Tricky Treats

19. Love Bite

CHAPTER 19 

A few days later,

Theo couldn't get Serena off his mind.

Her lips...

Her silky soft tanned skin...

Her tongue that moved so expertly against his in his mouth.

The only thing he regrets is that he didn't go all the way. His happy ending stopped abruptly.

Theo sighed a frustrated breath as he bolted the nail connecting the two pipes under the bathroom sink of the pastry shop. Ms. Baker had called his father and said they had a leaking toilet. His father had another job and Theo was left with Alice and Ms. Baker to his dismay and to Alice's brooding excitement. But money was money. A job was a job.

Theo screwed in the last bolt. He sat on the bathroom's white tiles. The Baker's bathroom was sterile. Everything white with grey walls. The bleach stinging his nose. But his mind just lingered on Serena as he worked.

Who will be her lover?

He wasn't sure if he was hers. Damn! He would love to be.

He hardly knew Serena well, but he was sure he could love her, despite her saying he shouldn't.

There was just something about that woman that separated her from the rest. She was different and stood out, ringing like a bell through the still night. He admired her. Something he couldn't do with his own life. Serena ruled her life like a bird in the sky — she was free. But then again, was she?

That was something he didn't mind finding out, no matter how long it took.

"How's the repairs going?"

Theo snapped out of his loved-up thoughts and turned to Alice, who stood by the doorway. A soft smile appeared on her face as she clasped her hands behind her back.

This was the seventh time she had checked up on him.

"About done." Theo breathed; happy the repairs were finally complete. He stood up and packed away his tools in his toolbox. He grabbed his toolbox and moved to the door. But Alice blocked his way, spreading her arms across the door frame.

"You don't come by our shop and get raisin bread anymore." She pouted.

Theo shook his head. "Sorry, I prefer truffles now." He moved swiftly past her, but footsteps quickly chased him down the stairs and moved across the shop's floor until he reached the entrance.

"Don't tell me, Theo — it's because of that woman across the street!" Alice yelled. Ms. Baker was nowhere to be seen inside the empty shop.

Theo opened the door and looked back at Alice. "Her name is Serena." He said and walked out.

Alice sulked with a snarl on her face. Theo breathed in the fresh air once he stepped out onto the street. Being in the pastry shop was suffocating. He shook his head. He had never given the impression he'd liked Alice. She was a sweet girl. But overbearing and waaaaay too clingy. His eyes drifted to Tricky Treat's store opposite the street. Customers entering and exiting with cheerful smiles. It was infectious, smiling himself.

His mind was on Serena, and only her.

He walked across the street and past the townsfolk. He hadn't had a mother since the age of four. But he noticed the women in town seemed slightly different. Even the air. The breeze carried a change. The women were more at ease, laughing and giggling about. An underhand excitement buzzed around. Many residents came through the shop with their children, eating the free cotton candy and buying chocolate.