Page 13 of Peaches & Cream
Ben
By the time I’m finished meeting with the competition’s officials, I’m exhausted and defeated. I’m also disqualified.
“What? Why?” Stacey asks, her eyes wide. “What happened? Wait. Did youdosomething?”
“No,” I say, leaning against the car. “I thought I did everything right. But it turns out renting an Airbnb isn’t enough to meet the residency criteria. They found out, so I’m done.”
“Bullshit,” Chris says, his mouth dropping open as Stacey’s expression crumbles. “That’s total bullshit.”
“I know. It’s a fucking technicality, but it is what it is.” I run my hands back and forth through my hair, letting out a heavy sigh. “They made me give back the prize money too.”
“Wh-what?” Stacey asks, crying openly now.
“I’m sorry, sis,” I say, pulling her in for a hug. “I really am.”
“I know,” she sniffs. “I know you are. It’s just…we were so close. And now we’re worse off than we were when we started.”
The moment I release her, she turns to Chris and sobs against his chest as he soothes her with reassuring words and a gentle hand up and down her back. I feel awful. This isn’t how any of this was supposed to end. We were supposed to win some money and do something good with it. Now we’ve lost the prize money, and we’ve lost our investment in the competition in the first place. Not to mention the work we haven’t done while this was going on. It was a huge gamble, and one that seemed to be paying off. Now…it’s just really fucked.
“I think I’m gonna take a walk to cool down,” I say, stepping away from the car. “You guys go, and I’ll meet you at home. Maybe I’ll have figured out how to fix this by then.”
“OK, mate. And I’m sorry too. I know how much work you put into this. You deserved to win.”
I offer him a half-smile and a shrug. “It is what it is. Take care of my sister for me,” I say, turning away from them and shoving my hands in my pockets as I walk away, head down, heart heavy, wishing things could be different. But they aren’t. And now I don’t know what to do.
After walking for about an hour without any real direction to my step, I’m equally surprised and not surprised at all when I look up and find myself standing in front of Shelby’s bakery. And since the lights are on inside, I take the chance of knocking on the door, hoping she’s cooled down enough to talk to me after today.
“Here to gloat?” she says, folding her arms across her chest as she leans against the open door. “What did the judges want you for? To offer you a massive deal to be the face of whatever the next project is?”
“Nothing like that,” I say, my voice soft as I look to the sidewalk beneath my feet. “They, ah, they disqualified me.”
Her eyes go wide the same as Stacey’s did. “They…they what now?”
“I’m out of the competition.”
Water fills her eyes as she presses her lips together. “Is this…did this happen because of what you tried to do for me?”
I shake my head. “No. Just a stupid residency clause that I didn’t quite meet. We thought renting an Airbnb would be enough, but it wasn’t.”
“Oh god, sugar, I’m so sorry. I feel like such a bitch now. I shouldn’t have answered the door like that. I was acting like I had sand in my britches, and you didn’t deserve that. Why don’t you come inside? I’ll make you something to drown your sorrows.”
She steps aside, and the moment I step in, the only thing I want to drown myself in is her. I catch her by that gorgeous face and bring my mouth down on hers, kissing her like she’s the only thing that can save me now. And maybe she is, maybe she’s the entire reason I came here. Sure, I’m not going to win the competition and get my bakehouse. But maybe in Shelby, I found something better. I found love.
“Ben,” she whispers, her hands gripping the shirt at my chest as we emerge for a much-needed breath, our bodies pressed tight to one another. “I can’t do this if you’re leaving.”
I drop my forehead to hers, my breathing ragged. “I’m not. I can’t. Because it’s you. You’re the only thing that matters to me now.”
“Oh, Ben, you have no idea how long I’ve waited for someone to say those words to me.”
I smile against her mouth. “Probably about as long as I’ve been waiting to say it. Please tell me you live right near here.”
“In the apartment right on top,” she whispers, just as I take her mouth again, and kiss her even harder this time.
“Is there anything you need to take care of in the kitchen?” I ask, my hands sliding down to cup the round globes of her ass.
“No.”
I lift her off the ground. “Good. Because I’m not letting you out of that bed until I’m finished with you.”
