“Can I have a cupcake?” one of them asked.
“We’ll have those right after the costume contest winner is announced.” She had to keep their moms shopping for as long as possible.
Despite her instructions, the kids hovered around the table snatching for cupcakes. Marigold could see her profits heading right down the throats of these little misbehaved monsters.
But like her own personal prince, Dane stood in front of the display, his thick arms splayed out to the sides. “Nobody gets a cupcake until after the contest, understood?” His tone was low and serious, but his expression was soft and a smile snuck onto his lips. God how she could kiss him right now.
The kids backed up like they were a little afraid and a little intrigued all at once. Marigold searched for their moms who were, to her delight, shopping.
“Where’s your costume?” one of the girls asked Dane.
“I’m not entering the contest.”
“But she’s dressed up,” another said.
He looked at Marigold for help, but she just shrugged.
“Well, yeah, but I’m—”
“Is that your husband?” one of them asked Marigold. Heat rose through her neck, and she met his gaze, but he was the one shrugging this time.
More kids piled through the door with parents and headed to the cupcake table like it was a homing device. “Hurry,” Marigold said, “let’s get these back to the storeroom.”
Marigold grabbed the boxes while Dane got the pedestal and they headed to the backroom. “Set it there on my desk,” she said, and he found a spot for it wedged between some papers. They faced each other. “That was close,” Marigold said. “I’ve got to stretch this out at least long enough for their moms to shop. If these kids have cupcakes they’ll be done…ready for the bouncy place or something.”
“What do you have planned?”
“My plan was for well-behaved children to file in neatly and sit quietly for fifteen minutes while their moms shopped.”
He let his head fall to the side. “You’re not around kids much, are you?”
“Not a single one.”
He glanced around. “Do you have any toilet paper?”
She stilled. “Yeah.”
“Grab a few rolls.” She headed into the bathroom. When she came out he held up a bag of miniature marshmallows. “What are these for?”
“My hot chocolate.” She liked a lot of marshmallows in her hot chocolate.
“Do you have little cups of any kind?” he asked.
She glanced around, thinking, and then spotted a cabinet. “I’ve got these little plastic cups leftover from this event where I served wine.” She pulled the sleeve of them out and presented them to him.
“Perfect.”
He reviewed their supplies. “All right. This should be enough for now. Come on.”
They walked out into the store where the kids were all over the place like an infestation of mice. “Crap,” she said, imagining her shop in shambles at the end of the day.
He squeezed her arm. “We got this. Just follow my lead.” She nodded at him, feeling like they were headed into war. Dane held up the bag of marshmallows. “Who wants to play marshmallow toss?”
“Me!” shouted a chorus of little high voices.
He handed her the bag of cups. “Set three of these out on the table in a triangle.”
She followed his instructions, watching him out of the corner of her eye.
“I want to go first!” one kid yelled.
“I got second,” another said.
“Third!”
“Fourth!” and so on.
Dane held up his hands. “No one’s going until all of you form a single-file line. No pushing.” The kids lined up while Dane checked Marigold’s work on the triangle. “Okay. Each of you gets three tries. The person who gets the most marshmallows in the cups wins…” He looked at Marigold for help.
She glanced around and then grabbed a witch figurine off a shelf. “This witch.” The kids all gazed longingly at the witch.
Dane handed a marshmallow to the first kid in line. “All right, you’re up.” He bent down, pointing at the triangle, coaching the little girl. Marigold smiled for the first time since the monsters entered her personal space. And then the smile faded as it occurred to her that the reason Dane was so good with kids could be that he had his own. Maybe he had a wife, too. She’d not even looked for a ring.
She thought back to the first time she’d met him at that bonfire a few weeks back and how he’d walked up and put his arm around that very pretty woman. Yep, he was married.
So? It wasn’t like she was falling for him or anything. All he’d done since he met her was irritate her and try to take her hotel away from her. Okay, so it wasn’t her hotel, but still. And she couldn’t trust him. He’d probably do anything to make her back away from the hotel bidding war, including saving her bacon with these kids.
