Southern Seduction & Pleasure in His Arms

“How much of my vlogs have you watched?”

“Enough,” Caden began, “to know you have been showing your masses what to do with leftover bananas. And here you are selling hummingbird cupcakes and posting them to the web. I see some things haven’t changed.”

“Not just selling,” Maggie boasted. She reached over to the rack of already decorated cupcakes and plucked a dessert. “I created this.”

“You did not create the hummingbird cupcake.”

“Okay, fine,” she corrected. “I perfected it. And the plan, before I was deceived by time, was to post it to this website so Vonna can get more notoriety.”

“And Vonna is the owner, you said?”

“Vonna,” Maggie said with a nod, “owns The Cupcakery. It’s a rite of passage for teens in Southwood to work here.” She didn’t miss the fact that Caden’s thick brows shot up with amusement. In her former life, access to unlimited funds meant buying straight off the runway, but it also meant picking up an undeniably cute dress from Forever 21 if the time called for it. “I know I’m not a teen, but I love coming back here.”

“I have a girl cousin who taught me not to question a woman,” Caden said with a chuckle, “I wasn’t going to say a word.”

The Archibalds weren’t known for their compassion. At least their men weren’t. Kit was a different case. Present company excluded, Caden’s brothers were crude. The jury hadn’t been out on Caden, either, when they first met. But by the time she realized he was an Archibald, it was too late. She’d already had her sights set on him. Did that make her equally crude? Maggie pressed her lips together and pushed the thought of them together out of her mind. Or at least the thought of when she agreed to go back to the room with him eleven years ago. Today he seemed to be a completely different man.

“Anyway.” Maggie blew out a deep breath. “I need to load these up and get them over to the fair.”

“We need to get these to the fair.”

In order to sigh again, Maggie took a deep breath and let it go. At least Caden hadn’t brought up the trip to see his mother while they baked. She guessed she owed him a few minutes of her time to listen. “Why are you so gung ho about me coming to Savannah?”

“You want to do this now?”

“As opposed to what?” Maggie shrugged. “You seducing me with kindness and getting me there?”

“Hey, this morning was about human compassion,” Caden said. “You needed help, and I was here.”

“Which I am suspicious of,” Maggie had to add in.

Caden untied his apron. In the process she admired the veins bulging from his biceps. If she licked her lips once more, she might need to break out the ChapStick.

“Do I look like I’ve been lurking in the dark?”

The reflective stripe down the side of his nylon shorts drew her eyes to the way the material clung to his backside. The thin black material of his runner’s shirt hugged the sculpted abs and broad chest. Parched, Maggie blindly reached for the bottled water she remembered setting down earlier.

“I am here because I went for a jog this morning with some of my clients. If you recall, I do have a reason to be in town other than to sweep you off your feet.”

“To Savannah,” she added, ignoring the way her heart slammed against her rib cage.

An unmistakable red hue touched his square jawline as Caden nodded. “Of course. I need you to come with me for Kit’s meeting on Saturday.”

“Why me, and what’s the meeting about?”

Caden shrugged. “This is a commemorative year for the Southern Style Glitz Beauty Pageant, and she wants to bring in all the standouts along the way.”

“I’m a standout?” Maggie’s heart fluttered. How much of a standout would she be if Kit found out about her brief affair with Caden?

“The hologram thing was quite a hit,” he said.

“I can’t be the guest of honor because of coding?”

“You have to admit that was pretty cool.”

At least Caden and Kit thought it was cool. His brothers didn’t seem to think so. But then again they also hadn’t thought she would read their email accounts and find out what they were saying behind her back. If Kit planned on having a reunion of sorts, then that meant the boys would be there. And they were the last people she wanted to ever see again. She still smelled Jason Archibald’s sweat from the time he cornered her coming down the hallway, assuring her he was aware of how much she wanted him. Ugh.

“Your mom did give me the chance to break out my coding skills,” Maggie pondered. “I appreciate her including me as part of the pageant’s success, but I can’t.”