Spying in Chocolate
By SarahsSupplyCloset
Author's Note: I know there's a while between posting. It's looking more and more like that's just going to have to be the case for the next however long. I am dealing with some things. But I'm really loving working on these stories, so I'm going to work on them whenever I have the time and can do it. This isn't an I'M DONE note at ALL. I'm definitely not done. I'm finishing my fics. I just want you to know posting's going to be less consistent because life is difficult. Thank you for the reviews and for the messages. I appreciate them.
Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck and I'm not making money.
Pop!
"AHH!"
He jumped and spun at the same time, his hands coming up, ready to karate chop his attacker. And as his hand came down, it cracked the figure behind him's neck.
And the cardboard stand-up of a model in a Buy More green shirt crashed to the floor, its head bent back from where he'd broken the thing at the neck.
Skip stood off to the side, bubble wrap in his hands, and his thumb slipped as he gaped at Chuck, popping another bubble accidentally, and he slowly lowered the bubble wrap, moving it to behind his back.
He dropped his eyes to the murdered stand-up, then looked at Chuck again, stricken, and he turned and hightailed it out of there, practically scampering.
Sighing, Chuck knelt down to grab the cardboard girl with a name tag that said Kelsey on it. "Sorry, Kelsey," he muttered, lifting it up and sticking it under his arm to walk it back to the warehouse. Nobody would even notice it was gone.
Ever since a few days ago when someone broke into his apartment, Chuck had been … well, paranoid was putting it lightly.
He finally admitted to Morgan that he was pretty sure he was being followed by somebody yesterday, and then Morgan had pointed out that it was just Jeff and Lester. They'd admitted to it, telling him that they were following him to try to figure out how to persuade him to visit Loretta so that they could be cool again.
At least he was being followed that time.
But then he wasn't, and he'd still been freaked out this morning that maybe he was.
Chuck Bartowski wondered if this rut he was stuck in was causing him to snap. Was he having an aneurism? Had he had a stroke or something?
Pushing out of the side door of the warehouse, he tossed Kelsey the cardboard girl with the snapped neck into the recycle dumpster and went back into the warehouse, shutting and locking the door behind him.
What he needed was a full night's sleep. He was so tired. Sleeping with a baseball bat in his bed hadn't helped him sleep any better.
He had to get his brain right again. There were any number of reasons that had happened and he needed to just chill out. Even Ellie had given him guff about being so freaked that they'd come back. Come back for what? she'd asked. He still didn't have an answer.
"Chuck."
"WHAT!"
He jumped again, putting a hand over his heart as he gave Morgan a flat look.
"Dude, you have got to get some sleep. There's no boogie man burglar coming for you."
"Shut up, Morgan. I'm not scared of a boogie man burglar. Okay?"
"Is that why your hair is a mess and you have bags under your eyes?"
Morgan followed him through the warehouse and out onto the floor again.
"I always have bags under my eyes and my hair is always a mess. What's new?" He shrugged. "Look, I'm fine, okay? And I've got phone calls to make. Computers to fix. Yadda yada."
"Okay, okay. Fine. I'll be selling some Duran Duran if you need me. That's the store challenge today amongst the green shirts. Be the first to sell Duran Duran to someone. Piece of fuggin' cake."
Chuck shook his head watching his friend peel off, and then he walked into the Nerd Herd help desk and plopped down on the chair. He idly spun it back and forth for a while, and checked on a diagnostic on one of the laptops, then he went back to just staring, then he started shooting rubber bands at post-its dangling from the upper part of the desk to try to knock them off, and then he went back to fixing the computers, before he finally stood up and looked around the store.
What was his life even?
Why was he here?
Chuck didn't even realize he'd slipped his hand into his pocket, his fingers sliding over the post-it he kept in there for the last few days. And then he took his hand back out and sighed.
And then he slumped forward, burying his face in his hands, propping his elbows on the counter. Just like that, as if the marionette had cut his strings, his arms folded and his head came crashing down against the desk. He let out a dull, "Ow" and just stayed there for a few seconds, not caring if anyone was looking.
Maybe Ellie was right, he was in a rut, a slump. He needed something to shake up his life, like a new job maybe, or a big trip that he…definitely couldn't afford. He couldn't even afford to move out of his sister's apartment, how could he afford a big trip to, he didn't know, the Caribbean? Europe?
