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Her phone beeped with a text from Noah, whom she had been talking to as they hammered out the details on the contract.
Charlie is on his way to your factory? I gave him your number
Maggie smiled and typed back. Thanks!
Short and simple. That was good, right? Although Noah seemed to be surprised by Charlie coming here. It made her think that Charlie's visit here was something they hadn't talked about before she met up with them at the bakery. So that would make Charlie's request to come here tonight to be Charlie's decision.
Again, she didn't expect anything to happen in her family factory, but she was still wearing the short black dress with the potential for something to happen. Because really, no baker would walk around a bakery in black. It's just a recipe for disaster.
She heard the buzzer for the outside door ring and checked the security cameras in her office. Yep, it was Charlie.
She watched as he looked down at his phone and started typing something. Then her own phone chimed with an incoming message.
Maggie? It's Charlie. I got your number from Noah. I'm at the bakery
Maggie took a deep breath and stared at the screen wondering how she was supposed to answer that. Flirty? No, definitely not. She needed to pull herself together and be a professional business woman.
On my way down
She took a quick look at her reflection on the glass window that overlooked the factory and headed down. No one was there this late at night even though it was only eight o'clock. But she told her family that Charlie was coming over to get the contract. It would be a quick professional transaction and she could show him the facility. Impress him.
Of course, she hadn't mentioned the little black dress. Whatever.
She got down to the door, took a deep breath, and opened it to find Charlie standing on the other side. Black dress pants with a white button-down shirt under his winter coat. It was still Chicago in the winter after all.
"Hi, thanks for coming," she tried to say cheerfully.
"I'm glad I could come down to see you."
She smiled and waved him in, wondering what he meant by he was glad to see her. Did he mean just her or was it some casual thing because he really wanted to see the factory?
"Hope you found it OK."
She closed the door behind him and the lock sounded much louder than usual when it was just the two of them in the space.
Maggie watched as his eyes wandered from machine to machine. It was a packed space with a few machines dedicated to specific tasks like their famous tiramisu while others made cookies and it just depended on what kind they wanted to make that day.
Charlie seemed to be in awe of all of it. It didn't matter if he was here just to see her or he wanted to see all of this too. It meant a lot to see someone from the outside admiring the bakery her family had put together.
"This is quite an operation."
Charlie looked over and smiled in a way that made her heat up under her dress. That was not how this was supposed to go. But there was something about the way he complimented the space that made her feel proud of what she had helped to build her.
It also made her want him to take her dress off right there and have his way with her on the cookie prep table, but that would totally be a health code violation and she was more concerned about that than getting laid.
Instead, she continued to walk him around, showing him a few more machines before heading over to their wall of refrigerators with tomorrow's shipments ready to go.
"Can I look inside?"
Charlie seemed like an excited kid opening a birthday present and Maggie didn't want to disappoint him. She gave him a small smile and opened the door for the fridge with slabs of caramel chocolate brownies for local grocery stores.
"We'll have someone coming in in the morning to cut these up for delivery."
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. There was a look of desire on his face and Maggie knew it was for the brownies even though she may have wished it was for her.
"So what time do they cut these and can I watch?"
She stood still, trying to pull her mind out of the gutter and whatever it was that Charlie wanted to watch.
