One Funeral (No Weddings #2)(59)

Cade pulled Ava in front of my face, and she licked all over my mouth and nose. I pulled back, scrunching my face, laughing.

Eventually, we walked back to my shop, dawdling as we let Ava explore each bright new color and amazing scent. She even stopped to deposit a small pile of poop in the middle of the sidewalk.

Cade scowled. “Nice. Very ladylike. Couldn’t you have copped a squat at the park?” Ever the gentleman, he handed me the leash and proceeded to pick up the mess as best he could with our croissant wrappers.

“How very gallant, my knight.”

He glanced up, scrunching his nose. “Anything to spare m’lady the stink of fresh dog shit.”

I laughed as he folded up the paper, carefully avoiding touching said shit, tossed the clump into the bag, and dropped it into the nearest trash bin. Ava kept tugging on the leash, wanting to sniff the base of the next lamppost. By the time he caught up to our exploration team, we’d almost reached the shop.

I beamed a smile up at him as he approached with his hands in his pocket. “Thank you for today. I had a great time.”

He leaned in, glancing down at my lips. “Did I earn a kiss for today?”

I bit my lip, then grinned. “You earn a kiss just for being you, Cade. But are you sure you want to kiss me? Ava slobbered all over me.”

His eyes glittered. “I’m willing to take the risk of kissing when our mouths have been elsewhere if you are.”

My brain guttered that comment, and I swallowed hard, my mind frazzling and unable to connect thoughts as his warm lips collided with mine. Soft pressure teased until I sighed. When my lips parted, his tongue flicked in.

He pulled away before it seemed to begin. And yet I was left breathless.

He scooped up Ava and held her in the crook of his arm. “So how’s the dragon?”

“It’s coming together like I’d always imagined.” I ruffled Ava’s ears.

“Can I see it?”

I shook my head. “No way. You don’t get to see my creations before they’re finished. Besides, you’re puppy-sitting, and it’s against health codes to have a dog in there.”

He gave me a deadpan look.

“No. It’s also unsanitary.” I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t make the germaphobe in me lecture you.”

He chuckled. “Okay. I’ll wait. Two more days won’t kill me. So you’re cool with skipping tonight and tomorrow?”

The smile faded off my face. He had scheduling issues at the bar, and I had my monstrous cake to finish. But when I glanced at adorable little Ava as she nestled deeper into his arms, a lump the size of a car formed in my throat.

Cade stood there, watching me. Not reacting at all.

I sighed, feeling a part of my chest caving in. Then something inside snapped, and I braced the wall up with a steel-beam decision. “You know you can’t return Ava, right?”

A slow smile crept onto his face. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

I laughed, punching him lightly in the shoulder. “How long have you been hoping that?”

“From the moment I picked her out for you.”





It took meticulous care and planning with two trips in a rented van, but the cake arrived at the newly opened Chinese restaurant Summer Palace in segments before 10:00 a.m. Eleven feet long and three feet wide, the cake undulated three feet up at its highest peak. Then it swooped back down to the tabletop in several places from its nostril-blown flames to the bony, spiked tail. The creation was the largest and most elaborate of my career thus far.

After Daniel and Chloe helped me secure the underlying plywood pieces into place, they left me alone in the empty restaurant to “paint” the final green-frosted scales onto the dragon and the blue waves in the water to camouflage the seams. It took great concentration over another two hours, but by the time I finished, the only thing that denoted where the break points were was icing that hadn’t yet dried completely.

I’d felt the owner’s presence once or twice while I worked, but she left me uninterrupted for the duration, and I was able to focus in solitude with the restaurant being closed until tonight’s celebration. I finally stepped back from the raised platform in the back of the dining room, skirting around the red velvet ropes they’d erected to designate the area as private, feeling confident they’d keep it safe until the party.

“Is beautiful, Miss Hannah.” The owner approached on silent feet.

I turned to see her admiring the elaborate scene from the corner. Moving to stand beside her, I took in the entire piece from her perspective. A dragon rose out of the water, surrounded by diminutive, classically styled dragon boats that floated around its clawed feet, like babies surrounding their mother. In the foreground were manicured gardens and two structures modeled after genuine temples.

“Thank you, Miss Ling. I’m honored that you asked me to create it.”

“Oh, no. Thank Mr. Cade. He ask us.”

I turned to her. “What do you mean he asked you?”

The older woman tilted her head, assessing me for a moment. Her aged face crinkled at the edges of her eyes as she smiled wide. “I think you ask Mr. Cade. See you tonight, Miss Hannah.”

She disappeared into the back kitchen without another word.

On my way home, I swung by Cade’s. Partly to ask him about what Ling alluded to, but mostly to see Cade and Ava. He’d offered to keep her at his place, and as a busy new pet owner, I’d gladly accepted.