Page 23 of Her Movie Star's Secret Plan

Chapter 6

“That’ll be ten seventy-nine,” Alexis told Mrs. Jessup. She knew the woman from church.

“I just had to come in and try these chocolate chip cookies.”

“Have you ever been in before?” Alexis hadn’t remembered seeing her in the bake shop.

“No, I haven’t. I was just playing bridge with some of my friends from church this morning, and they were raving about the cookies at your shop. I just had to come in and see for myself.”

“Well, tell them thank you from me. That was nice of them to recommend me.”

“I will let them know.”

Mrs. Jessup wasn’t the first customer to come in that week with a recommendation from a friend to come visit her bakery. She’d had new customers flooding in all week. She’d hardly been able to keep up with the demand.

The door opened, jingling the bell that let her know someone was arriving. Alexis looked up to see Owen approaching the counter. “You here to spy on me?”

Owen chuckled. “I’m out of muffins at home. I need to restock.”

“Oh, sure.” She gave him a teasing smile. “We both know you’re here to steal my famous recipes.”

“I can guarantee you that if I tried to bake your recipes, it would be a disgusting, burned mess.”

Alexis laughed. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

“Just because I opened a restaurant doesn’t mean I can cook. It means I know what good food tastes like and what foods go well together. And I have the money to arrange all of that.”

Alexis scowled at him. She hated the fact that he had so much money. It was worse that he flaunted it.

“But I’m tired of Hadley’s food. So that’s why I come here. The food at your bakery is better anyway.”

Alexis put her hands on her hips. “Now I know you’re full of it. Or you’ve burned your taste buds off by eating your food before it’s cooled down.”

“Nope. I promise my taste buds are fully operational. And they know what they want.”

“Oh, do they?”

He leaned closer. “Yes. They want your blueberry muffins. One dozen.”

Alexis didn’t take her eyes off him. “Delilah, you heard the man. He wants a dozen blueberry muffins. We can get that for him, can’t we?”

“I’m pretty sure I can manage that.” Delilah checked the bin where they kept the blueberry muffins. “It looks like we’re almost out. I just took some from the oven. I’ll be right back.” She disappeared into the kitchen.

“Alexis.” He tucked a stray hair behind her ear.

Her breath caught. She could hardly handle him touching her like that. The gesture was too intimate. If he kept this up, she would lose all control. He leaned across the counter toward her, and their eyes locked. Was he going to kiss her? She stared deeply into his beautiful blue eyes, and she knew she wouldn’t stop him if he tried. She was way too weak for that, and she’d wanted this for way too long.

Delilah’s footsteps sounded behind them, and Owen stepped back, the moment lost. Disappointment sunk in Alexis’s chest. It was for the best, Alexis realized as her head cleared. Nothing good would come from kissing Owen. He lived in LA, on the other side of the country. He was only in town until the wedding, and then he would leave. It wasn’t like he could set up his career in Maple Creek like Chase. Acting had to be in person.

The door jangled again, and a man entered that Alexis didn’t recognize. Owen turned to him. “Vincent, what are you doing here?”

“I’ve heard a lot of good things about this bake shop. I thought I’d come in myself to see what the buzz is all about.” The man studied her cupcake display. “Mango cupcakes. Interesting idea. I’d like to try one.”

“Of course,” Alexis said, beaming. She handed the man a mango cupcake. “Is there anything else I can get you?”

“I’ll try a slice of your lavender-peach cake.”

“Absolutely.” She cut him a slice of the purple cake.

---