Jake chuckled. “I’m on my way.”
Andi’s sister Kim and best friend Rachel watched her with amused expressions on each of their faces.
“I hope Mike and I still flirt with each other after we’re married,” Rachel said, her sing-song voice a tease. “But the name Mistletoe Magic isn’t half bad. Maybe we should make a red velvet cupcake with a Hershey’s kiss and miniature holly leaf sprinkles on top.”
Kim finished boxing a dozen Maraschino cherry cupcakes and handed them to the customer at the counter. “As if we don’t have enough sales already.”
“Sales are great,” Andi agreed. “We’ve booked orders for eighteen holiday parties. Now if I can only figure out what to get Jake for Christmas life would be perfect.”
Rachel rang up the next customer’s order. “Mike and I decided our Hollywood honeymoon will be our gift to each other.”
“Are you serious?” Kim picked up a pastry bag from the back worktable. “You—the woman who can’t walk three feet past a store window without buying anything—are not going to get Mike a Christmas gift? Not even a little something?”
“It is hard,” she admitted. “But I promised him I wouldn’t. I also promised I wouldn’t go overboard with spending on the wedding arrangements.”
“You could always have a small, simple wedding like Jake and I did,” Andi suggested.
Rachel’s red curls bounced back and forth as she shook her head. “I already booked the Liberty Theater for the reception. I know it’s expensive, but the palace-like antique architecture is so beautiful I couldn’t help myself. I’ve always dreamed of—”
“Being Cinderella?” Kim joked.
“I do want a Cinderella wedding,” Rachel crooned. “I figure I can bake my own cake and skimp on other wedding details to stay within our budget.”
Andi didn’t think Rachel knew the first thing about staying within a budget but decided it was best not to argue. Instead she turned toward her younger sister. “Kim, what are you getting Nathaniel for Christmas?”
“I’m not sure.” Kim averted her gaze. “Maybe I should just get him a new set of luggage tags.”
Rachel frowned. “That’s not very romantic.”
“No, but it’s practical,” Andi said, coming to Kim’s defense. “Nathaniel’s probably getting her the same thing.”
“He planned to fly to his family’s home in Sweden this Christmas,” Kim confessed, her dark brows drawing together. “But I told him I couldn’t go and he didn’t want to go without me.”
“Of course you can’t go,” Rachel exclaimed, bracing her hands against the marble counter. “I need you to be my bridesmaid!”
“It would have been awkward spending Christmas with his family anyway,” Kim said, piping vanilla icing over the cupcakes. “It’s not like I’m part of his family or like we’re even engaged. In fact, I don’t know what we are.”
“You two are great together,” Andi encouraged. “You are both artistic, enjoy nature, and love to travel.”
Kim nodded, then looked up, her expression earnest. “But what else? I’m beginning to wonder if I should tell Nathaniel to go to Sweden without me.”
“And miss my wedding? But you’ll need a dance partner at the reception,” Rachel reminded her. “He wouldn’t go and leave you stranded without a date on Christmas Eve would he?”
Kim hesitated. “I don’t know.”
The bells on the front door jingled as a man in his late forties entered the shop with a briefcase in hand.
“Are you the owners of Creative Cupcakes?” he asked, his expression hopeful.
Andi stepped forward and smiled. “Yes, we are.”
The man placed his briefcase on the end of the counter and sprung the latch. “Then I have an offer I think you might like.”
“What kind of offer?” Rachel asked, anticipation lighting her faint-freckled face.
The man handed them each a set of papers a half inch thick. “An offer to buy Creative Cupcakes.”
Acknowledgments
* * *
THANK YOU TO May Chen, Chelsey Emmelhainz, and everyone else at Avon Impulse and the fabulous HarperCollins publicity department. Thank you to my agent, Nicole Resciniti, and Heather Fizer for her wonderful cupcake recipe. And a special thank you to fellow author D. V. Berkom for allowing me to refer to the Kate Jones book series.
About the Author
* * *
DARLENE PANZERA writes sweet, fun-loving romance and is a member of the Romance Writers of America’s Greater Seattle and Peninsula chapters. Her career launched when her novella The Bet was picked by Avon Books and New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber to be published within Debbie’s own novel, Family Affair. Darlene says, “I love writing stories that help inspire people to laugh, value relationships, and pursue their dreams.”
Born and raised in New Jersey, Darlene is now a resident of the Pacific Northwest, where she lives with her husband and three children. When not writing she enjoys spending time with her family and her two horses, and loves camping, hiking, photography, and lazy days at the lake.
Join her on Facebook or at www.darlenepanzera.com.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.
By Darlene Panzera
Bet You’ll Marry Me
The Cupcake Diaries: Sweet On You
The Cupcake Diaries: Recipe for Love
The Cupcake Diaries: Taste of Romance
The Cupcake Diaries: Spoonful of Christmas
The Cupcake Diaries: Sprinkled with Kisses
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Excerpt from The Cupcake Diaries: Sweet On You copyright © 2013 by Darlene Panzera.
Excerpt from The Cupcake Diaries: Recipe for Love copyright © 2013 by Darlene Panzera.
Excerpt from The Cupcake Diaries: Taste of Romance copyright © 2013 by Darlene Panzera.
Excerpt from The Cupcake Diaries: Spoonful of Christmas copyright © 2013 by Darlene Panzera.
THE CUPCAKE DIARIES: SPRINKLED WITH KISSES. Copyright © 2014 by Darlene Panzera. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition MARCH 2014 ISBN: 9780062331014
Print Edition ISBN: 9780062331021
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