by R. J. Scott
“It’s not even a Christmas movie,” I interrupted them.
Both turned to me with open mouths.
“How are you even my twin?” Adam gasped.
“How do I even like you?” Justin added.
Then the two of them sniggered at me, and yet another piece of my broken heart healed.
The second bake that day, the blind bake, was a simple chocolate raspberry Charlotte Royale. A deep chocolate cake and ganache formed into a dome, with a creamy raspberry mousse interior. Justin might have won the cupcake challenge, but I beat him with the Charlotte Royale. Everything went right, and even though we both aced the challenge, my mousse was smoother. Just that tiny thing was enough to have us draw at one all.
So, it was the cake on the second day of filming that was going to be the decider. With twenty-four hours to prep, the theme we’d been given was simply Christmas. That was it. Just a single word that could be interpreted in any way. I’d chosen a wintry forest where each tree was covered in lights. Justin decided to go the more traditional route with a tree and presents wrapped under it. I didn’t care who was going to win because we’d spent all last night talking about falling for each other and making lists of how we were going to make things work. I already knew what I wanted. More dates, Justin spending time in Corning, me going to the city, splitting our time and exploring this mad thing that had consumed us.
Not to mention he’d made me watch Die Hard, and I had to finally agree that yes, it was a Christmas film. Although to be honest, with the kisses he was trailing down my body, I would have agreed to anything.
The problems with my Christmas themed bake started with a bake where two of the layers dipped in the middle. I never had cakes that sunk, that just didn’t happen to me, but I cut them down, worked with what I had, and tasted the bake which was good. God knows what went wrong, but that was live TV. But then there were issues with the addition of the delicate string of LED lights to my trees. Each tiny light needed a hole to sit in, and the work was painstaking but nothing I hadn’t done before.
Only for some godforsaken reason the collection of holes weakened the tree when it had never happened that way before and fiddling with the illumination put me behind. With only ten minutes to go, I was still messing with that one element, and my movements were growing clumsier by the minute. I tried not to look at Justin, not even out of the corner of my eye, because if he saw how stressed I was getting it might mess with his own bake.
His cake looked stunning. The Christmas tree was covered in a delicate web of icing that looked like lacy snowflakes, and the presents were all crisp corners and pretty sugar ice bows. It hit me as the clock counted down and I finally got the last light in place that I could lose this.
How did I feel about that? Gutted of course, that was a real emotion and I owned it, but also so excited for Justin. It genuinely didn’t matter who won because we were both winners.
“That’s time!” Courtney called, and I stepped back and away, admiring the work in my seven tier Christmas cake with a meandering path in the snow and the lights in the trees. There was even a snowman in the wintry forest wearing a hat with a J iced onto it. This would mean nothing to anyone else, but to me and Justin, this was Jeremy the snowman, and that made me smile.
The judges deliberated but unlike a normal round, they didn’t announce the baker of the week with us behind our benches. This was going to be done with family and former participants in attendance. I noticed that even though Justin didn’t have family with him, Adam and Lacey stood on the other side of him including him in the family fold.
“And the winner is… ”
Adam was making faces at me, and Mom and Dad were hugging each other hard. Lacey and Joe were so proud of me. Kristen and Ivan were also near Justin, but I wanted to tell him so badly that my family would be here for him as well. Clare wasn’t here, but no one expected that, and Shauna was leaning into a man with kind eyes who I assumed was Ronan. This was the moment we found out who the winner was and the pause was interminable. Instinctively, I gripped Justin’s hand and waited for the announcement. It seemed like forever just standing there and waiting—
“… Brody!”
Justin whooped and spun me around before we were consumed by my family. It felt great to win. I felt success right inside me, but it was nothing like the feeling that I’d found the best prize of all. Justin.
The celebration went on into the night and I had to rescue Justin from my family several times, the last one from a very serious Adam threatening bodily harm if Justin hurt a hair on my head.
Today it was going home day. I’d extended my stay to spend the last few days with Justin, but now I needed to head to Calgary and the flight home. He was going west to Seattle for an appearance that he couldn’t get out of unless he forfeited the money he’d been promised. It was the final KlecksoCream event, even though he’d left pointed posts on his social media about how he would prefer his fans not to use it. They seemed to think any publicity was good. Particularly when they somehow found out he’d been the runner-up in the show. So, today, in the carpark was our last chance to make plans for the future.
“Mom has invited you for the big day. Will you come?” I said as we kissed by his loaned BMW.
He nodded, but I could tell from his expression that he was lost in thought.
“Maybe it could be possible.”
I’d take a maybe over a no any day besides, we could text and call, and it wouldn’t be long until he was done with everything at the end of the year. Then maybe we could meet in the middle and give this new love of ours a go. He still hadn’t repeated the words, but that was okay, I understood why, and I was happy for what I could get at the moment. I’d work on him for the rest. As I said to Adam, meeting Justin had been fate, and I was convinced we should be together in a completely non-stalkery way. Adam had laughed for ten minutes straight, but then my twin was an asshole, and I ignored him.
