Cupid's Cupcake (5 page)

“Hey,” she said.

“Bet you’re surprised to see me,” he said. He held up Tiffany’s plate. “I told you that I’d return it.”

“You didn’t come all this way to return a plate,”
Belle said. She was still trying to process how Brian was there. After the abrupt end to her interview, she was sure that the article he would write would be less than positive. So when it was published, and it was positively glowing, no one had been more surprised than Belle.

“Maybe I’m looking to
do a follow-up story. It looks like your operation is busting at the seams here.” He looked over her shoulder and Belle wanted to sink through the floor. She was certain that more than half of her body was covered in flour, and her hair was a mess.

“I guess I sho
uld be saying thanks,” she said, trying not to reach up and smooth her hair. She gestured at the boxes stacked against the far wall in the adjoining dining room. “With the buzz from your article, I got enough orders that I’m going to have enough money to invest in a permanent space to open up my own shop.”

“Congratulations,” he s
aid. “Your friend Tiffany was nice enough to send me an email and mention that you could probably use an extra pair of hands tonight. Since I helped create this lovely chaos, she thought that I should come help and get a first hand view of the action.”

Her brain short-circuited. Brian Draper wanted to help her make cupcakes?
She glared at Tiffany, who was making a big show out of moving a rack of cupcakes to the other room. “The more the merrier,” she said faintly.

“Great!” Brian shrugged off his coat and clapped his hands togeth
er. “Tell me what to do.”

Belle
directed Brian to the dining room table to help Tom with the shipping labels. The journalist was a serious distraction that she didn’t need at the moment, but at the same time, she was intrigued that his presence. Then the oven timers started to ding, and Belle didn’t have time to think about it any longer. She had to get back to her cupcakes.

Brian watched
Belle move around the kitchen with the grace of a ballerina. He had no idea why she talked about being clumsy or disorganized, she directed her small crew like a military dictator. She was in her element.

“They stick us over here
, so we don’t mess anything up,” Tom said in a low voice. “Belle doesn’t trust anyone with all the details. So we each play our part in the chaotic creation process of her masterpiece, and somehow she manages to pull it off every year.”

“How do you know
Belle?” Brian asked. He had only been able to uncover details like where she went to school, what she majored in, where she worked now, and where she lived in his own investigative research. He wanted to know more about her and what she liked, what she didn’t like, and what she did in her free time. Belle was still an enigma to him.

“Met her in college. She roomed with Tiffany their sophomore year. I was always a little surprised that they hit it off the way they did,” Tom said. He pointed at the label in front of Brian. “You better start at least looking like you are working
, or else Belle will come over here and thump you on the head. I’m speaking from personal experience.”

Brian obliged, dutifully copying the address from a printed order form onto a label. “Why were you surprised?” On one hand, he was making conversation, but on the other, his natural investigativ
e querying wanted to take over.

“They are total opposites in so many ways. Plus,
Belle’s always been a little more reserved. She wasn’t into partying the way we were back then. She got good grades and stayed out of trouble.”

“Nothin
g wrong with that,” Brian said.

“Yea, but those kinds of girls don’t attract a guy’s attention,” Tom said. He leaned toward Brian.
“So when a loser like Danny Pickens comes along, she thinks she’s struck gold, when really, she just got saddled with a tub of horseshit.”

Brian glanced over at
Belle. She was entirely absorbed in cupcake decoration. She was concentrating so hard that the tip of her tongue stuck out of her mouth, but she didn’t seem to notice. Paired with the dusting of flour across the left side of her face, she looked utterly adorable.

“This is the same Danny who broke up with her and inspired this whole business?”

“One and the same,” Tom said. “At least she’s finally getting something good out of that deal. She pretty much gave up after that and decided that she wasn’t ever going to be lucky in love.”

“She’s too young for that ki
nd of prediction,” Brian said.

“
Belle’s an old soul,” Tom said. He raised his eyebrows meaningfully. “Don’t get me wrong. She’s my wife’s best friend and I’ve known her for years. But luck consistently passes Belle by. At least, it did until you came along.”

Brian stiffened in his chair. Had he been overtly obvious in his interest? “That’s a high compliment. It’s always good to kno
w that your work helps others.”

“That story was pretty intense,” Tom said. He didn’t look at Brian now. “Lots of flowery words and stuff. It’
s pretty obvious you’re a fan.”

Brian decided to change the subject.
“So Belle told me that you and your wife were the first ones to wind up engaged after sampling one of her cupcakes. Can you tell me a little bit about that?”

“I was stunned,” Tiffany said, interrupting her husband. She put her arms around his shoulders and leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek. “We always knew that we would get married, but after splitting that cupcake, he dropped down to his knee and proposed. It
was the sweetest gesture ever.”

“I’m no
t a sentimental guy,” Tom said.

No kidding
, Brian thought, but he kept his face smooth.

“But I don’t know. I watched
the way that Tiff’s eyes lit up when that first bite hit her tongue, and it was like she started radiating this glow from inside. In that moment, she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. I couldn’t stand the idea that she wouldn’t be mine forever. I was going to propose right after graduation, but I couldn’t wait. So I just did it.” Tom looked as surprised at his speech as everyone else in the room. He shifted uncomfortably when he realized that all eyes were on him.

“You never told me that,” Tiffany said. “You are a big softie after all.” She giggled when Tom pulled her down into his lap and kissed
her thoroughly.

