Making Whoopie

by Erin Nicholas

  “Did you see them?” Dax asked Ollie. “The nipples on the boob cupcakes were hard candies. So you could suck on them.” He grinned. Then he looked at Grant. “Hey, was the clit a candy you could suck and lick too?”

  “Shut the hell up, Dax,” Grant said.

  “I’m being serious,” Dax said, sitting up straighter. “That’s creative and perfectly, hilariously dirty.”

  Grant sighed. It was. “It was a hard candy,” he conceded. Then added, “Cherry flavored.”

  Dax shook his head, looking a little awed. “Perfect. That sweet little lady has a naughty side. That’s amazing.”

  It was. It was sexy as hell. And Grant was thinking about taking the rest of the day off and camping out at Buttered Up just so he could watch her bake again. Everything about her turned him on, and he couldn’t wait to see her again.

  “The liqueur center of the pussy cupcake should definitely be cherry flavored,” Ollie said, nodding.

  “But the pussy cupcake is cream filled,” Dax said. “Come on. We can’t mess with that.”

  There was a beat, then Ollie and Dax said together, “Cherry-flavored cream.”

  Grant groaned. This was how it so often went. Ollie could not shut his imagination off. He would let things just fall out of his mouth, Dax would pick them up and run with them, and Grant would blink, and everything would snowball.

  Cam had swung his legs around and was leaning onto his thighs now. “Zoe and Josie are going to do this at the bakery?”

  “It would have to be a side thing,” Aiden protested. “They couldn’t put those in the bakery cases.”

  “Of course not,” Ollie said. “But they could easily let people know they were available and take orders without displaying them.”

  Cam was nodding. “That would be hilarious.”

  Aiden seemed unsure. “The nice little family-owned small-town bakery?”

  “People who really knew my grandma knew she wasn’t always nice,” Cam said.

  “I’m just saying, I’m not sure that’s on brand,” Aiden told him.

  Grant nodded. “Agreed. They should not do this.”

  Mostly because it had been Jocelyn’s idea, and if she wanted to sell these cupcakes, then she should do it herself. She didn’t have to give this idea to Zoe.

  Though Grant needed to check with Cam on that. Did Jocelyn have a contract with Zoe that would prevent her from baking for profit outside of the bakery? If Zoe didn’t have a contract like that, she maybe should. But he wouldn’t be the one suggesting that now because he was absolutely Team Jocelyn.

  Which meant he probably shouldn’t bring it up with Zoe’s brother, who might mention the idea to her.

  Dammit. This little town and this group of people was so intertwined, everything got complicated very easily.

  “Oh, they should absolutely do this,” Ollie said. “And if you think I wouldn’t send each of you cherry-cream-filled pussy cupcakes on your birthdays, you are crazy.”

  “Pussy cakes for everyone,” Dax agreed.

  “Um…”

  They all swung toward the feminine voice.

  Whitney Lancaster, their VP of Marketing and Sales, the granddaughter of the Hot Cakes founders, and Camden McCaffery’s ex, was standing in the doorway.

  6

  “I can come back later,” Whitney said, looking very much like she would love to turn around and leave, in fact.

  Aiden sighed. “No. You’re right on time. Come on in.”

  “You could have warned us, Piper!” Ollie called out. “Or her!”

  “No way! This is way more fun!” Piper called back from her desk.

  “Sorry,” Aiden said to Whitney, rising, and rounding the desk.

  Whitney cast a glance toward Cam but then gave Aiden a smile. “Guess I’m not used to the changes around here yet. My dad doesn’t have much of a sense of humor.”

  Cam snorted at that and Grant looked over at him. His eyes fixed on Whitney.

  “Hey, Whitney,” Dax greeted as he popped up from his chair, offering it to her while he propped himself on the corner of Aiden’s desk.

  “Hi, Dax.” She gave him a smile as she accepted the seat. “Hi, Ollie.”

  “’Mornin’, Boss,” Ollie greeted.

  She actually laughed lightly at that. “I told you before that nickname wasn’t going to stick.”

