“Okay, thanks,” she said with a sigh. “I’ll be by later to pick it up.”
“We’re open until six.”
Ali hung up and thought about banging her head against her desk, but she knew that wouldn’t accomplish anything. Instead she thought about the massive cake Glen had insisted on. They’d needed one for only a couple hundred people but he’d liked the look of the five-layer one, so that was what they’d bought.
Five layers, she thought grimly. That would never fit in her car.
She picked up her phone and quickly dialed Daniel.
“Hey,” he said when he answered. “What’s up?”
“Any way I can borrow your truck?”
“Sure. What for?”
“I totally forgot to cancel the cake. It’s huge and I’m afraid it won’t fit in my car.”
“Not a problem. I’ll meet you at the house after work. What are you going to do with it?”
“I don’t know. I guess donate it. You don’t happen to know someone who’s getting married and forgot to order a cake, do you?”
“No, but I know a good food bank. Let’s take it over there.”
“Done,” she said firmly. “At least it’s going to a good cause.”
“See you tonight.”
“See you.”
She hung up and wished just once she could be something other than inept around Daniel. Was it too much to ask that just one time she was together and confident and sophisticated? Even though she already knew the answer, she couldn’t help wishing for a miracle.
* * *
As promised, Daniel was waiting when she got home from work. She pulled into the garage, then climbed into his truck.
“Thanks for doing this,” she told him. “I really appreciate it.”
“Happy to help. Plus, cake. Where’s the bad?”
She laughed. “There is that. So how’s the world of motocross?”
“Good. There are a lot of promising young guys who want to make it happen. We’ll see if any of them can do it.”
“Just guys?”
He looked at her. “Sometimes there are girls, but not very many. It’s physically challenging and...” He returned his attention to the road. “I’m going to stop talking now, before I get myself in trouble.”
“Probably for the best. I’m sure the sport is physically grueling, but still, you should support girls.”
“I do my best to be supportive.”
She believed him. He’d sure been there for her. “I’ve been watching the guys at work, trying to understand their communication styles.”
“And?”
“They do talk about themselves a lot. It’s interesting. I can see how it would be easy to overlook me. Not in a deliberate way, but just because I tend to blend into the background.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
“I already have an appointment with my boss when I’m back from my week off and he’s back from his vacation. I’m working on my plans to improve the warehouse and I’m listing my accomplishments for the past year.” She held up a hand. “By that I mean I’m figuring out how much money I’ve saved the company or how I’ve brought in new business, not just that I’m a good worker bee.”
“Excellent. If you want to run anything past me, I’m happy to be a sample audience.”
“You mean for a practice interview?”
“If you’d like. I do hire and fire.”
She winced. “Firing can’t be fun.”
“It’s not. Screwing with someone’s life is the worst. But sometimes it has to be done.”
They arrived at the bakery. Ali braced herself for the hit on her credit card, then led the way inside. Betty, a middle-aged woman wearing a bright yellow apron, smiled when they entered.
“Can I help you?”
“I’m Ali Schmitt. I’m here for the cake.”
“Of course. It came out beautifully.” Betty looked at Daniel and winked. “I can see you’re going to have lots of gorgeous babies.”
Ali flushed, not sure what to say. Explaining who Daniel was seemed too complicated, but she didn’t want him to think she was... Well, she didn’t know what she didn’t want him to think, but nothing bad.
Before she could figure out a response, he chuckled and said, “I hope that’s true. Now let’s get a look at the cake.”
Betty already had the five boxes on a cart. The biggest box had to be nearly three feet in diameter and two feet high. Holy crap, that was a lot of cake!
While Daniel loaded the boxes into his truck, Ali passed over her credit card and tried not to wince when she saw the total.
She walked outside. “You know what I hate more than having to pay for that cake myself? It’s spice cake. I hate spice cake, but Glen wanted it so of course I said yes.”
He loaded the last layer of cake, then closed the back of the truck. “You wanted to do right by him.”
“Of course I did, but why didn’t he do right by me?” She stomped her foot on the ground. “I hate this. All of it. Dealing with the wedding, the money I’m spending, where my life is. I need an apartment that’s clean and doesn’t bankrupt me and a promotion and I need a better quality of fiancé for sure. I have to stand up for myself and I’m just not sure I can but I hate feeling like this and I don’t know what to—”
Before she could finish her sentence, Daniel cupped her face in his large, strong hands and kissed her. Just like that—in the bakery parking lot, with the sun beating down.
He kissed her softly at first, a gentle kind of kiss that made her feel cherished. She was just getting into the feel of his mouth on hers and the softness of his beard when everything changed. He pressed a little harder and moved his mouth against hers. Unexpectedly she found herself putting her hands on his back as she somehow moved closer. Or maybe he moved—she wasn’t sure and it really didn’t matter.
He dropped his hands to her shoulders, then slid them around her so that he was holding her as tightly as she was holding him. He tilted his head and stroked her bottom lip with his tongue.
Heat exploded everywhere. Liquid, sexy, take-me-now heat that had her breasts suddenly taking notice and her girl parts murmuring that they liked this new guy a lot. She welcomed the feel of his tongue against her own. He kissed her like he meant it, with lots of tingles and promise and just enough demanding to make her swoon.
Kissing Glen had been perfectly fine but kissing Daniel was taking off in a rocket headed for Mars. Maybe it was tacky to compare the brothers, but she didn’t care, because hey, Mars.
He dropped his hands to her butt and gently squeezed, then slowly, seemingly reluctantly, he stepped back.
She stared up into his dark eyes and blurted, “If I got all that for a cake, I can’t help wondering what you would have done if I’d been unable to cancel the catering.”
He laughed, then kissed her again until they were both breathing hard. Then he drew back again.
“I’m confused,” she whispered.
“Me, too.”
“We should probably pretend that never happened.”
“If that’s what you want.”
Was it? She was so disoriented. How much of this was real and how much of it was because of her breakup?
“Any part of that a pity kiss?”
His dark gaze was steady. “Did it feel like a pity kiss?”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It was not a pity kiss.”
Then what was it? Only she didn’t ask because she honestly didn’t want to know.
“It’s probably best to pretend that never happened,” she repeated, knowing that was the sensible decision, but secretly hoping he would insist they go directly to his bedroom and close the deal.
But that wasn’t Daniel’s style. He lightly touched her cheek and said, “Smart and beautiful. I like that in a woman.”
Which sounded great, but left her slightly squishy girl parts desperately unsatisfied.
Later, when they’d delivered the cake to the food bank and then gone home, she’d wondered if she was being sensible or cowardly when it came to Daniel. While he obviously liked her enough to kiss her and he’d been so sweet and nice, she couldn’t shake Finola’s warning about him. Getting involved with her ex-fiancé’s brother was dumb and getting involved so quickly was dumb and not knowing how she felt about him and how he felt about her was dumb, so she was making the right decision, wasn’t she?
Around ten, she wandered into the kitchen to get a snack. There she found a pink bakery box on the counter, with her name scrawled on top. When she opened it, she saw a two-layer chocolate cake with chocolate icing.
Of course, she thought, fighting a thousand feelings she couldn’t begin to define. The only thing she knew for sure was that when it came to Daniel and Glen, she’d absolutely picked the wrong brother.
Zennie and Bernie sat across from Dr. McQueen. Dr. McQueen looked at the tablet, then up at them, only to smile.
“All right,” she said. “I’ll admit it. This is a first for me. I’ve had heterosexual couples and lesbian couples, but I’ve never had a surrogate and her friend in here before. It’s going to take a little getting used to.”