Walker made a subtle “stand down” motion. I gritted my teeth. I did not have the patience to deal with the Svenssons today.
“See,” Garrett drawled, “this is why I don't come into Manhattan. You all spiral into pettiness. Who cares about some idiotic magazine contest?”
“You guys at PharmaTech don't actually have to compete for workers,” Walker complained. “Anyone who wants to work in the biotech sphere is beating down your door. Quantum Cyber has to compete with Google, Facebook, and the Holbrooks.”
“Whatever. I refuse to waste my time on this any longer,” Garrett sneered.
“Literally no one asked you to come here,” Walker said, grabbing a pitcher of water and herding his brothers into the adjacent conference room.
“We need to talk about the new gene therapy center. Your algorithm is key,” Mace began, opening up his laptop. “Since I know you're frosting deep in the bake-off, we figured it would be easier to come to you.”
“Walker said it was fine,” Archer added. “And we had to drop off the surprise for the next bake-off episode. Also, Garrett wanted to come spy on Penny.”
“I don't need to be physically present to spy on someone,” Garrett replied.
“Yes, but why areyouhere?” I said to Archer. “You own hotels. You have nothing to do with this.”
“One word,” he said. “Cookies!”
21
Holly
Istood, yawning, in the lobby early the next morning. We had to film a shopping segment for the bake-off. Dana was tapping her Louboutin as she waited for all the contestants to show up.
“Where is Amber?” she asked.
There was a shriek, and Amber stormed into the lobby from the elevators.
“You!”
“Here we go,” I muttered to Fiona.
“I guess she saw your Instagram post,” Fiona said.
“You're trying to steal him from me,” Amber shouted, her voice echoing around the huge lobby. “You're trying to steal my boyfriend again!”
“Owen isn't your boyfriend!” I yelled back as I ducked a swipe of Amber's nails.
“Girls!” Dana barked.
Zane, camera on his shoulder, tried to avoid Amber as she lunged at me again.
“If I had wanted to be a middle school teacher, I would have,” Dana said in annoyance. “Today you are all going shopping for ingredients. With the magic of TV, viewers will see you go shopping after Anastasia announces the contest theme. Do make sure you're wearing what you're going to wear tomorrow.”
I looked down. I had put on a semisexy outfit because I was planning on taking more pictures after the shopping trip.
“Guess I'm going to be baking in this tomorrow,” I said, hoisting up the top. It was an Austrian-inspired gingerbread-girl dress. The bodice was laced up and low-cut. Hopefully we weren't going to be doing a “love your grandma” challenge.
“Tomorrow’s theme is kids’ Christmas,” Belle said. “We’d like to see fun, whimsical desserts.”
Ooof. I was definitely not dressed appropriately. I raised my hand.
“Unless you need me to call 911 for some godforsaken reason, you better put your hand down,” Dana warned. “You are all going shopping now. Be on good behavior. The last thing we need is to have your nonsense splashed all over the tabloids.”
We followed Anastasia to a nearby specialty foods store.
“What are you making?” Fiona asked me as we browsed the aisles.
