Valhalla Cupcakes (10 page)

In the kitchen, she found him already lining up the bowls the way he’d seen her do yesterday, and her spoons and other implements were neatly set out as well.

“Thanks,” she said, glancing at the clock above the stove. “I’m really behind.”

“Tell me what to do,” he said without a trace of sarcasm.

She smiled gratefully, and told him what to bring from the refrigerator and pantry. She hurriedly put a huge pan of bacon into the oven, adding extra so Erik could have some for his breakfast, and then brought him over to one of the bowl setups.

“I’m going to show you how to read a recipe, and measure ingredients today,” she said. “I don’t think I can make everything on my own, and the only thing to chop is the bacon and that won’t be done for a bit, yet.”

“You’re putting the bacon in the cupcakes? I thought it was for me,” he said, looking bereft.

“Some of it’s for you. Even you couldn’t eat all that,” she said, looking him up and down. He was pure muscle, didn’t have an ounce of fat on him, but he ate like a horse. He must have got a lot of physical activity in his old life. “I won an award for the bacon maple cupcakes a few years ago, and people still go crazy for them.”

She showed him her red velvet recipe card, which was old and stained with flour, pointing out the measurements, the lines and numbers on the measuring cups, and the various spoons.

“That’s it?” he asked incredulously? “I just fill the cup to the number on the recipe card? You made it sound like advanced ship building yesterday.”

She pressed her lips together to keep from sounding like a battle-axe, afraid he wouldn’t take it seriously, but she’d already spent the time teaching him, so she’d trust him for at least one batch.

“You have to be precise. I’ve been working on these recipes for years. They’re practically like my children. See, my whole secret is making them delicious enough that people think they’ve just had something sinful and decadent, but also light enough so they don’t feel gross and guilty afterwards and vow to never eat another one again. We want them to keep coming back for more.”

“Oh, so that’s the secret,” he muttered, already squinting at her scrawling handwriting and reaching for the sugar.

“If you can’t read my writing, just ask. Don’t guess,” she said, taking a few tentative steps away before turning back to him. “Do you want me to read it out for you one time to be sure?”

He looked at her as if she’d offered to pour sewage on him and lightly shoved her away. “Leave me to concentrate,” he said. “I won’t let you down.”

She whipped out her own batter and got the bacon out of the oven, and was filling the cups when he finally stepped back to show her. She rushed over and tasted, then checked the consistency.

“You did amazing,” she said, taking another taste. “Oh my gosh, this is great.”

“You’re just complimenting yourself,” he said sourly. “I didn’t do anything except follow the directions.”

“You’d be amazed how many people can’t follow directions, or don’t bother to be careful. They don’t understand that baking is a science. Go eat some bacon, you earned it.”

She showed him the portion he was allotted and instructed him to finely chop the rest, and they were once again able to miraculously open on time.

“We’re a good team,” she said as she turned on the sign.

“It seems so, yes.”

After she unlocked the door, he pulled her close and twirled her around, seeming giddy with his accomplishments. He’d already eaten two of the cupcakes he’d made and had a little cream cheese frosting clinging to his lips, which she stood on her toes to kiss off. Even on her toes she wasn’t tall enough to reach, but he saw what she tried to do and leaned down. She licked off the frosting, getting scrumptious visions of other parts of him covered in it.

She realized they’d done everything that needed to be done and she hadn’t even had to lay down the ‘no touching’ rule. There wasn’t much in her life to make her feel lucky, she still owed a hundred grand of which she barely had a hundred, but for some reason she felt like she burst with good fortune when he was around.

Oh, darn. She hoped that wasn’t a pesky emotion creeping in. She ran her fingers over his pecs and tried to chase it away with dirty thoughts. It didn’t help, especially with him having that adorably proud smile on his face the past three hours when she’d let him mix up several more batches. Really, she thought she’d be lost without Maria, but Erik was proving to be a fine replacement, and there were definitely things he could do for her that Maria couldn’t.

