Chapter 16
Camilla
“Mom, it’s me, sorry, but Stone couldn’t get the day off, so we won’t be able to make it to breakfast. Talk to you soon. Love you,” I rush the words out to beat the beep so that I don’t have to call back. If I do, there’s a chance she might answer, and I’m not ready to talk to her, especially about Stone. Coward that I am, I put my phone on vibrate.
I had a hard time falling asleep last night. I had way too much energy. All I could think of was Stone. Between kissing him and staring at the plan for the bakery, my mind wouldn’t stop spinning.
I love his vision for Camilla’s Confections. Oh, the possibilities! Even the display units are unique, made from wood and topped with marble. Now I understand why Stone thought tree trunks would be useful. I thought they would make the bakery look dark and rustic, not at all what I want, but that’s not what he showed me.
I want hisdesignwith the vines, flowers, and added lighting under each display. Looking at the picture over and over, there’s a magical feel about it. A place you might find fairies if they existed.
My phone rings. I look at the screen, Stone. My belly drops like I’m on a roller coaster, roaring down from the highest peak.I stare at the screen, smoothing my hands over my hair, as if he’ll see me once I answer. If I answer. I should. I want to speak to him. I take a breath.
“Hello.”
“Why did you cancel breakfast?” His low voice rumbles in my ear and warms parts of me that I would rather ignore.
“It was for the best. My parents would’ve pestered you with questions.” The urge to touch something has me running my pointer finger along the smooth edge of the kitchen counter.
“I know. That’s why we came up with a cover story last night. You drove through the town, had car trouble, and I helped you. See. I’ve got it.”
“It’s not just those questions, Stone. It’s the hard questions, like where do you see yourself in five years? What are your intentions?”
“Cami,” he pauses. “If your parents are as overbearing as you claim—”
“They are,” I assure him.
“Then all you did was delay the inevitable.”
He’s right, and I know it. But I haven’t hated being around Stone, and for today, I don’t want to have to face the truth: he isn’t anything more to me than a worker trying to get my bid for the company he works for. A fact I need to keep in mind.
My phone chimes, an incoming call. “It’s my mother,” I groan. “I’ll talk to you later.” I don’t give him a chance to say anything more before I end the call.
“MAKE SURE TO KEEP THESErefrigerated for the next two hours.” I hand off two dessert pans to Raven. “And before you ask, “Yes, there’s a burnt cheesecake in there.”
“Yay!” She claps her hands in front of her face. “Did you ever meet up with Stone last night?” I shoot her a dirty look. “What did I say? Did he do something wrong?”
“Yes, I met up with him, and no, he didn’t do anything wrong. I wish to hell he had.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m falling for him, and it scares me to death.”
A curious smirk crosses her face. “If he’s falling for you, and you're falling for him, remind me why that’s a bad thing?”
“There are so many reasons. It’s not like we met randomly. He wants me to use Eternal by Design for the work I want done in the bakery.”
“Is he pressuring you to go with them?”
“No. He’s even doing things for free. Like the painting. He won’t let me pay for the paint. And he has these ideas.”
“Bad ideas?”
“Amazing ideas! Raven, I thought I knew what I wanted, how I wanted my bakery to look, and he blew all of that away.”
