Page 35 of Patchwork
“No, I haven’t tried the blueberry scones,” he admits.
“Well, that settles it. We have to go.” I fling the covers off and start to climb out of bed, but Hero grabs me around the waist and drags me back.
“Five more minutes,” he barters as he pulls me against his chest like I’m his favorite teddy bear. “The scones will be there all morning.”
“But your nudity is a limited time engagement?” I chuckle, burrowing back into the warmth of his arms and nuzzling my nose against his.
“Exactly.”
“Alright, five more minutes then.” I smile before we sink into a lazy, endless kiss.
HERO
I can’t remember the last time I bothered to drag my ass to the town square on a Saturday morning for the farmers’ market. My fingers are tangled with Onyx’s, and he swings our joined hands while he excitedly points out different things at the various booths.
“Have you had fresh carrots like these? They’ll ruin you for store bought.” He picks up a bushel of purple, white, and orange carrots. I didn’t know it was possible for someone to be this excited about vegetables, but I have to admit that his enthusiasm is contagious.
“Why don’t we get a bunch of stuff and make a farmers’ market dinner tonight?” I suggest, fishing for my wallet with my free hand so I can pay for the carrots.
“Perfect. There used to be a guy here who sold the best bratwurst too. We’ll have to find him.” Onyx puts the carrots into the canvas bag we bought from the first booth we stopped at.
He’s not putting on a show for my benefit, he really does love this whole small town farmers’ market thing. Maybe itwouldn’tbe so crazy to ask him to come here more often in between tours. The words get stuck in the back of my throat though. I probably shouldn’t blurt something like that out while we’re here, butmaybe it wouldn’t be so crazy to talk about it over dinner tonight?
“Oh my god, is that the bee guy from TikTok?” he gasps, dragging me along to the next booth.
I grin and wave at Ren, who is indeed the bee guy from TikTok. His eyes light up and he waves back.
“You know the bee guy?” Onyx whispers in awe, like he’s meeting the Pope or Mick Jagger, not the beekeeping husband of a friend of mine.
“Yes,” I whisper back teasingly. “Come on, I’ll introduce you. He’s cool as hell.”
Ren is clearly in his element in his honey booth, with an array of products on his table, from honey butter to beeswax candles to regular jars of honey. He drips a few droplets of liquid onto the back of his hand and within a minute, a bee flies over to land on him like he’s some kind of honeybee whisperer.
“You’re like a Disney Princess,” Onyx says.
“Sugar water,” Ren explains with a laugh. “Hey, aren’t you Onyx Hart?”
Onyx chuckles and rubs the back of his neck shyly. “That’s me. But I don’t know why you’re impressed. You have the most views of any TikTok influencer for three years running.”
Ren blushes. “I just started the channel to teach people about honeybees and get the word out about the crisis of disappearing pollinators.”
“The fact that you’re hot and shirtless in every video is just for educational purposes,” Ren’s husband Cole says, coming around the back of the booth with a big box labeled ‘honey scrub’ balanced on his shoulder.
Ren smirks and shrugs. “Whatever it takes to spread the word.”
“Uh-huh.” Cole sets the box down and kisses his husband on the cheek.
“Hey, maybe we could collab?” Ren says, turning his attention back to Onyx. “I could use your music in a video.”
“Cool, yeah. I could even write something specific. We could get together, and you could tell me stuff about bees, then I could come up with a song for you.”
Ren bounces on his toes excitedly. “Holy shit, that would be amazing. Would you really do that?”
“Hell yeah. I don’t get to do much with my own stuff, so it would be really cool.”
They chat for a few more minutes and exchange info, then we move on to find the booth where they sell the blueberry scones. I groan when I bite into it, and Onyx nods smugly.
“Told you,” he mumbles around a mouthful of his own scone.
