Baby Cakes - A Vegas, Baby Novella

My head jerked up when I heard “What the fuck?” growled in a masculine tone that wasn’t my husband’s. It sounded an awful lot like my brother, which was confirmed when Knox snarled, “How about you don’t talk about your sex life when I’m around, Ariel? I’d like to continue to live in denial that all of my baby sisters don’t do that kind of thing.”

I pointed at the material covering my eyes and snapped, “It’s not like I knew you were there.”

“Then maybe you should skip talking about sex when you don’t know who’s around, too,” Knox retorted.

Maddox wrapped his arm around me, and I felt his body shaking with quiet laughter. Poking my elbow in his side, I complained, “Hey! This isn’t funny, big guy.”

“Sorry, baby, but the expression on your brother’s face is fucking hilarious,” he chuckled, pulling me closer. “I think you’ve scarred him for life.”

My lips curved up in a smug grin. “Really? You’re right. That’s awesome.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Can’t you cut me any slack?” Knox groaned.

“Maybe.” Tilting my head to the side like I was considering his request, I tapped my finger against my chin before teasing, “But only if you can come up with a really good reason.”

“I’m the one who gave you away at your dream wedding only two weeks ago,” he reminded me. I was just about to agree that it was a good enough argument to agree to never bring up my sex life around him—which I didn’t want to do anyway—when he screwed it up by adding, “And if you keep fucking with me, I’m going to be sorely tempted to take it back.”

Maddox’s body tensed, and I twined my arm through his so he couldn’t kick my brother’s butt without having to shake me off first. I figured he wouldn’t do that because he was being extra careful with me lately. His free hand dropped to cover the slight swell of my lower belly as he bit out, “You’re welcome to try, but then I’d have to kill you for trying to take what’s mine.”

“Fuck, I worded that badly. I didn’t mean I was going to take her back, man. Just—” Knox trailed off as he must’ve realized there wasn’t any explanation in the world that Maddox was going to accept. “Never mind. I don’t even know what I was trying to say.”

“Okay, guys. Now that we’re all playing nice together, how about you show me the surprise? I’m getting kind of tired of standing here—”

I didn’t get the chance to finish my sentence before Maddox swept me off my feet. “Shit, baby. Why didn’t you tell me you were tired?”

He stalked forward, cradling me against his broad chest. Knox must’ve opened a door for him because I heard a bell jingle and then we were in an air-conditioned space. “I’m not tired tired. Just done with wearing a blindfold.”

Setting me on my feet, Maddox offered, “Go ahead and take it off.”

I slipped the material up and over my head, my eyes blinking a few times to adjust to the bright light after being in complete darkness. Then they widened in shock as I realized what I was seeing—a commercial bakery designed almost identical to mine, except with a few improvements I’d been dying to do but hadn’t gotten around to yet. The ovens were top-of-the-line, the walk-in fridge was about twice the size of mine, and I spotted a tasting room off to the side that was huge.

“What? Where? How?” I spun around in a circle, unable to form a full sentence.

“Surprise!” Aurora, Belle, and Griffith popped up from behind the long counter in the middle of the kitchen. Griffith had Cyra strapped to his chest in a black carrier that looked more like something a SWAT officer would wear than a rock-star daddy. Her little, chubby legs kicked in the air, her fists waving around in excitement.

“What do you think, baby? Did I do good?” Maddox asked.

“Good?” I echoed. “This place looks amazing. But I don’t understand. Where are we?”

“Your new bakery.”

Maddox’s reply didn’t really help clue me in to what was going on. “Umm. Yeah, I kind of figured that out on my own, but where is my new bakery and why do I have one?”

“Oh. Yeah. Shit,” he mumbled, tugging on my hand to lead me towards a door on the back wall of the tasting room. I’d assumed that it led to an office, and I was sort of right. It just wasn’t my office—it was Maddox’s. And he’d added an extra desk, presumably for me to use.

“You built me a bakery right next door to Ink Addiction?” I asked in awe.

He nodded. “I hate that we spend so much time away from each other. Before we left for the Bahamas, I talked to your sisters about the possibility of moving your workspace closer to me. My shop isn’t too far away from the chapel for you to be able to deliver your cakes, so they signed off on the idea. And while we were away, I had a crew come in and do the renovations since I wanted it to be ready as soon as we got back.”