Page 38 of The Baby Dragon Cafe
And she was so pretty. He didn’t think he had ever seen anyone this pretty before, ever. The fall of her brown hair, her devastatingly cute dimple, her perfect lips, always a millisecond away from a smile.
The shape of her body. He wanted to touch her everywhere. His hands itched from the urge.
Aside from ogling her—which he really needed to stop doing now—he noticed that she looked … happy, though, moving around her cafe. Like she really enjoyed this. There was a serene look on her face.
He loved that she was happy in what she was doing, even though he knew it stressed her out at times and made her tired. It made him overjoyed that she had something in her life she loved, something she was passionate about.
Aiden had seen too many people in his family doing things for no reason at all, living unfulfilled lives, or hating their jobs. In the beginning, nobody understood why Aiden was wastinghis time with gardening, especially when he wanted to make a business out of it.
They thought it was plain silly. It was simply a hobby, they told him, not something serious or profitable—but it was what Aiden loved, what he knew he wanted to do.
It had been Danny who had been the first one to support Aiden, Danny who made everyone else shut up and support him too, especially when Aiden couldn’t voice how important it was to him.
Everyone laid off him then, and when things went well for him, Danny had the immense satisfaction of saying, “See! I told you so!” He would go around saying it to everyone, being his lovably obnoxious self.
Aiden’s eyes welled with tears at the memory. It hurt, but in a good way. He was so lucky to have had Danny as his brother, to have been loved by him.
Though Aiden’s drink was long since finished, he stayed around until the last customers had left, and it was time for closing. As Saphira started cleaning up, Lavinia came over to his table with a rag, probably intent on sending him away and getting down to cleaning to prepare for closing.
Aiden tried smiling warmly at her, but it probably came across as more of a grimace, for Lavinia’s eyes widened slightly with alarm. Aiden cleared his throat.
“I can help Saphira clean up,” Aiden said, pointing to the rag in Lavinia’s hands. “You could head out early.”
Lavinia considered that. “I was going to kick you out, but that’s a good idea, too,” she replied, handing over the rag. She smiled.
“It’s nice meeting you, by the way,” Aiden said, and luckilythis was something he’d practiced earlier in his head, so the delivery was smooth. “I’ve heard a lot about you from Saphira.”
Lavinia was pleased by that. “It’s nice meeting you, too,” she said. “I’ve also heard a lot about you.”
Lavinia went to get her bag and say goodbye to Saphira. As she said goodbye, she said something else to Saphira, something that made them both turn to look at Aiden. He hoped Lavinia was telling her that he was nice and not rude. Whatever it was, Saphira looked happy by whatever Lavinia had said. She gave Lavinia a quick hug, and then Lavinia headed out, giggling to herself.
Aiden didn’t understand what she had to be giggling about, but he had stopped trying to understand why women did what they did a long time ago.
With a shrug, Aiden started wiping down the tables, then putting up the chairs. Sparky was napping by then, so Aiden was able to tidy up without any trouble.
Saphira walked over to join him with a rag of her own. “See, I told you she doesn’t bite,” Saphira said with a smile.
He smiled back, continuing to wipe down a table. As Saphira began cleaning the table beside him, he paused, looking over at her.
“I’ve got it,” Aiden said, reaching for the rag in her hands. “You should sit—you’ve been on your feet for hours.”
“It’s okay,” Saphira said, but he could tell she was tired.
Aiden put his hands on her shoulders, walking her backwards until she reached the lounge chair beside the little bed Sparky was napping on. Applying gentle pressure, Aiden made her sit.
“Really I—” she started, but he put his index finger to his mouth, shushing her, and she fell quiet.
In the quiet cafe, Aiden finished cleaning up, and every time Saphira tried to stand, he gave her a stern shake of his head, and she sat down again. He asked her what needed to be done, and where things were, and only after he had taken out the trash, and all the work was done, did he not protest when she stood.
“Thank you,” she said. “You really didn’t have to.”
“I wanted to,” he replied. He liked being of service to her. She smiled that easy smile of hers, and yet, no matter how easily she gave it to him, it never ceased to stun. His chest squeezed with tenderness.
“There was another reason I wanted to hang around today,” Aiden said, and while ordinarily, this would have been something he’d rehearsed in his head beforehand, he found he didn’t feel the need to practice what to say when it came to Saphira. Not anymore. “I can’t do training tonight—I have family dinner. I skipped last time and can’t skip again. It’s an every-other-week occurrence for the Sterling family.”
“That’s so fun!” she said, thoughfunwas not exactly the first word Aiden would have used. “That’s alright, I can train Sparky alone.”
“I was thinking of taking Sparky with me,” Aiden said. “So he might bond with the other basaltas. I figured you could use a night off.”
