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The
Cupcake Diaries Book Three: TASTE OF ROMANCE
(Avon
Impulse; on-sale May 21st, 2013; e-book ISBN: 9780062242839)
For fans of Debbie
Macomber comes Taste of Romance, the
third installment in the Cupcake Diaries series. Kimberly Burke has avoided all
types of risk since her mother's deadly plane crash—including risky
relationships. Seems like everyone is always leaving her behind: her
ex-boyfriend, her mother, and now her sister Andi and best friend Rachel—who
have each found the man of her dreams. Then she meets Nathaniel when she
mistakes his backyard for the new community park. He loves her passion, and
when he learns of her wistful desire to travel, he takes her up in a hot air
balloon, hoping to overcome her fear of flying so that she can accompany him
abroad. But before he leaves, they must catch the Cupcake Bandit and replace
the money stolen from Creative Cupcakes before the shop is shut down. Will
discovering the thief's identity persuade Kim to take a risk on love ... or
will she stay behind and let Nathaniel fly off without her?
Excerpt ~*~
Chapter One
All I really
need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt!
—Charles Schulz
Focus, Kim reprimanded herself. Keep to the task at hand and stop
eavesdropping on other people’s conversations.
But she didn’t need to hear the crack
of the teenage boy’s heart to feel his pain. Or to remember the last time she’d
heard the wretched words “I’m leaving” spoken to her.
She tried to ignore the couple as
she picked up the pastry bag filled with pink icing and continued to decorate
the tops of the strawberry preserve cupcakes. However, the discussion between
the high school boy and what she assumed to be his girlfriend kept her
attentive.
“When will I see you again?” he
asked.
Kim glanced toward them and leaned
closer.
“I don’t know,” the girl replied.
The soft lilt in her accent thrust
the familiarity of the conversation even deeper into Kim’s soul.
“I'll be going to the university
for two years,” the girl continued. “Maybe we meet again after.”
Not likely. Kim shook her head,
and her stomach tightened. From past
experience, she knew once the school year was over in June, most foreign
students went home, never to return.
And left many broken hearts in
their wake.
“Two years is a long time,” the
boy said.
Forever
was even longer. Kim drew in a deep breath as the
unmistakable catch in the poor boy’s voice replayed again and again in her
mind. And her heart.
How long were they going to stand
there and torment her by reminding her of her parting four years earlier with
Gavin, the Irish student she’d dated through college? Dropping the bag of icing
on the Creative Cupcakes’ counter,
she moved toward them.
“Can I help you?” Kim asked,
pulling on a new pair of food handler’s gloves.
“I’ll have the white chocolate
macadamia,” the girl said, pointing to the cupcake she wanted in the glass
display case.
The boy dug his hands into his
pockets, counted the meager change he’d managed to withdraw, and turned five
shades of red.
“None for me.” His Adam’s apple
bobbed as he swallowed. “How much for hers?”
“You have to have one, too,” the
girl protested. “It’s your birthday.”
Kim took one look at his
lost-for-words expression and said, “If today is your birthday, the cupcakes
are free.” She added, “For both you and your guest.”
The teenager’s face brightened.
“Really?”
Kim nodded and removed the
cupcakes the two lovebirds wanted from the display case. She even put a
birthday candle on one of them, a heart on the other. Maybe the girl would come
back for him. Or he would fly to Ireland for her. Maybe.
Her eyes stung, and she squeezed
them shut for a brief second. When she opened them again, she set her jaw.
Enough was enough. Now that they had their cupcakes, she could escape back into
her work and forget about romance and relationships and every regrettable
moment she’d ever wasted on love.
She didn’t need it. Not like her
older sister, Andi, who had recently lost her heart to Jake Hartman, their
Creative Cupcakes’ financier and reporter for the Astoria Sun. Or like her other co-owner friend, Rachel, who had
just gotten engaged to Mike Palmer, a miniature model maker for movies who also
doubled as the driver of their Cupcake Mobile.
All she needed was to dive deep
into her desire to put paint on canvas. She glanced at the walls of the cupcake
shop, adorned with her scenic oil, acrylic, and watercolor paintings. Maybe if
she worked hard enough, she’d have the money to open her own art gallery, and
she wouldn’t need to decorate cupcakes anymore.
But for now, she needed to serve
the next customer. Where was Rachel?
“Hi, Kim.” Officer Ian Lockwell, one of their
biggest supporters, sat on one of the stools lining the marble cupcake counter.
“I’m wondering if you have the back party room available on June 27?”
Kim reached under the counter and
pulled out the three-ring binder she, Andi, and Rachel had dubbed the Cupcake
Diary to keep track of all things cupcake related. Looking at the calendar, she
said, “Yes, the date is open. What’s the occasion?”
“My wife and I have been married
almost fifteen years,” the big, square-jawed cop told her. “We’re planning on
renewing our vows on our anniversary and need a place to celebrate with friends
and family.”
