Page 2 of Always the Baker

“Yes, this again.”

“Ian, there’s only so much I can do. Mom needs help and she can’t afford to pay someone else. What do you want me to do? Not help her?”

Ian sucked his teeth. “I just don’t understand why you value struggling with her more than you do building something for yourself. Hell, we can’t even spend time together because of howtired you are after work. She has you working all these long hours, and for what? A few hundred dollars a week?”

Scoffing, Billie crossed her arms over her chest. “We don’t spend time together for more reasons than one. It’s notjustmy job.”

“Yeah, but that’s a lot of it. Truth is…” He paused and shifted slightly. “I’m not as attracted to you as I used to be. I’m not as invested in this relationship anymore. You’re not the woman I thought you were.”

Her heart contracted and eyes watered, but she had too much pride to let any tears fall. “How long have you felt like this?”

Ian shrugged but wasted no time saying, “Maybe a year.”

Chuckling, Billie nodded as she stood. “So for the last year, all the times I asked you about our future, our next steps, when you were going to propose… you never thought to mention this?”

“It never seemed like the right time.”

“But now is?” When he didn’t respond, Billie headed toward the closet. With no clear destination in mind, she grabbed her suitcase and opened it, lying it flat on the carpeted floor.

“What are you doing?” he asked, leaning against the doorframe.

“What does it look like?”

“Are you leaving?”

“Uh, yeah. You just said you’re not attracted to me and invested in our relationship anymore.”

“Well, yeah, but you don’t have to leave tonight. Where are you going to go?”

Billie released a bark of laughter as her eyes blurred with tears. “Like you care.”

“I do. I mean… I want us to be over, but I still care about you.”

“Wow.” She wiped a quickly fallen tear, in complete disbelief over how her day was ending. Things may have been kind of drybetween them lately, but she never thought it would have been because of that. “You know what? I’m just gonna go now. I’ll get my things when you’re at work tomorrow.”

As she breezed past him, Ian tried to grab her hand, but she jerked it away. His touch made her shiver—andnotin a good way. The last thing she wanted to do as she grabbed her purse and keys was go back to her parents’ place, but there was no way in hell she’d spend the little pocket money she had on a hotel room. She briefly considered going to Ember’s apartment but didn’t want her asking a million questions. Ignoring Ian calling her name, she slipped into her shoes and headed out of the door just as quickly as she’d came.

Prologue

Him

Brax staredat Amalia as she fixed her makeup at the small, two person table. It was the weekend before Valentine’s Day, and since Brax would be traveling on the actual holiday, he wanted to make sure he spoiled her before he left. He had a full weekend of romance planned, but she was sitting there nonchalantly fixing her lipstick after telling him she didn’t want any of it.

“Excuse me?” He sat up and lowered his voice. “What did you just say?”

Amalia waited until she was done to put her compact mirror back in her Birkin bag to respond. “I said whatever you have planned you can cancel. I only want one thing.”

With a chuckle, Brax ran his tongue over his cheek. The last year of their relationship had been a wild ride. When they first met, Brax found her sexy but wasn’t interested because she wasn’t his type. They didn’t have anything in common. Because Amalia was a social media influencer with several millionfollowers on her platforms, his PR team advised him that being seen with her at a few events would be a good look for his career.

What started as a few planned run-ins for the pair turned into Amalia reminding Brax of the importance of living and having fun. Somewhere between random trips, sex, and shopping sprees, his heart opened to the beauty, and he fell for her—hard. But when they weren’t together, he was reminded of the fact that their bond was based on a very shallow foundation.

“You don’t even know what I have planned yet.”

“I know, but I don’t want you to waste our time or your money. I can just tell you what I want.”

“Fine. What do you want?”

“I want you to pay for me to get a BBL. If you’re feeling extra generous, I want veneers too. I’ve been looking into this dentist in Turkey, but I’m not sure if I want to travel all that way just for them to be a little cheaper.”

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