Page 40 of Resisting You
"You were here yesterday?"
I nodded. "I managed to get the last four blue lagoon cupcakes and the last two yellow sunshine cupcakes."
"Then she mopped the floor with them," Noah added, laughing. "Literally dropped all of them, buttercream side down, on the floor of the elevator at the Maple Grove Inn. It looked like Big Bird murdered Cookie Monster in there."
Grinning, I pinched his bicep. "I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have dropped them if you hadn't chased me into the elevator!"
"Oh sure, blame me!" He dramatically threw his hands in the air, but we were still both grinning like idiots.
"I never thought I'd see the day," Neil murmured, crossing back behind the counter.
"What day?" I asked.
"The day Noah Blue Tripp succumbed to love."
I cleared my throat and tried to step away from Noah, but he held firm, his arm around my waist, pinning me to him. It wasn't fair the way we were tricking everyone. All these friends and family, people who cared about us believed we were in love. We were deceiving them.
Without asking us what we wanted, Neil started putting together a box of a little bit of everything. "Okay," Noah grunted, "my trainer reallywillhave my ass for all of that."
"Relax," Neil said. "The ones on this side are sugar free and made with almond flour. Stick to those and you'll be alright. Can I get you two a coffee, as well?"
I looked around, noticing that a few customers had started to form a line outside. "I don't think we should hold up your business any more than we already have."
But Neil quickly waved away my concerns. "It's fine. It's good for business. The line outside helps build up anticipation. And then all the influencers post videos of them waiting in line… trust me. It helps."
Noah took my hand and pulled me into a booth as Neil deposited two cups of coffee, two cups of water, two cupcakes on a plate, and a box to take home in front of us on the table.
"Need any cream or sugar for your coffee?"
"She does," Noah said at the same time I answered, "He doesn't."
We locked eyes for a long moment. A charged silence filled the room as Noah and I declared two opposing truths in perfect unison. We held each other's gaze for what felt like an eternity,the air thick with a mix of appreciation and anticipation as we both waited to see who would break the stalemate first.
But it wasn't either of us to break the silence. It was Neil. "If I wasn't such a curmudgeon, I'd say you two were fucking adorable," Neil muttered as he dropped a bowl of creamers and sugar cubes on the table, too.
"Okay, Alvarez," Noah said, as he looped his arm back around my waist and pulled me to sit closer to him on the bench. His touch was electric, his hands radiating warmth into my skin. "Let's see what you got."
With his free hand, he nudged the plate of cupcakes toward me.
"We aren’t having a cupcake eating contest," I chuckled.
"Not with that attitude, we aren’t." He lifted the one that was marked with a sugar free wrapper and peeled it off the base while I lifted the other in my hand.
"Do you know the proper way to eat a cupcake?" he asked.
"There's a proper way to eat a cupcake?"
"As a senator's daughter and ex-debutante, I expected more from you," he teased.
"I am sonotan ex-debutante," I snorted. Far from it.
I opened my mouth as wide as I could, but my unhinged jaw was no match for the heaping swirl of buttercream on top. I laughed as I felt it hit the tip of my nose.
"No, no, no," Noah scolded me playfully. "Let me show you a little trick of the trade."
Giggling with a mouthful of cupcake, I nodded and set down my half bitten cupcake back on the plate, trying to wipe my face of buttercream.
Noah tore off the bottom half of his cupcake, then smushed it on top of the buttercream to make a cupcake sandwich of sorts.
