Never Trust a Skinny Cupcake Baker (Death by Cupcake Book 1) by D.E. Haggerty

would be intimidating as all get out if
I didn’t know the man is just a big teddy bear.
    “I’m going to lose my position at the University if I can’t
prove I’m innocent before the semester starts.” My eyes tear up at the idea,
but I blink fast and manage to hold them back.
    “Sweetheart,” Ben whispers, and somehow I’m in his arms.
He’s sitting in my chair, and I’m cradled in his lap. “They can’t do that.” He
kisses my forehead and cuddles me close.
    “Unfortunately, they can.” I take a deep breath and confess
something I would never admit to Dean Jorgenson. “There’s a clause in my
contract about impropriety.”
    Anna jumps up from her chair and explodes. “You did nothing
improper! You are accused of a murder you didn’t commit! This isn’t fair.”
    “Life isn’t fair,” I mumble.
    My words enrage the pixie. She slams her tiny fist on my
desk and shouts, “You’ve had enough unfairness in your life. You worked so hard
for this. I’m going to hurt those German department jerks!”
    Ben hugs me close at Anna’s reference to my less than
stellar life story. It’s not really that horrible. It is what it is. My parents
died in a car crash when I was a teenager. Although I had an aunt and uncle
somewhere in the middle of nowhere Nebraska who were willing to take me in
despite the fact that we had never met, I didn’t want to move. I was seventeen
at the time and a senior in high school. I’d already secured early acceptance
into the University where I now teach with an academic scholarship to boot.
Unfortunately, my dad was at fault in the accident that killed him and my mom,
and the insurance used his negligence as an excuse to not pay out. I ended up
selling the house, Mom’s car, even the furniture to have enough money to pay
for their hospital costs and funeral. I ended up working at Gretchen’s bakery
to pay for the tiny apartment I had moved in to after being emancipated.
Gretchen became my new family. She left me the bakery when she passed. In her
will, she stated she wanted me to sell the bakery and use the money to pay for
my living costs while I finished my doctorate, but I couldn’t do it. The
bakery’s been in her family for three generations, and I couldn’t just throw
that history away. Instead, with Anna’s baking genius, I’ve managed to make the
bakery into a profitable business, which pays the bills while I’m waiting for a
full-time professor position to open up at the University. 
    Naturally, Ben is the voice of reason. “It’s too dangerous
for you to go off half-cocked looking for a killer. You don’t know what you’re
doing.”
    I lean away from Ben’s comforting arms and stare him down.
“What choice do I have? The fall semester starts in two weeks. If I’m not cleared
of any ‘impropriety’ before then, my current suspension will be made
permanent.”
    “Are they even looking for the real killer?” Anna pipes up.
“I read somewhere that once someone decides a person is guilty, then it’s nearly
impossible to convince them they’re wrong.” I roll my eyes at Anna. She loves
pop psychology. Unfortunately, she gets most of her ‘information’ from women’s
magazines and those ridiculous quizzes they always seem to be printing.
    Ben wiggles beneath me. I tilt my head in question at him. What’s
he hiding? His face turns a lovely shade of pink, but I continue to stare
him down. Finally, he shakes his head and admits, “Duchamp and Smits are
convinced Callie is the murderer. They’re focusing all their attention on her.”
    “Why?” I thought I had poked some gigantic holes in their
less than stellar case against me.
    “Sweetheart, they’re new to the homicide squad, and you made
fools out of them. The entire squad is laughing at them. They’re out to prove
something now.”
    “Men,” I huff. Ben just shrugs.
    “Well, that just cinches it doesn’t it?” Anna jumps up from
her chair and starts pacing my office. “We’re going