Chapter 9
Juniper
The engine whines as I ease my foot on the gas, hoping the lights at the intersection don’t go red.
I’m making beautiful time, just as long as nothing else goes wrong and the late rush hour traffic is kind to me.
Flipping caramel apple tortes.
But I’m the genius who decided to break out the sweetest treat in Nana’s old recipe arsenal. It took three batches to get thern just right.
I was almost forced to leave without them to meet Mr. Sweet Tooth’s life–or–death deadline. Luckily, they came out and passed a quick taste test just before the deadline, but it was close,
So much for the promise I’d be early.
Even now, I’m pushing it, grinding through the bustling traffic of a summer evening. I swear the humid nights bring people out like bees.
I really can’t afford to be waiting at the intersection, though.
To my eternal relief, I only whack the wheel once before the light turns green, and then I head down by the Riverwalk, passing the Winthrope KC hotel on the way.
The engine’s whine morphs into a rattle.
“Oh, no, are you joking? Not now!” I grimace at the windshield. Just another big ugly repair bill I’ll need to scrounge up money for. “Come on, baby. You can make it. I’ll let you rest as soon as we get there…”
The rattle shakes through the seat as I stomp the gas and ease off it again.
Ugh.
I’ve never been much of a praying type, but I will sell my soul to any deity right now just as long as I make it to this stupid hotel.
This dude’s order is big enough to cover several big car repairs and then some. It’s so huge that if he didn’t reek like money, I’d have worried whether he could pay it.
And if he isn’t a total scrooge when he tips…..
Ohhh, if he tips, I might actually be able to live on more than home–baked banana bread and frozen burritos for a few weeks.
But I try not to get my hopes up.
Hefty tips are never guaranteed, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned about jackass customers, it’s that they’re often halfway decent tippers. Almost like they’re trying to buy off their guilty conscience when nobody’s looking.
Of course, that hinges on everything going right, and I have to make this deadline.
Miraculously, I swerve into the hotel parking lot without the van breaking down.
No time for celebration.
After a quick chat with reception, I grab the first set of boxes and haul them into the conference room. Thankfully, it isn’t far from the main door.
To my surprise, Mr. Sweet Tooth stands in the conference room alone, leering over everything like a general surveying a battlefield.
He leans on the ginormous walnut table with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his lips slightly tilted and those cutting blue eyes ready to flay me open for the slightest error.
But I don’t think he sees me at first.
He doesn’t seem to hear the door or my panicked footsteps; he just stares out of the long, wall–length window overlooking the city basking in the
sunset.
Chapter 9
“Nobody else coming to the party yet? This is a lot for one guy,” I joke as I set down the first box.
He starts, whipping toward me with that familiar stormy scowl. “Unbelievable. You’re five minutes late.” He taps his watch in case I’ve
forgotten the concept of time. “Your desserts better be goddamned ambrosia. Where’s the rest?”
“Um, coming right up!” I say nervously, biting my tongue on adding
you absolute jackwagon.
It takes him two seconds to realize it’s just me unloading the stuff.
To my surprise, he follows me outside to the van and helps grab the remaining boxes, stacking them high in his arms.
“Can’t believe people eat this stuff,” he growls once we’re back in the room, popping open a lid and checking out its contents–Nana’s famous strudel bites. “It’s begging for diabetes. There are places where sugar bombs like this get a sin tax.”
Yikes, talk about opening a can of worms.
“So, what? You think no one should ever be allowed a little sugar?” I ask flatly.
“In any sane world, it’d be a controlled substance enforced by DEA troopers. If I were dictator for a day, I’d ban the shit entirely.”
he’s mighty serious about a world without glucose, isn’t he?
And I wonder how a man this painfully handsome wound up with the world’s biggest stick lodged up his ass.
“You’re hilarious.” I stop what I’m doing and stare at him, trying to brush it off as a joke. He’s hot, sure, but clearly a little–okay, a lot- deranged. “Do you hear what you’re saying?”
“I know. I shouldn’t bother debating the merits with someone who makes a living peddling death salt.”
“Death salt? Excuse you?” One second later, I bite my tongue and sigh. His glare cuts right through me.
For the love of everything holy, be nice. Remember the money.
