AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I take a bite, expecting it to be good.
It’s not simply good.
I stare at the cake, trying to find the words to describe what I’m tasting while Seb eyes me from across the table.
“Seb, this is fantastic,” I say, as breathless as I was with the finger-licking incident. “I mean, I’ve had good wedding cake, but this is incredible. It’s dense, but not too dense, and the perfect amount of moist.”
I stab the cake and take a bigger bite. “I can’t believe you don’t advertise you can make something this good. Why did you ever become an electrician when you can do this?” I point at the cake with my fork, then shovel another bite in my mouth.
Seb smiles wide, and his cheeks go pink with pride.
“I’m serious, Seb. You must love baking to make something as good as this and all the other desserts you make. Did you ever think about opening your own bakery?” I set down my fork, having completely devoured the cake.
It takes as much willpower not to lick the plate as it did not to stick my finger in the frosting and let Seb lick it a second time.
“I thought about it, but there’s already a couple bakeries in town, and I didn’t want to be in competition with them. And people hired Heidi to do cakes before she got sick, so I didn’t want to take business away from her either.” He pauses and looks at his hands. “And my grandpa really wanted me to take over Sparks Electric. He thought being a baker wasn’t ‘manly’ enough. And he worried I’d never make enough money to take care of a family.”
“Do people around town know you can bake like this? Does your grandpa know you still do? Or do you keep it a secret from him?” I chew my lip, waiting for the answer, but there’s a bigger question I want to ask.
“I don’t necessarily keep it a secret, I just don’t advertise the fact.”
I give him awhylook that makes him laugh. “I guess I’m kind of worried what people might think, and yeah, definitely worried what Grandpa might think if he knew I still loved to bake,” he finishes.
I nod, then tread carefully to my big question. “You’ve never told him you might not want a family?”
He rubs his chin, then slowly raises his eyes to me. “I may be coming around on that, so maybe he knew more than I did about my potential.”
His mouth quirks into a grin that I can’t stop myself from returning, but I’m not about to press the issue any further. He might bolt.
“Maybe you’ll change your mind about being a professional baker too,” I say casually, like my heart isn’t beating a million miles an hour.
Seb shrugs. “I doubt it. At this point, I think making baking a business would take the joy out of it. It’s not that bad coming home from a job I like well enough to do something I love just for fun.”
“Okay, Mr. Professional Baker for Fun, let’s talk money. How much for more of this cake? Like, three tiers more, plus a couple of double-layered ones on the side?” I give in to temptation and swipe my finger across my cake plate to get the last bits, then stick it in my mouth.
When my eyes meet Seb’s again, his jaw is slightly open and his eyes so dark with desire, I have to bite back a smile.
He shakes his head and comes back to himself. “They’re not paying me.”
I narrow my eyes. “I know Evie, Adam, and everyone else will want to pay you for the wedding cake, so give me your price.”
“Zero dollars. That’s my price. Along with not telling them it’s me.”
“I am totally sold on this cake, Seb, you are a multi-talented man. We’re on a budget, so I probably can’t pay you what it’s worth, but does five hundred make it worth your time?” I could negotiate up to a thousand, but that will impact the other wedding food and I’m hoping since he doesn’t have specific overhead that we can agree to a lower price.
He’s still shaking his head, and I lean across the table to be closer to him, like that might convince him.
“Come on, Seb. Give me a price.”
“No way! Think of it as my wedding gift to the four of them. Saves me the trouble of looking up their wedding registry.” Seb crosses his arms and leans further back. “Plus, if they know, they’ll all tease me, and Grandpa Sparks will find out. He’ll be at the wedding and will give me a hard time about it.”
I sit back, searching for an argument that will change his mind, but he doesn’t give me time.
“I’ll make it, but those are my conditions,” he says decisively.
I don’t like not giving him the acknowledgment he deserves, but what else can I do except agree?
At least until tomorrow.
