Semi-Sweet On You: Hot Cakes Series

by Nicholas, Erin

  He’d been very disappointed, so she’d compromised by agreeing to a bounce house and food trucks—tacos, pizza, and pulled pork sandwiches—and a few carnival games. Snack cakes were, after all, fun. They were treats. Part of childhood. So associating them with fun and frivolity was okay, she supposed.

  But she’d had to draw the line at knife throwers and people jumping through rings of fire.

  And alpacas.

  “Are you or are you not the reason I have alpacas stinking the place up as we speak?” Whitney asked Piper.

  “Well…”

  “Piper.”

  “Drew Ryan is really cute.”

  Whitney blinked at her. Drew Ryan was really cute.

  Whitney crossed her arms. “Ollie has a thing for Drew?” she asked, knowing that was not the situation at all.

  “Um…”

  “Oh my God, Piper! Drew talked you into having a petting zoo?”

  “The petting zoo was totally Ollie’s idea. At first,” Piper protested. “But… I went with him to talk to Drew.”

  “And Ollie balked at the idea and you talked him into it?”

  Piper winced. “Yeah.”

  “You have a thing for Drew?” Whitney asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe I have a thing for Ollie being jealous of Drew,” Piper said with a shrug. “Anyway, somehow we ended up deciding that alpacas would be a great idea. And then Drew added the other animals for free.”

  Whitney rubbed the middle of her forehead. She was paying for those alpacas.

  “It’s great,” Piper reassured her, rubbing a hand up and down Whitney’s back, comfortingly. “You’re throwing the town a big party. It’s a way to show Appleby that we appreciate them. It’s just fun. It doesn’t have to make perfect sense.”

  Whitney wasn’t so sure of that. She took a deep breath—tinged with the scent of alpacas—and said, “Be honest. Do you really think we’re pulling this off?”

  Piper nodded. “Completely. You’ve done a fabulous job. I love how you organized this. Getting the Chamber of Commerce involved in narrowing down the top ten recipes was a great idea and having the town do the taste testing to choose the final three was brilliant.”

  The people of Appleby had been invited to a huge taste-testing event last weekend where they had set up tents. Gauzy white tents with twinkle lights, white tablecloths, music, and a champagne fountain as a matter of fact. It had been more like a classy, outdoor wedding venue than a circus, thank you very much.

  Whitney looked around. “It does seem like people are having fun with this today.”

  Now those final three recipes were going to be baked live on stage by three hot, single, charming men with plenty of flirty baking innuendos and banter thrown around as they did it. Then the treats would be sampled by the Grand Dame of Hot Cakes herself, Didi Lancaster, and she would pick the winning recipe. As the company’s founder, it was perfect that she be the one choosing the new product.

  Of course, Whitney would be a lot less nervous about that if she wasn’t Didi’s granddaughter and didn’t know Didi was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. At least no one else in town knew. No one.

  Everyone thought Whitney was living with Didi simply because the older woman’s house was enormous and it was silly for them to both live alone. But truthfully, Didi couldn’t live by herself anymore. She wasn’t safe in the kitchen, she would get lost driving, and she wasn’t able to handle keeping track of her medications.

  In another month, Didi would be moving into the gorgeous new wing of Sunny Orchard, the nursing home that Whitney’s friend Dax Marshall had recently purchased and revamped. Didi was excited to move in and be closer to some people she’d known her whole life, and Whitney was beyond relieved that her grandmother was good with the move. She really wanted to get her relocated before the dementia made it harder for her to adjust to new surroundings and routines.

  So far today had been a good day, and if Didi could hang in there until the final judging, everything would be fine. All she had to do was taste three desserts and say which she liked best. Dessert tasting was as familiar to Didi as anything, and Whitney really thought they could make it through this one event without letting on there was anything unusual going on with Didi.

  Whitney could only focus on one nerve-wracking, headache-producing thing at a time though, so she looked at Piper.

  “They are totally having fun,” Piper assured her. “No one’s even thinking about alpacas and cake not going together.”