“Um, I mean… I’m a little confused. Help me out. You’re the one who ordered this stuff extra sweet, right?” I rip open another box a little too forcefully and frown at the raspberry and white chocolate cheesecakes inside. “Please don’t tell me you’re some sort of health freak.”
“If health freak means I actually take care of myself, then yes, sue me,” he snarls.
“Oh, that would be the day,” I huff under my breath.
His glare just got ten times hotter.
Putting all the samples out on the tables and arranging them neatly clearly isn’t his talent, so after I tidy them up a few times, he gives up and watches me with an unwavering stare that makes me sweat.
Dude, could you let up on the evil eye?
It’s a minor miracle I don’t drip all over the dessert spread.
When I turn around, he’s folding his arms. I hate the way the shirt tightens around his biceps like a second skin. Nope, not staring.
“You want to know the truth? If it was up to me, we’d have mandatory tracking and weekly workout times to offset every gram of this stuff,” he grouches, looking past me at the treats.
So, he’s not just a sugar–hating prick then–but a prick who’s anal enough to obsess over the metric system, too.
I ignore his insanity and step back to examine my handiwork. Not a bad presentation, if I do say so myself, especially considering the time crunch.
“Well, we’re lucky it’s not up to you. Too many control freaks already in power,” I say with a sunny smile I hope hides my total contempt. “Anyway, sorry about the five–minute delay. I’d be happy to knock fifty bucks off the price for your trouble.” I lay on the emphasis real thick and his scowl deepens. “But everything is here and customized to your liking.” A smirk escapes before I can bite it back. “I mean… clearly not to your liking. But customized to your order, I should say.”
9.5%
Chapter 9
His eyes flick around the room, probably searching for something else he can blame me for.
He looks like that kind of walking horse dick.
Nothing’s ever good enough. There’s always something to complain about.
But there’s nothing wrong with what I’ve put out–I triple–checked- and after a breathless minute, he nods. Grudgingly.
“As ordered,” he admits. “Torget the discount, I’ll pay you in full.” Holy crap.
I stagger back a step.
I’m not used to things going right.
“Great!” I shove the paper bill and the credit card reader at him before he can change his mind. He raises his eyebrows at the bulky plastic reader pushing fifteen years old.
Jerk.
I half expect him to make a pointed comment about convenience–and I would’ve been half tempted to take the cherry pie and shove his face in it- but he just scrawls a signature on the bill and jabs his black credit card in the reader like a knife.
Like he just can’t wait to get rid of me. Right–o. The feeling is mutual.
While he stares at the screen and waits for it to finish processing at a speed slower than molasses, I stick my tongue out at the back of his head and that thick dark hair.
Childish, yes, but it makes me feel better. Then the door opens.
We both look up to witness the Kingpin of All Money swaggering
- in.
He’s a bear of a man, probably in his fifties. Sweet Tooth is built and lean, yes, but he looks almost small compared to this older guy with thick limbs and a penguin belly.
Sweet Tooth immediately stops scowling. Oh, is he nervous?
Interesting.
So maybe Kingpin is Sweet Tooth’s boss or
something? Makes sense. Doesn’t every shark answer to a whale?
I turn back to face my tormenter with a saccharine smile.
“As you can see, everything’s here and perfectly in order,” I announce loudly while he gives me a look that tells me to scram. It’s kind of delicious, the way his eyebrows sink low above his eyes. They heat with a blue–fire rage he can’t indulge, not while he’s in front of this other guy. “And extra sweet, just like you
asked for. I’m not sure if you have any allergies, but just to be sure, the items with nuts were baked separately and are off to the left, over there, and-”
“Yes,” Sweet Tooth clips through gritted teeth. “Understood, ma’am.”
Kingpin stares across the spread with raised eyebrows and a shit–eating grin on his face. “Rory, color me impressed! Or should I be thanking our lovely delivery gal?”
Sweet Tooth inhales sharply and glowers at me.
“Thanks,” he grinds out without an ounce of sincerity. “This all looks… great.”
Lame, dude.
You aren’t even trying.
I smile innocently.
“You don’t think it’s too sweet, do you?”
He shoves the bill into my chest and guides me to the door with one big hand pressed against my back.
9.8%
Chapter 9
“All right” I say, rubbing my face, “Let’s find out how crappy s tipper you are, Dexter Rory”
1 skim down to the tip line and my eyes nearly exit my face. My jaw drops
