going well, wouldn’t you agree?”
I allowed my gaze to linger on Bea for a moment before I glanced over at Porter and shook my head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Porter looked unconvinced. “Right. Sure,” he said, but the smile on his face told me a different story.
I wanted to fight him. To tell him that his assumption was incorrect, but Shelly spotted me and was headed my way before I could get my rebuttal out. Not wanting her to hear any of this, I shoved those thoughts far back in my mind and turned my focus to Shelly’s bright eyes and flushed cheeks.
“You’re here,” she said as she linked arms with me and began to pull me toward the table with a large banner that read Judges tapped to the front. “I was worried you’d forgotten.”
I lifted my arm to push my hair from my face and to break her hold on me. I hated that she seemed to think she had the right to drag me around.
“I’m here now,” I said as I nodded to the other judges, some of whom I recognized and some I didn’t.
Shelly clapped her hands, effectively halting my response, and glanced around the group. “Great. Well, now that you are all here, let’s go over the responsibility of the judges.”
For the next five minutes, we were subject to Shelly as she read through the handbook. It was a little ridiculous that there was a whole binder to say, eat the food and judge the food accordingly, but who was I to say anything? Shelly looked distracted enough to stay away from me, and I was going to eat delicious foods, so it really was a win-win.
Once she was finished with the expectations, we all took a seat. I glanced around at the contestants, who were all standing behind their creations. I instantly found Bea. She was smiling and listening to Emilia, who was quite animated about what she was saying. I couldn’t hear her, but I could tell, whatever it was, she was passionate about it.
Shelly welcomed everyone to the bake-off and said a few words. I was barely paying attention to what she was saying. Instead, I was attempting not to stare at Bea by scanning the crowd.
Everyone was decked out in either holiday attire or jackets and hats. It wasn’t a subzero day, but it was chilly. And the light breeze wasn’t helping. Just as I finished inspecting the crowd, my gaze landed on a familiar face.
Worried that I was just seeing things, I narrowed my eyes to get a better look. And then my entire body went ice cold.
There, standing among the crowd, was…Scarlet.
Our gazes locked and she smiled. It was soft and inviting and exactly what had gotten me into trouble the first go-around. She had a way of bewitching me like no other woman had. And it wasn’t a good kind of bewitching. Her hold over me was one of control and manipulation.
The entire world tilted to the side, and in order to feel more in control, I dropped my gaze to the table and took in a deep breath. She wasn’t here. I was just imagining things. I just needed to get through this bake-off and then I could head back home to hole up in my room until I no longer imagined that Scarlet was here.
Shelly declared the start of the bake-off and then stepped off the stage. She waved to the first baker to bring up their entry. They stood in front of us and gave us a brief summary of what they made. I wasn’t listening. Instead, my gaze kept slipping over to Scarlet, who hadn’t moved from her spot.
Her red lips kept tipping up into a somewhat knowing smile. She even nodded when I met her gaze, and my stomach flip-flopped. She was here and she wanted to see me.
This was a mistake.
Not wanting to make a scene or leave just to have Scarlet follow me, I forced myself to focus on the baked goods in front of me. I shoveled the food in and rated each contestant as best I could despite how confused I felt.
By the time we got to Bea, I felt sick not only from the food but also from the emotional tilt-a-whirl I’d just been placed on. My gaze met hers, and she looked confused as she studied me. Then she smiled and I offered her a meager one in return.
“I decided to keep it simple today,”