by Haley Travis
I snuggled against his shoulder. “I’m so lucky to have nearly tumbled into your arms that day.”
Daniel turned to me. “Yeah, that’s right. I’ve been meaning to ask you. What the hell was with that roll?”
I shrugged, looking away. “Training. We had to know how to fall every possible way without being hurt. If you’re injured, you can’t run away at full speed. My parents and uncles made up all sorts of training games for my brother and I.”
He shook his head, wrapping his arms around me. “Well, I guess I’m glad that you didn’t land on your teeth that day. But what a weird way to raise a child.” His eyes suddenly locked on mine. “I don’t mean to offend you.”
My laugh echoed in the empty hall. “Weird doesn’t even come close. No problem.”
An officer poked his head around the corner, probably having heard my laugh. “Hey, Hill,” he said, striding toward us, then looking directly at me. “You must be the Bailey everyone’s talking about,” he said, extending his hand. “Stephen Clarkson.”
“Hi, nice to meet you,” I smiled warmly.
“Please excuse me, Bailey, I’m going to have to speak in secret police code for a moment,” he said, flashing me a wink. Turning to Daniel, he lowered his voice to a comical stage whisper. “That building you were keeping an extra eye on doesn’t need to be watched quite so closely anymore.”
Daniel snuck a look at me. “Are you saying that some naughty people have been locked up?”
“Yes. With buckets of irrefutable evidence that will keep them out of our way forever.”
I stared up at the chandelier. “Pretty lights,” I commented. “I certainly didn’t hear anything else.”
The men both chuckled, as Officer Clarkson took off to spread the news to someone else.
Daniel pulled me into a hug, his lips at my ear. “I don’t think I’ve ever congratulated a criminal before. And you know I can’t tell you that you did the right thing, Bailey. But you did a good thing.”
I sighed as relief flooded through me.
“Want to do another quick round of chatting, and then go get some real food?” Daniel asked. “All of your desserts are already gone, so there’s really no point to be here anymore.”
“Whatever you like, this is your shindig,” I said.
We walked back into the ballroom, hand in hand, where people were mingling and drinking at one end, and dancing at the other.
Before I even realized it was happening, Daniel had pulled me to the dance floor and into his arms. “I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t dance with you in that gorgeous dress,” he said gently, kissing the tip of my nose.
“Remember you said I should tell you when you’re being pushy?” I grinned up at him. “Once in a while, I like it.”
He spun me around the dance floor dramatically, until I didn’t even care that some people were staring. I realized with absolute delight that I didn’t have to play the part of starry-eyed girlfriend. It was the truth.
EPILOGUE
*** Six Months Later ***
My quiet, steady, regulated life now had the sparkle of a magical, adorable girlfriend. But I was greedy, and that just wasn’t enough for me.
I was terrified to let the excitement leave our relationship, so at least once a month I planned some sort of surprise. It wasn’t always something big, like a lovely dinner with all of her favorite foods in the private room of a fancy restaurant.
Once I rented a fun sports car and took her on a tour of several different local bakeries. She was already incredibly creative, but everyone needs inspiration sometimes. And I think it was good for her to see that her shop was already one of the best in the city.
Another time I took her bowling, even surprising her with loud old-fashioned bowling league shirts I found at the second-hand store. I knew she didn’t like me spending a lot of money on her, but an elephant coffee mug was only seven dollars. Every little thing, from flowers to chocolates to specialty tea seemed to delight her.
In return, she made me a fabulous packed lunch every time I stayed at her place. Which had been several times a week, these days. She had even taken to packing a gourmet sandwich for my partner Dave so that he wouldn’t be jealous.
We fit together perfectly. We planned to buy one of the adorable quaint houses a block away from her shop as soon as the next one came up for sale. Even the few times we’d had a tiny disagreement, we listened to the other person until we sorted it out.
One of the things I absolutely adored about Bailey was that she was a responsible adult, who was completely giving in to her whimsical second childhood. She was a brilliant businesswoman who happened to have purple sparkle star clips in her hair and a weird frog wristwatch.
Seeing her face light up every time someone came into her bakery flooded my heart with an amount of love that could barely be contained.
I decided that my next little surprise should be in her shop so that she would never see it coming. It was her personal space, but she had been wonderful about letting me into the kitchen to sit on a stool in the corner, chatting while she concocted an endless array of treats.
There was a pretty good chance that she would let me take over her kitchen just once, for just a second.
This time, I was watching the ebb and flow of customers until I knew the shop would be packed. Just before I was fairly certain a few small groups would arrive, I dashed in.
“Bailey, I know you’re busy, so I can do this myself.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked, surprised but smiling.
I pointed to one of her small birthday cakes in the display case, waiting to have someone’s name iced cross the top. “Can I grab this cake, and stick a donut on top of it? It’s someone’s birthday at the station, and I know he’ll crack up.”
