The Sweet Addiction Series Collection: Sweet Addiction, Sweet Possession & Sweet Obsession (56 page)

“Ten bucks says she’s late,” Joey says confidently.

I cock my head and turn on my mixer, wiping my brow with the back of my hand. “Ten bucks says you’ll snuggle with her again if the moment arises.”

He narrows his eyes at me as Juls reemerges moments later.

“It went straight to voicemail. I’m sure she’s on her way.”

I start throwing the ingredients for my banana nut muffins together into my mixing bowl, feeling Juls’ eyes on me. I glance up. “What?”

She pouts and moves closer to me, placing her hand on my arm. “I’m sorry. I know we agreed to wait to take a test together, but I slipped up last night and blurted out to Ian I thought I might be pregnant. As soon as I said it, he rushed out and bought me a test. There was no stopping him. I’ll still take one with you, though.”

“Umm, excuse me?” Joey asks, tapping the counter top impatiently with his fingers. “What the hell are you talking about?”

I turn the mixer off and smile at Juls, ignoring Joey’s comment. “I took one, too. I’m sorry. The same thing happened with Reese. He was dead-set on me taking one last night. Mine was negative.”

“Mine wasn’t.”

My mouth drops open as Joey squeals next to Juls. “What? You’re pregnant?” There is no hint of sadness or jealousy in my voice. Even though I was disappointed last night in my test results, the news my best friend just dropped on us fills me with the same excitement I felt at the possibility of being pregnant myself.

She nods her response, putting her hands up to her face and covering her crimson cheeks. Joey and I both engulf her in a giant hug, and she wraps an arm around each of us. “I took several just to make sure. I thought Ian was going to make some sort of public service announcement last night. He’s beyond excited.”

“Oh, my God. Juls, this is amazing,” I blink and send the tears down my face. “You’re going to be such a kick-ass mommy.”

“Helloooo,” Joey interjects, stepping between the two of us and dropping his enthusiasm. “Both of you cock whores thought you were pregnant and didn’t tell me? What the fuck? I thought we were besties.”

I shove him off with my hand. “We are. We just didn’t want you to get all excited for nothing.”

Juls turns her attention to me and grabs my hands, her smile fading and replaced with a look of concern. “I’m sorry you’re not pregnant, sweets. I know you were excited about the possibility.”

Of course Juls would think about me when she should be jumping up and down like a maniac. She always puts others before herself. And she probably thinks I’m sensitive to this topic, but I’m not. I couldn’t be happier for her.

I squeeze her hands gently and smile. “It’s okay. Reese is in full-on ‘get me pregnant’ mode, so I’m sure it’ll happen soon enough.”

“Oh, shit,” Joey mumbles, gaining mine and Juls’ attention. His eyes widen and he grabs his coffee cup off the worktop before elaborating. “Reese is going to be crazy when you get pregnant. I can’t imagine him being any more possessive over you than he already is, and you’re not carrying his baby yet. He’s nuts when it comes to you. Unreasonably nuts at times.” He pauses, glancing around the kitchen. “Mmm. Do we have any cashews back here?”

“Over on the shelf,” I scoff, dropping Juls’ hands and turning around to grab my muffin tins. “And he’s not
that
possessive over me.”

“Yeah, right,” Joey says at the same time as Juls’ “yeah, okay.”

Joey chuckles softly, popping a few cashews into his mouth as I place my tins onto the worktop. “Face it, cupcake. That gorgeous man is going to put you on lock-down when he knocks you up. And when that time comes, your wardrobe won’t be the only thing he dictates.”

I restart my mixer, licking the splash of batter off my finger. “I like possessive Reese. It’s hot.”

“It’ll be real hot when he gives you a food list you have to eat from. Or when he asks you to stop working.”

I snap my head up at Joey. “I’m not quitting my job. Reese would never ask me to do that. He knows how important my business is to me.” Juls reaches over and stops the mixer, dipping her finger into the bowl. I swat her hand away. “Raw egg, prego. Back up.”

