Beefcake & Cupcakes

by Fennell, Judi

  “You know? I never thought about it like that. What you do. You’re right. You give people a memory. Those kids earlier, for example. They had so much fun deciding if they wanted the licorice or the powered sugar or the crunchy candy things.”

  “Nonpareils.”

  “Easy for you to say. To me, they’re crunchy things.” He kissed her nose. “And to the kids, too. But I bet whenever they see those things from now on, they’ll remember today. You do give people memories.”

  He nuzzled her neck. “And the ones you’ve given me these last few weeks… I’ll treasure them forever.”

  Forever. Gage had said forever. Granted, he hadn’t said it in relation to her; just that he’d remember what they’d done, how they’d been, together, but the fact that he could think forever should tell her something, right?

  What did she want it to tell her? Was she ready to think about forever? What about focusing all her energy on the business? What about becoming self-sufficient before she went back into a relationship?

  “You’ve got that look on your face again.”

  “What look?”

  “The one that says you’re carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. Can’t you just accept a compliment and move on?”

  “Of course I can.” And she could. It was a compliment on her work. That, she could accept. It was when he started in on how beautiful she was, how sexy, that she couldn’t accept it.

  But why the hell not? Gage wasn’t blowing smoke up her skirt; he wanted her. He found her attractive. If all he’d wanted was to sleep with her, would he be here now, helping her? Would he have gotten up extra early this morning to go to work just so he could come back here and help her?

  Jeff hadn’t done that ever. Not when they’d been going on vacation and she’d had to pack for the both of them. Not when they’d had dinner parties and she’d been in the kitchen at oh-dark-thirty making the food before they’d been able to afford caterers. Certainly not when she’d been decorating their house and had gone from showroom to showroom for weeks on end to find just the furniture he’d specified. He’d expected what he’d expected and it hadn’t mattered how she made it happen, but she would make it happen. He hadn’t lifted a finger other than to write the damn check—the affirmation he needed to make himself feel good at being able to afford “the best.”

  Maybe that was because, deep down, he knew he wasn’t the best.

  Gage, on the other hand, was, and it wasn’t fair to either man to compare them. Because Gage would always come out on top.

  Like he’d been that last time…

  “Okay, now that look I definitely get.” Gage smiled that sexy come-hither smile that set her blood to boil and pulled her close.

  “Geez, guys,” said Cara. “This is a family event. You might want to cool it.”

  Gage raised his head but didn’t let go. “Hi, Cara.”

  “Gage.”

  “Wow. Only one word? No dripping sarcastic comment to go with it?”

  “Nope. Seems like you have that area all sewn up.”

  Lara pulled out of Gage’s arms. Much as she wanted to stay there, Cara was right. And she was on the job. The township had paid her to be here; this wasn’t a trade show where she was on her own dime drumming up business.

  Cara held up one of the promotional bags everyone got upon entering the park. “They didn’t put our brochures in the bags like they were supposed to. That’s what happens when you let teenagers work for free.”

  “Do you have them with you?” Gage asked. “I’ll hand them out.”

  “What, just walk up to people and hand them out?”

  “Sure, why not? And since I’m not an owner, people will be more likely to believe me when I say there are no better cupcakes in the tri-state area.”

  Of course he winked at her when he said that, and Lara had to look away so Cara wouldn’t see the blush that blazed its way up her chest into her face. Though why she worried about that after Cara had caught them kissing, she couldn’t say.

  Cara handed over a stack of brochures without a word. Not even thank you, but Lara took care of that when Gage pulled her against him for a quick kiss.

  “See you in a little while,” he said as he left.

  “Is there anything he doesn’t do well?” Cara asked with—if Lara wasn’t mistaken—a little bit of wistfulness in her voice.

  “Not yet.”

  “Seriously, Lar, the guy’s a prince. He must have an evil stepmother or something. Warts? Halitosis? A tiny—”

  “Gage is wonderful, Car. Let’s leave it at that.” She was not sharing that information with her cousin.

