Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
If Colby spent another second in Chess’s sweltering dining room, the multiple layers of makeup caked on her face were going to melt right off.
She understood why Cash wanted to shoot there.
The well-used farm table exuded hospitality, natural light streamed in through the plate glass windows, and you couldn’t ask for a more picturesque backdrop than the Nantucket Sound.
But today was the warmest day of the spring so far, and there were enough flashes and strobe lights in the space to raise the temp another fifteen degrees.
Even their top-of-the-line AC units were struggling to keep up.
Colby didn’t have the fortitude. While Cash and company continued to make adjustments, she snuck into the kitchen where Ford was already a step ahead of her, setting up a rotating fan on the expeditor’s station.
“Figured you might need this,” he said as he plugged it in.
The fan whirred to life, and Colby stood in front of it, relishing the much-needed air. She tried to pull her dress away from her body, but the polka-dot number was on the snug side. Good for photos, less so for the melting. “I can’t believe I thought this dress was a good idea today.”
Ford slid a hand onto her hip and gently squeezed. “This dress was a wonderful idea. You look like summer.”
She carefully gathered up her styled hair and held it off her neck. “I look like all those biscuits I taste tested for no reason are about to make the buttons down the front of this dress pop.”
“I fail to see the problem with that.”
She cut him a side-eye, catching his sexy grin. They hadn’t talked any more about the date with Miles tonight, both of them too busy through the weekend and preparing for the photoshoot today, but she couldn’t help but wonder if he’d still be wearing that grin later.
She hoped so.
When they’d locked eyes at the bar the other night, she’d mentally vowed to make tonight one Ford wouldn’t forget.
She would help ease him into what seemed to be simmering between him and Miles.
And if she got to enjoy their company for a spell too, that sounded like a recipe worth trying.
A little voice that sounded suspiciously like CC’s chirped in the back of her head that she might not like what came out of the oven in the end, but she told her inner CC to hush.
She was the Beard finalist baker after all.
Fuck.
She was a Beard finalist baker.
The heat, the photoshoot, the expectations she’d blissfully forgotten about for five minutes came rushing back. “I don’t think I can do this.”
“Yes, you can.” Ford grabbed her by the hand, and at first, Colby thought he was going to lead her back to the dining room where it looked like Cash was nearly ready. He led her in the other direction instead, toward the back of the kitchen where he yanked her into the walk-in freezer.
The relief was immediate, and she sighed, letting her eyes slip closed, one of her favorite memories coming to mind.
“This feeling, the blast of cold after being in the heat, you don’t really appreciate it in California, but when CC and I moved to New Orleans, that first summer, going from triple digit heat and humidity into our cold house was pure joy. ”
His hands glided over her hips, and her eyes popped open. Widened as he pushed her back against a rack. “You are joy.”
“Ford.”
He crowded into her space, making it hard for her to look at anything other than him or to hear anything but the pep talk he was giving her. “That’s what your desserts are,” he said. “That’s what this photoshoot is about. You take this feeling, you put all the doubts—”
But believing . . . “I’m not—”
He clasped her chin and held her gaze. “You put all the doubts out of your head, you try to forget about the sweltering heat for sixty minutes, and I will help move things along as fast as possible to make that happen. You show them the joy of being a Beard finalist, of the sweet spot, of Colby Clarke.”
Joy would be kissing him. Feeling his hard body rock against hers. Seeing those earnest blue eyes heat to burning. Hearing his confident words turn dirty.
“And if I have to,” he continued, “I’ll walk around under your skirt holding your thighs apart like I promised last month.”
Dirty, yes; hilarious, more. She doubled over with laughter, clutching his sides to hold herself up as the last of her doubts fizzled away. “I think that’s the wrong kind of magazine,” she wheezed between giggles.
Ford shimmied his hips. “I hear Cash shoots those too.”
Righting herself, Colby gave his ass a playful pop just as the freezer door opened, Miller poking in his head.
“Are you two done in there?” The only thing keeping the sweat from running down his face was the plaid bandana tied around his head. And just like Colby, he closed his eyes and sighed at the blast of frigid air. “Oh my God, it feels amazing in here.”
“That’s why we’re in here,” Colby said.
“Well, Cash is ready for you.”
She glanced again at her best friend. “Sixty minutes?”
“Sixty minutes,” Ford said with a nod. “With you all the way.”
Joy swept through her like another cool breeze.
She hated it when her sister was right.