  “Okay, so what do alpacas have to do with cake?” Jane Kemper asked as she and Zoe McCaffery came to stand with Whitney and Piper.

  Whitney sighed. “Nothing,” she said. “Absolutely nothing.”

  “It’s fun,” Piper said, giving Jane a look. “It’s just one big fun time. That’s all that matters.”

  Zoe looked at Piper and then slowly nodded as if catching on. “Right. That’s right. Totally true. Big-time fun. It’s great.” She gave Whitney a huge grin.

  Whitney knew that Jane and Zoe and Piper were just trying to make her feel better. But she appreciated it. Zoe was engaged to Aiden, one of Whitney’s bosses and, maybe more importantly, she was a McCaffery. The McCafferys and Lancasters had long been rivals. It wasn’t so much that Hot Cakes and Zoe’s bakery, Buttered Up, were actual business competitors, but their grandmothers had been best friends at one time and when Whitney’s grandmother, Didi, had split off to start Hot Cakes, it had ruined their friendship and started a family feud that had lasted for nearly three generations.

  Then there was the little detail of Whitney breaking Zoe’s brother’s heart and… yeah, Zoe even pretending to try to make Whitney feel better about this event meant a lot.

  Whitney blew out a breath. “Thanks, ladies.”

  “This is all a huge mess,” Paige Asher said as she came walking up.

  Whitney sighed.

  “No, it’s great,” Piper said, trying the wide-eyed look at Paige that had worked on Zoe and Jane.

  But Paige shook her head. “No, it’s really not. I can’t bid on Ollie.”

  Okay, that was not great. Whitney frowned. “You have to, Paige.”

  Piper nodded. “You do. You have to bid on him.”

  “Bid on him?” Zoe asked, frowning and looking between the three of them.

  “The bachelor auction,” Piper said.

  “Wait, I thought it was a dessert auction,” Jane said. “Ollie, Cam, and Max are going to bake the final three recipes on stage and then Didi is going to pick the winner. People are going to bid on those three desserts and the proceeds are going to the food bank.” Jane looked from Piper to Paige to Whitney. “Right?”

  “Yes,” Whitney said. “Except that they’re also bidding on an hour with the guy who baked the dessert. They get to have dessert with the baker.”

  Yep. Somehow this had also turned into a bachelor auction with three very hot men. One of whom was her ex.

  Whitney rubbed her head again. Okay, that part had been totally her idea. Well, not the part about Cam being one of the bakers. She’d suggested it thinking Grant and Ollie would do it and they’d recruit a couple of other guys. But then Grant had gone and fallen in love with Josie and it didn’t seem like he should be up for a dessert date auction. And then Cam had volunteered to be a part of it. Actually, he’d insisted. Whitney hadn’t included him initially because he was still living in Chicago then. Well, and because she would have never thought to auction him off to another woman.

  Yeah, there was that too.

  Not that she’d admit that part.

  The third bachelor baker was Max, one of the long-time factory workers who literally baked Hot Cakes every day.

  The three were actually perfect for this. On paper. Two were owners of the company, the other a very long-term employee. Cam was a hometown boy who had donated a lot of money to the community in the past ten years. Ollie was used to being up on stage, entertaining and engaging an audience at Comic Con and other gaming cons becaus
e of Warriors of Easton. Max was well-liked in town and had been a part of the community for a long time. He was funny and charming and would have no trouble being up in front of everyone.

  They were also all very good looking and single.

  Whitney felt her stomach start to flutter with nerves again and she pressed a hand against it. She didn’t have time to be nervous about the guys too.

  The guy who was going to bid on Max was already planted in the audience. Max and Elliot had been exchanging texts and Snapchatting for the past month or so. Elliot worked for Fluke in Chicago as a programmer and Dax had introduced them. Elliot had enough money, thanks to Dax, to bid whatever it took to get that dessert date with Max.

  The same was supposed to be true for Ollie. Oliver was… not the suave playboy the other guys of Fluke, Inc. were. He was good looking and rich and funny in his own way, but he was… a nerd. And Piper, who knew him best, had insisted that they plant a date for him as well.

