Page 28 of My Dream

Fallon

I leaned back and rubbed the back of my neck and tried to relieve the ache from being hunched over for so long. Adalee and I had been at it for hours with our heads buried in notebooks and poster boards while trying to finalize every detail for The Cakery. We’d nailed down the menu—a feat in itself—but we wanted to add something extra: a new limited-time cake flavor every week. The idea sounded exciting and ambitious, but it also felt like a mountain of work. Still, we couldn’t help but smile at the thought of customers coming back week after week, eager to try the latest creation.

“It’s going to be a lot,” I said and glanced at Adalee. She tapped her pen against her chin thoughtfully. “Yeah, but it’s going to be worth it,” she replied. She was just as determined as I was to make this work.

At first, the cameras had been distracting. The lens constantly trained on us as we worked was a bit much. Eventually, they faded into the background and just became part of the scenery. Adalee and I were too excited about The Cakery to let them bother us. The rest of the club shared our enthusiasm, too. Sloane and Dove had already claimed dibs on working the front end and were eager to charm customers. Adalee was set to be the baking master, of course. Poppy andOlive had volunteered to fill in wherever needed, while the guys—unsurprisingly—declared themselves official taste testers.

“This is all great,” Adalee said. She smiled wide as she scanned our plans. “We still need to figure out the setup, but we can’t do much until we know where we’re going to be.”

“Friday!” Fade called from across the room. “Chill, woman. You’ll get your answers on Friday.”

The camera swung to capture Fade’s grin before panning back to us. I shook my head, still a little weirded out by how surreal all of this was.

“Uh, I think I’m going to go chill in my room for a second,” I said and pushed back from the bar.

Before I could take a step, Compass was on his feet and moved toward me. His hand rested lightly on my waist as I leaned into him, and I found comfort in him being so close. Across the room, Clay looked up from his phone, his gaze sharp and direct as it locked on me. His look made my stomach twist, but Compass shifted slightly to block my view of Clay with his broad frame.

“Nap time?” I asked and looked up at Compass with a teasing smile.

He leaned down and brushed a soft kiss against my lips. “Maybe we’ll do some sleeping, babe.”

My heart stuttered at the casual affection, even though I knew it wasn’t real. “Okay,” I murmured, my voice barely above a whisper.

“I’ll start dinner around four if you want to help,” Adalee called, pulling me back to the moment.

I nodded and glanced over my shoulder at her. “I’ll be there. I can always peel a potato while you work your magic.”

Compass took my hand and led me out of the common room and down the hallway toward his room—our room. That part still felt strange. It was one thing to act like a couple infront of the cameras, but sharing a space added a new layer of intimacy I wasn’t sure I was ready for.

When we reached his door, Compass pulled out his keys and unlocked it with practiced ease. The faint scent of his cologne hit me as I stepped inside, and my nerves buzzed to life. The door closed softly behind us. It should’ve been a relief to be away from the cameras, but instead, it left me hyperaware of the quiet.

“You okay?” Compass asked. His voice was low and steady.

“Yeah,” I said quickly and tried to shake off my nerves. “I just needed a break.”

“You and Adalee put on a pretty good show. You deserve it.” He sat down on the bed and kicked off his boots before leaning back against the pillows.

“I don’t know,” I laughed and crossed my arms over my chest. “It probably got boring. We spent at least half an hour just Googling cake flavors. That can’t be riveting TV.”

He shrugged with a lazy grin on his lips. “They’ll edit out most of it. That’s how this works—hours of footage boiled down to ten episodes that are only forty-ish minutes each.”

I shifted on my feet, unsure what to do with myself. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Clay seemed to chill out,” Compass added, his tone casual but pointed.

“Uh, yeah, until we left,” I said and arched a brow. “I think you might’ve just hard-launched our relationship.”

“Better to get it over with,” he replied with a shrug.

“Maybe, but I’m pretty sure Clay’s still picking his jaw off the floor,” I said with a wry smile.

“Tool,” Compass muttered under his breath.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “You think the cameras caught it?”

“Probably,” he said, and his grin widened. “Come lay down. You’ve got a couple of hours before Adalee starts dinner. Might as well relax.”

“And do a little sleeping?” I teased. “I can’t believe you said that. It’s probably going to end up as a soundbite.”

---