Fondant Fumble (Cupcake Bakery Mystery, Band 16) - Softcover

McKinlay, Jenn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0593549147 ISBN 13: 9780593549148

Verlag: Penguin Publishing Group, 2024

Inhaltsangabe

The Fairy Tale Cupcakes crew helps two professional football players in knead when the athletes are suspected of murder and their dream of opening a bakery is crushed, from New York Times bestselling author Jenn McKinlay.

Professional football players Keogh Graham and Tyler Matthews want to open a Fairy Tale Cupcakes franchise. They’re spending the off-season in Scottsdale working in Mel’s bakery, learning about the business and how to bake show-stopping cupcakes. The popular athletes bring a boom of customers to the store as football fans flock to see the friends mixing batter and piping icing.

Everyone’s excited the athletes are pursuing their dream of owning a bakery—except for those who fear the players will ditch football for fondant and retire early from professional sports. The angry naysayers include their team owner and Keogh's sports agent, along with some very vocal fans.

When the owner of their team, the Arizona Scorpions, is found dead on the floor of their new bakery following an argument with Keogh, the pros become prime suspects. As the investigation heats up, Mel and the rest of the cupcake bakery crew must step up and prove their franchise owners are innocent before it’s game-over for the new bakers.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Jenn McKinlay is the award-winning New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of several mystery and romance series. Her work has been translated into multiple languages in countries all over the world. She lives in sunny Arizona in a house that is overrun with kids, pets, and her husband's guitars.

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One

"Tyler Matthews and Keogh Graham are buying a franchise," Tate Harper, the financial wizard behind the bakery Fairy Tale Cupcakes, announced at the weekly staff meeting.

Melanie DeLaura and Angie Harper exchanged an amused glance and burst out laughing. The three of them had been best friends since middle school. When Mel had quit a high-stress marketing job to become a professional cupcake baker, both Angie and Tate had joined her. Now Angie and Tate were married with an adorable daughter, Emari, while Mel had married her childhood crush, Joe DeLaura, who also happened to be the middle of Angie's seven older brothers.

"Oh, honey, that's hilarious," Angie said. She reached up to tighten the messy bun she'd twisted her long dark hair into as her laughter had shaken it loose.

"I'm not joking," Tate said.

"Right, because the two best players on the Arizona Scorpions NFL team are suddenly going to become cupcake bakers?" Mel asked. She rolled her eyes then studied the plate of cupcakes on the table between them.

It was ten o'clock in the morning, and while she never let the time of day dictate her cupcake consumption, she did wonder if it was too early to have one right now. She glanced at the flavors and decided on a strawberry cupcake, which, loaded with chunks of real strawberry, had a very high fruit-to-cake ratio. So it was more of a fruit salad than a cake, really, and that was healthy. Right? Right. She reached for one of the pink confections, feeling very virtuous.

"I'm not kidding. I have the paperwork right here," Tate insisted. He gestured to the stack of papers beside him.

The three of them were seated in the front of the bakery in one of the booths beside the large picture window that looked out onto the street. The bakery's pink interior with black accents embraced the 1950s heyday of Old Town Scottsdale, the neighborhood where they'd all grown up and subsequently opened their first bakery.

The shop hadn't yet opened for the day, and every Monday morning they took advantage of the quiet to go over the business particulars. Tate was in charge of the finances and the franchises, Melanie was the executive chef in charge of creating their cupcake flavors, and Angie was Mel's assistant, keeping the flagship bakery in Scottsdale leading the way for all of their franchises.

"You're just teasing me because you know Keogh Graham is my NFL husband," Mel said. "Not nice."

Tate shoved a hand through his wavy light brown hair, looking exasperated. "I'm being honest. Why does no one believe me?"

"'I admire that honesty. That's a noble quality. Never lose that,'" Angie said. She gave Mel a side-eye.

"Mrs. Doubtfire," Mel identified the movie quote. It was a game the three of them had played since they were middle school movie buffs. She and Angie exchanged a high five and turned back to Tate.

There was a knock on the front door just as Marty Zelaznik, their octogenarian counter help, pushed through the swinging door from the kitchen into the front of the bakery. Scrawny and bald, Marty strode forward with his usual take-charge attitude, and Mel wondered what he'd been like as a younger man. She had a feeling he'd been a force of nature.

"You want me to get rid of them?" Marty asked. "We're not open for another ten minutes."

