Page 70 of Cloud Storm

I touch his handsome face, trying to soothe his thoughts with my fingers.

“We already talked about that. You said how sorry you were about it.”

My heart breaks to see his eyes so full of sadness.

“Tell me about your show.”

“It’s not my show, I’m just a contestant.”

“I’m certain you’ll be the star of the show. Tell me everything about it.”

I tell him the whole story while he listens with rapt attention. The way his eyes change, they’re so deep. They aren’t just plain green, they have so many colors, reflecting his emotions. A girl could spend many hours just looking at them.

Now I’m talking like a moon-eyed idiot.

Encouraged by his questions, I tell him how Roselynn nailed me a spot on the show with Oliver’s help. I explain about the three challenges and the way the judges assign the points and eliminate contestants.

“I have the best assistant, but our timings are very tight, so we need to keep testing our recipes. The stress is killing me.”

“I have the best anti-stress reliever right here,” he jokes, pushing his hard body over mine.

Yes, hard, as in everywhere.

“You’re impossible! Men have a one track mind, right?” I joke, but I really want him to have his way. At least that would change the subject, and I hate talking about myself.

He smirks, his deep eyes focused on mine.

“You got this,” he says, his confident statement makes me believe him.

“How do you know?”

“Because you’re invincible, you were born to be a star, Ariel. I kicked your ass out of my office and that still didn’t stop you. Look at you now, you proved me wrong. You’ll win that fucking contest with your eyes closed.”

Woah, Suit. You’re fighting hard, eh?

“I wish I had your faith.”

There’s just a week left and I still have so much to do. It’s insane.

I make another attempt to leave the bed, and the house. Going to the bakery today isn’t just a whim, there’s so much to do there.

“I have faith enough in you for the both of us,” he says. “You will win that contest, and I will be there with a huge balloon bouquet cheering you on from the bleachers.”

“You’re too snobby to do that.”

He moves swiftly, like a fox, trapping me with his arms.

“Let me show you how snobbish I can be.” His mouth traps one of my nipples and I want to stay here inside the ivory walls of his room, doing this forever.

???

Lancelot has changed my world once more. This time for the better.

I’ve been in his bed every night since last Saturday, and during the day, when I’ve had to go to the bakery, he’s come with me. I’ve only been to my apartment for clothes, nothing else.

He says this guarantees him the best baked goods in the entire town when they’re just out of the oven.

The first time Roselynn found him sitting on a stool in front of the counter while I was whisking some strawberry frosting, I thought she would make a big fuss about it. Instead, she just greeted him and gave me a glare which meant we needed to talk later. But we haven’t had the chance, because Lancelot is taking some free time from work to recover and guess where he’s spending said free time?

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