She carefully peered around the thick bark of the tree as not to be detected.She spotted Connor exiting his plum-painted front door and spying the gift.
He lifted the box she rested on the front door mat and opened the cardboard lid before she swiveled back around her shield to maintain her cover.
After a few dozen beats of her rapidly pounding heart, Aspen bent around the tree just a fraction to check out Connor’s response to the cake.Unfortunately, she couldn’t see because his face was hidden behind the box top.
Damnit.
As the lid closed, Aspen whipped back around the tree for fear of being detected.
A text ‘ding’ from her phone startled her.She smothered a scream to avoid discovery.
She yanked her phone from her pocket of her jeans to silence the device when she noticed the display.
Connor.
Shit.
She swiped the message to read the text.
See you hiding behind the tree.Wanna come back to the house?
Aspen sheepishly looked around the tree to find a genuine smile dance across Connor’s face as he stood holding the box on the porch, looking her dead in the eye.
Her phone dinged again.
I need some help eating this cake.
“It’s now or never, girl,” Aspen offered herself a pep talk and slowly moved from behind the tree and toward his house, feeling a bit like a prisoner shuffling her way down death row.
It wasn’t lost on Aspen, however, that Connor had said he wanted to eat one of the cupcakes.Could this be the outcome which she’d pinned all of her future wants and dreams on?
Connor stood tall outside his door, like the fantasy Viking he always appeared in her many fantasies.His golden hair swept across his shoulders, the colorful ink trailing down his arms.
“Hi,” she said softly as she climbed the steps of his porch where he stood stoically.“So, you’re going to eat one of the cupcakes?”
“Don’t I have to solve the puzzle first?”
Connor swiveled the box around so it faced Aspen.She admired her handiwork at recreating a Wheel of Fortune puzzle board.Square white cupcakes nestled against the twelve-inch square cake iced in green.The entire thing was covered with spectacular silvery sprinkles that looked remarkably like theWheel of Fortuneboard Vanna stood before for decades.
Knowing Connor’s ability to smoke her at Wheel every single time they played, she had no doubt he would solve this puzzle.
“So...the clue at the bottom says ‘person.’Hmm,” Connor looked to the cake and began spelling out the letters.“It appears there are two words, with the first word being ‘MY’ spelled out already.The second word is a bit trickier.There’s an F, a V and two Rs.Does that sound mean that only vowels are left, Vanna?”
Aspen smiled at the fact Connor was playing the game just as it would appear on television.
“Would you like to solve the puzzle?”Aspen asked, her heart beating so wildly, she thought it might burst through her chest.
“Depends.”
“On?”
“Who is the ‘MY’ in ‘MY FOREVER,’ you or me?”
Only Connor could solve the puzzle and ask a question at the same time.
“Both of us?”
“That’s the best prize I’ve ever received...Aspen.”