Another one stepped up to the table and put the marshmallow in her mouth instead of throwing it. He gave her a look. “Only one. If you eat another one, you can’t play, okay?” She nodded and he gave her the cutest wink. God, Marigold was melting. This was just more cuteness than she could handle.
One of the moms held up a piece of art. “Is this a local artist?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Marigold said, heading that way. She got swept away in conversations with the women who were all local and very complimentary of her shop.
At a point where Marigold was giving her full attention to a woman who was on the board of the local art society, she heard Dane shout, “Who wants to play Mummy Wrap?” and couldn’t help a little smile. So that was what the toilet paper was for.
She rang up a few of the moms who bought early Christmas presents at a discounted rate. Marigold was desperate to make the sales. She needed the cash. She’d cut off the shop phone, but the bills and notices kept rolling in.
Bags in hand, most of the women looked ready to go, so Marigold figured it was time to judge the costume contest. She laughed as she found Dane wrapped in toilet paper from head to toe being twirled by a gaggle of girls. She really wanted to believe he was doing this because he loved it, or even because he liked and wanted to impress her, but she couldn’t let her guard down with this guy. Too much was at stake.
She made her way to him. “Should we judge the contest now?”
He smiled at her, making her heart swell like a balloon. “Sure.”
He broke free of the toilet paper hulk-style, cracking all the kids up. “Okay, everyone line up. It’s time to judge the costume contest.”
“What’s the prize?” one of them asked.
“A twenty-five dollar gift card to the shop,” Marigold said proudly. The kids glanced around a little helplessly, and Marigold realized she had designed this to draw in their parents, not them. Then she got an idea. She held up a finger. “Hang on.”
She went to the back and grabbed the box of cupcakes. Looking at Dane, toilet paper hanging off of him, she couldn’t resist. “Whoever wins gets to smash one of these cupcakes into Mr. Dane’s face.” The kids exploded in cheers, jumping up and down like they’d already won the lottery. She met his gaze, biting her lip. “Sorry, I had to come up with something fast.”
He shrugged. “That’s okay. I’m game.” He addressed the kids. “And the runner up gets to smash one in Miss Marigold’s face.”
Equally loud cheers erupted, and maybe even a little smack talk from Katniss. Marigold narrowed her gaze at Dane. “Oh, no you didn’t.” He nodded, smug satisfaction covering his handsome face.
Katniss had a gleam in her eye that couldn’t be denied, so Marigold wanted her for Dane, but a little girl dressed as Cruella de Vil was the clear standout.
Dane leaned in. “I’m thinking Katniss for the runner-up.”
Marigold pointed at him. “Don’t you dare. Give me Wonder Woman. She seems halfway sweet.”
“I’ll give you Wonder Woman, if you’ll give me the unicorn.”
She studied the group, all of whom where shamelessly vogue-ing for them. “We can’t deny Cruella.”
“All right. I’ll take Cruella,” Dane said.
“Are you sure?”
“She’s clearly the winner, and I think she has a little crush on me.”
Marigold pursed her lips. “Please, you know they all have a crush on you.”
He shrugged innocently, the bastard.
Marigold clapped her hands together. “Okay, I think we have a winner.”
“And a runner-up,” Dane said, waggling his eyebrows.
She glared at him. “And a runner-up.” She surveyed the kids, all with hopeful smiles on their faces, and she wished she didn’t have to pick just two. She could let them all attack the two of them with the cupcakes, but this was a place of business. She’d be cleaning icing out of merchandise for weeks.
Dane held a cupcake in his hand. “And the runner-up is…”
“Oh, so you’re letting me get pummeled first?” Marigold asked.
“The runner-up is always announced first.”
He had her there. She smiled and pointed. “Wonder Woman.”
The little girl shrieked and came running over, wrapping her arms around Marigold’s legs. Her heart warmed. She wasn’t a kid person, but she had to admit she was having fun with these little goblins.
Dane presented the girl with the cupcake. “Go for it.”
