Page 61 of Bake You Mine
Once two thirty came and went, Aubrey and her intern, Annabelle, slid out of the truck and collapsed onto one of the benches facing the giant, bubbling fountain.
Ashley and Mary were already on their way to Gary’s office.
“That felt like three seconds, not hours,” Annabelle said.
“Tell me about it.” Aubrey chugged down a large bottle of water.
The door to Liam’s truck flung open, and he hopped out, fresh as a spring daisy.
He jogged across the park, pausing to toss a penny into the fountain like the Disney hero he was.
She laughed to herself. Even if she lost in the long run, she’d be happy for all they’d been through. She never would have had the courage to approach him otherwise. Now, he gazed at her as if she were the prize. Maybe they were both starting to lose their competitive edge.
“I’m going to start cleaning up so we can get back to Petit Chou ASAP.” Annabelle returned to the truck as Liam flopped onto the bench beside Aubrey.
“Well, I think that went well, don’t you?”
“You had time to think? I barely had time to breathe.” She blew a strand of hair free of her eyes.
He nudged her knee. “Breathing? Isn’t that so twentieth century?”
She laughed. “You charming fucker, you.” She looked up, her heart stuttering when she found those brown eyes already focused on her.
“You think you’ll be able to stick around until the winner’s announced?” he asked.
Aubrey’s phone buzzed with a text, and she reached for it. Liam mirrored her actions and arched his hips upward to pull his phone out of his pocket, temporarily making her forget what she was doing, as well as her name.
She recovered before he noticed and tapped on the notification.
“Four-thirty at his office. They’re going to startcomparing the figures soon.” Liam stood up. “That means I’d better get back to help with dinner prep. I’ll see you there.” He crouched in front of her and acted like he was going to kiss her, but he must have thought better of it. Not that there were many people about anyway, but still. “Then we’ll see who gets to decide what happens after.”
He took off before she could reply. Nervousness hummed through her body, and not just because she was anxious about the results. Of course, the competition mattered to her, but so did Liam. And if he’d won, she had a pretty good feeling she was the spoils he was after.
eighteen
Liam hardly noticedthe journey from Elevation to Gary’s office. He was eager to hear the results. As he stepped into reception, the ringmaster himself was visible through the clear conference room windows, hovering over a laptop with his accountant.
Of course, Aubrey had beaten him there. She sat opposite Gary’s desk in one of the guest chairs, jogging her knee. “Gary said it’s going to be another minute. He’s double-checking everything.”
“Nervous?” He reached forward to swipe one of the mints Gary kept in a jar on his desk.
“Aren’t you? Or is that hot chef confidence carrying you through?” She gave him a light punch on the arm. “I saw you snuck into Petit Chou and took a picture with the chocolate cake in the display case. Nice joke.”
“You’re not mad, are you?”
“No. Besides, it’s not like you’ve made something terrible for me to do if you win and I don’t.”
“Oh, I have my ideas,” he said. He waggled his eyebrowssuggestively. “I was thinking more like if I win the whole shebang, you let me take you away somewhere nice. You, me, and a bed with a view.”
Aubrey started to sputter out a reply. Their ringmaster interrupted them by sweeping into the room.
“The people have spoken! More importantly, the results have been verified!”
Ben trailed behind him, ready to snap their photos for the city’s social media accounts.
Gary walked through the room, waving a piece of paper. Liam squinted to try to get a look. Gary caught on to his spying and held it close to his chest as he settled into his grand leather chair and rolled it up to his desk.
“As with everything with this competition, we needed to double-check the figures to make sure no transaction was missed. It was that close.” He pulled out the paper to regard it. “I doubt either of you is interested in the statistics of it all, am I right?”
