“What do you mean?” Josie knelt to wipe up the mess.
“You’re so jumpy.”
“You’re the one who keeps coming in here and startling me,” Josie protested.
But that was a really weak comeback. And Zoe’s hand on her hip and raised eyebrow told Josie that her friend thought so too. Zoe came in and out through those swinging doors all the time, all day long, every day. There was no reason that it should be startling Josie. And honestly, Zoe hadn’t barged. Not this time or last.
Josie was anticipating Grant’s arrival to whisk her off on the “surprise” weekend trip to Chicago, and Josie knew that her chances of convincing Zoe that she’d known nothing about it were a million to one.
“I’m startling you?” Zoe asked. “Maybe if you had your mind here at work and not on the hot millionaire who’s been rocking your world, you wouldn’t be surprised when your partner walks into the kitchen of the bakery that you run together.”
Josie realized in that moment that Zoe often referred to them as partners. She often called Buttered Up theirs. And Josie had never noticed that it was strange. Or really thought about it being untrue.
But it was.
Grant had made her recognize that this morning.
Of course she knew that she didn’t own a part of the bakery or have a financial stake in it. But it really had always felt like theirs—hers and Zoe’s. Together.
Now, though, it felt weird to hear Zoe say it.
Josie frowned.
“You are thinking about Grant and sex!” Zoe said with a huge grin. “I knew it!”
“I’m… yes, I’m thinking about Grant,” Josie admitted. That much was true. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. You getting laid so well that you can’t concentrate on baking things you’ve made so many times you could do it in your sleep is so worth a few eggs!”
Josie blinked. “I’m… wait, what do you mean I can’t concentrate? I dropped a couple of eggs but… oh my God, did I make something wrong?”
Zoe laughed. “The blueberry muffins had no blueberries in them, and you left the sugar out of the chocolate ones.”
“What?”
“It’s okay,” Zoe assured her.
“It is not!” Josie couldn’t believe it. She’d never messed up baking like that.
“It’s fine. I just told everyone we were already sold out. Which was kind of true. We were sold out of the good ones.” Zoe gave her a wink, clearly enjoying this a lot.
Josie groaned. “This is such a mess.” Zoe didn’t even know all the ways that this was a mess.
A hot, gorgeous, bossy, protective, sweet mess.
Grant Lorre was like a molten lava cake covered in ganache. A little hard on the outside, but softer once you got past that outer layer, and downright hot and even gooey inside.
Okay, gooey might be pushing it. But the hot was exactly right.
Not to mention addictive.
And maybe bad for her in vast quantities…
“Hi!”
Zoe and Josie both swung toward the back kitchen door as Zoe’s mom and little brother came through.
“Hi, guys!” Zoe greeted.
She didn’t seem surprised to see them. Of course, Maggie and Henry came and went freely from the family bakery but it was early. The morning rush would have just died down, and this was the time Zoe and Josie spent cleaning up, restocking, and then diving into the orders that had been placed. It wasn’t as busy as the six-to-nine time frame, but they stayed pretty busy from six to noon every day. It wasn’t the best time for visits.
“Where do you want us to start?” Maggie asked, moving to the sink to wash her hands.
“You’re helping too?” Zoe asked her little brother.
Henry shrugged. “Mom said I can do cookies.”
Zoe nodded. “Great. But they can’t all be trolls.”
Josie laughed at that. The last cookies Henry had decorated in the bakery—a skill that Maggie insisted all three of her children learn—had been green blobs with eyes. He’d claimed they were trolls, but everyone knew they were Henry-didn’t-want-to-decorate-cookies cookies.
“Fine. I’ll do some ogres too,” Henry said with a grin. “But I’m going to need gray frosting.” He looked at Josie. “Do you have gray?”
Josie shook her head. “Sorry. All out. I made a bunch of ogres earlier this week.” Of course they could have gray frosting. They could mix any color. But Henry needed no encouragement.
He grinned. “Sure you did.”
“How about butterflies?” Josie teased. “Or teacups? Mrs. Landers loves to have teacup-shaped sugar cookies with her tea.”
Henry wrinkled his nose. “I have no idea how to decorate those.”
Maggie nudged him toward the sink. “Of course you could,” she said. “But I think Henry can do chocolate chip and peanut butter and the others that don’t need to be decorated. That might just be best for everyone.”
Zoe laughed. “I don’t know. I have to admit that we sold a bunch of those troll cookies.”
“All to Henry’s friends,” Josie reminded her.
“Still.” Zoe shrugged. “They had real money.”
They all laughed, but then Josie had to ask, “But why are you guys here helping—”
The back door opened again and a head poked through. “Hello?”
“Hey, Kelsey!” Zoe motioned for Jane’s little sister to come in.
“Jane said to come to the back, but I wasn’t sure if I should just walk in or what,” the slender brunette said, coming through the door. There was a pretty blond with her. “You guys know Aspen, my stepsister, right?” Kelsey asked.
“Sure. Hi, Aspen,” Zoe said. “This is so great. Welcome.” She crossed to give Kelsey a hug, then pulled Aspen in for a quick one as well. “I’m so happy that you’re doing this. It will be fun!”
