SWNOVELS 202 Cherry Popper Way: Chapter 8
We made love three more times last night.
Made love.
I smile to myself.
My eyes finally crack open. I’m not complaining but the man suffers from a severe case of lust. I grin. So do I. I wiggle my ass a little and yep, his cock is hard, ready. One little swish of my hips and I can have him buried to the hilt.
“Do that again and neither of us will get out of this bed.”
“Are you challenging me?”
I feel him shaking his head. “Promising.”
I chuckle. “I’ll have a hard time working today as is.” Which is true. Every step I take my body will remind me of the hours we spent here in each other’s arms.
The sky is turning a liquid amber with shots of purple through it. Like someone spilled orange soda and dusted the sky with purple glitter. I hear the bell downstairs and Casey’s voice filters through the hole in my floor in the living room.
I shoot up, my hair a tangled mess. “Did you lock the door downstairs?”
Sixty seconds tops and we are both dressed and heading down the back stairs of my apartment.
At the foot, Miles turns and we are at the perfect height with me on the second to last stair. Our eyes meet and for a long second we just drink each other in and process what just happened between us. I have so many questions. What this means for us. Do we exchange keys now? Shit, that reminds me.
“Your key. Let me get it.”
He doesn’t move to let me pass. Instead he takes my mouth in a fierce kiss. “Keep it.”
“Oh.” My brows inch a little higher in question.
“Meet me at the firehouse in two hours. Bring some of those cinnamon muffin thingies you make.”
A smirk draws across my lips. “You like those, huh?”
There’s no missing the languid caress of his eyes over my curves. “Among other things.”
“See you then?”
“I have the insurance man coming by in a little bit and a cake to finish. Make it three?”
He nods and is out the door with Casey swooping in to fill his spot in front of the stairs.
“You and the fire chief.”
I let out a huffy sigh and hope my I just got laid and loved every second of it bed hair doesn’t look too bad. “Yeah. It seems that way. Hey, thanks for coming in. Would you mind doing an inventory of our stock? See what I need to replace. The workers messaged yesterday and said five days and we’re back in business.” I clap my hands and say a quick prayer all goes well.
“Sure. Thank God too. Another day twiddling my thumbs and I would’ve gone crazy.”
Casey heads off to the back, grabbing a clipboard from the back shelf. She’s a godsend and I feel so lucky to have her as part of Bela’s Bakery. The repairs will take a chunk of the inheritance Gran left me, but I hope a second grand re-opening will help offset those expenses.
The crew arrives just as I step downstairs from a quick shower, dressed for the day. After a little of finagling, they’ve agreed to give me access to the ovens for a couple of hours before they start work. Penis cakes must live on.
Three hours on the dot later—penis cake and amethyst cake are done and delivered— I arrive at the fire station to the sounds of laughter and happy squeals.
“What’s going on?”
Miles, wearing the biggest grin, steps out from behind a rig, swoops me in his arms and plants the biggest kiss on my lips.
“Whoa, hello to you too, handsome.”
Cheers and whoops erupt and I don’t know if I should laugh or bury my face in his chest. All the guys and a few women in suspenders and Cherry Falls Fire Station shirts applaud.
“Finally,” I hear someone shout.
“Pay no attention to them. Thanks for coming. I thought you would like to see the kids again. Smiling this time.”
We spend several hours with twenty kids crawling all over the fire engines, honking horns and stuffing their faces with muffins. It’s the happiest I’ve felt in a long long time. Losing Gran hit home hard, but this, seeing these kids happy and knowing I had a hand on putting those apple-covered smiles on their faces warms my heart. Moving here was right for me.
I don’t care what Miles says about not being right for a family. He’s perfect with these kids. Anyone can see that. In time I’m sure he’ll see it too. I touch my stomach and wonder what it would be like to have one of my own. Would they have Miles’ chocolate brown eyes or my lighter ones? His golden heart or my fun-loving ways?
He’s given me his seed so many different ways it’s hard to think I’m not. What’s more, neither of us have worried about it. That’s how perfect I feel with him. I’ve never thought those words before, certainly never given myself to another the way I have with Miles.
“You seem deep in thought.”
“Huh, oh hey, sweetie.” I hug Poppy, shaking off all my inner thoughts. I don’t realize I am staring off into the distance until she walks up. “Whatcha got there?” Her arms are full of bundles and I suspect they are for the little ones running around enjoying their day at the station.
Poppy is all smiles, but she seems happier than usual. I love my friend’s carefree attitude today. It’s a wonder we aren’t sisters.
