Page 5 of Bake You Mine (Port Fortune #1)

Once Sasha spilled the beans on the competition, he could hardly eat two bites of his dinner without fielding questions. Everyone had ideas on how he should win the space.

“I think you should go for it, little bro,” Brandon said. “Especially since I’m up to my elbows with the clucker from hell project and won’t be able to throw any more money into Elevation for a while.”

“Don’t remind me,” Liam muttered; simultaneously, their mother said, “Language, Brandon.” As if he were one of the kids instead of thirty-eight years old.

Brandon’s money was tied up with a collegiate chicken franchise called Cluck U out of the Carolinas.

He was on the verge of opening two locations in the Port Fortune area.

Until then, it was sucking both his soul and his bank account dry.

The timing was shit, but nothing could be done about it.

Besides, money was only half the problem.

There was nowhere in Port Fortune they could move to, even if they had the funds.

“What happens if you don’t win?” his mother asked. “Will you be stuck?

He shrugged. “I don’t want to consider failure, especially before this stupid competition begins. ”

If he lost, he had time to consider his next move. He put on his best face, hoping his family would buy it.

“I don’t want to lose you again, William.” His mother reached over to squeeze his hand.

Clearly, his mask wasn’t affixed as well as he’d hoped.

Liam had left Port Fortune at eighteen. He’d been grateful for his adventures but had missed out on a lot.

He was still a restless spirit—he daydreamed about working in Michelin-level kitchens again—but he’d stay in Port Fortune if he won.

If he didn’t, well, he had time to figure that out.

His lease wasn’t up until next year. He had time.

Still, he didn’t want to drop the proverbial turd in the pool, so with all his family staring at him, he put on his best smile and told them a version of the truth. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“I’m glad to hear that. You look like there’s a bee in your bonnet. What’s wrong?” His mother patted his hand.

His family would only rag on him if he told them the source of his resting dick face. He was pissed Aubrey hadn’t folded like a pile of laundry when he’d given her the opportunity.

Besides, the competition could be fun. Especially given that today he’d found out Aubrey was funny. It wouldn’t be the worst few weeks of his life if he kept his thoughts about her strictly PG. No, PG meant certain adult situations were allowed. They had to remain rated G.

He hadn’t thought about her much before today, so that shouldn’t be too challenging.

“Nothing’s wrong. I’m considering what I’m going to make for the first challenge.”

Kiki grinned at him from across the dinner table, and Liam reached over and took her nose between his thumb and forefinger, making her wiggle happily in her seat.

His mother swirled her wine around in her glass. “You’ll be such a good father, Liam. I want to introduce you to a few women. There’s one in particular?—”

That earned a universal, “Ma, enough!” from all the adults at the table.

Even though his siblings could bicker like the world was ending, they always had each other’s backs, no matter what.

After a million kisses to Kiki, his mom, and the other kids, Liam finally closed the front door behind him and Sasha. She was itching to drive his Challenger to the restaurant, and seeing that he had a message from Dani that he had to reply to, he tossed her the keys.

Dani toyed with him for a few texts before admitting she had work early in the morning.

“Wow, you must be taking this competition seriously.” Sasha paused at the end of the driveway to glance over at his phone. “Oh, never mind. You’re talking to…no, not Dani, Liam. I thought we’d been over this.”

Sasha and Dani were oil and water. They’d never gotten along, so her comment came as no surprise.

He set his phone on his thigh. “You don’t like it when I butt into your love life, how about you return the favor?”

She pulled up to the stoplight at the end of the street. The light changed, and she gunned it through the intersection.

Liam gripped the edge of his seat. “Take it easy.”

“You don’t have a love life. That’s why Ma worries. Your looks won’t last forever. You need to find a nice woman. A not Dani woman.”

“Just like you need to find a nice guy, not that douchebag you’re seeing.” He gestured out the windshield when she side-eyed him. “Eyes on the road, Sasha.”

“Sure thing, boss man.” She fired off a one-fingered salute.

It was a damned good thing he loved his car as much as he loved his sister .

After he sent a message to Dani, he opened one of his social media apps.

He hated to admit it, but selfies got way more likes than any other posts.

He should be grateful to have a platform that translated into income, but he’d started to grow tired of comments on food-related posts asking for more salacious photos, or comments like one that popped up on his screen.

If you’re gonna post pictures of salads, at least hold them up next to your abs, hot chef.

He dismissed the notification and clicked over to his Explore page to see which accounts were recommended to him.

One of Aubrey’s posts was at the top. This wasn’t the first time she’d been suggested to him.

In the past, he’d clicked over merely to see her engagement numbers: followers, number of likes, comments, etc.

Her feed was filled with photos of her creating, fussy dessert photos, or the occasional candid shot with her kid. Not that she showed Daphne’s face.

The first photo on her feed was of the woman herself. He clicked on it, finding her leaning over Petit Chou’s marble counter, a notebook in front of her, and a pen resting on her chin. She wore a pastel pink, form-fitting dress.

In the photo, she leaned over the counter, exposing a fair amount of cleavage. His thoughts went from G to R, in .002 seconds flat, with all that luscious pale skin on display. Several seconds passed before his eyes dropped to the caption.

Figuring out how to take down #hotchef in an upcoming competition. Exciting news to come…

She’d tagged Liam, and sure enough, when he clicked over to his notifications, he saw several people had tagged him in the post, asking what Aubrey was talking about and even a few asking if they were dating.

It irritated him that she’d gotten the first go at announcing the competition, albeit in a roundabout way.

He was still scrolling through comments when Sasha slammed on the gas to run through a yellow light on the outskirts of downtown. His finger slipped, and he liked the photo.

“Sasha, will you chill the fuck out? This is why I never let you drive.”

“Whatever, we’re running late, and you’d be on my ass otherwise.”

Knowing his sister wasn’t exactly wrong, he returned to his phone. That bright-red heart was still there. He thought about unliking it. Enough time had passed that even if he did, there was a good chance Aubrey had already received the notification, so what was the point?

It wasn’t like she’d know he’d been creeping on her page. She’d tagged him, for Christ’s sake. But he felt he’d just played into whatever plan Aubrey had crafted.