Bake Until Marriage

Chapter Three

Raven was locking up the shop when her phone broke the silence. Balancing her phone between her shoulder and her ear, she shuffled around the storefront. "Hello?"

"Miss Roth."

Raven paused, and stopped moving. Even though it had been almost a week since she had first spoken to him, there was no mistaking that deep, gravelly voice. Her heart jumped into her throat and she scrambled to find a pen and paper, hoping it would make her feel more in control. Right now, Damian Wayne made her feel like she had lost a handle on her very ordered life. "Oh! Mr. Wayne. I wasn't expecting to hear back from you so soon. How are you doing?"

He made a noise, as if taken aback by that question, and Raven wondered if anyone had ever asked how he was before. People were usually too busy bending to his every whim to stop and ask how he was actually feeling. Her heart turned over and she leaned against the counter, waiting for him to answer.

"I am... fine. I suppose."

"You suppose?" Raven was silently kicking herself for being so casual with him, but there was something about his response that made her feel like she needed to prod him a little. He seemed like the kind of person that people usually tip-toed around, and Raven refused to let him have the upperhand in their conversation. "Is wedding planning becoming too overwhelming and arduous? Trying to coordinate the color of the napkins with the centerpieces?"

"Fascinating." He huffed out an almost amused snort. "It's like you can read my mind."

Raven felt a smile pull at the edges of her lips, and she almost let go of a sigh of relief. He wasn't so opposed to the way she talked to him. "Whatever the choice is, go with black. Black goes with everything." This time she did hear a soft chuckle escape, and her heart twisted again. Maybe working with him wasn't going to be so bad.

"Are you always so chatty with your clients?"

"Not usually, no. But, color me intrigued." She tapped her pen against the pad of paper in front of her, shifting on her feet. "Besides, I take it that if you're contacting me, then I must have passed the audition from a few days ago?"

"Audition? Is that what you wanted to call it?" There was a small, teasing note in his stern voice, and it did something strange in her chest. He hummed, pretending to think. "I was under the impression that I was simply buying a cake."

"I know better. My cakes speak for themselves."

"Mm. Well, if that was an audition, then I suppose I'll have to admit that you passed." There was a brief pause and she could hear his shuffling papers on the other end. "I'd like to meet with you to discuss finalizing a contract."

Raven was helpless against the smile that spread across her face. Yes. The contract was hers. The money from the cake alone would be generous, but with baking the cake for something like Damian Wayne's wedding came the notoriety. She would be swimming in orders for cakes just like his. Taking a deep breath, she let it out slowly and stood back up, hoping the unfettered excitement wasn't obvious in her voice. "I'm glad my work really does speak for itself then. Were you interested in setting up a tasting soon? I can reach out to your planner if you'd prefer her to handle all the details."

There was a long pause on the other line, as if Damian was weighing her suggestion. "No. I'd rather not wait for my wedding planner to try and schedule an appointment. My personal and professional schedules are a nightmare right now, and I would much rather keep this as simple as possible. For convenience sake."

"Mm." Raven shifted and walked back to the closet that doubled as her office, taking a look at her calendar. "What time are you thinking? I can work around that."