“I’m not baking for the shop.”
“I wasn’t asking you to—if you’d let me finish,” I say, parroting his words from the other day. “Teach me how to make butteries—oh, and maybe that cherry cake and tattie scones? I’m pretty good at following directions, and since we open up at ten, I could wake up early—now that I’m used to the time difference—and start baking for the day.” When he doesn’t say anything, I squeeze his hand. “Please, Rowan. Food is going to make a huge difference, and it won’t compete with Isla. I think if we have three solid options, we’ll do just fine, especially since we’ll be more of a stop for the tourists. We’d offer just enough for them.”
He drags his hand over his face. “I haven’t made butteries in years.”
“I’ll bake with my top off, or even completely naked . . . just an apron.”
That piques his interest. He raises a brow. “You’ll let me teach you, naked?”
“Yes. However you want me—that’s how I’ll stay the entire time. And if you want a break, to do . . . whatever,” I say in a seductive voice, “then, we take a break.”
“Sex and baking.”
“Aye,” I say with a wink, which makes him chuckle and then blow out a long breath.
“You drive a hard bargain, lass.”
“Enticing, though, yeah?”
He slowly nods, wetting his lips. “Especially since I haven’t seen you completely naked yet.”
“Your fault, not mine. I stripped you down. You’re the one who only pushed up my shirt.”
“Regretting that mistake now.” He scratches the side of his face, his nails scraping along his thick scruff. “Deal.”
“Yeah?” I ask, excited.
“Aye, but you wear nothing but an apron.”
“Done.” Eeep. Excited—for many reasons—I make another note in my notebook. “That leaves us with merchandise. Dakota is going to design new signs, and we would love to come up with a fun name for the coffee shop, since everything else in town has one. Then we can make and sell merchandise based on what we call the shop. We can easily play off the Boaby Stone, Fergus, or the hairy coo . . .” An idea pops into my head. “Oh my God, what if we called the shop the Hairy Coo Coffee Company? We could hang cute black-and-white photos of the cows on the walls, make some hairy coo–themed merchandise, and then direct people to the footpath, so it gets more visitors than just locals.”
He twists his lips to the side, considering the idea. “You know, I really think Maw and Da would like that. They’ve always loved the hairy coo, and they were a driving force behind the path being made in the first place.”
“Really? Then it’s meant to be. I bet Dakota could make an adorable sign with the ‘Hairy Coo’ front and center.”
He nods slowly, a smile playing at his lips. “I really like the idea.”
That little smile, the excitement in his voice. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this much pride in my entire life, and for the first time in a very long time, I feel . . . useful.
“What are you doing?”
I startle, dropping my phone on the counter. With a smirk, Rowan picks it up and glances at the screen. He raises a brow as he shows it to me, as if I don’t know what’s on it.
“Power-washing videos?”
“Don’t judge!” I snatch my phone away and put it in my back pocket. Once we closed, I moved the tables and chairs outside. Earlier, Rowan said he would take care of them by literally chopping them into firewood. I told him I didn’t care what he did with them, but if he did decide to chop them up, I was going to need a slo-mo video of that, of course with his shirt off. From the look in his eyes, I think he’s going to deliver. We decided to close the shop for the next few days while we do small renovations. Pretty sure the public isn’t going to miss us much.
“Did you bring it?” I ask, rubbing my hands together.
“Yes, but you’re not—”
“Balderdash, I’m doing it.” Pushing past him, I walk over to the door, where I spot the hefty machine. Beautiful in all its splendor, a knight of destroying grime. A fighter of fungus. A true champion of cleanliness. The one, the only . . . the power washer. “Ryobi 2300, nice choice,” I say, taking in the robust beast. “Does it come with the bonus turbo nozzle?”
“It’s disturbing how much you know about power washers.”