The noise level inside increased when Maggie entered the front of the bakery. Tiffani was managing to serve the customers. Patrons were smiling, laughing. Some pinched the pieces off cupcakes from their white paper linings, some used their fingers to swipe the cream cheese frosting and others bit into the dried pineapple flower. Whatever their way of doing it, everyone appeared to be happy.
Still, Maggie had to ask. “How’s it going?”
Tiffani beamed. “This might be the biggest crowd yet.”
As Tiffani went on about the orders for later on today and for tomorrow, Maggie looked over at the empty dessert stand where she had had the perfect cupcake posed and ready. Her phone sat on the counter next to a smear of white frosting and pecan sprinkles. The spoon and fork hands of the clock above the door all pointed to twelve.
“Everything went okay with the website?”
“So about that,” Tiffani began.
Panic seized Maggie’s heart. “Please don’t tell me anything went wrong. I had the website up. All you had to do was upload the photo.” Immediately Maggie reached for her phone. A family photo, set as her home screen, greeted Maggie now. Taken at her sister Kenzie’s wedding, it featured Kenzie, Maggie and Bailey, Maggie’s seventeen-year-old niece.
“So, what had happened was,” Tiffani stuttered, “you had the website saved and you had the camera on, which overlapped the time on your phone. I got busy with the customers, but I knew I had time.” She pointed toward the clock above the door, which just now indicated the deadline time for posting photos. “I forgot that I used to set the clock back the night before if I knew I was going to be late so Mama won’t fuss at me. Girl, you were already ten minutes late when you handed me the camera.”
Wordlessly, Maggie stood there. She blinked a few times, trying to register what Tiffani had just said. She’d had one shot with the Dessert Historian.
“Since it appears you didn’t make your deadline,” said Caden’s deep voice behind her, “can I get confirmation that you can attend Kit’s conference?”
Chapter 2
Before Maggie could make a smart remark to Caden, his phone rang and he needed to see to a client—which was fine with her. Maggie had things to do, and after not being able to get the photo posted today, she might need to look for another place of employment.
Those thoughts danced through her head later on her drive to her aunt’s bridal shower while she talked on speaker to her brother.
“Another job blown, huh, Maggie?”
Gripping the steering wheel of the used red Jeep Cherokee her cousin Erin had passed down to her, Maggie huffed and blew a curl out her face while her brother Richard spoke on the other end of the line. “Funny, older brother.”
“You do realize most people refer to the older brothers as big brother, not older.”
“It’s the same thing if you ask me.” Maggie shrugged. A breeze blew through the window of her car and deliciously assaulted her nose. Even after spending all her time in the bakery working with the cupcakes, she needed a cakey treat. No one would blame her. “Why are you calling me, Rich?”
“I wanted to hear about the success of your cupcakes. You never tweeted them.”
Limiting her social media in order to meet her father’s stipulations meant not taking pictures of her food. “I only use my tweets for good now.”
Richard chuckled. “Okay, whatever. So why didn’t they show up? Your big idea could have gotten you a full-time job at The Cupcakery.”
Caden Archibald happened, Maggie thought with a grumble. “Oh, well, um...” She debated how much to tell her brother. They were both grown. Rich had a daughter old enough to vote now, but somehow she didn’t feel comfortable discussing her previous sexcapades with her brother. Now if she were doing it for shock value for someone like their auntie Bren, that would be a different story. Auntie Bren deserved some torture.
“Uh-oh, I hear the wheels in your brain turning,” Richard teased. “You’re trying to come up with a lie.”
“Not a lie, just how much I want to tell you.”
“Save it,” he chuckled. “You’re six and oh with jobs.”
