Page 105 of Falling for the Billionaire Best Man

“Is it broken?” he asked, frowning.

“You have to actually turn it,” I said, trying not to laugh.

He started aggressively cranking the handle. Flour exploded out of the sifter in a cloud, dusting the counter, the floor, and even Kaisen’s T-shirt. He stood there blinking, his face and hair speckled white like he’d just been caught in a snowstorm. For a moment, there was silence. Then he looked at me, his expression deadpan.

“Is this how it’s supposed to work?”

I burst out laughing. “Not exactly,” I managed to say between laughs. “But you’re getting there.”

He grinned, brushing the flour off his shirt with exaggerated swipes. “I think I’m making it much more complicated.”

“Here, let me show you.” I stepped closer. “Gentle twists,” I instructed, demonstrating the motion. “No need to go full drill sergeant on it.”

He followed my lead. He nodded as he got the hang of it, and when he finished, he looked at me with a proud smile. “How’s that?”

“Perfect,” I said, giving him a thumbs-up. “You’re officially a sifter now.”

“Glad to have passed the first test. What’s next?”

I handed him a whisk and a bowl of softened butter. “Mix the butter and sugar together until it’s light and fluffy.”

Kaisen was a surprisingly good assistant. He followed my instructions to the letter, measuring ingredients, mixing batters, and even cracking eggs without getting shells in the bowl. As we worked, the panic that had been gnawing at me slowly started to fade. When Kaisen tried to whisk batter with far too much enthusiasm, things got wild once again. Batter flew everywhere.

“You’re supposed to whisk it, not attack it,” I teased, wiping a bit of batter off his cheek with my thumb.

He grinned, catching my hand and pressing a kiss to my palm. “Sorry, Chef. I’ll try to be more gentle.”

We flirted and talked as we worked. I tried to explain Eliza’s cake. I had a feeling he wasn’t really seeing what I was trying to describe. That was fine. He would see.

“And the groom’s cake?” he asked.

I pulled the first cakes from the oven and put them on the cooling racks. “Cullen’s not really a cake guy, so I’m doing something simple. Chocolate with a whiskey glaze. Nothing fancy. I went rogue.”

Kaisen poured us each a glass of wine with the first cakes done. I felt myself finally starting to relax. The sound of the rain tapping against the windows made everything feel okay. I rotated the cakes from the oven to cool, jotting down notes on sticky notes to keep track of everything.

Kaisen watched me for a moment, then gestured to the groom’s cake. “Can I try decorating it? I mean, it doesn’t need to be perfect, right? Cullen doesn’t even eat carbs.”

I hesitated, then shrugged. “Sure, why not? Just don’t go crazy.”

He grinned, picking up a piping bag and squeezing a glob of frosting onto the cake. I watched as he attempted to create some kind of design, though it looked more like a child’s finger painting than anything else. I couldn’t help but laugh, shaking my head. This could be a new trend in groom’s cakes—let the best man decorate it.

“You’re terrible at this,” I said, taking the piping bag from him. “Here, let me show you.”

“Okay, okay,” he said. “I can do that.”

We both knew he couldn’t, but I was happy to let him try. He went back to icing and I grabbed a sticky note to jot down another note. I started doodling my designs, my mind wandering as I sketched. Before I knew it, I’d drawn a little picture of the two of us—me with a piping bag, him with a glass of wine. It was silly, but it made me smile.

Kaisen noticed and leaned over to look. “What’s this?” he asked.

“Just a doodle. Don’t overthink it.”

He studied the drawing for a moment, then grabbed a pen and added his own touch—a terrible sketch of Rick, my cat, between us. I laughed, shaking my head. “That’s the worst cat I’ve ever seen.”

He grinned, but there was something in his eyes—something I couldn’t quite place. It was almost like uncertainty, like he wasn’t really feeling the little sketch. But before I could say anything, he seemed to snap out of it, his smile returning.

“I have something for you,” he said, setting down his wine glass and reaching into his pocket.

I raised an eyebrow, watching as he pulled out a small velvet box. My heart skipped a beat as he opened it, revealing a pair of stunning diamond earrings. They sparkled in the light. They weren’t anything garish. Very elegant. Classy. Beautiful.