“Daphne, he doesn’t deserve her,” argued Tomás.
“Did you see the way she looked at him?”
Tomás’s head wagged back and forth as if weighing his options. “Fine.”
Daphne grinned.
“She’s been banished from the office for the week.”
“Banished?” Beau asked.
“Stop being so dramatic, Tomás.” Daphne swatted his arm.
“I’m a writer; it’s in my nature.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Her birthday’s tomorrow. Her favorite cake is the triple layered chocolate hazelnut cake from Cakes by Design on Seventh.”
“You want me to buy her a cake?” Beau wrinkled his nose. “Isn’t that sort of a girly thing to do?”
Tomás shook his head. “You really don’t deserve her.”
Beau put up his palms. “No! I’ll do it, I just …”
After a few clicks on her keyboard, Daphne said, “Here. I have the bakery’s information.” Daphne rattled off the phone number for the bakery.
Beau hurriedly put it in his phone. “It’s all good.” He grinned. “If a cake will win her over, then a cake she shall have. Wait—will she be here? How do I get it to her?”
His phone beeped a text. He glanced down to read an address from an unknown number.
Daphne whistled and looked anywhere but at him. Tomás’s face pinched.
Beau laughed. This was going to be beautiful. He’d have the cake delivered tomorrow, while her family was away. Maybe he’d find an excuse to be out tomorrow and stop by. What was he talking about,maybe?
“Beau! There you are.” Drusilla slathered herself against him.
He tucked his phone into his back pocket, scrambling for an excuse to be up here when he should have been back there running lines.
Tomás was quick. “I’ll bring your lemon tea right in.”
“Lemon tea?” asked Drusilla.
Daphne patted her throat.
“For my voice,” Beau replied.
“You poor thing.” She pet his arm like it was a cat. “Hurry up, Tomás.”
He spun away from the desk like he couldn’t wait to be gone. Beau knew the feeling. Drusilla had that effect on men.
“My family’s going to dinner and then to a club later. Would you like to join us?” asked Drusilla, her fake lashes fluttering like hummingbird wings.
Her family? Cindy was family, wasn’t she? Maybe she was only banished from the office. Surely they wouldn’t exclude her from a family gathering. A club would be the perfect place to pull her aside and pronounce his desire to never let her out of his sight again. “Sure.”
Drusilla clapped her hands together. “Wonderful. We’re going to have such a good time.”
Deep in his gut, Beau had a bad feeling about going. He pushed it aside. Any chance to see Cindy was a chance he had to take. She’d gone to great lengths to find him—and the more he thought about it, the more credit he gave her for being brave. He could at least be that much of a man for her and brave her stepfamily for a chance to be with her.
They got back to work, Drusilla fluttering at him across the table. While she droned on about motivation and sexual chemistry, Beau used his phone to order the cake for delivery.
