Manual labor sucked more.
Unloading vans was hard work, and I felt for all the other van unloaders out there in the world.
Maybe we should form a union.
“Sleeping on the job, Cupcake?”
I snapped my eyes open, startled by how close a pair of emerald green eyes were to mine.
I gaped.The Cupcake Thief!
His magician getup had been swapped out for jeans and a yellow hoodie, but I only missed the eyeliner for a moment. He had quite some nerve showing up here.
I scoured every crevice of my memory for the sticky-fingered thief’s name, before embarrassingly coming up blank. Nothing rang a bell.Jeremy? Isaac?Maybe he’d never actually told me.
Seriously, Emma?I scolded myself, blinking away the grogginess.Are you really holding that strong of a grudge that you forgot his name?
… But it was such a beautiful cupcake he’d stolen from me. It deserved a dedicated grudge.
“Excuse me?” I stammered, surprised by the force of my residual anger toward the guy who’d stolen my cupcake.
“Just wondering if you’re getting paid to snooze against the van?” He leaned a shoulder against the van beside me, with a cheeky smile that seemed permanently glued to his face.
Did he work for Mr. Everton, too? But I couldn’t picture this company inviting a magician to their breakfast, plus he wasn’t wearing the cape.
“Well, technically yes, I suppose,” I said with a frown. After all, Iwasgetting paid while snoozing, despite what Mr. Everton intended for me to be doing. But that didn’t mean he needed to call me out on it. I racked my brain for the thief’s name.Spencer?No, that didn’t sound right. “What are you doing here?”
“I was just wondering if you had another treat for me today?”
Well, that hit a sore spot.
“I guess I could treat your face to my fist.” I picked at a piece of dirt beneath my nail.
“Already thinking outside the box, I see.” His eyes widened and his smile morphed into a grin as he leaned closer. I welcomed the scent of maple syrup. Had he eaten waffles for breakfast? “Tell me, Cupcake. What other treats can you think of that don’t involve food?”
He was close now—way too close for someone who’d not only touched my food but devoured it in front of me before bragging about it. My grudge felt like a living, breathing entity. His teasing words fueled it. He’d broken the cardinal rule.
Don’t touch Emma’s food.
“I can think of an old favorite.” My eyes lingered on the thief’s smiling lips. Maybe that was a bad idea, though, because they looked all too welcoming. Like freshly baked donuts sitting behind smudge-resistant glass on a Sunday morning. My stomach rumbled. “A swift kick to the balls for guys who don’t know the meaning of personal space?”
The rogue dimple made an appearance as he laughed, but he also backed off a few steps until he was just outside kicking range.
“Listen… uh,” I said, hesitating when I counted on my brain to somehow magically remember his name if I went to say it. Didn’t work. “Cupcake Thief.” I shook my head to clear the cobwebs residing there, then coughed before soldiering on. “It’s not—”
His hand flew up, and he motioned for me to shut up as his smile fell for the first time this morning. Big green eyes blinked back at me in adorable bafflement. “Hold up. Did you seriously forget my name?”
Flames licked my cheeks, and I shuffled my foot against the ground.
“It’s nothing personal.” I gestured pathetically with one hand as the other one tapped out a tune against the van. “I mean, Iwasa little distracted the last time we met.”
He gaped at me, chestnut hair ruffled by the breeze the only thing not frozen in shock.
The building’s side door burst open before I could dig myself into a deeper hole, and Mr. Muscles came lumbering out with two steaming to-go cups. My mouth watered on instinct, and I straightened up from the side of the van, clenching my hands into fists to stop myself from sprinting over and busting both coffees from his hands.
Mr. Muscles smiled as he reached us. He handed me one of the large cups. “Here you go.”
“Thanks,” I said appreciatively, trying to tame the smile taking over my face as the blissful scent of espresso accosted my nose.