She follows my line of sight.
“Hmm-hmm. Yep, he’s cute with kids. I bet you two would make super cute babies.”
See. Sisters. It’s like she knows my thoughts. “Poppy, you’re amazing.”
“So I’ve been told.”
As if sensing our eyes on him, Miles walks over, leaving Duke to fend for himself amongst a group of very curious eight-year-olds.
“What are you two talking about?”
“Babies,” Poppy quips, all too happy to share.
Miles’ eyebrows shoot up and my friend walks off laughing.
“Pay no attention to her.”
“I’m not, but I like her train of thought.”
He’s looking at me. a peculiar look that says this very topic scares and equally excites him.
“I want to have babies with you.”
My eyes dart around to see who might have overheard, but everyone is leaving us be in our little corner of the fire station driveaway. Surprise drops my mouth open a few inches. Why I don’t know. It’s not like I haven’t been thinking about it all damn afternoon, but to hear the words? My heart flutters erratically.
He goes to walk away with a devilish wink but I grab him.
“Oh, no. You can’t drop that bomb and walk away.”
He leans in, those devilish lips a warm caress against the shell of my ear, and whispers, “I’ve come so deep inside you I bet you’re already pregnant.”
“That’s kind of arrogant,” I tease, wanting to get him a little riled.
“I have strong swimmers.”
“You’re the devil, Miles Malone.”
His words have my insides twisting and my heart flying high.
“Maybe we can talk over dinner?”
He eyes me up and down. “Tonight. My place. You still have that key?”
I nod. “I do.”
“And plan on it being dinner and dessert.” I get his meaning but the little caress of his finger down my cheek helps drive his point home. “Mom is coming up the drive. To be continued.”
I barely have time to shift gears before I hear her beside me. “I see I was right.” Mrs. Malone sidles up next to me, eyeing her son’s retreating back. “You two look like you’re up to no good.”
This woman knows no boundaries. I love her!
“Here, I whipped something up for you. What do you think?”
I take the papers, glad to focus on anything other than my love life with the woman I might make a grandmother.
“Mrs. Malone, this is brilliant. When did you do this?”
“A couple of years ago for when the bakery was mine. Before we decided to sell.”
I flip through the pages of a perfectly mapped out plan on how to establish my business online and grow. Seeing these numbers there’s no telling how far I could take Bela’s Bakery.
“I updated it last night with all the latest information.”
“I’m kind of speechless, Mrs. Malone.”
We both find a chair off to the side of the kids.
“Let me do this for you. We can work together on putting you online. Plus, it gets me out of the house. Retiring is not all that it’s cut out to be.”
I smile. “I can’t ever imagine retiring.”
“You’re so young still. Wait forty years and let the backaches set in,” she says with a wink.
“Tell you what. How about we help each other out?” My gaze roams over the group of kids, and I smile when I spot Miles. “I’ll let you set up a page for me if you tell me three secrets about Miles. He’s tighter than a clam.”
I don’t stop to think if this maneuver is fair or not. I need info about the man who is rapidly stealing my heart.
The older woman considers me for a moment. “You love him, don’t you, honey?”
I nod. “I think so.”
“Okay, deal. He made it his priority to be town protector of all the kids in his school at the age of fifteen.” She holds up three fingers and starts to tick each secret or nuggets of gold as I want to consider them.
“He broke his ankle in high school that killed off a football career. He never told anyone how much he wanted to be a football star. To use the money to help kids like him who ended up without a home for so long.”
“He’s lucky you and Mr. Malone came along.”
“We’re the lucky ones, sweetie.” She falls quiet a moment as though she is weighing her next words. “This one is close to his heart, sweetie. You know his mom died when he was little. Way too young for a boy to ever lose his momma.”
“Yes.” I can feel the heaviness in her words ring home in my heart.
“Before she passed there was a special dessert she made for him. A banana, coconut ice cream split. Extra cherries.”
“What’s so special about it?”
Mrs. Malone reaches for my hand, and I lean forward until I can smell the faint scent of her light perfume. “This is the heart clencher. His mom made it for him right before she overdosed.”
“Oh?” I never got the vibe he had such a terrible childhood.
“Not like that. No. She was a nurse. Got injured on the job and took pills to kill the pain so she could continue to work. As a single mom, she did what she thought best.”
I can see the sadness in Mrs. Malone’s eyes as she recounts the story, and my heart aches for Miles and his mother.
“It led to an addiction that eventually killed her.”
Those words weigh heavy on my heart for the boy Miles was and all he lost. So many things about the man he became made sense now.