The Cupcake Diaries Recipe For Love Part 1

The Cupcake Diaries: Recipe for Love.

DARLENE PANZERA.

Chapter One.

Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.

-Ernestine Ulmer.

RACHEL PUSHED THROUGH the double doors of the kitchen, took one look at the masked man at the counter, and dropped the freshly baked tray of cupcakes on the floor.

Did he plan to rob Creative Cupcakes, demand she hand over the money from the cash register? Her eyes darted around the frilly pink-and-white shop. The loud clang of the metal bakery pan hitting the tile had caused several customers sitting at the tables to glance in her direction. Would the masked man threaten the other people as well? How could she protect them?

She stepped over the white-frosted chocolate mess by her feet, tried to judge the distance to the telephone on the wall, and turned her attention back to the masked man before her. Maybe he wasn't a robber but someone dressed for a costume party or play. The man with the black masquerade mask covering the upper half of his face also wore a black cape.

"If this is a holdup, you picked the wrong place, Zorro." She tossed her fiery red curls over her shoulder with false bravado and laid a protective hand across the old bell-ringing register. "We don't have any money."

His hazel eyes gleamed through the holes in the mask, and he flashed her a disarming smile. "Maybe I can help with that."

He turned his hand to show an empty palm, and relief flooded over her. No gun. Then he closed his fingers and swung his fist around in the air three times. When he opened his palm again, he held a quarter, which he tossed in her direction.

Rachel caught the coin and laughed. "You're a magician."

"Mike the Magnificent," he said, extending his cape wide with one arm and taking a bow. "I'm here for the Lockwell party."

Rachel pointed to the door leading to the back party room. The s.p.a.ce had originally been a tattoo shop, but the tattoo artist relocated to the rental next door. "The Lockwells aren't here yet. The party doesn't start until three."

"I came early to set up before the kids arrive," Mike told her. "Can't have them discovering my secrets."

"No, I guess not," Rachel agreed. "If they did, Mike the magician might not be so magnificent."

"Magnificence is hard to maintain." His lips twitched, as if suppressing a grin. "Are you Andi?"

She shook her head. "Rachel, Creative Cupcakes' stupendous co-owner, baker, and promoter."

This time a grin did escape his mouth, which led her to notice his strong, masculine jawline.

"Tell me, Rachel, what is it that makes you so stupendous?"

She gave him her most flirtatious smile. "Sorry, I can't reveal my secrets either."

"Afraid if I found out the truth, I might not think you're so impressively great?"

Rachel froze, fearing Mike the magician might be a mind reader as well. Careful to keep her smile intact, she forced herself to laugh off his comment.

"I just don't think it's nice to brag," she responded playfully.

"Chicken," he taunted in an equally playful tone as he made his way toward the party room door.

Despite the uneasy feeling he'd discovered more about her in three minutes than most men did in three years, she wished he'd stayed to chat a few minutes more.

Andi Burke, wearing one of the new, hot-pink Creative Cupcakes bibbed ap.r.o.ns, came in from the kitchen and stared at the cupcake mess on the floor. "What happened here?"

"Zorro came in, gave me a panic attack, and the tray slipped out of my hands." Rachel grabbed a couple of paper towels and squatted down to scoop up the crumpled cake and splattered frosting before her OCD kitchen safety friend could comment further. "Don't worry, I'll take care of the mess."

"I should have told you Officer Lockwell hired a magician for his daughter's birthday party." Andi bent to help her, and when they stood back up, she asked, "Did you speak to Mike?"

Rachel nodded, her gaze on the connecting door to the party room as it opened, and Mike reappeared. Tipping his head toward them as he walked across the floor, he said, "Good afternoon, ladies."

Mike went out the front door, and Rachel hurried around the display case of cupcakes and crossed over to the shop's square, six-foot-high, street-side window. She leaned her head toward the gla.s.s and watched him take four three-by-three-foot black painted boxes out of the back of a van.

"You should go after him," Andi teased, her voice filled with amus.e.m.e.nt. "He's very handsome."