Since being thrown out of the nest, Maggie had wanted to try her hand at teaching, and the closest thing she could get without a degree was staffing an administrative desk. She quickly realized, though, that she didn’t have the temperament for working in a place where boys wore their pants below their butts and girls wore skirts just up to their tail and she wasn’t allowed to voice her opinion on this to their parents. A job at city hall with her brother-in-law, Ramon, didn’t pan out for her, either. For the sake of her relationship with her sister, Maggie had quit. Grits and Glam Gowns had also seemed the ideal place for Maggie to work since she adored the owner, Lexi Pendergrass-Reyes. But Lexi’s niece, Kimber, was doing such a great job there, Maggie didn’t want to step on any toes by pushing her trending ideas as a sales assistant, not a buyer. And as Lexi so eloquently put it, Southwood wasn’t ready for haute couture every day. There was also the time she tried to be the “hostess with the mostess” at Southwood’s upscale restaurant, Valencia’s, but was quickly let go after losing the former mayor and his cronies’ reservations six times.
It didn’t take a genius to acknowledge her losing streak. What concerned Maggie more right now was letting Vonna down. Getting that cupcake picture posted would have elevated The Cupcakery to a national status, brought more customers to town, won the food truck prize offered by the website and, of course, earned her a full-time job. In fact, Maggie should have won Southwood’s citizen of the year award. She made a mental note to get Ramon Torres to set that in motion.
“You can always work with the family,” Richard offered.
Maggie gripped the steering wheel tighter. Little lint-size leather pieces formed under her fingers. The idea of walking up and down the rows of pecan trees dressed in heavy denim and long-sleeved shirts to protect herself from the Southern mosquitoes did not sound appealing at all. She glanced down at her bare skin showing above her powder-blue off-the-shoulder top, where a raised bump on her collarbone still remained bright red. She’d been attacked while taking a walk through the grounds with her brother when she went to pick up the pecans last week for her hummingbird cakes.
“Even though you can’t see me, I’m rolling my eyes at you.”
“So what is the plan now?” When Richard asked the question, Maggie couldn’t help but hear her father’s voice in him. Mitchell Swayne wanted his family to run the pecan farm like everyone else in his family before him. Richard seemed to be the only one interested in carrying on the family legacy. “You still plan on paying your own way to Auntie Bren’s wedding in New Orleans?”
Dread washed over Maggie. She needed that money. There was no way her car was going to make it, and everyone else in her family planned on spending a few days in the French Quarter before the wedding. “The plan now is to head over to Erin’s place and drop off these cupcakes for Auntie Bren’s wedding shower.”
“That’s nice of you. Have I mentioned how glad I am you’re getting along with everyone?”
“I,” Maggie began, pressing her hand to her chest, “wasn’t the one with the problem. Talk to Kenzie about that.” At least Maggie was sure Kenzie’s smiles at their cousin were fake. She recognized them immediately and saw them more often now that Erin lived in town. Kenzie and Erin’s dislike for each other stemmed all the way back to their childhood. Maggie thought once they became adults, they’d set their differences aside, but so far it was wishful thinking.
A huff of annoyed air gave a crinkle of static over the line. “The lies you tell,” Richard said.
“I may not have been as friendly to her as I should, but that’s only because my loyalties lie with Kenzie. Much like Eliza and Angelica Schuyler.”
The Hamilton reference triggered an annoyed sigh from her brother. The girls had gotten Bailey ho
oked on the soundtrack, and whenever the chance arrived, they wove the play and its music into the conversation.
“Whatever. So what is the next job?”
“I’ve got the fair starting tomorrow.” Maggie pulled up to a red light on Main Street. “I’m working it for Vonna.”
“Are you judging the pageant?”
Ah, the pageant, she thought with fond memory. The Peach Harvest Queen was the first pageant she’d won as a kid. She’d been unstoppable up until the Southern Style Glitz pageant. The next thought made her frown, not just because it reminded her of Caden but the time she missed out on being crowned Miss Southern Style Glitz.
“I doubt it. You know I don’t do pageants anymore.”
“You came to Bailey’s last year.”
The sweet-faced image appeared in Maggie’s mind. “That’s because she is my flesh and blood. Unless you want to have another child and enter her into the pageant...”
