“Absolutely!” Emily answered brightly. She walked over to her countertop organizer and flipped to some spaces where she had openings. Tastings took time and planning, having to make several types of flavors of test cakes for the couple to try. “How about next Saturday? I have a space open at 1:00,” Emily offered.
“Oh, well that’s not going to work. I’m here only visiting, Abdul is the one who lives here and I certainly can’t trust him to pick the right cake!” She laughed as if she thought her fiancé picking a cake flavor was the most absurd thing she’d ever heard. Emily noticed that even her laugh was high pitched and snobbish. “So can we do it today?”
“Well, there’s just no way I can get a tasting together on such short notice. We have to talk about the types of flavors you’re looking for and then of course I have to bake all of the samples, there’s just not enough time to do it all before I close for the day.”
She was vaguely aware that turning Nora down for the day would probably mean the loss of the wedding, but she refused to compromise her standards just to book a wedding.
“What if we do the consulting now and then come back around 9:00 tonight? That should give you plenty of time.”
It was already 4:00 in the afternoon and normal closing time for Thursday nights was 8:00 because Kara had night class and couldn’t close up the shop for her. Their hours were posted online and on the door so she was sure it was a fact that Nora hadn’t missed. So not only was she asking her to stay open late but also to whip up several batters, frostings, bake and complete these test cakes in a matter of five hours. It wasn’t as if it couldn’t be done. It was just that she still had a bakery to run on its own, and even more to the point, if this woman was already this demanding about a cake tasting, she wasn’t exactly sure she wanted to work with her as a bride.
Emily had a distinct feeling that Nora was going to be a bridezilla and she knew she didn’t have much patience for that. Or of course, she reasoned, it could just be sheer jealousy that Nora was engaged to the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen while she herself couldn’t even get a date with someone decent looking.
“I’m sorry but we close at 8:00 tonight and really there’s just not enough time to set up an entire tasting. But maybe next time you are in town we could set something up,” Emily answered.
Nora wasn’t taking no for an answer thought. “There’s no time for that,” she said breezily. “Honey, pay the woman.”
Abdul reached into the breast pocket of his suit and pulled out a checkbook. He clicked open a very expensive looking pen and started to fill out the check. Nora had also flipped something open, but it was her compact as she checked her lipstick as if she hadn’t a care in the world.
Emily wondered exactly who these people thought they were. Clearly they had plenty of money but she was absolutely not going to work with people who felt they could treat her any way they wanted and just pay her off. She may be hard up for some money, and maybe even a little nervous about paying the current month’s bills, but she was not going to be bought that way.
“I hope this helps,” Abdul finally spoke for the first time. His voice was deep, calm, and incredibly sexy. He handed her the check and she glanced at the amount, ready to refuse any offer that he had planned on putting in front of her.
But her eyes grew wide when she saw the actual amount. It would be more than enough to cover the bills for the month and probably help fix one of the dessert coolers that had been acting up. She hated it but she realized that apparently she could be bought. Besides, it was just a tasting. It was an extra night’s work in order to keep the check, but that didn’t mean she had to actually take them on as clients, no matter how much they might like the cakes.
“Ok, 9:00,” Emily agreed. “Let’s discuss the flavor profiles you are looking for.”
Chapter 2
It wasn’t as if Abdul didn’t understand that a wedding cake was important in celebrating a wedding, it was just that he didn’t understand why it had to be so important. Of course you want to serve your guests something that tastes good, but does it really matter if it’s vanilla, chocolate, red velvet, or coconut? And for that matter, does the frosting matter if you chose plain vanilla butter cream or strawberry? And he couldn’t imagine why they should be agonizing over if they should have a fruit filling or a frosting filling. To him, cake was cake and as long as it tasted good, then it didn’t really matter what type it was. To him there were more pressing issues at hand.
Such as the prenuptial agreement. His father was pressing the issue greatly, threatening to cutoff the money for the wedding if he didn’t make Nora sign it. It wasn’t as if she wouldn’t understand the need for him as a sheikh to protect his and his family’s assets from any future problems, but it was an uncomfortable topic to bring up. Especially with Nora. She could be a tad….what was the word for it…a tad dramatic. He was sure that the moment he even uttered the words she would burst into hysterics. Of course he wasn’t sure if it was going to be tears or anger, but he’d seen both sides of her and he didn’t truly want to deal with either.
In fact he was almost relieved that she was leaving in just a matter of days. Nora could be quite the handful when she wanted to be, which Abdul had to admit was quite often. He knew he shouldn’t be thinking about how difficult she could be, instead he should be focusing on the qualities about her that he really did enjoy. She was smart and driven, she was a fantastic dresser, and could really be caring when she wanted to be. It was true that he couldn’t exactly say he loved her, he wished he did, but marrying Nora was more out of convenience than love.
