Chapter Fifty-One
It took exactly two days to completely turn my life upside down. I changed the focus and the direction. As of this afternoon, I also changed my employment status. Instead of being fired, I quit.
Micah turned out to be very charming. He was nice enough over the phone. He praised me and bargained to keep me. Even said I wouldn’t need to report to Brock, which would make Brock melt into a pile of goo, so it was tempting.
I appreciated the ego boost, but I hated that job and really didn’t love living in DC. The choice was obvious—quit and move back to Winston-Salem. The plan was to live with Gram and Celia. For the short-term only.
Celia said I could stay as long as I wanted.
Gram said there were nice apartments near Wake Forest University that I might like.
Yeah, I got the point.
Sitting in the kitchen eating muffins all day was not a job. Unfortunately. Gram wanted me to thrive. She didn’t use that word, but I sensed it. That meant instead of bouncing from bad idea to bad idea, I needed to settle in and figure out what my thing was.
The first step was easy. Writing. I didn’t know if I had the talent for books, short stories, or articles. The stories racing around my head—the characters and plots with shady dealings—needed somewhere to go. All I could do was try and see if I had the stamina and drive needed to finish.
The rest of the time I’d be doing non-baking work for Mags’ Desserts. Scheduling, streamlining, and marketing. The mix appealed to me more than whatever I’d been paid much more to do at NOI.
No one knew more about and loved muffins, scones, and pies than I did. No one. I could convince people they needed all three for breakfast without any trouble. I’d be searching for more business clients and managing the bulk orders. The only potential problem was the sample sampling. I planned to eat a lot. Running was out of the question, but I could burn calories other ways.
The main way should be here any minute. I glanced at the wall clock in the baking annex. It was just before four. I hadn’t seen Jackson since he completed his swan dive of martyrdom out of the room two days ago. I texted and called. He left a few messages about being swamped at work.
Nice try, Mr. Adorable. As if I wasn’t intimately familiar with that sort of lame excuse. Come up with a better tactic . . . or don’t. Just answer the phone.
Since I couldn’t get him here the easy way, I went for the devious way. He thought he was coming to the annex for my going away party. Celia told him he had to show up.
There was no party. No people. Just me and an offer I hoped he’d jump at.
At exactly four o’clock the door opened. Jackson took two steps inside and stopped. Seeing me sitting on the counter next to a plate of freshly made scones was, I hoped, his fantasy.
“What’s going on?”
He held his keys and they jingled when he moved.
His frown wasn’t very comforting, but I did trick him into coming, so I couldn’t really be grumbly about his confusion.
He started walking again. Came the whole way to the kitchen area and stood about five feet away from me.
Progress.
“We’re having a party.”
Man, if he turned me down this was going to suck. I might stuff him in the freezer. Even Celia would understand the reaction.
“When? Do I have the wrong day?”
He glanced at his watch then back at me.
How did he look even more adorable when bewildered?
I continued to sit on the counter. If Gram saw me she’d yell. She was opposed to anyone sitting on a kitchen counter for any reason. She promised to give me privacy with Jackson, so this was my one shot at counter sitting.
“Technically, you’re here to celebrate my work news.”
“Okay.”
He looked anything but okay. Disoriented. Tired. Those fit. “Did Micah give you a promotion?”
Jackson, Jackson, Jackson. He really wasn’t getting this.
“I left NOI.”
I looked around the room. “I work here now.”
“What?”
“It’s true.”
“Baking?”
He sounded horrified.
“That reaction is so rude.”
“Have you ever cooked anything without burning it?”
“You start one fire and right away people think you can’t cook.”
I jumped down. He didn’t move back, so the landing put me right in front of him. Just as I’d planned. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
His voice sounded scratchy. Very sexy.
He was always so in control. So confident and practical. He looked a little jumpy right now. I hoped that was a good sign.
I crossed my arms in front of me to keep from wrapping them around his waist and pulling him in tight. Baby steps. “You’ve been ignoring me.”
