“Thank you for all your hard work,” I say, looking up at Bear’s lookalike cousin. After Bear shattered my heart into shards as if it were a haunted mirror, it was Hunter who offered up his support and suggested I leave town for a bit to clear my head. I took his advice and hightailed it to New York—Columbia University to be exact—and, well, let’s just say my heart was shattered ten times harder in the big city than it ever was in Honey Hollow. “You know, I’ve probably never said this before, but thank you for your friendship, too.” I can’t help but sniff back tears. “You really have been a rock in my life. I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to tell you sooner.” I offer a quick embrace to the surly blonde with the body of a brick building. Both Bear and Hunter look as if they’re primed to be lumberjacks with their tree-like muscles, but lucky for me their chosen profession just so happens to be construction.
“Whoa, easy, Lottie. Don’t shed a single tear for me.” He laughs at the thought. “I know this day is an emotional one for you. This bakery has been your destiny for as long as I can remember.” He nods back to the place where his tools are strewn all over the sidewalk just under the scaffolding he’s had set up for days to assist him in the exhausting effort. “Let me clean this mess up so you can get your party started.” He jogs back to the sprawl of tools, and I quickly follow him under the canopy of this skeletal structure.
“It’s not bad luck to stand under a scaffolding, is it?” I tease. I’ll admit, my nerves are slightly jangled just thinking about the festivities about to ensue.
He barks out a short-lived laugh. “Nope, that would be a ladder. But you’re not allowed to have any bad luck, period. This is your big day, Lottie Lemon, and I promise you not one thing will go wrong.” He gives a playful wink, and something about that facial disclaimer sends me in a jittery panic ten times more than before. He winces. “I think I left something out back.”
Hunter takes off, and no sooner does he leave than I press my hand to the window of the bakery, a no-no as far as Keelie is concerned. She’s been helping me scrub and scour every inch of this place to get it ready for its big debut, but I’ll gladly wipe away my own fingerprints in a moment just to garner one more look inside before we open. It’s all there—the café tables and chairs look as sweet as confections themselves, the refrigerated shelves that line the front are fully stocked and loaded with every cookie, brownie, and delicious dessert you can think of, and the walls are painted a decadent shade of butter yellow. My sister, Lainey, came by yesterday to help me decorate the place for Halloween with ghosts, witches, and scarecrows set in every free space. Autumn leaves carefully line the counters, and tiny orange pumpkins dot each table with gold and red maple leaves blooming out from underneath them. To think that in just a few short hours this place will be filled with family and friends—with Everett and Noah. Noah who—
A horrible creaking sound comes from the scaffolding above me, and I look up in time to see the gargantuan structure rocking back and forth. My entire body freezes solid as it careens toward me, and before I know it, I’m hit from behind by a warm body, pushed to safety as the entire scaffolding crashes into a pile of dust. That metal newspaper stand is lying on its side, and Merilee’s grinning face is staring back up at me in replicate.
“Oh my God,” I pant as I struggle to catch my breath.
“Geez, lady.” A man with dark curly hair, a lantern jaw, and eyes the color of espresso pats me down by the shoulders. “You okay? You almost got crushed to death.” His eyes widen a notch at the thought as do mine.
“Yeah”—I glance down at my body, thankfully still intact—“I’m fine. You saved my life!” My hand clutches at the thought of me dying, right here in front of my own bakery on opening day of all occasions. How horrible that would have been for me and perhaps for all of Honey Hollow, considering there is a stockpile of sweet treats in there to feed the entire community for a month if need be. I’d hate to think that anyone would let all of my hard work go to waste just because I met an untimely demise, but I suppose seeing my body splattered like a dead fly might kill an appetite or two. “You have to come inside.” I grip him by the sleeve, and he quickly frees himself with a shake of the head. “Please, let me give you a cake or something. You’re a hero!”
“I’m no hero.” He glances past my shoulder just as Hunter and Bear shout their way over. “I gotta run. I got a kid waiting for me at home.” He jogs across the street and is swallowed up by the fog within two seconds.