“Sure, but I can–”
The bell rang over the door as four police officers came in. “You’re busy,” I said. “Just let me do it.”
“All right,” she shrugged.
As I took the cake and the donut back to the kitchen, I heard the officers mulling over every single sandwich option as if it were the most important decision they’d ever make.
Luckily, Bailey always left a couple of icing bags ready for quick birthday cake decorations. Holding the donut on top of the cake, I ran a couple of loops of frosting around it so it was stuck in place. Then I drew an empty circle in front of it, adding my own decoration to the center.
I could hear my colleagues still holding up the line, and it sounded like the bakery was packed.
I took a deep breath, holding up the cake so it was facing outward, slowly walking out to the front of the shop. The twenty people crowded in the small store, half of them cops, all became silent.
Bailey turned to look at me as I said, “What do you think?”
Her eyes dropped to see my donut cake, with a large diamond ring stuck in the center of a slightly off-kilter pink icing circle. Dropping to one knee, I held it up to her.
“Bailey, I adore you. Every time I see your smile, I feel like I’ve been hit by lightning. Will you please make me the happiest little policeman in town, and be my wife?”
She froze, her lovely blue eyes wide. It felt like every single person in the room had stopped breathing.
She blinked. Her jaw twitched. Then she swallowed hard as her right hand reached up in the air, grabbing the red rope and pulling hard. Her bright squeal of, “Yes!” rang through the store along with the cookie bell.
I barely had the cake safely on the counter before she jumped into my arms.
Screams and applause filled the air, but all I could hear was Bailey’s whisper against my lips. “I love you, Daniel. Yes.”
“I love you, Bailey. And I’m going to spend every day trying to find new ways to make you smile just like this.”
Her adorable grin nearly knocked me off my feet as she reached out to pick up the ring, saucily licking it clean, then handing it to me so that I could slip it onto her finger.
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She looked down with shock. “It fits perfectly.”
“Of course. I measured your finger with a ring sizer when you were asleep.”
Her mouth fell open as everyone around us laughed. “But… I’m such a light sleeper. How could you…” Her eyes squinched shut for half a second as she laughed. “Except when I’m with you. You little sneak.”
The police Captain clapped Daniel on the shoulder. “That’s some fine detective work, Hill.”
“You heard the free cookie bell,” Bailey called out. She pulled some trays out from under the counter, and let everyone help themselves.
Then she wrapped her arms around my neck, kissing me again. “You’re lucky I said yes. Imagine if I hadn’t with so many of your colleagues here.”
“I would have simply handcuffed you to the counter and recited every logical reason why we are perfect together until you said yes.”
“Wouldn’t that have been forcible confinement?” she laughed.
“I don’t think I’d give a damn,” I said, flashing her a wink.
“Daniel!” she gasped, clutching her left hand to her heart as she fluttered the diamond in the light. “Watch your language in front of my new ring.”
Then she held it up in front of her, taking a good look. The big round white diamond in the center was flanked on each side with a little pink diamond. The whole thing was set in rose gold.
Bailey looked up at me with a grin. “Pink and white?”
“Like a unicorn, of course.” I pointed my thumb behind me. “Mr. Pointy Head and I had a little meeting and agreed that would suit you. I also got you a chain, so you can wear it around your neck if you’re baking and your hands are covered in dough.”
Her eyes were absolutely sparkling. “You’re aware that my wedding dress might be ridiculous?”
“I’m completely expecting it.”
She pressed against me, nuzzling my ear as she whispered, “As long as we don’t use the word ‘expecting’ again for at least three years. Is that okay?”
“Absolutely. I want you all to myself for a little while. Plus, you’re going to have to train some people to run your shop over our honeymoon, our babymoon, then the first four months after the baby arrives.”
Her left eyebrow raised gracefully. “One month.”
“Three and a half months.”
Bailey pursed her lips, faking a glare. I don’t know why I loved it so much when she pretended to be stern with me. “This shop is my other baby. You get that, right?”
“We can negotiate later,” I said. Glancing at the donut cake on the counter, I chuckled. “I’ll take that over to the station for everyone to share. I assume you don’t want to sell my attempt at art.”
“Even though your icing work was stellar, yeah,” she giggled. “Save us two pieces for dinner though.” She leaned in to whisper in my ear, “You’ll have to come over tonight so we can celebrate this engagement.”
I kissed her in a manner that was entirely inappropriate for the workplace, especially in front of her customers, and my colleagues. But just this once, I was pretty sure that we got a free pass.
*** The End ***
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About the Author:
Romance author Haley Travis is from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She enjoys writing quirky, sexy modern romance, and loves creating interesting female characters who are at a turning point in their lives. Women who need a life shake up, not a man. But these things never go as planned, do they? Also, do people ever read author bios? Maybe this is a good place for secrets. Like the Facebook group “Haley Travis Romance”.