“No, thanks,” Richard said quickly.
“Then that’s a no for me on judging.”
“What are you doing for Vonna at the fair?”
“Selling cupcakes,” Maggie answered.
“Doesn’t sound like a real job to me, Mags.”
“Okay, Dad,” Maggie replied sarcastically.
“I’m just trying to help you keep your trust fund.”
Maggie inhaled, and the sweet buttercream frosting of the dozen and half cupcakes tempted her again. If this long light didn’t turn green, she might have to taste one. So what if she’d already had three earlier today? It wasn’t like she had any parties to attend these days. “Well, I appreciate you looking out for me,” said Maggie. “But I’ll get there. I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve.”
“All right, lil’ sis.” Richard’s chuckle dripped with disbelief.
Maggie huffed once more. The light still remained red, yet no other traffic was coming from the left or the right. Not even one ahead. Just then she heard a honk to her right, in the turning lane. She glanced there and saw a sleek black sports car beside her. The tinted window rolled down to reveal the honker’s face. A familiar whiplash feeling shocked her body. She swore her womb quivered.
Caden Archibald.
“Richard, I gotta go.”
Richard might have said goodbye or simply disconnected the line. Either way, Maggie didn’t notice. Her eyes locked with Caden’s.
“Meet me over there,” said Caden, nodding in the direction of the park.
A stroll among the sweet gardenia bushes rimming the edge of the lake. No, thank you. “I’ve got someplace to go, Caden. Some other time.”
“Time is not what I have.”
“We’ve had eleven years, Caden,” Maggie pointed out with a raised brow.
“Magnolia.”
Only Caden Archibald could pronounce her name with more Southern twang than anyone she knew. He might as well have ridden up next to her on a stallion and tipped his cowboy hat. Then he flashed his killer smile.
“What are the odds I’ll get another shot of alone time with you?” Caden followed his question up with a wink.
The last time Maggie saw him, he was tiptoeing out of her hotel room in the wee hours of the morning for ice. He did look as good leaving as he did coming—literally. Maggie licked her lips at the memory.
“This is a small town, Caden. The odds are in your favor.” Maggie snapped into focus when a car honked behind her. Five minutes at a light and all of a sudden Main Street is five o’clock traffic.
“Maggie?”
“Love to, Caden, but, uh,” Maggie began, biting the corner of her bottom lip, “I’ve got a bridal shower to go to.”
“Not yours, I hope?”
The car behind her honked again. Maggie offered Caden a wink and sped off just as the light turned yellow again. In the rearview mirror, she watched Caden shake his head and laugh with that dazzling grin. It was a small town. If Caden were really here to see her, he’d find her—again.
Pushing Caden out of her mind, Maggie headed off to Erin’s event. At least she tried to forget about him. Amazing how if she tilted her head the right way she still felt his lips on her collarbone. Why did one weekend together singe her soul? No other man compared to Caden. What would be the harm in revisiting the past? Maggie sighed and blew out a deep breath of relief.
If anyone were to be blamed for Maggie’s lifestyle, she’d chalk a good bit of it up to Caden’s brothers, Chase and Jason. Using her hologram trick, Maggie had needed to connect to the SSGBP computer circuit. Back then, the brothers had stupidly left open an email conversation which trashed the contestants. It had made sense afterward, their pursuance of her and her pageant roommate, Rochelle. Truthfully, the only guy Caden was interested in entertaining then was Caden. Maggie had rebuffed their advances, and in retaliation, the boys set up a crass bet on Maggie’s future. They’d joked back and forth about her becoming the trophy wife of some rich man, or ending up with several different men’s children in an attempt to land her a man. Jason swore she’d lose her looks once the spotlight was off her. Some of the cruder comments were their inquiring about Maggie’s carpet matching the drapes. Her stomach curdled with the memory.
