“It’s Dean,” he corrected her, lifting the top of the bakery box and gazing down at the cheesecake. “It looks perfect, but looks aren’t everything. I’m quite a connoisseur, you know. Promise me you won’t have any hard feelings if I give you some constructive criticism?”

“Okay, no hard feelings,” Hannah said, although she knew it was a promise she couldn’t keep. Of course she’d have hard feelings if Dean didn’t like her cheesecake!

“Good for you, Lovey. You have no idea how many people can’t take criticism, even when it’s friendly and for their own benefit. Would you cut me a slice?”

“Of course.” Hannah folded down the sides of the box so that she could lift her cheesecake out without damaging it. “I’ll need a knife.”

“There should be one here somewhere. They took out the kitchen to make a larger space for my office, but they left some things in the cupboards and drawers.”

As Dean brushed past her, she jumped slightly. Unless she was imagining things, Mr. Lawrence had just patted her inappropriately! Hannah turned around to glance at him, but he was busily pawing through the contents of the drawers for a knife. Perhaps he had just bumped into her. It was difficult to tell if his touch had been intentional when she was wearing her heavily quilted parka coat.

Even though the Bad Boy Director was making quite a racket, opening drawers and slamming them closed, Hannah heard a door shut at the back of the Winnebago and a faint clanging as someone went down the set of metal steps at the rear of the vehicle. Whoever had been in the master bedroom, if it was the master bedroom and hadn’t been turned into some sort of a workroom, had exited the back way. That was certainly suspicious. If Dean’s early morning visitor had come to see him for business reasons, she should have come out to greet Hannah and enjoy a piece of cheesecake.

Hannah was just inching toward the curtain, hoping to peek out to catch a glimpse of Dean’s visitor, when he came back holding a knife and a plate.

“Here you go, Lovey. I found a plate, too. I would have brought another, but I assumed you had to get back to your shop.”

“You’re right. I do.” Hannah cut a slice of the creamy cheesecake and slid it onto the plate. “We’re opening in less than an hour.”

“I’ll see you later then.”

Dean reached out to give her a little hug and his hand was overly affectionate. Hannah stepped back. Was that intentional? She couldn’t quite decide.

“I’ll see you at lunch. And I’ll let you know what I think of your cheesecake then. Right now, I have to get back to work myself.”