Enjoy!

Song Inspiration: Sweet Thing by Chaka Khan

One Cup of Sugar

Sam hated these types of assignments. They were useless and a colossal waste of time and he knew this wasn't going to be an easy task. He looked at his phone seeing the name of the business he had to convince to sell and frowned. The business was a mom and pop bakery and it was in a prime location, he looked at his watch hoping like hell he'd be able to get this done before his lunch date.

Walking into the bakery, he was met with different alluring smells and from what he could see it was a busy place.

Tsk, it's going to suck when it's gone, he thought, making mental notes on what he'd do gutting it. The building had beautiful bones and was in great shape for how old it was, he could tell the current owners took pride in their building. He would have to include that in the price, he had a firm budget in mind and he knew with a little sweet talking he could get them to close.

"Hello, welcome to Mercy's Sweet Treats!" A voice said, causing him to stop his examination of the property. He looked and saw a beautiful black woman standing in front of him.

He'd like to say he was a gentleman but the way he looked her over should be illegal. She was, to his defense, gorgeous. Her perfectly round face was adorned with a magnifying smile, big brown eyes and the deepest dimples he'd seen on anyone.

"Hi." He said, extending his hand to her.

The woman looked at his hand then back at him. "Suit, briefcase and a runner. You're not here for treats are you?"

He flashed his signature winning smile at her. "I think I could indulge, what do you suggest?"

The woman smiled back at him. "Our cupcakes are to die for but as for breakfast a raspberry danish or a vegan quiche." She answered and he could tell that she was checking him out.

"I feel like being a little naughty so I'll take the danish."

"Great! You can just take a seat anywhere and I'll bring it to you, what's your name?"

"Sam Evans."

She nodded. "Got it."

He watched her walk away, admiring the view before pulling out his phone to go over the specs. He knew based on the warm reception he received that this would be an easy sell but he needed them to sign it soon or he'd lose the contract. He had managed to buy two-thirds of the businesses around here and this one, was the biggest close.

Apparently they'd sent over others but after meeting the people, they'd come back and refused to be the ones to take from them. He, however, did not have an issue taking this place from them, no matter how sweet they were.

"Here you are Sam Evans." The woman from earlier said, placing a large danish in front of him.

He leaned in, smelling the sweet aroma. "Smells delicious." He said, smiling up at her.

She frowned. "Well, enjoy. Oh and we made it extra special since you're trying to take my parents' bakery away."

"Mya, be nice to our guest." An older woman said, causing her to frown.

"Nice? Be happy I haven't called Mo," she said before returning her attention to Sam. "Be thankful I don't bake."

"MYA!" The older woman said, grabbing her by the arm, whispering something before releasing her. "I apologize, my daughter is very, very hot headed."

Sam smiled. "She isn't wrong, I'm here to convince you to sell your business to me."

The older woman smiled warmly at him. "Mhm, well let me go get my husband, he should be present for this." She replied before walking away.

Sam understood immediately why his other colleagues had refused to do the deal, just those small seconds in her presence had him feeling warm inside. He decided to eat his danish before putting on his business hat and getting this deal sealed.

After finishing his danish, the older woman appeared with an older man both sporting warm smiles.

"I see they sent another. You look like a spry young man, I can't wait to hear you pitch. I'm Douglas and this is my wife Bea." Douglas said, extending his hand out to Sam.

Sam gladly shook his hand, smiling at them both. "Well I won't keep you long. We are redeveloping this entire area and your business is right smack in the middle of my client's plans. Now, I'm here to offer you what I consider a really great deal."

They both nodded, "Continue." Bea said, looking over her shoulder and narrowing her eyes at her daughter, mouthing for her to do her job. "I swear, she thinks we're her children."

Douglas chuckled. "She's been raising us since she was old enough to talk."

Sam smiled, looking over at the woman who immediately scowled at him before storming off to the back. "She must be the oldest?"

Douglas smiled, fondly. "What gave her away?" he asked.

"I'm the oldest sibling, I'm very protective of my parents so I understand where she's coming from and that's why I can assure you and her that this is a really great offer, I'll even help you find a new prime location."

He rolled his eyes internally knowing that he would in fact not help them after they signed over their business to him. A sale is a sale and you did whatever you needed to do inorder to close. He wasn't lying about being the oldest, he just lied about being protective of his parents… he couldn't stand them.

He loved them but that was more of a default feeling than something he required in his day to day. Much like the rest of his life he found people very disposable, his last relationship ended because he didn't like how she chewed her food.

"Well, if you're offering that, why not just transfer the sale to another location?" Bea asked, catching him off guard because he wasn't expecting her to counter.

He smiled. "It would cost you more to have me do all that willing and dealing for you."

Douglas furrowed his brows. "And if we said we could afford it?"

Sam grimaced. "I didn't mean to imply that you couldn't, I just meant that with changing locations and getting your regular customers accustomed to the new location, it would take a lot of time to get that done."

Bea smiled. "Well, what's your offer sweetie?"

Sam slid over the paper with an amount written on it, they both looked at it and as usual he tried to read their expressions but was coming up blank.

"We'll consider it and get back with you, we need to discuss it with our daughter." Bea said, standing and smiling down at Sam.

