then looked back and forth between Caroline and Logan, as if she wasn’t sure which one she should be listening to.
“So you will be able to make individual cakes for all my guests and stay within my budget, too?”
The woman must have chosen her as the primary source now because those red-rimmed eyes appeared hopeful and were trained right on her. Suddenly, Caroline felt as if she was walking into a business meeting unprepared—something she’d never done in her life. Why had she jumped in with two feet before she even knew how deep the water was?
“Well…” she said, stalling.
“Go ahead, Caroline. Tell Nicole your plan for helping to make her wedding picture-perfect,” Logan said.
“It’s just that I’ll need to check a few things first.” Because Caroline was cringing inside, waiting for him to call her out in front of the customer, his chuckle surprised her.
“Come on. Don’t hold back.” He tapped his finger on the price list, speaking to the young bride instead of to his temporary coworker. “She was about to make a suggestion, and she’s right. It would be perfect.”
“What would be perfect?” the bride asked.
“You’ll have to forgive me because this is my first day and I’m only familiarizing myself with the price list.”
The vibrant, white smile Logan trained on the young woman could have earned a presidential pardon, as far as Caroline was concerned. She wondered why she’d never noticed before that the dimple in his right cheek was deeper than the one on his left. Why she was noticing it now, she didn’t even want to analyze.
“Anyway,” Logan continued, “I’m sure Caroline had already figured this out, but we have an alternative in the price list that will fit into your budget and still make a statement for your dream wedding.” Logan maintained eye contact with the customer while he spoke, morphing into a confident salesman in a naturalist’s body.
It didn’t surprise Caroline that Logan would rely on his masculine charm to smooth over the situation, but that he’d used it to cover her gaffe—now that surprised her.
“How would you do that?” the bride asked.
“You could have a small two-layer cake for the wedding party and then provide mini cakes, which serve two people each, for the other guests.” He glanced down at the price list and then back up at her. “Another option would be to have a cake for each reception table, but just by ordering mini cakes you’ll be cutting your number of cakes in half and trimming some of the cost.”
“It’s up to you,” Caroline joined in, “but if I were one of your wedding guests, I might like the warmth and community of sharing cake with a friend.” She didn’t look at Logan, but she could feel his gaze on her.
The woman thought for a few seconds and then nodded. “I guess that could work.”
“It’ll be great. You’ll see,” he said.
Having won the bride over, Logan made an appointment for her to meet with one of the designers early the next week and walked her to the door. Caroline had bent to return the photo albums to the shelf behind the counter when she realized he was standing behind her. She straightened and turned to face him.
“You just couldn’t help yourself from coming to my rescue.”
“No— I mean, I didn’t—” Finally, she gave up and shrugged. She couldn’t deny it because that was exactly what she’d been doing.
Instead of answering, Logan stepped around her and pushed through the kitchen door. Caroline trailed after him, relieved that the eavesdroppers had had the good sense to scatter.
He announced to the others that he would be taking his lunch but didn’t even look back at Caroline as he switched into his riding boots, grabbed his helmet and jacket and headed outside. The door had barely closed before the sound of his motorcycle reverberated off the concrete walls.
He had every right to be mad. She might as well have worn a firefighter’s helmet and carried a flashing red light as obviously as she’d tried to rescue him. Only, he hadn’t needed rescuing, and he’d ended up covering for her. She didn’t know what to do with that truth.
She listened, waiting for the roar of the motorcycle engine to filter away, but instead, the sound stopped. Seconds later, Logan stomped into the entry, carrying his helmet under his arm. Strange how he didn’t look the part of Matthew and Dylan Warren’s little brother as he stood covered in all that leather gear and indignation.
Caroline drew in a breath, not entirely from shock.
“I need to talk to you,” he said, lowering his helmet to the floor. He glanced around at the employees who were pretending not to listen. “Outside,” he added.
Swallowing, she followed him, and when he held the door open for her, she didn’t argue. Under normal circumstances, she would have considered telling him she was uncomfortable with such chivalrous notions, but the tight set of his jaw told her this wasn’t the time.
As soon as the heavy steel door closed behind them, he whirled to face her. “Why did you do that?”
“I don’t know what you—”
But Logan didn’t let her finish. “You know exactly what I mean. You showed up like the cavalry, planning to save the day, and you did it in front of the whole staff. As if they weren’t already doubting my abilities.”
“It’s just like when were kids and you fell off your skateboard and…” She blew out a breath. “I was just trying to help.”
“No, you were just disappointed that I didn’t fail.”
She shook her head. “That’s not true.”
He paced to his motorcycle, shoving his hands back through his hair. “I knew I was making a mistake. I knew it.”
Though he’d been speaking more to himself, he turned back to her now. “I get it that you agreed to come here because you thought you could do a better job running the shop than I could. If I hadn’t felt sorry—” He stopped himself but not before his message became clear.
Caroline drew in a breath. Just because she’d suspected he’d only accepted her presence out of pity didn’t make it any easier to hear the truth spoken aloud.
“I didn’t mean that.”
“Yes, you did.”
He started to deny it, but one side of his mouth lifted and the steel of his posture softened. “Okay, I sort of did.”
“And you’re kind of right about why I came here. I also had quite a bit of free time.” She shrugged and then met his gaze directly. “But you’re wrong about me wanting you to fail. I just wanted to pay you back—”
Logan drew his brows together. “Pay me back?” Realization must have dawned because he started nodding. “Of course. I got the ladies to stop before they started asking a bunch of nosy questions, and you’re trying to return the favor.”
“It’s good that you understand.”
