“God, you two. Can you be a little less disgusting around the girl who has no man?”
Seda didn’t have any rancor in her voice, in fact she seemed satisfied at their display of affection. Audrey hoped she wasn’t mentally matchmaking. It was going to be bad enough when Erik left, without her friend being let down as well.
The final shot was the two of them together, nomming down on a cupcake between them. Seda did a little dance, wanting to get to work on editing it right away. When the Chinese food delivery arrived, she couldn’t be enticed to stay, even when Audrey waved the scrumptious lo mein under her nose.
“Yes, please stay,” Erik said, convincing no one of his sincerity.
Seda snorted a laugh, grabbed an egg roll and a cookie, kissed Audrey on the cheek, looked like she wanted to do the same to Erik but chickened out, then was gone.
“She makes me tired,” he said.
“Me too,” Audrey agreed, hoisting herself onto the kitchen island and opening all the containers. “I’m so hungry for real food after all that sugar. God, I’m going to put myself into a coma if I don’t stop stress eating.”
“You should tell me when you’re stressed,” he said, looking dismayed that she sat on the counter, but resolutely climbed up as well, twisting his long legs into a pretzel. “I can help you with that.”
He ran his finger down the side of her neck, and determined to get an entire meal without being distracted by his wily seduction techniques, she loaded up her chopsticks with noodles and shoved them into his mouth.
“Oh, that’s good,” he murmured with his mouth full, and his obvious pleasure gave her a thrill of anticipation, and chased away her fatigue.
How did he do that, not only make her completely forget her troubles but chase her actual aches and pains away? A moment before her back had twinged and she had trouble keeping her eyes open but now all she felt was the heavy, pleasant languor he could spread over her with only a look.
She gave him some chicken and then rice, feeling giddy that he sat sweetly, letting her feed him with the chopsticks. He licked some sweet and sour sauce off his lip and she couldn’t stand it any longer, thinking her insides would burst if she didn’t feel his hands on her.
She leaned across the food and pressed her mouth to his, tasting the salty sweet dinner on his lips. He swept the food containers aside and slid her closer to him, straightening her legs so she could wrap them around his waist, settling into his lap. Working his hands under her shirt and sensuously probing her mouth with his tongue, he leaned backward so she lay on top of him. A bowl fell to the floor with a crash but she only slid against him, tugging at the waistband of his jeans.
She felt starved for him, though it couldn’t have been twenty-four hours since they’d last come together like this. When she finally got his zipper down, it seemed as if he’d been away on a long journey and she gasped with the desire she felt. She wiggled out of his embrace to work her way down his body, wanting to see and taste him.
“Oh, there’s not enough room for what I want to do,” she cried, gripping him gently and stroking his great length.
In a blur of movement, he picked her up, jumping off the counter and sinking to lie down on the ground. “What do you want to do?” he asked, his voice full of nervous hope.
She giggled and slid back down, licking and gently biting as she went. She shoved his shirt up to get a better view of his sculpted chest and rippling washboard abs. “I will never, ever get tired of this.”
“Nor me, Audrey,” he said breathlessly, making her chest swell with longing.
The sense of power she felt, reducing him to a giant quivering mess, gave her the courage to proceed. She had only had a few boyfriends in high school, and none of them rated sleeping with, and her relationships since then had been too short lived due to her hectic schedules to be anything other than rotely intimate.
It made her both happy and sad that she’d been able to find such closeness with Erik. The way he expressed every emotion so openly without fear of judgment made her feel she could do the same. And there was the fact that she couldn’t seem to resist him even if she wanted to, when every glance at his body turned her into a drooling lunatic.
After she took her sweet time kissing down his stomach, she edged her way to her final destination, sliding a fingernail along its length to see his reaction. Yes, she liked the way he hissed out his breath between his teeth and reached for her helplessly.
“I never did this before,” she admitted, running her tongue around the tip before eagerly taking him in her mouth.
He tangled his fingers in her hair before letting his arms drop weakly to his sides, pressing against the floor with his palms.
“You’re very good at it,” he said through clenched teeth.
A hunger like she’d never felt before rose up in her as she spied him out of the corner of her eye, every twitch and sigh from him urging her to give more. He finally let out a low growl and gripped her arms, pulling her away.
“I can’t,” he said, pushing her jeans roughly down her hips. “By the gods, Audrey.”
Her jeans got caught on her ankle and he looked like he would cry, tearing another pair of her panties into two pieces and lifting her up by the hips to slam her down onto him again. She buried her face in his shoulder and hung on as the shockwaves of pleasure rocketed through her at the first thrust. He continued, holding onto her as she cried out from the merciless onslaught of bliss.
When he slowed his movements and nudged her face closer to his to kiss her, she realized her fingernails were dug deeply into his arms, her knees gripping him for dear life. He eased her to the side, gently moving his hands across her skin until her breathing was somewhat back to normal. She thought for certain she was broken, ruined for any other man. Every time was better than the next.
Reality crept back into her vision, along with the cold of the tile floor into her bones. Full bowls of cookie dough mocked her from the counter above, and to the side she saw scattered grains of fried rice from where they must have knocked the container off in their haste to get to each other.
