Page 67 of Let Me Win You

I hadn’t even noticed when we got back on air until the host bellowed into his microphone, “They’re not giving up, ladies and gentlemen! It looks like the team has come up with an idea to salvage their creation. But will it work? What will they do? How will it turn out at the end?”

I did my best to tune him out, focusing on bringing the new design to life.

“She’ll be a witch,” I determined, putting a long string of ivy into the princess’s hair. “Or a swamp princess.” I smiled, painting her pink skirts with streaks of black and green.

Jess was already busy with transforming the jagged edges of the broken tower into crumpled bricks and mortar. And Invi started rolling out tiny pieces of black fondant for the delicate funnels of calla lilies.

I hoped the judges would find our new design far more unique than the old one. After all, a haunted swamp didn’t appear on fancy cakes nearly as often as princess’ castles. But somehow, it didn’t even matter what everybody else thought about it at the moment. I felt inspired and eager to bring it to life. I even stopped stealing glances at Aidan’s cake, too absorbed into working on our own.

“Ten minutes left,” someone counted down the time.

“Is the witch going on the ruins of the tower?” Jess asked, holding our fully transformed princess.

“No.” I stopped her. “She should be by the water. She likes it there. I think water is where she gets her magical powers from.”

“Or,” Invi murmured. “She is the one who breathes life and magic into the entire place, including the swamp.”

His lips brushed by my temple, sending a warm flock of goosebumps down my arms.

“And what’s this?” Jess blinked her long eyelashes at the fondant figurine Invi placed on the glassy surface of our swamp covered in duckweed.

“A duck,” he announced proudly. “I know you wanted a swan,” he said to me apologetically. “But I’m much better at depicting ducks, as it turned out.”

“Do we need a duck?” Jess shook her head, hesitantly. “It doesn’t fit with our overall…” she waved her hand over the cake, “the dark, haunted, gothic kind of theme. Ducks are fun and whimsical. Cartoonish even.”

“Oh, they can be very sinister,” he disagreed. “Especially if you’re late to feed them, even when they’re ghost ducks that don’t need food.”

“Ghostducks?” Jess stared at him as if he completely lost his mind.

“Here.” I plucked a few feathers up on the duck’s head and wings, giving it a ruffled appearance, then blotted a couple of dark spots on its back. “It’s a zombie duck now. And it fits right in with our dark, sinister swamp.”

The chime announcing the end of the final round of the challenge rang over Invi’s deep laughter as he pulled me in for a kiss.

“Zombie duck,” he chuckled. “I love it.”

Jess shook her head again but left the zombie duck on the cake since we weren’t allowed to add or take anything after the signal.

Tension drained out of me, leaving me propped against Invi’s hard body.

“Well, for better or for worse, it’s over now,” I exhaled.

The judges were each given a slice of our and Aiden’s cakes. The crew quickly shooed us out of our work areas, for the judges to have full access to examine our creations.

We had some time to kill now, until the judges would have made their decision.

“Are you thirsty?” Invi asked Jess and me. “Can I bring you some water?”

Jess nodded. “Please.”

I didn’t even know where to get water in this place. But Invi sauntered off confidently, as a man on a mission who knew what he was doing.

Jess followed him with her eyes as did I.

“You guys are really into each other,” she noted. It wasn’t a question. We clearly made it pretty obvious.

Before I could reply, however, a loud “Babe!” sounded from the audience.

During the break, many people left their seats, trying to get closer to the cakes for a better look. From one of the top rows, a man jogged down the stairs in a confident swagger.

---