Bake Until Marriage

Chapter Nine

Raven was pretty sure she had now personally met every single member of the Wayne family.

Early last week, Timothy Drake came in, saying he needed to bring a cake to a retirement party at Wayne Enterprises, and that Damian recommended her shop. At first Raven believed him, and then she quickly realized that he was lying. Tim was there to spy on her, and based on his sly, off-handed comments, Raven wondered if he suspected that there was anything going on between her and Damian. That thought made her nervous. The last thing she needed was for word to get out to Emiko Queen that Raven was fraternizing with Emiko's fiance. The media fall out would ruin her career.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain had stopped in a few days ago to pick up cupcakes "for a party", and Raven had seen right through their charade. They were here to investigate her as well. And, Dick had returned two more times to pick up donuts for the precinct. It was as if every Wayne family member had an unquenchable desire to go sticking their noses into her business, and that meant that there were a hundred more chances for something to go horribly awry.

Not that she was helping herself anyway. After, she had taken Damian out for coffee two weeks ago, and she couldn't stop thinking about it. It haunted every thought. The way he smiled at her, somehow both stern and warm at the same time, and his low, rumbling laugh, made her realize how absolutely gone she really was. She liked him, and she couldn't keep pretending that her feelings were simply ones of a burgeoning friendship between them. Raven found herself thinking about Damian far more often than she should, and any time he called or email, she answered without hesitation. She found herself not even minding the late night texts with questions and suggestions.

She was an absolute idiot.

Raven knew she had to stop this behavior soon. She was torturing herself with this, and if she didn't put an end to this soon, all she was going to do was keep hurting herself. Not only was Damian Wayne so far out of her league that they practically lived in different galaxies. And, of course, there was the pesky little fact that he was going to be married in a month. From what Damian had told her, Emiko was coming back from Paris next week, and the last few weeks leading up to their wedding would be finalizing all of their plans.

Their wedding.

The wedding Raven was baking the cake for.

Screwed didn't even begin to describe the kind of trouble she had found herself in.

And yet here she was, continuing to torture herself by delivering six dozen iced cookies to the penthouse suite at a swanky hotel downtown for Damian's bachelor party. Honestly, she should learn to say no to him at some point, but she couldn't stop herself. Apparently she was a glutton for punishment. With a quiet curse, she turned down an alleyway, desperate to avoid the swarm of paparazzi that had gathered at the front of the building. Raven was ushered into the service entrance by the hotel manager, and the heavy steel door slammed closed behind her before any paparazzi could see her.

The hotel manager started helping her with the boxes of cookies, looking frazzled and exhausted. "Please tell me you're Raven Roth, from A Song of Sixpence?"

Raven nodded. "The only one."

He looked relieved, and his shoulders relaxed a fraction of an inch. "Thank god. The party started a few hours ago, and I have had nothing but paparazzi trying to find a way up there to try and get pictures and interviews." He found a wheeled cart for her to set the boxes of cookies on. "I had two people demanding entrance because they were press-" The manager paused to roll his eyes. "-and one actually dressed up as a bellhop. He almost made it to the penthouse before hotel security caught them." He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Needless to say, it's been a bit of a nightmare since the Waynes arrived."