Icing On The Date (The Bannister Brothers #1) (8 page)

Owen set the boxes on the kitchen counter and waited while Gabby gave the woman instructions and accepted payment.

“She’s probably already on the phone calling all of her friends right now to tell them Owen Bannister just delivered cupcakes to her door,” Gabby said as they got back in the car.

“Good. Maybe it will rack up some more business for you.”

She looked at the big house as they pulled out of the driveway. “Not enough business to ever be able to afford living in a place like this.”

He headed out of the wealthy neighborhood, not telling her that his house was only a few blocks away. “I thought we could try that big toy store by Peak Meadows mall. I’m sure we could find a couple of gifts there. What do you think?”

She shrugged. “Sounds good to me.”

Ten minutes later, they walked into the giant toy store.

“This place is huge,” Owen said. “Where should we start?”

“That depends. What’s your budget?”

“I don’t know. I was thinking maybe five hundred each.”

Her eyes widened as her voice rose in pitch. “Five hundred? Dollars? Each?”

He shrugged. “Is that too much? I was thinking maybe we could buy them each a bike. Or an iPad. I figured I spend about that on a bar tab on a Saturday night. Surely I could spend that much on a couple kids that need a Christmas present.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I thought you said you didn’t drink much.”

“I don’t. But the people with me usually do. It’s amazing how many people hang out with me when I’m the one buying.”

“That sounds kind of lonely to me.”

Ouch. That hurt
. But it had a ring of truth to it. “Yeah, it kind of does. And I guess it kind of is. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if people are hanging out with you for you or for your money. Or just to be hanging out with someone who is semi-famous.”

“Well, semi-famous or not, I really can’t believe that they’d let you spend that much money on gifts for these kids.”

“Let me check. Harvey sent me an email about it.” He pulled out his phone and tapped the screen. “See, here it is.”

She pressed next to him and tipped her head down to look at the phone. The smell of her shampoo was amazing—something with flowers—and the underlying scent of vanilla. He didn’t know if that was from her perfume or the bakery, and he didn’t care. He wanted to nuzzle his chin against her neck and just inhale her. Did that seem creepy?

He didn’t care. Her hip brushed against his, and he couldn’t think straight. She tilted her head to read the screen and a curl of her hair fell against her neck. Everything in him wanted to lean down, slide that lock of hair out of the way and kiss the creamy skin of her neck.

She reached up to point to a section in the email, and her hand touched his. A bolt of electricity zinged through him when her hand touched his.

Geez—he felt like an idiot—or like he was in junior high—getting all worked up over a pretty girl touching his hand. His brothers would have a field day if they knew about this. They’d rib him from dusk to dawn.

She looked up at him. Her eyes were the coolest shade of green, with little flecks of gold in them. “It says in the email that you’re assigned to a boy and a girl, age eight to ten, and there is a gift cost limit of forty dollars.”

“What? Forty dollars? Does it say why it’s so low?”

She laughed. “That’s not so low. Some of these kids probably come from families that could eat for a week on forty dollars. And sometimes only one child in a family will get picked for the toy drive and usually they have Santa give the gifts. Imagine if you were the child that didn’t get picked, then Santa gave you a stocking cap and gave your brother a bicycle.”

“Hmm. I never thought about it like that. I guess you’re right. I’m sure glad I brought you.” He slipped an arm around her waist. He couldn’t help himself, he just wanted to touch her. “Lead the way, let’s go find something for less than forty dollars.”

She let him keep his arm around her for a few steps then pulled free of him as she hurried toward a colorful display of boxes. She held up a box. “Look at this. An Easy-Bake Oven. I always wanted one of these. But we could never afford one. I didn’t even know they still made them.”

He looked at the price. Thirty-nine dollars. “Perfect. It’s less than forty bucks. Let’s get it for the girl. Done. This shopping thing is easy.”   