He began to repeatedly thump his forehead against the counter. "I'm losing my mind…I'm losing my mind…I'm losing my mind…" he muttered softly.
There was a soft ding! near his head then. And it took him a moment to realize it was the service bell on the Nerd Herd desk, the one that was literally right by his head, and not just some ringing sound in his ears because he'd had a stroke or something.
He really didn't have the patience for Morgan right now.
Wasn't he trying to sell some Duran Duran?
What, did he need advice or something?
"Stick to Rio. It's better than their first self-titled album, Morgan. And then go…away…" He reached out blindly and draped his hand over Morgan's over the service bell. And he immediately realized that wasn't Morgan's hand on the service bell.
He felt along the back of her hand, over her long fingers, her nails…
And he peeked up.
OH GOD.
Chuck bolted up to his full height, taking her in, absolute shock coursing through him. "H-Hi. Hi. Erm…" God, she was so beautiful. Her pink blouse and the skirt and the glowing look of amusement and curiosity, and that brilliant smile. How were her eyes that blue? What in the hell was he doing not calling her? What in the fuck was wrong with him? "D-Do you have… Having phone trouble again?" He pulled the screwdriver out of his pocket and wiggled it between them.
She pressed her lips together and smiled, jutting her chin out a bit and giving him a bit of a look he couldn't read. "Yeah, actually. At least I think so. I'm not sure I'm able to receive calls, 'cause I…never got one from you."
His knees nearly gave out. He was such a jackass. He was so angry at himself. Seriously what the fuck was wrong with him?
The only thing that kept him on his feet was the distraction of Morgan who'd apparently appeared out of nowhere off to the side, going, "Oooohhh mannnn! She just—"
Chuck gave him his best Go the fuck away! look and Morgan coughed, pointing off to the side, disappearing behind the CD stacks again.
Chuck turned back to her and winced. "I'm…sorry. I got…Things got crazy. I mean, I'm…"
"No, it's okay. I-I was just teasing you," she said, smiling, thrusting out a reassuring hand in the space between them. "I get it. I totally get it."
"No, it's not—You don't understand, it's just…a time thing I had… Stuff happened. So…"
He felt like a complete idiot.
"You don't have to explain. It's okay."
This was so awkward.
He needed to explain but how could he? How could he explain it without sounding like a freak? How was he supposed to tell this woman that she was too beautiful, too nice, too funny, and too witty for him to call after she left him her phone number, without sounding nuts? Without sounding like a complete and utter wreck, at the very least?
"Uh, I should apologize for the other day. I'm sorry I left so quickly. The bank called me to talk to me about whether I was getting my loan or not and it was…important."
"Oh. Oh!" Oh, wow. He was such an idiot. "I see. No, it's fine! It's totally good. I hope you got it. The loan I mean."
"I did," she said, smiling.
"You must have great credit!" His face crumbled as he realized how stupid that sounded.
But she giggled, her eyes sparkling as she looked up at him from across the desk. "It's okay, not too bad."
Chuck nodded quickly. He decided to just change the subject. "So the…the phone. Do you need me to…?" He wiggled the screwdriver again.
"No, my phone is working perfectly now since you fixed it. But I realized belatedly that I never actually paid you for fixing it." She winced. "Which is really crappy."
His eyes popped. "What? Oh! Oh, no. No, that's okay. It was such a quick thing, tightening up a little screw in the… No, it was nothing. I mean, I wasn't going to charge you." She gave him a dubious look. "We don't charge anybody for something like that, I should say, it isn't like you're special—Wait, no, not that. I didn't mean that." She raised her eyebrows, lips pressed into an amused, thin line. "I'm sure you're special. I just mean, I didn't give you a discount or anything. I wouldn't have charged anybody for th—I'm gonna stop."
She laughed, tilting her head, and he felt like he was floating again. How did she even do that? Just a little head tilt and that was it for him.
He'd never been this easy, but he'd also never met anyone who was this mesmerizingly stunning before. She was something else.
She nibbled on her bottom lip then. "Actually, um… I do sort of have a question for you, uh, Nerd Herd folks. If you don't mind."
"Anything," he said quickly, sticking the screwdriver back in his pocket. It got stuck on something and he frowned, pulling it out again, and the post-it shot out onto the desk, perfectly opening up so that they could both look down at it and see all too clearly Sarah's name, her phone number, and the scale she'd drawn, that freaking 7 she circled. Oh God.