“Wait,” I call after him. “Please bring your family by later! We’re having a party!”
“Lottie!” Bear pulls me in tight, and I struggle to breathe for a moment before inching away. “You could have been killed!” He turns his attention back to the carnage. “Hunter”—he barks—“how many times have I told you not to put heavy crap on top of the scaffolding?” he riots over at his cousin, and poor Hunter looks just as shaken as I do.
“I didn’t. I swear.” He kicks one of the hefty looking bags that almost crushed me right along with the planks on that scaffolding. “I’d never put bags of quick-set on there. I’m not that insane,” he riots right back.
Keelie appears from nowhere and pulls me into the safety of the Cutie Pie Bakery.
“Don’t you worry about a thing, girl.” She slings her svelte arm around my shoulder as we take in this magical place, and somehow the trauma of what I’ve just been through begins to subside. “It’s a good thing to get all of the bad luck out of the way up front.” She bites down on a ruby red lip as if it isn’t. Keelie and I bonded at an early age, and she’s felt every bit like one of my sisters. Her blonde curls are pulled back into a ponytail, and her bright blue eyes glow as if someone lit a match behind them. Keelie is as peppy as she is sincere, and I love every attribute about her. “This is one of the best days of your life, and I never want you to forget a single moment of it. It’s nothing but good luck from here on out.”
“Right,” I say, looking past my bubbly bestie, and with everything in me I want to believe her. “Nothing but good luck.”
I glance back outside as Hunter and Bear work to clean up the debris. It’s so windy those newspapers have come apart and are floating through the air like ghosts.
Then with a slap, the front page of one of those papers seals itself against the glass, and there she is, Merilee Simonson and her unnatural grimace looking right at me like a dark omen as if to say there will be nothing good about this day.
There is not one part of me that believes Keelie’s kind words. There will be no good luck today.
Something tells me it will be bad, bad, bad.
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Books by Addison Moore
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Mystery
Little Girl Lost
Cutie Pies and Deadly Lies (Murder in the Mix 1)
Bobbing for Bodies (Murder in the Mix 2)
Pumpkin Spice Sacrifice (Murder in the Mix 3)
Gingerbread & Deadly Dread (Murder in the Mix 4)
Romance
3:AM Kisses (3:AM Kisses 1)
Winter Kisses (3:AM Kisses 2)
Sugar Kisses (3:AM Kisses 3)
Whiskey Kisses (3:AM Kisses 4)
Rock Candy Kisses (3:AM Kisses 5)
Velvet Kisses (3:AM Kisses 6)
Wild Kisses (3:AM Kisses 7)
Country Kisses (3:AM Kisses 8)
Forbidden Kisses (3:AM Kisses 9)
Dirty Kisses (3:AM Kisses 10)
Stolen Kisses (3:AM Kisses 11)
Lucky Kisses (3:AM Kisses 12)
Tender Kisses (3:AM Kisses 13)
&n
bsp; Revenge Kisses (3:AM Kisses 14)
Red Hot Kisses (3:AM Kisses 15)
Reckless Kisses (3:AM Kisses 16)
Hot Honey Kisses (3:AM Kisses 17)
Shameless Kisses (3:AM Kisses 18)
Value 3:AM Kisses Boxed Sets
3:AM Kisses Boxed Set 1-3
3:AM Kisses Boxed Set 4-6
3:AM Kisses Boxed Set 7-9
3:AM Kisses Boxed Set 10-12
The Social Experiment (The Social Experiment 1)
Bitter Exes (The Social Experiment 2)
Chemical Attraction (The Social Experiment 3)
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Low Down & Dirty (3:AM Kisses, Hollow Brook1)
Dirty Disaster (3:AM Kisses, Hollow Brook 2)
Dirty Deeds (3:AM Kisses, Hollow Brook 3)
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Naughty By Nature
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Burning Through Gravity (Burning Through Gravity 1)
A Thousand Starry Nights (Burning Through Gravity 2)
Fire in an Amber Sky (Burning Through Gravity 3)
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Beautiful Oblivion (Lake Loveless 1)
Beautiful Illusions (Lake Loveless 2)