“No better place to celebrate love
than Creative Cupcakes,” Kim assured him, glancing around at all the couples in
the shop. “I’ll put you on the schedule.”
Next, the door opened, and a
stream of romance writers filed in for their weekly meeting. Kim pressed her
lips together. The group intimidated her with their watchful eyes and poised
pens. They scribbled in their notebooks whenever she walked by as if writing
down her every move, and she didn’t want to give them any useful fodder. She
hoped Rachel could take their orders, if she could find her.
“Rachel?”
No answer, but the phone rang—a
welcome distraction. She picked up and said, “Creative Cupcakes, this is Kim.”
“What are you doing there? I
thought you were going to take time off.”
Kim pushed into the privacy of the
kitchen, glad it was Andi and not another customer despite the impending lecture
tone. “I still have several dozen cupcakes to decorate.”
“Isn’t Rachel there with you?”
The door of the walk-in pantry
burst open, and Rachel and Mike emerged, wrapped in each other’s arms, laughing
and grinning.
Kim rolled her eyes. “Yes,
Rachel’s here.”
Rachel extracted herself from
Mike’s embrace and mouthed the word “sorry.”
But Kim knew she wasn’t. Rachel
had been in her own red-headed, happy bubble ever since macho, dark-haired Mike
the Magnificent had proposed two weeks earlier.
“I’ll be in for my shift as soon
as I get Mia off to afternoon kindergarten,” Andi continued, “and the shop’s
way ahead in sales. There’s no reason you can’t take a break. Ever since you
broke up with Gavin, you’ve become a workaholic.”
Kim sucked in her breath at the mention
of his name. Only Andi dared to ever bring him up.
“Gavin has nothing to do with my
work.”
“You never date.”
“I’m concentrating on my career.”
“It’s been years since you’ve been
out with anyone. You need to slow down, take time to smell the roses.”
“Smell the roses?” Kim gasped.
“Are you serious?”
“Go on an adventure,” Andi
amended.
“Working is an adventure.”
“You used to dream of a different
kind of adventure,” Andi said, lowering her voice. “The kind that requires a
passport.”
Kim wished she’d never picked up
the phone. Just because her sister had her life put back together didn’t mean
she had the right to tell her how to live.
“Painting cupcakes and canvas is
the only adventure I need right now. I promised Dad I’d have the money to pay
him for my new art easel by the end of the week.”
“Dad doesn’t care about the money,
but he does care about you. He asked me to call.”
“He did?” Kim stopped in front of
the sink and rubbed her temples with her fingertips. Her sister was known to
overreact, but their father? He didn’t voice concern unless it was legitimate.
With the phone to her ear, she
returned to the front counter of the couple-filled cupcake shop, her heart
screaming louder and louder with each consecutive beat.
They were everywhere. By the window, at the tables, next to the display case.
Couples, couples, couples. Everyone had a partner, had someone.
Almost
everyone.
Instead of Goonies Day, the
celebration of the 1985 release date of The
Goonies movie, which was filmed in Astoria, she would have thought the
calendar had been flipped back to Valentine’s Day at Creative Cupcakes. And in
her opinion, one Valentine’s Day a
year was more than enough.
She reached a hand into the pocket
of her pink apron and clenched the golden wings she had received on her first
airplane flight as a child. The pin never left her side, and like the flying
squirrel tattooed on her shoulder, it reminded her of her dream to fly, if not
to another land, then at least to the farthest reaches of her imagination.
Where her heart would be free.
Okay, maybe she did spend too much time at the cupcake
shop. “Tell Dad not to worry,” Kim said into the phone. “Tell
him … I’m taking the afternoon off.”
“Promise?” Andi persisted.
Oh,
yeah. Tearing off her apron, she turned around and threw it over
Rachel’s and Mike’s heads. “I’m
heading out the door now.”
Five
minutes later, Kim stood outside the cupcake shop on Marine Drive, wondering
which direction to go. The tattoo parlor was on her left, a boutique to her
right, and the waterfront walk beneath the giant arching framework of the
Astoria−Megler Bridge stretched straight in front.
Turning her back on it all, she
decided to take a new path and soon discovered an open wrought iron gate along
Bond Road. This had to be the side entrance to Astoria’s new community park,
the one Andi had been raving about the week before, and hadn’t her sister told
her to “smell the roses”?
Kim walked through the gate toward
a large circle of white rosebushes and began to count off each flower as she
leaned in to fill her lungs with their strong, fragrant scent. “One, two,
three … ”
After smelling seventeen, she
moved toward the yellows. “Eighteen, nineteen, twenty … ”
Past the gazebo she found red
roses, orange roses, and a vast variety of purples and pinks. “Forty-six,
forty-seven, forty-eight … ”
Her artist’s eye took in the
palette of color, and imagining the scene on canvas, she wished she’d brought
along her paints and brushes. “Sixty-two, sixty-three, sixty-four … ”
Andi had been right. The sweet,
perfumed scent of the roses did seem to ease her tension and help block out all
thoughts of romance. Even if the rose was
a notorious symbol of love. And
the flower that garnished the most sales over romantic holidays. With petals used for flower girl baskets at weddings.
