2. Shep
2
SHEP
God, she was beautiful. Standing there in the middle of the kitchen, singing the kind of off-key that made your ears bleed. But she was so free while doing it. I should’ve stayed in the doorway longer, really taken in all that was her.
Because I didn’t think I’d ever gotten to see Thea this carefree or uninhibited before. She was the type of guarded that meant a dozen locks, triple-enforced walls, and a barbed wire fence. But I’d seen hints of the real her over the months I’d been coming into the bakery.
Glimpses that told me the truth about the woman behind the walls. Ones that made me want to lean in closer.
But taking her in now, I couldn’t help but chuckle. Her mouth opened and closed as she took in the bright blue frosting dripping down the front of my shirt. When she finally managed to speak, it was only to curse.
I laughed harder, and that only made her glare.
“It’s not funny,” she snapped.
“Come on, Thorn. It’s a little funny. ”
Thea’s spine straightened as if her spinal column had filled with steel. “Thorn?”
I arched a brow and reached for a towel on the counter to mop up the mess. The tee was toast. But it was a small price to pay for a chance to see Thea riled. It made her deep brown eyes burn with a heat I couldn’t help but imagine lighting in other scenarios.
“Thorn. Fits your prickly personality.”
She gaped at me, her mouth opening and closing yet again. “You broke into the bakery and scared the hell out of me, and I’m prickly?”
I just grinned at her. Riled. So much better than her usual brush-offs. “Door was open.”
That had Thea’s mouth snapping closed.
“I just figured you were open early. But no one answered when I called out, and I heard some horribly off-kilter singing coming from the kitchen. I had to investigate.”
Thea’s cheeks flamed as she set the bowl of icing on the counter. “I thought I was alone.”
“I know,” I said simply. That was why it had been such a gift. A single moment of Thea being truly herself.
She moved toward the doorway, carefully giving me a wide berth. “I’ll get you a T-shirt to replace that one.”
“You don’t have to?—”
“I do,” she clipped, bending over to rummage through the stack of tees with different bakery logos.
I was going to hell. Because as Thea bent over, her jeans pulling tight across her heart-shaped ass, I couldn’t look away.
She pulled a lavender shirt free and straightened, holding it out to me. “Here.”
The tee was large enough to fit me, but the front had a bright pink cupcake with Cupcake Cutie written below it in a squiggly script.
Her lips twitched as she held it out. “Problem?”
I met her stare head-on. I knew a challenge when I heard it. Grabbing the neck of my T-shirt at the back, I pulled it up and over my head, then tossed it into the trash can behind the counter. “Real men wear purple. ”
Thea’s gaze slid from my face down to my bare chest, and I didn’t miss the way her pupils dilated as she swallowed hard.
I held out a hand for the shirt. “See something you like?”
Her eyes snapped back to my face. “Just wondering why the town’s golden boy is stripping down in the middle of a place of business.”
I shrugged and pulled the purple shirt over my head. “I don’t have a problem with nudity. Do you?”
The moment the words passed my lips, Thea stiffened, her face paling slightly.
Shit. “I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “I’m an ass. I was just joking around?—”
She shook her head. “It’s fine. Just tell me what you’d like to drink or eat, and I’ll get it for you. On the house.”
It obviously wasn’t fine , and that had my gut churning. I’d clearly stepped in it. And the way I’d done so had me kicking myself over and over. It also had me worried. “You don’t have to cover my breakfast,” I said softly.
“I think that’s my choice,” Thea argued, moving around me, once again giving me a wide berth. “Black coffee, right?”
“Yeah,” I muttered, crossing behind the bakery case but giving her plenty of the space she seemed to need.
“Pastry?” she asked.
As I made it to the front of the case, where I should’ve been all along, I scanned the contents. The thought of downing one of the sweets this early turned my stomach. But there were a few other options. “I’ll take a ham and cheese croissant.”
Thea nodded, her dark hair sweeping across her olive cheek. But she didn’t say a word. I didn’t push. I already felt like enough of an ass.