Beautiful Elixir (Lake Loveless 3)
Beautiful Deception (Lake Loveless 4)
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The Solitude of Passion
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Someone to Love (Someone to Love 1)
Someone Like You (Someone to Love 2)
Someone For Me (Someone to Love 3)
BOXED SETS
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Spitfire Kisses Boxed Set
Breakers Canyon Boxed Set (Books 1-3)
Lake Loveless Boxed Set (Books 1-3)
A Totally ‘80s Romance (Books 1-3)
3:AM Kisses, Hollow Brook (Books 1-3)
3:AM KISSES (Books 1-3)
Young Adult Romance
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Melt With You (A Totally ’80s Romance 1)
Tainted Love (A Totally ’80s Romance 2)
Hold Me Now (A Totally ’80s Romance 3)
Paranormal Romance
(Celestra Book World in Order)
Ethereal (Celestra Series Book 1)
Tremble (Celestra Series Book 2)
Burn (Celestra Series Book 3)
Wicked (Celestra Series Book 4)
Vex (Celestra Series Book 5)
Expel (Celestra Series Book 6)
Toxic Part One (Celestra Series Book 7)
Toxic Part Two (Celestra Series Book 8)
Elysian (Celestra Series Book 9)
Perfect Love (A Celestra Novella)
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Ephemeral (The Countenance Trilogy 1)
Evanescent (The Countenance Trilogy 2)
Entropy (The Countenance Trilogy 3)
Ethereal Knights (Celestra Knights)
Season of the Witch (A Celestra Companion)
Celestra Forever After (Celestra Forever After 1)
The Dragon and the Rose (Celestra Forever After 2)
The Serpentine Butterfly (Celestra Forever After 3)
Crown of Ashes (Celestra Forever After 4)
Throne of Fire (Celestra Forever After 5)
Acknowledgments
A HUGE and hearty thank you to YOU, the reader, for diving into this new adventure with me. I hope you loved and adored Lottie and all of the Honey Hollow peeps as much as I did! This series has a very special place in my dark and twisted heart. I hope you’ll join me on the next leg of the MURDER IN THE MIX adventure for more mayhem and mischief!
A spectacular thank you to Jodie Tarleton for blessing this book with your extraterrestrial vision. You really have an extraordinary knack, and without you this book would not be the same. You are my angel!
Thank you to the fabulous Kaila Eileen Turingan-Ramos, who brings it each and every time! You are a true ninja warrior with whom no missing word can contend. Love you!
A big, beautiful thank you to the sweetest of the sweet, Shay Rivera, for beta reading and pointing things out that I would never have seen without you. I know you will do amazing things in this wonderful life. You are a brilliant soul, and I am honored to know you!
Gushing running hugs to Lisa Markson. You’re my safe place, and you know it.
To the real Keelie, thank you for sharing your beautiful presence with me and your beautiful name. I look forward to sharing real adventures with you.
All of my love and thanks to my amazing sister, Paige Maroney Smith, who is fierce and lovely and wise. You are truly family to me. A simple thank you is not enough for what you do. I love you!
And last, but never least, thank you to Him who sits on the throne. Worthy is the Lamb! Glory and honor and power are yours. I owe you everything.
About the Author
Addison Moore is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author who writes contemporary and paranormal romance. Her work has been featured in Cosmopolitan Magazine. Previously she worked as a therapist on a locked psychiatric unit for nearly a decade. She resides on the West Coast with her husband, four wonderful children, and two dogs where she eats too much chocolate and stays up way too late. When she's not writing, she's reading. Addison’s Celestra Series has been optioned for film by 20th Century Fox.
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Addison Moore, Cutie Pies and Deadly Lies: A Cozy Mystery
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