Taste of Romance (13 page)

“If this is a holdup, you picked the wrong place, Zorro.” She tossed her fiery red
curls over her shoulder with false bravado and laid a protective hand across the old
bell-ringing register. “We don’t have any money.”

His hazel eyes gleamed through the holes in the mask, and he flashed her a disarming
smile. “Maybe I can help with that.”

He turned his hand to show an empty palm, and relief flooded over her. No gun. Then
he closed his fingers and swung his fist around in the air three times. When he opened
his palm again, he held a quarter, which he tossed in her direction.

Rachel caught the coin and laughed. “You’re a magician.”

“Mike the Magnificent,” he said, extending his cape wide with one arm and taking a
bow. “I’m here for the Lockwell party.”

Rachel pointed to the door leading to the back party room. The space had originally
been a tattoo shop, but the tattoo artist relocated to the rental next door. “The
Lockwells aren’t here yet. The party doesn’t start until three.”

“I came early to set up before the kids arrive,” Mike told her. “Can’t have them discovering
my secrets.”

“No, I guess not,” Rachel agreed. “If they did, Mike the magician might not be so
magnificent.”

“Magnificence is hard to maintain.” His lips twitched, as if suppressing a grin. “Are
you Andi?”

She shook her head. “Rachel, Creative Cupcakes’ stupendous co-owner, baker, and promoter.”

This time a grin did escape his mouth, which led her to notice his strong, masculine
jawline.

“Tell me, Rachel, what is it that makes you so stupendous?”

She gave him her most flirtatious smile. “Sorry, I can’t reveal my secrets either.”

“Afraid if I found out the truth, I might not think you’re so impressively great?”

Rachel froze, fearing Mike the magician might be a mind reader as well. Careful to
keep her smile intact, she forced herself to laugh off his comment.

“I just don’t think it’s nice to brag,” she responded playfully.

“Chicken,” he taunted in an equally playful tone as he made his way toward the party
room door.

Despite the uneasy feeling he’d discovered more about her in three minutes than most
men did in three years, she wished he’d stayed to chat a few minutes more.

Andi Burke, wearing one of the new, hot-pink Creative Cupcakes bibbed aprons, came
in from the kitchen and stared at the cupcake mess on the floor. “What happened here?”

“Zorro came in, gave me a panic attack, and the tray slipped out of my hands.” Rachel
grabbed a couple of paper towels and squatted down to scoop up the crumpled cake and
splattered frosting before her OCD kitchen safety friend could comment further. “Don’t
worry, I’ll take care of the mess.”

“I should have told you Officer Lockwell hired a magician for his daughter’s birthday
party.” Andi bent to help her, and when they stood back up, she asked, “Did you speak
to Mike?”

Rachel nodded, her gaze on the connecting door to the party room as it opened, and
Mike reappeared. Tipping his head toward them as he walked across the floor, he said,
“Good afternoon, ladies.”

Mike went out the front door, and Rachel hurried around the display case of cupcakes
and crossed over to the shop’s square, six-foot-high, street-side window. She leaned
her head toward the glass and watched him take four three-by-three-foot black painted
boxes out of the back of a van.

“You should go after him,” Andi teased, her voice filled with amusement. “He’s very
handsome.”

“How can you tell?” Rachel drew away from the window, afraid Mike might catch her
spying on him. “He’s got a black mask covering the upper half of his face. He could
have sunken eyes, shaved eyebrows, and facial tattoos.”

Andi laughed. “He doesn’t, and I know you like guys with dark hair. He’s not as tall
as my Jake, but he’s still got a great build.”

“Better not let Jake hear you say that,” Rachel retorted. “And how do you know he
has a great build? The guy’s wrapped in a cape.”

“I’ve seen him before,” Andi said. “Without the cape.”

“Where?”

“His photo was in the newspaper two weeks ago,” Andi confided. “The senior editor
at the
Astoria Sun
assigned Jake to write an article on Mike Palmer’s set models.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Mike Palmer created the miniature model replica of the medieval city of Hilltop for
the movie
Battle for Warrior Mountain
and worked on set pieces for many other movies filmed around Astoria. His structural
designs are so intricate that when the camera zooms in close, it looks real.”

