Sweet Temptations:

Chapter 4:

"Don't you think Sebastian is so hot?"

Ciel's ears pricked up and he sighed. Today all employees were at the pâtisserie to prepare for opening. It was the first time all of them had met each other and Ciel had already listened to enough people talk about how good-looking Sebastian was.

He cleared his throat and spoke in his iciest tone.

"If you have time to talk about how hot Sebastian is, you've got enough spare time on your hands to date check all the perishable ingredients in the kitchen chiller."

The employee in question rapidly shut up and Ciel went back to checking expenditures only to be interrupted again by the subject of the conversation.

"So, you think I'm hot?" Sebastian asked with a wide grin.

"Depends on the cake," Ciel replied half-heartedly. After a week with Sebastian he had become accustomed to all the slimy behaviour and lines that he now knew were definitely flirting. It had started out simply with heart shaped cakes and the occasional line, now Sebastian seemed to spend all his spare energy on coming up with pickup lines.

"I'm on break," Sebastian replied and then pulled out a cake stand from behind his back. "I'm spending it with you."

Ciel evaluated the cake. It was a simple Victoria sponge, but he was content with that. The two layers of plain sponge were impeccably even and the cream was neatly piped. He pulled out the chair next to him.

"You can sit down."

"What an honour," Sebastian said and cut him a slice. "Why don't you work in the manager's office, it would be less chaotic."

"I can keep an eye on everyone here."

Ciel accepted the plate and the fork and dug in. It tasted plain and simple after tasting all the other sweet treats that Sebastian had made him. He quickly became aware that Sebastian was watching him very closely.

"Yes?"

Sebastian continued staring at him.

"Does it taste familiar?"

"I've tasted numerous Victoria sponges over the years," Ciel replied.

To say he was confused was an understatement. Sebastian didn't normally ask that when he let him try his creations. It was an odd question.

"Describe the taste," Sebastian instructed.

Ciel did as ordered. Perhaps Sebastian would enlighten him after he had answered.

"The vanilla flavouring is very potent and it's sweeter than a normal Victoria sponge. There's also too much jam. In fact, it tastes more like a child made it than someone skilled like you."

Sebastian fluffed Ciel's hair and smiled dazzlingly at him. "That's the answer I was looking for."

"Really?"

Now Ciel was even more confused. Had he overworked Sebastian into a state where he asked strange questions?

"Yes. Does it taste familiar?"

It was that question again. Ciel tried his best to think, but it was such a commonplace cake to make. Then he frowned. He had an idea why the question had been asked.

"Is this something related to when we met before?"

"That's right," Sebastian smiled. "I'll leave you to dwell on it."

Sebastian turned away and left Ciel alone to wonder why he had hired someone so weird. Were the wonderful desserts worth it? What had happened when they met for the first time?

"Hey," one of the new employees approached him rudely. "Is Sebastian single?"

Ciel looked at her. She had black curly hair and a lot of dark eyeliner. He had absolutely no idea what her name was as he'd left the HR department to employ the regular employees. This one was very confident and didn't seem to care that he was the CEO.

"Ask him yourself," he replied tartly and returned to his work.

Another issue on his mind was the efficiency of other employees in Sebastian's presence. They never seemed to do any work and stood around talking about him. He reminded himself that he only had a few days left and it would be the manager's problem then.

"Sebastian doesn't like females," a gruff voice spoke up.

Ciel looked round to see that the manager had finally managed to discover the slacking off employees. Bardroy was often absent due to regular cigarette breaks. Judging from the very strong smell of smoke he had just come back from one. Ciel wanted to have a word with him about those.

"Well, how do you know?" the dark-haired employee retorted. "You're just guessing."

"Miss Beast, he told me himself and you should be more focused on your job than whether or not Sebastian will date you," Bardroy informed her.

Ciel found that exchange intriguing. Firstly, Sebastian wasn't straight and secondly, Bardroy had the right priorities. Perhaps he was the best person for the job.

Beast stormed off in a huff and Bardroy waved cheerfully after her. He then spotted Ciel and ambled over.

"If you don't want to hear the chicks going on about Sebastian, you can just work in my office," he said.

That was beginning to sound very tempting. Then again, Bardroy had made it clear that none of the females were going to get anything by flirting with Sebastian. He could even see everyone that had been hanging around dispersing.

"I will if it gets worse. How is the training going?"

The days before opening were supposed to be used for training employees on the products and procedures, however Ciel was sure that half of the time had been training and the other half had been spent gossiping.

"They've all got basic health and safety and food safety down," Bardroy explained. "Some of them are really good on product knowledge, others need a lot more practise."

"We open in two days," Ciel warned him. "This will count in your review. Make sure they're trained."

The thought of having incompetent staff for the opening pained him. Ciel had been anticipating having the patisserie open since he hired the location and now it didn't feel as idyllic as it had been in his mind. He packed up his laptop and paperwork. He was due for a break and everyone was giving him a headache. Perhaps he had taken on too many responsibilities.

Ciel peeped into the kitchen and locked gazes with Sebastian who was placing chocolate chip cookies on a cooling rack. Was Sebastian the cause of all his stress? He should have hired someone less attractive.

