Page 23 of Sweets and Sycamores

“I mean, no one knows anything about this Witch. For all we know, she may be here to continue what the other one—”

“Stop.” Anna flinched at the snarl in his voice.

“I trust you.” Words he had been hungry for for so long, coming from the most unexpected person in his life. Words that made his aching heart feel like it was dipped in warm honey.

“You don’t know anything about her.”

“I don’t want anything to happen to you, or your bakery,” Anna plowed on with her biased concerns.

Concerns about one of the kindest souls he had ever met.

A Witch who kept her promise, no matter how embarrassed it made her feel.

A Witch who loved an orphaned baby dragon as if she had been raising him for years.

A Witch who smiled at everyone who sneered at her, who struggled to learn as much as she could about this temporary job.

Who put herself through literal fire to learn how to control her power, with no one to help her. Yet.

“Don’t you worry about me,” Dom warned her, then left.

He crossed the street and entered the bakery, holding the book to his side, title hidden.

Allie was sitting at a table, her fingers drawing patterns on the rim of the coffee cup.

She welcomed him with a small smile, her chocolate-brown eyes wary, fear still clinging to their corners, making them wide and glassy.

“How are you feeling?” he asked just when she opened her mouth to say something foolish like thanking him for helping her.

“I’m all right. I wanted to—”

“Thank you,” Dom interrupted her, more than likely stealing her words.

Allie watched him with the same wide eyes as he went on.

“For telling me. Thank you for keeping your promise.” He did not want to think about what would have happened if she hadn’t called for him in time.

And he was truly grateful there was someone in his life—besides Mia—who did not break their promises.

Dom inhaled and gathered his courage to utter the words that dug a knife into his heart and twisted it endlessly. “And for trusting me.”

Allie, frozen in place, watched him with her pink lips parted like he’d said the silliest thing ever.

“Cover the front for me for a while, will you?”

Dominic left her standing in that spot, her mouth likely still open. He heard a scraping chair and knew she snapped out of her endearing shock.

“Of course, Mr. Ranford,” she called after him.

He stopped in the doorframe to the hallway and turned to face the beautiful Witch. Her eyes were on him, flashing one of those full smiles that he preferred to think were only for him.

“Call me Dominic.”

Allie was lucky the bakery was packed with customers today.

She did not want a spare moment to think about what had happened in the morning.

Later, she would be consumed by all of it.

She would be consumed by Dominic’s kindness, by the way he’d looked at her burning skin as if he could feel the heat on his own.

She hated that she had endangered the one person in her life whom she desperately didn’t want to hurt.

She never wanted to hurt anyone, but Dominic…

Call me Dominic.

Her heart quivered at the memory, and she mentally slapped the stupid thing. There was nothing to quiver about, as everyone else called him by his name. It had only been a matter of time for them to get to know each other and become…closer.

I should have told him to call me Allie.

Dominic had been hiding in the kitchen all day under the pretense of the weekend special. Allie was selling the last tray in stock, so she saw through his innocent lie. She guessed it had something to do with the book he had returned with and hidden from her.

“Miss!” A somewhat familiar voice brought her back behind the register. She greeted Mrs. Chen, the lady wearing her usual long yellow coat, gray hair up in a bun like Allie’s. “Where is your dragon?” she asked with a glare.

“In my room. Dominic asked me to keep him away from the bakery, but he’s doing really well.” Allie spoke his name as if she had done it hundreds of times, and it just felt right.

“I’d like to see for myself,” Mrs. Chen huffed. “It was not a traditional adoption that you did, but I still need to make sure the creature is cared for.”

“Of course.” Allie went back and stopped by the kitchen, laying her eyes on her Mage boss, whom she could call by his first name. “Can I bring Ekko out front for a bit? Mrs. Chen is here to make sure he’s okay.”

“Sure,” Dominic answered without raising his eyes from the book that held him captive.

“I thought you were working on the weekend special,” Allie teased him.

“I am.” The man jerked his head at a simmering pot on the stove, still not moving his gaze away from the pages.

Allie allowed herself one more moment to look at him, tense arms crossed over his chest, feet spread wide, frowning at that book as if it was his worst enemy. Under all this broodiness and grumpiness was an incredibly beautiful soul that she was lucky to have glimpsed.

Allie grabbed Ekko from the room, the dragon overly excited to get out of that space. He was behaving himself, but Allie knew he got bored while she was gone. Ekko flew in laps around her three or four times before he settled on her shoulder, after Allie warned him not to leave her side.

They went to the front without stopping by the kitchen, but Ekko turned his small head and looked wistfully at Dominic while they passed by.

“Mrs. Chen, this is Ekko,” Allie said and tickled his belly. The baby dragon chittered but stayed on her shoulder, then watched the elderly woman with quizzical eyes. She studied him, cocking her head left and right before she concluded that he looked healthy.

Mrs. Chen left with two slices of the weekend special, and Allie went about rearranging the display case and cleaning the tables that were just vacated. She kept Ekko with her for a little while longer since there was no one else in—

“Allie!” Mia’s voice carried from the entrance together with the bell.

She came in smiling, wearing a pink knitted dress with a denim jacket on top and tall leather boots.

Her dark caramel hair was braided over her shoulder.

“This must be Ekko,” she said as she approached them.

Ekko made big eyes at her, and Mia didn’t hold back and grabbed him from under his wings, crushing him to her chest. “Que carino!”

Allie chuckled as Ekko struggled to breathe. When he was finally free, he flew away from them to the back of the bakery.

“I wanted to see if you had plans for lunch,” Mia told her. “The girls and I are going out for butternut squash pasta at Rogelio’s. Come with us,” she said.

Allie looked from Mia to the counter area, worried about Ekko’s whereabouts. She had promised lunch to Dominic, and she was so, so looking forward to it.

“I’m sorry, I—”

“She’s free,” a deep, thick voice came from behind her.

Allie turned, and her heart flipped at the image before her.

Dominic stood behind the counter, arms still crossed, Ekko proudly perched on his shoulder like it was his greatest achievement.

She looked back at Mia and gave her an awkward smile, then turned and crossed the distance to her boss, stretching her hands to pick Ekko up.

“I thought we were having lunch today,” she whispered. The dragon evaded her and flew around Dominic to his other shoulder.

“We can have lunch tomorrow,” Dominic said in an end-of-the-conversation tone and left, Ekko still on his shoulder.

What was happening?

“So?” Mia asked.

Allie didn’t feel like she had much of a choice. It would be nice to meet more people, and if they were Mia’s friends, there was a smaller chance they would sneer at her.

“I’m in,” Allie agreed with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.