Mike returned through the front door, wheeling in the black boxes on an orange dolly.
Rachel caught her breath as he looked her way before proceeding toward the party room
with his equipment. Did the masked man find her as intriguing as she found him?

Andi’s younger sister, Kim, came in from the kitchen with a large tray of red velvet
cupcakes with cherry cream cheese frosting. The three of them together, with Andi’s
boyfriend, Jake Hartman, as their financial partner, had managed to open Creative
Cupcakes a month and a half earlier.

“Who’s he?” Kim asked. She placed the cupcakes on the marble counter and pointed toward
the billowing black cape of the magician.

“Mike the Magnificent,” Rachel said dreamily.

O
FFICER
I
AN
L
OCKWELL
, his wife, son, and daughter entered the shop a short while later. The first time
Rachel had met him, he’d written her a parking ticket. Since then, he had helped chase
off a group of fanatical Zumba dancers who were trying to shut down Creative Cupcakes
and had become one of their biggest supporters. Both were good reasons for her to
reverse her original harsh feelings toward the blond, burly man.

“Happy Birthday, Caitlin,” Rachel greeted his six-year-old daughter. “Ready for the
magic show?”

“I hope he pulls a rabbit out of his hat,” Caitlin said, her eyes sparkling. “I asked
for a rabbit for my birthday.”

“She wanted one last month for Easter,” Officer Lockwell confided. “But I told her
the bunnies were busy delivering eggs.”

“There are always more rabbits in April,” Andi told Caitlin and winked conspiratorially
at her father. “Aren’t there?”

Officer Lockwell shifted his gaze to the ceiling.

“Should we go to the party room?” Rachel asked, leading the way.

“Here are two more,” Jake Hartman said, ushering his little girl, Taylor, and Andi’s
daughter, Mia, into the shop. Both six-year-olds attended the same kindergarten class
as Caitlin at Astor Elementary.

Andi stepped forward and gave Jake a kiss before he had to head back to work at the
newspaper office.

“Is he a real magician, Mom?” Mia asked Andi, hugging her legs as Mike the Magnificent
came out to welcome them.

“As real as they get,” Andi assured her.

Rachel exchanged a look with Andi above Mia’s head and smiled. “I wonder if he needs
an assistant.”

In the privacy of the kitchen, Andi pulled the pink bandana off Rachel’s hair. “That’s
better. Now primp your curls.”

“And don’t forget to swing your hips as you serve the cupcakes,” Kim added. “Maybe
Magic Mike will wave his wand and whisk you under his cape for a kiss.”

“I can hope,” Rachel said. “I haven’t had a date in two weeks.”

“Is that a new record?” Andi teased.

“Almost.”

“Maybe if you kept one guy around long enough, you wouldn’t have to worry about finding
a date,” Kim said, arching one of her delicate dark eyebrows.

“Oh, no!” Rachel shook her head. “Rule number one:
Never
date the same man three times in a row. First dates are fabulous, second dates fun,
but third dates? That’s when guys start to think they freaking know you, and the relationship
fails. Better to stick with two dates and forget the rest.”

“Jake and I continue to have fun,” Andi argued.

“That’s because you and Jake are made for each other.” Rachel picked up the tray of
cupcakes they’d decorated to look like white rabbits peeking out from chocolate top
hats. “And so far, I haven’t met any man who looks at me the way he looks at you.
If I
did
,” she said, pausing to make sure her friend got the hint, “I’d marry him.”

Andi pushed a strand of her long, dark blond hair behind her ear and blushed. “Maybe
Mike will be your man.”

“Maybe,” Rachel conceded and smiled. “But every relationship starts with a first date.”

W
HEN
R
ACHEL ENTERED
the room, Mike was in the middle of performing a card trick. She scanned the faces
of the two dozen kids sitting at the long, rectangular tables covered with pink partyware
and colorful birthday presents. Mike did a good job of holding their attention. They
sat in wide-eyed fascination. Not one of them noticed her as she distributed the cupcakes
to each place setting.

Next, Mike the Magnificent showed the audience the inside of his empty black top hat.
Placing the hat right-side up on one of his black boxes, he waved his wand over the
top and quickly flipped the hat upside down again. Rachel smiled as he invited the
birthday girl up to the hat. The six-year-old reached her hand in and pulled out a
fake toy bunny with big, white floppy ears.

