CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN
Madison awoke with a smile on her face. Eyes closed, she rolled onto her back as a soft bark sounded outside the bedroom door. Kyle’s hushed voice reached her ears. Her chest filled up with all that weird love stuff, but since it made her feel good and energized, she told herself it was cool.
Then there was today. Thea’s bakery was opening to the kind of buzz people in the industry would give their left arm for. Madison could imagine her friend smiling from ear to ear as she greeted those first treasured customers through her door.
Then her eyes flew open, and she sat up in bed. What time was it? Maybe they should get down to the bakery and be some of those people. Celebrate Thea’s opening.
The bakery’s hours were the normal Parisian ones of seven in the morning until seven at night six days a week. She would be closed on Sundays, as most places were. Of course, Thea would be starting her day baking much earlier—before the crack of dawn—with her new helpers manning the later hours.
She threw her legs out of bed and nearly jumped as herfeet met something strange. She lifted one foot and winced. Were those?—
Oh my God! They were rose petals. A trail of them lined the hardwood floor to the door.
Sinking back onto the bed, she brushed the crushed plant matter away. So they were doing Valentine’s Day. She hadn’t asked. Of course, she’d prepared. Only a single person or soon-to-be-single person ignored the holiday branded for lovebirds. Part of her was glad Pierre was off with Dean and Jacqueline for a sleepover. He wouldn’t know what to make of all this romance.
She’d never celebrated Valentine’s Day before, although God knows she’d cooked for enough lovebirds. Tonight was going to be so gooey at the restaurant she might as well serve lava cakes for dessert. People were going to coo at each other over their meals and hold hands like the world around them had disappeared.
Thank God she was working in the back of the house. Waiting on lovebirds had to be nauseating, even if it was good for business. People tended to order really good wine or champagne on the holiday.
Except she wasn’t about to call the holiday nauseating in front of Kyle, not when he’d obviously planned some big gesture. She would zip her lips and not crack a joke about a holiday whose mascot was a naked baby with angel wings and a bow and arrow. (What were people thinking? If she saw Cupid, she’d call a priest to perform an exorcism.)
She walked to the door after tugging on some clothes, ready to face the music, and her gaze caught another path of rose petals leading down the hallway to the stairs. God, first the candles and now this…
It was official: she was living in an alternate reality.
Yep. This was Madison’s Spicy New Reality all right, and apparently the ingredients were hundreds of votives, a cute little puppy with big brown eyes, and rose petals.
The rose petals led down the stairs to the kitchen. At the doorway, she noted Kyle was holding Spike and fussing with red roses at their romance table for two. The rose petals stopped there, at least. She’d worried they were going to be sprinkled around the entire house like glitter at a strip club.
The puppy gave a delighted yip as soon as he saw her. Okay, that caused a happy blip in her chest. Who knew? And the little guy had only been with them barely a week…
“Good morning.” Kyle set Spike down as he tried to leap from his arms. “Sorry if we woke you. We’re still working on silent commands in the morning.”
“No problem.” The little guy rammed into her leg and then crawled up her pants, yipping happily. “He’s learning like the rest of us.”
When she picked him up, Spike launched himself at her face, licking her cheek. She gave him a few moments because he was only doing what was natural for him, before she turned him around against her chest and patted his belly. Like all guys, he practically drooled when you did that.
“So Happy Valentine’s Day,” Kyle began as if he were starting one of his PowerPoint presentations. “I know we didn’t talk about doing anything since you’re working tonight, but I wanted to show you how much I love you.”
God, when were these moments going to be any less weird? She set Spike back on the floor and crossed to Kyle. “Thanks for the rose petals. I figured they’d show up sometime after the candles. Happy Valentine’s Day back. I have something for you too. Because you know… I love you.”
She wanted to cringe at her own thick-sounding voice. Kyle only grinned and leaned in to kiss her softly. Her hands tangled in his hair, because when things got weird, being close to Kyle made it all un-weird. In moments like this, she could accept that her life was now candles and rose petals and the little furball, rubbing his head against her leg.
But if anyone outside their little circle ever found out, she’d cut them, and it wouldn’t be with her stuffed cleaver.
When Spike started barking—he always seemed to want in on their moments of affection—she broke away. “Hey! Do you think we should head over to Thea’s bakery so we can at least smile and wave from the window?”
“Spike and I were going to walk there. The bakery will just be opening. We’d love for you to come.”
Just opening? God, that meant she’d awokenbeforeseven. With a smile on her face. When would the weirdness stop? Now she and her—God, she couldn’t say boyfriend—were going to stroll around Paris with their cute little dog. Next up, she’d be buying a purse and pulling out a portable dog bowl and those cute little bone-shaped biscuits.
“Let me go change.”
“Hang on.” He tugged her arm before she could wander away. “I have something for you.”
“You didn’t need to.” She made sure her smile stretched across her face. “The rose petals were enough.”
