Delectable Desire (4 page)

Lorraine met with the hotel’s special events coordinator. As she described her new vision for Trina’s bridal shower, she had a hard time containing her amusement at the way the woman’s face transformed from gleeful to completely horrified. The coordinator’s penciled-in eyebrows formed perfect peaks as Lorraine explained that she wanted the calla lily centerpieces replaced with seashells and coral on a bed of soft white sand. She wanted the walls draped in flowing light blue silk, mimicking the waves of the ocean.

The woman cleared her throat. “This all sounds lovely, Ms. Hawthorne-Hayes. However, are you sure we shouldn’t discuss this with
Mrs.
Hawthorne-Hayes before making such drastic changes?”

“No,” Lorraine said. “I’m the one in charge of my sister’s wedding shower. I have the last word. I will browse the web for some ideas and email them to you. Feel free to do the same.”

Her mother would have a fit, but Lorraine would deal with it. For once, Abigail Hawthorne-Hayes was not getting her way.

* * *

Carter leaned back in the chair and crossed his feet on top of his desk. He used a stylus to make notations on the inventory list he kept stored in his electronic tablet. Ever since they were featured at a Chicago Bulls pregame event, Lillian’s red velvet cupcakes with dark chocolate and cream cheese frosting, designed in the team’s colors of black and red, were flying out the door. Carter needed to increase the order of cupcake holders to keep up with the significant spike in sales.

There was a knock on the door. He looked up to find his cousin Monica. “Carter, were you supposed to have a cake for Maria Salazar ready for today?”

He frowned. “No, that isn’t until Thursday.”

“Well, she’s in the showroom right now to pick up her cake.”

Rising from his chair, Carter switched to the app that he used to keep track of his cake orders. He had a cake for an Arabian Nights–themed
quinceañera
scheduled for pick up on Thursday by Maria Salazar.

He turned the screen so Monica could see for herself. “She’s not supposed to pick it up until Thursday.”

“Well, somebody got their dates crossed. You need to go out there and talk to her.”

“I didn’t take the order,” he said. “It was probably Drake. I think he was working the retail store that morning.”

“You’re the one listed as the baker. You were specifically requested,” she pointed out. Carter didn’t miss the smug undertone of his cousin’s voice.

The Drayson grandchildren got along well enough, but in jockeying for position in the bakery, Carter definitely had a target on his back. Both their grandparents and his aunt and uncle had taken notice when customers started requesting Carter by name, and so had his cousins.

That wasn’t his problem. If the rest of the Drayson clan wanted to stand out, they needed to step up their games.

What
was
his problem was this mix-up with Mrs. Salazar’s cake order. It didn’t matter who had caused it. As Monica had just pointed out, he was the head baker on the project, which meant he was ultimately responsible for the customer’s one hundred percent satisfaction.

Carter entered the showroom, his eyes roaming around for Drake. Of course, his cousin was nowhere to be found. He was probably in one of the back offices playing around on Facebook or Twitter. Somebody needed to remind him that the same social networking he used to tout Lillian’s qualities could be used by unhappy customers to eviscerate the company’s good name if there were too many mix-ups like the one that had apparently taken place with the Salazar cake.

Carter walked up to the woman who was standing in front of the counter. “Mrs. Salazar, how are you?” he greeted.

“Where is my cake?”

“I don’t have you scheduled until Thursday to pick up the cake.”

“No, the
quinceañera
is tonight. I was told the cake would be ready by noon.” Her elevated voice caused several shoppers to turn their heads.

“Why don’t we move over here?” Carter said, gesturing for her to follow him to the rear left side of the showroom, which had been converted into a coffee bar. “Can I offer you something to drink? A latte? Cappuccino?”

“I want my cake,” Mrs. Salazar said.

“I found the original order form.” Monica came up to them. “It has Thursday marked off, but today’s date is written on it.”

Great. Carter bit back a curse.

“So I will have no cake for my daughter’s
quinceañera?
Is that what you’re telling me?”

“Not to worry,” Carter said. “Just tell me where it is being held and I’ll have your cake delivered by five o’clock.”

“Carter,” Monica warned in a low tone.