  The cupcakes were a big hit, but Lara had a hard time staving off the lollipop-wanters. The event organizers wanted the cake intact for the beginning of the fireworks, which included all the lollipop sparklers she and Cara were going to light up.

  Gage’s marketing efforts were paying off as well, as more people started to filter by their booth with the brochures in hand. Cara was in her business acumen glory taking names and numbers and even a few orders. She held up her little white square charge doohickey she’d just gotten for her cell phone to process orders with a big grin on her face.

  “That mixer is ours!” she said, gleefully.

  Lara was just thankful there was a smile on her cousin’s face.

  And then there was a big one on hers. Gage was jogging back her way.

  “All out of brochures, but I thought you could use this.” He held up a hotdog wrapped in a napkin.

  “Hey, thanks. I’m famished,” she said before giving him a kiss for it.

  Gage took two. And that was okay with Lara.

  “Seriously? A hotdog? That gets you two all mushy? Ugh.” Cara’s good mood disappeared as she flounced into the folding director’s chair they’d brought along for down time. This was the first time it’d gotten used all afternoon.

  Gage disengaged himself from Lara’s arms with a smile. “I got you one, too, Car.” He held out the peace offering.

  Cara eyed it as if he’d injected it with arsenic. “Why?” She reached for it.

  Gage pulled his hand away. “The correct response is, ‘Thank you, Gage.’”

  She scowled up at him. “Thank you, Gage.”

  He gave her the hotdog. “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it? I don’t bite.”

  Not unless she asked him nicely…

  Lara blushed. Gage, of course, noticed and winked at her.

  “Hope you like onions and relish on it,” Gage said to Cara.

  She stared at it as she unwrapped it. “I… I do. How’d you know?”

  Gage shrugged. “Seems the guy handing these out knows it, too.”

  Cara was about to bite into it, but stopped. “Guy?”

  “Yeah. Fireman? Built. Square jaw. Had seventeen women drooling around him since he’s in pants, suspenders, and not much else. I might have to sign him up to dance for BeefCake.”

  Cara dropped the hotdog on the table. “I’ll be back.”

  Lara pinched Gage’s arm. “That’s Nick. Her boyfriend.”

  “I kinda gathered that when I mentioned I was getting the hotdogs for the women at the bakery. He was all over wanting to know who I was. Jealous type?”

  Lara shook her head. “He’s probably more annoyed. Cara’s not making his life easy.”

  “Neither are you, Lar. I’ve smashed my thumb more times in the past week on a job than I have for the past two years ’cause you’ve got me all distracted.”

  “Oh, so it’s my fault you can’t keep your mind on the job?”

  “It’s certainly not anyone else’s.”

  That was good to hear. She hadn’t really thought so, but still, nice to hear him say it. Jeff never had.

  “So how’d you know what I like on my hotdog?” Ketchup with just a tad of mustard.

  “Good guess?”

  She arched an eyebrow at him. “Really? You just happened to luck out and not put the spicy mustard on?”
<
br />   “I figured you were spicy enough. You don’t need any help.” He nuzzled her neck and Lara was all for exploring the spiciness of their situation, but a public event was not the place. She might be into trying out new things with Gage, but that wasn’t one of them.

  “Can I take a rain check until later tonight?”

  “Doesn’t look like rain.”

  “Since when has that ever stopped you?”

  “Good point.” He took one last lingering kiss then backed off. Just enough to be P.C. But he still held her hand.

  Lara smiled.

  “You’re smiling again.”

  “You make me smile.”

  “Good, because you make me smile, too.”

  Which he proceeded to do with devastating results to her equilibrium. Thankfully, someone approached her table just then.

  “Hey, Gage. Why am I not surprised to see you here?”

  “Hey, Bry.” Gage released Lara’s hand. “Lara Cavallo, Bryan Lassiter, my partner at BeefCake, Inc.”

  “So this is the famed cupcake lady I’ve been hearing about.” He shook her hand.

  Lara looked at Gage. “He’s been hearing what about me?”

