He listened patiently to everything she said, not frowning once, to his credit. Allie suggested adding caramel chocolate cookies for quick bites, choux filled with hazelnut cream for obvious reasons, and lemon cream pie, as everything else was sweet, and she wanted to offer something a bit sour, too.
“I’m impressed,” Dom said, placing his hands on her hips and pulling her to him. “Everything sounds great, Allie. But you know you just gave us more work, right?”
“I know.” Allie hugged him, resting her head over his heart. “I can do all of it.” She made an empty promise, knowing that one, Dom wouldn’t let her, and two, she was not ready to take all of this upon herself. But she could help with more than half of the baking tasks, and that flooded her heart with a soft, warm joy.
Despite knowing those things too, Dom said, “I know you can,” then kissed her on the top of her head.
The doorbell rang with more force than usual, breaking their blissful moment.
“D, you in here?” Allie recognized Brandon’s voice with a hint of urgency in it.
Dom sighed loudly.
“I’ll be right back. Will you take care of those?” He tilted his chin toward the oven where the cupcakes’ timer was about to go off.
“Of course. I’m a pro now,” Allie said with no small amount of pride.
“Dominic!” They both startled at Brandon using Dom’s full name and exchanged a worried look.
“I’m coming!” Dom barked loud enough for the entire town to hear.
Something was definitely wrong.
Chapter 34
THEN COME BACK TO ME
“What’s stuck up your a?—”
“Is Allie back there?” Brandon blurted out, wearing a preoccupied and grim expression instead of his usual grin. Dom’s spine stiffened as he picked up a vibe he did not like, but he nodded. “Can you make sure she stays there?”
“What’s going on? And why are you whispering?”
“Just answer my question,” Brandon hissed. Then he leaned over the counter and grabbed Dom’s arm, dragging him out to the floor.
“She’s frosting cupcakes for the next twenty minutes.”
Brandon stopped abruptly a few steps before the door. Dom knocked into him, his annoyance and heart rate increasing exponentially.
“Can you make that thirty?”
“What the fuck is going on?”
Brandon opened his mouth to speak, then sighed in defeat. He pushed Dom to the door, where he saw?—
Four Witches stood on the sidewalk, red hair mingling with the auburn fall landscape around them.
“I found them roaming around Harp’s. They were looking for Allie, and someone told them she’s working here.”
“Fuck.” He’d find out who that someone was and give them a piece of his mind.
“What do you want to do?”
Dominic considered. The Witches were here for one of two reasons: one, they came to tell Allie not to bother coming back. The thought made his skin crawl, even if the outcome worked in his favor. The other option was that they were here to check on her power and take her back with them. He had procrastinated asking Allie to stay in Sycamore Falls in hopes of asking during the festival, which might come and bite him in the ass. Regardless of his efforts, it was ultimately Allie’s choice. And as much as he wanted to run these Witches out of town, to not let them an inch closer to the woman he had fallen in love with… Allie could hold her own with her coven.
“I’ll go get Allie,” Dom snarled against all his instincts. The words stung his throat as if he’d swallowed a hive.
“Are you unwell? What if they’re here to get her back to Pearls Fields? How can you let her get away?” His friend punched him in the chest.
