Page 16 of Whisk Me Away
"Mia, are you okay?" I rushed to her side, grabbing her by the shoulders. "What happened?”
"Why don't you ask the big idiot over there who thought it was a fine idea to sneak up on a girl?!" Mia said through gritted teeth, not once taking her eyes off Brock.
I stood next to Mia, biting my inner cheek, trying to stifle a laugh. It seemed the Landon brothers have that in common.
Mia stood in front of Brock, arms now crossed over her chest and covered in coffee, while Brock feigned innocence with his trademark smirk.
"It's not my fault you can't hold a cup properly, Mia," Brock quipped, his tone dripping with mock sympathy.
Mia rolled her eyes, a gesture that seemed to be her default response to anything Brock said. "Oh sure, blame the victim. Real classy, Brock.”
Brock shrugged, undeterred. "Hey, accidents happen. But let's be honest, you've always had a talent for attracting trouble.”
Mia shot him a withering glare. "And you've always had a talent for causing it.”
"We came in to see how your morning went and grab a few treats to-go when Mia was out here filling her coffee cup. Brock thought it was a good idea to sneak up on her, resulting in the spilled coffee and a look of death coming from Mia,” Brant explained, filling in the gaps for me.
"Ah. Well, my morning was very crazy but good. Lots of customers. If you give me just a second to clean up this mess, I'll help grab you whatever you need,” I said, rounding the display case and heading for the utility closet tucked into the back corner.
A giant, warm hand landed on my shoulder as I pulled the door open, causing me to flinch. I whipped my head around to see Brant towering over me.
“I’ll get it,” his voice was low and gruff. It sent tingles down my spine. Or maybe it was the presence of his hand on my shoulder that sent the shivers through my body.
“Oh. Um... Okay. Thanks,” I mumbled, and I took a big step back.
Brant reached into the closet, pulling out the mop and bucket before hauling it to the bathroom. He filled it with water while I grabbed the cleaning solution from the closet. Once the bucket was full, I poured a cap of the solution into the bucket and watched as Brant wheeled it across the floor to where Brock and Mia still stood in some sort of stand-off, staring contest.
“Here, clean this up,” Brant shoved the bucket and mop at Brock before turning and heading to the display case.
“Give us three cinnamon rolls, an orange-cranberry scone, a blueberry crumble muffin, and a lemon cookie. To-go,” the rough command caught me off guard.
“Yeah, sure,” I whispered as I got to work boxing up their order. I placed the pink bakery box on the counter and threw one of my logo stickers over the opening making sure it was sealed.
Brant paid for their order and walked toward the door. Brooks followed after him while Brock finished cleaning up the coffee spill off my floor, then before I could really register what had happened, they were gone.
“Umm, what in the world was that?” I asked, turning to Mia, who still had her arms crossed firmly over her chest.
“I don’t even know,” she muttered.
CHAPTER 11
BRANT
“What the heck was that?” I shot Brock another glare from over my shoulder.
I had known bringing my brothers along was a bad idea, yet I did it anyway. Although Brock seemed to be the only problem today. I was still trying to figure out what was going on with him and Mia, but I was too mad to really chase that line of thought. I stalked toward the fire station where my cruiser was parked. I had dropped into the firehouse to see if Brock wanted to swing by Whisk Me Away when I found him and Brooks walking out the doors. Apparently, we had all had the same bright idea, only my idea hadn’t included Brock pissing off Mia and causing her to spill coffee all over Karis’ floor.
“What, man? I was just messing with her,” Brock shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.
I rolled my eyes and kept walking. I flipped open the lid of the bakery box, taken aback by the smells that immediately greeted me. If these were as good as they smelled, I was in trouble. It was hard enough to keep my distance from Karis, add in all this deliciousness, and I’d be screwed. I snatched up the cinnamon roll and the blueberry crumble muffin and handed the box to Brooks.
I hadn’t realized until just now that Brooks hadn’t said a word through that entire fiasco. He wasn’t usually an overly chatty person. However, it was still odd for him not to throw in his two cents, especially about Brock being an idiot.
“You good, bro?” My brows knit together as I tossed a questioning look at our middle brother. His expression was blank, giving nothing away.
“Fine,” Brooks responded with a nod.
I didn’t believe him, and based on the look Brock sent me, he didn’t believe him either. Even though I knew something was eating at my bother, I didn’t love it when they pried into my life, so I wasn’t going to push when he wasn’t ready to talk. I clapped both my brothers on the shoulders before slipping behind the wheel of my SUV. Next time I went to Whisk Me Away, I would go alone.