She immediately pushed away those thoughts, eagerly turning when the doorbell jingled. Erik slapped his helmet on his head with only the slightest grimace, and she turned to welcome the first customer.

“Welcome to Valhal— oh, it’s just you,” she said, seeing Seda. She motioned to Erik who begrudgingly poured her a cup of coffee in a to-go cup. “Did you come to sexually harass my employee again?”

“Oh, your employee now, is it?” she asked, with a skeptical raised brow. She took Audrey’s arm and began pushing her toward the kitchen. “You’ll be fine out here won’t you?” she called to Erik.

Audrey looked questioningly over her shoulder, and Erik nodded that he’d be fine. A real customer came in, one of the ladies from the book club, and he sang out their welcome before proceeding to charm her tweed skirt off.

“What?” Audrey hissed, when Seda had her alone in the kitchen. She was looking at her in such an odd way, and it made her feel guilty for some reason.

“You slept with him, didn’t you? I could tell the second I walked in, not to mention his hands were all over you. Again.”

“Yes, his hands are really all over me a lot,” Audrey mused. She tried to hide her embarrassed smile. “I don’t mind it.”

“I’ll bet you don’t.” Seda made a puckery face. “But how long can it last? I mean, what’s he supposed to do in this time? Raid the coast?”

“Stop. That’s not all they did. He agreed to stay until that mess with the creditors is figured out.”

“What mess with the creditors? I thought you used a bank? Are banks busting kneecaps these days?”

Audrey groaned, realizing she’d once again forgot to call and explain, and there hadn’t been time yesterday morning. She quickly told her sad tale, omitting all but the part about Erik being under her control. She didn’t want to admit she still felt a little bad about it, but it was necessary. Hadn’t he tried to sneak out last night, after he’d orgasmed her to oblivion?

“So, that’s why I need him to stick around. To intimidate the thugs. He’s being really helpful, actually. He made four batches of cupcakes on his own.”

“Wow, that’s brilliant,” she said. Audrey scowled at her, hating whenever someone denigrated the fine art of baking. “But what if he kills you in your sleep?”

Audrey almost let it slip that he wasn’t allowed in her room, but knew that wouldn’t fly with Seda. She felt offended on Erik’s behalf that she even asked such a question. Surely anyone who looked at him knew he wasn’t a killer.

“He wouldn’t hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it,” she said, certain she was right.

“Oh my God, you totally slept with him. You’re blind with lust over him. Did he coerce you?”

“Out. Go. I’m not going to dignify that with a response. He’s perfectly nice.”

“He’s a cursed Viking from five hundred years ago,” Seda said.

“Oh, really? I hadn’t noticed,” she said. “Welcome to the party.”

“Shut up.” Her demeanor changed suddenly. “So, you’re really starting to like this guy? You think he likes you back?”

“Are we in sixth grade?” Audrey demanded, wishing she knew how he felt about her. Nonsense, she didn’t wish any such thing. Because it didn’t matter. “This is a business transaction. I’m, uh, going to help him out with something from his past, some research thing, after he helps me.”

“Yeah, okay.” Seda didn’t look satisfied with her answers, but shrugged. “Which ones did he make?”

“Red velvet and vanilla hazelnut.”

“I’ll take some for my new client. She’s massively rich. Once she’s hooked, you’ll be famous.” Seda took her by the shoulders. “Be careful, okay?”

“Yes, of course,” she said, feeling bad about being snippy when her best friend only thought of her well-being.

She followed her back into the main shop area, where her sonar-eared Viking already had a box packed up and sitting alongside the to-go coffee.

Seda handed him her credit card and he refused to take it. “Audrey won’t want your money,” he said stiffly, still clearly not liking her.

“Audrey, tell him to take my money,” she ordered. “It’s not like you don’t need every penny.”

“It’s okay, Erik, you can charge her this time,” she said tiredly.

It was no use arguing when Seda pulled out her bossy tone, and her words were true. She really couldn’t afford to give away free samples right now.

