Page 42 of Holly Jolly Cake Fight
Just like that, they were off and running, only the bright flush on Candace’s cheeks and the tinge of dark plum stain on Laurin’s lower lip as evidence they were anything less than chaste.
Success in sports was about taking risks. Glory came to those who were brave enough to fight for it. Laurin had given himself many lectures about playing it safe with Candace, but at the end of the day, he could only be what he had always been: a risk-taker.
He dragged her around the store, and she followed willingly, even dropping her on-camera persona in favor of laughing and chatting and flirting ever so slightly. Whenever she started to retreat into her usual subdued self, it only took a touch or a whisper, a tug down a new aisle for a couple seconds’ of sort-of privacy before the camera hunted them down again.
“We’re never going to get our shopping done here!” she cried out when he pulled her into the shoe section, but she also made no effort to prevent the collision of their bodies when he stopped short and she continued into him. She stared up at him, her chest heaving, and it was Laurin who had to separate them before the camera caught up.
“What about this?” he asked, grabbing a random shoe from the display to make it look like they really did need something here.
Candace blanched but recovered quickly enough to say, “Gross, I want traditional. What are you thinking for the decorations? Other than shoes.”
“Monochrome?” Laurin suggested. “I think it would be easier to coordinate a centerpiece and a runner that way.”
Candace nodded. “Not red, though. It looks too much like Valentine’s Day.”
An image of velvety red roses, decadent chocolates, and elegant candles flashed in Laurin’s mind. He couldn’t remember the last time Valentine’s Day wasn’t overtime at the bakery and boxes of tear-apart postcards for Vivvy’s classmates. “What’s wrong with Valentine’s Day?”
“It’s Christmas.”
“True. I don’t want green, either. Harper does a lot of natural stuff, so I don’t want to end up with anything too similar.”
“Glitter Greg and Mark had that purple ombre tree, so let’s stay away from purple.”
“That leaves . . . blue, then? Unless you want to go stark with white and black, gray scale.”
Candace flared her nostrils in repulsion. “Are we trying to be a pretentious 80s-era department store? Gross. Let’s do blues. But can we stick with the purple side? No sky blues. Royal, periwinkle, that sort of thing.”
“I like it.”
They hit the craft section hard, Candace pulling out bolt after bolt of blue fabric before shoving it all back when she found a roll of blue strips. Laurin, meanwhile, got some paints and fakeflowers along with a variety of glass tubes, candles, and floral foam wreaths.
“What are you doing with all that?” Candace asked as she surveyed the cart.
“I don’t quite know yet,” Laurin admitted before grabbing some discounted blue ribbon as well. He started to come up with an idea, only to follow Candace’s lead and put a bunch of it back.
“Okay, now what are you doing?”
“Something not tacky, hopefully. Will we be allowed to use the equipment in the pavilion? You said I’m not going to lose us points if I blow sugar again, right?”
“Joe!” Candace called, getting the cameraman’s attention. “Radio out, find out if we can borrow the sugar blowing station.” While he passed that on to the crew at the park, she said, “Not a bird, right? That might get us dinged.”
“No, I’m thinking way bigger. Help me find some mirrors.”
Laurin was feeling good when they left the store, even better when they got the back row of seats in the van to themselves. Candace scribbled rapidly in her notebook as they updated their plans and worked out a schedule. Even in the bouncing vehicle, her handwriting remained tidy and compact, the same writing that had saved him during the cookie challenge.
He laced their fingers together when she set the notebook down, liking the way her hand fit in his. “There’s gonna be a camera on us all night,” Candace murmured.
“I guess that’s a good thing.” When Candace stiffened, Laurin explained himself further. “We talked a lot about who I used to be, but I don’t think we ever talked about who I am now.I’m interested in you, Candace, but I’m not interested in you tonight.”
“I don’t understand.”
“A camera tonight won’t change anything. My thoughts are not on tonight . . . except with the challenge, of course. We’re too busy tonight to do anything except win this challenge.”
He pulled their hands in more snugly, tightening his hold on her. There was a sense of defeat in the way she sank against him, and he did his best not to read too deeply into it. For all the fuss she’d been making about how this could all be some fabrication and her belief that Laurin had been hired as . . . a baking gigolo, he supposed . . . she certainly seemed disappointed that Laurin wasn’t interested in a one-night stand.
He would just have to prove to her that he was an all-or-nothing kind of guy, and he wasn’t about to settle on a single night.
Chapter 16
