“How about a bourbon?” Darcy remarked. “I feel like this is going to take bourbon.”
“I don’t have liquor in the house,” I said. “Slash doesn’t drink, and I’m pregnant.”
“I’d forgotten about Slash not drinking.” Darcy shrugged. “Tea would be great.”
“Okay, what’s the plan?” Mia asked.
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Jazz said. “The bakery is completely unusable, and we need a commercial kitchen. We could rent one, but we need it for a week, and it would cost an arm and a leg.”
“And a kidney,” Brielle added as she set the filled tea kettle onto the stove.
“A commercial kitchen,” Linden repeated. “You mean like a hotel kitchen?”
“Exactly like a hotel kitchen.” I blinked.
Mia let out a light laugh.
“What’s funny?” Jazz asked.
“My husband happens to be good friends with the owner of the Dallas Rex Hotel,” Mia said.
“You’re kidding,” I said. “I used to work for the Rex Hotel in Manhattan. Your husband knows Flynn Campbell?”
“Yep. Let me make a phone call and see what we can do,” she said.
“Holy hell, what a small world,” I said.
“Super small,” Mia agreed. “Hang tight. I’ve got this.”
* * *
“You’re getting slaphappy,” Jazz said to me.
An uncontrollable giggle escaped my mouth. “I’m loopy. Between the adrenaline dump this morning and the excitement of Slash coming home…”
“Your hoo-ha misses his ding-a-ling?” Jazz asked.
“Yep, it so does,” I said with a laugh.
The Old Ladies had left a few hours prior. Everything at The Rex was set. Mia had made a phone call, and The Rex had agreed to let us use a kitchen that they were almost finished renovating. It wasn’t supposed to be back in use for another few weeks, and everything we needed for baking and storing what we made was already up and running. We’d meet the manager of the hotel the following morning to do a walk-through of the mostly finished kitchen, and then we’d be able to hit the ground running. It was a huge ask of the hotel, but the club had strong ties to Flynn Campbell and the hotel manager knew it.
“I think you should tell him about the bakery when you’re naked on top of him,” Brielle said. “Men are much more amenable to hearing bad news when women are on top of them naked.”
“Yes. Shove your breasts in his face,” Jazz agreed.
I sighed. “I’m so tired. And I just don’t know if I have the energy to have this conversation with him. Not when I have to be up at the ass-crack of dawn and drive to The Rex.”
“God, it’s a haul and a half,” Jazz said. “Don’t get me wrong—I’m super grateful Mia knows important people. She totally saved the day, but I don’t know how I’m supposed to commute and juggle all the other stuff.”
I heard the distinct rumble of a motorcycle, and I couldn’t help the tripping of my heart.
“Well, that’s all she wrote,” Brielle said. “Slash is going to be here in a few seconds.”
The two of them got up. “Good luck,” Jazz said.
“Thanks.”
Slash was pulling his bike up to the curb as Jazz and Brielle headed to their cars. They waved at Slash but didn’t linger. I stood in the doorway as I waited for him to park and cut the engine.