Tate glanced past Mel and Angie, who had their backs to the window. "No, go ahead and let them in," Tate said.

Mel powered down her tablet since it was clear the meeting was over. "Thanks for the update on everything, Tate, and nice try on the football player franchise. Ha! That was a good one."

Tate glanced at the door as Marty turned the dead bolt. A small smile curved Tate's lips as he slid out of his side of the booth. Marty pulled the door open, greeting the customers in his usual exuberant Marty way.

"Welcome to Fairy Tale Cupca . . ." Marty staggered back from the door. His mouth dropped open as two of the largest men Mel had ever seen entered the bakery.

It took her only a moment to recognize Keogh Graham. Tall, dark, and handsome, with his trademark braids that reached his shoulders and his wide grin, it was as if he'd stepped right out of Monday Night Football and into the bakery. Mel clutched the bib of her apron and looked at Tate.

"That's Keogh Graham," she said.

"I know," Tate said. And while he didn't use those words, his tone reeked of I told you so.

Angie grabbed Mel's forearm and squeezed it hard. In a shriek-whisper, she said, "And Tyler Matthews is with him."

Not only were the two NFL football players massive, they were both ridiculously good-looking. As in movie star gorgeous, despite Keogh's broken nose and the deep scar on Tyler's chin. If anything, those flaws made them even more handsome.

"Good morning, Tate, ladies," Keogh said. His voice was deep, and he glanced at Marty, who stood frozen, and said, "Sir . . . er . . . are you all right?"

Marty's head bobbled on his skinny neck in the affirmative but it was clear he had lost his powers of speech.

"Can I get you a glass of water or something?" Tyler asked him. He ran a hand through his pale brown hair while his blue eyes narrowed with concern.

Marty shook his head from side to side.

Tate stepped forward with his hand outstretched. "Come on in, guys. I think my colleagues are a bit starstruck. Just give them a sec."

"Mel," Angie hissed as Keogh and Tyler shook Tate's hand and then walked towards them.

"Yeah?" Mel answered.

"Is this real? Is your NFL boyfriend actually here in the building or am I hallucinating?"

"Um, that's NFL husband," Mel corrected her. "And if you're delusional then so am I."

"Oh, goody, a mass hallucination," Angie said. "I always wanted one of those . . . said no one ever."

Tate gestured for the men to sit and Tyler and Keogh slid onto the bench seat opposite Mel and Angie. They had to adjust themselves, sitting a bit sideways to accommodate their large frames in the booth. Mel wanted to reach across the table and poke Keogh's hand just to see if he was real, but she was aware that this might be considered rude so she decided against it.

Tate grabbed a chair from a nearby table and sat at the end of the booth. He grinned at Keogh and Tyler. "Your timing is perfect. I just told the girls you were going to buy a franchise but they didn't believe me."

Tyler and Keogh glanced at Angie and Mel. Their expressions were earnest and Mel thought she might be having an out-of-body experience. These guys wanted to buy a cupcake bakery? She couldn't wrap her brain around it.

Correctly reading her expression, Keogh said, "It's no joke. We want in."

"Key has convinced me that owning a small business is a sound investment," Tyler said.

"It is," Keogh insisted. "We need to have something to do after we retire, like how George Foreman took up barbecuing after he hung up his gloves at the end of his boxing career."

"Barbecue feels a bit more masculine," Tyler said. He flexed as he turned to study the bakery, and the muscles under his T-shirt rippled. "There's an awful lot of pink in here. Not that there's anything wrong with that."

It was true. Even Tate had balked about the level of pink Mel had insisted upon when they first opened their doors. She tried to see it through the football players' eyes. Pink vinyl upholstery in the booths, pink trim on the windows and walls, and pink accents everywhere. Okay, sure, it was a lot of pink, but Mel thought it was cheerful. She also thought people wouldn't balk at the color pink if it was called light red.

"We can tone it down in your franchise," Tate said. "Maybe skew a little more aqua than pink."

"Or we could do it up in the team colors," Tyler said. "The...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Penguin Publishing Group
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2024
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0593549147
• ISBN 13: 9780593549148
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 272
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: BERKLEY; https://www.penguin.com/?s=BERKLEY; ; Unit 2 Limavady Business Park; Limavady; County Londonderry; BT49 0HR; Vereinigtes Königreich
• Verantwortliche Person: GPSR Kontakt; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Deutschland