"Well this is time sensitive, so if you'd like I can answer any questions she may have now." Sam replied, standing along with them.

"Oh that's so sweet of you but we don't mean Mya. If you can wait a few days we'll have an answer for you." Bea said cupping just face gently.

"Yeah, you're the first one that actually finished your speech so we'll definitely talk this over with her. Come on, I'm sure you got an office to go back to, take some of these treats back with you." Douglas said, guiding him to the counter and stuffing a very large box with an assortment of pastries and treats.

"Umm… okay." He said, feeling slightly defeated. "Well if either of your daughters have any questions you can have them call me directly." He added, taking out a few of his cards.

Bea smiled. "We have three, you sure you want that pressure?"

"I can handle it, thanks for the treats." He replied before walking out of the shop feeling like he'd gotten nowhere but he had a plan and intended on coming back in two days.

"Listen, we are not considering this offer." Mya said, shaking her head at her parents.

Bea frowned. "Last I checked this wasn't your decision to make and I am very disappointed in how you acted towards that young man."

Mya rolled her eyes, waving her hand dismissively. "That's beside the point and he tried to use that cute little smile like it would sway me. I can't be bought."

Douglas looked at his eldest daughter amused. "I do think she has a point, that boy was looking at her like she was the only thing on the menu." He said, chuckling.

Mya nodded. "See, even daddy saw it, just think how he's gonna be with Mo or worse… Mercy."

Both parents groaned at the mention of their youngest. "We are not contacting her until we absolutely need to but not a moment before." Douglas said, shaking his head.

He'd dealt with many boys and men sniffing around his daughters and he refused to relive the mess that was his youngest. He'd been blessed to meet his beautiful wife when they were in middle school and refused to let anyone else date her. After high school, he joined the army and immediately asked Bea to marry him before leaving, she however, shot him down.

That should've been the worst time in his life but he received a call not too long after shipping out for basic training that Bea was expecting and he couldn't have been more excited. He had her move out to where he was stationed because he wanted to witness everything, they were happy until he was discharged for his gear condition.

They moved from San Diego to Charleston and made a life for themselves. It was a rapid change of pace for them both, dealing with a three year old while Bea went back to culinary school, pregnant and him trying to figure out what he wanted to do post discharge.

They somehow made it work and he joined an old friend of his in opening a shop where they found fast success. Around that time Monique their second came and she was a pleasant addition to their little family. She was much like her mother, calm and serious. Mya was like him, brazen and hot headed.

Both girls didn't prepare them for the surprise that was their last child, Mercedes. She came into the world loud and in charge. She was neither like her mother or her father and they knew from the time she started walking she would be a force.

All three of their girls were beautiful and Douglas knew that was going to bring him a lot of trouble, which it had. Each girl was different, Mya didn't have time to date because she was so focused on her studies and ended up graduating early from both high school and college.

Monique was slow and steady, she liked the attention but she didn't indulge in it. In fact it wasn't made aware to them that she was in a serious relationship until after a ring was present. Her reasoning for that was simple, she wanted to make sure he was the one before bringing him around.

She opted for the stay-at-home life, she married after college and immediately started having kids. Five to be exact.

Mercedes was the one that gave him pause. She was very upfront with her actions, no matter what they were. She also didn't take too kindly to anyone being overly attentive to her. Simply put, underneath all that sass was a very shy woman.

Unless provoked. She was a lioness in tiger's clothing. This is why neither of them wanted to call her, she would fly out and that poor man would be fresh meat.

"Let us discuss things together and we'll make a decision then we'll let you girls know."

Mya frowned. "Fine, I have to go pick Tuck. I'll see you Wednesday, I have some free time then."

Bea hugged her daughter. "Thank you for stopping in to help us but you don't have to, we have employees."

"Mhm, same employees that call at the last minute and have you here alone while daddy's off galavanting with his buddies."

"Hey I resent that, we don't galavant… we fish." Douglas chimed in, making Mya giggle.

"Sure, fishing is all that you're doing. I'll bring Tuck by later, you know he loves his visits." Mya said before heading out.

"Wanna bet she calls that little firecracker?" Douglas asked his wife.

Bea shook her head. "That poor man is going to get eaten alive…"

RING! RING!

"Ugh, why are you calling me this early?"

Mya looked at the clock on her phone. "It's eight?"

"For the millionth time, I'm three hours behind it's not eight here."

"Yeah, well too damn bad. Mommy and daddy need us, so I'm calling Code Purple."

Mercedes sat up immediately. "Oh God, is daddy's heart okay?" She asked, cradling her phone between her ear and shoulder as she grabbed her tablet to check her schedule. "I can fly out tonight but I have to be back by Thursday."

Mya smiled. "His heart is fine, it's something else completely."

"Then why the hell are you calling a code purple?"

"Because I'm the oldest and I can. And good, you can work with mommy tomorrow, I'll let Mo know and we can talk in person then. Byeeee!"

Mercedes groaned, tossing her phone down. "You gotta be shitting me…" She said aloud to herself. She checked to the next flight available and to her luck it was a first class seat, she booked and layed back down.

She wasn't sure why her sister was calling code purple but she knew whatever it was it had to be important.

I think this one is good