Trying to ignore Flick, who was still glowering at him, he looked past her to Pippa and smiled at the ethereal-looking redhead “So, Pippa, why haven’t we met before?”
“Maybe because you’re never in town,” Pippa pointed out with a flirty smile. Kai caught Flick narrowing her eyes. Sawyer also suddenly looked like he had a stick shoved up his ass.
Kai shoved his hands into his jeans and rocked on his heels. He deliberately sent Pippa a sexy half-smile, wanting to see Sawyer’s reaction. “And you work at the bakery with Flick?”
Sawyer’s jaw tightened and Kai thought enamel was flying off his teeth. Was Sawyer jealous? He thought he’d never see the day. So much for his 'I’ve known those brats since they were kids' comment from the other day. Brat wasn’t the word Sawyer thought of when he looked at Pippa, Kai realized.
Well, shit. This was interesting.
“We inherited the business from our grandmother,” Pippa replied. “Flick was coming out of a relationship and I was bored with my job, so we thought we’d give running the bakery a shot.”
Flick bared her teeth at her friend. “I’m sure Kai isn’t interested in our history, Pips.”
Sure he was; Flick’s history in particular. He didn’t want to be but he was. Flick pushed her hair back, cracked a smile, and abruptly changed the subject. “Moses will be starting at the bakery on Monday.”
Sawyer’s face split into a big grin. “Awesome. Moses makes the best bread,” he told Kai, “and his specialty was a rosemary and garlic ciabatta. So good.” He lifted his arm and ruffled Flick’s hair. “Flick is a good baker but Mo is better.”
“Gee, thanks,” Flick muttered. “It’s the truth, but you don’t need to broadcast it.”
“So what will you do if Mo is doing the baking?” Sawyer asked. “If I recall, he hates having people in his kitchen, so you’ll be kicked out. Are you just going to waft around and look pretty?”
“You’re the third person who’s asked me that! As I told Pips when she asked me the same question not fifteen minutes ago, I’m going to start a catering business providing food for anyone who wants it. Weddings, funerals, parties. And I’m going to cook meals that people can freeze —busy singles, busy moms— preservative-free and healthy. People can buy them from me and just heat them up when they need a good meal.”
“Are you a good cook?” Kai asked.
Both Sawyer and Pippa started to answer him but Flick’s frown stopped them in their tracks. What did that mean? That she was a great cook or a really crap one? “Good enough,” she answered.
Nobody at Cas could cook worth a damn, and it would be hard to be worse than them, so Kai shrugged. “When you’re ready, send us the menus and we’ll pass them along to the guys at the academy. They like to eat healthily but most hate cooking.”
“Thanks,” Flick replied, looking surprised at his offer.Yeah, I can be a good guy, now and then.“It’s just an idea at the moment—”
“That’s where all great businesses start,” Kai said, moving closer to Flick as someone pushed in between their two groups to get to the bar. Her shoulder brushed his chest and he could smell her light, sexy perfume. He just needed to move an inch and his junk would be pressing into her thigh...God, he still wanted her. One afternoon had not come anywhere close to taking the edge off.
In what universe was that fair? Oh, yeah. Life wasn’t fair. It was a lesson life started drumming into his head as a child and was still harping on.
“Pool table is open. Want to play?”
For a moment Kai thought that Sawyer was talking to him, but when he looked up, he saw his friend had directed the comment to Pippa. He had a strange look —exasperation, resignation?—on his face. Pippa lifted her chin and slid off her chair. “Sure. When are you going to give up, Sawyer?”
“When I beat you,” Sawyer replied, placing a hand on her back and leading her across the bar.
Pippa snorted. “In your dreams, cream puff.”
As Pippa and Sawyer made their way across the room to the pool tables, Kai took Pippa’s empty chair and placed his knees on the outside of Flick’s.
“What’s that about?” he asked, lifting his head at their departing friends.
“Sawyer taught Pips to play pool when we were kids. One night, soon after he came back to Mercy for good, he challenged her to a game of pool and she whipped him. He was seriously shocked and he hasn’t managed to beat her since. They play every week and every week Pip beats him, though not by much,” Flick sipped her wine. “He’s like a dog with a bone—he won’t give up until he’s regained the upper hand, and she’s equally determined that he won’t.”
“If you think Sawyer’s incredibly competitive, Axl is worse.”
“And are you competitive?”
“As competitive as you are sexy. And I think you are extremely sexy.”
Her eyes deepened and darkened and the moisture in his mouth dried up at the lust that jumped into her eyes. God, when she went there she upped her sexy factor by a factor of a thousand.
“Behave, Manning,” Flick whispered.