  Gage held up his hands. “Hey, I don’t kiss and tell. He knew I was interested in you. That’s all.”

  “So that means there’s more?” Bryan leaned a hip against the table and crossed his arms. His big muscular arms. Just like the rest of him. Yes, she could see him as a dancer. “Do tell.”

  “None of your business, Bry. Have I missed a gig yet?”

  “Nope, but hey, I can totally see why you could.” He smiled at Lara. “Don’t mind Gage, he’s just a big tease. Now me, on the other hand…”

  It’d been so long since anyone had flirted with her—before Gage had come along—that Lara couldn’t help enjoying it if only for a minute. Vanilla, huh?

  “Hey, man, back off.” Gage didn’t sound like he was joking.

  It’d been since never that anyone had fought over her.

  “Wow, chill, will ya, Gage? I’m only kidding.” Bryan had his hands up and he’d stepped back from the table. “I was just stopping by to say hi and try one of these famous cupcakes. The guys were saying we ought to order a batch for our next gig. Give the women sweets and sex. It’ll be a marketing bonanza.”

  Gage shoved one of the blue cupcakes at him. “Here. Try this. It’s amazing.”

  The thrill Lara got from his endorsement was different from the thrill he gave her when he kissed her—or looked at her—but just as nice.

  Bryan made a big production of groaning while he ate the cupcake—even did a tantalizing tongue-slide across his lips that had Gage bristling, but Lara wasn’t affected. She was more affected by Gage’s jealousy than anything Bryan could do because no matter how good-looking he was, he wasn’t Gage.

  “Yes, Lara,” said Bryan, licking the last of the buttercream off his lips—though he missed one of the “stars”—“you definitely have awesome cupcakes.”

  He very pointedly kept his eyes above her collarbone. Or it could be that she was just sensitive to any kind of innuendo, but she didn’t miss the way Gage stiffened beside her.

  “You might want to think about what I said, Gage.” Bryan balled the cupcake holder up and also made two points shooting it into the trashcan beside the booth. “Getting cupcakes for our booth might not be such a bad idea.”

  Gage knew a cupcake he’d like to have in their booth.

  Bry was pissing him off. Oh, the guy had no real interest in Lara; he’d never do that to Gage. But he just couldn’t help tweaking Gage’s protective urges by flirting. Harmless, Gage knew, but still. This was Lara. His Lara.

  The world shifted at that. She was his. His. And he wanted to keep her.

  He gave Bry a mock salute as his partner headed off, but his mind was stuck on Lara.

  Somehow she’d crept into his heart. This wasn’t infatuation or plain lust. He’d called it the other night; they’d made love.

  Holy shit. He was in love with her.

  “You okay, Gage? He was just teasing, you know.” Lara put a hand on his arm and Gage could only stare at it.

  He loved her.

  He was in love with Lara.

  He didn’t have time for love. For a relationship. Hadn’t these past few weeks proven that? He hadn’t seen Connor in a while, had no time to fix anything at his house, was keeping Missy waiting, and had bugged out early from a job to be with Lara. It went against everything he’d been telling himself he wanted. Then there was the whole jealousy issue he’d dealt with with Leslie…

  He loved Lara.

  Now what the hell was he going to do about it?

  Chapter 29

  The fireworks lit up the night sky but they couldn’t hold a candle to what Gage did for her when he kissed her.

  They’d lit the cake, divvied out the slices to the crowd, then taken their seats on a blanket on the hill overlooking the football field where the township was setting off the fireworks, the night cocooning them in its warm embrace. And even though they were smashed in with most of the town, the blanket Gage had spread out for them became their own little slice of heaven.

  Anywhere was heaven when she was in Gage’s arms.

  Lara smiled at the clichéd phrase, but there was a reason it was a cliché. Because it perfectly described everything she was feeling. He had his arm around her shoulders, her head tucked against his, causing her heart to pound with the same intensity as it did with the resounding boom of the fireworks as they “ooh”ed and “aah”ed with the crowd.