She winced. “Really?”
Marigold nodded solemnly. The little girl checked with her mother who shrugged. Marigold turned her cheek toward the little girl and pointed. Gooey icing smashed into her face as the little girl ground it in good.
The room exploded into shrieks and laughter. Even the moms, who’d been so kind to her before, turned on her. Marigold nodded, taking her humiliation with a grain of salt. She swiped some cakey icing and licked her finger. “Not bad.” She headed for the cupcake box and found one with a particularly large amount of icing.
“Hang on,” Dane said, undoing his button-down to reveal a plain white T-shirt underneath, the muscles in his biceps working as he undressed. Hubba. He nodded at her, arms folded over his puffed-out chest. “I’m ready.”
“And the winner is…” Marigold pointed. “Cruella de Vil!”
The girl jumped up and down screeching along with the others. She came running over, and then jumped in place until Marigold handed her the cupcake.
Dane leaned down. “Do your worst.”
Marigold’s smile was so wide her face was starting to get sore. The little girl smashed the cupcake right onto his lips and smeared from left to right. She even took some icing and dotted his nose with it.
Marigold was happy to see that Dane’s humiliation got as big of a laugh as hers did, maybe even bigger. The moms began gathering the kids and telling them it was time to go, so Marigold hurried over to the cupcake box.
“Take one for the road,” she said, passing out cupcakes, Dane behind her with the napkins.
One of the moms gave her a big smile on her way out and pointed at Dane. “He’s a keeper.”
Marigold’s face went hot. The woman was gone too quickly for Marigold to correct her, and she figured there was no use in it anyway. She glanced at Dane, but he was busy handing out a napkin and telling a kid his favorite Halloween candy, which was Oh Henry! bars, she noted. She narrowed her gaze on his left hand—no ring. That didn’t mean anything. Some married men didn’t wear a ring for whatever reason.
When they all left, Marigold locked the door and put the open sign to close. She turned to Dane. “I don’t even know what just happened.”
“You made a bunch of sales, I’m guessing. Did they all buy something?”
“I think so.” Her core woke up as he licked some of the frosting from his lips.
“What? It’s good.”
“I owe you for this,” she said. “Can I buy you a drink, or do you need to…get home.” Here it came, the answer to the pop quiz she was giving him. Wife or no wife? That was the question.
“I’m good for a drink.” Then…no wife? Or maybe he was a cheating bastard. She’d get to the bottom of it in time. He pointed at his face. “But we probably need to get cleaned up first.”
“Come on,” she said, leading him to the storeroom. She pulled off some paper towels and wet them, handing a bunch to him and doing the same for herself. She wiped herself up, glancing in the bathroom mirror, noting she only had whiskers on one side of her face. She wiped the rest of her face clean, leaving just her eye makeup. Now she was all red and blotchy everywhere. Oh well. He was probably married anyway. She shook her head. It didn’t matter if he wasn’t. He was using her to get close and then convince her not to submit that hotel proposal. She had to keep perspective here.
She dropped the paper towels in the wastebasket and then headed back out to find him looking as handsome as ever. Was it her, or was he somehow better looking now?
“Do you like wine?” she asked.
“I love wine.”
“My friend Fiona has a wine bar next door.”
“I know Fiona a little.”
She grabbed her purse. “Really?”
“She’s friends with Ethan, mainly. But we’ve met a few times.”
“Fiona’s my roommate, temporarily.”
“She’s a cool girl.”
“Mmm hmm,” Marigold said, wondering just how cool Dane thought she was.
He headed to the table. “You want to get this put up before we go?”
“Nah, I’ll mess with it tomorrow.”
He lifted the end. “It looks kind of heavy. Let me get it for you while I’m here.”
She narrowed her gaze. “Are you doing all of this to guilt me into not putting through that hotel proposal?”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “I’d have to be either an idiot or the cockiest guy on the planet to think I could play some games with some kids and offer to help you put a table up and that would have you backing away from a business venture that clearly means a great deal to you.”
