“No. But you’re scraped and bruised. What happened?”
The concern in her too-perceptive gaze was like a soothing caress to his sore body. “A little slip, that’s all. It happens sometimes.” After the initial daze had worn off and he’d caught his breath, he’d been surprised to realize she was the first person he’d thought about while dangling from a rope nearly one hundred feet in the air. Had to make sure he got home to see her again.
She piped a thick border of butter cream frosting along the top edge of the first cake layer as she asked, “You’re okay?”
“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t,” he quipped.
She shook her head and scooped a blob of frosting from a huge bowl off to the side. He reached to swipe his finger along the edge of the bowl, only to have her reach over and smack his hand with her spatula.
“Ow.”
“Then behave. You have another whole cupcake over on the table.”
“But the frosting is my favorite.” He grinned at the smile tugging the corners of her mouth. As she smoothed out the top of the cake, he said, “Tell me about you being an old car genius.”
“My brother, sister, and I worked on my dad’s cars on the weekends we spent with him. I don’t get much time to do that anymore, but the four of us still go to the Castle Rock Cruise In each year. Dad’s cars have won a few trophies over the years.”
“That’s awesome. I haven’t been to that one yet, but the Old Town Car Show in Fort Collin’s is a favorite of mine.”
“Old Town is fun,” she agreed. “I haven’t been since high school.”
“Hard to believe the first weekend of June is next weekend already. We could go.”
Honor grimaced. “Unfortunately, I have two weddings next weekend. All week is going to be crazy.”
He pushed aside his disappointment. “Summer is your busy season, isn’t it?”
“Usually. Though this summer is going downhill fast.”
Because of all the cancellations. “Sorry.”
She didn’t miss a beat while placing the next layer of cake and repeating the frosting process from the first. “Again, not your fault. And Roxanna is trying to make it up to me. I don’t see us becoming friends or anything, but the cupcake sales are making up for some of the lost cake revenue.”
“She’s not worried about you jinxing anyone?”
“I still don’t think it’s even a thing, but she claims it doesn’t matter because I’m not making them for specific people, or for a specific event.”
Made sense, he guessed. “Speaking of specific people, did my sister call you yet?”
“Nope.”
He frowned. “Damn. I thought for sure I’d changed her mind.”
One of her slim shoulders lifted in a shrug. “It is what it is. I may have to rethink my five year plan, but it’s too early to see how this all plays out to give up.”
Asher drained the last of his beer and slouched in the chair as he watched her efficient movements. “What’s your five year plan?”
“My own specialty cake shop. I’ll hire a couple of employees to help with the wedding cakes so I can book more, and maybe even branch out a bit. Kind of like The Cake Boss.”
“Why can’t you do that now?”
“For a shop, location is key, and I can’t afford that set of keys yet.”
“And where is your key location?”
“Well, an area like where Roxanna’s shop is would be perfect.”
His heart gave a few fast beats and a squeeze of disappointment. Did she know he owned the building? Was she hinting? If she did, she was playing it super cool.