Page 82 of Jake and Conner

When it was finallytime to welcome the rest of our guests at the reception, Jake left Connie in the care of his dad and we approached the cake. Jake and Dean had worked on it together for a long time and it had turned out beautifully. A three-layer strawberry cake with mascarpone buttercream. I hadn't tasted it yet, but I was sure it was going to be absolutely delicious. My husband had promised me as much.

Knife in hand, Jake cut two small pieces out of the uppermost layer. Then he took one of them while I took the other.

The plan was that we were going to feed each other. But just as I was about to offer the sugary treat in my hand to Jake, he smiled and said, "You know what Jake plus Conner is? It'scake."

I blinked, puzzling over this. Had he just taken the first letter of my name and--?

My thoughts stopped short when a piece of cake landed in my face--right on my nose!--and laughter roared from the crowd. I wiped my face and glared at my mate. It was hard to be annoyed at him, though, while he was smiling like that, so I did the next best thing and threw my own piece of cake at him. I didn't hit his nose, but his cheek.

He laughed, scooped the cream from his skin with a finger and sucked it into his mouth. "Delicious," he said with a grin.

I licked my upper lip, tasting sugar. He was right. I laughed too and took my mate's hand to draw him in for a kiss. I knew in that moment that Jake plus Conner wasn'tcake.

It was ultimate happiness.