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

to have to find the killer
ourselves.” She stops and stares at Ben. “What do you know about the case?”
    Ben shrugs. “Not much. Just what I told you before. Dolly
was poisoned, and they assume it was the cupcake that killed her.”  
    “I’ve been thinking about that.” I push my slipping glasses
back up my nose. “How did they figure out it was poison so quickly? I’m not an
expert or anything but doesn’t it take longer to do a tox screen or whatever
it’s called?”
    Ben smiles, and his dimple is visible. “I think they’re
assuming.” Anna claps and starts to rant again, but Ben cuts her off. “But the
circumstantial evidence is pretty damning. Dolly died while in the middle of
eating the cupcake. A witness says she complained about the cupcake tasting
‘funky’ before she collapsed. It looked like she had a heart attack but with
her age and fitness level…” He shrugs as his voice trails off.
    “When was this supposed poisoning?” Anna asks, and I turn to
her and nearly fall out of Ben’s lap in surprise. She’s sitting in a chair
scratching away with a pen and paper. Where did my pixie go?
    “Right after your pole dancing class last week Tuesday.”
    Anna looks up and studies Ben. “Anything else you can tell
us about the case?”
    Ben shakes his head. “Not really. I’m not on the homicide
squad, and they know that Callie’s my girlfriend. The detectives are being
quite secretive.”
    Girlfriend? When did that happen? We’ve been on one
date. I look up at Ben in question, and he’s staring at me as if to dare me to
contradict him. Do I want to contradict him? I give my head a little shake.
“We’ll talk about that girlfriend comment later,” I whisper to him.
    He leans down and gives me a quick kiss before moving his
mouth to my ear to whisper, “Talk all you want, sweetheart. You’re mine and
everyone knows it. Stop fighting it.”
    I push my glasses back up and shake my head at his audacity.
Where did my gentle giant go? Speaking of which, “You need to go.”
    Ben startles in surprise. “You want me to go?”
    “You can’t be involved, Ben,” answers Anna.
    He looks at me for confirmation. “I won’t have you risking
your job over this.”
    He stares at me, and I want to squirm, but I have to stand
firm. He loves his job. I can’t let him throw that away for me. I’m just not
worth it. Finally, he nods. “Okay, I’ll go but only because you’re agreeing
that you’re girlfriend.” I start to protest, but he just talks right over my
protests. “And on two conditions.”
    “Name them.” I glower at him.
    “One, I have resources you can only dream of. If you need
help, you come to me and I’ll see what I can do.” Easy enough. I nod. “And if
things get dangerous, you’re done.”
    “But...” I start to speak, and Ben cuts me off again.
    “I’m not budging on this. It took me a year to get you. Now
that I’ve got you, I’m not giving you up.”
    Reluctantly, I nod. I don’t think there’s any chance of
danger, anyway. Ben picks me up and sets me on my feet so he can stand. He
pushes out of the chair and then grabs my hand. “Walk me out.” I follow him
through the kitchen to the back door.
    “Why are you going out the back way?”
    He smirks at me and leans close. “So I can do this.” He
crushes his mouth on mine, and I’m lost in a haze of pleasure. After a few
minutes, he slows the kiss and pulls away. “Fight me all you want, Callie, but
you’re mine.” He turns and quickly exits the bakery before I have a chance to
catch my breath; let alone come up with some sort of reply to his declaration.

Chapter
10
    “Wow,
that Lean Cuisine really filled me up,” said no one, ever.
    I wander through the kitchen in a bit of a fog. Anna grabs
my arm and pulls me into my office. She sets me down on one of the chairs in front
of my desk and grabs the other one. She pulls a notebook towards her. “Okay,
where do we start?”
    Where do we start?