He felt her shiver and rolled her on top of him again, smoothing the sweaty strands of hair away from her face. She felt that he was miraculously ready to go again and she scrambled away, knowing if she didn’t get the rest of the cookies in the oven they really would have to wake up at three.
He let her go with a deep sigh, and after a moment rose to help her clean up the carnage they’d created on the counter. She dug under the counter for a spray bottle of bleach, blushing crimson at the thought of what the health department might have to say if they knew what took place in her kitchen. Tossing yet another pair of ruined underwear, she let loose with a carefree giggle, still awash with the heady glow he gave her.
“Let’s hurry and get this done,” she urged. “Then we can go upstairs and do that all again.”
“Your wish is my command, Audrey,” he said with a grin.
Yes, it was over for her. She was long gone down a road on which there was no turning back, but right that moment, she didn’t care at all, happy to careen along toward her fate, whatever it was.
Chapter 12
Seda called her after they opened, telling her to watch the ad she worked on late into the night. Audrey was behind on the frosting, and promised to look at it later and call her back.
“It’s about ten seconds long, just watch it now and tell me what you think, then I’ll post it everywhere I can think of,” she said, and her disappointed voice made Audrey put the phone on speaker and watch the video Seda sent her.
She hadn’t been exaggerating the length, in fact she’d been generous with how long it was. Obnoxiously chipper accordion music blared in the background, then there was a quick flash of Erik flexing his arm, followed by a goofy text bubble that said ‘droolworthy’, with Seda saying it in a mock sexy voiceover. The next frame showed a flash of gooey cookie, and then Erik winking, with another bubble and idiotic voiceover ann
ouncing ‘delicious’. There was a slightly longer flash of the cookie, then them leaning close to share the cupcake. The final word bubble read ‘Valhalla Cupcakes. Now serving cookies!’ cutting to end with Erik smiling brilliantly. The accordion music soared triumphantly and the scene faded to black.
She watched it again, only to pathetically look at her and Erik taking the messy bite out of the cupcake as they smiled at each other. Her heart ached at how much she wanted the image of them as a happy couple to be the truth. Other than that, she had no words. Seda was a talented interior designer, but the ad screamed sixth grader using video editing software for the first time. Maybe fourth grader.
“Do you love it?” she shouted.
Erik came up behind her and she played it for him.
“It’s deplorable,” he said, horrified. “I won’t be able to hold my head up if anyone sees that. You make it look like I’m the one who’s droolworthy and delicious. I oppose this.”
“You’re outvoted,” Seda said. “Right, Audrey?”
She groaned, thinking it was silly and embarrassing, and poor Erik was clearly done with being objectified. So many things were wrong about the video, she didn’t know where to start.
“Why the accordion?” she finally managed to ask.
“There’s not that much royalty free music available, so I used a recording of my cousin’s third grade recital. I have to buy him this crazy expensive toy in return, so be grateful. It’s light and fun to grab people’s attention. I guarantee this will get you more business.”
Erik looked stony, and shook his head.
“Why don’t we just shelve the ad for a while,” she said, earning a grateful look from Erik. There was silence on the other line and her stomach rolled over. “You already uploaded it everywhere, didn’t you?” she asked.
Erik’s chin dropped defeatedly and he left the kitchen.
“I thought you’d love it,” she said defensively. “And it’s only been up for an hour and already has a ton of views. I emailed it to Nessie Flayle, remember her? She works at KMAN now, and said she’d get it up on their site. So maybe messenger some cookies over to the station and they’ll talk about it on the radio, who knows? Just wait until you see how many extra customers you have today.”
She glanced out the door to see Erik serving the first customers of the day, and noticed one of them asked to have her picture taken with him. It could have been a coincidence, but she’d never seen that happen before, no matter how they stared at him and took pictures on the sly. If he became a local celebrity for a few days thanks to Seda’s tenacity, it could only benefit the shop. She’d explain to him that no one would take it seriously, and his image wouldn’t be tarnished.
“I’m hanging up, Seda,” she said. “Thanks for the commercial.”
“Work on that and call me back when you can sound sincere,” she said sourly. “Oh, I got you and Erik invited to this swanky shindig I’m going to tonight. Don’t even think about saying no.”
Audrey groaned and wanted to throw the phone. “Absolutely no. You know it enrages me to even hear words like swanky shindig.”
“It’s important to meet your fellow business owners in the community,” she said, her voice turning serious. “You know how much cheaper and easier it is to get cupcakes from the supermarket?”
She counted silently in her head, anxiety flaring at a new hurdle to jump. She knew she should be excited about the prospect of dressing up and going out on the town with Erik, and she knew Seda was right about networking, but she never felt completely secure around crowds of people, and she didn’t remember the last time she’d had her hair trimmed or put on makeup. Her nails were ragged from constant hand washing, and she didn’t have a dress that was less than five years old.
“Everything you just thought of, you know I already have an answer for, right?” Seda asked.
Erik came back into the kitchen, looking like he might need her help. “You’re still talking to her?” he asked, as if she really should have thrown the phone.