Gabby shook her head. “No, not done. The oven might cost forty dollars, but it’s just the starter kit. Then she’d have to buy more cake mixes and accessories and it would just end up causing more trouble if the parents couldn’t afford to buy the ingredients to make the cakes.”

“I never would have thought of that. It
is
a good thing I brought you along. You’ve already saved me twice.”

She had already moved on to another display. “But who is going to save you from this?” She turned, wielding a Nerf gun in her hand. Pulling the trigger, a styrofoam dart shot out and narrowly missed his ear.

“Oh, I see how it is.” Laughing, he grabbed another gun and loaded it with styrofoam ammunition as she raced down the aisle and out of his range.

He hurried to the other end of the aisle, trying to cut her off, but she must have anticipated his move and shot out of the aisle with a pair of inflatable punching gloves on her hands.

She got in two swift punches to his upper arm before running for the next aisle. He fired off two rounds of darts at her butt, and she shrieked with laughter as they made a direct hit. He slowly rounded the end cap, anticipating another ambush, but the aisle was empty.

Well, not quite empty. It was full of Star Wars toys, and he grabbed a light saber and donned a Darth Vader helmet before trying the next aisle. She was standing in the center in a fighter stance, her hands behind her back.

“Gabby, it’s futile for you to resist. I AM your father,” he spoke in the low, slow tones of Darth Vader. He held the light saber out in front of him.

As if anticipating his next move, she pulled her own light saber from behind her back and brandished it toward his. A grin covered her face as she spoke in a Yoda imitation. “The Force is strong in this one.”

“Don’t you mean—” he lowered his voice to mimic hers, “—strong in this one, the Force is.”

She laughed and took a whack at his light saber with hers. A swash-buckling duel ensued as he drove her further down the aisle. Going in for a hit, he dodged her saber and ducked low, grabbing her around the waist and lifting her off her feet in a bear hug.

Damn, she felt good. He’d been wanting to get his arms around her all day. She laughed as she squirmed against him, and other parts started to feel good, too.

Turning in his arms, she glared up in him in mock-anger. “No fair. Leave it to the dark side to go in for a sneak and grab.”

He grinned down at her, his voice going low and sultry. “Oh honey, I haven’t even begun to start grabbing.”

Her eyes widened at his obvious flirting tone. Then she brushed it off with humor. “I can’t tell if that’s a threat or an invitation.”

Leaning closer, his lips mere inches from hers, he whispered, “Consider yourself invited.” He tipped his face, moving in to kiss her—
aching
to kiss her, as his hand slid up her back and pulled her closer to him.

The scent of her perfume surrounded him, and a low burn filled his chest. He wanted this woman. And he wanted her now. Right here in the aisle of the Toy Emporium.

Her eyes were closed and her lips were barely parted as she awaited the kiss and all he wanted to do was taste her. To feast on that delicious mouth and fill his hands with her round curves.

His lips touched hers. Softly, barely a whisper—

“Hey Dad, isn’t that Owen Bannister, from the Colorado Summit?” The voice of a child came from behind them.

Owen straightened. He’d forgotten for a moment that he was in a public place, a toy store for frick’s sake. He’d been lost in the moment, lost in her.

Gabby took a step back and blinked, as if she were walking into the sunshine from a dark room.

The exact opposite of how he was feeling. He often felt like he was trapped in a dark room, a place of his own making, and being with Gabby was like opening the curtains to that room and letting the sun shine in.

But he had no choice. The moment was lost.

He shrugged and turned to the kid, who was standing in the aisle with his father. The dad was wearing a Colorado Summit cap. Obviously a fan. Owen smiled at him and his son.

Whatever else was going on, he still had loyal fans, and he owed it to them to honor their allegiance to the team. “Hi, there.”

The kid grinned and pulled on his dad’s sleeve. “See, Dad. I told you it was him. Can I get your autograph?”

He nodded. “Sure. You got a pen?”