"Um…"
"Uh…that's…yours." He winced and then snatched it up. "I just… I still…um it's in my pocket for… I swear I washed these pants since then, I just took this out to wash 'em and then put it back in…in case…I…don't know." He stuffed it back in his pocket.
She was giving him a long look, studying him, and he felt extremely observed. Like she was looking right through him, inside of him. It made his heart race. This was mortifying. He could feel himself blushing.
But God bless her, she just kept talking, giving him an out, and it made him like her even more than he already did.
"I actually have a question about installations and stuff like that. For businesses."
"Oh?" He was still blushing. He wanted to just melt into the floor and disappear forever. "Sure."
"Do you guys do things like installing credit card machines, computers, wireless, all of that? Like, for a business?"
He gaped a little, still floundering. "Y-Yeah. Yes, absolutely. That's part of the Nerd Herd bag. I-I mean, yes we do that." She giggled and he couldn't help smiling at her, leaning his hip against the counter. "But that, we do charge people for."
"Fair enough," she said with a twinkle in her eye. "Thing is, I might need a statement on what you'd charge, or maybe even some kind of estimate. Would you send someone to a place of business for that, to get an estimate?"
"Yeah, yeah we make house calls, business calls, whatever."
"Is…that something you do?"
He blinked. "Sure, the Nerd Herd does that."
"No, I mean…you."
Chuck cleared his throat, not missing the way she looked up at him through her eyelashes. "Yeah. Yeah, I do. I'm probably your best bet. Not to toot my own horn or anything but I'm the…supervisor."
"Yeah, I know. Your, uh, bearded friend made that clear during our, uh…quote unquote phone call."
He chuckled. "That's right, he did, didn't he? Good memory."
"My memory's just about as good as my credit."
This time he laughed. She was making fun of him, he knew, but he didn't mind it at all. In fact, he found himself liking it a lot.
"I deserved that."
She giggled, a teasing look on her face. "Well, I'll get back to you on that then. Thanks for the free phone fixing service." There was silence between them then as she took a step back. And then she burst out, "Well, I've got to go."
"Right. Yes. Of course. Thank you for coming in. I mean, for trying to make sure you didn't have to pay for the…phone fixing…service. Thanks. That was…sporting of you." Sporting? God. "I mean, it was nice. I appreciate it."
She grinned at him. "Sure." She dropped her gaze then and bit her lip. "I'll be in touch."
"Good."
He wasn't sure how she took that, but he decided not to dwell on it as she waved and grabbed onto the strap of her purse, spinning on the heel of her black pumps and leaving the Buy More. He watched her walk down the entire center aisle and lifted his hand in an awkward wave when she turned back to look at him over her shoulder at the automatic doors.
She was gone then and he slumped back onto the desk with a loud groan.
$...$
Sue shook her head as she approached Sarah at the entrance to the shop, stepping under the awning beside her. "I have to apologize for leaving you like that the other day, Sarah. It was unprofessional. And to think he…" A look of anger came over her plump features. "Let me just say this much. I won't be showing anymore of his properties. I'm sorry."
"Oh, God, no. It's okay, Sue. Who can guess someone's gonna be that much of a lech in that kind of situation? And your son broke his arm. He should take priority over this."
The woman gave her client a dubious look, then sighed. "You're sweet for being so understanding. I never should've left you in that situation, though. I take it that property is out?"
"So out. I'm sure in normal circumstances I probably wouldn't be seeing him much if I decided to rent the property for my chocolatier, but he gave me the feeling he'd go out of his way to make sure I saw him…often. Which sucks, because it was…kind of perfect."
"Men," Sue snarked. "They're idiots, aren't they?"
"I can handle the idiots…" One in particular popped into her head and she smiled a little. "It's the perverts I can't handle. Or…well, I shouldn't have to. None of us should."
"Touché." Sue unlocked the door to the shop then and opened it for Sarah. "Like I said before, the owners are very hands off in their approach. We just make them an offer and it's yours. Apparently it's taken too long for their tastes to fill the space so I'm pretty sure I can finagle the price. I'll low ball and see where they meet us on it."
"Sounds like a plan." Sarah squinted at the dusty space and sighed. So this was it. Her future.
"This didn't pan out the way you wanted it to, I know, Sarah. I feel like I let you down a little."
"Oh, you didn't," Sarah said, trying to keep the reality of her feelings out of her voice. She really didn't blame Sue for all of this. "This isn't anything either of us could help."