She took Kelsey and Aspen over to the sink and showed them where to wash up and then grabbed them each an apron. Maggie and Henry had already moved to the other side of the kitchen. Maggie greeted the girls too, but she was busy pulling out ingredients and utensils for cookie making.
Josie just watched it all, stunned, and confused.
For one, what were they all doing here? For another, Aspen was here too? With Kelsey? The two girls, only a year apart in high school, fought all the time. Okay, lately they’d been doing better according to Jane. Dax had a lot to do with that apparently. But Josie had never expected to see them out together, just the two of them, on purpose.
Clearly, Jane had recruited them for… whatever this was.
Zoe came back to the middle island. Apparently she was going to teach Kelsey and Aspen cake pop making.
“What is going—”
But the back door opened again. This time Josie’s mouth actually dropped open.
“Hi, everybody!”
It was Paige.
Her sister.
“Paige! What are you doing here?” Josie rounded the island to go to her sister.
Paige was four years younger than Josie. Their other sister, Amanda, was four years older than Josie. She was married with two kids and was a teacher. She had her shit altogether. She was the epitome of put together and living the small-town dream. Josie was… where she was. Doing okay. Figuring it out. Paige, on the other hand, was a… free spirit. That was how their grandmother referred to her anyway. She wasn’t figuring anything out. Nor was she trying.
She owned the yoga studio in town, Cores and Catnip. It was actually a yoga studio and cat café. It was actually a yoga studio only because Paige had to have a place to keep her cat collection, and to afford them. And yes, the “collection” was a collection of real cats.
She was a twenty-one-year-old, crazy cat lady.
And completely unapologetic about it.
When people teased her that she’d never find a man who would tolerate that many cats, she always said, “Good.” And then got another cat.
In fairness, she worked to adop
t the cats out to new homes. But if they didn’t get adopted, she certainly wasn’t upset.
The craziest thing about Paige being here now, however, was that she didn’t eat white flour or sugar and never baked with either of them.
She was a vegetarian and baked only with things like almond and coconut flours. She never ate from Buttered Up.
“I’m here to help,” Paige said with a bright smile. That seemed genuine.
Josie hugged her gorgeous, young sister. “Help bake?”
“Well…” Paige looked over at Zoe. “Or maybe clean up or wait on customers or whatever.”
Zoe grinned at her. “I would let you bake if you want to.”
“I’m willing to try.”
“But you can’t sneak in any artificial sweeteners,” Zoe said.
“Stevia comes from a plant,” Paige told her. “Just like sugar comes from sugarcane.”
“You still can’t use it.”
Paige sighed. “Fine.”
Josie shook her head. This seemed like a very bad idea.
“I don’t understand what’s going on at all.”
“Grant set this up,” Zoe said, her eyes twinkling. “But that’s all I should say.”
Grant had set this up? Because he knew that Josie was uncomfortable leaving Zoe shorthanded. That made her heart flip slightly.
“We can tell her now.”
The deep voice rumbled from the doorway leading from the front of the bakery.
Josie pivoted to face Grant.
He had her so mixed up that she was leaving the blueberries out of the blueberry muffins, but just looking at him made her heart thump hard. She gave him what was surely a goofy smile. “Hi.”
“Hi. I have a surprise for you,” he said. He was also smiling.
It was one of those smiles that a few weeks ago had been impossible to imagine on his face. But damn, he looked so good wearing it.
“Oh?” She played along.
“I’m taking you to Chicago for the weekend,” he said, coming into the kitchen.
Josie was very aware that everyone had stopped what they were doing and were watching her and Grant closely. She widened her eyes, focusing on him, determined to make this look convincing. “Really? Chicago? What for?”
“A romantic weekend away,” he said, coming to stand so that she had to turn slightly, putting her back mostly to the room.
She relaxed then. Without them all able to see her face it was easier to pull this off. She appreciated that he’d realized that. She smiled up at him. “That sounds amazing.”
He nodded. “I have a seminar on Saturday. I was hoping you’d come with me, and we could spend some time together just the two of us before and after the seminar. I’ll show you the city. We can go to some of my favorite places. There’s a fabulous restaurant that overlooks the city that I think you’ll love. Their desserts are to die for.”
Josie tipped her head. That all did sound amazing. “I love dessert.”
“I know.”
His voice was a little gruffer with that reply, and she wondered if he’d done that on purpose. It caused heat to skitter down her spine anyway.
“So when are we leaving?” she asked. She glanced over her shoulder. “Looks like things are covered here.”
Everyone was watching them. All of the women in the room were watching with wide eyes and big smiles. If she wasn’t mistaken, even Paige was looking a little swoony at all of this. Henry was less impressed. But he was an eleven-year-old boy. She knew that Grant could win him over too if he started talking about the video game he and the guys had developed. It was Henry’s favorite thing in the whole world.
Grant had officially won over the entire room.
“Right now,” Grant said. “I have a bag packed for you in the car.”
She looked back up at him. “Wow, really?” She’d packed the bag that morning before leaving the house.
“Yep. Everything is taken care of. All you have to do is say yes.” He held out his hand.