Thea snapped a lid on the coffee just as Sutton emerged from the back, Luca’s hand in hers. She sent me a wide smile as she brushed some flour off her shirt. “Morning, Shep.”
“Morning,” I greeted, then grinned down at Luca. “Hey, buddy.”
He grinned, exposing a missing incisor. “Mr. Shep! Can I help you build again? ”
I chuckled. “Anytime. We can always use another good man on the job.”
Luca’s chest puffed up. “Mom, can you take me? Can you?”
Sutton just shook her head. “You have to go to camp first.”
“But after? Pleeeeeease?” he begged.
“Maybe later this week. I thought you wanted to go to the ice rink today.”
Luca looked absolutely tortured by the decision.
“The construction zone will be there, buddy. There’s no rush,” I assured him.
Luca let out a tiny huff, as though the weight of the world were on his shoulders. “Ice today, building tomorrow.”
I held out a hand for a high five. “Good choice, my man.”
Sutton sent me an exhausted smile. “Thanks.”
“Anytime,” I assured her.
As she hurried toward the door, a flicker of movement caught my attention, right before a different sort of guilt flooded me. I forced a smile. “Hey, Mara. How are you?”
Her return grin was so bright it had that guilt digging in deeper. “Pretty good. You?”
“Doing well. Just grabbing some breakfast,” I said, glancing toward Thea as I pulled out my wallet.
Thea’s gaze quickly darted away from my face. “I told you. On the house. For the whole…” She made some nonsensical gesture with her hand that had me fighting a smile. “Icing thing.”
Mara looked back and forth between Thea and me. “Icing thing?”
“Just a little early morning mishap,” I said, pulling two twenties out of my wallet and stuffing them into the tip jar.
“Shep,” Thea chastised quietly.
I dipped my head to meet her gaze. “It’s your choice whether or not to charge, but how much to tip is mine. Sorry about the assholery.”
Her plump, pink lips pressed into a hard line before popping apart again. “All good.”
It wasn’t, though. Thea’s behavior was all wrong. The kind that said she’d been hurt before. And that had anger stirring somewhere deep, with a completely unwarranted heat behind it.
I didn’t know Thea. Not really. I’d been coming into the bakery since it opened months ago, taken in by her striking beauty. But she hadn’t shared anything with me that let me truly get to know her.
All I’d gotten were minuscule snippets. Brief moments when she let her guard down. Usually, when she was teasing Luca or laughing with Sutton.
And I hadn’t learned much more from my sister, who worked with Thea at the local nursery. The most I could pull out of Rhodes was that she thought Thea was running from something. The question was…what?
“Shep,” Mara said, bringing my attention back to her.
More guilt sparked at the flicker of annoyance I felt at being forced away from Thea. I really was an ass.
Mara smiled tentatively. “Do you want to stick around? We could have breakfast together. I’ve got an hour before my shift starts at the hardware store.”
Hell. Mara and I had ended months ago. We’d dated for about six weeks before I realized we just weren’t a match. It wasn’t that she wasn’t a good person. She was. But that only made ending things harder. Telling someone you thought you were better as friends never went over well.
And now, it was like Mara thought she could convince me otherwise. She was never overly pushy about it, but there was a steady, uncomfortable pressure. She’d find a way to ask me to spend time with her every couple of weeks. I was running out of ideas for gentle letdowns.
I cleared my throat. “Meeting Anson at a new site.”
Mara’s expression fell, and my guilt dug in deeper. “Okay. Maybe another time.”
I tried to hide my wince as I avoided her suggestion. “Have a good day.”
I glanced over my shoulder as I started toward the door. “Stay away from the blue frosting for a while, Thorn. ”
Thea instantly scowled at me, but the heat was back behind those dark eyes. Something a hell of a lot better than the flicker of fear I’d seen earlier.
I felt a tug to find out what had caused it and wipe it from the Earth. But that was wasted energy. Because I’d probably fail her, too.