No Matter What (The Billionaires of Sawgrass #4) - Delaney Cameron Page 0,81
a button on top. “This is a cupcake corer.” She reached for one of the cupcakes, pressed the serrated end of the tube into the middle, and then pulled it out. When she pushed the button, the cored section of the cupcake dropped out of the tube. “That’s all there is to it.”
“What do you do with the cupcake holes?”
“We use them for cake pops. Nothing gets wasted.” Robin handed him the corer. “You try it.”
“Here goes nothing,” he said, picking up a cupcake. “I hope I don’t mess up.”
“You’re not performing brain surgery. If you do make a mistake, it’s no biggie. Frosting covers a multitude of sins.”
“Is that one of the secrets of the bakery business?”
“One of many,” she agreed.
Reece repeated what he’d seen her do. “How was that?”
“Perfect. Don’t rest on your laurels. You’ve got three dozen more.” She uncovered a stainless steel mixing bowl filled with white icing. “This is what I’m going to put into the holes you make.”
“Looks like we’re making your version of Hostess cupcakes. I always preferred them to Twinkies.”
“Me, too. Here’s some bakery trivia for you. Most people think Twinkies came first, but they weren’t introduced until ten years after the cupcakes. I prefer marshmallow cream in mine. Not the kind you find in a jar at the grocery store. Kait and I make this ourselves.”
As fast as Reece made the holes, Robin filled them. She was equally efficient when it came to topping the cupcakes with perfectly shaped swirls of chocolate frosting and packing them into boxes.
He shook his head. “Watching you is like watching a movie while holding down the fast-forward button.”
“I’ve been doing this for ten years. It’s second nature. There was even more reason to be quick today. The customer who ordered these will be here in twenty minutes.”
“Do you usually cut it this close?”
“Never is more like it. This is a replacement order. The ones her husband picked up earlier met with an accident on the way from the car to the kitchen. There may or may not have been a phone involved.”
“I have a feeling that guy will be in the doghouse so long they’ll have to deliver his mail there.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised.”
With the two of them working together, the clean-up operation went fairly quickly. There were several stoppages due to Reece’s inability to keep his hands to himself. The wet spots on his shirt and soap suds in his hair proved it hadn’t been entirely one-sided.
“I was thinking you and Owen could come to my place for dinner. After it gets dark, we’ll take a walk. The sea turtles have started nesting not far from my house. You said you’ve never seen one. This could be your lucky night.”
She smiled, the love shining out of her eyes reducing his insides to ashes. “That happened thirty minutes ago when you walked through the door.”
Her fingers feathered across his cheek and into his hair. Then her lips met his with an urgency that sent a molten mixture of electricity and adrenaline racing through his veins. His hands lifted from his sides to draw her more fully into his arms. Every point of contact between them sizzled and burned. A coil of longing ignited inside him. Robin was the embodiment of a dream he’d almost given up on; the living, breathing manifestation of the woman he’d always hoped to find.
The buzz of the shop door was an unwelcome intrusion. Robin redid her ponytail for the second time since his arrival and twitched her apron into place.
“How do I look?” she whispered.
“Beautiful.”
“I mean, do I look like I’ve been making out with my boyfriend in the kitchen of my business?”
“Do you want reassurance or the truth?”
“I have my answer. Maybe you should consider playing hard-to-get next time.”
He chuckled as he gave her a gentle nudge toward the door. “Not gonna happen.”
A few hours later, he, Robin, Owen and Gypsy were leaving his house to walk on the beach. The plan was to go as far as Fisherman’s Wharf to get ice cream from Dairy Goddess. If they happened to see a nesting sea turtle, all the better.
“How long before they’re both soaking wet?” he asked as Owen and Gypsy took off ahead of them.
“I give it ten seconds. Tell me about the time you were dumped.”
Reece laughed. “Where did that come from?”
“You told me it was another story for another time. Why not now?”
“I’ve been dumped more than once. Which story do you want?”