Page 7 of Restless Ink

The place had been updated and painted a few times since she opened, and he thought the clean lines and almost French feel was perfectly suited to her. She’d finished pastry school in Colorado and had stayed because her family was here, and from what he knew, she loved the area, as well. Considering he’d stayed in the city after college too, he didn’t blame her. Nothing beat looking at the mountains to the west and wondering every time if it was a surreal painting and not something nature had created.

Dimitri moved forward and toward the front of the shop where he could order a sweet coffee and probably a brownie. He loved Thea’s brownies and usually had to work an extra set or four into his workouts so he could glut himself on them. Of course, he also loved her cookies and cakes and even the biscotti, though he hadn’t known why people liked biscotti at all before he tried hers.

The customer in front of him left with a coffee in one hand and a plate of frosted cookies in the other and gave Dimitri a nod before taking his seat. Dimitri knew that Thea usually brought orders directly to the table herself, or had one of her servers do it unless it was something simple like a black coffee and a single pastry item. The place was well run, and he had a feeling Colorado Icing was only the beginning for Thea.

“Hey,” he said quietly when her eyes widened at the sight of him.

“Hey.” She swallowed hard. “You haven’t been into the shop in…well, it’s been a while.”

He smiled, knowing the awkward feeling between them came from his speech the other night in the parking lot. He missed Thea, damn it. She’d been his friend too, and for all her saying she wouldn’t take sides in the divorce, they’d each pulled away from each other for Molly’s sake. And now he had a feeling he’d made the wrong choice.

He didn’t have many friends, not anymore. Most had been hisandMolly’s, and a lot of them had gone to her. He’d understood since they were in different social and financial circles than he was, and most had been in Molly’s crowd long before Dimitri met her. But other than his family, he didn’t have as many people in his life as he would like.

And he missed his friend.

“I told you I’d try to be by more. For the cake.”

She rolled her eyes. “You sure love your sweets. I have no idea how you stay so built.”

She blushed, and Dimitri chuckled before raising his brow.

“You’re a baker, and I can say the same about you.”

She rolled her eyes. “The skinny baker schtick is freaking annoying. I’m not skinny. I have curves. And I work my ass off to keep them. Plus, you know, there’s only so many bites of brownies in my life I can deal with.”

He resisted the urge to look down at her ass at the mention of her curves. Thankfully, she was angled away so that he couldn’t see, but still.

“Speaking of brownies…”

“I have four kinds left today. We had a fifth, but I underestimated this city’s love of marshmallows.”

“Marshmallows? I missed marshmallows.”

She laughed. “Yeah, about ten minutes ago.”

“Damn it, I should have brought Captain with me so I didn’t miss it.”

Her expression softened at the mention of his golden. “I miss him so much. I don’t get to see him nearly as often as I would like.”

“Same.”

She winced. “I’m sorry. That has to suck.”

“Pretty much. But I’m still looking for a place that lets in big dogs.”

“I’ll keep an eye out, as well. I’m sure one of the Montgomerys will be able to find one for you. We’re good at things like that.”

“I’d appreciate it.”

The light flickered above her, and she let out a curse.

“Need help with that?”

“No, I have it. It’s that damn light bulb. I switched it out a month ago, and it’s already going out again. Meaning, I need to find an electrician. I can probably call one of my cousins who are the only ones I trust since it’s their job and they’re the best, but it’s still a pain in the ass.”

She went about getting him a caramel brownie without him even having to ask since, yes, he’d go for caramel if marshmallow wasn’t available. Then she set about working on a vanilla latte for him. Apparently, she knew him better than he remembered.

“How late do you work tonight?” he asked as she handed him his order.

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