Page 39 of Witchful Thinking

“Pass the—” Alex blinked at her, amused. “I don’t eat seaweed for dinner.”

“You know what I mean.”

Lucy felt her cheeks burn. She’d spent last night filling out her profile, trying hard not to scare off potential dates with her witchy wiles. There’d been a few interested messages in her inbox, but no one really interested her. She really wanted to date Alex, but he didn’t fit her life. The moment Alex had a Sold sign on his front lawn and the payment hit his account, he’d leave town. She didn’t want to accidentally slip her heart in his back pocket when he walked away.

“You helped me out with Marcus. Don’t feel obligated to keep helping me.”

Alex placed a hand on her shoulder. “You’re never an obligation. I should be lucky to be considered a candidate for your soul mate.”

Her heart squeed for a long second. Shut it down. She needed to keep her head on straight. The most she could do was invite him to indulge in his sweet tooth.

“Well, then, I’d like to invite you to the cakewalk.”

“I’d love to go. When is it again?”

“Next week Sunday. I know I have time to prepare but I’m still freaking out.”

“You entered the cakewalk. Are you making your cowboy blondies?” His eyes lit up. “Can I come over and lick your spoon?”

The thought of Alex licking any of her spoons in her kitchen made her knees buckle. Lucy bit her lip in regret.

“No. Sorry. I’m making a croquembouche.”

Alex went stock-still. His eyes widened. “You’re making a cream-puff tower?”

Lucy leaned back at his shocked tone. “Is that too hard for a home baker like me?”

“Can I give you some advice? I don’t want to give you advice you didn’t ask for.”

“Talk to me, Dwyer.”

“This dessert doesn’t complement your skills,” Alex said, appearing to be carefully considering her feelings. Lucy bristled slightly, but she listened. “So much can go wrong with croquembouche. You can burn the caramel. The cream puffs can slide down. You can over-pipe the balls—it’s rough.”

He sounded like he had firsthand experience with this dessert.

“Did you date a baker?” she asked.

“I was engaged to one,” Alex said softly. “She wanted it to be our wedding cake. I said I’d like cake slices, but she said it would be more elegant.”

“I didn’t know.” Lucy’s shoulders drooped a fraction. The last thing she wanted to do was to bring up a past heartache. Alex held up a hand, waving off her worry.

“It’s okay. I’m fine. I’m worried about you. Have you ever made a cream puff?”

“Once,” Lucy said. Doubt crept up her neck. She tried to divine how her baking experience would go, but all she could see was lots and lots of used mixing bowls piled up in the sink.

“Try making sixty cream puffs at once,” Alex said. “Then you lose half of those puffs because you stuff them with too much cream. The cream will get all over you. Sorry, that sounded dirty.”

Lucy bit the side of her cheek. Sirena would ban her from the kitchen if she left anything out of order or a mess. This cake of her dreams was quickly turning into a possible nightmare. Maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as she feared.

She faced Alex, trying to project confidence that she didn’t feel. “I can handle dirty.”

“I never said you couldn’t.”

The flirtatious glow in his eyes gave Lucy pause. Okay. Was he talking about erasing-your-search-history dirty or putting-your-headphones-on-because-of-the-NSFW-soundsdirty? Never assume. She shook her head. Her imagination was completely out of control.

“What made you pick such a complicated dish?” Alex asked.

“It looked impressive. I figured go big or go home. What did you mean that this dish didn’t complement my skills?”

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