“Okay then, I need to leave, but I’ll have my phone in the car, and I can pull over if you need to talk to me for any reason. Any reason at all.” Like you want to talk more, like you don’t want me to get on the plane, like you worked it all out, and you can say you love me again.
He tugged my hand to stop me and pressed his other to his chest. “It hurts, and I don’t like it. I don’t want you to go even though I know you have to, and I don’t want to call you, I want to see you.” Then he dropped his hand. “But that’s going to have to wait. I know.”
It doesn’t have to wait. I don’t need to go back today, I could stay with you, we could talk and fall in love a day at a time.
He kissed me one last time and then smiled. “We’ll talk soon. Drive safely.”
That was it? “You too,” I replied, lamely, and with one final look, I headed for my car. I was almost there when something hit me in the center of my back. I turned to look at what it was. The remains of a snowball were on the ground and then another one hit my chest. Justin was stalking toward me, dragging a case with a duffle over his shoulder, scooping snow from cars and with one hand making loose snowballs to throw at me.
“The hell?” I said when he stopped in front of me.
“I’m coming with you.” He let go of his case and ensured it stayed still before dumping his bag on top of it.
“Huh?”
“I’m coming with you,” he repeated.
“I got that. But what about Kleckso—”
“I don’t love Kleckso. I love you.”
“You… what?”
“Before you, Brody? Jeez, I had nothing but loneliness and a fake me that was forever smiling and acting like he cared. You make me want to care about everything. I want to kiss you, hold you, and I hate it even when you go and get another coffee, and I can’t see you. I’m obsessed. I want you. I need you. I love you.”
He took off his gloves and let them drop to the ground, cradling my face and kissing me deeply. I tugged at every part I could get a hold of just to pull him close
r, and we kissed as if we were never going to kiss again.
“Oh my GOD is that Justin Mallory!”
“We love you, Justin!”
“It’s him! Take a photo!”
“Is that his boyfriend!”
We separated reluctantly, and a group of young men and women were taking photos, but Justin pushed me behind him. “No photos, guys, this is private.” He lowered his voice. “I’m sorry, Brody, I didn’t know, this is shit.”
I instantly knew what he was doing, shielding me, showing me that he wasn’t deliberately letting our love be exploited. But he was a celebrity, and these people owned a small part of him that I had to let go. Now I had to show him that I trusted him and understood what he was doing to protect me. So in front of them all I snuggled into his hold and kissed his cheek.
Love was all about what mattered to us, not what we showed the world, but I was happy to share what we had.
Because it was real.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Love is baking, passion, and a happily ever after.
Justin
Next Christmas
Rita wasn’t in a good mood.
Everything had started to go wrong when the Christmas tree fell over in the foyer, smashing five crystal ornaments and almost knocking out the AD. That was why I’d escaped the chaos in the conservatory and was now sitting in the hiding space behind the refrigerators. I was so damn nervous anyway, add in a rabid floor manager, and I was ready to find the nearest box and lock myself in.
“Thought I’d find you here,” Brody said with a smile then slid in next to me, even though there was a perfectly good space in front. Thank God for Brody getting up in my space because my nerves were shot for a hundred different reasons. The creators of World’s Best Baking Show had decided to start a junior version, and I was co-hosting with Courtney, who insisted on hanging onto me as if she was about to fall over, which was likely given her five inch heels. She’d married on Thanksgiving, and Brody made the cake as requested but her being high maintenance didn’t cut it. She was beyond high maintenance.
When we got back to our place in Corning after the wedding, Brody laid on the bed completely exhausted and vowed to me he’d never work with her again. I kissed it all better, and it was the best sex of my entire life.
“Hey,” Adam said from the gap and then clambered in to sit facing us. He was a good friend, so much like the man I loved that it was freaky, yet also so very different. Brody’s family had embraced my addition to their tight-knit group with rabid focus. I called his parents Mom and Dad. I played racquetball with Adam and poker with Brody, Adam, and Joe. And as for Lacey, I was the big brother she wished she had. I never corrected her because I’d always wanted a sister, and I knew it messed with her brothers’ heads.
“In here? For real?” Lacey said from outside then clambered in and sat on Adam’s knee before Joe made his way in as well. Was Brody’s entire family hoping to fit in this space?
“How you feeling?” Lacey asked me, patting my knee.
“Nervous.”
“Don’t be, the show’s a success and a Christmas special is just the icing on the cake.” She paused for a moment. “See what I did there?”
“You’re an idiot.” Joe patted his sister’s head affectionately and elbowed Adam at the same time.
“Is there room for us?”
