Icing On The Date (The Bannister Brothers #1) (11 page)

He chuckled. Leave it to this woman to give him a B. Still, it was better than some of his grades in college. Oddly enough, even though they had spent the night at a fundraiser hanging out with some little kids, and he didn’t score, the night had still been a solid ten for him.

He gave her another soft kiss. “I’ll work on my skills and try to rate a higher score next time.”

“I’ll be looking forward to that.” She reached up her hand and touched his cheek, leaning toward him and this time kissing him. And not a quick kiss, a slow tortuously delicious kiss that had him aching for more.

Her mouth was warm from the hot tea, and his mind filled with all sorts of naughty little things that involved that hot little mouth. He needed to get out of here. Before he lost his senses and took her on the kitchen floor.

It took all of his willpower, but he pulled back and let her go. “I’ll see you soon, Angel.” He left her standing in the kitchen and let himself out the door.

Walking down the steps to his car, he couldn’t stop smiling. And he couldn’t wait to see her again.

Chapter Nine

The ringing of her cell phone woke Gabby from a deep sleep. She’d been dreaming about Owen and what could have happened if her stupid little brother hadn’t shown up last night and interrupted them.

Although it was probably a blessing that he did. Things had been happening really fast on that sofa. Amazingly fast. Amazing, period.

Holy frosted cupcakes, that guy was ridiculously hot.

The winter sun shined through her bedroom window, and she noted the time read a little after seven as she tapped for the phone and brought it to her ear. “Hello.”

“Hello, Miss Gabby?”

“Estelle? What’s wrong?” She recognized the voice of the woman who’d helped raise her and now baked for her in the morning.

“You need to get down here. This place is going crazy.”

“Crazy how?” She was already climbing out of bed and throwing on a pair of yoga pants. Thor stretched and yawned but stayed in his place curled in the folds of her comforter. It took more than a phone call to panic Thor.

Estelle was in her late fifties and had been baking for Gabby for several years. She could be counted on to show up every day, do her work quickly and efficiently, and with a great attitude. The note of panic in her normally calm voice told Gabby that something was very wrong, and she could only imagine the cause. A frozen pipe gushing water into the kitchen? The stove exploding? The mixer falling apart?

“Crazy like there’s a mob of people here. There’s been a line out the door since we opened the doors, and we can’t keep up. We need your help.”

A line out the door? Really? Estelle had to be exaggerating.

Although, unlike Gabby’s mother, the woman was not known for her exaggeration.

But there was definitely panic in her voice.

“I’ll be right down.” Gabby hung up the phone and skipped to her dresser, her heart light, and a smile cracking her face as she pulled open the drawer. The panic was actually over a good thing. Something positive. She could handle a little panic over extra business.

Gabby threw on the rest of her clothes and pulled her hair into a high pony tail. She quickly brushed her teeth and yelled for her brother. “Justin, get up. I need your help.”

She heard a groggy mumbled response and pushed the door to the spare room open. “Get up. I need you. Estelle just called and said there’s a line out the door downstairs in the bakery.”

He rolled out of bed, blinking and rubbing a hand over his head. “I’m up.”

“Good. I’m heading down. Brush your teeth and come down as quickly as you can. Estelle is in a panic.”

Justin was at her apartment often enough that he had his own toiletries and some extra clothes in the spare room. Went to show the state of her love life that the only extra toothbrush in her bathroom belonged to her brother.

“Yes, mom.” He offered her a wry grin, reminding her of how he looked as a ten year old kid, and her heart swelled with love for him. It didn’t matter how old he was or how many messes he found himself in, he would always be her little brother, and she loved him.

He grabbed a flannel shirt that hung from the back of her desk chair. “I’ll be down in two minutes. And Estelle doesn’t panic.”

They had known Estelle since they were kids. She lived next door and often babysat them. They had occasionally taken refuge at her house when things had gotten too bad—or too dangerous—at theirs.

She was already racing for the front door. Thor ran along next to her, either thinking they were playing a game or that he was going to get to go along. “Sorry boy, you’re staying here.” She yelled at her brother. “And will you feed Thor and let him out really quick?”

