Fake It Till You Bake It(57)

“I got strawberry,” Jada said, her joy clear. Her delight delighted him. The shop had become a business for him, money and spreadsheets and expenditures. He’d lost sight of the reason he’d said yes to the shop in the first place—those memories from his childhood, the simple pleasure of baking with his mom. Jada was bringing back all those good feelings.

“I got chocolate,” Kayla said. “Which is great, but I feel like I’m going to screw up.”

“It’s all about the wrist action,” he said. “Press gently on the bag and move your wrist in a circle to spread the icing evenly.”

Just as he finished, a large plop of frosting fell out of Jada’s bag. The cupcake looked like a bag of blood had exploded all over it.

“Crap,” she muttered, her head dropping.

“Hey, hey, none of that,” he said. “We all started off as beginners. Some of us stay in that phase longer than others.”

Her eyes widened, her sadness clearly forgotten. “Hey!”

He shrugged, his lips twitching. “I call ’em like I see ’em.”

“Why don’t you show me how to do it, Mr. Smarty Pants?”

Before he could think it through, he stepped behind her and grasped her wrist. He recognized his mistake immediately. She fit against him perfectly. Her skin was soft and supple. He’d be a fool not to notice the way her pulse sped up under his seeking fingers. He bent to whisper in her ear. “You’ve got to have patience. Slowly.” He guided her hand as she spread the frosting over a different cupcake. He released her as soon as it made sense to save himself from turning her in his arms and kissing her like he longed to do, though he was having the damnedest time remembering why that was a bad idea. “See, that’s just average, not horrible. I knew you could do it.”

“What?” She whirled. Before he could blink or think about taking cover, she swiped the red frosting off the cake and dabbed it on his nose. Her head cocked to the side. “How you doing, Rudolph?”

His eyes narrowed as he struggled to contain his laughter. “You’re going to pay for that.”

Her eyes danced with mockery. “Yeah, how? I’m not scared of you.”

“You two are adorable,” Kayla said, jolting Donovan back to the present. They were in a TV studio, not a private world of their own making. Unfortunately.

“Thank you for being here today.” Kayla turned to address the camera. “If you’d like to try these terrific cupcakes for yourself, visit Sugar Blitz. Donovan and Jada will be waiting. We’ll be right back.”

“And we’re clear,” Jenny called out, sending the show to commercial.

“I can see why you left that other guy in the dust and why you have your own hashtag,” Kayla said. “People respond to true love. Y’all are lucky to have each other. You two are the perfect couple.”

Donovan caught Jada’s eye. The perfect fake couple. That was their agreement. He needed to remember that undeniable fact.





Chapter Sixteen


“Overall, that went well, don’t you think?” Jada asked when they were back in Donovan’s car. “I mean besides those thirty seconds when I thought I was going to have to fight in these heels.” She had to say something to break up the lingering silence. Something to exorcise the memory of her heart jumping when Kayla said they were the perfect couple. They weren’t the perfect couple. They weren’t even a couple. They were … coworkers, or, more accurately, employer and temporary employee. Friends, even. Yet the phrase lingered. The perfect couple.

He glanced her way. “Yeah. Kayla gushed over the cupcakes, and I think she actually meant it and wasn’t saying it out of fear she’d stuck her foot so far down her throat she’d never be able to extract it. Sugar Blitz got some great publicity. Our ruse is working. It’s great.” He didn’t sound great. He sounded distracted.

“Are you worried about what she said about you dating me to get more money from Grams?”

He shook his head. “No. We both know that’s not true. But I do have a confession to make. When your grandmother asked me to hire you, I did think agreeing might put me in a better position with my contract negotiations.”

Jada snapped her fingers. “I knew it. I knew you had nefarious motives.” She laughed at the stricken look on his face. “Donovan, seriously, it’s cool. I know my grandmother. I have no doubt that she ran roughshod over you and gave you no real option other than to hire me, so it makes total sense that you were thinking about what you could get out of the deal. You are like the most upstanding person I’ve ever met, and if I didn’t admire you for it, I’d hate you for it.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He didn’t crack a smile.

Jada studied his profile. What was he thinking? Was he regretting their deal? Regretting her working at the shop? Well, that part didn’t make sense. They were getting along, and she hadn’t set off the fire alarm again.

She chuckled.

“What’s so funny?”

“Just thinking about how I almost burned down your kitchen.”

“So you admit it!” There was humor in his voice. Finally. She didn’t want to examine too closely how good that made her feel.

Jada put on her haughtiest tone. “I do no such thing. I was simply using your words to describe the situation.”