In the beginning he had objected strongly to the marriage, being a young naive boy who was searching desperately for love. But his parents had convinced him that marrying Nora was the right decision. Their families had known each other for a very long time and his parents trusted her to be able to uphold her position as royalty once she married him. They’d been friends since they were little babies running around and playing in the dirt together. Truthfully they had been best friends up until both of them decided to go to America for college. They lost touch for much of their college careers and didn’t reconnect until their parents started discussing the idea of the two of them becoming husband and wife.
Abdul had decided to take the chance and called her when he knew she was on a business trip in Miami. He had gotten a job as a front of the house manager at a very high end restaurant and she had taken a career as a real estate agent. His parents had phoned to tell him she was in the area for a conference and the two met for dinner the same night he called her. He loved how passionately she spoke of her job and her future dreams. It was actually one of the first things that had stood out to him, other than how beautiful she had turned out.
When they’d left as high school graduates, she had been skinny and slightly awkward. But she had become a self-assured, curvaceous woman. He wasn’t exactly sure if she was beautiful in the traditional sense, but her confidence radiated and made her appear as if she was stunning. Practically he knew she was a very good fit for him, he just wished there was something just a little bit more between them. It was possibly this lack of “something extra” that caused him to get annoyed when she would drive him crazy about the most trivial things, such as the cake flavors for the wedding
But it was also possible that what was annoying him was the fact that she so easily flashed his money around, like demanding that she pay the poor girl to work extra hard and keep her store open late. He couldn’t believe that he had taken off an entire day just to go to the cake place, but a tiny part of him was intrigued when he met the famous Emily of Emily’s Kitchen. When Nora had been talking incessantly about this famous cake place and how they just had to get their wedding cake from there, he had expected something a bit more upscale.
But instead he walked into this tiny warm bakery and saw a mess of a baker. Not only were her clothes slightly a mess, but she had flour on her face, a fact he bet she didn’t even realize.
There was something about her, maybe it was the way she didn’t seem to care about how she appeared, far different from Nora. Or maybe it was the way he could see exactly who she was just by walking into her bakery. But something drew him to her in a way that he wasn’t familiar with. So when Nora had suggested he pay the money to for Emily to keep the bakery open, he had been more than willing to agree.
He wasn’t so concerned with finding out exactly what was drawing him to her, he was more interested in getting to feel like that again. So if he had to pay the girl a little sum of money to make it happen, then he was glad to do just that. He didn’t say much while the women talked flavors and frostings and details, instead he observed the two women, in stark contrast to one another.
While Nora was all business, sleek, and tailored in personality and appearance. Emily was more of a free spirit it seemed, bubbling with a fire and personality that he could see splashed all over her bakery with colorful pictures decorating the warm walls. Nora had long, thick dark hair with warm brown skin and pretty brown eyes while Emily was literally the opposite with fair skin, blonde hair up in a bun, and blue eyes that were magnetic. But the two women definitely did have something in common, and that was business. He had already known how driven Nora was to be successful, and at times he thought she was almost a little too cut-throat, but he couldn’t really argue with the results, she was one of the top realtors in her area.
What really impressed him however, was how this little Emily, with frosting in her hair, had no problem standing up to his fiancé. As they discussed (and he used the word discussed carefully since it seemed to be more of a seething battle) the cake flavors and styles, Emily would dig in her heels at times, letting Nora know what could and couldn’t be done for her special “tasting” that he was paying astronomical amounts for. It was almost very amusing, watching the two women, polar opposites of each other, battle it out over cake.
When they left he could feel Nora seething underneath her perfect suit.
“That girl in there had some nerve.” Her heels clicked quickly along the walk and he noticed her emphasis of the word girl, as if Emily was so much younger and immature than she was.
“I thought she was nice,” he offered. He wasn’t going to lie and talk badly about someone who had taken time out of her day and was willing to stay late at her shop working extra hard just for them. It didn’t seem right. Plus he genuinely did think she had seemed like a nice girl. Nora had other opinions.
“NICE?” She yelled. “That girl is anything but nice. She is so stuck-up believing that her bakery is the absolute best around.” She was walking even faster now, her heels propelling her forward and Abdul almost had to run to catch up.
“But isn’t her bakery the best? Isn’t the near perfect reviews she has the exact reason you picked her bakery for the wedding? Besides, she’s staying open late and working extra hard today just to help us out before you leave. I think that counts for something.”
Nora stopped dead in her track and whirled to face Abdul. He had to brace his arms out in front of him to stop himself from crashing right into her and possibly knocking her off of her stilettos.
“Why are you arguing with me?” Her eyes were starting to well-up with tears and immediately Abdul felt bad for playing devil’s advocate. “I just want to have a perfect wedding with you to start our lives off right I’m doing all of this for us and you don’t appreciate it at all. And there’s only so much I can get done while I’m here!”
Abdul took her in his arms and gave her a hug. He hadn’t meant to make her feel badly, and truthfully why had he even been defending Emily? The marriage that he was about to have may be one built more of convenience than love, but that didn’t mean that it shouldn’t be as perfect as it could be and defending someone else, no matter how much she intrigued him, was not right of him.
