Page 81 of Bake You Mine
Kiki dutifully wiped her face, and his mother turned to him.
“How’s Aubrey?”
They hadn’t had much time together since Sunday’s haunted house. They were both busy getting their segments ready forSunrise Washington.
She was nervous about being on live TV, but he’d assured her the odds of something going wrong were slim.
She’d been the one to drill into his head that he should practice his timing and bring a backup brain just in case of disaster. She was kind, even to someone who could potentially snatch her dream right out of her hands.
His mother smiled. “You two are good for each other. Sometimes that’s not enough, but is it for you two? I think it just might be.”
In the days since Liam had told her about meeting with Jason Morse, Aubrey couldn’t shake a bad feeling. She’d already been hesitant before he’d dropped that bombshell. Now, she was as skittish as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
His face lit up when he talked about his life before returning to Port Fortune. She relished her time in Paris, so that feeling was easy for her to understand. A golden hue covered that period—she was young, happily married, learning her trade, and thriving as a mother.
Enough time had passed, so she no longer craved it.
On a recent scroll through review sites to check on Petit Chou’s ranking (back at a solid 4.4, despite the shitty reviews), she’d noticed Elevation’s numbers had dipped slightly.
It’s a great place to eat—if you can get through the door! My girlfriend and I thoroughly enjoyed our experience at Elevation. This restaurant deserves the high praise bestowed on it. But it took us four solid tries on multiple days of the week to get a table, and only afterwaiting for nearly forty minutes! Elevation needs a bigger space, STAT, or people will give up trying.
She set her phone down on the counter and sighed. As much as she’d love the space and the big fat check, she knew if Liam didn’t win, he’d be out of Port Fortune sooner or later.
Even though they were even entering the third challenge, the odds were stacked in his favor to win. Still, she wouldn’t count herself out just yet. As much as it would hurt if Liam left, she would be damned if she gave up now.
twenty-four
“If I didn’t know better,I’d swear you were up to something.”
It was late afternoon, roughly half an hour before sunset. Liam rode his motorcycle out from the alley and onto Silver Spring Street. “Other than redeeming the IOU for one ride with my girl?”
Her heart tumbled over her feet—his girl.
“Gimme one sec, okay?” He left the bike and went inside. She leaned against the wall, trying to settle her heart. Even her damned overthinking brain wouldn’t get her down tonight.
He appeared with a pink motorcycle helmet tucked under his arm. “Couldn’t have you riding around unprotected. I needed a second helmet anyway.” He passed it to her.
She tilted it back and forth so it caught the light. It wasn’t only pink but also had a unicorn-like shimmer.
“Do you like it?”
“It’s pink and sparkly, duh, of course I do.”
He laughed and leaned forward. She caught a kiss he laid against her brow. “I figured basic black wouldn’t do for my girl.”
There they were again, those two impossible words.
“You figured right.” She let him kiss her again, this time on the lips.
He cradled her jaw in his hand. “You ready to ride?”
“Still no hints about the destination?”
“Close enough that I’ll be back in time to get back to work, but far enough for it to be an adventure. Well, that might be overselling it. It’s apetitadventure. See what I did there?”
She gave him a gentle shove. “I did, even though I’m not sure I wanted to.”
He left her there and slung his leg over the bike. It roared to life a moment later. “Hop on, Aubs.”
