Chapter dedication: lil-lil-lil

Song of recommendation for the chapter: Fireball - Putbull 🎶 🎶 (irrelevant to this chapter, but added because I love the song).

Lee shoved some grated raw apple into her mouth and chewed. Sweet, with a little pucker. Hmm, like a kiss.

Or like what you did with Chris last night and this morning.

Lee couldn't keep the heat from spreading across her cheeks. Chris knew how to show a girl a good time. It was mind-blowing. Her body still sang from the activities she put it through last night.

By the time Lee left his place that morning, it was well past six am. Rachel had given her the look when she snuck into the bakery through the back door, but remained quiet. Lee felt like a teenager who snuck out on a school night to see her crush and had mumbled an apology to Rachel before she caught herself.

A quick shower rid her body of the smell of sex, but a faint whiff of Chris' scent remained. It got her through the morning rush hour. It was a bit past eleven so there was a lull in the traffic. Lee had an hour to herself before the lunch rush, so she decided to try a new pie recipe. She felt energetic and refreshed.

Lee stuck her hands in the mashed dates and nuts mixture, smooched, scooped, and began pressing it into the pie pan she had sitting on the prep counter. Raw apple pie would follow raw zucchini lasagna with dehydrated onion tomato bread.

What a perfect dinner for company. Perhaps Chris would be thrilled. Good nutrition made for hot sex, and Lee was ready for both. They needed a little motivation for the scene they were having tonight.

A musical voice came from behind her. "Hi, Lee. Order for two ounces of wheat grass, and a small green juice and a side of red quinoa."

Lee glanced out the serving window at Annie. Attractive, twentyish, dark-haired, she was the assistant to Rachel. Emma had finally decided that she wasn't working anymore. She claimed they were moving to SoHo, which was closer to the place her brother worked. Emma claimed she'd gotten a job at some big ad agency. As if Lee was fooled. The girl probably went back to her old ways of partying and turning tricks. Lee had genuinely wanted to help the girl, but Emma refused each time. There was only so much one could do.

"Be right with you." She set aside the pie. She'd finish it later.

The lunch rush was officially underway at Lee's bakery. Twelve p.m. Which meant the vegetarians orders were incoming. She got to work.

Lee popped a large spoon in the vegetable barley soup pot, did a quick stir, and turned down the heat, then went to the flat of wheat grass she had propped on one of the deep refrigerator shelves. With a knife she hacked off two handfuls.

She'd sell most of the flat to her regulars before noon. A lot of people in Harlem were serious about feeding and detoxing their cells with all those vitamins and chlorophyll.

She started the wheat grass juicer. It whirred and squeaked as she fed it the bright green blades of grass. The place smelled like a mowed lawn in two seconds. Delicious. Lee scooped out the quinoa the turned on the big juicer.

She handed Annie the wheat grass through the serving window. Lee took a quick peek through the window at the customer. Andrea Sheffield, a yoga instructor who owned a shop down the street, downed the intense green liquid in one swallow, made her usual face like she'd just chugged a shot of whiskey, and then smacked her lips.

She sat on one of the chairs, and Lee went to make her juice. Kale, spinach, broccoli, and a few carrots for taste. She packaged up Andrea's quinoa and put a top on the juice. Lee handed it over to Annie and returned to the pie she was making.

After stashing it in the oven, she glanced out the serving window. Three people stood in line.

"Hey, boss." The voice came from behind her.

She glanced back at Rachel. "Yes, Rachel?"

"There's a guy out front who says he wants to see you." She pulled off her jacket revealing skinny, tattooed arms in her tank top. It might have cooking in the kitchen. It made for hot work.

Lee's heart skipped a beat. "Who?"

Rachel shrugged. "I don't know. But I've never seen him before."

Chris.

It was probably Chris. Butterflies became unleashed in her lower belly and her panties became a bit wet. Shit. What did he want? They agreed to meet each other by seven p.m. this evening. Did something happen?

"Take over for me?" Lee pulled her apron over her hair, removed her cap and dusted stray flour from her jeans.

Rachel grinned. "You bet."

After checking her face for flour stains and finding none, Lee walked through the door at the back of the kitchen that led into the small interior restaurant. Three customers lingered over the Sultana Butter cupcake and smoothies.

Lee looked around. "Anybody need anything?"

Freddy Kroner shook his head and kept staring at his tablet computer. The man spent way too much time playing online, but he didn't seem to care that the radiation could affect his DNA. He was nursing a herb tea and the veggie lime cake. Oh well.

"I do."

Lee's libido deflated at the sight of the man standing beside the table closest to the door. He waved at her with a sheepish look on his face. Lee had half a mind to turn and walk back into the kitchen, pretend that she didn't see him. Instead, she found herself walking towards him. She clenched her fists, took deep steady breaths and mentally counted to ten in her head.

