Page 20 of Seduced in Ink
He just had to deal with the attraction he felt for her. And he had to ignore that kiss.
He needed to forget that he ever wanted something more.
Because if he was going to live this lie, he might as well keep lying to himself, too.
Chapter 5
Sin in a Cupwas Madison’s baby. Despite her mother’s insistence that she go in another direction more suited to the family, it was heronlybaby. She hadn’t yet fulfilled her destiny of becoming a mother and wife to someone important. But she always had Sin in a Cup. Her bakery and café, the place where she used up so much of her creative energy and brainpower.
She absolutely loved the job. Adored the fact that she put her blood, sweat, and tears into every ounce and inch of the place.
She had picked the wallpaper—yes, she had wallpaper in some parts. She had selected the paint colors. Had picked the counters and every piece of industrial-strength equipment.
It was all hers.
She loved her little place, even if it wasn’t hustling and bustling like some of the companies her friends owned. Hers was a small little niche café where she served fancy coffees and not-so-fancy coffees, but she guaranteed that everything was unique and subtle and crafted for the customer. None of her mugs matched, but she had done that on purpose. She had a few sets of each kind that she wanted, and mixed and matched them depending on size and use. But all of the colors and shapes worked with the aesthetic of the place.
She had to-go cups, but most of the people came and sat for a bit to drink their coffee as if they needed the respite from their days. And she loved it.
Students came from the universities to study, drinking chai after chai or espresso after espresso. She didn’t mind because the students that found her place tipped well and always ordered something. She didn’t allow people to come in and sit for long periods without ordering, even to use the WiFi. She had put that rule in place immediately, even though she hated beingthatperson. But she needed to eat.
The place was set up almost like a loft apartment with split-levels so people could sit in different areas of the café, sipping coffee or eating some of her cupcakes. She had a few other bakery delights, but cupcakes were sort of her thing. She always had at least five different kinds, one of them being her favorite, a lemon buttercream frosting on a chocolate fudge cupcake. That was the one that was on every day, but the other four rotated to fit the theme of the week. People ordered them by the dozens at times, too, so she kept busy. The cupcakes had been a joke at first, something that she just liked to make on the side. Coffee and having a place for people to talk if they wanted to had been her main goal.
But then she had made cupcakes to make herself happy, and suddenly, everybody wanted some.
She didn’t mind. She was quite happy with it.
When people started tasting her cupcakes over time, though, the demand had increased, and she had sort of become known as having coffee in a cup, and then cupcakes in a cup. Hence the name of her café: Sin in a Cup. It was perfect for her.
She had come into it by luck, even though she had good enough business sense to keep it going. Plus, she loved her job. Even if her parents didn’t understand why she was happy being part of the working class.
She shuddered at the thought, not wanting to think about them. Her focus needed to be on her cupcakes and finishing up the frosting for the next batch going into the display case.
Today was all about the strawberry cheesecake cupcake with a lemon cream cheese frosting. It was light and airy despite being cheesecake. And so yummy.
Thankfully, she didn’t taste her wares every day or she’d have to roll out in a sugar coma. But she was fine with that.
Her family came from old money. On both sides. Hence why her parents had even gotten married. She hadn’t realized that arranged marriages were so prevalent these days. Still, apparently, they came out of nowhere and slapped you in the face. Her parents had been one of those, and now her mother wanted Madison to follow tradition and marry a man named Guy.
Well, that just wasn’t happening. For many reasons. The main one being that, for now, Aaron had put himself in the crossfire as her fake fiancé.
She shook her head, wondering how she had gotten herself into this situation.
Maybe if she were able to stand up for herself, this wouldn’t have happened.
Only she had tried. Every time, her mother just railroaded her. At one point, Madison had even tried cutting her family out of her life completely, but then her dad had gotten sick, and she ran right back to them, needing to be close.
She hated that she still loved her family.
What an odd thing to think: that she hated that she loved.
But that was the situation they had put her in, and there was no coming back from that.
Not really.
Her dad was healthy now, and nobody talked about it. They made it seem as if it had never happened—something she knew her mother wanted to keep going. Madison wasn’t sure she could forget how frail her father had looked when he was ill. And that was why she kept coming back. Because she didn’t want to see him sick. Her mother, either, honestly. Couldn’t even bear to think of it.
But her family didn’t love her like that, not the way she needed. Only Lincoln did, and he couldn’t stand her parents. Had even cut them out of his life as much as he could.