"I promise you Los Angeles isn't usually this unkind to newcomers." Sue shrugged in a wince. "Most of the time. 60 percent."
They laughed together.
"No, I think I could really do something with this place. With the right contractor, I could make this into my dream. And I won't have a landlord barging in asking for free chocolate and hitting on me. Nor will I have my landlord thinking I'm a bad bargain with my little chocolate making business."
"You're going to do it, Sarah. I have faith. I've seen the way you've been coming at this for the past month and a half now and I see a good businesswoman with a great head on her shoulders, feet planted firmly on the ground." She made a quiet squealing sound then. "I can't wait to try one of your chocolates."
"Hey, I already brought you a whole box of them that I made in my kitchen at home."
"Oh, I know, and each bite had me ascending." Sarah cracked up. "But it'll be different when I can stand at the register and buy one with your cute little wrapping paper around it and the little logo. You have a name for it yet?"
"God no. Weirdly enough, I don't. But I will before the sign gets painted on the window."
They both laughed again, and Sarah took it all in, trying to imagine where everything would go.
"Guess I better hire a contractor, huh?"
"I've got a guy."
Sarah smiled. "Good." She sighed quietly. "This is good."
$...$
There was a knock on his ajar bedroom door.
"Come in…"
Ellie poked her head into the room and smiled upon finding him lying on his bed with Wheel of Time opened up. His third read through in just as many years. "That book AGAIN?"
"I don't judge you for your highlander romance novels."
"Hey. Those are real men."
"Sis, they're fake men. You're dating a man who jumps out of planes and off of waterfalls, and then goes to the hospital and operates on people's hearts, saving lives, and oh, also, he's built like a god."
Awesome pushed the door open more and leaned in behind his sister. Damn, Chuck hadn't realized he was there. The blonde pointed at him with a grin.
"Hey, thanks. I love you too, bro."
He couldn't do anything but laugh.
Ellie just sighed heavily, raising an eyebrow. "I just wanted to check and see if you wanted us to bring back any rolls or tempura or anything."
"El, you're going out on a date. You don't have to bring something back for your deadbeat brother."
"You're not my deadbeat brother. You're my brother. What is with you lately?"
"Hey. Bro. You're awesome. Know that. Feel that in your soul. Repeat it at night while you're doing your reps I taught you. Every time you lift that 50 pound weight, you tell yourself, I'm awesome. I. Am. Awesome." He mimicked lifting the weight with his biceps that were much larger than Chuck's. "Believe it."
"Right." Chuck and Ellie both just stared at Awesome.
"What?" He shrugged. "It's good advice. I don't want your brother wallowing in this space of self-consciousness forever, El."
"Hi, I'm right here. Thanks." Chuck sat up and gave a little wave.
"Oh. Sorry, bro."
"Do you want us to bring something back?" Ellie asked, apparently having given up on the conversation.
"No, thanks. I'm gonna have cereal."
She opened her mouth, then apparently thought better of it and shook her head. "Okay, we'll be back late."
"Have fun you two!"
They were gone then.
Chuck couldn't help rolling over after a few minutes and setting his book down. He reached behind him and felt along the shelf for the now very wrinkled piece of paper. When his fingers brushed against it, he snatched it and pulled it down to look at it, smoothing it out against his palm.
He had her damn phone number. But he'd waited too long. He couldn't call it now. And the longer he waited, the less likely his call would be appreciated.
He sat up again and got off of his bed, going over to his computer and plopping down in his desk chair, waking the computer up and punching in his password.
Chuck Bartowski had not expected the woman of his dreams to walk back into his store after he'd fucked it up the first time. And there she was again. It had been awkward, and it had also made him feel good. She'd made him feel good, that smile of hers, the way she teased him…was it flirting? Had she flirted with him?
He'd been able to chalk it up to her just being nice and having a great sense of humor when she first came to him with her broken phone. But he couldn't do that with today's second meeting. His lack of self-esteem aside, Chuck had felt something palpable there. And he wondered if paying him for fixing her phone was just an excuse for her to come back to his desk again after he hadn't called her.
And here his dumb ass was sitting here staring at her phone number, still not calling her.