“She wants us to go to this fancy party tonight,” Audrey explained.
Erik’s slightly frazzled look transformed into a delighted smile. “That sounds like fun,” he said. “But can you come out front for a second when you’re done? Someone wants to talk about a catering order.”
Audrey watched him return to the customers, dazzled by his eagerness to go to the party.
“Okay, we’ll go,” she said.
She took the catering order and helped Erik in the front for a while, delighted when the couple they’d met on the beach came in late in the afternoon. She glanced around, eager to put her best foot forward since they’d been so friendly. There had just been a surge of customers and the tables were full, but everything was fairly tidy and they hadn’t run out of anything yet that day. The cookies had really helped take away some of the pressure to constantly make fresh batches of cupcakes. She hoped their bottom line wouldn’t suffer because of the lower price, but she’d only know that at the end of the day when she counted the money.
“This place is so cute,” Lily said, taking it all in as excitedly as if she was at Disneyland. “Do you mind if I take pictures?”
“Not at all,” Audrey assured her, grabbing a table for them as soon as one cleared. “Just tell me what you want and I’ll bring it over.”
She thought Lily might take a picture of her display over the fireplace, and maybe the awards on the wall, but she seemed to snap a photo of everything, leaning down to get the chairs at the proper angle, zooming in on the price board, and of course, wanting to be in a shot with Erik.
“We searched for directions to get here this morning,” Devon said, taking their picture. “And saw your ad. Really funny.”
“Yes, whoever made that is a genius,” Lily gushed. “I already knew I wanted to come here, but that little skit sealed the deal. You two are so sweet together.”
Audrey hurriedly turned to Erik, flashing him a look of disbelief. He looked like he’d just licked a poison toad, but shrugged and nodded to the full house. Apparently her crackpot friend was a genius, because the ad did seem to be working.
They took turns visiting with the newlyweds, and every time a new slew of customers came in, Lily got as excited as if she owned the place, snapping pictures of the crowded tables in between bites of cupcake.
“Is it like this every day?” she asked.
“Pretty much, thank goodness,” Audrey said, feeling so comfortable around them she almost spilled the beans about her gangster buddies.
“And all these recipes are your own?”
“Yes, I’ve been baking for fun since I was ten or so, and got my first job in a bakery when I was fifteen. I went to pastry school right after high school and never looked back.”
Lily nodded seriously. “It’s just the two of you running it? I bet if Devon and I worked together, we’d be at each other’s throats.”
Audrey began to feel like she was being interviewed for something, but not sure what. “Well, for now, until we’re really off the ground.” Erik came around the counter at a gap in customers and squeezed her shoulder. She looked up at him and smiled. “I don’t mind being around him all the time.”
“I’ll bet you don’t,” Lilly said with a laugh. “So, do you—”
“All right, Lil, take a breather,” her husband teased, to get her to stop her round of questions.
She turned pink with embarrassment. “Sorry, but it’s really so darling in here. I’d want to hang out every day if we lived closer.”
They were telling the truth, and stayed for another hour, drinking coffee and reading when it was too busy for Audrey or Erik to visit with them, and sampled the fresh peanut butter cookies when Audrey brought them out. They had to leave to get ready for a dinner reservation shortly before closing, but promised to come and buy cupcakes for all their friends before they got on the plane to go back home.
“Ugh, speaking of reservations,” she said. She knew Seda would
soon be descending on them for the party that night. “I’m going to clean the kitchen since we won’t have time later, if we’re really going to that thing.”
“You don’t want to go?” he asked, crestfallen. He pulled her close and turned her in a circle around the room. “I wanted to dance with you,” he said.
She held on as he whirled her in the opposite direction. “You’re dancing with me now,” she argued, but nothing could have made her cancel, knowing how much he looked forward to it.
“But at a gathering, everyone will see you and know you’re mine,” he said.
She caught her foot on a chair leg and grabbed his shoulders to keep from falling out of his embrace. He clutched her tightly while her heart thudded against her ribcage. Did he just say what she thought he did? She was his? Was she his? Had she agreed to that? She mentally rolled her eyes at herself. As if he needed to ask.
“I thought you were mine,” she teased, thinking he was only joking. Or being a five hundred year old Viking.
His eyes darkened and she hoped he wasn’t hurt that she brought up the curse. God, she was dumb, ruining the moment she’d been waiting and hoping for. But it turned out the moment wasn’t ruined after all, as he lowered his mouth to hers. His lips brushed hers and he pulled away, smiling wickedly.
“Aren’t we so sweet together?” he asked, imitating Lily from earlier.
She held her breath to keep from asking him if he meant it. In her deepest, most secret heart she wanted him to really be hers, not because an ancient curse said so, but because he loved her as much as she loved him.
Oh, damn. It had made its way to the surface, the thing she’d been suppressing since she first set the tiny pink helmet rakishly onto his blond mop.
No, it wasn’t that. It was just endorphins. Instead of running screaming from the room, which was her first instinct, she wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned against his chest, just letting it all flow from her. As long as she still owed eighty thousand dollars plus interest, he was hers. She’d deal with whatever came after.
Valhalla Cupcakes Page 13
