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She said that too loud, and she knew she said it too loud and in that incredulous voice that her dad always told her not to use in front of clients.
Except she just used it in front of a client.
Charlie was frozen and probably too stunned to reply to her shocked response. Yeah, she was definitely going to lose this contract now. How hard was it to just kiss the owner's ass and tell him he was hot?
He slowly turned, his mouth still filled with her cake, and his eyes widened as he took her in.
"You're not Noah."
More crumbs went flying onto the table top and this time, Charlie noticed, looking sheepish as he tried to brush them off.
"I can leave if you..." Her hand waved aimlessly in the air as she tried to motion to the door.
"No, no. I just uh...." Charlie swallowed hard and looked up at her again with an embarrassed grin before taking a deep breath. "It's good to see you again, Maggie."
"Yeah, uh, you too."
He motioned for her to walk closer. "Do you want a seat? Grab a slice of cake before you sit down. It's delicious." His face scrunched up a little. "I mean, you know it's delicious since you made it, but I didn't crush this one."
"Little victories," she said with a nervous laugh.
Charlie gave her a small smile and wordlessly walked over to the counter with the extra food still on it, adding a slice to a plate along with a fork and bringing it back to the table. He set it down in front of a chair across from him and motioned for her to sit down.
Maggie politely took the invite, wanting to be agreeable enough to Charlie for however long it took to get the contract confirmed. She hoped to secure the contract tonight so she could prove to her family that this was a good idea and there was an actual plan for the arena.
She watched as Charlie took his place on the other side of the table while still insisting on standing. He was tall and lanky but still had enough of a build that she could maybe see the construction supervisor work that he used to do or the muscles he may have used for it on occasion.
Tonight though he was wearing a pair of black tailored pants that fit him perfectly and a button-down white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to expose his forearms. Any woman would find him attractive like this, even one who still held a bit of a grudge after he smashed her cake.
He looked up at her with brown eyes that were dark in this suite's lighting. "So how do you think tonight went?"
It was amazing! Stupendous! The best night ever for the bakery!
She wasn't sure if that was true or not, but she wanted it to be and she needed to sell it to the owner to get the contract, right? Just maybe in a more professional way.
"Well, it turned out--"
The door burst open and they both turned to see Noah Caraden standing in the doorway, his eyes darting from Charlie to Maggie and back again. "Hey, am I interrupting?"
"Uh, no?"
"Nope." Charlie's reply was much more serious than hers as if he was determined to make sure Noah didn't suspect something else was going on between them.
"Oooook."
Noah took an uncomfortable few steps into the suite, and Maggie tried to give him a reassuring smile to let him know that he really hadn't interrupted whatever he thought he had between his boss and the baker.
"Have you met Maggie Overland?"
Noah turned and smiled at her. "Yes, I have. It's good to see you again by the way."
"You too," she replied with a smile before turning to Charlie. "I know Noah through Icing."
"Oh, right. Georgia's boyfriend."
Noah gave his boss a huge grin. "Yes, I am. But Georgia makes small batches and told me to tell you that no one does big-batch baking like Overland Bakery and you need to hire them."
"That was very specific," Charlie said with a little laugh. "I will make a note of it."
