Page 13 of My Knight Before Christmas
I clicked my seatbelt in place. “Are you finally going to tell me where we’re going?”
“Nope. Tonight is a surprise.”
I’d be lying if I said I hated surprises. The wait was the best part. Once the event took place, the thrill of anticipation wore off. It was just like Christmas. The month before the big day, every activity built up the excitement. Like one at a time, you added a drop of hot chocolate to a mug. Once you opened presents Christmas morning, or drank that cup, a sense of loss remained.
Yes, you still had the surprise itself to enjoy, but it wasn’t the same as the exhilaration beforehand.
“Okay. I’ll wait until we get there,” I said, shifting in my seat so my knees were angled toward him.
He smiled. “That’s one of many reasons why I like you. Your patience.”
“Customers help with that. Every. Single. Day.”
He chuckled. “Which is why you’re so good at it.”
“While I appreciate the compliment, how would you know if I’m good at my job?”
He smirked. “Well, let’s see.” He ticked off reasons on his fingers. “We already covered your patience. You brought me the eclairs you made before and they were the best I’ve ever tasted. You have a level head, which I’m sure helps you be efficient at baking and working fast. And you have a way of explaining things without being condescending. Like the time I didn’t know the difference between a macaron and a macaroon.”
Ah, yes. The great cookie mix up. Liam had picked me up at the bakery before we went on our second date. I’d offered him a freshly made macaron before we left.
“Would you like one? We just finished them an hour ago. And not to brag, but they’re pretty amazing.”
His smile turned flirtatious, his brown eyes locked on mine. “Does it include you feeding it to me?”
My cheeks warmed. “Oh. Um.” I was not expecting him to say that.Way to wow him, Avery.He’ll be jumping at the chance for you to flirt back. “Yes.”
He laughed, waving his palm at me. “Only teasing. I’m actually not a fan of coconut.”
Not a fan of coconut? He wassomissing out. I titled my head in confusion. “I only have raspberry, mango, pistachio, vanilla, and chocolate.”
He blinked. “Coconut is literally all they’re made of.”
“Ohhhh.” I chuckled. “I see where the confusion is. So there are two types of cookies that sound similar but are different.” I went behind the counter, pulling out the tray of mango macarons. “This is a French cookie. It’s made with egg whites and ground almonds.” I stepped to the next display case and pulled out the macaroon. “This is the coconut version you are used to that’s also made with egg whites, but coconut shreds instead of fine ground almonds. The French version is petite and colorful with different flavor options. The macaroon is only coconut and bigger. Make sense?”
“So macaron and macaroon?” He pointed to each cookie as he said its name.
I nodded. “Yep.”
He laughed at himself, rubbing his fingers across his forehead. “I feel foolish. How did I not know the difference?”
“Don’t sweat it. A lot of people don’t know.”
“Thank you for educating me instead of making fun of me.”
My brows furrowed. “I’d never make fun of you, Liam.”
Heat swirled around my chest, rising up my neck, and into my cheeks as I recalled how Liam had looked at me with such adoration. I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear, bringing myself back to present-day Liam. “While I’m not certain all of those compliments are true, how do you do that?”
He reversed out of the driveway. “Do what?”
“See people so clearly after knowing them for such a short amount of time?”
A deep V formed between his brows. “I don’t think I can do that with just anyone. At least, none of my exes would say I saw them well enough.”
They were exes for a reason.
He continued, “But I also think my job helps. Finding why companies want to message their products a certain way pushes me to understand their customers. It’s all a bit complicated, but the short answer is, my job and you make it easy.”
