Page 25 of Restless Ink
Dimitri:Have coffee with me.
Dimitri:Please.
Thea:I make coffee for a living. I’m good.
Dimitri:You make the best coffee. Let’s drink it together.
If she said no this time, he wouldn’t ask again, wouldn’t badger her. But he needed to at least try.
She was silent for so long, he was afraid of the answer.
Thea:Tomorrow.
He let out a breath and asked the time, then set his phone down after saying goodnight. He had a coffee date with Thea tomorrow, a real one. It had to be a date, not just friends, but not more than that either. Time where they could find their boundaries and decide what they each wanted.
It seemed a lot for a single cup of coffee, no matter how good she made it.
He rested his head against the couch, knowing he was doing the right thing. He wasn’t just hoping anymore. Thea meant something to him. This feeling she gave him, the look on her face when they were together even for a short time…it meant something. They’d figure out what was between them and work from there.
But he couldn’t run away, wouldn’t hide anymore.
He was a new man, a new Dimitri. Now, he just needed to figure out exactly what that meant.
Chapter 11
Thea wanted to dive into her bowl of frosting, and she didn’t care who noticed. If she could live in this creamy goodness, she would. She’d lick it all up, heavy breathing while she let it settle, then make some more so she could do it all again.
She and her sisters joked that she had extra curves because of all her baked goods—tasting was important, after all—but she secretly knew that it wasn’t from the cakes and cookies and tarts. Oh, no, the extra padding on her ass came from the frosting, and she was just fine with it. Sure, she had to watch her sugar intake, and she ate healthily otherwise—if she ignored cheese— but she was in love with frosting.
Hence why she had to hold herself back. She didn’t need clogged arteries or diabetes thanks to her love of frosting and cheese, but she also let herself indulge sometimes.
And the fact that today’s special frosting was cream cheese? She was in dairy heaven and never wanted to leave.
Thea didn’t exactly lick the spoon she’d been using, but she did sniff at it, imagining the sweet and slightly tangy taste on her tongue. Not only was licking anything in her kitchen at work against code, but she needed every ounce of the frosting for her red velvet cheesecake cupcakes.
They were hot sellers this time of year—hell,everytime of year—and it was all she could do not to make so many of them that even she got sick of the glorious bombs of sugar and flavor. They were her favorite thing on the menu, and because of that, she never had one. They were for her customers, and she’d eat a carrot or something while imagining it was frosting.
Not the best thing in the world, but it was better for her ass and her blood sugar.
While she let the frosting rest a bit before she topped the cupcakes, she went to the oven to pull out her pastries, letting them cool before she put on the fruit toppings. The oven dinged again, and she slid out her rolls and the other bread items that were done and ready to go for the day. Her early morning to-do list had a few more things on it like frosting the cakes and decorating for certain private orders, but she’d get to that once the shop was fully open for the day.
She had two of her staff coming in soon to help out with the finishing touches and to work the counter, but this morning, she was on her own. She didn’t mind. Frankly, it was one of her favorite times of the day, where she surrounded herself with the things that she’d made by hand. These were times and baked goods that were all hers and had something to do with her future. With her own creativity and talent in her chosen career, she’d been able to buy a house, keep it, keep her bakery doors open,andmake it flourish.
And, soon, if everything worked out and the baking gods smiled down on her, she’d be able to reach the next phase of her multi-step baking plan.
Because, of course, she had one of those color-coded with checkboxes, but her personal life had no such list. It didn’t matter, though, because she was doing better at that by working on the fly.
She held back a laugh. Okay, not so much, since she was beyond floundering when it came to her personal life.
Roger was totally gone from her life and thoughts, not even worth a second glance since there was no way she’d debase herself like that again. Dimitri, however?
She took a steadying breath, bracing herself against the metal counter. Okay, so maybe she was a little lost there, but something was going to change today.
He was coming in for coffee this afternoon after school, and that meant they were going totalk. They were going to discuss what happened between them and see where they could go next.
Molly was all for it. Frankly, that worried Thea a bit. What had her friend meant when she said she wanted Dimitri and Thea to work out? It all seemed so surreal, and she and Dimitri truly needed to talk.
Because even if everything else went to hell, she still wanted to have him in her life. She’d come to that conclusion the night before. She wanted him as her friend. At least her friend.