Page 26 of A Different Kind of Hooker

“Eliza, we’re big boys,” Sean said, tossing his arm around her shoulder. “We need lots of cookies to fill us up. Plus, I can’t possibly go home emptyhanded. My wife would kill me, and my kids would never forgive me. Is that the kind of future you want for me?”

Eliza’s lips twitched. “I suppose not.”

“Look, we’ll keep ouraward-winningcookies, and you guys can keep your runner-ups,” Charlie said, always finding the middle ground.

“You guys are going to lose,” Sean repeated. “No way am I going to let my children down.”

“Let’s do it for the children,” Eliza announced, the bake-off underway.

*****

Eliza~

What amazed me most about the episode was how many people had tuned in to watch. The guys must have told their family and friends, because there were hundreds of people tuned in, and I couldn’t believe how happy I was over something so simple. Yeah, I knew that I still had a long way to go with my viewership, but I had no problem being patient when I had to be.

“Okay, who wants to try the cookies first?” I asked. “We should probably make sure that their edible before we waste time decorating them.”

“No problem,” Sean quickly rushed out before popping one in his mouth.

“I’m the taster for our team,” Oscar announced as he reached for one of their cookies.

Sean gave the camera a thumbs-up. “Perfect.”

“Not as perfect as ours,” Oscar countered around a mouthful of diabetes.

Ignoring all the testosterone around me, I faced the camera again. “Well, now that it’s been established that the cookies are edible, it’s time for the decorating portion of our show.”

“Okay, to prevent any stealing of ideas, we need a barrier,” Heron announced.

“Did you just call us thieves?” Charlie asked, affronted.

“No,” Heron lied. “I called you guys unoriginal.”

“We can grab a sheet, then hang it across the counter,” Sean suggested.

Five minutes later, one of my extra bedsheets was hanging from my kitchen ceiling, blocking us on two sides. Though I hadn’t been sure about this at first, I found myself actually having fun, and I was also noticing how my channel kept getting new viewers. Granted, a bunch of sexy men in one room had a way of attracting attention like that.

“Okay, we have five cookies each,” Christian recapped. “So, let’s write down our ideas for each cookie, that way those assholes don’t overhear our creative collaborations.”

“Uhm, this is a family-friendly channel,” I said. “Not sure if we should be calling them assholes.”

“Sweetie, I think if you’re going to keep having us on here as guests, then you should probably up that age-friendly thing,” Sean snorted.

“Quit calling my girlfriend pet names,” Heron called out from the other side of the bedsheet.

“Quit being a possessive dingdong,” Sean fired back. “Considering that I’m a happily married man, you know it’s innocent.”

“Don’t care,” Heron shot back. “Her name is Eliza.”

“Can we call her Lizzy?” Christian asked, grinning.

“No,” Heron answered. “Call her Eliza, that’s her name.”

“I like Lizzy,” Christian insisted. “Or we can call her Zee. Zee sounds more badass.”

As my eyes darted around the kitchen, I said, “Uhm, we should probably get to work on decorating the cookies. Plus, my best friend already calls me Zee, so…I guess that’s okay.”

“Actually, sugar cookies really don’t need decorating,” Oscar announced like a cookie expert. “They’re good the way they are.”

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