Chocolate Bunnies

Ophelia is on the hunt for the perfect birthday gift at Duchan Fayre for her best friend – and manager of the Edinburgh branch of her interior design business – while Brann keeps distracting her with flirty commentary and suggestive Easter bunnies in this fun, romantic drabble.

 

‘I swear to God, Brann, if you pick up one more chocolate bunny and make that joke—’

‘—it’s not my fault they’re all so buff.’ He held up a gold-foiled bunny with a particularly generous behind. ‘This one’s got better curves than your velvet tub chair range.’

‘You are not comparing a bum-shaped bunny to my boutique furniture collection.’

‘I’m just saying, you design with passion, and it shows.’

Ophelia huffed a laugh, trying not to smile as she steered the petite trolley into the artisan food hall. Warm shortbread, fancy cheese, and spring flower aromas filled her nostrils from every direction, along with Easter displays dripping with pastel colours – like an assault on the senses.

Lucinda’s birthday was next week. And as the manager of Ophelia’s Edinburgh branch – not to mention her best friend – she deserved something gorgeous.

‘How about this?’ Ophelia asked, pointing to a miniature herb planter set in elegant stoneware. ‘It would be ideal for the windowsill in her apartment.’

Brann came up behind her, slid his arms around her waist, and rested his chin on her shoulder. ‘Perfect. Like you.’ He kissed her cheek. ‘Plus that bottle of wildflower gin she liked at Christmas.’

‘And how about this?’ She nodded at a hand-poured botanical candle labelled Spring Cottage.

Brann raised an eyebrow. ‘Smells like a posh meadow.’

‘Please tell me that’s not meant to be rude.’

‘I can’t make any promises.’

She rolled her eyes and added the candle to the basket – along with the wildflower gin, a tin of violet creams, a set of hand-painted ceramic coasters, and the herb planter. Then Brann slipped in a chocolate bunny dusted with shimmer and waggled his eyebrows.

‘Is this for Lucinda too?’

‘Possibly.’

‘She runs my entire Edinburgh operation and you want me to give her this?’

‘Na, you’re right. I’ll keep it for myself.’

They wandered through to the home décor section – floral table runners, woven baskets, pastel vases, and garden lanterns on display like it was a magazine spread. Ophelia mentally redecorated their entire kitchen.

‘You’d look great lying across that bench. Surrounded by daffodils. In nothing but your fabric samples.’

She gave him a pointed look. ‘You are a menace.’

‘And yet, here you are – engaged to me. Fully aware of the consequences.’

Ophelia reached up, kissed him on the cheek, and murmured, ‘Just wait till we get home. You can show me how great you’d look lying on a bench with nothing but your tool belt.’

Brann’s grin could have powered the fairy lights.

Lucinda’s birthday hamper ended up exquisite – though with a surprising number of extra chocolates that seemed to have slipped in when she wasn’t looking. But as Ophelia and Brann left Duchan Fayre, hand in hand under a drift of bunting, she knew she’d got a better deal than anything on the shelves here.

Even if he came with a chocolate addiction and a permanent side of cheek.