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And I hated it.
And, again, it was all Mama’s fault.
Mostly. I had to take responsibility for the kiss, because I hadn’t recoiled in disgust or called on my self-defense training when those thick pink lips had crashed down on mine. Instead, I’d frozen for a moment, suspended in shock that the kiss was actually happening, and then I had committed the most unforgivable sin—I leaned into the kiss. No, I didn’t just lean into it, I pressed my body against Oliver’s surprisingly hard form and wrapped my arms around him like we were long-lost lovers. I lived a lifetime in that kiss, while Oliver devoured my lips and made love to my mouth. I forgot all about who he was and who I was, and all the things that divided us during that kiss. All I did was feel.
And it had been a horrible mistake, because now I couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss. Couldn’t stop wanting another, even while knowing it was impossible. And a terrible idea.
“You want anything other than coffee with a side of a mental breakdown?” Mara Landon was the head baker at Bread Box and she mostly kept to herself, so the question threw me for a loop.
“Mental what… oh, was it that obvious?”
She shrugged. “Only to me, and only because I’m the only person in here. So, more coffee and something sugary and buttery?”
I looked down at the yoga pants I’d worn to encourage me to stop for a session at the gym before heading into the office for a few hours of work, realizing they felt a little tight. “I shouldn’t.”
Mara snorted. “Oh, please, women get injections to get the kind of curves you have. Embrace them. Own them. Or not. Whatever.” She shrugged and walked away, apparently no longer interested in my dilemma, which was fine. Even I was starting to tire of it.
But I wasn’t done obsessing over it. Not yet. Olive entered Bread Box first, looking cute and exhausted in a pair of fitted light blue jeans and a T-shirt that hung off one shoulder. The outfit was totally her, but it was the weekend and she usually dressed to suit Winslow’s needs, which meant he’d bailed on her. Again. “Morning, Eva. What’s up?”
I shook my head at her wide smile. “Why are you so smiley already? It’s not even eleven o’clock.”
“To piss you off, of course. Is it working? How about a cronut to soothe your hurt butt?” Without waiting for an answer, she sashayed to the front, engaging Mara in conversation. Somehow.
“She’s full of energy already,” Sophie said around a yawn. “How disgusting.”
“Right?” If it had been solely up to Sophie and me, Time For Love wouldn’t open until eleven, but Olive had to inject logic into that particular decision-making session.
“What’s wrong?” Sophie was too damn perceptive for my current comfort level but this was why I had called this emergency, early-morning meeting on a weekend.
“I need to tell you guys something. To confess something.”
Sophie’s brown eyes went wide and her spine stretched until it was completely straight. “What is it, Eva? You can tell me anything.”
I shook my head. “I’d rather wait for Olive so I don’t have to say it twice.” With my head hanging low, I took in several deep breaths as I prepared to tell my partners that I had betrayed them. That I had put the business at risk for a fleeting moment of pleasure.
Sophie couldn’t relax until she heard me out so she sat where she was, staring at me as if she could figure out the problem before I shared it. When Olive finally returned to the table, it as tense as hell. “Who offended who?” Olive groaned and took a seat. “I can’t leave you two alone for five minutes without you fighting just like sisters.”
She wasn’t wrong, it was the nature of having two strong-willed women in the same building. Between our business and personal relationship, Sophie and I had had more than few big fights. “Eva has to tell us something so serious she only wants to say it once.” The steel in Sophie’s tone told me she had already come to the worst conclusion, but I knew she wouldn’t have thought of this—hell, I hadn’t even thought it was a possibility.
“What is it,” Olive asked, concern heavy in her mossy green eyes. “Just tell us so we can figure it out. Together.”
That only made me feel more guilty and my shoulders drooped in resignation. There was no point in delaying the inevitable, so I lifted my head and squared my shoulders, looking both women head on. “I kissed Oliver. Well, technically, he kissed me, but I’m just as responsible because I didn’t push him away even though I knew I should have. Hindsight and all that,” I rushed on. “I’m really sorry about this and I never intended for it to happen, never even wanted it to happen but it did and it puts the business at risk.” That was the worst of my sins, putting everything we worked for at risk for something that meant nothing.
