The Sweet Life Read online

  He covered his face with his hands and groaned. It was a sexy as hell sound and I tried my hardest to ignore it. “Sorry, I’m sorry. I tried to keep it in but you’re hot and my dick doesn’t seem to understand that catching wood at work because of your hot boss, isn’t appropriate.”

  Chance began coughing like he was choking on something and it was my brain that took that thought to a dirty place because I immediately started thinking of Levi, choking on my dick.

  “Oh dear God,” I mumbled and covered my face in my hand.

  “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry. I promise I’ll keep my thoughts of you naked to myself,” he said before he cursed again. “My God, it’s like a disease! Maybe my mom should have taken me to the doctor about this.” He mumbled that last part and my lips twitched as I fought back a laugh.

  Yes, he was a bit pretentious and a whole lot entitled but he was friendly with my staff and he made us all laugh. He was charismatic and it was easy to get wrapped up in his orbit. He had the type of personality that drew you in, but he didn’t let you get too close. He was guarded and I could understand that, starting a job you knew nothing about, being surrounded by people you didn’t know. It had to be a bit scary for him. But he was pushing through it all much to my surprise.

  “Okay, can we just… stop talking about sex and get to baking.”

  Levi nodded his head enthusiastically before he rushed over to the closet to grab an apron. He had to wrap the strings around his small waist twice in order to keep them from hanging too low. He really was a small guy. He was exactly what I looked for in a guy, physically anyway. I loved being able to pick my guys up and move them around so I could pound them against the wall.

  “Jaxon?” Levi said, his voice snapping me away from my smutty thoughts. I shook my head and then pointed to the dough. I then began explaining to him the process of making the doughnuts. I showed him a few pans sitting on a rack as it rose.

  “The longer you let them rise, the less dense they’ll be. I like for them to be filling but airy enough that they don’t come out tasting dry.” I grabbed a fresh pan and carried it over to the counter. I floured the surface and explained how it kept the dough from sticking as I kneaded it. I showed him my palm rolling technique before I told him to give it a try. He tried a few times but couldn’t seem to get the rhythm right.

  “Here,” I said as I stood behind him. I placed my hands over his and rocked us back forth as I showed him how to use the motion of his rocking, to knead the dough. His hands were soft, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he used some sort of expensive hand cream on them.

  It wasn’t until his ass brushed against the front of my pants did, I realize I’d gotten closer than necessary. I quickly stepped away and cleared my throat.

  “Try it, now,” I said, and my voice was thick like molasses. Levi didn’t look at me, but I saw the quick rise and fall of his shoulders like he was trying to calm himself. But then he began kneading the dough and he had gotten the hang of it.

  When the dough was ready to roll, I kept a safe distance from Levi. I didn’t want to risk brushing against him. He was making it hard for me to keep my composure. I’d never been so physically attracted to someone in my life. I was half temped to take him to my office, fire him and then fuck him against the wall. But that wasn’t right. I was seriously in over my head with this guy.

  Now we were on his fifth day of employment and he’d taken a liking to the baking. After I’d showed him how to roll out and cut the donuts, he’d caught on to it pretty quickly. I decided to put him on prep rotation to see how he’d do with the other baked goods. What I didn’t expect was for him to be so good at it. It was seven-thirty in the morning and we had a big shipment going out that morning, so most of the staff came in earlier than usual to finish out the orders, pack them up and help get them loaded onto the truck.

  Carly was on prep duty that morning so I put her in charge of training Levi for prep. I expected to walk into the kitchen and find a mess but what I found was Levi pouring a perfectly made batter into the cupcake liners.

  I walked over grabbed my sampling spoon and dipped it into the batter to taste. It was perfect. “Good job, Carly,” I said as I tossed the spoon into the sink.

  “For what?” she said, and I turned to glance at her.

