Possession by Jennifer Lyon Read Free Book Online Page B

long and talk yourself out of it. Sometimes you just need to take a leap.”
    The bell rang, indicating a new customer coming through the door.
    Rising, Ana said, “I’ll make Sugar Dancer and you shine. You have nothing to lose here—if you don’t like the final product, you can refuse to allow me to do anything with it other than turn it in for a grade.” She headed out to help the customer.
    Kat pulled the iPad onto her lap and began reading Ana’s proposal. Her chest squeezed. Where Kat usually didn’t talk about her leg or the mugging publicly, Ana wanted to use all that as part of Kat’s backstory, along with leaving the family business to follow her dream.
    The idea made her anxious. But she also understood what Ana was doing—giving Kat a story of triumph over tragedy. Having her life exposed after years of hiding gave her a lightheaded sensation. Could she do this?
    Well she’d never know if she didn’t try, now would she? A month ago, she’d have sworn having a relationship with a man was impossible. She was doing that. Maybe it was sex only, but that was still progress. Excitement and nerves fizzed in her veins, energizing her. Rising, she stored Ana’s iPad then picked up the tray of the pretty raspberry hearts. In the front, she expertly slid the rack of fresh cookies into the glass case.
    She looked around Sugar Dancer, taking in the round chrome tables with the fire-red seats. Half the tables had customers eating treats and chatting. A few kids hung out at the high bar with stools that stretched along the back wall. Pecan walls set off the canvasses of brightly colored dancer forms. Kat loved the way the artist had made it appear that each dancer was made from sugar crystals.
    Natural light flooded the bakery from the floor-to-ceiling windows on Kat’s right.
    “Thinking about it?” Ana handed her a cup of coffee that was already sweetened and lightened.
    “You’re persuasive.” Kat sipped the drink. She still had a long evening in front of her, including two cake tastings for prospective brides.
    “So you’ll do it?”
    Kat set her coffee down. “I dreamed of owning my own bakery since my brother gave me an Easy-Bake Oven.” Marshall. Her stomach rippled with the memory. While her parents had thought her baking a waste of time, he’d supported her.
    “Oh! See, that’s a great anecdote for your bio piece.”
    Ana’s enthusiasm was contagious. “But now I want more. Sugar Dancer is just the beginning.”
    The other girl’s grin lit up her face.
    “Let’s try it. I’ll be your marketing project. If we like the tape, submit it, and if I get a callback—then we’ll see if I can manage my panic attacks enough to do it.”
    And while she was taking risks, Kat pulled out her cellphone and called her brother. She had to try.
    * * *
    “Smells great in here. What’s for breakfast?”
    Closing and relocking her bakery door since she didn’t officially open for almost an hour, Kat eyed her brother. He looked good. She was still a little surprised that he’d agreed to meet her for breakfast less than twenty-four hours after she’d called him. “Hello to you too.”
    Marshall flashed a grin. “Lila makes me eat healthy. I can’t sleep nights from the noise of blood whooshing through my disgustingly clear arteries. I need some fat to clog those suckers up.”
    Shaking her head, Kat headed to the coffeepot. “Go in the kitchen. I’ve got several kinds of muffins and a coffee cake on the cooling racks.”
    “Sweet.” He breezed past her.
    That was Marshall. He held a PhD in immunology, worked ridiculous hours researching and developing better medications and protocols for connective-tissue disorders, but when something caught his attention, he bubbled with little-boy enthusiasm. Just as he’d done for her baking disasters when she was a kid.
    He carried a plate filled with muffins, cake and cookies.
    “If Lila finds out,” Kat scolded as she followed him to a table, “you’ll be