Page 39 of Faking it with my Bad Boy Crush

"I know. I'm sorry." Ethan's voice was gentle. "But if we don't show up for this hearing, if we don't fight this right now, we lose everything. The judge could rule in Hutchins's favor by default."

I thought about the pastéis de nata in the oven, the morning prep I still needed to finish, the dozen things on my to-do list. Then I thought about my grandfather's bakery, the legacy I'd promised to protect, the future I was trying to build.

"Okay," I said finally. "Let me call Tessa. She can handle the deliveries at least.”

I pulled out my phone and texted Tessa:Emergency court hearing in Friday Harbor at 2 PM. Need you to cover everything today. I'm so sorry.

Her response came immediately:On it. Go save the bakery. And maybe have that Very Important Conversation with Ethan while you're at it. The one you keep almost having.

Despite everything, I smiled.

The oven timer beeped. I pulled out the pastéis de nata—perfectly golden, the custard set, the tops caramelized exactly right.

"Here," I said, plating two and handing one to Ethan. "Try it."

He took a bite, and I watched his expression shift—surprise, then pleasure, then something deeper.

"This is incredible," he said quietly. "I've never tasted anything like this."

"That's two hundred years of technique and tradition, combined with modern precision and a year of learning from masters." I took a bite of my own tart, savoring the familiar flavor.

He looked at me with an expression I couldn't quite read. "You're remarkable, Maya Romano. And I'm starting to thinkcoming back to this island was the best decision I've made in twenty years."

"Even though your career is destroyed?"

"Especially because of that." He set down the half-eaten tart. "Because losing everything else helped me figure out what actually matters."

"And what's that? Besides baked goods.”

He held my gaze, and I saw something vulnerable in his eyes. "I'm still figuring that out. But I think you're a big part of the answer."

Before I could respond, before I could process what he was saying, he grabbed his tablet and started pulling up files.

"We should prepare for the hearing," he said, his voice shifting back to professional. "They're going to attack the evidence, question the surveyor's notation, try to make this look like a baseless accusation. We need to be ready."

And just like that, the moment was gone. But the words lingered—you're a big part of the answer—and I carried them with me as we gathered documents, called Tessa with instructions, and prepared for the fight ahead.

Two hours later, we were on the ferry to Friday Harbor, facing an emergency hearing that could determine whether I kept my bakery or lost everything.

But all I could think about was the almost-kiss in my kitchen, the way Ethan had called me remarkable again, the feeling that something fundamental had shifted between us.

The fake dating arrangement was definitely over.

But what came next? And could we face it?

Chapter thirteen

The Mentor’s Final Lesson

Ethan

We arrived in Friday Harbor at 1:15 PM, forty-five minutes before the emergency hearing. The ferry ride had been tense—Maya reviewing documents on her tablet, me running through oral arguments in my head, both of us carefully not mentioning the almost-kiss in the bakery kitchen.

"We should find Richard," I said as we walked from the ferry terminal toward the courthouse. "Make sure we're aligned on strategy."

"He's meeting us at the courthouse steps." Maya checked her phone. "He texted twenty minutes ago. Said he needed to talk to you privately before the hearing."

Something in her voice made me look over. "You okay?"