Relationships can be tricky, but will Mike the magician convince Rachel to break her two-date rule?
Rachel Donovan believes first dates are fabulous, second dates are fun, but third dates? She never sees a guy three times in a row for fear he'll break her heart, but she's tempted to make an exception when her coworkers, Andi and Kim, hire Mike Palmer to drive their Cupcake Mobile.
Mike meets Rachel when he's wearing his black-masked magician costume at a Creative Cupcakes birthday party and then tries to saw her in half. He draws closer while helping Rachel devise promotion plans to outsmart the arrogant new French pastry chef threatening to put the shop out of business.
When a rat runs through the middle of her glitzy promo party and the video is uploaded to YouTube, Rachel fears she won't be able to save the shop, help her mother pay for her grandfather's medical treatment, or win back the heart of the one guy she's come to love . . . or will she?
Excerpt
Rachel
pushed through the double doors of the kitchen, took one look at the
masked man at the counter, and dropped the freshly baked tray of
cupcakes on the floor.
Did
he plan to rob Creative Cupcakes, demand she hand over the money from
the cash register? Her eyes darted around the frilly pink-and-white
shop. The loud clang of the metal bakery pan hitting the tile had
caused several customers sitting at the tables to glance in her
direction. Would the masked man threaten the other people as well?
How could she protect them?
She
stepped over the white-frosted chocolate mess by her feet, tried to
judge the distance to the telephone on the wall, and turned her
attention back to the masked man before her. Maybe he wasn’t a
robber but someone dressed for a costume party or play. The man with
the black masquerade mask covering the upper half of his face also
wore a black cape.
“If
this is a holdup, you picked the wrong place, Zorro.” She tossed
her fiery red curls over her shoulder with false bravado and laid a
protective hand across the old bell-ringing register. “We don’t
have any money.”
His
hazel eyes gleamed through the holes in the mask, and he flashed her
a disarming smile. “Maybe I can help with that.”
He
turned his hand to show an empty palm, and relief flooded over her.
No gun. Then he closed his fingers and swung his fist around in the
air three times. When he opened his palm again, he held a quarter,
which he tossed in her direction.
Rachel
caught the coin and laughed. “You’re a magician.”
“Mike
the Magnificent,” he said, extending his cape wide with one arm and
taking a bow. “I’m here for the Lockwell party.”
Rachel
pointed to the door leading to the back party room. The space had
originally been a tattoo shop, but the tattoo artist relocated to the
rental next door. “The Lockwells aren’t here yet. The party
doesn’t start until three.”
“I
came early to set up before the kids arrive,” Mike told her. “Can’t
have them discovering my secrets.”
“No,
I guess not,” Rachel agreed. “If they did, Mike the magician
might not be so magnificent.”
“Magnificence
is hard to maintain.” His lips twitched, as if suppressing a grin.
“Are you Andi?”
She
shook her head. “Rachel, Creative Cupcakes’ stupendous co-owner,
baker, and promoter.”
This
time a grin did escape his mouth, which led her to notice his strong,
masculine jawline.
“Tell
me, Rachel, what is it that makes you so stupendous?”
She
gave him her most flirtatious smile. “Sorry, I can’t reveal my
secrets either.”
“Afraid
if I found out the truth, I might not think you’re so impressively
great?”
Rachel
froze, fearing Mike the magician might be a mind reader as well.
Careful to keep her smile intact, she forced herself to laugh off his
comment.
“I
just don’t think it’s nice to brag,” she responded playfully.
“Chicken,”
he taunted in an equally playful tone as he made his way toward the
party room door.
Despite
the uneasy feeling he’d discovered more about her in three minutes
than most men did in three years, she wished he’d stayed to chat a
few minutes more.
Andi
Burke, wearing one of the new, hot-pink Creative Cupcakes bibbed
aprons, came in from the kitchen and stared at the cupcake mess on
the floor. “What happened here?”
“Zorro
came in, gave me a panic attack, and the tray slipped out of my
hands.” Rachel grabbed a couple of paper towels and squatted down
to scoop up the crumpled cake and splattered frosting before her OCD
kitchen safety friend could comment further. “Don’t worry, I’ll
take care of the mess.”
“I
should have told you Officer Lockwell hired a magician for his
daughter’s birthday party.” Andi bent to help her, and when they
stood back up, she asked, “Did you speak to Mike?”
Rachel
nodded, her gaze on the connecting door to the party room as it
opened, and Mike reappeared. Tipping his head toward them as he
walked across the floor, he said, “Good afternoon, ladies.”
Mike
went out the front door, and Rachel hurried around the display case
of cupcakes and crossed over to the shop’s square, six-foot-high,
street-side window. She leaned her head toward the glass and watched
him take four three-by-three-foot black painted boxes out of the back
of a van.
“You
should go after him,” Andi teased, her voice filled with amusement.
“He’s very handsome.”
“How
can you tell?” Rachel drew away from the window, afraid Mike might
catch her spying on him. “He’s got a black mask covering the
upper half of his face. He could have sunken eyes, shaved eyebrows,
and facial tattoos.”
Andi
laughed. “He doesn’t, and I know you like guys with dark hair.
He’s not as tall as my Jake, but he’s still got a great build.”
“Better
not let Jake hear you say that,” Rachel retorted. “And how do you
know he has a great build? The guy’s wrapped in a cape.”
“I’ve
seen him before,” Andi said. “Without the cape.”
“Where?”
“His
photo was in the newspaper two weeks ago,” Andi confided. “The
senior editor at the Astoria Sun
assigned Jake to write an article on Mike Palmer’s set models.”
“What
are you talking about?”
“Mike
Palmer created the miniature model replica of the medieval city of
Hilltop for the movie Battle for Warrior
Mountain and worked on set pieces for many
other movies filmed around Astoria. His structural designs are so
intricate that when the camera zooms in close, it looks real.”
Mike
returned through the front door, wheeling in the black boxes on an
orange dolly. Rachel caught her breath as he looked her way before
proceeding toward the party room with his equipment. Did the masked
man find her as intriguing as she found him?
Andi’s
younger sister, Kim, came in from the kitchen with a large tray of
red velvet cupcakes with cherry−cream cheese frosting. The three of
them together, with Andi’s boyfriend, Jake Hartman, as their
financial partner, had managed to open Creative Cupcakes a month and
a half earlier.
“Who’s
he?” Kim asked. She placed the cupcakes on the marble counter and
pointed toward the billowing black cape of the magician.
“Mike
the Magnificent,” Rachel said dreamily.
Darlene Panzera is the winner of the “Make Your Dreams Come True” contest sponsored by Avon Books. The win led her novella, The Bet, to be published with Debbie Macomber’s Family Affair. The award-winning novella (chosen in a blind-read by Debbie Macomber) was then published as a full length novel retitled, Bet You’ll Marry Me. Born and raised in New Jersey, Darlene is now a resident of the Pacific Northwest where she lives with her husband and three children. When not writing she enjoys spending time with her family, two horses, and loves: camping, hiking, photography, and lazy days at the lake.
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