Sighing, he pushed his hands through his curls and ruffled them in frustration. He was just having such a hard time understanding WHY this was even happening. A beautiful, mysterious woman leaving her name and number, acting like she was interested in him… BEING interested in him. She didn't seem like she was just acting. Why would she do that? What did she have to gain from faking that she's interested in the supervisor of the Nerd Herd? Free wifi installs? That was ridiculous. She had to actually be interested, he just didn't get why. What did she see in him even?
Chuck pulled up the game he'd been coding in his free time, a version of something he'd outlined when he was practically still a kid, a 12 year old building a role-play storytelling game that he'd gotten the idea for after reading a lot of those build your own adventure books his dad would buy for him when they went to the bookstore.
This was a much more advanced version, the story bigger, the map more expansive.
He needed to get his mind off of Sarah, off of the day's events. Frankly, he didn't want to be thinking about his life in general at the moment.
So he began coding, typing up a storm, gnawing on the inside of his cheek as he thought of different paths, writing the questions and answers…the dialogue becoming real in his mind.
But then he spotted something at the corner of the screen as he maneuvered back to the home page. It was an icon he didn't remember being there before.
What was it? How'd it get there?
Frowning, he double clicked it.
It opened.
And the next thing he knew, he woke up the next morning, sprawled out on his bedroom floor next to his chair.
$...$
As she ripped at the tile with the crowbar, she found a hidden gem underneath, a relic from another time. That other time being the 1990s when this shopping center went up apparently. But for some reason, they'd covered up the wood with tile. Wood matched a chocolate shop better than Chinese fast food, she supposed. Maybe tile was better for a place that fried a lot of food.
Sighing, Sarah plopped onto the floor and blew the hair that escaped her bun out of her face.
"Well, here goes."
It took another hour and a half for her to get only a third of the way through the room. She hadn't even had to move the tables and chairs yet. And she was exhausted. This was torture.
She'd looked up online how much money she'd have to pay to have a contractor come in and work on the floors and it was more than she wanted to spend for something she could do herself.
But now she was wondering if it wouldn't just be worth it.
Then again, she was a third of the way through. She just had to replicate what she'd just done two more times. That was it.
She whined loudly and flopped onto her back, blinking up at the ceiling and tossing the crowbar to the side with a loud clank.
That was when she heard her phone ringing…somewhere. She climbed up to her feet and looked around, spotting it on the counter nearby. It wasn't a number she recognized, an LA number though, and she grabbed it, thinking it might be the bank.
"Hello?"
"Is this Sarah? Sarah Walker?"
"Yes, it is. Who may I ask is calling?" She moved to sit on the stool behind her.
"Name's John. I'm a contractor with, erm, Beckman Prestige. It's…a contracting company."
"Oh."
"We were contacted by Sue Mandel. Your realtor. She said you might need someone for your new business. Uh, chocolate. Right? You're gonna be selling chocolate?"
"Erm, that's one way to put it," she said, smirking. "But yes, I was thinking I'd need a contractor. I'd like to meet with a few contractors just to get some estimates and the like."
There was a long pause. "We're Sue's contracting company she recommends to all of her clients."
Sarah furrowed her brow. "Yes, I know. I'd just like to get a handful of estimates to be sure."
"Hng. Savvy businesswoman. Alright, Ms. Walker. We can schedule an appointment. I can come look at the property, we can discuss what you'd like done, and I'll write up an estimate for you."
"Good. I'd like that. Just a minute, please…er…I'm sorry, what'd you say your name was?"
"John. John Casey."
"Mr. Casey…Let me grab my calendar. One second."
"Of course, Ms. Walker."
Sarah grabbed her messenger bag from the counter and whipped the flap out of her way, tugging her calendar out and flipping through the pages. She brought the phone back to her ear and they managed to schedule an appointment for 7 days from then. She thought that would give her time to figure out the floor situation, while also drumming up a plan for the kitchen and what she'd like done with the walls. They were a little bit stained, discolored, and that just wasn't gonna do.
She wrote down the appointment in her calendar and hung up the phone. From where she sat on the stool, she could look out of the window that still had a light imprint of SHANGHAI SONNYS on it from where the letters had been half-assedly scraped off. And across the expansive parking lot was the Buy More.
Shaking her head, she pushed that out of her mind and hopped off of the stool, leaning down to snatch the crowbar off of the floor, putting her gloves back on. She swung the crowbar a bit like a baseball bat, then smirked and got back to work.
It only took another half hour of that for her to give up and need another break. She'd done high intensity workouts, she'd done hot yoga (never again), and she'd done plenty of self-defense classes. She liked to think she was at peak strength and endurance, and this was so much work on her arms and wrists.