“Sure.” She heard her brother’s garbled response, and she knew he spoke around the toothbrush in his mouth. “Give me five minutes. I’m gonna hop in the shower.”

Not a bad idea. The five minute wait would be worth him taking the time to shower.

Hurrying down the steps, she rushed around the building and came to a dead stop.

Holy shit
. Estelle hadn’t been kidding. There were literally people lined up
out
the door. And onto the sidewalk in front of the door.

A pretty blonde woman wearing a blue ski parka caught sight of her and nudged the guy next to her. “There she is.”

He turned and held up a camera, flashing several pictures of her in succession.

The woman in the parka rushed forward. “Gabby, nice to meet you. Ricky Johns from Sports Central. Can I get a quote from you on your recent relationship with Owen Bannister? How long have you two been an item? How serious is it?”

Gabby held up her hands. This was all because of Owen? Because she had been seen on the arm of an NHL player? Well, not only
on
the arm, but
in
the arms, and in a frosting-covered lip-lock. “I don’t have anything to say about Owen. We’re just friends.”

“Friends with benefits?” Another reporter had followed the first and had pulled a pen and pad of paper from his pocket to jot down whatever interesting nugget of information Gabby had to say. “Bannister’s car was seen parked on the street in front of the bakery last night. Did you two “friends” have a slumber party?”

Geez. Didn’t these people have real news to report on? And how did they know Owen’s car had been parked here last night? She didn’t know what to say or how to respond.

She took a step backward but they surged forward, pressing toward her as they continued to ask questions.

She stepped back again and into the solid chest of a man. Recognizing the scent of her own shampoo, she let out the breath she was holding as her brother’s arms wrapped protectively around her shoulder.

“Back up people. We’ve got a business to run here.” He pushed them through the throng of people and into the bakery. He leaned down and spoke softly into Gabby’s ear. “Get in the kitchen and start making more cupcakes. I’ve got this. Have Estelle bring me some samples. If you’re gonna have a famous boyfriend, we might as well make the most of it.”

She scooted behind the counter and into the back as she heard her brother talking loudly to the crowd. “Have a cupcake—or take home a dozen—and you’ll see why Owen Bannister is hanging around the Simply Sweet bakery. Save your questions until after you’ve had Gabby’s desserts. For now all I want to hear from you is if you want chocolate or vanilla frosting on your cupcake and if that’ll be cash or charge.”

Her brother was cute and a charmer, and Gabby knew Justin would have that crowd eating out of his hand in no time. Like literally eating. She was sure it wouldn’t take him long to have a cupcake in every hand in the bakery.

He was such a great guy and had so much going for him. That’s what made it stink so much that he was screwing up his life with booze and bar fights.

She didn’t have time to think about that now, though. She had orders to fill and frosting to make. Rounding the corner, she saw Estelle moving at a frantic pace, a dusting of flour coating her apron, and her curly hair sticking out of her normal neat bun as she raced around the kitchen.

“Estelle, are you okay?”

The older woman stopped and put a flour-covered hand to her head. “Lord have mercy. I’m so glad you’re here. I don’t know what’s going on or where all these people came from, but we’ve sold over a hundred cupcakes already. I’ve got more breakfast muffins in, and we can sell those warm with no frosting. Thank goodness you had those new orders for this afternoon so I had baked an extra twelve dozen cupcakes this morning. I figured we can just sell those and make more for this afternoon.”

“Good thinking.” Gabby was already tying the strings of her apron around her waist and mentally calculating if she had enough inventory for the extra orders. Thank goodness she’d just done a supply run over the weekend. “I’ll get to work on those. Justin came in with me, and he’s working the crowd.”

“Leah has been running around like crazy, and she called another student from her class in to help her. She’s been going a hundred miles an hour, but she says she’s having a blast. For some reason, she thinks this is fun.”

Leah was the college intern who worked the bakery counter in the mornings. Gabby had worked out a deal with the local culinary school to give work study credit and hands-on experience to students while they worked on their degrees. It was a win-win for her because she got help from students eager to learn and didn’t have to pay them.