  Ollie grinned. “Trust me. After you tell them all your new idea, it will. You should definitely be the one in charge around here.”

  Grant agreed. Whitney had grown up in the company and had been officially the VP of Marketing and Sales for the past ten years but functioned very much like a CEO. Her grandparents had started the company. The idea and recipes and original baking had all been her grandmother’s, but her grandfather, Dean, had been the one to truly grow it into the national brand that it was today. Whitney’s father, Eric, had taken over after Dean retired, but Eric had never been enthusiastic about Hot Cakes and had focused his attention and time on growing another food brand based out of Dallas. Whitney had stepped up and taken the reins at Hot Cakes even though her father had never given her a change in title.

  Grant and the guys were fortunate that she’d been willing to stay on when they’d taken over. What they lacked in knowledge about, well, everything having to do with running a commercial snack cake factory and business line, Whitney had been able to help with.

  If it hadn’t been for her past with Cam, they would have likely already offered her a partnership. As it was, they were happy to have her in charge of marketing and sales for them as well, with a hefty salary, and wait for the dust to settle a little before they made any huge changes.

  Of course, that meant that Cam was Whitney’s boss now.

  One of them anyway.

  “What new idea?”

  On cue, Cam spoke up. He stretched to his feet and approached Aiden’s desk and the chairs in front of it. He stayed off to one side, near the potted tree by the bookcase, but he was intent on the meeting suddenly. He had his arms crossed and seemed unable to stop looking at Whitney.

  Whitney, on the other hand, seemed determined to not look in his direction.

  It wasn’t as if they hadn’t seen each other. Every time Cam was in town it seemed they ran into each other. Always unintentionally. Though sometimes literally. Like when he’d almost hit her in the crosswalk at Christmastime, causing her to drop her box of cookies and bag of panties all over Main Street. And then had to help her gather those panties up off the icy pavement.

  Grant was sure that interaction had stayed with them both.

  “New product,” Ollie said. “Whitney thinks we need something new to invigorate things and that it’s the perfect time with the change in ownership and everything. We can bring our own flavor—so to speak—to Hot Cakes.”

  Aiden had run this all past Grant and Ollie a few days ago, and Grant was completely on board. Not only would a new product bring in additional revenue, which would help cover the costs for improving their employee benefits, but this was a great thing to get Ollie focused on. His visionary friend needed projects or he got bored and came up with his own. Which were usually wild and expensive and sometimes completely unrelated to anything else. This would give him some creative outlet while also benefiting the company.

  Grant also liked this chance to pull Whitney in more and get her involved with the team. She was sharp and experienced, but he got the impression she hadn’t been encouraged to share ideas or head up projects when her dad and grandfather had been in charge. Grant would love to see her shine, and this seemed a great place to start.

  “More cake? Bring it on,” Dax said. “I’m feeling lemon.”

  Dax was no longer a partner in Hot Cakes so was here this morning as a consultant only. Well, he was here because they always had a morning meeting, and he would have wanted to know if anything happened between Grant and Jocelyn after they left the McCafferys’ together last night. But he was also here to weigh in on the new idea. There was rarel
y an idea that Dax couldn’t embellish.

  For better or worse.

  “You’re ‘feeling lemon’?” Cam asked.

  “Yeah,” Dax said. “We don’t have anything lemon.” He looked around. “Do we?”

  “No,” Cam said. “But if we’re doing something new, it better be coconut.”

  “Come on,” Dax said. “No way is coconut better than lemon.”

  “It most definitely is,” Cam said. “And then there’s caramel. That would be the second thing we do. Way before lemon.”

  Cam was here, though, because he was a partner, and he had to have a say in big initiatives. A new product would mean work for all departments from actual production in the factory to legal paperwork for trademarking and so on. They all had to be involved.

  But that meant he had to work—at least partially—with Whitney.

  Aiden had been concerned about that, and after he’d shared more of Cam and Whitney’s history with Grant and Ollie, they’d agreed. But Grant would love to see them working together and getting past some of their heartbreak and history.

