Page 29 of Bittersweet

“I did! My office was expecting that delivery yesterday morning. We scheduled it two weeks ago because we had important clients coming in. We had to pick up Krispy Kreme donuts instead.”

“They make very good donuts,” Harper replied, clearly intimidated.

The woman’s reaction went from bubbling with annoyance to boiling with fury. “Are you mocking me?”

“No, ma’am.”

“This is absolutely unacceptable.”

Harper glanced at Logan momentarily then back at the woman. “Who did you speak to?”

“Hannah, I think.”

“We don’t have a Hannah here.”

“It could have been a different name. I don’t remember.”

The woman could have meant Savannah, but Harper didn’t offer up her partner’s name and throw her under the bus.

“Are you sure it was our bake shop?”

“It was. Honestly, this is bad business. I’m going to report you to the Better Business Bureau.”

Harper grabbed a gift certificate from behind the counter and wrote on it. “Here’s what I’m going to do for you. Your original order delivered whenever you’d like, totally on us, and a fifty-dollar gift certificate to be used toward a future order.”

The woman seemed to calm a little at that.

Harper looked the woman in the eye. “I know it doesn’t make up for yesterday, but I want to offer you my sincerest apology.”

“All right, well, I guess that will have to do.” The woman snatched the certificate from Harper’s hand and turned on her heel, almost running into Logan on the way out.

“Let us know when you’d like that first order delivered,” Harper called after her.

The woman grumbled incoherent words as she pushed through the door and left.

Logan stared after the woman. “You can’t win with some people, no matter what you do.” He turned back to Harper, who had her head lowered and her eyes closed. “Hey, are you okay?”

When she looked up at him, he could see she was tearing up. He rounded the counter and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, bringing her against him.

She shook a little as the tears fell. Her arms slid around his back, her fingertips gripping the fabric of his t-shirt and pulling it taut.

“You were awesome with her, Harper. You handled it perfectly.”

“I hate confrontation,” she whimpered. “That lady was seriously scary.”

Logan chuckled and squeezed her tighter. This felt amazing, holding her in his arms again. She smelled so good—like sugar cookies and cupcakes and chocolate. And the way her soft curves molded into him so perfectly kicked his heart rate into overdrive.

The bells on the door sounded, and Harper immediately extracted herself from his arms and wiped her tears before facing the customers. The warmth of her body lingered even after she moved away.

Logan moved to the side and waited as she gathered an order of muffins and scones for a group of four women—regulars, it seemed, since she called them all by their names. The ladies settled in at a table by the window with book club books in hand.

He glanced around the room and noticed the small cooler of water bottles and juices for sale. “You should let me bring some coffee in here for you to sell.”

“I think working with your food truck is enough.”

“Coffee and cupcakes belong together.” He was sure his double entendre wasn’t lost on her, because she tilted her head and gave him a sarcastic look.

“Is that why you’re here? To convince me to let you sell coffee in our shop?”

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