Page 10 of Wild Desire

"Is Cal giving you a hard time?" Carolina asked me.

"Why would you say that?" I asked her, my stomach dropping.

"I read online that people are complaining about the price of your donuts," Carolina said.

"He said something about it." If it was on social media, maybe I should consider reducing my price. But then it wouldn't be worth my time.

"Let me guess, Cal didn't offer to reduce his percentage of the profits?" Eli asked.

I laughed without any humor. "Of course not."

"Whenever you're ready, you can sell your donuts exclusively here."

I shook my head. "You don't get the traffic that Cal does. I'm not sure I'd sell six hundred donuts here."

"You're selling six hundred donuts a day?" Killian asked me.

"And they sell out before lunch." They were selling out more and more quickly. I thought it had something to do with word of mouth. But complaints wouldn't help my business. I wondered if I should cut back until I could be sure the demand was still there.

Oliver whistled. "That's amazing."

"Yeah, it's been steadily growing." It was guaranteed income from week to week that I used to help my family. I didn't always have parties booked or interior-design jobs. It was past the holidays, so the steady income I'd been getting from the Wildes for holiday decorating was over.

"You're a personal assistant, and you make donuts?" Killian said.

"That's right." I picked up whatever jobs I could. But I wasn't going to tell him that. He didn't understand what it was like to hustle. He'd always been gifted with talent and luck. Sure, he worked hard in his field, but he was rewarded handsomely.

"Our Noelle is a hard worker," Eli said proudly, as if I was somehow related to him and the Wildes.

"OurNoelle?" Killian asked.

A slow smile spread over Eli's face. "We treat her right, which is why eventually she's going to leave Cal and give us exclusive rights to her donuts."

"Exclusive?" I'd been reluctant to do that because I preferred selling to whoever wanted my donuts. More sales were better than exclusivity, or at least that's what I'd assumed.

"You only sell your donuts here. Not at Cal's."

I frowned. "He gets good traffic on Main Street in town. Here, I'd only be getting guests of the lodge."

"We're planning to offer programs for locals, yoga on Sunday morning, guided nature walks in the summer."

Killian looked from Eli to Oliver. "Who's leading guided nature walks?"

"Xander. It was his idea," Oliver said simply.

"Hmph," Killian said.

I wondered what he was thinking. Did he feel left out because the rest of his family was so invested in the resort?

"Are you serious about my donuts?" I asked Eli.

He nodded. "We want them, and we're willing to do whatever it takes to get them."

"Your negotiating tactics aren't the best. You're laying your cards on the table for anyone to see." Killian leaned back in his chair.

"You must not know Noelle very well. She's stubborn. We have to pull out all the stops to get her to work with us." Eli winked at me.

I chuckled. "That's not the case."

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