Leaning the crowbar against the wall, she went over to her bag to grab the keys to her new business, as well as her credit card. She'd seen a smoothie place further down from her shop. Maybe she could get something with protein there.
Shaking her arms out a little, she stuck her credit card, her phone, and her keys in the various pockets of her of her old, worn jeans, shrugged her zip-up hoodie on, and stepped outside, locking the door behind her.
She spun around to go, but found herself running headlong into someone passing by.
He staggered back, his hand squeezing hard enough that the smoothie he held practically exploded out of the foam cup he was holding, the lid flying off, the pinkish, thick liquid splattering all over the blacktop, his shoes, and the bottom half of his shirt.
"Chuck?" she breathed, looking up at him. And then she surveyed the damage, her face crumbling in misery.
"Um. Wow. H-Hi."
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry, Chuck!" She grabbed his arm, felt the bits of smoothie squelch under her fingers and pulled back her hand quickly, looking at it with a grossed out face. "Shit. Oh my God. I didn't know you were walking there."
"I-I wasn't paying attention. I thought—Nobody's been in this building for, like…ever. I'm…Um. A mess." He looked down at himself and blushed.
Sarah was so flustered. She hadn't just run into someone and forced them to spill a pink smoothie all over themselves, she had specifically run into Chuck, the supervisor of the Nerd Herd, the guy who'd fixed her phone, who she'd left her cell number for, and who'd neglected to call that number but still kept it in his pocket for whatever reason.
"Let me help you, please," she begged, giving him an apologetic look as she gently took his mostly empty cup and tossed it in the nearby trashcan, then took his arm and pulled him back towards her shop.
"N-No, you don't have to. I mean, it's fine. I'm okay. I'm not bleeding or anything. Heh."
She sent him a look over her shoulder as she unlocked the door again and pulled it open. "Come in. Please."
"Well, it's—I mean, you don't have to. What I mean to say is I'm on my break."
She ignored him, feeling terrible. "I have a kitchen back here with a sink and some towels."
"You have…?" He seemed to follow her into her shop almost automatically, gaping at her. Somehow he was even cuter after a couple of days of not seeing him. Or maybe the breeze outside had played with his curls. She was pretty sure the pink smear across his front and covering his hands and arms wasn't it.
"Follow me. Um, careful for the floor. It might be slippery. The tiles have been here for long enough, I'm not sure what the wood's like underneath."
She heard him following her as she pushed through the swinging door into the kitchen, holding it for him. "Sink's to the right, towards the back, that way," she said, pointing for him.
"Oh. Th-Thank you."
This time she followed him, reaching around him to turn on the sink. "Have I said I'm sorry enough?" she asked as she wet a towel and handed it to him for his arms and hands.
"Listen, it's fine. Really." He smiled kindly at her, wiping his arms carefully. "Kind of refreshing, honestly. And I'll probably smell fruity all day, so that's a plus." She giggled. He cleared his throat, eyes downcast as he concentrated on what he was doing. "I was definitely not expecting anyone to come out of Shanghai Sonny's…especially not you."
Pursing her lips and raising her eyebrows, she leaned against the sink, taking the towel from him and rinsing it, wringing it out, and handing it back as he gave her a grateful look. "You can't get rid of me, can you?"
He looked up at her, brown eyes widening, obviously not expecting her to say that. "I…guess not. But I'm not...I mean, you're not gonna hear me complaining about it."
So why in the hell hadn't he called her yet, she wanted to ask. What was up with this guy? What was his damage?
She nibbled on her lip. "I'm sorry again. Hold on, I might have something for that white shirt," she said, watching him try to swipe at his white button up with the wet towel, leaving a light pink stain there. She leaned down and opened up the cupboard, fishing around for the stain-be-gone roller she stuck down there. She'd had to use these a lot in her days at the bakery, ending up with things smeared all over her pristine white uniforms.
She moved in close and pinched at the fabric of his shirt. "Erm…may I?"
He cleared his throat and nodded. "I don't really know what the hell you're holding, but it isn't a weapon, I'm pretty sure, so have at it."
Grinning, she shrugged. "It's a weapon from the point of view of a smoothie stain."
