Page 3 of Her Forbidden Prize

Her cheeks turn pink, but it’s her mouth that fascinates me now. Apart from her glossy pink lips, her teeth are hypnotizingly white. And she’s got one front tooth that’s slightly crooked that I find charming.

I meet her eyes, now excited to show me the tipsy carrot cake.

She glides over to the end of the display case and shoves the glass door aside. She begins to cut a huge slice of carrot cake. “The raisins and carrots are soaked for three months in rum. So I can only sell this to people over 21. And most of my customers are here before seven a.m. to get their morning coffee or to grab donuts for the office, so hardly anyone tries the boozy cake. But boozy cakes are my favorite to make.”

“Box the whole thing up.”

Without a word, she does just that. Doesn’t tell me the price, doesn’t question my sanity, just boxes it up and adds it to the total. “I love a woman who doesn’t try to talk me out of what I want.”

I need a filter for when I leave the house because I don’t notice how suggestive that sounds until it’s out of my mouth.

“What’s that now?”

“Nothing. Just hungry,” I mutter, still inwardly cursing my son as I peel off twenties from my money clip.

After she takes my money, she says, “Heads up. Nate told me his favorite donut is apple crumble. Don’t eat those; I spit on ’em.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Her cheeks glow a deeper pink, and she squeezes her eyes closed, shaking her head in regret. “Gosh, that was a terrible joke. I would never do that. I shouldn’t have even joked about it. Please don’t call the health department?”

Her pleading expression is too much for me to take. I can’t stand to see Mariam beg; instead, her sweet face makes me want to give her everything she asks.

I laugh to make sure she knows I would never do anything as cruel as call the health department over a spitting joke. On every level, I want her to succeed so hard that Nate kicks himself for ghosting her.

Look at her. She has a smile that makes a person want to linger and forget all responsibilities. But I have to go. I plan to drop off all these pastries at the meeting hall, where my kitchen staff is catering a business meeting.

“Mariam, thank you for everything.”

“Wait. When’s your birthday?” She picks up a phone and opens it to her calendar app.

I tell her the answer, curious.

“Favorite flavor birthday cake?”

“I’m not picky. Why?”

A sly smile pulls at the corner of her lip. “Everyone who spends more than a hundred dollars in one visit gets a free birthday cake.”

I laugh. “Did you make up that rule on the spot?”

“Absolutely I did.”

I give her a wink. “Surprise me.”

And then I leave before I fully commit to flirting with this girl. Woman, I mean.

I drive back to the Jesse J Ranch with my head swimming. When I arrive home, my stomach is full of apple crumble donuts because I ate every damn one.

ChapterTwo

Mariam

“Nate’s dad did what now?”

Serena sips on a margarita, listening wide-eyed to the whole story of how the man who stood me up has a dad who is ten times the quality of Nate.

Although Willie’s Bar & Grill is packed to the gills with single women from all over the area tonight, my married friends Serena, Maisy, and Charity are here for moral support. Tonight’s the annual Cowboy Dating Auction, and plenty of people who don’t bid love to attend for the romance and the drama.

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