"How can you tell?" Rachel drew away from the window, afraid Mike might catch her spying on him. "He's got a black mask covering the upper half of his face. He could have sunken eyes, shaved eyebrows, and facial tattoos."

Andi laughed. "He doesn't, and I know you like guys with dark hair. He's not as tall as my Jake, but he's still got a great build."

"Better not let Jake hear you say that," Rachel retorted. "And how do you know he has a great build? The guy's wrapped in a cape."

"I've seen him before," Andi said. "Without the cape."

"Where?"

"His photo was in the newspaper two weeks ago," Andi confided. "The senior editor at the Astoria Sun a.s.signed Jake to write an article on Mike Palmer's set models."

"What are you talking about?"

"Mike Palmer created the miniature model replica of the medieval city of Hilltop for the movie Battle for Warrior Mountain and worked on set pieces for many other movies filmed around Astoria. His structural designs are so intricate that when the camera zooms in close, it looks real."

Mike returned through the front door, wheeling in the black boxes on an orange dolly. Rachel caught her breath as he looked her way before proceeding toward the party room with his equipment. Did the masked man find her as intriguing as she found him?

Andi's younger sister, Kim, came in from the kitchen with a large tray of red velvet cupcakes with cherry cream cheese frosting. The three of them together, with Andi's boyfriend, Jake Hartman, as their financial partner, had managed to open Creative Cupcakes a month and a half earlier.

"Who's he?" Kim asked. She placed the cupcakes on the marble counter and pointed toward the billowing black cape of the magician.

"Mike the Magnificent," Rachel said dreamily.

OFFICER IAN LOCKWELL, his wife, son, and daughter entered the shop a short while later. The first time Rachel had met him, he'd written her a parking ticket. Since then, he had helped chase off a group of fanatical Zumba dancers who were trying to shut down Creative Cupcakes and had become one of their biggest supporters. Both were good reasons for her to reverse her original harsh feelings toward the blond, burly man.

"Happy Birthday, Caitlin," Rachel greeted his six-year-old daughter. "Ready for the magic show?"

"I hope he pulls a rabbit out of his hat," Caitlin said, her eyes sparkling. "I asked for a rabbit for my birthday."

"She wanted one last month for Easter," Officer Lockwell confided. "But I told her the bunnies were busy delivering eggs."

"There are always more rabbits in April," Andi told Caitlin and winked conspiratorially at her father. "Aren't there?"

Officer Lockwell shifted his gaze to the ceiling.

"Should we go to the party room?" Rachel asked, leading the way.

"Here are two more," Jake Hartman said, ushering his little girl, Taylor, and Andi's daughter, Mia, into the shop. Both six-year-olds attended the same kindergarten cla.s.s as Caitlin at Astor Elementary.

Andi stepped forward and gave Jake a kiss before he had to head back to work at the newspaper office.

"Is he a real magician, Mom?" Mia asked Andi, hugging her legs as Mike the Magnificent came out to welcome them.

"As real as they get," Andi a.s.sured her.

Rachel exchanged a look with Andi above Mia's head and smiled. "I wonder if he needs an a.s.sistant."

IN THE PRIVACY of the kitchen, Andi pulled the pink bandana off Rachel's hair. "That's better. Now primp your curls."

"And don't forget to swing your hips as you serve the cupcakes," Kim added. "Maybe Magic Mike will wave his wand and whisk you under his cape for a kiss."

"I can hope," Rachel said. "I haven't had a date in two weeks."

"Is that a new record?" Andi teased.

"Almost."

"Maybe if you kept one guy around long enough, you wouldn't have to worry about finding a date," Kim said, arching one of her delicate dark eyebrows.

"Oh, no!" Rachel shook her head. "Rule number one: Never date the same man three times in a row. First dates are fabulous, second dates fun, but third dates? That's when guys start to think they freaking know you, and the relationship fails. Better to stick with two dates and forget the rest."

"Jake and I continue to have fun," Andi argued.