She grunts and retracts her hand. “Damn it.”

I shake my head, walking over to the racks and pulling out the container of muffins I made before closing on Friday. Grabbing a banana nut one, I hold it out to Juls and she excitedly takes it. “And it’s not like I do manual labor. With Brooke starting, hopefully sometime today, I’ll be able to plant my butt on a stool and bake away back here. I won’t even have to be on my feet that much when I’m pregnant.”

Juls bites into the top of her muffin, leaning her body against Joey who has reclaimed his stool. “She’s right, JoJo. It’s totally doable. And Reese may be possessive over her, which I agree is mad hot, but he’d never ask Dylan to give up working. This is her love.” She glances down at her watch, straightening up. “I gotta get going. I’m meeting with the caterers this morning to make sure the menu is finalized. Text me when Brooke arrives.” She plants a kiss to the top of Joey’s head and blows me one before turning on her killer heels and heading for the door.

“If she arrives,” Joey murmurs, winking at me before he heads up front.

I knock out several dozen cookies, cupcakes, and pastries, which helps keep my mind mostly off all things wedding. But not entirely. One, I am crazy excited about it and two, my mother calls three times in a forty-five-minute time period. I let her rant in my ear while I baked, ignoring her last-minute suggestions, because these aren’t tiny, doable suggestions. These are major. Like why in the world aren’t we having a full-blown Catholic service in the middle of our ceremony. Why? Because a Catholic wedding ceremony is anything but brief. I sat through one of those a few years ago and almost fell asleep. And there is no way in Hell Reese will wait that long to give me his last name; she should know that. He’s going to have a hard enough time as it is waiting the thirty-five minutes it should take us to run through everything. In fact, I’m predicting his hair will look a right mess by the time the preacher pronounces us man and wife.

And I can’t wait to see that.

Joey occasionally pops his head into the back while I bake to see if I need help, and to remind me that Brooke still hasn’t shown up. I’m all about giving the girl a chance, but I am not the type of boss who tolerates lateness well. An occasional few-minute slip-up? Fine. But not a few hours, and definitely not on your first day.

As I’m cleaning off the worktop, having finally finished all the baking I’m planning on doing for the day, the shop door opens and Joey’s voice comes booming from the front.

“Well, look who finally decided to show up.”

I move quickly through the doorway, stopping at the sight of Brooke’s nervous expression. “Oh, my God, Dylan. I’m so sorry. I swear to God…”

I hold up my hand and cut her off midsentence. “If you’re late again, you’re fired. This is serious, Brooke. And you could’ve at least called me.” Stepping behind the counter, I grab the new employee paperwork I’d set out for her to fill out two hours ago. “Here, go in the back and fill this out.”

She eagerly reaches for the paperwork and rounds the counter, wrapping me up in a massive hug. “I forgot to set my alarm. And I forgot to plug my phone in to charge. I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“Good,” I reply.

Stepping back, she holds onto my arms and smiles warmly at me. “I do have one question though.” I tilt my head and wait patiently, hearing Joey’s soft grunt of disapproval from behind her. “Any wiggle room on the pay?”

“Ha!” Joey squawks.

Her eyes widen at my stern look. “Get your ass in the back and fill these out before I change my mind.”

“Right. Sorry.” She turns and brushes past Joey, earning herself an evil look.

“Fucking disaster. Seriously, let’s keep her in the back away from the customers. Lord knows she’ll probably only drive away all the business.” He reaches into the display case and pulls out two muffins, offering me one. I take it and begin peeling off the wrapper.

“Give her a chance, will you? I can remember you being late, on occasion. For example, last week when Billy refused to untie you from your bedpost.”

Joey wiggles his brows at me as he tosses his wrapper into the trashcan. “That lateness was totally worth it. As were the rope burns on my wrists.”

I roll my eyes at him just as the front door dings open. A young woman, probably close to my age, comes barreling through the doors, eyes reddened and misty. She walks up to the counter, tucking her clutch under her arm.

I smile, setting my muffin down on the counter. “Good morning. How can we help you?”