  “The cupcake mix, it’s almost an exact replica of mine.” My cupcakes were a little hard to perfect when I wasn’t the one making them. Sure, I had a basic recipe that the staff could follow but whenever I made the batter, I’d add an extra pinch of cinnamon here or a little more vanilla there. They came out being delicious and it was always obvious when I’d made them. This batter was nearly perfect.

  Carly’s brows rose before she glanced at Levi. “I didn’t make the batter. Levi did.”

  Her words couldn’t have shocked me more if I’d been struck by lightning. I glanced at Levi who wore a cocky smirk on his face.

  “You made it?” I asked him and he finally met my gaze and nodded.

  “Carly showed me the basics and laid everything out for me. I can read you know. Following directions isn’t that hard.”

  I frowned and pointed at the recipe. “But that isn’t an exact copy of my recipe. I’m a bit secretive with my creations so I don’t always put every little detail into them. That,” I said pointing at his batter, “Is almost a perfect replica.”

  Levi looked from me to the batter then back to me before he sighed.

  “Okay, so I was making it and it smelled amazing, not a surprise. Then Carly said I needed to taste the batter before I started filling the tins to make sure it wasn’t too sweet or too bitter. She gave me one of the original cupcakes to compare it to, so I tasted both and though the batter was delicious I thought it could use a little something extra and so I added… a little something extra. I have a bit of an eclectic pallet; I knew what was missing almost right away.

  He began to look nervous and I couldn’t help but smile. He’d figured out the secret to my recipe. Even my staff couldn’t figure it out and they had trained to be bakers and chefs. And here was this spoiled, rich man-boy, who’d figured it out after one taste.

  “Orange zest,” I said, and Levi’s smile turned sheepish as he smiled.

  “That’s what it’s been this entire time?” Carly shouted and I shot her a grin before I shrugged.

  “Now you can add it to the recipe since it’s been discovered, today you were a part of history,” I said, and a blush shot up her neck. Poor girl has had a crush on me since she started working here last year but she’d never made a pass at me nor did she allow it to interfere with her work. She was one of my best employees. Hard working and driven. She was young and was more skilled than a lot of my bakers who’d been in the game for as long as she’s been alive. She’d come close to cracking the chocolate cupcake recipe but added orange juice instead of the zest.

  “Ugh! I was so close!” she said, and I laughed at her thoughts matching mine. I then turned to Levi who was back to pouring perfectly portioned amounts of batter into the tins.

  “Do I need to be worried?” I said, as I stared down at him.

  “About what?” he asked with a quick glance.

  “About you figuring out all of my recipes. We have a bit of a thing here, if you figure out the secret ingredient to one of my recipes, you get a paid day off.”

  Levi’s eyes widened and then they began to shift, and I could tell he was thinking hard about something. It didn’t take long before he said, “You have well over a hundred items on your menu.” I nodded and he gaped at me. “Are you telling me, every single one of them has an ingredient that no one knows about?”

  I laughed and shook my head. “Nah, some of the easier ones were found out early on. After someone has figured it out, I add it to the recipe book.”

  “So, it’s like a game?” he said, and I nodded.

  “Yeah, it keeps things interesting and it’s fun to see when people get it wrong.”

  “It doesn’t help that he come
s up with a new recipe every week,” Carly added in which made me smile wider. I loved to bake. It was my greatest passion in life. It was why I’d gone against my father’s wishes and never looked back. This bakery was my life and I took great pride in it.

  Levi stared at me for a long time before a tiny smile crept up on his lips. He had a gorgeous smile; it matched the rest of him and seeing it made my heart race. I hated the effect he had on me. I couldn’t understand what it was about him that sent my hormones into a rage. It wasn’t like I was lacking sexual intimacy. I had a few regular hookups that I could call when I needed to relieve some sexual tension, so I wasn’t hard up to get laid. There was just something between us that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. It was frustrating as hell. I needed to get out of that kitchen.

  “All right, it seems like you two have everything under control here. I’m just going to go back to building three, we have another truck coming for pickup.”

