The Perfect Mix (Keller Weddings Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

him screwing things up, but he’d give it a decent try first just to keep up the ruse.
    Anna pulled over a tray of cookies, her delicate fingers moving deftly as she transferred several to the surface they were working on. “I baked these this morning and they’re already cool and ready for us to work with.”
    With her hair tucked into her bandana, the long line of her neck was exposed, and he imagined brushing his fingers over the flawless skin. He imagined leaning in, breathing in deep the scent of her. Sugar and spice. And then he’d set his lips on hers and–
    “Beckett.”
    He jerked his eyes from her neck. “Huh? Yeah?”
    “Are you focusing?”
    “Yes.”
    Her lips twitched. “What did I just say?”
    “Uh…” He squirmed in the tiny apron, resisting the urge to take it off. He had to play along for this to work. “Roll out the fondant stuff and something about embossing something.”
    She laughed, the throaty sound of it hitting him right in the gut.
    “Close enough,” she said. “Here, you try.”
    She passed him a rolling pin and pointed to the off-white doughy blob on the surface of the table. It looked like a lump of clay.
    “Just roll it?” he asked, distracted by how close she stood to him.
    “Yes. But not too thin.”
    How did he know how thin too thin was? He pressed the rolling pin to the fondant and rolled it lightly on the surface.
    “A little more pressure. It’s going to have to be thinner than that.”
    She set her hands on his, pushing them down so the rolling pin pressed into the fondant. Her skin was like silk, soft and smooth, and covered in flour. Had she ever touched him like that before? No way. He would have remembered.
    “Good. Right. A little more pressure,” she said.
    It didn’t help that she smelled so good. Or that her arm kept brushing his. How was he supposed to focus?
    She let go and he stopped rolling.
    “How’s that?” he asked.
    She angled her head at him.
    “What?”
    Those eyes said a lot. Held questions and answers and so much more he wanted to hear. Conversations he had with her every once in a while and wanted more of. He opened his mouth to ask her to dinner, but she moved away.
    “You did good,” she said. “Now we need to emboss the fondant.”
    She handed him another tool that looked like a clear rolling pin–or a thick magic wand. It was smaller than the rolling pin he’d used to flatten the fondant, and this one was decorated with a design all around it.
    Then she brandished a cookie cutter and made small a circle in the large piece of fondant. She set the smaller piece in front of him. “Roll it gently over the top, enough to transfer the design.”
    It was such a delicate process; he was afraid he was going to smash the whole piece. Too much pressure, not enough pressure. But Anna was a natural.
    It had to be hard on her, preparing for weddings day in and day out after missing her own.
    “Good,” Anna said, leaning in to see his progress. She glanced up and in that moment, all he could see were her brown eyes and happiness.
    And he wondered how Tom could have treated her the way he had.
    “Perfect.” She held up the piece of fondant gently. “See? Just right.”
    Right there it clicked. He needed to make this work with Anna. And he just needed her , plain and simple.
    “You place it on the cookie, right in the center.” She demonstrated, making the whole process look simple when he probably would have fumbled it. “And now we decorate.”
    “No, that’s not–” He stepped back and held up his hands. “I think you should do that part.”
    “Come on, Beckett, I need your help. We’re going to have to do a few dozen of these tomorrow.”
    “A few dozen?”
    Her lips curved. “I take that back. Probably several dozen. Including the cakes. And we have to set up beforehand, too.”
    His brain immediately scrambled with excuses. Okay, so it had been a good idea to offer to help Anna, but he hadn’t known it would involve so