Cupid's Cupcake Read Free Page B

was going to say something that would serve to humiliate her for years to come.
    “Okay.” Belle’s smile stretched across her face so wide it hurt. She picked up the open bottle and poured another glass. “So do you have any questions for me before we get started?”
    “I do actually,” Brian took the glass she offered him. “But first a toast. To new acquaintances.”
    T he craziest feeling came over her. She wanted to forget for just a moment that she was standing there toasting with a complete stranger, and instead indulge in a romantic fantasy that it was her house, and he was her husband. She was getting ready to make dinner, and they were about to exchange pleasantries about their respective days. She clinked his glass with hers, took a sip of wine, and succumbed to its siren call. It was a lovely daydream.
    “ Belle?” Brian’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
    “What?” The word was out of her mouth before she could catch it. Belle felt the heat rising in her cheeks. Things weren’t off to the most auspicious start. She felt slightly drunk, and she couldn’t get out of her own head even though a gorgeous guy was sitting two feet away from her.
    “I asked you where the recipe came from. On the phone, you alluded to the fact that it was a family recipe.” Brian put a small notebook on the counter next to the recorder. She could see a list of questions written down the page in a small, neat scrawl.
    “It started out as my Grandma’s recipe,” she said. She decided that she needed to keep her hands busy. Belle went to the refrigerator and pulled out the ingredients that she would need. Talking and baking at the same time felt easier. She didn’t have time to agonize over every word. “But I modified it a few times before landing on the current recipe.”
    “You must be quite the baker.”
    “Not really, or I mean, it didn’t start out that way. I used to bake every weekend when I went to my Grandma’s house. My mom worked two jobs to support me and my brother, and she shipped us over there so that Grandma could keep an eye on us while she was working. I don’t think Grandma knew what else to do with us. I’m amazed that I didn’t end up being five hundred pounds. She taught me everything she knew, but I didn’t appreciate it at the time. As soon as I hit junior high I talked my mom into letting me stay home by myself. It just wasn’t cool to hang out with Grandma anymore.”
    She looked up at Brian and found he was watching her closely. “That sounds really sweet and totally normal.”
    Belle shifted uncomfortably. It had been a long time since she had a man’s undivided attention. “Grandma only made this one cupcake at Valentine’s Day. I was the one who started calling it Cupid’s Cupcake. When I tweaked the recipe later, I kind of made it my own. It’s perfect, and it would be hard to top it, even though I am currently working on expanding the line.” Tiffany would be so proud that she managed to work the plug in so seamlessly.
    “There’s more to the story, I’m sure.” Brian’s eyes twinkled. “I want you to tell me the whole thing. Start at the beginning.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms as if daring her.
    Belle couldn’t keep the groan from emerging. “It is so lame.”
    Brian laughed. “Let me be the judge of that. You bake and talk, and I promise I’ll try hard not to interrupt.”
    “It starts with a boy,” she finally said. She couldn’t look at him. That part of the story was so humiliating when she said it out loud.
    He nodded sympathetically. “It always does, doesn’t it?”
    “He broke up with me right before Valent ine’s Day.” Belle kept her attention on the work her hands were doing. She tried to forget that he was even there. “My friends tried so hard to cheer me up, but at the time, I felt like I was losing the love of my life. I was inconsolable.” Belle still regretted that she and Danny Pickens broke up. Last she heard,