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“You know what they say, practice makes perfect.” Olivia smiled. “Any chance you’re free for lunch today? It’s okay if you’re not, but if you are, there’s a great new sandwich shop nearby that you might like.”
For a second, Olivia thought Cassidy would say no again, but then the other woman returned her smile. “That sounds great.”
* * *
When Olivia got homethat night, she found Sammy baking cupcakes—shirtless.
That sneaky bastard. Heknewwhat seeing him like that did to her.
“Seriously?” She hung her jacket on the coat rack, her mouth watering at the delicious aroma swirling in the air. “That’s unfair.”
“What? I’m working,” he said innocently. “Here, try this. New cupcake recipe. Tell me what you think.”
Olivia took the proffered dessert and bit into it. The flavor of pumpkin spice exploded on her tongue. “Oh my God, this is amazing, and I don’t evenlikepumpkin spice.”
“Yeah?” Sammy looked pleased. “I’ve been working on the recipe all day. Thought I’d finally sell my soul and do a limited-run of pumpkin spice cupcakes for the fall. Tap into the trend and all.”
“It’s a great idea.” She wolfed down the rest of the cupcake. “People will love it.”
“I hope so. By the way, I thought about what you said the other day and decided I’ll hire a CEO.”
He delivered the news so casually it took a few seconds for Olivia’s brain to catch up. “Really?”
Crumble & Bake was expanding so fast bringing on a CEO would be a smart business decision, especially since Sammy hated the management side of things, but Olivia hadn’t expected him to agree or make a movethisfast.
“Yep. I’m drawing up a job description tomorrow. I’ll still have a say in big decisions, and I’ll be the Chief Baking Officer overseeing all store operations and production, but the CEO will take care of the pesky paperwork and all that.” Sammy’s cheeks pinked. “I, uh, overheard the podcast you were listening to the other day, and they were talking about sticking to your zones of genius. Capitalize on what only you can do and do well, delegate the rest. It made sense.”
Olivia grinned. “Told you podcasts are good.”
“Eh, maybe that one episode. Give me good music instead any day of the week.”
“Yeah, yeah.” She hopped onto a kitchen stool and watched Sammy ice the remaining cupcakes. “I have a hypothetical for you.”
“Shoot.”
“What would you do if, say, the girlfriend of a close friend propositioned you?”
Sammy’s head snapped up. He set his icing gun down and crossed his arms over his chest. “Who propositioned you?”
“No one. It’s a hypothetical.”
“Hypotheticals are things that happened but which the people asking them don’t want others to know happened.”
Olivia made a face. “You have some tongs I can use to toss that word salad with?”
“Funny.” Sammy didn’t budge from his crossed-arms position. “Now tell me whose ass I need to kick.”
Was it bad that her stomach fluttered at his commanding tone? “No one important.”
“Liv.”
“Fine.” She blew out a breath. “It was Richard.”
She received a blank stare in response. “Who’s that?”
“My, uh, sister’s fiancé.”
“What?”