  And if Cam was a nice, guy-next-door type, Grant would think that was a possibility, and they’d have nothing to worry about.

  But Cam was Cam. He loved to argue, which had drawn him to law school, and he could hold a grudge like no other. To think that he might have a little revenge on his mind was not a stretch.

  “We’ll have to vote,” Dax said. “That’s the only fair way to do it.”

  “You’re not a partner anymore,” Cam reminded him. “So your vote wouldn’t count anyway.”

  “But you all really value my input,” Dax said.

  Cam snorted. “I could arm wrestle you for it,” Cam said, seemingly nonchalantly flexing his arm.

  Dax shook his head. “Ping-Pong tournament.”

  “No fucking way,” Cam said. Cam sucked at Ping-Pong.

  “We have a better plan than any of that,” Ollie broke in. “We’re going to have a contest.”

  Cam cocked an eyebrow. “A contest?”

  Ollie nodded with a grin. “Tell them, Boss,” he said to Whitney.

  She swallowed and glanced at Cam, then quickly looked at Dax instead. “I was thinking that if we had a baking contest, then a few things could happen. One, we don’t have to develop a brand-new product from scratch without knowing if anyone will like it. Our customers can bring products they’d like to see to us. We can pick and choose from the entries. That gets us the basic recipe to adapt. Two, it gets the community involved. It would have to be open nationwide, I would guess.” Again she looked at Cam. These were the kinds of things they needed legal counsel for—“but even so, it would get our customers involved. They could compete to be the ones to submit the final recipe to us.”

  Dax was already nodding. Clearly, he liked the idea. Of course, he liked any kind of game or contest and was a pro at interacting with fans. Customers of Hot Cakes weren’t exactly the same as the fans that played Warriors of Easton and showed up at Comic-Con, but they were still the people purchasing from them repeatedly. Interacting with them was a good idea.

  “We can have rounds,” Dax said. “We have taste testing to narrow down the entries. We can get the town involved in that part. That shows them that we really want to be a part of the community, and it gets them invested in the company and the new things we’re doing.”

  Whitney was smiling more genuinely now. “So we have all of the entries put to a taste test by the people of Appleby.” She nodded. “I like that. We can have people send entries in from wherever they are, but we have community judges narrow things down.”

  “Then the top ten get flown in then,” Ollie said, picking up the thread. “We bring them to Appleby, put them up at the B and B, make it a whole event.”

  “And,” Whitney said, “we have special judges for the final rounds.”

  “Like the mayor or something? Maybe your grandmother?” Aiden suggested. “That would show she was happy with the transition and was giving it her blessing.”

  Whitney nodded slowly. “That’s not a bad idea. Maybe she can be the very final judge. Like when we get down to the last two or three?” She grimaced slightly. “She has some dementia. I don’t know how much she’ll really understand about it all. But if we give her two desserts and ask which she likes the best, she’ll be able to pick. Just having her involved in all of the final few rounds might be a lot.”

  Aiden nodded, a sympathetic look on his face. “I’m sorry.”

  She smiled. “She’s still healthy and has some really good days.” She looked at Dax. “She’s really excited about her new apartment at Sunny Orchard.”

  Dax grinned. “Having her there will be huge for us.”

  “She’s moving into your nursing home?” Grant asked.

  “Yep. She’s going to have one of the first deluxe suites when they’re finished.”

  Grant actually felt a surge of pride when he saw the work his friend was doing and how excited Dax was about it. Dax had found a fabulous way to apply his love for fun and willingness to go over the top and try new things. If anyone was going to try new programs for enriching the lives of people living in nursing homes, it would be Dax.

  “That’s really great,” Grant said sincerely. “Good for both of you.”

  Dax and Whitney shared a smile.

  “Until then,” Whitney said, “Grandma and I are living together in her house.” She laughed lightly again. “She doesn’t need twenty-four-hour care but shouldn’t be totally alone either. So it’s working out, but it can be… interesting. But yes, I’m sure she’d think it was fun to be involved.”

