Series: Little Cakes Series by Pepper North
Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 45138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
“You’ll do fine,” Sunshine encouraged. “I don’t think dating requires practice. Just be yourself. He obviously likes you. You don’t have to impress him.”
“Yeah.” He’d made it clear he more than liked her before Sunshine showed up, but CC wasn’t going to talk about that with her assistant manager right now. She wasn’t sure how much Sunshine or Melanie knew about Littles, but as the owner of CC’s Purrfect Coffee and their boss, it didn’t feel appropriate to talk about her private life, especially her Little side.
Darren had been her Daddy, but they hadn’t been open publicly about their lifestyle preference, so CC didn’t know how much her employees had caught on to.
“He seems like a very nice man, and the way he was looking at you when I came in could have melted wallpaper off the walls. Thank goodness we don’t have any in the shop,” she teased with a giggle.
CC laughed too. At least she hadn’t been the only one to notice his intense stare. “He’s making me dinner tonight,” she decided to share. After all, it didn’t need to be a secret.
Being careful with her injured hand, CC stood to gather a few things and stick them in her satchel. Everything took longer than usual since she was babying her recovering hand as well as the other arm with the PICC line.
Sunshine jumped up. “Let me help you.” She grabbed CC’s bag and draped it carefully over her shoulder.
CC stared at her desk. She had a lot of work to do. Was she really going to walk out the door and leave it?
Sunshine waved a hand through the air dismissively. “I promise nothing is urgent. It can all wait. Go enjoy your evening and rest. You’re not one hundred percent. If you push too hard, you’ll end up back in the hospital.”
“You sound like Hunter,” CC grumbled. He’d given her that lecture more than a few times in the last three days.
“See? I knew I liked him.” She pointed toward the door. “Go. I’ll lock up.”
“Thank you. That’d be great.” CC was so relieved that she gave her employee and friend an awkward hug, protecting both arms as best as possible.
Sunshine smiled at her. “Have fun tonight. I expect a full report in the morning though.” She chuckled.
CC wasn’t sure how much she would be willing to share or even how much she was willing to do. She’d just met this man. She was nervous like a teenager heading out for her first date. In a way, that wasn’t far off the mark.
Stepping into the main room of her coffee shop, CC took a deep breath and smiled broadly. She was relieved to see Hunter sitting at one of the tables. He was holding his phone, and she was pretty sure he was reading something. He wasn’t swiping the screen.
He glanced up as soon as her movements caught his eyes. He smiled and jumped to his feet, putting his phone in his pocket. “I ate one of the pumpkin spice cupcakes. They were the best I’ve ever eaten. It took a lot of willpower not to eat two of them. How do you work here and stay so slender and fit?”
She flinched and glanced down at herself. Slender? Fit? She wouldn’t describe herself as either of those. She was fine with her body, but she wasn’t an athlete or anything. She was curvy and strong enough to haul around the shop’s supplies. Darren had said she was perfect and soft in all the right places. She’d believed him. Would Hunter think so too?
Hunter surprised her by stepping closer, setting his hands on her hips, and meeting her gaze. He was almost six feet tall, but CC was five eight, so she didn’t have to tip her head back very far to look in his eyes.
He lifted one hand to her cheek and smiled. “Please tell me you know how attractive you are.”
“Attractive? I don’t know that I fit that description fresh out of the hospital without any makeup and after not washing my hair for days. I’m pretty happy in my skin though. I feel good most days.”
“That is most important. In my eyes, you’re stunning and gorgeous and absolutely perfect. I’ve gotten a glimpse of most of you in the last few days. I’ve also carried you several times, so I know all your curves.” His eyes danced as he wiggled his brows.
She slowly smiled. “Stunning and gorgeous and perfect?”
“Yep.” Suddenly, he was leaning closer. “I’ve wanted to kiss you for the past three days too. Seemed inappropriate in the hospital especially since I was on duty. But we’re not there now. May I?”
Her heart raced as she nodded. “Yes, please.”
He closed the short distance and pressed his lips gently over hers, nibbling and teasing. God, he smelled good, and when he slid his tongue along the seam of her lips, she found out he tasted good too. Mostly like pumpkin spice with an underlying flavor of pure desirable man.