“Which is why it’s best to avoid Caden for however long he planned on being in town,” she told herself in the mirror, pulling up to the curb of the Southwood Garden Center. So what if the man made her feel like a horny teenager? That’s what her battery-operated boyfriend in her nightstand was for. As far as she was concerned, the Archibald family was bad news.
Outside the gardens, the blooming magnolias and gardenias sweetened the warm air. Thankfully the early summer days were bearable. She dreaded the weather in the next few months and thanked God for a working air conditioner. Now that she paid her own electric bills, she knew the price of a cool home. It still amazed her, considering how much she hated being hot, that she used to look forward to spending two weeks every summer at her family’s cottage in the woods in nearby Black Wolf Creek. The dense forest and breeze from the creek made the summer times livable.
“Maggie!”
The sound of her cousin Erin’s cheerful voice snapped Maggie out of her daze. Maggie lifted her hand and waved. Erin didn’t suffer the curse of the red hair Maggie and her siblings had. A sharp dark pixie cut framed Erin’s face and blew in the summer breeze. Rose-gold balloons tied to the two grand columns of the building’s wraparound front porch created a festive atmosphere.
“Thank goodness. I was the only person under sixty in there,” Erin went on. “I am so glad you made it.”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Maggie meant every word. Last year Maggie had caught the bouquet at her other cousin’s wedding, and she’d been sure her future husband was around the corner. By fall he’d never arrived, and somewhere in the back of her mind she blamed Caden. There’d been men, but none of them compared to him. A bead of sweat drizzled down the center of Maggie’s back. She needed a moment to compose herself from the vivid thoughts of Caden. “I’ll be inside in a minute,” she said clearing her throat.
“Do you need help?”
“I’ve got it, but will you make sure there’s a clear spot on one of the tables?”
Without another word, Erin disappeared back inside. Maggie shook her head, not surprised her cousin would duck out of the heavy stuff. Tucking a stray hair behind her ear, Maggie lifted the hatch to the back of her Jeep and thought about her next move.
“I’ll get those,” a deep voice said against the nape of her neck. A brown hand covered hers and brought it down to her side.
A river of chills poured down her spine. Maggie closed her eyes and prayed her mind had just played a trick on her. It was like merely thinking about him conjured him up. “I can do it,” Maggie said, making the mistake of pushing her hand against his. With his hand enclosed around hers, Caden stroked her skin with his thumb.
Giving him the side eye, Maggie snatched her hand away. Her eyes focused on his lips as he spoke.
“I am sure you can, but why let you if I’m here?”
Maggie dropped her hand to her sides. “There’s the million-dollar question. Why are you here, Caden?”
“I told you,” he answered easily. “I have business here in town.”
“Let me know if you need her address,” Maggie said with a sweet smile before she rolled her eyes.
Caden chuckled. His laugh was mixed with a hit of sarcasm. “You’re cute. But you know the only woman I want to see is you. We’re old friends.”
Even though she hadn’t heard from him in years, Maggie knew about Caden and his successful business. He and his college best friend had started a sports agency. The athletes Maggie met over time all appeared to appreciate Caden. He was a smooth talker and came off as smart and successful. The only criticisms she’d heard of him were complaints from numerous female athletes about Caden not representing women.
“You lost me when you had to throw in the word old,” she said. This time she offered a heavy sigh. “Forget mentioning you called me friend.”
“We’re not?” Caden asked with amusement in his dark eyes.
“Friends keep in touch.”
“That friendship highway goes both ways, Magnolia.”
Rare for her to be speechless, but Maggie found herself at a loss of words. “Well, if you insist on helping me with these cupcakes, I suggest you get a move on it. Buttercream icing doesn’t hold up well in this heat.”
What took Maggie three trips to carry from the back of the bakery to her car took Caden just one lift in one hand. “You’ll get the trunk?” he asked of her.
“But of course.” Maggie locked up her car by the alarm on her key chain out of habit. There was no crime in Southwood. She was sure people slept with their doors unlocked. “Let me get the ga...”
Southern Seduction ; Pleasure in His Arms Page 3