  “If you think she should be the final judge, how should we handle the prior rounds?” Ollie asked. “We could put together a community panel. Or maybe a group of employees.”

  “Well…” Whitney bit her bottom lip.

  Aiden lifted a brow. “What are you thinking?”

  “You might hate this idea,” she said hesitantly.

  “Lay it on us,” Ollie encouraged. He loved brainstorming.

  “Well… we could play up the Hot Cakes name by having hot guys be the judges,” she said, her cheeks getting pink. “I know that’s gimmicky, but it would draw an audience, I promise you. We could show everything online too, and I’m sure we’d have people watching. We find, I don’t know, a handful, of young, good-looking, charming guys. We make sure everyone knows who they are.” She looked around. “With the right guys, it could be a big hit.”

  Ollie was sitting forward in his chair now. “What if we make the contest three days? We bring those ten finalists in. We have a big event space, a stage, the whole bit.”

  “Oh, the hot-guy judges could each make one of the finalist’s dessert submissions,” Whitney said. “We could set it up so it’s like a little cooking show. Women love men who can cook.”

  Dax was nodding. “We could do a bachelor auction. The women bid on the guys, and the date includes the dessert that guy makes and maybe wine or coffee at some location around town.”

  Grant caught Aiden’s eye. Wow. Whitney was sitting between Ollie and Dax. All three of them were leaning in, talking excitedly, the ideas bouncing around and growing as they went.

  The last thing they needed was a third person who dreamed big and was willing to go over the top.

  Still, he couldn’t help but grin. The tension in Whitney had completely relaxed, and she was clearly in her element. He had to wonder how much creativity she’d been able to show with her grandparents and father. From what he could tell, Hot Cakes had been very much the same for most of the fifty years it had been in existence. The logo had been freshened up about ten years ago—likely Whitney’s doing—but the product line hadn’t changed at all.

  Now, watching Whitney brainstorm with Ollie and Dax, Grant could tell that she’d been stifled and was thrilled to have a chance to think outside the box.

  And to have two partners in crime.

  Oh boy.

  “Okay, maybe
before we put up a circus tent and start selling off bachelors, we should hammer out some details?” Grant said, interjecting the voice of reason as he so often did.

  “Well, I want in,” Ollie said. “I want to be one of the bachelors.”

  Grant looked at him in surprise. “Really?”

  “Sure. I’ll taste test new products. And I can bake.”

  “You can?” Aiden asked as surprised as Grant.

  “Well… probably,” Ollie said with a shrug. “I know the basic principles.”

  “I don’t know—” Grant started.

  But Whitney was nodding. “That’s perfect. It would be hilarious to have a guy up there who doesn’t really know what he’s doing but who can be funny and charming about it.”

  “Uh.” That came from Dax. He looked at Ollie. “I love you like a brother, but funny and charming aren’t really your forte.”

  Ollie frowned. “I can be funny and charming.”

  “He’ll be great,” Whitney rushed to assure them. “Girls love hot nerds.”

  “What?” Ollie asked. “I’m a nerd?” He didn’t question the hot part.

  Whitney laughed. “You didn’t know that?”

  “Well, I…” Then he nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

  “But it will be great. If you’re a little awkward up there, the women will eat it up.”

  “I want to do this too,” Dax said.

  Whitney grinned at him. “I don’t know how Jane would feel about you going on a date with someone else.”

  Dax sighed. “True.” He looked over at Aiden. “Guess that means Aiden’s out too.”

  Aiden laughed. “Thank God.”

  “Oh, you wouldn’t have wanted to be up on stage, acting all cocky while you frost some cookies, having girls ooh-ing and ahh-ing over you?” Dax asked.

  “I would kick all of your asses,” Aiden said with a nod. “I’ve been… frosting cookies… at Buttered Up for most of my life.”

  Whitney lifted a brow at the way he paused before “frosting cookies.” “Yeah, that innuendo stuff will definitely work.” She glanced at the others. You have to do that.”