Love Him Free (On the Market #1) - E.M. Lindsey Page 0,23

side of the building to the second entrance he never used. The key stuck in the latch for a second, but it eventually turned and he propped it open with his foot. ‘The front door won’t be locked. Help yourself and I’ll be up after I close the shop.’

Rocco looked a little bit startled at how readily Simon accepted him into his space, but he didn’t complain. He just signed a quick thanks, then took the steps two at a time with a heavy thud. Simon let the door shut, refusing to watch the flex in his thighs and ass any longer, and he rushed back into the shop and turned the deadbolt.

Before he could reach for the closed sign, someone gave the door a shove, and he looked up to see Spencer’s frantic eyes, mouth moving as he tried to get it open. Simon heaved an annoyed sigh, but undid the latch. “Please god tell me you have those fudgy cupcake things.”

Simon’s brows lifted. “Uh. I might? Not a full batch.”

“That’s fine. I’ll pay you double. Triple,” Spencer said in a halting staccato.

Simon beckoned him over with a shake of his head. “Calm down. What happened?”

“Well…I’m the worst boyfriend in the world. I’m just stressed, you know? Because all these cats, and Max is struggling to keep up, and I know I’m not the easiest person to get along with and…”

Simon held up his hand to calm Spencer’s ranting. “You upset Max?” He knew a little about their dynamic—how Spencer was fussy and spoiled, and Max was quick to temper. Collin was an easy sort of guy, but fighting and drama usually sent him into hiding—usually at Simon’s shop. It was a strange dynamic, and Simon didn’t quite understand it, but he was also a thirty-six-year-old virgin so he was in no position to judge.

Spencer was always the more dramatic of the triad, but Simon could tell something was really wrong this time, and he felt for the way Spencer looked genuinely afraid. “Go lock the door. I have company for dinner so I can’t take any more customers, but I have cupcakes for you.”

Spencer groaned. “Oh my god, I am so sorry. I’m such a dick.”

“You are no such thing.” In truth, Simon thought he was sweet, and it was no trouble to pull out the remaining cupcakes from the fridge and box them up. Levi had made them anyway—an experiment before he added them to the truck. They were never really a cupcake shop, but the demand for sweets like that was growing beyond his rugelach and hamantashen and babka, and it was a perfect avenue for his brother. For him, however, he knew the place was closing and there just wasn’t any point anymore.

He put a little tape on the box, and when Spencer tried to hand over his card, Simon shook his head. “Let me pay,” Spencer demanded.

Simon set the box down firmly in front of the worried man and looked him in the eye. “I know you love those two, and they love you. Max will forgive you without cupcakes, but chocolate never hurts.”

Spencer swallowed thickly. “You’re nice.”

At that, Simon couldn’t help his laugh. “Most people wouldn’t agree with you. But I like you guys and I’m happy to help. These weren’t going to sell anyway, there’s not enough of them and Levi is too busy this week to do more.”

Spencer worried his bottom lip between his teeth. “If you’re sure…”

Simon gave him a firm nod. “Of course I am. You gave me my cat, I owe you.” He realized right then he was going to have to explain to Rocco why he and the cat shared the same name—and maybe also the sheer irony of Rocco’s dog being named James. It felt like a big, tangled mess, but he wanted to get lost in the knots.

Spencer calmed down considerably, and though it took effort to get him out of the shop, eventually Simon was able to lock back up, set his closed sign, and turn the lights out. He was going to have to get up long before dawn to make up for the morning prep he was missing for this dinner, but the man waiting above stairs for him—he was pretty sure—was totally worth it.

Simon trudged up the stairs, only one at a time in order to delay having to face that Rocco Moretti was in his apartment, and his brain flitted between trying to scrape together his mediocre cooking skills and