Page 83 of Half Baked

“That’s your condition?” I start hesitantly. “You want to be equal partners? With me?”

She rolls her eyes as if it’s obvious. “That’s one condition, yes.”

I wrap my arms around her, grinning wildly when she keeps her own arms folded across her chest. “I’d love to be equal partners, to truly do this together,” I tell her.

“I’m not done,” she huffs, but the smile on her face remains. “We also will need to set aside time specifically to talk about the business. It can’t just blend into our relationship.”

“Boundaries, got it.” I nod. “Wait. Does that mean you are agreeing to being in a relationship too?”

She ignores my question and continues on. “And finally, we agree that if a fight isn’t getting us anywhere, we take a break from it. Although, honestly, if I haven’t scared you off yet, I feel pretty good that we can make this work.”

“You’re never scaring me off, but I still agree to that condition. Absolutely we can make this work.” I reach up and caress her face. “Anything else, Poppy Seed?”

“Yes, actually. One more thing.” She tilts her face up to me and lifts her arms to wrap them around my neck. “I love you too.”

I was wrong. There is a feeling better than Poppy Wheeler picking me, and it’s the feeling of hearing that she loves me.But maybe that was always the same thing. Because I know she wouldn’t have made that choice for just anyone.

“You really love me?” I repeat her question from earlier as my lips brush against hers.

She responds by clasping her palm on the back of my neck and tugging me into a deep, greedy kiss. I allow her to tilt me forward, planting a hand on the small of her back and dipping her back. Blinking up at me, she says, “My heart is yours, Hayden. I really love you.”

“Mm, I could get used to hearing that,” I hum before capturing her mouth once again. She opens to me eagerly, dropping the contract as her fingers tangle in my hair. The papers flutter around us, but we have some revisions to make anyway.

“Does this mean we have a deal?” I ask when we pull apart for a breath.

She releases one of her hands from my hair and straightens, holding it out between us as if to shake on things. She flashes a sinfully sweet smile up at me and says, “Welcome to the Seaside Bakehouse, partner.”

Chapter 39

Poppy

“That is not happening,” I deadpan, folding my arms and taking a step forward. Toe to toe with Hayden, I narrow my eyes up at the amused look on his face.

“Maybe we should take a vote,” he suggests.

“I have a feeling it’s going to be a draw.”

He reaches out and twirls a strand of my hair around his finger. With a lazy grin, he says, “You’re the one who wanted to be equal partners. If you agreed to my forty-nine percent offer, you could shoot me down right now.”

“Consider it a moment of weakness.” I smile back at him and reach out to curl a hand around his bicep. “But I have a feeling I can convince you to see things my way.” Rising up on my toes, I brush a kiss along his jaw. I take my time, letting my lips linger near his ear.

“My love, you can’t do this every single time,” he sighs, catching me around the waist. “It’s not fair.”

I wasn’t sure what would happen when we set our standing business meetings at the bakehouse. At the time, I had worried they would be formal and awkward. Instead, I’m finding our moment hidden away in the kitchen very enjoyable.

“I’ve agreed to the business account we both have access to. That’s normal practice. But what’snotnormal is linking it to your personal accounts. You’ll just keep funneling me money whenever you see fit.”

“Wheneverwesee fit,” he amends.

“That’s not very good business sense.” I turn towards the counter behind us and grab the updated business plan I created last week. Holding it up, I point to the finance page. “This was what we agreed upon. Remember?”

“You showed this to me in bed before I set ourno business in the bedroomrule,” he points out.

“But you still signed.”

“You were naked. This should be inadmissible.”

I bat my eyes innocently as Hayden furrows his brow. “It’s not my fault you’re easily distracted. And what’s done is done. So, call the bank and open a stand-alone business account,” I say, sitting down on the stool beside my prep table and picking up one of the fresh blueberry almond bars.

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