He wrinkled his nose, then laughed, throwing his head back. "That was extremely cute." He pulled into himself a little then, as if he hadn't meant to say that out loud, and she blushed, focusing on rolling the pen over his shirt. "S-So, ahem, that just…works on the spot? That's crazy."
"It might take a few minutes. I used these all the time at, um, my last job." She still felt that stinging sensation, and enough time had passed now that it wasn't about Bryce at all, and instead the loss of a place where she'd felt valued and respected, knowing now that it had been a sham the whole time.
"Did you make smoothies at your last job?"
She laughed. "No, I didn't. I was a baker."
"Oh, no way. That's awesome." She smiled up at him, then looked back down to continue her work on his shirt. She felt his eyes on her for a long while, the silence between them getting a little tense. "S-So, um, I'm sorry, I'm not trying to pry or anything, but why do you have keys to Shanghai Sonny's? Or I-I guess it isn't Shanghai Sonny's anymore, but my heart still hasn't moved on. Neither has my stomach."
Giggling, she looked up through her eyelashes at him. "Was it that good?"
"Um… Yes and no."
That made her laugh as she shifted her fingers, the shirt getting pulled out of his pants a little. That was better because she could hold it easier, but she didn't miss the way her knuckles brushed against the warm skin of his abdomen. She held back a shiver.
"To answer your question, I have the keys to this place because it's mine now."
"It is? You own it now? Really?"
"Well, I'm renting. So it's sort of mine. I'm just calling it mine because it makes it sound better."
"Oh. Oh, wow. Wow! What…" He turned to look over his shoulder at the kitchen. "Oh my God, really? You're renting this place now? Right across from the Buy More?"
She smirked at him, a teasing look in her face. "Don't get any ideas. This wasn't exactly my top choice, but…the more I spend time in it, the better it gets."
"The Buy More shopping center has a real knack for growin' on ya."
How did he manage to make his grin so freaking charming and adorable all at once?
"So far it's doing a pretty good job," she said quietly, pointedly not looking at him. "I mean, I haven't ran out of here screaming and I've been the official renter for a week."
"If you don't mind me asking…what are you planning on opening here?" Then he made a sound of annoyance and thunked himself on the head with his palm. "Wait, you just said you worked as a baker. It's gonna be a bakery, right?"
"Not quite," she said, giggling. "Chocolate, actually."
She felt him freeze under her touch and she wondered if it was what she said, or if it was because her fingers had brushed against his stomach again in that exact moment. She wasn't sure if she wanted it to be the latter or not.
"Just…chocolate? Like, this whole business is just going to be making and selling chocolate?"
She chanced a look at him. She couldn't read the wide-eyed look on his face. "You figure a chocolate business isn't gonna make it here? Wait, oh no. You don't hate chocolate, do you?"
Sarah didn't have to wait long for him to dash her fears.
"Are you kidding me? That's like…a freaking dream. A whole chocolate shop? Just chocolate everywhere? On all the shelves, in the cases, in my MOUTH!"
She had to lean back against the sink to keep from tipping over, she laughed so hard. "Oh, good. You had me worried for a second there."
"I'm sorry I worried you, but you have nothing to worry about. I'll make sure your chocolate shop makes it here if I have to buy out the whole place with every single one of my paychecks."
Sarah giggled. "Don't do that. Especially not after I was the cause of all of this." She gestured to his shirt and especially at his pants, which still hadn't been cleaned. Or, oh no, his poor sneakers.
She stepped back then, surveying his shirt. "That's as good as it's gonna get."
He pulled on his shirt to look down at it himself. "Holy shit! That's a miracle!" His grin again. God. "Thank you!"
"Don't thank me. You lost a smoothie still."
He shrugged. "It cost me, like, two bucks. I've lost worse than that and with a way worse turn of events than this." He paused. "This has been a good turn of events, is the point I'm trying to make. If that wasn't clear."
She giggled, absurdly charmed by him. "I'm glad you think so. Your shoes and pants might disagree."
"Well, it's not about them, is it?"
Barking out a laugh, she turned to rinse off the towel again, wringing it out and handing it to him. "Here. Sorry again."
"You don't have to keep apologizing, Sarah. Really. It's okay." He gave her a sincerely kind look as he dabbed at his pants at first, getting the clumpy stuff off, before he began to rub vigorously. She decided not to look there and turned away a bit, blushing.
It had been a long time since she'd had those kinds of sensations coursing through her about a man, and longer than that since she'd acted on them. And maybe that had been why Bryce had jumped into bed with their boss.