  Paige was a friend and she and Ollie had no chemistry, but Paige could talk to anyone for an hour. She’d agreed to bid on Ollie—with Whitney’s money.

  That left Cam. No one was planted to bid on Cam.

  And that made Whitney’s stomach tighten.

  Every woman in town knew who he was. He was the bad boy who’d gone on to become rich and successful. He’d donated tons of money—into the millions of dollars—to the town in the form of a new sports complex, scholarships, a wing on the school, and new equipment for the medical clinic. And he’d helped save Hot Cakes and the three hundred and forty-seven jobs there… and the families who depended on those jobs. Truly, he’d helped save the town.

  He was also gorgeous. Muscular, tattooed, short beard, piercing blue eyes, with a general brooding, rebellious air, and a naughty grin that would stop you in your tracks.

  There were plenty of young, single women in Appleby who knew exactly what they were bidding on and would likely happily dip into their savings for a chance at dessert with Cam.

  Whitney hated everything about this event suddenly. And, if she were honest, the alpacas were actually a very small part.

  “This whole thing is great,” Piper insisted again. “We’re getting the town involved and interested. Everyone is coming down to bounce in the bounce house, eat tacos, pet alpacas, and then watch three hot guys make dessert. The auction will raise money. There is nothing bad about this plan.”

  Except Cam going on a date. That Whitney basically set him up on.

  This was all so stupid.

  He’d certainly dated other women. Camden McCaffery had not been sitting at home alone every night since Whitney had ended their relationship.

  Hell, she’d been on dates too. That’s what people did after they broke up. They were sad for a while, but then they moved on.

  That would have maybe consoled her if he hadn’t told her last night that he wanted another chance with her.

  And now she was going to get to watch a townful of women bid on him right in front of her on a stage she’d literally helped construct for an event she’d come up with.

  This was not great.

  “Yeah, it’s all great,” Paige said to Piper. “But I just can’t bid on Ollie. You’ll have to get someone else.”

  “Why not?” Piper asked. She was frowning at Paige. “You promised.”

  “Yeah, well, that was before Elliot brought Christopher with him.”

  Piper’s frown deepened. “What?”

  Paige leaned to the side. “Do you see Elliot?”

  Piper peered over her shoulder and Whitney turned as well. The programmer was standing near the far end of the stage talking to a tall guy with dark hair and glasses. He looked like all of the other guys milling around in t-shirts and jeans and tennis shoes or work boots. He held a glass of lemonade and seemed to be just hanging out, enjoying the day. Whitney knew everyone in Appleby. That guy was not from here.

  “Yeah,” Piper said. “That’s Chris. He’s another of our designers. He works with Dax.” She focused on Paige again. “Wait, you know Chris?”

  Paige sighed. “Yeah.”

  “What’s going on?” Whitney asked. “How do you know one of Fluke’s designers?”

  “Well, I didn’t know that I knew one of Fluke’s designers. But I flirted with that guy at Granny’s the other night,” she said, referring to the bar in town that specialized in, of course, hard ciders.

  “Okay. So?” Piper asked.

  “So we made out. Heavily.” She tipped her head. “Then I told him I was a real estate agent in Kansas City and gave him a fake number. And that my name was Kara.”

  “But… why didn’t you want him to know who you were?” Piper asked. “Chris is a great guy.”

  “Because I wanted to have a couple of drinks and make out with him and that’s all I wanted to have with him,” Paige said. “Which means, now that he’s here, I need to avoid him until he leaves. So obviously, I can’t call attention to myself by bidding on Ollie.”

  “But—” Piper started to protest.

  “Sorry. Thanks for understanding,” Paige said. Then she smiled and turned and slipped through the crowd.

  Headed in the opposite direction of where Chris was standing.

  Piper turned to Whitney. “Things just got less great.”

  4

  Whitney signed. “You think?”

  “Now what?” Piper asked.

  “You’ll have to bid on Ollie,” Whitney said.

  “No way.”

  “Why not?”

  “I can’t. I… work for him.”

  Whitney laughed. “So?”