Caitlin looked at Mike, her eyes betraying her disappointment, then mumbled, “Thanks.”

“Were you hoping for a real rabbit?” Mike asked her.

Caitlin nodded.

“Let’s try that again.” Mike told Caitlin to put the stuffed bunny back into the hat.
Then he turned the hat over and placed it down on the black box again. He waved the
wand. This time when he turned the hat over a live rabbit with big, white floppy ears
poked its head up over the top of the rim.

Caitlin let out an excited squeal, and Rachel laughed. Mike the Magnificent was good
with the kids and a good magician. How did he do it? She stared at the box and the
black hat and couldn’t tell how he’d been able to make the switch. Dodging a couple
of the strings that hung down from the balloons bobbing against the ceiling, she moved
closer.

“Just the person I was looking for,” Mike said, catching her eye. “Rachel, could you
come up here for a moment?”

“Certainly.” Rachel gave him a wide smile and moved to his side. “What would you like
me to do?”

“Get in the box.”

Rachel glanced at the large horizontal black box resting upon two sawhorses in the
middle of the room. It looked eerily like a coffin.

“And take off your shoes,” he added under his breath.

Rachel stepped out of her pink pumps, and when Mike moved aside the black curtain
covering the box, she slid inside.

“How about a pillow?” Mike asked.

“A pillow would be nice,” she said.

His large, warm hand cupped the back of her head as he placed the white cushion beneath
her, and his gaze locked with hers. “Are you married?”

Rachel’s eyes widened. “No.”

“Have a steady boyfriend?”

Rachel shook her head.

“Good,” Mike said and grinned at the audience. “I won’t have to worry about anyone
coming after me if something goes wrong.”

“What do you mean,
‘if something goes wrong’
?” she demanded.

He held up a carpenter’s saw with a very large, jagged blade, and the kids in the
audience giggled with delight.

“He’s going to saw her in half!” Mia exclaimed. “I don’t think my mommy will like
that. How will Rachel help my mom bake cupcakes?”

“Saw me in half?” Rachel gasped and stared up at Mike. How did this trick work? He
wasn’t really going to come near her with that saw, was he? “I . . . uh . . . have
a slight fear of blades. If I get hurt, do you have a girlfriend or wife I can complain
to?”

Mike grinned. “No wife. But if you survive, maybe I’ll marry you.”

The young audience edged forward in anticipation, probably wondering if they’d see
blood or hear her scream.

Rachel had done some pretty crazy things in the past to get a date, but this ridiculous
stunt had to top them all. “I really am afraid of blades,” she said, her voice raised
to a high-pitched squeak.

“Don’t worry; I’ve only killed two people in the past,” Mike reassured her, then leaned
down to whisper in her ear, “Roll to your side and curl up in a ball.”

Rachel did as she was told and faced the audience. There was more room in the box
than she’d first supposed. Mike made a few quick adjustments, and an inside board
slid up against her feet. Then he raised the shark-toothed blade above her and began
to saw the outside of the box in two. The box rattled, and the fresh sawdust made
her sneeze, making the kids laugh.

“Does it hurt?” Caitlin asked.

“Not yet,” Rachel admitted.

“Here we go,” Mike announced.

Rachel closed her eyes, and memories of her uncle filled her mind. Distracted, he’d
slipped while working a circular saw and cut off three of his fingers. Blood spurt
in every direction. She’d been seven and stood by his side when it happened.

Everyone in the room shouted as Mike pulled the black boxes apart. Rachel frowned.
She didn’t feel any different.

“Rachel, are you alive?” Mia called out.

“Yes, I’m still here.”

Jake’s daughter, Taylor, pointed. “Her feet are sticking out of the other half of
the box.”

“How do you know those feet are mine?” Rachel challenged, knowing her bare toes were
still curled beneath her.

Jake’s daughter, Taylor, pointed. “Her feet are sticking out of the other half of
the box.”

“How do you know those feet are mine?” Rachel challenged, knowing her bare toes were
curled beneath her.

Caitlin laughed. “They are wearing your pink shoes.”

Rachel craned her head around to see the other half of the black box several feet
away. The two flesh-colored, lifelike feet sticking out of the end wore her pink pumps.

“How ’bout we put Rachel back together?” Mike suggested.