Taste of Romance Read Online Free PDF Page A

interested,” Rachel teased when
     they arrived for work at four on Sunday morning.
    Kim rubbed the sleep from her eyes and smiled. She was beginning to believe her.
    “Here come our new recruits!” Andi said, looking toward the front door.
    Kim followed her gaze. A tall, lanky college-age kid with scruffy hair like Shaggy
     on the cartoon TV series Scooby Doo had just walked in behind two teenage girls.
    “Rachel, Kim, I’d like you to meet Eric, Meredith, and Theresa.”
    Meredith had flaming red hair, far brighter, straighter, and shorter than Rachel’s.
     She also had sharp eyes like a hawk—eyes that seemed to assess each person, as if
     looking for the weakest prey.
    The other girl, Theresa, had blond hair so pale it made Andi’s look almost brown in
     comparison. This girl was also stick thin, whereas Andi had a few pounds to lose.
    Kim pressed her lips together. Looked like she was once again the outsider, the only
     one in the group who was a dark brunette.
    “I’m so excited you’ve decided to join our team here at Creative Cupcakes,” Andi said,
     greeting their new recruits. “Where’s Heather?”
    Heather walked in a second later, her eyes bloodshot and weary, her caramel hair a
     mess. “If we work here, are we always going to have to come in this early?”
    “We work in shifts,” Andi told her seventeen-year-old babysitter and her friends.
     “But, yes, some of us have to get here before dawn to bake all the cupcakes before
     we open at nine.”
    Rachel handed them each a pink bibbed apron to put on and a pink bandana to hold back
     their hair.
    “Pink?” Eric drew back. “You want me to wear pink?”
    “What would you suggest, Eric?” Andi asked, raising her brows.
    “Something more manly.” The boy looked down at the white T-shirt and pants Andi had
     instructed them to wear. “Can’t I just wear white?”
    Not if Andi had her way. Kim hid a smile and said, “I think we have a white apron
     in the kitchen closet.”
    Andi frowned. “What about his hair?”
    “He’d look silly in a pink bandana,” Rachel told her. “How about we have him wear
     a white baker’s hat?”
    “Okay,” Andi agreed. “Now, let’s split them up between us and show them what to do.”
    Andi took Eric and Theresa with her to give them a lesson on how to bake, and Rachel
     showed Heather the cash register, which, Kim realized, left the red-haired, hawk-eyed
     Meredith with her .
    “Have you ever decorated cupcakes before?” Kim asked.
    Meredith shrugged. “Of course. Hasn’t everyone?”
    “Well,” Kim continued, giving Red Hawk a direct look. “We specialize in intricate
     designs created out of different consistencies of frosting and fondant. Kids like
     cupcakes that look like animals and sports balls. Adults like scenes painted on with
     food coloring or sculpted like this rose garden here.”
    Kim pointed to her re-creation of Nathaniel’s yard. She’d joined together the tops
     of a dozen cupcakes with one layer of green icing and added walnut walkways and swirled
     vanilla roses of every color.
    “No problem,” Meredith said, her voice smug.
    But by the time Kim turned the front window sign around to indicate Creative Cupcakes
     was open for business, it was clear they were in a heap of trouble. Flour, sugar,
     baking soda, powdered cocoa, and a variety of nuts, berries, and other toppings spilled
     over every counter and all over the floor.
    Andi, who was OCD about kitchen safety, raced around in panic mode barking orders
     and trying to clean up before anyone slipped and fell.
    “This is worse than the kids’ cupcake camp on Tuesdays,” Rachel complained.
    Mia nodded. “My friends bake better than them. That girl,” she said, looking at Theresa,
     “put too many eggs in the batter and tried to scoop one back out with a spoon. I saw
     her.”
    Taylor pointed to Eric. “He wiped crumbs on the floor and tried to lick the batter.”
    “Are these kids always in here?” Eric