Page 30 of The Soulmate Bakery

I felt a blush spread across my face at the open admiration in his voice. ‘It’s just a spell.’

Orion shook his head and pointed at me. ‘Add learning how to take compliments to our list of things to work on.’

I rolled my eyes and finished off my last bite of lunch before turning back to my dessert. I thought Orion would leave, but instead he moved to lean back against one of the counters, hooking one ankle over the other, watching me.

‘So, I suppose we should talk about the second part of our plan – you know, making your werewolf fall in love with you.’

I looked up from my bowl of whipped cream to shoot Orion a sharp glare.

‘How often do you actually talk to the guy?’

Embarrassment flooded through me, but to be fair to Orion, his question was simple.

Still, it felt like an attack.

‘I’ve spoken to him you know, like, a couple of times.’

‘A couple,’ Orion repeated, dubiously. ‘And I suppose you mean “couple” as in, more than once or twice?’

I opened my mouth and then snapped it shut. Instead of replying, I focused on getting my shells ready to bake.

‘If you’ve barely even spoken to the guy, how can you be so sure he’s your soulmate?’ Orion asked, confusion evident in his voice. I looked up to see the furrow between his eyebrows deepen. His arms were folded over his chest, his muscles straining in his leather jacket – honestly, it was cooking in this kitchen, did he really need to wear a jacket in here too?

‘Well, for one, he’s good-looking,’ I said, beginning at the very basic surface level.

‘If you like that kind of thing,’ Orion retorted, and I felt a laugh bubble out of me.

‘What kind of thing, being handsome?’ I shot back, thinking about the way sunlight made Silas’s hair glow.

‘He’s blonde,’ he said, like Silas had something offensive tattooed on his head.

‘Exactly,’ I stressed, my mouth tipping upwards into a grin. ‘Not many guys can pull off being blonde. I mean, if you dyed your hair blonde, I’d think you were going through a breakdown.’

Orion’s mouth dropped open in outrage, and I bit back a smile. With expert care, I dipped each of the berries in a warmed sugar syrup.

‘Fine,’ he replied through gritted teeth. ‘He’s good-looking and you’ve spoken to him twice, so that makes him your soulmate how exactly?’

‘He’s also sweet.’

‘He’s sweet,’ Orion mimicked. ‘What? Does he, like, tutor kids on the weekend or something?’

‘No,’ I replied, and then corrected myself. ‘Maybe he does! But if you must know every embarrassing detail of my life – he saved me.’

‘He saved you?’ Now Orion’s eyebrows were practically up to his hairline. ‘Were you in imminent danger? What, a stray whisk hit you in the forehead and, let me guess – he caught it?’

‘I was being bullied, and he stepped in and looked out for me,’ I snapped back, and Orion’s jaw clicked shut. I tried not to feel smug – we were talking about my childhood trauma after all – but it was nice to see Orion shut up for once.

‘Silas Moon isn’t just a cute, sweet guy,’ I continued into the silence. ‘He’s a good guy.’

And it was true. Silas was a good guy, a great guy – the kind of guy you wanted to be your soulmate.

The silence stretched long between us; I watched Orion from my periphery.

‘There are three steps to making someone fall in love with you,’ he finally said. The teasing tone from earlier was gone.

I scoffed loudly, but Orion remained unchanged and serious. ‘Three steps? You’re saying one of the most profound emotions to ever be felt can be obtained in only three steps?’

‘Yes. Now, one: make him notice you,’ Orion explained, his tone slipping into that easy, understanding voice he used when he was teaching me the summoning spell. ‘Silas is popular, right? He’s surrounded by people. You need him to see you in the crowd. I mean, we know he knows who you are, but I mean get him to notice you in a positive light.’