14. Derek

14

Derek

I sighed, disappointment settling into my gut. “Are you sure there’s nobody else?” I asked my boss, Mr. Jorgensen.

“Believe me, I tried. I know this is your night off, but Leander’s working the bar tonight, and nobody else answered their phones.”

Of course they didn’t. I probably shouldn’t have either, but I had this thing about answering calls from my boss—even at the most inopportune moments. “Yeah, okay. I’ll be there soon.” I hung up and dropped my phone onto the coffee table.

I could feel some serious internal side-eye coming from my beast. It was taking some getting used to, having this little judgy creature inside me that didn’t understand human responsibility.

“Sorry, hun, looks like date night is canceled,” I said, leaning back on the couch.

“I figured as much,” Wink grunted, tucking his semi-hard cock, still damp with my saliva, back into his pants, and I watched with sadness as it disappeared behind his zipper. “It’s fine. ”

“It’s really not,” I griped, burying my face in my hands as I tried to control my own erection. I absolutely had to change my pants before I went in to work. “Carter called in sick—food poisoning, apparently—and there’s an order of cookies needed for a non-profit fundraiser tomorrow.”

The truth was, when you were a small business in a small town, you really couldn’t afford to alienate what few customers you had. Mr. Jorgensen needed to keep the locals happy. Otherwise, they might get their next order online from one of those big box stores, free delivery included.

“Sounds important,” Wink called after me as I headed to the bedroom to get changed.

“Yeah, it’s like 500 cookies. He said he would get the cookies baking, but with his arthritis, there’s no way he can ice them all himself.” I pulled on a fresh pair of underwear and some gray slacks and met Wink by the front door. I frowned when I found him putting on his jacket. “Where are you going?”

He paused. “With you, obviously.”

“To… have a drink at the bar?”

“No, to ice cookies. That many cookies will take you forever. But if there are two of us working, we might be able to get back here in time to pick up where we left off on that date night…”

“I dunno,” I hesitated. “My boss probably won’t like it. He has trust issues, and his reputation is on the line.”

He gave me that lopsided smirk I adored so much. “Give me a chance to change his mind.”

“Mr. Jorgensen said it’s okay if they’re not the prettiest,” I began as I passed him the first rack of cooked cookies. “Just follow this design as close as you can. This is what they get for ordering last minute,” I said with a giggle.

My laugh tapered off, though, as I watched Wink with the piping bag. “You’re very dexterous,” I said with a teasing lilt—because of course I knew how good he was with those hands. “And fast!” I added as he whipped through the whole tray with grace and speed I’d never seen before. “Let me guess… it’s an elf thing?” I said under my breath so no one could overhear, staring down in awe at the perfect cookies lined up in a row.

His grin was blinding. “How’d you guess?”

Just like he’d known to add spices to my muffin recipe—or how he’d somehow known how to drive without lessons or repair Fannie Mae’s roof without working a single day with a construction crew—Wink had picked up a piping bag like he’d been born with it.

“Wow, you’re done that first tray already?” Mr. Jorgensen said, carrying over a stack of flattened boxes, ready to be unfolded and filled as soon as the icing was dry.

“I used to work in a bakery,” Wink admitted with a modest shrug. “Although it’s been a while.” I remembered the list of jobs he’d mentioned back when we first met, but I’d assumed since he’d been fired that he couldn’t actually be good at it.

And he wasn’t just good, he was great !

“You know, The Pie Bar could use a guy like you,” my boss said, watching over his shoulder. “Are you working anywhere right now?”

“Uh, not as such.” We shared a look.

On the days when I had a shift here, he’d been going out to my granny’s house to help with her repairs, but we couldn’t very well say that. She still wasn’t sure that she wanted people in town to know about her living out there. I’d done a bit of research into her abusive ex, and I’d found his obituary, but even knowing he was gone didn’t seem to help allay her fear. She’d been hidden away there for so long that she didn’t know how to rejoin the world. Baby steps.

When my boss had taken the first filled box across the kitchen, I leaned closer to Wink. “I don’t get it. Why’d they fire you? You’re obviously talented—at everything, in fact.” It made zero sense.

He arched an eyebrow, grabbed one of the blank cookies, and flipped it around. Using the piping bag with a fine tip, he quickly drew a very detailed, very erect penis smack dab in the middle of the cookie.

“Oh, that’s… wow .” I gulped, clearing my throat, suddenly feeling a little warm under the collar. “Is that… mine?”

“Whose else do you think I would know so well?” The corners of his lips twitched, and he seemed to be waiting for my reaction. He was nervous, as if expecting me to reject him. “I tend to have a chaotic streak. I don’t like rules or coloring inside the lines, and I was told that my version of help was more of a distraction. Santa told me I was… naughty.” His cheeks burned red with shame, and his eyes shifted back to the table.

I hated to see him like this, his spirit broken, and so did my raccoon. He grumbled that our mate had lost that inner light and that I needed to do something to fix it. So I did the only thing I could think of. I hooked my arms around his waist and dragged him closer so I could tip his chin up. “Well, I happen to love your brand of distraction,” I said. “You’re my kind of naughty.”

That brought out his smile, and he gave me a slow kiss that filled me with tingles that felt like tiny popping champagne bubbles.

Distracted as we were, we weren’t paying attention to our surroundings, or else we would’ve noticed Leander entering the kitchen from the bar. “Dude! That is epic! ”

Wink and I jumped apart, and I snatched up the cookie with my shifter reflexes and shoved it into my mouth. Only the tip of the penis fit—ironic—so Wink grabbed the other half of the cookie and ate that.

Leander’s smirk was wide and mischievous as he folded his arms over his chest and leaned his hip on the counter. “Don’t pretend that wasn’t the sexiest cookie I’ve ever seen.” He turned to look at Mr. Jorgensen over his shoulder. “Hey, boss, did you know Wink here is a genuine NSFW artist?”

“Oh?” Our boss came over, looking around for evidence, but all he found were crumbs.

Wink groaned, rubbing at his face, and he probably thought he was about to get fired from yet another job. I had a feeling he was about to be pleasantly surprised. Sure enough, Mr. Jorgensen said, “You know, I’ve got an order for a bachelor party coming up. Do you think you could decorate some naughty cookies for us?”

Wink lowered his hands from his face and blinked a few times, waiting for the punch line of the joke. “Seriously?”

“Yeah! I’d love to sell some naughty cookies in the bar too—after café hours only, of course, but they could make a fortune. What do you say? Do you want a job?”

Wink’s smile was so wide and genuine, and I felt it all the way down to my toes. “I say you have a deal.”