Who needed romance anyway? Not
her.
She bent to smell the next group
of flowers and noticed a tall, blond man with work gloves carrying a potted
rosebush past the ivy trellis. As his gaze caught hers, he appeared to pause.
Then he smiled.
Kim smiled back and moved toward
the next rose.
“Can I help you?” the gardener
asked, walking over.
Oh, no. He had a foreign accent, Scandinavian, like some of the locals
whose ancestors first inhabited the area. And she had an acute weakness for
foreign accents.
“I think I need to do this
myself,” Kim replied. “My goal is to smell a hundred roses.”
“Why a hundred?”
“That’s the number of things on my
to-do list. I thought stopping to smell one rose per task might balance out my
life.”
“Interesting concept.” The
attractive gardener appeared to suppress a grin. “How many more do you have to
go?”
“I’m at sixty-seven.”
“I didn’t mean to interrupt.” He
set the rosebush down, took off a glove, and extended his hand. “I’m Nathaniel
Sjölander.”
“Kimberly Burke,” she said,
accepting the handshake. His hand, much larger than her own, surrounded hers
with warmth.
“I have to load a couple dozen
roses into my truck for the Portland Rose Festival tomorrow, but by all
means—keep sniffing.”
Kim pulled rose number sixty-eight
toward her, a yellow flower as buttery and delicately layered as
a … freshly baked croissant. Hunger sprang to life inside her empty
stomach, and she realized she’d been so busy working, she’d forgotten to eat
lunch.
She watched Nathaniel Sjölander
move between the potted plants. Was he single? Would someone like him be
interested in her? Maybe ask her to dinner? And why hadn’t she dated anyone in the past few years? She could argue that
good-looking single men were hard to come by, but the truth was, she just
hadn’t taken the initiative to find one.
Nathaniel made several trips back
and forth between the greenhouse and the gate, his gaze sliding toward her
again and again. Oh, yes! He was
definitely interested. Her pulse quickened as he approached her a second time.
“I think you missed a few.”
Nathaniel pulled a cut bouquet of red roses from behind his back and presented
them to her.
“Thank you.” She hugged the
flowers against her chest and lifted her gaze from the Sjölander’s Garden
Nursery business logo embroidered on his tan work shirt to his warm,
kind … blue eyes.
Oh, man, why did they have to be blue?
Blue was her favorite color. She could get lost in blue. Especially his blue, a blend of sparkling azure
with a hint of sea green. Reminded her of the ripples in the water where the
Columbia River met the Pacific Ocean just a few miles outside Astoria.
“Sjölander. Is that Finnish?” she
asked.
“Swedish. Most of my family
resides in Sweden, with the exception of my brother and a few cousins.”
His name was incredibly familiar.
Where had she come across the name Sjölander before? The Cupcake Diary!
“I’m co-owner of Creative
Cupcakes,” Kim informed him. “Didn’t you book us for an upcoming event?”
“Must be for the wedding.”
Wedding? She held her breath. “Yours?”
He flashed her a smile. “No. My
brother’s.”
“Of course.” She breathed easy
once again.
“They’ve decided to have the
ceremony in the new community park.”
Kim looked around, confused.
“Isn’t this the new community park?”
Nathaniel laughed. “The park is
two blocks down the street and much larger than my backyard.”
“Your backyard?”
Kim’s mouth popped open in an
embarrassed O. Heat seared her
cheeks. No wonder he’d been watching her. He was probably wondering what crazy
chick was wandering around his property!
And as for the flowers? She
doubted he meant them to symbolize anything romantic. Why would he? She was an
idiot! The guy was probably just trying to be nice. Or maybe he thought giving
her flowers would encourage her to leave. Worse—she would have to face him
again in a few weeks at his brother’s wedding.
With an inward groan she squeezed
her eyes shut, wishing she could start the day over. Or maybe the whole last
decade. Then without further ado she set her jaw and looked up.
“Thanks for the roses,” she
mumbled. And before she could embarrass herself further, she hurried out the
gate and back to the cupcake shop—where she belonged.
About the Author ~*~
Darlene Panzera is
the winner of the “Make Your Dreams Come True” contest sponsored by Avon Books.
The win led her novella, The Bet, to be published with Debbie Macomber’s Family
Affair. The award-winning novella (chosen in a blind-read by Debbie Macomber)
was then published as a full length novel retitled, Bet You’ll Marry Me. Born
and raised in New Jersey, Darlene is now a resident of the Pacific Northwest
where she lives with her husband and three children. When not writing she
enjoys spending time with her family, two horses, and loves: camping, hiking,
photography, and lazy days at the lake.
Author Links ~*~
@DarlenePanzera
Thank you for featuring my book here today!
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