Page 108 of Games We Play
Sloan’s fork melted through the center of the pancake stack. Strawberries fell to the plate, leaving behind a sweet red trail that reminded her of Leah’s lips when they kissed her. “I should’ve told you sooner.”
“Did you know that you loved me before last night?”
“Well… I mean…”
Leah slowly shook her head. A curly tendril fell from her bun and got in the way of her eating. “As long as you keep loving me going forward, everything will be fine.”
“Why do I have this feeling that I’ll be spending the rest of my life obsessing over proving my feelings for you?”
“I know a great way you can start, too.”
“Oh?”
Leah pointed her fork at Sloan, a serious demeanor claiming her countenance. “Stop smoking. Now.”
Pancakes refused to go down the right pipe. Sloan choked for a minute, and she wasn’t sure if the problem was the shock, or the fact her old lungs hated how much she smoked. “Right now?” Those were the first words out of her mouth when she stopped coughing.
Leah remained unfazed. “Yup. It’s nasty. It’s one thing if my friend with benefits has smoker’s breath when we’re fucking, but if I’m making love to my girlfriend, she better be stink-free. Plus, I want you around for a long, long time. I know you’re rich, but I’m not that hard-up to inherit your fortune.”
Sloan had no idea what to respond to first: the ultimatum that she stop smoking, or the idea that Leah might be her heir one day. “Jesus! Let me adjust to the idea first.”
“Nope. Today’s the last day of you and your cigarettes. That relationship must end. Starting tomorrow, I’m your one and only oral fixation.”
You have no idea what you’d be signing up for.Sloan had tried to quit multiple times, usually after her physicals when her doctors took it upon themselves to lecture her. She failed miserably every time, mostly because the stress of her job and her terrible marriage got to her.
“I can’t stop smoking unless you promise to stick by me until I’ve officially kicked the habit.” Sloan was already groaning. Knowing her, she’d be a bigger, more irritable bitch than she usually was. “Because it will not be pleasant, I’m warning you right now. You’ll want to dump me by the end of the first week.”
“We’ll get you that gum or those patches or whatever. Not like you can’t afford them.”
“You make it sound so simple!”
“You don’t always get to be the one who makes the rules, Ms. Sloan.” Leah sucked a strawberry into her mouth. “Sometimes I have my demands that must be met.”
Sloan cocked her head. “What else do you demand right now?”
Leah grinned. “A whole day with you.”
Maybe it was the sunlight streaming through the windows, or maybe it was the love thundering in Sloan’s heart. Or, maybe, it was freedomshefelt after the night before. Leah wasn’t the only one achieving unknown limits every time they made love. Regardless of what made her so amiable, Sloan couldn’t help but match Leah’s smile. “I think that can be arranged.”
They met halfway across the island counter to share their first kiss of a new day. From then on, Sloan always looked forward to those first kisses, no matter how late in the day they came.
Epilogue
The summer sunshine illuminated the bright, inviting interior of Take Cake Baking Boutique, the brand-new business boasting Leah’s confectionary creations. It was the grand opening after a soft launch earlier that week, and already poor Leah was slammed with half of Goose Hollow flooding in to check out her designs, sample the goods in the case, and put in their orders for weddings, birthdays, bat mitzvahs and quinceaneras… Leah only had Gina to rely on as her other half in the baking industry. Maybe she’d hire additional staff later, but for now, her budget allowed one helper. On the other hand, it allowed her to be picky about what orders she accepted and still take most weekends off.
She hoped.
The mass of people lining up and grabbing their cupcakes, donuts, macarons, and danishes, complimented the cute yet mature décor, the bright colors in the case, and the big red hibiscus in Leah’s hair. But it didn’t stop anyone from asking if they could order a hibiscus cake to match the neighborhood’s most celebrated baker.
The flower had been waiting for her when she woke up that morning. Her mother had left it on the dining room table for Leah to find when she stumbled out to get coffee and a bite to eat before heading to the bakery. The only note attached said,“I’ll be in around 11.”
Leah thanked her most recent customers for coming in and glanced at the stylish woman sitting at one of two bistro tables over by the windows. Leah still debated whether to serve any coffee, but she didn’t have an issue with her girlfriend sitting with a Starbucks cup and a donut made especially for her. It was after eleven, and Sloan was there as promised. She also had atonof work to do, now that she had formally relocated to Portland and was busy creating more business contacts than she had before. Sloan & Co. Industries already had a hefty boost after she walked away with Giles & Sloan’s biggest clients and investors (not including Mr. Wright). Leah had no idea where the new assistant was, but Sean sat on the bench outside. He was one of the only members of Sloan’s original team to make the move with her.Exactly how much does he pay her?Leah never had enough time to figure it out. She was too busy opening her own business. The renovations, the business plans, the marketing…
Technically, she was an independent subsidiary of Sloan & Co., which meant she had access to Sloan’s marketing team. They must’ve been responsible for the influx of first-day fans who cooed over the Minion-shaped cakes in the case.
“Mom!” a little girl cried, jerking Sloan upright in her seat. “Can I get one of the Lego donuts? Please?”
“I think they’re cakes, actually.” The woman knelt in front of the case and pointed to the colorful cake bricks Leah made the night before. “Aren’t they charming?” A sticker on the case implored people to buy and take Instagram photos of anything they liked. The little girl was keen to swallow the red brick whole, however.