She lets out a shaky breath, looking around the bakery quickly before meeting my eyes. “I don’t know if you can help me. I know this is terribly last minute, but you’re my only hope at this point.”

Joey steps up next to me. “Are you okay? Would you like a glass of water or something?”

She shakes her head and offers him a weak smile. “Oh, no, thank you.” She flicks her stare back to me. “You make wedding cakes, right?”

“She makes kick-ass wedding cakes,” Joey corrects, motioning toward me. “Not only do they turn out looking fabulous, but they taste amazing. Trust me. I’ve eaten my fair share.”

The young woman’s face seems to relax a bit but not completely. “I’m getting married, and the bakery I had originally lined up to make my wedding cake closed down. They didn’t even tell me. I went there this morning to make my final payment and the place is boarded up.”

A sickening feeling rumbles in my gut. I can’t imagine having that happen to me. “Jesus. That’s awful. When is the wedding?” I ask.

She winces. “Saturday. Like I said, I know this is last minute. I’ve been to every other bakery in town and you’re my last option.” She looks down at her feet. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to put any pressure on you. It’s just… I don’t know what else to do. I need to have a cake. I’ll pay you extra. Double if I have to.”

I reach my hand out and place it on her shoulder, prompting her to lift her gaze. “You don’t have to pay me double. I’d love to make your wedding cake.”

“Really?” Her soft voice is filled with a cautious hope.

Joey loops his hand through my elbow and pulls me back, dropping his lips to my ear. “Are you crazy? You’ll have enough to do on Saturday getting ready for your
own
wedding. How will you have time for this?”

“You’re getting married on Saturday, too?” the woman asks. Her excitement seems to fade as she glances between Joey and me. “Maybe he’s right. You’ll be so busy that day. It’s okay if you can’t do it.”

I shrug off Joey and smile at her. “I won’t be that busy. And besides, your cake will be done the night before. I’ll just need to add the finishing touches to it that morning.” I step closer to the counter. “But I probably won’t have time to deliver it. Would it be a problem if someone stopped by here that morning to pick it up?”

Her eyes widen as she fidgets with the clutch under her arm. “No. Not at all. Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

I smile and point to my consultation table. “Why don’t you have a seat over there and you can tell me all about what kind of cake you want for your big day.”

The sorrowed mood she entered the shop with has completely vanished, replaced with that typical bride-to-be joy I love seeing. As she makes her way toward the table, I turn and see Joey shaking his head at me.

“What?” I ask quietly.

His lip curls up in the corner as he crosses his arms over his broad chest, his muffin still in his hand. “You. You’d be late to your own wedding if it meant making some stranger’s day perfect. Not many people would do that.”

I reach underneath the counter and grab my design binder. “You’d do it, too, Joey Holt. I know you would.”

“Not for just anybody. You or Juls? Yes. But you, cupcake, you’d do it for somebody you don’t even know. And that’s what makes you amazing.”

I straighten up and blink heavily, feeling the tears well up in my eyes. “That’s what you should say.”

His brow furrows in confusion. “Huh?”

I walk up to him and shift my binder to one side of my body so I can wrap my free arm around his waist. I lay the side of my face against his chest. “On Saturday. I know you’re worried about giving your Man of Honor speech. It doesn’t have to be long. You should just say that.” I let go of him and see his glowing smile.

“Oh, I’m going to rock that speech. Don’t you worry. Now, while you do your bride thing, is there anything you’d like me to do?” I don’t say a word. I simply grin at him and shift my eyes toward the kitchen. He closes his eyes tightly while reaching up and pinching the top of his nose. “Of course. You’re lucky I love you.”

“I am,” I reply, rounding the counter and taking my seat at the table. I lay my book out and open it up, turning it so the excited young woman practically bouncing in her seat can look at my portfolio. “Here you go. This is some of what I can do, but I’m not limited to this. Take a look, see if there’s anything you like. I can modify just about anything in there. And the cake and icing flavor choices are listed in the back.”