Page 39 of Cupcake

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There was so much shock, surprise, awe, confusion, and questions inside her that I didn’t know what to address first.

“Yes, with Brady. I’m not sure about the finally part.”

Her eyes rolled nearly all the way around before she pinned them on me again. “Pretend all you want, but we both know finally is the perfect word. You’ve been dancing around each other for years! Oh my God!” she exclaimed, waving her hand in front of her face. “I think I’m having a heart attack. I need to sit down.”

“Don’t be dramatic,” I sighed, crossing my arms over my chest since I was getting cold, too. “It’s only been recently that I started to trust him enough to consider taking this step.”

“He’s been dating as much as you have,” my bestie pointed out.

“He has, but like me, it’s been half-hearted.” Her brow went up in the air, and I held up my hand. “I believe him. What he said in so many words reflected my experiences with dating. He could never find someone who was just the right match. Everyone was always just a hair off-center.”

She motioned at the door of the cooler. “Because the one who was the right match was standing right there the whole time!”

“You are quite excitable this morning,” I said on a yawn. “How much coffee have you had.”

“It has nothing to do with coffee and everything to do with the fact that I got eight hours of sleep because I wasn’t boinking the baker!”

“Boinking the baker. I like that. I bet a chick could write a whole romance novel based on that title alone.”

Amber lowered her brow at me and growled. “You’re deflecting.”

I held up my hands in defense. “I will not argue that I was boinking the baker, and all I’m going to say is, that boy knows how to knead.”

Her eyes widened, and then laughter tumbled out until she had to sit down on the floor and lean against the door. “I can’t tell you how thrilled I am right now. I knew something was up because I’ve rarely ever seen you like this.”

“Like what?” I asked curiously.

“Happy. Really, truly, you can’t bring me down, happy. I’ve seen it once before, and that was eight years ago when we opened the doors of The Fluffy Cupcake. I haven’t seen it since. I’m so relieved to know he’s going to take care of you now.”

I took a step forward and knelt in front of her, sticking my finger in her chest. “I don’t need anyone to take care of me, most especially a man!”

“Whoa, simmer down, Petunia,” she whispered, using her childhood nickname for me. It’s funny what happens when you pick someone else’s petunias. You get a nickname for life. “I just meant sexually and maybe, eventually, your heart.” Amber stood and hugged me tightly. “Brady told me he was worried he’d screwed it all up when he kissed you in the cooler.”

“We talked about it, and he apologized. He promised it wouldn’t happen again and that us sleeping together upstairs wouldn’t change anything when we are downstairs.”

She tucked my hair back behind my ears and straightened my apron. “Do you believe him?”

“Time will tell, but for the most part, I do. He’s never been about his ego, and I don’t see that changing now. He has had multiple opportunities to have issues being managed by two women, and he never has.”

“No, he hasn’t. I don’t think he’s wired that way. He’s easy to work with because he’s a team player. He isn’t afraid to take criticism and work harder the next time to prove himself. Guys like him are hard to come by, as you know.”

I nodded and took a deep breath, reminding myself that sleeping with Brady was completely different than being in a relationship with him. “I do know, and that probably helped me see that Brady’s a different kind of man. He embraces what other men find off-putting—from my hips to my ass to the fact that I own a bakery. None of that fazes him.”

Amber snorted and rolled her eyes to her hairline. “Not true. The hips and ass, those faze him. He hasn’t taken his eyes off them all morning.”

“That might be due to the promise I made him of a repeat performance tonight,” I said on a wink as I pushed past her and threw the door open.

Brady stood by the door with his arms crossed. “I was worried. Your cupcakes almost burned.”

“I knew you’d look out for my cupcakes,” I said, hip-checking him on my way by to the oven. “But also,” I tapped the timer clipped to the pocket of my coat.

He grinned and kept his arms crossed over his chest as I started pulling cupcakes out of the oven. “What are you doing?” I finally asked without making eye contact.

“Trying to remind myself this is my place of employment, and ravishing you here would be a bad idea.”

“A terrible one,” Amber said, coming out of the cooler with more cupcakes. “At least if I’m in the room.”

All three of us laughed, but it was when Amber left that he stepped up to me and closed the oven door after the last pan was pulled. “She knows?”