"That's because you and Jake are made for each other." Rachel picked up the tray of cupcakes they'd decorated to look like white rabbits peeking out from chocolate top hats. "And so far, I haven't met any man who looks at me the way he looks at you. If I did," she said, pausing to make sure her friend got the hint, "I'd marry him."

Andi pushed a strand of her long, dark blond hair behind her ear and blushed. "Maybe Mike will be your man."

"Maybe," Rachel conceded and smiled. "But every relationship starts with a first date."

WHEN RACHEL ENTERED the room, Mike was in the middle of performing a card trick. She scanned the faces of the two dozen kids sitting at the long, rectangular tables covered with pink partyware and colorful birthday presents. Mike did a good job of holding their attention. They sat in wide-eyed fascination. Not one of them noticed her as she distributed the cupcakes to each place setting.

Next, Mike the Magnificent showed the audience the inside of his empty black top hat. Placing the hat right-side up on one of his black boxes, he waved his wand over the top and quickly flipped the hat upside down again. Rachel smiled as he invited the birthday girl up to the hat. The six-year-old reached her hand in and pulled out a fake toy bunny with big, white floppy ears.

Caitlin looked at Mike, her eyes betraying her disappointment, then mumbled, "Thanks."

"Were you hoping for a real rabbit?" Mike asked her.

Caitlin nodded.

"Let's try that again." Mike told Caitlin to put the stuffed bunny back into the hat. Then he turned the hat over and placed it down on the black box again. He waved the wand. This time when he turned the hat over a live rabbit with big, white floppy ears poked its head up over the top of the rim.

Caitlin let out an excited squeal, and Rachel laughed. Mike the Magnificent was good with the kids and a good magician. How did he do it? She stared at the box and the black hat and couldn't tell how he'd been able to make the switch. Dodging a couple of the strings that hung down from the balloons bobbing against the ceiling, she moved closer.

"Just the person I was looking for," Mike said, catching her eye. "Rachel, could you come up here for a moment?"

"Certainly." Rachel gave him a wide smile and moved to his side. "What would you like me to do?"

"Get in the box."

Rachel glanced at the large horizontal black box resting upon two sawhorses in the middle of the room. It looked eerily like a coffin.

"And take off your shoes," he added under his breath.

Rachel stepped out of her pink pumps, and when Mike moved aside the black curtain covering the box, she slid inside.

"How about a pillow?" Mike asked.

"A pillow would be nice," she said.

His large, warm hand cupped the back of her head as he placed the white cushion beneath her, and his gaze locked with hers. "Are you married?"

Rachel's eyes widened. "No."

"Have a steady boyfriend?"

Rachel shook her head.

"Good," Mike said and grinned at the audience. "I won't have to worry about anyone coming after me if something goes wrong."

"What do you mean, 'if something goes wrong'?" she demanded.

He held up a carpenter's saw with a very large, jagged blade, and the kids in the audience giggled with delight.

"He's going to saw her in half!" Mia exclaimed. "I don't think my mommy will like that. How will Rachel help my mom bake cupcakes?"

"Saw me in half?" Rachel gasped and stared up at Mike. How did this trick work? He wasn't really going to come near her with that saw, was he? "I . . . uh . . . have a slight fear of blades. If I get hurt, do you have a girlfriend or wife I can complain to?"

Mike grinned. "No wife. But if you survive, maybe I'll marry you."

The young audience edged forward in antic.i.p.ation, probably wondering if they'd see blood or hear her scream.

Rachel had done some pretty crazy things in the past to get a date, but this ridiculous stunt had to top them all. "I really am afraid of blades," she said, her voice raised to a high-pitched squeak.

"Don't worry; I've only killed two people in the past," Mike rea.s.sured her, then leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Roll to your side and curl up in a ball."

Rachel did as she was told and faced the audience. There was more room in the box than she'd first supposed. Mike made a few quick adjustments, and an inside board slid up against her feet. Then he raised the shark-toothed blade above her and began to saw the outside of the box in two. The box rattled, and the fresh sawdust made her sneeze, making the kids laugh.