"Did you come for more food?" Sebastian asked with a smile. "I just made these."

He had one in Ciel's mouth before he could reply. Ciel didn't mind though because they were perfect. Maybe Sebastian was the right person after all.

"What's wrong with you? You don't normally seek me out."

It was true. Sebastian always turned up by him, it was never the other way around.

"I'm finding things irritating. Bardroy isn't around enough, you're distracting all the females and they keep talking about you. I want this place to be open so I can stop worrying, but then I'll have more things to worry about when it's open."

It was a relief to finally say it all out loud. Sebastian was silent for a moment.

"Your cousin did say you work too much. Stay here for a while, it will just be us two."

Sebastian pulled out a stool and indicated he should sit down. Ciel took a seat doubtfully and watched Sebastian start making a cake. It was interesting to see how efficient he was.

"What are you making now?"

The amount of sweet treats Sebastian had made in a short time was impressive. Ciel was beginning to reconsider if other kitchen staff were needed. Sebastian could probably manage all the output on his own.

"Fondant fancies."

Ciel's mouth began to water. Fondant fancies were something he had always been fond of. The combination of cake, buttercream and fondant icing was always good. Admittedly he had tried some the previous week during the interviews and they had been a little off putting. Sebastian hadn't produced anything terrible yet so his faith in fondant fancies could be redeemed.

By now Sebastian had mostly finished making the cake batter. He gave it a final stir and started pouring it into a cake tin.

"Do you want to eat the rest of the mix?" Sebastian offered. "The risk of Salmonella is low."

Ciel had eaten enough cake mix over the years to not care about Salmonella. Cases of Salmonella in the UK were almost non-existent due to strict controls on chickens.

"I'll take it," he said and picked up the bowl and a spoon.

"The cake is going to take 40 minutes to bake," Sebastian said and set the timer. "Do you want to go out and get something to drink?"

Ciel was going to protest that they could easily get a drink from Funtom's Cakes to give the employees a test but realised that he really was getting fatigued of Funtom's Cakes, so he agreed.

"Let me get my coat," he said and shovelled down the rest of the cake mix.

"Do you like coffee?" Sebastian asked as they walked down the street.

"Only the really sweet ones," Ciel said and shivered.

The temperature had really dropped in the past week and he was finding his woolly gloves insufficient and resorted to having his hands in his pockets.

"Coffeeshops are interesting places," his pâtissier continued on. "We could have met in one after you spilled coffee on me and developed a relationship."

Ciel shot him a confused look. Sometimes Sebastian sounded like he read the same romantic rubbish that Mey-Rin liked reading. He only knew because he had caught her reading them on his office sofa when she had thought he was on a business trip. Ciel had taken a brief look through them after confiscating them and was sure there had been one with a plot involving Starbucks.

"What on earth have you read to sound as lame as you do?" Ciel demanded.

Instead of looking offended Sebastian looked over the moon that he had asked.

"I've read a lot of romance in the past week so I can court you."

Court him? Ciel snorted. It wasn't like no one had ever flirted with him, it was more that Sebastian had interesting methods.

"Will you allow me to court you?" Sebastian asked.

Ciel narrowed his eyes. He was sure that Sebastian had an ulterior motive. Only likely one came to mind.

"Is it so the female employees stop bothering you? Beast is very... keen on you."

Sebastian leaned down to whisper in his ear.

"I'm keen on you."

Ciel pushed him away. His ear was ticklish so he hadn't appreciated Sebastian's lips touching his ear.

"I'm keen on your cakes," he retorted.

"I'll have to work harder until you like me more than my baking," the pâtissier replied easily. "Shall we go to Starbucks? There's one nearby."

It was too easy to point out that there was always a Starbucks nearby no matter where you were in London, but Ciel wanted to make something else known.

"We're not going to a coffeeshop just so you can get me to spill coffee on you and tell me that I owe you with my body."

Sebastian burst out laughing.

"I think someone else reads too much romance," he paused for a moment. "Let's find an independent one and not spill coffee on each other."

After ten minutes they found one that was to both their specifications. The only problem was the long queue. Ciel was worried about Sebastian's cake burning. He wouldn't be able to have fondant fancies if they got back too late.

He tapped Sebastian's shoulder. "What about the cake?"

Sebastian turned round and pulled his cheek. "How cute, you're concerned about the future of your fondant fancies."

"Aren't you worried?"

Sebastian smiled. "The oven has a timer. We can take all the time we like."

Ciel felt a little embarrassed. He should have thought about that sooner. Sebastian wasn't stupid enough to stray too far if he had a cake in the oven.

"Are you sure you're going to be able to leave Funtom's Cakes alone once it's open?" Sebastian questioned. "You're very concerned about it."

Sebastian was right. He couldn't leave it alone. He had too much invested in it, emotionally and monetary.

"I'll visit occasionally," he admitted.

"Twice a week," Sebastian said immediately. "Promise?"

He held out his shortest finger and Ciel wound his own around it without thinking too deeply. It was a promise that felt a little familiar.