“I think it’s kind of fun, too,” Gabby said. “This is awesome for our business.”

“Good point. But what in the Sam Hill is going on out there? Where did all these people come from?”

Gabby sliced cupcakes into bite-sized pieces and arranged them on a tray. “I met this guy at the Christmas party this weekend and did him a favor so he paid me back by helping me sell some cupcakes from the truck on Sunday. And I guess he’s apparently some famous hockey player. I went on a date with him last night, and somehow that constitutes as news.”

“You went on a date last night? With who? What’s this guy’s name?”

“Owen Bannister,” Gabby said absently as she started the mixers and dumped in ingredients for more cupcakes.

“Owen Bannister? The defenseman from the Colorado Summit?” Estelle fanned herself, and Gabby guessed it wasn’t due to the heat in the kitchen.

“I guess, yeah.” She arched an eyebrow at the woman. “I didn’t know you followed hockey.”

“Of course. I try to go to several games a year.”

Hmm. How did she not know this about Estelle? And how did everyone in the world know who Owen Bannister was—except for her?

No time to worry about Owen now. She passed the sample tray to Estelle. “Take these out to Justin. He can use the samples for crowd control and to get more sales. Tell him I’ll make them as fast as he can sell them.” She was already filling new cupcake trays with liners as Estelle took the samples into the lobby.

Gabby’s phone buzzed in her pocket, and her heart leapt at the sight of Owen’s name on the screen. She tapped the screen and answered the phone. “Hello.”

“Good morning, Angel.”

“Well, it’s an
interesting
morning.”

“Why? What’s going on?”

“Apparently word has spread that I went on a date with some famous hockey player and people are lined up down the block at the bakery to buy my cupcakes.”

“What? Who is this famous guy? I thought you were going out with me?”

Gabby gulped.
Going out with him?
She knew it was kind of a high school term but the way he said it still had butterflies flittering in her stomach.

Not knowing quite how to respond, she laughed off the comment and ignored it. “The bakery’s been full all morning, and we’re all running around like crazy trying to keep up with the demand. I guess we’ve sold over a hundred cupcakes already.”

“That’s great.”

“Yes, it is. But now I need to make another hundred cupcakes to fill new orders for this afternoon. I had a great time last night, but I’ve really got to go. Can I call you back later this afternoon?”

“Yeah, sure. Of course. Call me later. Good luck.”

She hung up, jamming the phone back in her pocket, and couldn’t keep herself from grinning. The sound of his voice did all sorts of funny things to her insides, and images of last night on the sofa with him filled her mind. What would have happened if Justin hadn’t shown up?

And what will happen the next time they got together?

Her inner vixen woke up, and delicious tingles ran through her as she imagined the possibilities. But she didn’t have time for tingles right now, no matter how delicious they were. It was time to focus.

She heard Justin’s laugh ring out from the lobby as she slid a full tray of batter-filled liners into the oven. Setting the timer, she spent the next twenty minutes racing around the kitchen mixing more batter and stirring up bowls of frosting. Estelle ran fresh trays to the front as Gabby piped frosting on the new batch of cupcakes.

A loud commotion sounded from the front of the store, and she heard a wild cheer go up from the crowd. Justin must really be on his game this morning. Whatever he was doing was working, they were selling cupcakes as fast as they frosted them.

“It looks like you’re in need of a master chaser. Good thing I’m here,” a deep voice said.

Estelle dropped the spatula she was holding.

Gabby looked up to see Owen standing in the doorway of the kitchen. He wore jeans, a snug-fitting black thermal shirt, and a killer grin. His blue ski jacket brought out the crystal blue of his eyes as they sparkled with mischief.

Her mouth went dry, and the tingles returned as she gazed at his handsome smiling face. “What are you doing here?”

He grabbed an apron and wrapped it around his waist. “I just told you. I’m here to handle the sprinkles. I heard things were a little crazy around here and thought you might be able to use my excellent cupcake baking skills.”

She couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe that he was here. And she really did need a sprinkle chaser. She laughed and tossed him a container of sprinkles. “I’m not gonna look a gift-chaser in the mouth. Get to work.”