“I wonder why.”
He was not going to make this easy. Lucky for him I liked a challenge. “Me too.”
He started to say something then stopped. It took another deep exhale before he said a word. “You get it, right? I admitted I loved you, which I never intended to do. It’s embarrassing that I barked it out like I did. The logical solution was to give you some breathing room.”
So logical. “You mean hide.”
“I’m going with ‘breathing room.’”
He finally dropped his keys in his jacket pocket. “I know all of this was a lot. The pressure from my dad. The poison. Your work situation. Worrying about hurting Mags and Celia.”
“What does any of that have to do with loving me?”
He rubbed his forehead and shifted around. The poor guy looked like he felt uncomfortable in his skin.
Fine. I’d keep going. “You could have answered any of the million texts and calls—”
“Seven. And I did message you about my schedule.”
It was cute he kept count. “Terse one-liners. If you would have given me a real response instead of avoiding me, we could have resolved this and spent the last two days kissing . . . and other stuff.”
His arm dropped to his side. “What?”
For a smart guy he was having trouble with simple words. “Let’s try this. I’ve loved you forever. When I was a kid it was, yeah, not possible, and weird and all that. But that teen crush gave way to love. Full-fledged, compare-every-date-to-you, excited-when-I-see-you, hate-when-I-don’t love.”
His mouth dropped open. “What?”
I broke him. Not sure how but I did.
Time for a big gesture. I slid in closer. Slipped my hands up his stomach to his chest. “I love you. If you had stayed in this room two days ago instead of bolting, you would already know that.”
He didn’t say a word.
“What did you think the kissing and the sex were about?”
He shrugged. “I thought you were bored or curious.”
“That’s not cool.”
I stepped back but he caught me and dragged my hands to his neck. Wrapped my arms around him and pulled me tight against his chest.
“Sounds like I was wrong.”
He smiled. “You love me.”
“Up until two minutes ago.”
When he hugged me I gave in. “Fine. Yes.”
“You don’t sound happy about it.”
“You understand what this means, right?”
He should but I jumped on the point just in case. “You said you love me, so now you’re in this. Us. A couple. Dating. Sleepovers at your condo, not here because gah.”
His arms tightened around me, but he didn’t move.
I tried again. “What, too fast?”
“I’ve loved you for years, so no.”
His cute smile made another appearance. “Just surprised. You’ve called me boring in the past.”
Yeah, that did happen. More than once. “I reevaluated.”
“You . . .”
“I was wrong.”
If he needed to hear the words then fine. “You’re smart and caring. Charming and decent. Adorable as hell.”
That smile of his grew even bigger. “I really like that last part.’’
“Me too.”
If his hands kept traveling over my back like that, all soothing and sexy, we were going to do a different kind of cooking in this kitchen. “I know it’s scary because our lives are so tied together. The idea of a breakup—”
“Not happening. I intend to make this work.”
Well, listen to him. Right answer. “Okay, but you know how this will go. I’m going to be bossy about you taking time off and coming home so we can have dinner and all that.”
“Done.”
He grimaced. “What about my dad?”
Talk about an excitement killer. “Yeah, he needs to be better or at least behave. He’s also going to need to learn about boundaries because we will have some.”
“I’m looking forward to hearing you tell him all that.”
Oh, I would. Harlan and I would come to an understanding. I wasn’t going anywhere, so he needed to tone down the jackassery. “I’d rather talk about us than him.”
“You know, I left work thinking I was going to a party. A party I dreaded.”
He backed us up until my butt hit the counter. It looked like we were finally on the same page. “And?”
He kissed my neck. “I’m off for the rest of the day.”
“Oh.”
“We could get started on that dating thing.”
Those impressive hands of his started moving again.
I kissed him because who wouldn’t? I put all my energy behind it to show him how committed I was to making this work.
“I like your problem-solving,”
I whispered in between soft kisses. “I’ll bring the muffins.”