Excerpt 1.

I frantically checked every inch of the kitchen, high and low, even in the cool professional-grade oven that I briefly wished I’d had the opportunity to test out for this occasion, but there was absolutely no sign of my cupcake creations. Someone had clearly taken them. There was no other explanation. 

Panic surged through me, and I spun around and punched open the door and called out for Marie right away. “The cupcakes are gone!” I shouted in panic and despair.

“Wait, what? Are you sure?” Marie responded, her head popping up from laying out the last of the cookies. She appeared baffled as she rushed to my side and saw for herself that the kitchen was empty of any more baked goods. 

I recounted searching every possible place in the kitchen they could be, tears stinging my eyes. “I worked so hard on those.” Weeks of baking and freezing and crafting the flavors and planning. Now it was all gone. 

Dismayed, Marie grabbed me up for a quick hug and set me free again, determination in her light eyes. “I’ll go ask the servers if any of them maybe moved them somewhere. They have to be around here. Cupcakes don’t just get up and walk away!” She was already gone, leaving the swinging door batting back and forth behind her. 

It didn’t matter what she promised though. Like a mother’s sixth sense about the safety of her children, I knew, deep down, that the cupcakes were gone.

Excerpt 2.

I smiled down at my phone, heart lifting. Only three more days until he returned. I could make it. We’d survived the whirlwind of the holidays apart. Now I was ready to start this new year together. 

The next evening after closing the bakery for the night, I decided to test a new molten lava cake recipe to surprise Sam with when he got home. Home… When had I started thinking of my apartment as our home? 

I was whisking the chocolatey batter when I heard the gentle bump of the front door closing and the click of the locks setting into place. Heart kicking up its pace, I leaned back and peeked around the corner.

“I couldn’t wait three more days to see this gorgeous face,” Sam said as he came to stand in the doorway, revealing a frosty bouquet of wildflowers from behind his back.

Dropping everything, I let out a joyful shriek and ran into his open arms. Sam lifted me off my feet, spinning me around. “I missed you so much.” I laughed into his shoulder, overwhelmed with happiness at this perfect surprise. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Like I said, I couldn’t wait,” he reiterated, kissing me soundly on the lips. 

“You should have called. Texted. I would have picked you up!” 

“And ruin the surprise?” he scoffed, kissing my smiling lips again. 

Over lavish homecooked steaks courtesy of Sam and his skills in the kitchen and my decadent lava cake that turned out perfectly, Sam told me all about the conference, complete with mishaps and networking disasters, but mostly the good stuff, like the new gear his captain had ordered that would no doubt save more lives and keep him and his crew safer. “I hated being away for so long, but it helped me realize what really matters,” he said softly, toying with my fingers on the tabletop.

“And what’s that?” I asked, my tone matching his.

“You,” Sam said simply. “Building a life with you, Luce. However that looks as we grow together.”