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Grabbing a piece for myself, I return to my chair and take a quick glance around the table to make sure everyone is enjoying the cake. Nothing makes me feel better than knowing someone is enjoying food I created.
“This is amazing,” Evie says as if she read my mind. “I’m so glad you’re handling the cake for the rehearsal dinner.”
“Thank you for asking me. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Of course we asked you. I only wish we could’ve had you do the rehearsal dinner and the wedding reception too, but the hotel has their own caterer.”
“Most wedding facilities do. But, honestly, I’m not equipped to handle something as large as a wedding. At least not yet.” And I don’t know if I ever will be. Having employees would mean I’d have to be making a substantial amount of money in order to pay them. I’d like to get to that point, but it might take some time.
“Darius, are you getting cold feet yet?” Orion asks with a mischievous smirk hooking one side of his mouth.
“Not even a little bit. If I didn’t know Evie was the one for me, I wouldn’t have asked her to marry me.”
“We’ll see how you feel the night before,” Orion continues.
“I already know I’ll be excited to marry the woman I love.” He wraps his arm around Evie’s shoulders.
“Is there anything that still needs to be done?” my mom asks.
Evie shakes her head. “No, everything’s taken care of at this point, but thank you for asking.”
“You’re going to be a beautiful bride,” my mom adds.
Darius pulls Evie closer. “She sure is.”
I love seeing my brother so happy, and Evie is everything I could hope for in a sister-in-law. They’re so comfortably in love with each other. There’s an ease to their relationship I admire and even envy. Sometimes I wish I had a man to lean on, but then I remind myself I can handle whatever life throws at me. Men only complicate things.
CHAPTER3
CALISTA
Humming alongto the soft music playing, I press the rolling pin downward as I move forward and backward over the pie crust. I’ve been baking all morning and it looks like a hurricane blew through my kitchen. The counters are wearing a bit of every dessert I’ve made.
The shrill ringtone on my cell phone halts my rolling.
“Shit.” I dust my hands off on my apron and look at the screen. I don’t recognize the number, so hopefully it’s a new client. “Hello,” I answer.
“Hi, I’m looking for Calista,” a deep voice intones.
“This is she.”
“This is Ryder Goode. I won an auction—”
“Yeah, sure. Ha ha, very funny. Which one of my asshole brothers put you up to this?”
“Uh… I really am Ryder Goode,” he replies, keeping up the charade.
“And I’m J-Lo. Piss off, loser.” I hang up and set the phone on the counter, shaking my head. I’m going to strangle Christos and Orion when I see them. This has their names all over it. Especially when last night they were telling me he was going to call. This is low, even for them. In my mind, I start composing a list of possible retribution methods. I’m only at option two when the FaceTime ringer goes off. I snatch my phone from the counter and peer at the screen. It’s the same number as before. Now, I’m confused as to why they’d FaceTime me. Obviously I’m going to see them.
Unless my brothers are there and they want to rub in how they duped me. Yep.Those fuckers.I might as well get this over with.
Raising the phone up in front of me, I accept the call. “You dickheads,” I say before I see a pair of brown eyes go wide and black eyebrows raise.
“Uh, I can call back if this is a bad time,” he says.
Oh my fucking God, it really is Ryder Goode. Bury me now because I’m too embarrassed to go on living.
My head falls forward until my chin touches my chest and then it snaps up again when I remember he can see me. My eyes lock with his and widen, and my eyebrows fly so high I’m sure they’ve disappeared into my hairline. “Oh my God. I’m so sorry. I thought you were my brothers pranking me.”
