also filled her in on the new doctor and the women’s reactions to both men.

“What is it about this place? Romance seems to be in the air everywhere,” I exclaimed.

With a wink and a smile, she explained, “That’s the power of Kissing Springs, the Romance Capital of the South.”