“You’re right,” he said to her. “I shouldn’t have been defending her. It was nice that she’s staying to help for the wedding but it is your day and no one should make you feel bad when planning it.”
Nora gave a last sniff and seemingly appeased, pulled away from his grasp. “Thank you,” she answered stiffly. Any trace of the vulnerable girl that he’d just had in his arms was gone and in her place was the girl he had come to know. It did often surprise him when he thought of the Nora he knew and the Nora he was about to marry. The Nora he grew up with was fun and spirited, never afraid to run with the boy but had the grace of a woman. The Nora he was about to marry seemed colder, less filled with the sun of her youth. He wasn’t sure if it was college that had made her change or if it was getting into a competitive job field but either way it disappointed him.
No matter though, she was a good fit for him and he would lead a good life with her. She understood his family and his way of life, and somewhere inside he felt that was good enough. But there was a small piece of him that weighed on him that maybe, good just wasn’t enough.
“Well, why don’t we go get a nice glass of wine and something to eat while before we keep going with our errands? I know I certainly need to relax.”
Nora slipped her arm through his and the two strolled along the walk, enjoying educated conversation and their time together. Throughout their meal and the rest of their wedding errands which included invitation shopping and picking out his tuxedo for the wedding, Abdul kept a close eye on the time. He told himself it was because he didn’t want to be late for their appointment and make Emily stay any later than she already had to, but he knew the truth. It wasn’t making her stay late that was causing his anxious watch over time, it was the thought of seeing her again. How could a woman he’d known for all of five minutes be so stuck in his mind? He hadn’t a clue but instead of feeling guilty, he was rather enjoying the feeling.
Chapter 3
The tasting with the Mr. and soon to be Mrs. Moneybags, as Emily was affectionately referring to them as, went as well as could be expected. She was requesting the world out of Emily, with the biggest tiered cake she’d ever made and the most intricate decorations she had ever seen. Of course the bride-to-be had brought many pictures of how exactly she wanted her cake to look. This was a common thing for prospective brides to do, and in fact Emily even like when the brides did that, it helped give her a better idea of the big picture of what the couple was looking for.
That is not what Nora had done.
“This is exactly how I want the cake to look,” she told Emily as she slid several pictures all taken at different angles over to her.
Emily studied the pictures and immediately felt nervous. The amount of tiers alone was enough to leave any baker awake at night with worry that it might fall over or sink into itself. Emily knew she would even be up at night worrying that there might even just be a slight crack in a bit of fondant from the weight of it all and that Nora would never let her live it down. That was where she worried the most. Small bakeries like Emily’s had to survive on reviews and word-of-mouth. She had wonderful reviews from regulars and passersby and her business was growing. Of course she wasn’t booming in a sense that she was able to leave her horrid morning job, but it was enough to leave her dreaming that that day may be approaching.
The terrifying thing about taking on a woman like Nora, was she knew she had the potential to destroy her business. If anything at all went wrong with the cake, she knew that Nora would make sure that she never lived it down. That was a terrible risk to take, especially after she saw the decoration she wanted to adorn then cake.
“The cake should be a pure, perfect white fondant. Then I want these roses to be scattered all around just as in the picture.”
Emily looked closely at the picture. The roses were a very pale pink and Emily had to admit, gorgeous. But they were also made of sugar. Sugar was a difficult substance to work with. It was hot, stick, and more fragile than glass. When done right it could be exquisite, done wrong and it would be a disaster. She had worked with sugar before and had success, but she knew she hadn’t worked with it eno
ugh to be confident to create what Nora was looking for. When she told her that, Nora waved her worry away…with Abdul’s wallet.
“Not to worry, we will compensate you for the extra time you’ll need to learn.”
Emily was floored. She’d never met someone who truly believed that she could just throw money at anyone for any reason and come out on top. She was about to tell her so and tell her what exactly she could do with her money when a thought occurred to her. What if she did turn them down as clients? If Emily was worried about what might happen with a slight crack in some fondant, what would she do if Emily refused to work with her, refused to let her get her way? A shudder ran through her at the thought.
There was really no choice in the matter, she would have to take them on as clients and she would have to do everything in her power to give Nora what she wanted. It was interesting though, she realized, that she wasn’t even considering Abdul a concern in the situation at all. In fact, she felt he was almost a calming presence in this whole mess of a situation. He sat at the little table with the women, and she wondered if it was her imagination or did he seem to be sitting slightly closer to her than he was to his own fiancé? A small smile played on his lips as he watched the women interacting, Nora bossing Emily around, Emily too terrified of her future to say no. She could have interpreted his smile to be something mean, as if he enjoyed watching Nora treat people the way she was, but somewhere inside of her she didn’t think that’s what his smile was for.
SHEIKH'S SURPRISE BABY: A Sheikh Romance Page 78