Page 21 of Surrendering His Heart (Buena Hills #4)

A soft chuckle cut through the line. “Do you always analyze your customers’ orders?”

Great, she was analyzing. How unprofessional and inappropriate. What he did with the cakes was none of her business.

“Before you write your scathing review, citing your atrocious customer service experience, let me tell you that no, it isn’t like me to question what my clients order. But I also haven’t had anyone spend almost five hundred dollars on only cakes.”

“What can I say? I’m just extra,” he deadpanned.

Hallie swallowed the snort trying to force its way out, which only caused her to choke on her spit.

“Are you okay?” he asked, sounding like he was also having a hard time holding back his amusement.

Thumping herself on the chest, she cleared out the liquid invading her trachea. “Yep. I’m great.” She coughed. “I can’t picture you ever being extra.”

“Isla must be rubbing off on me. She comes home frequently with new words. I didn’t realize the use of slang started so early. She’s only in kindergarten. They’re still working on learning grammar. Sure, it’s a great idea to throw in a bunch of generational colloquialisms.”

This time, Hallie couldn’t rein in her laughter.

A metallic thump clattered from Christian’s end of the line, followed by a rhythmic humming that sounded like a dryer. Her heart thudded. Thinking of him doing domestic things like laundry provided a strangely attractive picture.

Sheesh, what was wrong with her? Everyone did laundry. She needed a serious reality check.

“The girls seemed to be enjoying themselves when you stopped by my booth yesterday,” she said, partly to prevent her brain from inserting herself into that picture of domestic bliss. Dropping onto her stomach on her bed to get comfier, she kicked her feet up behind her.

“They loved it, especially the hayride. No surprise there.” The whirring in the background grew softer as if he’d moved away from the dryer. “It was always one of my favorite parts. Not much has changed, actually. The whole thing brought back a lot of memories.”

“Good ones, I hope.”

A long pause followed. “Mostly. Being reminded of my dad always makes me sad, especially when I think about my girls never getting to know him.”

Hallie’s heart hitched at the subtle reminder of their conversation in the car. “That must be really hard.” She couldn’t imagine having to live without either one of her parents.

“Yeah.” A heaviness crackled across the line. “But things got better after a bit. It was kind of fun being there with the girls. I’m sure they’ll beg me to take them next year.”

“Of course they will. It’s the happening place to be.”

“Apparently.” Christian’s quiet chuckle brought a smile to Hallie’s face. “How did today go for you? Anyone crazy enough to top my order?”

“I wish. I’d be so much closer to my bakery if that happened. At this rate I’ll be retirement age by the time I save enough.”

“I’m sure you’ll get there before then.”

“Let’s hope.” Hallie’s eyes stretched wide. “Wow. I don’t know what came over me. Telling a client about my financial struggles is completely unprofessional. I totally deserve that scathing review now.”

He laughed again, and Hallie’s cheeks hurt from all the grinning she’d been doing during this conversation.

Not only was he highly intelligent, a good dad, and one of the most gorgeous guys she’d ever met, she could add a quick wit to his list of attractive qualities.

Was it any reason her crush grew every time they were together?

No. Maybe the one-word reprimand would succeed in putting her heart back in its place. Because every other gentle reminder hadn’t done the trick.

“Tell you what, I won’t slam you on the Better Business Bureau if you’ll stop referring to me as a client,” he said.

“Think of me as more of a business consultant. I am taking care of your website, after all. I can’t effectively work for you if I don’t have first-hand knowledge of the products you sell. ”

“I guess I’ll have to keep baking for you.” Yikes, did that sound flirty? Please, for the love of all the pastries in the world, stop talking!

“I wouldn’t say no.” He let that hang in the air for a few seconds. “Speaking of baking, what’re you doing tomorrow?”

Thank goodness, a safe topic. “I’m working on marketing and event research. And I have a client call to make. Why do you ask?”

Silence sizzled between them.

“Christian?”

He cleared his throat, then responded quickly. “Doyouwanttocomeover?”

“What?” So much for a safe topic.

“To talk about Isla’s cake?” he hurried to clarify.

Hallie didn’t normally do house calls with clients. And with the way her heart was overreacting toward him, it wouldn’t be smart to give herself the opportunity to fall head over heels for him. Sticking to the normal protocol of sending designs by email for feedback would be best.

“Sure. That sounds great.” Wait! Those words weren’t supposed to come from her mouth. She pinched her nose with the fingers of her free hand. Great, now her mouth was in cahoots with her heart. They were both fired.

“Awesome,” Christian said. “I’m picking up the girls from their after-school care at five. Would five-thirty be good for you?”

No.

Not good.

Not good at all.

“Sure, sounds great. ”

“Perfect. It’s a date then.” He cleared his throat again. “I mean, not a date date. A business date. A meeting.”

The mention of a date sent Hallie’s insides jumping on an inflatable bouncy house.

They were still doing flips when she hung up the phone shortly after, and she stared at the call log for several long minutes, wondering what just happened.

The timestamp listed their phone conversation as lasting for forty-five minutes.

Forty-five minutes?

She’d made a lot of calls in the three years since starting Hallie’s Cakes, and not once had she spoken on the phone with a client for that long. And she’d never enjoyed any of them as much as this one.

The screen went dark, waking her from her temporary daze. She tapped the phone to light it up again and opened a new contact. She’d need to reach out to Christian again for feedback on the other cakes he’d ordered, so she put a permanent place for him in her phone.

And that was the only reason, though she couldn’t explain why she labeled his number as Christian: My favorite client.