  Carly nodded but Levi’s eyes never left mine. He studied me like a specimen under a microscope and it made me want to shift away from his searching eyes. But I didn’t shift away. I met his gaze and sparks shot from beneath my skin. Levi’s breath hitched and I knew it wasn’t just me. There was something there and if I’d just reach out to grab it… No. I couldn’t do it. I was his boss and we were complete opposites of each other.

  Opposites, attract. The voice inside my head reminded me, I told it to shut the fuck up and tore my gaze from Levi’s and high tailed it out of the kitchen.

  Chapter Five

  Levi

  I groaned as I woke up and gave my aching muscles a good stretch. I’d finished my first week at work and had the next two days off. I told myself that I was going to spend it sleeping but even as I laid in my king-sized bed with my Egyptian cotton sheets, I felt restless.

  All week, I’d been in constant motion. After Jaxon realized I could be more helpful prepping, he took me off dish washing duty which was both a blessing and a curse. At least while washing dishes, I only had to worry about water getting on me. During prep, I was covered in flour, baking soda, spices and everything else. I changed out gloves so often, it was beginning to chafe my skin.

  But it was also therapeutic. Never in my life would I have found kneading dough as being therapeutic. But it was. It helped me think, it gave me something to focus on which had always been difficult for me and my scatter brain.

  I liked working at the bakery. Just thinking the words was a shock to my system. I never imagined enjoying having a job especially with the way my friends talked about it. They hated going to their little corporate offices and sitting behind desks all day. It all seemed so daunting and I’d been so glad I didn’t have to deal with any of that. If they all knew I was working in a bakery they’d laugh at me. But I was beginning to wonder if I’d care.

  The people I worked with were amazing. Not all of them but most of them. They weren’t people I’d usually hang out with but that was only because I’d been caught up in social norms. In one week I realized I was a snob. It had nearly knocked me on my ass to realize it, but it was true. I brushed off people like Carly before and that was my mistake because she has turned out to be the sweetest and kindest person I’ve ever met. Sure she was younger than me, but I liked her. Not because she could get me into exclusive clubs or because she knew this celerity or that one. She was just an everyday person.

  I wasn’t a changed man by any means. I still loved nice things and loved that I had the money to buy them. My parents had spoiled me and that wasn’t going to change in a weeks’ time.

  I realized sleep wasn’t going to find me and went downstairs where my personal chef, Mikel, was wrapping up my meals for the week.

  “Hey there Mr. Croft, I thought you’d be sleeping in.”

  I sighed and hopped up on one of the bar stools at my kitchen island. I loved my kitchen. It was black and chrome with gorgeous black marbled countertops. All of my appliances were top of the line and usually I’d feel happy to brag about them but as I sat there, I realized I hadn’t gotten any of these things on my own. Everything in my house had been purchased with my parents’ money. I’d earned nothing in my house, and it was a tough pill to swallow.

  “Are you okay, Mr. Croft? You look a little… disappointed.”

  I sighed and glanced at Mikel. “Mikel, do you think I’m an entitled, self-absorbed, prick?”

  Mikel’s eyes widened as a guilty expression fell over his face. He’d definitely thought I was an entitled, self-absorbed, prick. I sighed and buried my face in my hands. It sucked to realize your staff hated you. It then made me wonder if Mikel spat in my food as payback. I groaned at the thought and slammed my head on the island. It hurt like fuck, but I ignored it.

  “Mr. Croft, what is this about?” Mikel asked and he sounded pretty concerned. I sighed and lifted my head to meet his gaze. He studied my face and sure enough, concern was etched across his features.

  “I’m just realizing some things about myself and I’m finding I don’t like them very much,” I said, and Mikel blinked rapidly. He was stunned by my words and it just further assured just how selfish and self-entitled I’d been behaving for most of my life. I couldn’t remember if I’d always been this way. I knew for those couple of years when I was overweight, I had definitely not felt this way but that was about it. I was living the good life. I had no reason to not feel like I was sitting on top of the world.

  “Am I a bad person?” I asked and Mikel winced before he took in a deep breath of his own.

  “You aren’t a bad person Mr. Croft just insensitive to the ways of the world. Not everyone is as privileged as you are, and I don’t think you’ve ever stepped out of your box enough to notice. You and your family have been blessed. It’s why your parents are so big on charity. They understand that they have more than the average person and they use their wealth to try and make the world a better place. I feel that maybe that trait skipped over you.” He winced again and shook his head. “I’m sorry that was very judgmental of me.”

  I held up my hand, stopping him from apologizing. He had no reason to apologize when he was speaking nothing but the truth. There were times when I’d frown at the thought of my parents taking hundreds and thousands of dollars to spend on strangers. I didn’t see the value of it. But as I sat in my kitchen, I thought of a story Carly had been telling us the previous morning about how her sister wouldn’t be getting treatment for her cancer if someone hadn’t donated money to the children’s hospital. Or how Chance talked about donating his time at the animal shelter. I’d never seen the value in charity, looked down on it and I realized I really was a shitty person.

  One week of working in a bakery and I was questioning who I was as a person. It was difficult to face the truth.

  “Thank you for your honesty Mikel,” I said with a small grin and Mikel still looked concerned.

  “Are you sure you’re all right?” he asked, and I grinned before I flashed him a smile.

  “I’m fine, Mikel, I promise.” He didn’t seem convinced, but I didn’t have time to worry about that. I needed to go see my parents.

  ***

  I pulled into the driveway and no sooner had I gotten out of the car did the front door swing open. My mom was wearing her gardening gear and I couldn’t help but smile at how domestic she looked. My mom loved her garden and she had someone tend to it weekly. But some days she liked to go out and get her hands dirty. She’d tried to get me to garden with her a few times but the thought of dirt under my nails had literally made me cringe. After spending a week covered in water and baking material, it didn’t seem that bad.

  “Levi?” she called out as she walked out into the blazing sun, her oversized sunhat protecting her from the rays.

  “Hey Mom,” I said as I walked toward her. I hugged her and planted a kiss on her cheek and stepped away. My mom was the exact same height as me which had hurt my little teenage ego when I realized I wasn’t going to take after my dad with his six foot height an
d thick build. No, I was the male version of my mother, through and through. Well, expect for my eyes, those were my dad’s all the way. Croft eyes is what he called them because all of the men in our family inherited them. No lie.

  “What are you doing here, honey?” she said. “Not that I’m not happy to see you but if I’m being honest, I didn’t expect to see you for a while.”

  I frowned and tilted my head, “Why would you think that?”

  “Because of your father and I forcing you to get a job. I figured you’d be holding a grudge and we wouldn’t be seeing you for the next ninety days,” she said. I sighed and knew she was right. I had been smarting about the job for the first couple of days. I’d been coming home more tired than I’d ever been in my life. My muscles ached and I was having major control issues. I was surrounded by tasty goodness and it was a struggle every day not to indulge. So she wasn’t completely wrong.

  I sighed and ran my hands through my hair, “Yeah, well, holding grudges is exhausting and I’m tired enough as it is from working. Why pile on to it?” I said and Mom smiled. “Oh, and speaking of working, thank you so much for not telling me my new boss was sex on legs.”

  Mom giggled and the sound of it made my heart warm. God, I loved this woman.

  “Yes, well, it must have slipped my mind,” she said but I saw the glint in her eye. She’d kept it from me on purpose.

  “You evil little woman. I gaped at him like a fish thirsting for water,” I said and Mom full out laughed.

  “I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” she said between laughs. She didn’t sound sorry at all. She finally composed herself and cupped my cheek. “I was just about to go garden, want to join me?” she asked with another glint in her eye.

  Normally I would have scoffed and gone into the house where the AC would be on full blast, but I didn’t.

  “Sure,” I said, and Mom jolted in surprise.

  “Come again?” she said, and I smirked.