Saying yes to this man wasn’t difficult. And she was afraid that was going to be a problem. But she didn’t even hesitate a second before taking his hand and saying, “Yes.”
There was a collective happy sigh in the room, and Josie rolled her eyes at Grant even though she was smiling.
“I’ll bring her back safe and sound,” Grant said to the room at large.
“When?” Zoe asked, her tone teasing.
Grant looked down at Josie. “I think I’ll keep her as long as she’ll let me.”
Ugh. See? That was romantic.
It was fake, of course. For the sake of their audience—who gave another collective sigh—but it still sounded good. And he was also referring to their trip. Not to their marriage—that no one else in the room even knew was on the horizon. Not even to their relationship. Just this trip.
Still, even Josie fell for it. For a second.
She kind of wished Jane was here. Zoe had never been a huge romantic before Aiden, but she was getting soft. Jane was still more practical, even with the love of her life, Dax around. She was softer around the edges too, but she wasn’t the swoony-sigh type.
“Well, let’s see what you’ve got, Mr. Lorre,” she said, trying to sound flirtatious and not like she was torn between melting into a puddle of goo and crying because this wasn’t even real.
“Oh, I’ve got a lot.” He started tugging her toward the front of the bakery, not even realizing how what he’d just said sounded.
Josie giggled and looked over her shoulder. “Uh, see you?”
“Have fun!” Zoe waved at her, actually beaming.
Her friend and partner was so happy for her. It actually made Josie’s heart twinge a little knowing that this was all made up because she needed her stupid gall bladder taken out.
The most un-romantic thing ever.
12
“I can’t believe they all showed up,” she said, tripping after Grant as he strode through the bakery toward the front door.
He lifted a hand to George and Phil as he looked down at her. “They all love you.”
She nodded. “Yes. But… Zoe has to love me a lot to put up with Paige in the kitchen and Kelsey and Aspen together. The chances of them making it a couple of hours in a confined space without fighting are very slim.”
Grant chuckled. “You’ll have to tell me more about Paige.”
“Okay.” She smiled. She’d love to know more about his family too.
It looked like they were about to have a lot of together time. She supposed they could spend some of it talking. They were going to be married after all.
“Hey, Josie!” George called.
She looked back as Grant held the front door open for her. “Yes?”
“Maybe take your apron off.”
She looked down. Sure enough she was still wearing her frilly yellow Buttered Up apron. She grinned and looked up at Grant. “Grant likes me in aprons though.”
He gave a little growl. “Well, when you’re in only an apron.” He said it low enough for her ears only.
Though the looks George and Phil were giving her when she looked back at the older men told her they had an inkling about what Grant had said. Well, they’d both been married for a very long time before losing their wives within a few months of one another.
She giggled. “Maybe I’ll just… bring it along.” She reached behind her back and untied it.
“Good idea,” Grant said.
“Very good,” George agreed with a nod.
She blushed and giggled again. Maybe this wouldn’t be all bad. It was already kind of fun.
She, of course, couldn’t get used to being whisked off, well, anywhere. The kind of guy she was likely to end up with long term would be like her dad and grandpa. A salt of the earth, blue-collar guy who worked hard and was sweet and romantic but could only get her as close to Paris as a movie screen. But that would be enough. Because love was the most important thing, and knowing that he would be giving her as
much as he possibly could would mean more than a guy like Grant dropping a few thousand dollars on a weekend getaway. Those few thousand dollars were like pocket change, and weekend getaways were as common for him as going to the movies was for her parents.
She had to remember that.
But when he escorted her onto the private plane waiting for them on the runway in Dubuque and offered her a glass of champagne, and then after landing, tucked her into the back seat of an actual limousine, and then walked with her hand in hand through the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Chicago, and then opened the door to the penthouse suite, she knew she was going to have a very hard time remembering.
Especially when his answer to her question about why they were staying in a hotel when he lived here was, “Because I figure you’ve never stayed in a penthouse suite in a Four Seasons Hotel in the downtown of a big city,” as he took to her to the window and pulled the curtains back to show her the view of the city and Lake Michigan.
Because that was freaking romantic.
He was making this trip into something special for her. Even if it was fake, or at least temporary, and the reason for them getting married was not romantic, he was making the process of doing it romantic.
She wasn’t going to have the huge ceremony and the gorgeous dress and the bridesmaids and flowers, but the penthouse suite in the Four Seasons was not bad. At all.
Josie looked up at him. “Wow.”
He grinned. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. This is pretty amazing.” She looked around. The cream upholstery, the gold accents, the marble countertops. “Though flying on a private plane and the penthouse suite, for my very first time, is probably going to ruin me forever.”
Grant paused and gave her a little frown. “Your first time?”
She nodded. “My first time flying. Or staying in a hotel.”
“That was your first time flying? Ever?” he asked. “And you’ve never stayed in a hotel?”
Josie shrugged. “That was my first time. This is my first time.” She swept her hand to encompass the suite. “I’ve stayed in two motels in my life. One was a family road trip to Six Flags. The other was a school trip in high school with our dance team.” She grinned. “We made it to State.”
Making Whoopie (Hot Cakes Book 3) Page 16
