Page 43 of Flirting with the Stranger

“We’ll be making a lemon cake filled with blue sprinkles and a duo of pink and blue frosting.” I pull out my tablet from my bag and pull up a picture and pass it to Van.

He studies the picture for a moment. “So, I take it the blue sprinkles means it’s a boy?”

“You got it. Also, we only have three days to make one hundred cupcakes.” I raise my eyebrows and flash him a tight smile.

He stares down at the picture and back at me. “Uh…is that even possible?”

“If we get started right now.”

Van glances back at the tablet. “But the most important question is, who invites a hundred people to a baby party?”

“Gender reveal party. And if you knew this girl, you wouldn’t be surprised.” I pull up the recipe to write down all the ingredients we’ll need.

“I don’t even know a hundred people. Let alone know them well enough to invite them to a party. Now that I think about it, I know a girl who would do exactly that.” Van rubs his chin.

I jot down the list and toss the tablet back into my bag. “We better get shopping. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”

* * *

An hour later, we arrive back at the bakery with arms full of ingredients. We set bags on the table and organize everything.

“This should be easy. We make all the cupcakes, frost them, put them into boxes, and wait until the day of the party to deliver them.” Van rubs his hands together like he has everything figured out.

“Well, not really. Of course, the host wants cream cheese frosting, which is a pain when it comes to baking ahead of time because the frosting needs to be refrigerated.” I pull out the bricks of cream cheese from the bag and hold them up. “The cream cheese frosting should only be at room temperature for about two hours for food safety reasons. With these, timing is everything. We can start with baking the cakes and we can make the frosting ahead of time to keep in the fridge. The morning of the party, we’ll have to come in early, let the frosting come to room temperature for an hour, frost them, and deliver them to the party.”

Van stares at me, jaw open and wide eyed, as if I spoke to him in a foreign language. “I trust you know what you’re doing because all of that just went over my head.”

“Don’t worry, I’m good at telling you what to do.” I flash him a wink.

“In the bakery. I got it covered everywhere else.”

We spend the next several hours baking cupcakes and mixing frosting. Baking with Van is so easy, and he makes it fun. I don’t remember the last time I’ve smiled and laughed so much. It was never like this with my ex-fiancé, even after years of working side by side in culinary school and even afterward when we had plans to start our own bakery.

I steal a glance over at Van as he scoops frosting into a bowl. He has a smear of frosting on his cheek. I take a few steps toward him and bring my hand up to brush off the frosting with my thumb. The contact startles him and his eyes meet mine.

“You had frosting on your cheek.” My voice is low.

“Thanks.” His voice is deep and throaty.

Desire pools behind his dark chocolate irises as if he doesn’t kiss me this instant, he might die. Butterflies swarm in my belly. Instantly, my nipples pebble beneath my shirt and I nibble on my bottom lip. His gaze darts down and watches the movement. He drops the spatula and prowls toward me. His hand comes up to rest on my hip.

From behind us, my phone buzzes, interrupting our moment. “I better check that.”

Reluctantly, I break away from Van and check my phone. I quickly scan the message and type out a reply.

I turn back around to face Van. “Parisa’s having a crisis. She’s trying to hang something up in the nursery but Seth is at The Lilith House so she needs my help.” I glance around the messy kitchen. “I hate to leave all this for you to clean up…”

“Don’t worry about it. Nothing needs to get baked, so I can handle it.”

“You’re the best. I promise to make it up to you later.” I pull my apron over my head and toss it on to a table.

“You know, I’m going to hold you to that.”

I give him a flirty smile. “I know.” I rise to my tippy toes and press a kiss to his cheek. I grab my bag and walk out the backdoor.

* * *

VAN

---