She came to a stop in front of him. She managed a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Hi, King. What brings you here?"

King scratched his jaw, his gaze on everywhere but hers. "I-I came to apologize about what happened last night."

"I will not say 'it's fine' because, it's not." She unclenched her fists. "I appreciate you coming here to apologize, though. Please be seated."

Lee sank into the other chair and watched King do the same. "What will you have?"

"Wheat grass." He added quickly, "If you have it."

"We do."

Lee got up and went to get his order for him. When she returned, King had shed his brown coat, he draped it over the back of his chair. He looked as comfortable as a baby with a dirty diaper.

"Thank you," he accepted the drink and waited until she was seated before talking. "As I said earlier, I apologize for the way I acted last night. I was way out of line."

Lee leaned into her chair. "You should also apologize to my sister because you were rude to her too."

"I did that before coming here. She gave me your address."

"Shouldn't you be at work by now?"

"I have about an hour left of my lunch break. Besides, I just wanted to apologize first."

Lee smiled. "I can now say it's fine. I understand why you acted that way. My Ex was also a jerk to me. His mother didn't like me, so I had to go. What's funny is that my friend's ex is his new fiancee."

"Small world, eh?" King smiled. "Bad people are always good for each other. On my lunch break yesterday, I saw Nina and her new boyfriend. He was some rich, old man who couldn't even hold his own spoon." His chuckle lacked mirth.

Lee pitied the poor guy. She knew the feeling. Seeing he-whose-name-shall-forever-remain-unspoken with Chris' ex was painful. It felt as if she wasn't good enough for anyone.

We need to work on your self esteem, Ledia. Chris' words echoed in her mind.

He was right.

"It's her loss. Someone who deserves you would come along and sweep you off your feet."

King threw his head back and laughed. "Am I not the one who's supposed to do the sweeping?"

"Some ladies are tired of being swept off their feet, they want to do the sweeping for once," She winked. "Call it reverse fairy tale."

"You're funny, Lee." King shook his head. "You're different."

"Hey, Leeds." Junior McIntyre nodded in her direction as he made his way towards the counter where Annie was busy wiping down the glass where lie are displayed.

"Junior." She returned the nod. She turned to see King smiling at her. "What is it?"

He shook his head. "You're so full of life."

"And you know this after you met me yesterday?" She raised an eyebrow.

King shrugged as he sipped his drink, his eyes never leaving hers. "It's obvious from your interaction with people. I'll like to know more about you."

"I'm an open book. Have you met my sister? It's a surprise she hasn't downloaded my life history for you already."

"There's difference in hearing about someone from a third party and meeting the person themselves." King placed his empty cup on the plastic tray. "Can I see you outside this place?"

Her pulse quickened. Was he asking her out on a date? King was some type of rollercoaster and she couldn't keep up with him. First he was rude yesterday, and now he was asking her out. Lee was going to get a whiplash of he kept it up.

As if he read her mind, he said, "It's not a date. I am asking you as a friend. No pressure, though."

"Does that mean I will be paying for my own dinner?"

King laughed. "If you want. Like I said, no pressure. I just think it will be good for us to meet outside of this place. You know, get real food and talk."

"I have a dinner scheduled for tonight," she said. "I can't make it, I'm sorry."

His brows curved towards each other. "I thought you were single."

Lee shrugged, but refrained from telling him it wasn't any of his business. "It's complicated."

"Ah, I see." He nodded.

She doubted he saw anything. Lee didn't feel comfortable going behind Chris' back like that. She'd have to ask him first, after all he was her partner.

Whatever happened to being independent? Chris' not the boss of you. Do you want a repeat performance of your ex?   Her overactive mind snarled at her.

"If you aren't even sure about this so-called relationship you're in, I think you shouldn't write King off just yet. You can be friends with with him." Sutton's word echoed in her mind.

Sutton was right. There was no point in pushing King away when she wasn't sure her relationship with Chris would work out in the end. Besides, it wasn't as if she was going to sleep with King. It was only dinner.

"Okay," she nodded. "Tomorrow then. Shouldn't we exchange contacts?"

King gave her his iPhone and she typed her number before handing it back to him. "I'll call you. Is seven okay?"

She nodded. "Seven."

People were filing into the bakery and the line was getting longer. Lee knew she had to get back to the kitchen. "I have to go now, it was nice of you to stop by."

King got up too. "How much is my bill for the wheat grass?"

"It's on the house." Lee turned towards the kitchen. "See you later, King."

"You too, Ledia."

If she'd looked back, Lee would have seen the admiration on Kingg's face.

A/N:

HI!  I coughed up this chapter as soon as I could. I couldn't wait.

I hope you enjoyed it.

QTOC: Do you trust King?

Siri: *incoming message from Jasmine*

Brace yourselves. Chris' Point of view coming up next chapter. 🎉🎉🎉

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