Page 86 of Party Favors

Event planner?

Royal-family fangirl?

“People love you,” he said. “And I—”

Every cell in my body screamed with anticipation. I told my hormones to calm down. He was not going to say that he loved me. That was ridiculous and I was a complete fool for even thinking it, let alone sort of hoping. “You what?”

“I love that about you. That you light up every room you walk into.”

I said, “I do?”

“You do. I’ve been watching you tonight.” He took my fork from me and placed it on the counter.

My appetite was suddenly gone due to the alarm I was feeling. Max had been watching me? Had he seenmewatchinghim? Was he going to call me out for being a total stalker?

He took my hands in his, and this time I managed just a shiver instead of full-body trembling. “I’ve seen how everyone responds to you. You make people happy. You make me happy. And I—”

“Everly?” Hillary was standing on her tiptoes to see me over the crowd in the kitchen. “I have a question.”

The only thing I wanted was to hear how Max was going to finish that sentence.

But I had a job to do. “I’ll be back,” I told him regretfully.

He squeezed my hands and released me. I walked over to Hillary, who wanted to know whether Hyacinth had any allergies. She didn’t, and that was information I’d already shared with Bartolomeo. I irrationally wondered why Hillary hadn’t just asked him instead of interrupting what felt like a very significant moment between Max and me.

I went back over to where I’d been eating, but he wasn’t there.

You’re not at this party for a boy,I had to tell myself.You’re here to do a job and get a promotion.

But it was so hard to not get distracted when Max was nearby.

So after I wolfed down the rest of my food, I made sure to keep my distance from him.

Physical distance, because there was no way I could keep my mental and emotional distance from him. I thought about him constantly, and even though he’d told me he’d been watching me, I still found myself searching him out and watching him.

It was like a sickness.

After dinner the baker brought out the absolutely enormous birthday cake for Hyacinth. I was pleased to see that she was off her phone and enjoying the singing, along with the four-tiered cake decorated with wintry snowflakes and a tiny sugar palace. She managed to blow out all of her candles to the delight of her guests and there were waiters ready to cut up and serve the cake. After ensuring that it was passed out to allthe guests who wanted a piece, I waited for about ten more minutes to give everyone a chance to eat. Then I went up to the stage to introduce Silver Cup. The band started their set by playing a cover of “Bizarre Love Triangle.” It was a perfect song for both the adults and teens and it got a bunch of people out on the floor dancing.

It was all going so spectacularly well that I was worried. I had the feeling that it was all too good to be true.

Which was a feeling I was all too accustomed to lately, given that I had it every time I spoke to or hung out with Max.

I took a very large slice of cake and went into the kitchen to eat it. This particular baker had a gift for making cakes that were both beautiful and incredible tasting. Again, I was pleased with myself and what I’d accomplished.

Max came into the kitchen, as if he’d been following me. His face lit up when he saw me, and his handsomeness again overwhelmed me. Was I ever going to get used to it?

“What are you up to?” he asked.

“I’m eating an irresponsible amount of birthday cake.”

“I can see that,” he said.

“I’m feeling very guilty about it at the moment. It is probably forty times the recommended daily allowance of sugar.”

He shook his head. “You shouldn’t feel bad about eating cake. You can just use the science of relativity. Cake is healthier for you than heroin, right?”

Max might have had a point. As I was considering that, he said, “You have frosting right there.”

---