  “Mommipop.” A toddler wandered onto their blanket, holding out one of the twisty lollipops from the cake Lara had made. The little girl held it out, the colorful sugar ringing her fist at the base of the stick.

  “Yes, that’s a lollipop,” said Lara, looking around for the parents. “Do you like lollipops?”

  The little girl nodded. “Tuptake.”

  “You like cupcakes, too?” Her fans were starting young, but Lara wasn’t thrilled that she’d instilled this kind of loyalty to have a toddler wandering off from her parents. “Where’s your mommy?” Lara asked.

  The toddler turned around and pointed at a woman half a dozen blankets over who had jumped up and was looking around frantically.

  Lara hopped to her feet and scooped the little girl up, not caring that she was now wearing enough sugar on her forearm to attract the park’s entire mosquito population. “Here she is!” she called as she ran up to the woman.

  The woman spun around. “Oh, thank God!” She tore the little girl out of Lara’s arms. “Thank you so much. She was just here one minute and the next—”

  Lara patted the little girl’s head. “You must have been so scared. She came over to me to show me her lollipop.”

  “Her lollipop?” The woman looked at her daughter then at Lara. “Oh, you’re the cupcake lady. She hasn’t stopped talking about you. Thank you so much for bringing her back. She’s never wandered off before. I guess the lure of more cupcakes was too much for her.”

  “Well I’m all out of cupcakes tonight, but if you want to bring her by Cavallo’s Cups & Cakes, I’ll have another one for her.”

  The woman kissed her daughter’s cheek as she bounced her gently in her arms. “I don’t know that I want to reward her bad behavior, but I actually was going to call you for an order. Her birthday is coming up, and well, I guess I know what she wants.”

  Lara smiled and patted both the mom and daughter’s arms. “Sure, no problem. I’ll make a special batch just for her. What’s her name?”

  “Wendy.”

  “I’ll call them Wandering Wendys. How does lemon-lime sound for a flavor?”

  “You’re really going to design a cupcake just for her?”

  “Sure, why not? No one else in town will have Wandering Wendy-flavored cupcakes. What better way to reward my loyal clients than by naming a cupcake after them?”

  The idea just came to her, but Lara realized a good one
when she came up with it. Cara would love this.

  “Oh, thank you so much,” said Wendy’s mom. “We’ll take two dozen for next Saturday. She’s having a mermaid-themed birthday party.”

  “Perfect. We’ll have them ready for you in the morning.” She pulled out her cell phone and took Wendy’s mom’s number for a follow-up call when she got back in the bakery on Monday.

  “Everything all right?” Gage asked when she returned to their blanket.

  “It is.” She told him about her idea with Wendy’s cupcake. “And you know how Bryan mentioned ordering my cupcakes for your shows? I could design a specific one for each of the guys and name it after them. What do you think?”

  “After the guys?” Gage scrunched his face. “As long as it’s not something like Gage’s Guns, I’m okay with that.”

  She socked him in one of those “guns.” “Hey, this is my business we’re talking about. I’ll come up with something catchy, but classy.”

  “Yes, because we all know strippers are all about class.”

  There was a note in his voice… “Are you ashamed of what you do?”

  Gage looked at her. “Are you ashamed of what I do?”

  “Me? Why does it matter what I think? It’s your business.”

  “Because I know the problems it can cause.” He looked at her, his blue eyes darkening. “Some of my old girlfriends… they couldn’t handle it. It got to be a big elephant in the room. Jealousy. They got to the point where they didn’t like other women fantasizing about me. They started to see me as other women did, and when it came to intimacy, well, hell.” He scrubbed a hand over his face, then tucked one of her corkscrew curls behind her ear. “I don’t want that to happen with us. I don’t want you to see me as that guy up on stage. I don’t want to be that guy for you. I want to be me. Gage. General contractor by day who has a night job to bring in extra cash. I never intended for it to define me, and when I left it all those years ago, that was it. It was over. But now I’m back in it—occasionally having to dance—and you’re in my life. And after what your ex put you through… I don’t want it to be an issue.”