Shoving that thought out of her head, especially when she was right here with an adorable guy who was treating her extremely sweetly even though she'd forced him to spill his smoothie all down his front, she tucked her hair behind her ear. "Are you still open to helping me with the whole…technology part of making this chocolate dream come true?" she asked.
"Oh, are you kidding me? Totally."
"There might be taste testing in it for you…"
He looked up at her, awe slowly spreading over his face. "Wait, seriously?"
He was too cute. She snorted. "Seriously." Then she felt a little shy as she shrugged. "Uh, actually, I'm new to LA, and I've been so focused on getting my chocolatier off the ground that I don't have anyone to be my taste tester. So I'd welcome having at least one other person besides myself. I welcome second opinions, a new set of tastebuds."
"My tastebuds are yours." He made a mortified face then. "That sounds really weird out of context."
"It was interesting in context," she laughed. "But thank you."
She felt the air between them as they stood in her new (old) kitchen, and in her new (old) shop, just a few inches between them. She didn't break his gaze for a moment, wondering if the post-it was still in his pocket, wondering what in the hell that meant, wondering how this warmth existed here, the magnetic pull, and neither of them were doing anything about it.
Sarah was so close to making a move when there was a loud sound from the storefront. She jumped, looking out towards the door. She raised her eyebrows as she turned back to him. "I don't think I locked that door when we came back in."
He furrowed his brow, and left her side, going straight towards the door like some sort of warrior instead of an I.T. nerd, and she quickly took off after him.
Nobody was out there, and the door was actually locked.
She turned to look and snorted, walking over to the crowbar that was on the floor on its side, having tipped from where she'd leaned it against the wall. She swept it off of the floor and held it up, brandishing it a bit like a sword. "Here's our culprit. It tipped over."
"Oh. Phew. Thought I was gonna have to throw somebody out." He pretending to push up long sleeves he didn't have. "Or try."
She smirked. "I would've appreciated the effort either way."
Chuck shrugged. "Um…" He looked around them. "Man, this floor is wrecked."
"It looked worse before I started in on it, believe it or not." She winced at the offended look he threw her. "Sorry! I know you loved this place, but it was super stained yellowish tile. That would kill the vibe the second somebody stepped in here."
He chuckled and leaned down to swipe his finger over the wood she'd revealed as she worked throughout the day. "This wood isn't in terrible shape."
"You know about this sort of thing?"
"Only what I see watching the Home & Garden network with my sister." She laughed. "But I can see how a…how did you pronounce it? Chocolatier?" he tried, not exactly butchering it, to his credit. "Would go better with wood floors instead of stained tile."
"Just a bit," she said with a shrug.
"You gonna hire somebody to treat the wood and all that?"
She frowned, raising her eyebrows at him. "Listen, I'm a fucking amazing baker and I can make chocolate that will have your soul ascending to the heavens, but I have no idea what you're talking about. Treat the wood? Oh God, I have to do more than just…sweeping away the dust?"
He puffed his cheeks out and widened his eyes. "Oh, Sarah. Young Padawan, you have much to learn from the Home & Garden network. If you don't treat the wood before you let the millions of customers who want to buy your scrumptious chocolates walk around through here, it isn't gonna last a week."
"Shit. I, um…" She blushed. "I'm new to this."
"Don't worry! You just hire a contractor."
"Or I can look up how to do it online." She shrugged and gestured to the utter mess around them. "I looked up how to do this. I can figure out how to do all that treating wood stuff."
He just smiled at her quietly, and then he looked down at his feet, smiling harder, before he peered at her through his eyelashes. "Well, I like your confidence. And I'm not gonna pretend I know any better than you do because I watch a TV channel where they do this stuff all the time."
Sarah grinned. And then she bit her lip. "You know, I was headed over to get myself a smoothie, power up a little before getting back to tearing up my floor…and then I literally bumped into you. Annnnd made you spill your own smoothie all over yourself. You want to join me and I'll buy you another one?" He looked like he was going to protest. "It's the least I can do. Really. What's two bucks?" She shrugged, smirking at him.
Chuck narrowed his eyes at her, then stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Alright fine. You win."
She felt a beaming smile spread over her face and she flicked her head towards the door, trying not to practically skip past him.
Hope you enjoyed! Like I said, I'll get more of this one, and the others I'm working on, out to you when I can!
SarahsSupplyCloset