Darla’s hands went slack, allowing me to stand upright again. I rubbed at my scalp, fighting back the tears in my eyes while I glared at the woman in front of me. Brady darted behind the counter and put his arm around my waist, checking my head for any damage.
“I don’t think she hurt anything, but you can’t let her get away with this,” he whispered in my ear.
Darla was arguing with Officer Stevens when I tuned back into the space around me. “You can’t arrest me! I didn’t do anything,” she whined, faking tears. “I wasn’t going to hurt her.”
“You could have fooled me,” Brady said, his arm still around my waist.
“What? Are you two a thing now?” she asked, her eyes rolling. “What a shame. A guy like you with a woman like her. You could do so much better.”
“I think it’s time to take a trip down to the station,” Officer Stevens said before I could leap over the counter and grab her this time. “Haylee, do you want to press charges?”
I shook my head slightly. “No. Just get her out of here. She’s banned from The Fluffy Cupcake for good now. If she walks through that door again, I will call you, and I will press charges.”
Darla started huffing and sputtering until she noticed the look on our faces. “Fine. You know what? Who cares? I don’t need your stinking cupcakes! I can make my own!”
“You do that, Darla. Have a nice day. Thank you, Officer Stevens,” I said cordially, biting my lip to keep from laughing at the dramatic woman.
“You better watch your back, fatso. If you think I don’t have ways of making sure your business goes down in flames, you’re wrong!”
“Whoa,” Officer Stevens said, his hands reaching for his cuffs. “With that, we are taking a trip to the station.” He slapped the cuffs on her wrists while she twisted and turned frantically. “I knew you were dumb, but threatening someone’s place of business with arson in front of a peace officer is idiotic.”
“I didn’t! I didn’t mean it like that!” Darla yelled on the way to the squad car.
All three of us stood frozen in place, staring at the door while Officer Stevens forced Darla into his squad car and drove away.
“Did that just happen?” Amber asked, the words filled with perplexed curiosity.
“It most certainly did,” Brady said, turning me into him and hugging me fiercely. “I almost had a heart attack when I walked in here and saw you in a headlock. Do you need a doctor?” he asked, kissing the top of my head.
I shuddered in his arms but shook my head. “No, I’m fine.”
“I can’t believe that woman!” Amber sputtered, her senses returning. “What is wrong with her?”
“She’s losing it,” Brady said through clenched teeth. “Do you think they’ll disqualify her for the cupcake bake-off now?”
I snorted and picked my hat up off the floor where it had fallen when she attacked me. “Not unless they charge her with something, which they won’t. They know she will find a lawyer to get her off, and all it will do is make her even more insufferable.”
“Let her show up and bake,” Amber said, her eyes rolling. “She can’t beat the dream team.”
“Now we’re the dream team?” I asked, joking with Brady.
“You’re the girl of my dreams, how about that?” he asked with a teasing lilt to his voice.
“Oh sure, the fatso is your dream come true. Darla’s right, you know, you could do so much better.”
“You’re both wrong, which we will discuss later, in private,” he said, his lips in a thin line.
“I’m in Brady’s camp, if that matters,” Amber piped up. “No one is better than my bestie. I hope that’s enough of a hint to him not to mess with you. He messes with you, and he messes with me.”
Brady put his hands up by his chest. “I can read between the lines. Speaking of the cupcake bake-off,” he said, to change the subject. “It’s in less than a week. We need to do a few more run-throughs to make sure we’re a well-oiled machine.”
Amber shooed us to the back with her hands. “Why don’t you two make another test batch while I clean up and wait for Mrs. Mack to pick up the coveted cupcakes?”
“Make a test batch so that you can eat them?” I asked teasingly.
“I’ll be real with you. Yes. Also, add more marshmallow fluff this time to the frosting. Did you try adding it to the cake itself? I think that would be divine.”
“What is this? The Great British Bake Off?” I asked, grabbing a clean apron from the hook on the wall.
“Don’t knock it until you try it,” she said, spun on her heel and disappeared back into the bakery to do her work.
“She might be onto something,” Brady whispered, walking up to me and pulling me into him. “But I don’t want to make cupcakes. I want to go upstairs with you and help you relax. Is your head okay?” He rubbed the sides of my head with his thumbs and then kissed my lips gently, grimacing when he remembered his promise not to kiss me in the bakery again. “I know I said I would stay hands off at work, but I was scared to death when I came around the corner and saw you in that bitch’s grasp.”
I chuckled and clasped his wrists with my hands. “It’s okay. I won’t tell the bakery police if you don’t. As for my head, it’s fine. I’m ticked off and shaking inside, but I’m not hurt physically. As much as I want to relax, I won’t be able to. Let’s whip up a batch of Berry Sinful, and maybe after I take my frustrations out on the cupcake batter, I’ll feel better about the day.”
He leaned down and kissed my nose. “I’m your guy then. Let’s perfect this recipe so we can show Darla just what The Fluffy Cupcake is made of.”
“Considering that’s what she calls me,” I said, leaving the sentence open.
“The bakery, not its baker,” he clarified, his brow down to his nose. “I’m rather fond of the baker and happen to know there is nothing fluffy about her. She’s all woman and all mine.”
He went off to gather ingredients for the cake while I braced my palms on the bench and sucked in a few deep breaths. Darla had always been the bane of my existence, but if she ever threatened me or this business again, I would make sure she paid for it in ways she couldn’t even fathom.
Sixteen
The woman lying next to me was warm, soft, and sleepy. I should probably leave her alone to sleep for a few more hours, but my appetite for her hadn’t been sated yet. She was fire, sass, beautiful, vulnerable, and wicked good at making me come way before I wanted the romp to be over. The most wonderful and the most disturbing part was that she didn’t even realize it. She doesn’t believe she’s the best thing since sliced bread, so I plan to show her over and over until she does. No matter what I have to do, this woman will know her worth is the same as Amber’s, Darla’s, and every other woman on the street, but she will understand that to me, she’s worth more than all of them.
“Are you fondling my cupcake?” she asked in a sleepy voice.
“I wouldn’t do that without your permission,” I promised, taking a bite of the strawberry cupcake in my hand.