Deep, Deep Donuts by Megan Wade

Wes

“What are you doing?” my curvy kidnapper shouts as I grip the shelf to my left and hang on for dear life.

“Trying not to die!” I return, my feet searching for purchase as the road looms scarily close to the soles of my sneakers. This is not how I imagined my day would go today. When I got out of bed this morning, I did so with a determination to finally get my hands on one of these delicious donuts I keep hearing so much about. The worst I thought could happen was missing out again. The last thing I thought I’d be doing is hanging out the back of said donut van, doing my best Mission Impossible impersonation with my legs kicking about in the air.

I’m a bicycle cop for crying out loud, we are not trained for stunt work!

“What do I do?” she yells, changing lanes and cornering like she is trained for stunt work. I’d be impressed if I wasn’t fighting for my life.

“Slow down so I can stand up.”

“OK.” She hits the brakes.

The sudden loss of momentum sends me tumbling toward the front of the cabin, landing upside down in a reverse scorpion pose while the doors to the truck slam shot. Packaged donuts fall on top of my head.

“Fuck,” I mutter, trying to unwind myself in the narrow space. “I said slow down, not stop.”

“Oh my God. I’m so sorry,” the woman says, her voice muffled as she presses her hand over her mouth. “Are you OK?”

“I don’t know yet,” I grunt, managing to twist to the side and get myself into a sitting position on the floor. I’m covered in sugar, crumbs and smears of jelly. Excellent. “What the hell made you take off like that? You’re obviously not sold out of donuts.” I pick up a white paper bag and peek inside to find a squashed maple bacon glazed. It makes me want to cry seeing something so delicious, so ruined.

“I…I…”

“Are you doing something illegal? Are you into drugs? Running from something?”

“No…”

“Are you people trafficking? Hiding illegal weapons? Exotic animals?”

“No! Nothing like that.”

“Then what? What has you shutting up shop every time I get anywhere near you? Because it’s obvious it’s happening because I’m a cop. What are you hiding?”

“I…” Her pretty pink cheeks brighten as her blue eyes dart from side to side, her tongue snaking out to wet her full lips. From a distance, I’d considered her attractive. But close up, she’s downright beautiful. Despite my frustrated, squashed and confused position, my dick seems to know exactly what it wants—and that's her.

“Tell me. Or so help me god, I’ll tear this place apart searching. All I need is probable cause, and the fact you just kidnapped me trying to get away gives me that. Oh, and let’s not ignore the fact that you just kidnapped me.”

“You got on here on your own! I didn’t invite you! Besides, I’m doing nothing wrong.”

“Except lying!” I pick up a donut package and shake it at her.

“Last I checked, lying about stock levels to get out of work early is not against the law.”

“Reckless driving is.”

She gasps. “I was being very careful.”

“Tell that to my spine and my dry cleaner,” I say as I poke at the raspberry jelly stain on my pale yellow shirt.

“I…I wasn’t trying to hurt you. You didn’t have to get on board.”

“And you didn’t have to rush away.” I get to my feet, but my height in the van forces me to bend forward so I’m leaning between the seats. She flinches away.

“Are you gonna arrest me now?”

Shaking my head, I release a slow breath. “Listen, if you’re in trouble, just tell me, and I’ll do my best to help you. I don’t wanna bust you over anything. Especially since it’s my day off and I really don’t wanna have to go in and do paperwork. All I really want is a donut.”

“A…donut?”

I grin. “Yeah. I’ve been trying to get my hands on one all summer. Everyone raves about how delicious they are, and…well, I am a cop, you know. That cliché about us doing anything for a donut is a thing.”

She giggles, tucking her blonde hair behind her ear as I realize I just heard my new favorite sound.

“Well, if you’re not gonna bust me, I can at least give you a donut,” she says. “I’ll even make it fresh if you can wait a little for fryer to heat up.”

“I’ll wait. But while we wait, I’d like it if you told me why you keep taking off on me. What exactly are you running from?”

A crease line appears between her brows as she she looks to the side, rolling her lips together as she contemplates letting me in to whatever is troubling her. I find myself slowly seething as I wait. Not with her, but with the idea that anyone could do anything to harm this girl or to cause her any strain. I don’t know why, but I’m instantly protective of her. It’s like I’ve taken one look into those those luminescent blue eyes and all I can do is vow to do whatever it takes to keep her safe from harm. The intensity of that emotion rattles me. Besides seeing her from a distance over the past month, I don’t know a single thing about her.

“I don’t have a license,” she blurts, sliding past me to turn the fryer back on. I suck in my breath, the tiny space making it so her body brushes against mine as she passes, setting my skin ablaze at each point of contact.

Before I hear her words, I have to blink to clear the lusty haze that seems to descend upon me, and mentally will my Johnson to calm the fuck down. What the hell is happening to me?

“You don’t have a driver’s license?”

“Oh no, I have one of them. I should have said ‘permit’. I don’t have a permit to operate a donut truck. I got certified as an ice-cream van operator and then it broke down beyond repair, so I bought this as a replacement and the whole affair just wiped me out financially so I couldn’t afford to refurbish this one as an ice-cream van too, so I decided to use it as a donut truck. And well, it turns out I’m actually great at making donuts. But since I’m not certified, then I’m really nervous about dealing with law enforcement because I really can’t afford for you to shut me down…” She sucks in her breath as either her air or her words run out. Then she just wrings her fingers together and looks up at me like she thinks I’m about to scold her.

Truthfully, I wouldn’t mind bending her over my knee and giving her a good spanking…

I clear my throat and shake off the dirty thoughts. “That’s a city hall issue,” I say, coughing to cover my misplaced arousal. Being close to this beauty, surrounded by so much sweetness, is speaking to my carnal side. I want her. I can’t deny that.

“City hall?”

“Yeah. Your permit. City Hall deals with all that stuff. The only reason I’d ever check your permit would be if I had a complaint. And no one’s out there complaining about you, sweets—unless it’s to say they wish you had more donuts to sell.”

She smiles over her shoulder as she turns the dial on her fryer and measures out four donuts rounds that slip into the oil with a gentle plop. “So, I’ve been closing up early for nothing?”

“Where I’m concerned?” My gaze drops to her lips, then returns to her eyes. “Definitely. I think that maybe you’ve been doing us both a great disservice by running away.”

“Because you’ve missed out on the donuts, and I’ve missed out on the revenue?”

“No.” I lift a hand and touch her lightly on the chin. “Because we’ve missed out on meeting each other.”