Brian grinned
, and his eyes met Belle’s. She shrugged and went back to her cupcakes. Brian stood and made his way over to her, leaving Tom and Tiffany to their own devices. “That’s quite a testimonial. Be sure to put that on your website.”

“It’s nothing but the general mood around the day,”
Belle said. “Everyone feels a bit more squishy than normal.”

Brian made a gesture as if
he was taking notes. “Squishy? Is that a technical term? Can I quote you on that?”

“Quit it,” she laughed, hitting his arm with a soft slug. “Oops. Sorry.” She pointed at the swath of flour
that she left behind. “I keep forgetting I’m covered in that stuff.”

“It’s okay,” Brian said. “So any
plans for the big day?” It was the question that hadn’t left his head since the moment he ate her cupcake. He couldn’t explain it and didn’t even know if he wanted to.

“I’m planning to sleep through it,” she said. She was focused on her decorating again. “After making
a thousand cupcakes and ensuring that each one gets delivered on-time, and in perfect condition, I’m going to be exhausted. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind.”

“Oh, I just figured you’d spend the day with your Valentine,” Brian said. He moved another cupcake
across the counter to her as she finished on the one in front of her.

Belle
snorted. “Just because I sell something for the holiday doesn’t mean I believe it or would even care to celebrate it.”

“See, I still don’t get that. You obviously put such care and affection into your product, but yet you say that you are anything but a romantic. It’s an interesting
wrinkle about you.”

“It’s called finally getting off my butt to make something of myself,”
Belle said, refusing to take his bait. She looked up at him curiously. “What are you doing for Valentine’s Day?”

“Working,” he said automatically. It was an excuse that served him well over the years.
“I have one of those jobs that is twenty-four seven. No time for romance this year.”

“That’s kind of sad,” she said.

“No less than a real life Cupid sleeping through her own holiday,” he replied.

“Hey!” Tom yelled from the dining room. “I’m not going to
do all these labels by myself.”

“Guess I’d better go m
ake myself useful,” Brian said.

“A cupcake maker’s work is never done,”
Belle said with a small smile.

Brian nodded and
returned to his assigned task.

Hours later,
Belle waved to Brian as they both made their ways to their cars.

“Thanks again for th
e help,” she called out to him.

“I’ll see you nex
t year,” he said. He looked as if he wanted to say something else, but then changed his mind. He waved at her with a small grin and then got into his car. Belle watched him drive away feeling slightly disappointed.

Belle
drove home, exhausted but feeling slightly invigorated. She couldn’t be certain, but after catching Brian watching her several times throughout the day, she thought that he may be interested in more than just a follow-up story. He fit in easily with her friends, and although they churned out an impressive number of cupcakes, they managed to have fun too. It had been a memorable day, probably the best in recent memory. And what made it extra special for Belle was that Brian Draper was part of it.

She was up early the next morning, tracking each and every shipment as her cupcakes made their way into the eager hands of her waiting customers. Already several comments had been posted to her webs
ite praising how scrumptious Cupid’s Cupcake was, and that they couldn’t wait until next year when they would order it again.

Belle
was satisfied. Her life was finally on track. She was on the cusp of the biggest thing to ever happen to her. Oddly, the thought wasn’t as comforting as she expected it to be. She made a cup of coffee and sat down on the couch with a book that she had been meaning to read for ages. It was the only way she could think of to keep her fingers from constantly refreshing her computer screen.

By mid-afternoon
, she felt restless. So when her buzzer rang, she was taken totally by surprise.

She made her way over to speaker next to her door.
“Hello?”

“It
’s Brian Draper. Got a minute?”

Belle
took a step back from the speaker. Brian Draper was at her door. On Valentine’s Day. She felt a flutter of excitement. Then the buzzer rang again, and she realized that she had forgotten to reply.

“You still there?” B
rian’s voice sounded uncertain.

“Uh, sure
, I have a minute,” Belle said.

“I was afraid you dropped
the phone or something again.”

Belle
flushed remembering the start of their first conversation. “Can you give me like two minutes? I’m in apartment 403.” Then she hit the button to unlock the front door.

Like a Tasmanian devil,
Belle flew through the apartment trying to pick up everything from the floor. She threw all of it onto the floor of her bedroom and quickly changed into a t-shirt and jeans since she hadn’t bothered changing out of her pajamas that morning. She heard the knock on her door just as she came back out into the hallway.

Heart pounding in her chest, she took a deep breath and opened the door. Brian leaned against the doorway with a sly grin on his face. He held up a familiar pink box. “Happy Valentine’s Day. I thought we’d try out one of thes
e fantastic cupcakes together.”

Belle
laughed. “Aren’t you afraid that you’ll end up proposing to me or something? I mean, that is the myth after all.”

Brian shrugged. “How about we start with a date? M
arriage can always come later.”

Belle
couldn’t believe it. This smart, gorgeous man wanted to date her. “Okay. When?”

Brian’s eyebrows shot u
p. “When? How about right now?”

Belle
didn’t even hesitate. “You sure about this? I’m kind of a mess.”

“I am looking at a smart, beautiful woman who is embarking on her dream. I feel honored to have been a small part of that. I have never been more certain that is exactly
kind of woman I would like to take out on a date.”

She clasped her hands together and grinned. “Well in that case, you’d better
get in here before we miss it.”