Page 79 of Fire and Icing

I don’t, of course. But I would if the setting and circumstances were different.

The host stops by our station with one minute left on the clock. “You two are couple goals. Have you thought about opening a bakery together?”

I smile, grateful for both the compliment and the distraction from my thoughts. When I glance at Emberleigh, she’s smiling, so I say, “Yes,” at the same time that Emberleigh says “No.” We both chuckle. And then Emberleigh clarifies, “I already own a bakery with my partner. And, did you just witness his frosting skills? He’d put us out of business.”

“I think I keep you in business with my donut purchases,” I say, adding a wink for good measure.

Emberleigh’s mouth tips up in a soft smile and the corners of her eyes crinkle. Then she steps back, crosses her arms andassesses me, checking to see that she got all the frosting and filling off of my face.

I stand still, loving every minute of her attention. Call me desperate. After this contest, I don’t know where things will land. I’m relatively certain she’ll still consider me a friend. Will she still want me around—outside my visits to her bakery, apart from my role in the contest? Only time will tell.

The buzzer sounds throughout the room. Some couples are still scrambling to plate their cupcakes. Others, like us, finished ahead of time. We all step back from our cook stations.

Instinctively, I wrap my arm around Emberleigh’s waist in a gesture of support. Our moment of reckoning is near. We’ll either go through to the next round, or we’ll head home tonight.

I look down at our cupcakes. They look amazing. The brown toasted coloring on the swirled homemade marshmallow topping adds this next-level feel to the cupcake. I don’t know how these won’t pass inspection, but I’m just a guy with a sweet tooth. What do I know?

Emberleigh leans in and whispers, “You’re good at this.”

“At what?”

“Pretending.”

If only she knew how real this feels to me. Because I’m all in—and this fake dating thing? It’s getting harder to fake by the second.

Chapter 17

Emberleigh

Practice is everything.

~ Periander

We lost three couples today.And we’re staying. The cameras stopped rolling ten minutes ago. The lights are still hot, and I’m sweating. But we’re in.

One of the judges steps toward us, clipboard in hand, expression unreadable until he stops right in front of me.

“That honey marshmallow cupcake surprised me.”

I blink. “Surprised you?”

“In a good way,” he adds. “You elevated a childhood classic. That kind of nostalgia done well—rare. I’m Geoffrey, by the way. Or Jeff. Americans usually call me Jeff.”

He turns slightly toward Dustin, pausing.

“And you … you held your own. I guess.”

I glance at Dustin. His polite smile is tight, nearly a grimace. I’ve never seen him smile without warmth. Does he realize this is a judge—one of the six people determining our fate?

Geoffrey leaves us without another word. He smiles at me as he goes.

“He liked you,” Dustin says flatly.

“He liked our cupcake.”

“Pretty sure he liked the baker, too.”

“Dustin!” I whisper-hiss. “He’s a judge.”

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