The
Cupcake Diaries
Sweet
On You, Recipe for Love, Taste of Romance
By: Darlene Panzera
The
Cupcake Diaries Book Two: RECIPE FOR LOVE
(Avon
Impulse; on-sale May 14th, 2013; e-book ISBN: 9780062242686)
For fans of
Debbie Macomber comes Recipe for Love,
the second installment in the Cupcake Diaries series Relationships can be
tricky, but will Mike the magician convince Rachel to break her two-date rule?
Rachel Donovan believes first dates are fabulous, second dates are fun, but
third dates? She never sees a guy three times in a row for fear he'll break her
heart, but she's tempted to make an exception when her coworkers, Andi and Kim,
hire Mike Palmer to drive their Cupcake Mobile. Mike meets Rachel when he's
wearing his black-masked magician costume at a Creative Cupcakes birthday party
and then tries to saw her in half. He draws closer while helping Rachel devise
promotion plans to outsmart the arrogant new French pastry chef threatening to
put the shop out of business. When a rat runs through the middle of her glitzy
promo party and the video is uploaded to YouTube, Rachel fears she won't be
able to save the shop, help her mother pay for her grandfather's medical
treatment, or win back the heart of the one guy she's come to love . . . or
will she?
Chapter
One
Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.
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 space 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 aprons, 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 glass 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 amusement. “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 assigned 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.
About the Author
Darlene
Panzera is the winner of the “Make Your Dreams Come True” contest sponsored by
Avon Books. The win led her novella, The Bet, to be published with Debbie
Macomber’s Family Affair. The award-winning novella (chosen in a blind-read by
Debbie Macomber) was then published as a full length novel retitled, Bet You’ll
Marry Me. Born and raised in New Jersey, Darlene is now a resident of the
Pacific Northwest where she lives with her husband and three children. When not
writing she enjoys spending time with her family, two horses, and loves:
camping, hiking, photography, and lazy days at the lake.
Author Links
@DarlenePanzera
https://twitter.com/DarlenePanzera
Thank you so much for featuring my book here today! I really appreciate it.
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