Oh my God, Brody’s mom and dad as well? His dad squeezed in first, his mom sitting on her husband’s knee, and abruptly I was squashed into this space with Brody’s parents and siblings. I don’t know what they were trying to achieve, but I had to admit their open affection was something I’d become addicted to.
“Do you know what today is?” Brody asked me.
“Uhm, Wednesday?” I replied, aware that all eyes were on me. “Is that wrong?”
“It’s exactly one year to the day that we stood in the parking lot of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel and you said you loved me.”
It was? It didn’t surprise me that Brody was talking about this in front of his family. It’s what they did, but why was Lacey bright-eyed and leaning on Joe for a hug?
“Okay, but what’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” Brody said and kissed my cheek.
“We love having you in the family, you’re like a son to us,” his mom said, and his dad nodded in that quiet understated way of his.
“Thank you—”
“You’re the brother I wished I’d had growing up,” Lacey deadpanned but before her brothers could groan, she added more. “I’m joking. I love all four of my brothers.”
I expected Joe and Adam to join in with whatever was going on here, but they simply held out hands that I shook. This was freaky. Talk about support for my first ever live show. Did they not realize that me being stuck in the corner meant they’d probably need to touch up my makeup again?
Brody cleared his throat. “I love you, Justin. It’s been a year, and every single day I love you more.” He opened his fist in front of me, two gold rings were resting on his palm. “Will you marry me? Will you marry us?”
I stared at the rings, then at Brody, the one person I met who’d shown me that I had the capacity for the greatest love of all. I picked up the closest ring, tilting it.
“Cupcakes and Christmas?” I read, and he grinned at me.
“How we met, and the day we get married if you’ll have me.”
I closed my eyes briefly. How had I ever gotten so lucky to meet a man like him?
“I love you, Brody.”
“So say yes.”
I glanced around the small group, all of whom were waiting for the formerly broken man to make a commitment to a shiny love filled future. My answer was easy, and I kissed his soft lips gently.
“Yes.”
THE END
A letter from RJ
Dear Reader,
I am a HUGE fan of the TV show Great British Bake Off. I watch it avidly every week, and get so involved with every single contestant. I always imagined two guys meeting on the show (we think it might have happened last season!) but decided I would have two past winners meet in a reunion show.
In 2019 I was lucky enough to have a vacation in Canada, and part of that was staying in Banff and doing all the things that Justin and Brody do (apart from the Hot Springs - we didn’t have time to get there!). Banff is the most gorgeous town, with views of the mountains, and we went in October so there was snow!
Mixing GBBO with Banff gave me Cupcakes and Christmas and I hope you enjoyed!
Happy Reading, and Seasons Greetings.
Stay safe, stay well.
Love and hugs, RJ X
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Meet RJ Scott
RJ is the author of the over one hundred published novels and discovered romance in books at a very young age. She realized that if there wasn’t romance on the page, she could create it in her head, and is a lifelong writer.
The last time she had a week’s break from writing she didn’t like it one little bit and has yet to meet a box of chocolates that she couldn’t defeat.
Website: www.rjscott.co.uk
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Also by RJ Scott
For an up to date list of all books please visit www.rjscott.co.uk
Christmas
Angel in a Book Shop | Christmas Prince | Jesse’s Christmas | Love Happens Anyway | New York Christmas | The Christmas Throwaway | The Road to Frosty Hollow | Dallas Christmas
Single Dads
Single | Today | Promise
Lancaster Falls (Romantic Suspense)
What Lies Beneath | Without a Trace | All That Remains
Montana (Cowboys, Ranchers, Mystery)
Crooked Tree Ranch | The Rancher’s Son | A Cowbo
y’s Home | Snow In Montana | Second Chance Ranch | Montana Sky
Heroes
A Reason To Stay | Last Marine Standing | Deacon’s Law
Texas (Cowboys, Ranchers, Family)
The Heart of Texas | Texas Winter | Texas Heat | Texas Family | Texas Christmas | Texas Fall | Texas Wedding | Texas Gift | Home For Christmas
Legacy (spin-off from Texas series)
Kyle | Gabriel | Daniel
Harrisburg Railers (Hockey Romance)
Changing Lines | First Season | Deep Edge | Poke Check | Last Defense | Goal Line | Neutral Zone | Hat Trick | Save The Date | Baby Makes Three
Railers Volume 1 | Railers Volume 2 | Railers Volume 3
Owatonna U Hockey (Hockey Romance)
Ryker | Scott | Benoit | Christmas Lights
Arizona Raptors (Hockey Romance)
Coast To Coast | Across the Pond | Shadow and Light | Sugar and Ice | School and Rock
Bodyguards Inc
Bodyguard to a Sex God | The Ex-Factor | Max and the Prince | Undercover Lovers | Love’s Design | Kissing Alex
Sanctuary (Bodyguards, Secret Foundation)