He held a hand up to his cousin, keeping his full attention on Mrs. Salazar. “You’ll have the cake you ordered. I will see to it personally,” Carter assured her.

The worry lines creasing the woman’s forehead lessened, and a cautious smile relaxed the corners of her mouth.

“Thank you,” she said. She held up her checkbook. “I still need to pay the balance on the cake.”

“No, you don’t. It’s on us.”

“Carter!” Monica sputtered.

“I’m very sorry for the mix-up,” Carter said, putting an arm around the woman’s shoulder and guiding her to the door. “And tell your daughter happy birthday.”

The woman thanked him profusely as she exited the bakery. After she left, he turned and stalked straight to the kitchen, with Monica hot on his heels.

“Do you want to explain to me what just happened there?” she asked him.

Ignoring her, Carter sought out one of the assistant bakers. “Jason, have you baked the cake for the Richardsons’ fiftieth wedding anniversary?”

“Yep, it’s in the cooler,” Jason Parker answered.

“Good. I’m going to have to use it. Can you set it up in my normal work area? And I’m going to need to make spun sugar for the decorations, so can you get me the light corn syrup, too?”

“Would you stop ignoring me?” Monica said. “Now, what happened with Mrs. Salazar’s order?”

Carter whirled around. “You know what happened,” he said, trying to keep his frustration in check. “Somebody dropped the ball, and now I’ve got to clean up the mess. Thankfully, the Richardson event isn’t until tomorrow night. Their cake is the same size and flavor as the Salazar cake.”

“And what about forgiving the balance on her order?”

Carter gritted his teeth. “It’s called keeping the customer happy, Monica. I don’t know who made the mistake here, but someone had to make it right. Now, can you please get out of my way? I’ve got a cake for three hundred that I need to construct and replacement cakes that I’ll have to stay here for hours baking tonight.”

“This should never have happened,” she said.

“Damn right, it shouldn’t have happened, but it did. Now move out of my way so I can fix it.”

Carter tore past her and headed for the cooler, pissed that someone else’s incompetence was now on his head. And would he get any thanks for correcting the situation?

“Not in this lifetime,” Carter snorted.

He was so tired of dealing with this crap. He busted his ass in this kitchen, but did he get any thanks for the extra effort he put in?

It was time he faced facts. Nothing he did would ever measure up. He was fighting a losing battle. His cousins would always have a leg up on him.

Carter backed up against the wall of the walk-in cooler and closed his eyes tight.

“Why in the hell am I even doing this?”

Why did he keep coming back for more, like a boxer who kept getting up from the mat after every knockdown, too stupid to leave the ring? It was a question he’d asked himself more than once; he had yet to come up with an answer that made sense.

Chapter 3

“W
hat are you doing? What are you doing?” Lorraine chanted quietly to herself as she walked along Michigan Avenue.

This was a bad idea. She should turn around and go right back to her car. Now. Before she did something she’d regret. Or, even worse, before she made a fool of herself.

She looked up and spotted the ornate gold-leaf lettering etched across one of the huge bay windows of Lillian’s. There was still time to turn back. In fact, she could just keep walking forward, round the block and return to the parking garage.

Before she succeeded in talking herself out of doing it, Lorraine wrapped her hand around the brass-plated door handle and pulled. She stepped into the bakery, taking a moment to breathe in the heavenly aromas of cakes, pies, cookies and coffee. She looked around the showroom, with its crystal chandeliers, marble floors and counters and richly decorated cakes, but she didn’t spot the one thing she was hoping to catch a glimpse of: Lillian’s charismatic cake maker. She wasn’t sure whether to feel disappointed or relieved.

Relieved, she decided. Carter Drayson would have seen straight through her flimsy excuse for returning to the bakery so soon.

“Back again?” came a voice over her shoulder. “Can I help you with something else?”

Lorraine turned. It was the same guy who’d greeted her yesterday. Dre? Drake? She wasn’t sure of his name; she only knew he was a member of the Drayson family.

“Hello,” she said, slipping her hand into her purse to grab the picture she’d brought with her. Then she thought better of it. The picture was the pretense she had planned to use if she’d run into Carter.