“Thank you for not telling her about your power over me,” he said after she left.

“You’re like a little kid, always listening at doors,” she said.

“I wasn’t listening on purpose,” he said.

How could he be so adorable? She turned around and walked back into the kitchen, wanting to clutch her chest at the tearing feeling that went through her at the sight of that giant, fierce man in the tiny pink helmet, speaking so plaintively. Damn, damn, damn.

She cleaned up the kitchen while listening to the wonderful sound of the doorbell ringing almost constantly, and Erik’s friendly banter with the customers.

“Audrey, come out here,” he called. The alarmed sound of his voice set her hairs on edge. Were the thugs back so soon? They told her a week. And why would he sound frightened of them? His sole purpose here was to scare them away.

She raced to the front to find a few groups of ladies sitting around the tables, and Erik with his hand on the chest of a man with a big, professional looking camera. A woman stood beside them with a microphone, bouncing in her delight.

“Audrey, is this all right?” Erik asked nervously. “They want to do a television interview?”

She ran and grabbed his shirt to pull him away from the terrified camera man. “Yes, why wouldn’t it be all right?” she asked, rubbing his back to soothe the savage beast.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

She ignored him and apologized to the woman, who was clearly in charge of the expedition. “I’m Audrey Allen. Welcome to Valhalla.”

“This is brilliant,” the woman said. “So cute! I’m Lydia Montez, from channel eight. Camera guy’s Lou.”

“Oh my gosh, yes, of course.”

Audrey woke up at four every morning, worked like a dog until eight or nine, then collapsed into bed shortly after. She had no clue who Lydia was, but she knew getting on television could only be good for the shop. Lydia barely took her eyes off Erik, and motioned for the cameraman to start rolling.

“Do you mind if we do a little neighborhood interest piece? It’ll only take a few minutes.”

“No, that sounds great, thanks.” Audrey couldn’t believe her luck, which seemed to be getting better and better.

Lydia jumped right into her spiel, pushing Audrey behind her and out of camera range.

“Good morning, everyone. We’re here today at Valhalla Cupcakes, a brand new shop on West Bingham.”

Audrey watched as Lou panned from Lydia over to the cupcake display, which thankfully still looked nice and not too picked over yet. Then he perv cammed up and down Erik before returning to Lydia.

“What’s so special about this place, besides the amazing cupcakes?” Lydia continued in her practiced, smarmy voice. “The real life Viking who serves them up.”

She walked over and stuck out her hand. Erik looked to Audrey for help and she nodded encouragingly while miming shaking hands. The poor guy had stage fright, it seemed.

“Do you make the cupcakes as well?” Lydia asked, sauntering up next to him and reaching up to put her hand on his shoulder. Standing beside him, she waggled her brows at the camera. “Look how big he is,” she said, almost to herself.

Still staring past the camera like a deer caught in headlights, Erik followed along as Audrey nodded vigorously. ‘Answer the question,’ she mouthed.

“Yes, I made them,” he said. “But they’re Audrey’s recipes.”

“Well, come on in here, Audrey,” Lydia said, her overly white teeth gleaming.

Lou reached around and pushed her forward and she stumbled into Erik, who put his arm around her shoulder.

“Would you like to try one?” she asked, pulling on Erik’s arm to send him behind the counter, shocked when Lou panned down to his ass. What kind of morning show was this?

“Definitely,” Lydia said, taking a bite of the maple bacon. Her eyes rolled back in her head theatrically. “Goodness gracious, that’s delicious. Is there bacon in there? Ladies and gentleman, be sure to check out Valhalla Cupcakes on West Bingham. This is Lydia, and I’ll see you again next week for channel eight’s new business breakout.”

She snapped her hand at Lou, and he turned off the camera. In a whirlwind of handshakes and Audrey pressing a box of cupcakes on them to take back to the station, they were gone.

Erik stood in a daze, silently refilling one of the customer’s coffee cups before turning to her. “That was a good thing? I thought we weren’t giving away anymore cupcakes.”