  “I just can’t.”

  Whitney didn’t understand that, but she honestly didn’t have the time or energy to devote to another complication.

  She glanced at Jane and Zoe but they were out. They were both spoken for.

  Whitney sighed. “Then I guess we’ll just let the ladies of Appleby bid without knowing who the winner will be.”

  “I… don’t know.” Piper didn’t seem thrilled with that either.

  “I don’t think you have to worry,” Jane said, nodding to the crowd.

  The baking show was going to start in about five minutes. The crowd was gathering closer to the stage and, yes, there were a lot more young women than men. Or older women. Or kids. The crowd was predominantly women about Cam and Max and Ollie’s age. Most of the women in Appleby knew that Max was gay, so it was safe to assume that Ollie and Cam were the draw here.

  Whitney pressed her hand against her stomach.

  Could she disappear during the baking show and auction? Dax was going to MC the whole thing. Piper was here and on top of things. Aiden and Grant were both here somewhere. Surely Whitney wouldn’t have to watch Cam strut out on stage in the blue jeans and tight black t-shirt Piper had decided he should wear to show off his tattoos and muscles. She wouldn’t have to watch him bake. Something he was actually quite good at. He was a McCaffery after all. He’d grown up in Buttered Up bakery. He’d been baking since he was old enough to hold a mixer. She was well aware that women found that sexy. And surely she didn’t have to watch him get bid on by the beautiful women who would be vying for a date with him.

  She probably needed to go check on… the alpacas. Or something.

  “That is why we can’t just leave Ollie up there to be auctioned off,” Piper said.

  “Because a ton of women in Appleby have noticed that he’s good looking and know he’s a rich genius?” Jane asked. “Come on. Why can’t Ollie have some fun?”

  Fun. Yeah. They might have fun on these dates.

  Whitney glanced toward the side of the stage where Cam and Ollie and Max were waiting to take their places at the mini-kitchen stations they’d built into the stage for the contest.

  He looked good. That black t-shirt did very nice things for his shoulders, chest, and huge biceps. But it was the smile he was wearing that really made her heart flutter. Dammit.

  Being over him was a lot easier when he was
n’t here.

  When he was here in Appleby, in the same office, working on the same projects, and showing up to this event as one of the baking bachelors looking gorgeous, it was really hard to ignore that she’d been madly in love with him when he’d left Appleby. And that she’d never had a reason to get over that.

  Then she’d found out that as Grant’s attorney, Cam was supposed to draw up divorce papers for Grant and Josie after they’d gotten married temporarily so Josie would have health insurance coverage, but he hadn’t done it. He’d faked the paperwork, somehow knowing that Grant and Josie should stay married.

  That was damned romantic. Hopeful. Sweet even.

  Did Cam still believe in love? Had she not totally ruined that for him forever? She’d like to think so.

  But she did not want to watch him find someone to date and possibly fall in love with right in front of her on stage in the center of Appleby.

  She also didn’t want to date him herself.

  Well… she didn’t think she should date him herself.

  She did want to. Or maybe she just wanted to have sex with him again.

  “Ollie isn’t really casual-dating, bachelor auction material,” Piper said, pulling Whitney back to the conversation at hand.

  “Oh?” Zoe asked. “Why’s that?”

  Piper chewed her bottom lip.

  “From what I understand from the way the guys talk, Ollie gets plenty of attention at all the conferences he goes to,” Jane said. Ollie went to those conference with Dax. Jane had probably heard a ton of stories.

  “Those are gaming conferences,” Piper said.

  “So?” Jane asked.

  “So those women are into Warriors of Easton.”

  “So?”

  “So he can talk Warriors all day,” Piper admitted. “And—” She drew in a deep breath. “I’m not sure how much they all talk. I think those women know who Ollie is and they’re fans and they flirt a bit and then… they don’t go out to dinner or shows or have conversations, if you know what I mean.”

  Whitney did know what she meant. Ollie had casual flings and one-night stands with women who thought he was amazing because of the video game. But Piper looked annoyed, and a little sick, talking about it.