The dad felt his pockets, starting to panic as he must have realized he didn’t have a pen or paper.

“Here.” Gabby smiled and handed them a Luke Skywalker notebook and pen set from off the shelf. “You’ll have to buy it, but it’s only a dollar. And I’m sure Owen’s autograph is worth more than that.”

That girl was something. She always seemed to be thinking of other people and had a calm head on her shoulders. Not like him. If he got upset or angry, he lit off like a firecracker before he could rein in his temper. Bane was always the brother that could keep his cool, who would stop to think before he spoke. Not him.

The dad took the notebook, an appreciative smile on his face. “Thanks. Great idea.” He looked up at Owen in obvious admiration. “We’re huge fans. Watch all the games. And we love you and your brother. That was a raw deal that he got after that last game. There’s rumors flying around that the coach might trade him. I hope he comes to his senses before he makes any rash decisions that will affect the team.”

Owen was used to having fans fish for information about the team. And he knew enough to keep his mouth shut. “I don’t think anything’s been decided yet. But the coach will do what’s best for the team. And Bane and I sure appreciate your support.”

“Any chance we could get a picture?”

“Sure.” He put his arm around the boy’s shoulder as the dad raised his cell phone to grab a shot.

“Here, I’ll take it,” Gabby said, reaching for the man’s phone. “Then you can be in the picture, too.”

The guy grinned like he’d won the lottery and scooted around to stand next to Owen.

Gabby snapped a couple of pictures and handed the phone back to the man.

“Thanks a lot.” They waved and moved off down the aisle.

“You totally made their day,” she said. “And they seemed really nice.”

She seemed really nice. Too nice for a guy like him. A guy who’d been ready to smash her up against a display of Legos and have his way with her.

Now the moment was lost, replaced with the reminder of last week’s game, and the weight of what a colossal screw up he was settled on his shoulders. He sighed.

She touched his arm. “Hey, don’t worry about it. I know that guy bringing up the game and what happened to Bane had to bug you, but it wasn’t your fault.”

Geez—could this woman read his mind? How did she know exactly what he’d been thinking?

“And it was obvious they didn’t blame you. Even after that game, they’re still huge fans.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He shrugged and looked up and down the aisle. “I guess we should probably focus on finding the toys.”

She grinned and pointed behind him. “I already have. Check it out. A Star Wars Lego set. The perfect gift for a boy of that age, and Legos are expensive so he probably doesn’t have many, if any at all.” Pulling a box off the shelf, she handed it to him. “And it’s something he can play with on his own or share if he has siblings.”

He took the box from her. “Perfect.” Kind of like her. “Do you have an idea for the girl, too?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him down the aisle then to the arts and crafts section.

After perusing the pink and purple boxes, she chose a large one that held a kit for making your own jewelry. “This should work great. Girls love making stuff, and there’s enough supplies in here that she can have friends or siblings make stuff too.”

He would have never thought of that. This girl was smart. And thoughtful.

“Now we need something to wrap them in,” she said. “I think I saw some gift bags on an end cap.”

“No way. No gift bags.” He led her to the aisle filled with wrapping paper and bows. “My mom always wrapped our presents, even if it was just a package of socks. There’s something special about ripping open the paper and discovering a present.”

“You keep surprising me.” Looking up at him, her face held a goofy grin. “You’re not really the aloof bad-boy that the media makes you out to be.”

“You’re only saying that because you haven’t known me that long. Hang around me long enough, and I’m sure I’ll disappoint you too.” He said it with a sarcastic attempt at humor, but in his heart, he felt it was the truth.

And from the look on her face, he knew she was seeing through his poor crack at sarcasm.

He didn’t want or need her pity. He sure as hell didn’t need her trying to psychoanalyze him. He got enough of that from his family. She didn’t know him. And he didn’t plan on spending enough time with her to give her a chance to get to know him. This wasn’t a relationship. It was a brief diversion. What did she call it? A sneak and grab?