“I...I wanted to try a petit four,” she said, stumbling over her hastily concocted excuse. “It wasn’t until I left the bakery yesterday that I remembered that Lillian’s is known for its petit fours.”

“They are the best in the city,” he said.

Lorraine followed him to the glass display case, with its ornate gold filigree and dozens of square petit fours, lady fingers, delicate French lace cookies, fruit tarts and other delicacies.

“Everything looks so delicious,” she said. “I will take two petit fours and one chocolate-dipped shortbread cookie.”

As he packaged her purchase in a brown-and-pink-striped bakery box, Lorraine almost asked if Carter was in the back. She stopped herself just in time.

It was pure insanity, her sudden obsession with this man. She was not some fifteen-year-old with a girlhood crush. She was a grown woman who knew all too well the havoc being a starry-eyed, love-struck fool could cause. As of this moment, her preoccupation with Carter Drayson was over and done. As soon as she got her sweets, she would leave this store and not return. She would simply email him the picture of Trina scuba diving on her trip to the Caymans.

Lorraine took the box from Dre or Drake—she no longer cared what his name was—and headed for the exit.

“Lorraine?”

A bolt of awareness coursed down her spine at the sound of Carter’s voice. He approached, smelling like sugar and chocolate. And wasn’t
that
the definition of irresistible?

“Carter! Hello!” Lorraine knew her overly bright smile must look as fake as the cubic zirconias people tried to pass off as diamonds when they came to her family’s jewelry stores.

“Were you leaving?” he asked.

She would have guessed it was pretty obvious. She had her purchases in one hand and the other was wrapped around the door handle.

“Yes, I was,” she said. “I came in to try Lillian’s petit fours. I realize that I ordered a cake but actually have no idea of the quality of the product.”

She grimaced as soon as the words left her mouth.
Tell the man you want to make sure his cake won’t suck. Brilliant.

Lorraine would have given anything for someone to run out from the kitchen and yell “fire.” Then she immediately felt like a brat for wishing harm on the bakery simply to extricate herself from a horrifyingly embarrassing situation. This awkward “open mouth, insert foot” feeling was foreign to her.

“Not that I don’t think Lillian’s cakes are anything but exceptional,” she said, trying to atone for her previous gaffe. “The bakery has been touted as one of the best in Chicago for years.”

“My apologies for not insisting on a tasting when you came in yesterday. We usually do. It was a hectic morning and I wasn’t thinking straight.”

“Oh, no, please don’t apologize. A tasting isn’t necessary. The petit fours are enough.”

“If you’re sure,” Carter said. A subtle smile lifted the corner of his mouth. It was accompanied by a flash of awareness that sparkled in his eyes. “Is that the only reason you stopped in, or is there something else I can do for you? I meant what I said yesterday. You’re welcome to come by anytime. For anything.”

Lorraine just stood there for a moment, staring at the way his lips formed the words. She jerked to attention and shook her head. He had an amazing knack for annihilating her good sense.

“Actually, I also came to bring you this.” Balancing the box of pastries in one hand, she reached into her purse and retrieved the picture of Trina. “This is my sister and her fiancé on a scuba diving trip last summer. I thought it could serve as inspiration when you design the cake.”

As Carter took the picture from her, his fingers lightly grazed her palm. The simple touch set off a cataclysmic reaction within her, shooting electric sparks of heat from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, and to all parts in between.

“They make a nice couple,” Carter remarked. He motioned for her to follow him to a corner of the bakery, stopping next to a table with brownies packaged in cellophane and tied with curly ribbons. He looked up from the photo and back to her. “I can tell that you two are twins, but you’re definitely different.”

“Trina’s the fun one,” Lorraine blurted. Embarrassment washed over her. Okay, just where in the hell was that fire!

“And you’re not fun?” Carter asked.

She could feel the blush creeping up her face. “Let’s just say I don’t scuba dive.”

“There are a lot of things besides scuba diving that I’d classify as fun. I’m sure you’ve got a dangerous side hidden somewhere in there.”

Her mother would have fainted at the unladylike snort that slipped out, but Lorraine couldn’t help it. “The most dangerous thing I’ve done in the past five years was ordering that under-the-sea-themed cake instead of something more refined.”