Chapter 19 #2
Brody: Hey, no hard feelings. I want you to be happy, Maggie. I mean it.
Brody: You deserve to be happy.
His kindness burrowed under my ribs and made it hard to breathe. It made me wish I’d handled all of it better, but I’d made a mess of everything.
Maggie: You deserve to be happy too.
My hands trembled as I set my phone back on the counter and forced myself to get back to work.
My whole body felt tight the entire time I finished the dishes then started restocking the case out front for the morning. We were almost out of June’s Jams, and I’d have to remember to text Blaire to tell her we needed more.
The bell over the front door jingled, and I tensed. I meant to lock it after Sutton left, but my mind had been all over the place.
“We’re closed!” I yelled out as I stood, pushing my hair out of my face as I closed the door to the display case.
“Hey, Sunshine.” Hunter’s voice slipped through the quiet, and it knocked the air straight out of my chest.
I stood there for a moment, back pressed to the case, fingers still sticky with blueberry glaze.
I wiped them down my apron as I turned to face him. He filled the doorway with his hat in his hand and those brown eyes fixed right on me.
Everything I’d been trying to outrun crashed straight into me all at once.
For a few seconds, neither of us moved. The bakery was so quiet I could hear the hum of the walk-in, the faint tick of the clock on the wall, and the low, heavy thump of my own pulse.
Hunter’s eyes trailed down my body, taking in the flour smeared on my arms and the filthy apron tied around my waist. I knew I looked like hell, but the way his gaze pinned me in place had my skin buzzing hot and raw.
I kept my eyes on the register and didn’t move toward him. “What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same.” He set his hat on the nearest table. “I thought you were still in Alabama.”
I pressed my hands float against the counter.
“Colt told me you got back yesterday.” He took a step closer. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I started rearranging things on the counter that didn’t need rearranging. “Just busy.”
He didn’t say anything for a moment, and when I looked up, he was watching me.
“Mags.” There was something different about the way he said my name. “You look like you haven’t slept in three days.”
“Bakeries don’t run themselves.” I shrugged.
He didn’t move any closer. He just watched me, eyes dark and unblinking, while my hands shook against the counter.
“You want help?” he asked, and the words caught me off guard.
I wanted to say yes. I wanted him to wrap his arms around me and say words I didn’t believe in, to make all the noise in my head go quiet for five damn minutes.
But if I said yes, it would mean I couldn’t handle shit on my own. It would mean my father was right about me. So I shook my head, too hard and too fast. “No,” I said, and it came out sharper than I intended.
The look on his face hit me square in the chest, but I couldn’t find a way to soften it. Not when my nerves were shot like this. Not when my father’s voice was still ricocheting around in my head, reminding me I’d never been enough.
Hunter took another step. The sound of his boots on the tile made me suddenly aware of how small the bakery was, how late it was, how alone we were. He stopped close enough that I could smell the sun and sweat on him, and a hint of his cologne went straight to my stomach.
He didn’t say anything at first, just reached out and dragged a strand of hair away from my face. I turned into his hand without thinking, chasing his warmth.
“Tell me what happened,” he murmured, and I clamped my eyes closed.
I couldn’t get the words out, not even when I felt the heat of his palm at the side of my neck. I let myself lean in, just breathing him in, letting the steady pressure ground me.
“Nothing happened,” I lied. “I just have a lot going on.” I blinked up at him, desperate to mask the raw ache clawing at my throat. “I’m behind at the bakery, and I have so much wedding stuff to help Ella with before her wedding in a few weeks.”
His thumb grazed the side of my neck, so damn gently that it made me feel unsteady. “Come on, Sunshine.”
“Stop.” I pulled back from his touch, and his hand fell away. “Ella’s getting married in three weeks.” I forced myself to meet his eyes, and I wished I hadn’t. “It makes it hard to stand at her side when I just finished fucking you.”
I hated myself for saying it, for trying to break this thing between us just to make it hurt less. But I couldn’t take them back, even when he looked at me with that stubborn, impossible look in his eyes.
“Sunshine,” he said, and his voice was so gentle I wanted to scream.
I shook my head. “Don’t,” I whispered, but tears blurred my vision and I hated myself even more for letting him see me this raw.
“Alright, Mags.” He cleared his throat. “You want me to leave?”
I could barely look at him. Everything inside me felt like I’d break apart if he leaned in one inch closer. The way Hunter watched me was a pressure along my skin, pinning me in place, asking for something I didn’t dare let myself want.
So I nodded, just once.
He stared at me for a long moment before he stepped back and picked up his hat. “Goodnight, Sunshine.”
I let him go, clutching the counter like it might hold me together when nothing else could.