She raised her eyebrows, doubling-down.
He uncrossed his arms. “Let’s just get something straight. I’m moving forward with that proposal and I assume you are, too, right?”
“Mmm hmm,” she said, knowing she hadn’t talked to her dad yet, but it’d been a busy day.
“Let’s not insult each other’s intelligence by thinking one of us could possibly be sweet-talked into backing down. Let’s just go have a drink and put this day in the books, okay?”
She pursed her lips, gauging him, and then relented. “Okay.”
He walked closer to her, causing a buzz to generate in her belly. He wasn’t going to kiss her, was he?
He reached for a lock of her hair near her neck. “You’ve got a little icing in your hair.” She tried to see it, but it wasn’t on the end. “May I?” he asked.
She nodded, her pulse picking up speed. He held it with one hand and smoothed the icing out with his fingers. “Thanks,” she said, gazing into his blue eyes that could swallow her up if she wasn’t careful.
“No problem.” He turned and picked up a napkin to wipe his fingers. They cleared the table and then he folded it up. “Storeroom?”
“Yep. Thanks.”
She collected herself, breathing deep the moment he was gone. She would not fall for a handsome face—not when so much was on the line.
5
Dane held the door to the wine bar open, letting Marigold through. She thanked him with that suspicious expression that she wore pretty much every time she looked at him. He had to wonder if she was this suspicious of all guys who showed an interest in her or if she was just like this to him due to them both wanting that bid.
They found two seats at the bar as Fiona spotted them and came over. “Hey, guys,” she said, big smile on her face. “I didn’t know the two of you knew each other.”
“We just met last night,” Marigold said, which wasn’t altogether true. They’d met a couple of weeks ago a
t that bonfire. He’d found her interesting then, but she’d seemed uninterested in him, so he hadn’t pushed his luck. Now he wished he had.
Fiona gauged Dane for a second, squinting. “It’s Dane, right?”
“Yep,” Dane said.
“I thought so, but I didn’t want to sit here for an hour talking to you like you were Dane if you were really Ethan with a bad hair day.”
That made Marigold laugh. “In his defense, we just had a pretty rowdy time with the kids next door.”
“Oh yeah, how did the costume contest go?” Fiona asked.
“Excellent, thanks to him.” Marigold jerked a thumb at Dane.
He shrugged. “I just entertained the kids so she could make some sales from their moms.”
“How’d you do?” Fiona asked.
“A decent afternoon. I may have just covered the cost of cupcake cleanup.”
Dane turned to Marigold. “You’re the one who offered a cupcake to the face for the winner.”
“To whose face?” Fiona asked.
“His, and then he tossed me right under the bus and offered a cupcake to my face for the runner-up.”
Fiona chuckled. “And all this time I was over here missing the whole thing. I’m guessing someone needs some wine. What’s your flavor?” she asked Dane. “I know hers.”
“What’s your flavor?” he asked Marigold.
“Pinot Noir.”
“Then make it two.”
Fiona narrowed her gaze. “You trust me with the brand?”
“I’m no wine snob,” Dane said.
“Then I’ve got a bottle I’ve been itching to open.” Fiona headed over to a wall housing what must have been hundreds of bottles.
A group of middle-aged people came in talking loudly and smiling like assholes. Dane and Marigold met each other’s gazes and said in unison, “Tourists.”
She smiled, turning his body on like a light switch. Dane had dated his fair share of beautiful women, but he’d never lain eyes on anyone as breathtaking as Marigold. Each time he’d seen her, she’d had plenty of makeup on, but he’d been willing to bet she was even prettier without it. She looked damn good with it though.
She had these eyes that sort of drew up in the corners, especially today since she had exaggerated her makeup to look like she was a cat. She kind of had a cat-like quality to her as it was in that skin-tight bodysuit. Though, she wasn’t quite so agile like a cat. She was a little all over the place, which he sort of loved.
WATERCOLOR WISHES: Love Along Hwy 30A, Book Four Page 4
