“Here. Try this one,” Izzy says, giving him a forkful—myfork—of the triple-chocolate cherry cake.
He closes his mouth around the same piece of metal I just had my lips wrapped around, and I have to hold back my groan.
God, seriously? A groan over that? What is wrong with me?
He chews, then swallows. “Damn, that’s good. Like really good.”
“Yeah?” Izzy’s eyes light up. “Okay, now try this one.”
She loads the fork up with the vanilla one, and as soon as he takes a bite, I know that’s the one he loves the most.
“Holy fuck.” He moans, and the sound does things to me that it really shouldn’t be doing in public. With his sister right here. “That’s delicious. That’s the one.”
“Really? But the chocolate issogood.”
“It is, but that orange is fantastic. It just screams summer wedding to me.”
“Oh, so now you’re a wedding expert, huh?”
He rolls his head my way, one brow lifted high, and he looks so cute right now that I could kiss him. I refrain.
“Am I wrong, Odie?”
He’s not. It’s the perfect cake and will satisfy the most people.
“Oh no.” Izzy deflates. “You agree with him, don’t you?”
I nod. “As much as I love the chocolate—and I do—Noah is right. But we could always do different flavors for different layers.”
“Or cupcakes,” Noah offers.
“Ah yes. I forgot your new cupcake obsession.” Izzy narrows her eyes at him like he’s up to something. “But the different layers don’t sound so bad.”
“Or a smaller, separate cake just for you.”
“Do you think Sybill will hate me for making her do that? That’s a lot of cake to make.”
“I think Sybill has known you since you were a baby and would do anything for you. And plus, you’re paying her.” I wink at Izzy.
“All right. We’ll do the main cake with the orange and a smaller chocolate one just for me.”
“Good. Glad that’s settled. Can I go now?”
Izzy shoos her brother away. “Yes, leave us be. We’re busy.”
“Yes, because I invited myself to this gathering,” he says sarcastically, pushing from the table with another look in my direction.
I admit that for a second, I’m sad about it. I hate that he’s essentially ignoring me, but I get it too. We said we wanted to keep this from Izzy, and he’s just upholding that.
Still, I keep my eye on him as he heads to the counter, only half listening to Izzy as she waffles back and forth about whether she wants to get Craig his own groom’s cake as well.
“Noah, my boy! How are you, sweetheart?”
“Hey, Sybill. How are you?”
“Oh, you know. I can’t complain. Especially not when you’re here.” I grin at her flirting with him. “What brings you in today? Been a minute since I’ve seen you.”
“Thought cupcakes sounded good.”
