Page 60 of Royal Icing

Beatrice smiled—a real smile this time—then pressed her lips together to hide it.

“Maybe so. He has a meeting, and I wanted to give him some talking points. Well, I’m very relieved you’re feeling well. We’re all excited to see what you and Miss Farrell come up with.”

Emma bit her lip so she wouldn’t laugh. As if Maya had contributed anything meaningful to this project.

“Did you prepare your shopping list?” Beatrice asked. “I’m happy to turn it in to the head of the kitchen.”

“Yes,” Emma said. She looked behind her, then remembered that it was buried under the blueprints Leo had just thrown on the floor.

“Whoops. Cooper must have knocked these off,” she said, crouching down and digging through the mess.

Cooper whined, probably voicing his displeasure at being blamed for his mom’s shenanigans.

“Here you are.” Emma handed the list over.

“Great. Thank—do you smell something?” Beatrice paused with her nose in the air.

Emma sniffed. Oh, shit. What was that, rubber burning?

She had put Leo’s shoes in the oven. Idiot.

“Oh, no. That must be my test batch of macarons,” Emma said—despite the tray very clearly sitting on top of the oven. “I better get those. Thanks for stopping by.”

“Have a good day,” Beatrice said as Emma all but shoved her out the door.

“Fuck,” Emma said. She ripped the oven door open and yanked the shoes out with a pair of tongs.

They hadn’t actually caught on fire, though the soles looked a bit meltier than they had earlier. And now the apartment smelled like feet.

Leo poked his head out of the bathroom. “All clear?”

Emma nodded. “I may have burnt your shoes.”

“You what?”

She pointed to the sink, where a curl of smoke rose above the boots. “Sorry. I panicked.”

Leo laughed. He was all sex and sunshine, the darts of his hips visible above the waistband of his jeans. She went to reach for him when something changed in his expression, and he pulled his phone out.

“Damn, Idohave a meeting.”

Her heart fell, but it quickly righted itself when he crossed the room in two strides and delivered another searing kiss, pressing her against the door and cradling the back of her head in his hand.

“Have dinner with me. Tomorrow,” he said breathlessly.

Another demand. But this one she didn’t mind.

“Where?” she asked, pulling back to look at him. “We can’t be seen together.”

He paused for a moment. “Meet me in the greenhouse at six. I’ll take care of everything.”

She flushed with pleasure. She was playing with fire, but something about Leo was outweighing her capacity for logic. In less than a week, she would be back to her regular, monotonous life. Didn’t she deserve to explore this connection while she could?

With one last breath-stealing kiss, he shrugged into his shirt, put on his toasty boots, and left. Things had escalatedveryquickly. Her life was unrecognizable from one week ago.

What was she getting herself into?

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE