Page 39 of Cakewalk

“Holden…” she cooed.

“I mean it, sweetheart,” he said, placing a kiss just underneath her ear. “I know we haven’t known each other that long, but you have brought more light into my life in that amount of time than if we were in Times Square. I feel alive for the first time since losing Hannah and the baby. You have no idea what you do to me, Gigi.”

Spinning in his arms, Gigi looked him in the eye. There was so much emotion in hers, and he hoped she knew how much it was returned. “You have no idea what you do to me. No one has ever believed in me the way you do, Holden. Thank you for taking a chance on me.”

“I will gladly take a chance on you, and your baked goods, over and over again,” he told her, leaning in for a kiss. “Now, how about I get you home and warm you up. Properly…”

17

Gigi

“Boss ladies were looking for you,” Roderick said, walking into the kitchen of the Busy Bean.

Gigi popped up from the small cake she was decorating for a special order they’d received and looked at him wide-eyed.

“I didn’t do it!” she exclaimed, a response so automatic she wasn’t quite sure where it came from.

Roderick stared at her for a moment, a puzzled look crossing his face. Gigi grinned awkwardly in return, trying not to look like she had a secret to hide, fearing that was exactly what she looked like right now. Had Roderick figured her out? Had Bradley found her?

“The dopey look on your face for the last week tells me otherwise, and I hope for your sake, it’s your hottie landlord,” he said, catching her off guard.

"Whatever could you mean?" she asked, trying to pass off some innocence, relieved to hear that’s where he was taking this.

"Girl, I know the power of a smoldering roommate, and yours…he's got the part down pat. And it's hot. So if you haven't already, I recommend taking that for a ride."

Gigi opened her mouth to respond but stopped herself. Just what did you say to that? She couldn’t deny the dopey smile part. Roderick was right—there had been one plastered to her face ever since that night in the gazebo. Gigi had been so nervous when Holden had used the word “date” that she had changed her outfit at least a half dozen times. But once they were cuddled up under those blankets, all her nerves had melted away—and all those walls she had put up seemed to melt away right along with them. The man saw through to the real her like no one she’d ever known. She’d spent so long putting on a face—the perfect daughter in high school, the fun-loving coed in college, the dutiful wife after marrying Bradley—that she had almost forgotten who the real Gigi was underneath it all.

The rhythm they had found themselves in prior to Thanksgiving—of doing their own thing during the day and meeting up in the kitchen in the late afternoon/early evening to play test kitchen—still seemed to be working. Although now their playing around in the kitchen also involved kisses and caresses, and they always seemed to end up cuddled on the couch. Holden was the perfect mix of sweet and affectionate. For as generous as he was with his kisses and all his attention, she never felt like he was pawing at her. His touch was thoughtful, intimate, and oh so sexy. He seemed to know just where to touch her to get her all worked up, as well as when she just needed some reassuring. Evenings with him were officially her new favorite thing.

A slight pang of guilt hit her, wondering if she should have told Holden the full truth that evening on the couch, or most certainly after their date. He deserved to know the truth—to know that she still feared Bradley showing up any moment and causing a scene. But every time they were together it was as if there was nothing else but them. The world outside melted away, and they were enclosed in their own little world. A world she knew she would have to rock at some point, she just wasn’t sure when or how.

Throwing an exaggerated wink over her shoulder, she heard Roderick let out a deep belly laugh as she walked through the kitchen door out into the café. Slipping around the counter, Gigi found Zara and Audrey sitting at the same table by the window where they’d been when she’d first met them. She felt like that evening was a lifetime ago and that a completely different person was standing here now than had walked through that door waiting for her tire to be fixed.

“Gigi, this sticky bun is incredible!” Zara said, holding her hand to her mouth to cover the bite she just took. Gigi blushed slightly, hoping that Zara took it as a reaction to the compliment, and not because she was thinking dirty thoughts about what those sticky buns had led to.

“Thanks! I had a lot of fun playing with the recipe,” she responded, letting her mind wander back to the feel of Holden’s mouth on her for the first time. Even though they had joked about it, Gigi hadn’t made them at home since then. Maybe that was something she should do on her next day off.

“Please sit. We have a question for you,” Audrey said, pointing to an empty chair at the table.

“The cakes have been such a success,” Zara started. “We already have people asking if we’re going to take orders for Christmas. I hope it’s okay, I already said yes.”

“Of course! I’m so excited people are liking them!”

“We’ll keep it simple again, promise. That seemed to work well for Thanksgiving, plus it’ll give you time to do your own holiday baking.”

Gigi hadn’t put any thought into holiday baking at home. She’d been so caught up in the whirlwind of her new feelings for Holden, and in having those feelings returned, that the fact that it was the Christmas season had barely registered. What did Holden do for Christmas? Would he want her to be a part of it? Was this holiday also another trigger?

“I haven’t even gotten that far,” she laughed, waving off the idea. She made a mental note to broach the subject of the holiday when she got home. Let’s just hope it goes better than the last time we had this conversation…

“And not to add to your plate or anything,” Audrey chimed in. “But we wanted to talk to you about maybe creating a signature item.”

“A signature item?”

“I’m not thinking you need to invent the next croughnut or anything, but a new flavor of cupcake or something. One you can only get at the Busy Bean.”

“Any old family, southern recipes?” Zara suggested.

Gigi laughed at the statement but quickly stopped herself. She’d kept everything really vague where her family history was concerned to anyone other than Holden—heck, she was still pretty vague with him—and now was not the time to reveal anything additional.