Billionaire's Baby Contract (Hawthorne Brothers 1)

“Oh my God. This is so embarrassing.”

“Not as embarrassing as having a chocolate mustache for nearly a whole day,” Ethan says.

I close my compact and narrow my eyes at him. “What?”

“When I was in first grade, I came home from school and when my mom saw me, she went all pale. She thought I had a nosebleed because there was something between my nose and my lips. But I didn’t. It wasn’t blood. It was chocolate.”

My eyes grow wide. “Chocolate?”

“See, I ate a chocolate bar in the car on my way to school and I must have gotten some under my nose. So yeah, I had a chocolate mustache. No wonder my classmates were looking at me weird.”

My eyebrows furrow. “But no one told you?”

Ethan shakes his head. “Nope. Not even my teacher. Maybe because she didn’t want to embarrass me.”

I try to keep a straight face, but I fail, especially when I imagine Ethan with the chocolate mustache now. I clasp my hand over my mouth.

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Ethan shrugs. “See, we all have our embarrassing moments with chocolate. Doesn’t make us love it any less.”

I smile at him. I give up. There’s no way I can still act so composed around him when he’s just seen me with caramel between my teeth, nor can I act distant towards him when he’s just told me an embarrassing moment from his past to make me feel better. I don’t know why he’s being so kind, but I know I have to return the favor.

“Don’t worry,” I tell him. “I won’t tell anyone about your mustache if you don’t tell anyone about my…”

“Chocolate tooth cap? Deal.” He glances at the display. “So, do you want to try something else? I’m guessing you’re not buying the one with the caramel.”

“I am actually,” I reply. “But not for me. For a friend.”

“A friend?”

“Randy from IT.”

Ethan’s eyes narrow. “I thought you didn’t have any friends from work.”

I touch my chin. “Did I say that?”

I don’t remember.

“You just haven’t mentioned anyone before,” Ethan says.

Well, until last night, we’d never really talked about each other’s personal lives.

“But I’m glad,” he adds. “I’m glad you have friends.”

I nod. “Yeah. It’s good to have people to talk to at work. They’re actually the first people I told after you told me I was going to Switzerland.”

“I see.” Ethan leans towards me. “So this Randy, is he just a friend?”

“Yes,” I answer. “He’s gay.”

“Oh.”

I hear the relief in his voice. Wait a second. Was Ethan jealous?

He goes on. “So we’re getting a box of caramel-filled chocolates for Randy?”

“Just a small one,” I tell the saleslady. “And another small box of assorted ones for my other friend, Jess.”

“Certainly,” the saleslady replies.

“Jess is from IT, too?” Ethan asks.

“Marketing.”

“I see. And what about for you? Aren’t you buying any chocolates for yourself?”

“Hmm.” I glance at the selection again. “I don’t really know what I want to get.”

“Well, what are you looking for?”

“Something sweet but not too sweet. Something delicate… and unique.”

“Let me help,” Ethan offers.

He points to one of the round pieces of chocolate that has gold dust sprinkled on top. The saleslady hands it to him and he hands it to me.

“I think you’ll like this one.”

I stare at the piece of chocolate. Aside from the gold dust, it seems perfectly ordinary. I know it’s not, though. It can’t be if Ethan chose it.

“What is it?” I ask curiously.

“Just try it,” he urges.

I put the whole piece of chocolate in my mouth and chew, half expecting something to ooze out and flood my mouth. Instead, I get a myriad of flavors – sweet, salty, bitter, sour, all seamlessly blending into each other and melting gently over my tongue. I’ve never tasted anything like it.

“What’s in this?” I ask Ethan again.

It can’t be just the gold dust making this taste so good. In fact, I can tell there are a lot of ingredients in it, some of which almost seem familiar. I just can’t seem to identify any of them.

“Pistachios from Iran, Himalayan salt, truffle oil, tea, raspberries, cane sugar and fourteen other ingredients,” he answers.

My eyes grow wide as I do the math. That little thing had twenty ingredients? I knew it had more than three, but twenty?

“You’re kidding.”

“I’m not.”

And the look he gives me backs it up. Damn. Twenty ingredients in a piece of chocolate? No wonder it was a mini flavor bomb.

“Did you like it?” Ethan asks.

I nod. “It is unique.”

Ethan smiles. “It reminds me of you, actually. Simple on the outside, pretty, but with lots of unexpected layers on the inside, each one equally amazing.”

My eyebrows go up. Is that what he thinks of me?

He looks at the saleslady. “I’ll get a big box of that. Oh, and I’ll pay for the other two boxes, too.”

“No,” I protest in disbelief. “You can’t do that.”