“Through sheer stubborn determination and hard work, you’ve expanded the bakery to twice its size and made it a central business in Harlot’s Bay.” Her index finger went up. “You’ve gathered a fantastic crew of workers, whom you pay well and help however you’re able.” Middle finger. “You’ve taken a vulnerable young woman and her children under your wing, when absolutely no one asked you to do so.” Ring finger. “As today showed, you can communicate effectively when desired.” Pinkie. “You can always travel if and when you choose to do so. And having a passport doesn’t somehow guarantee good character or a good life, Dean.”
Abandoning her finger count, she threw her hands in the air. “I mean,Robhas a damn passport! From what I heard, he and his fiancée celebrated their engagement in St. Barts!”
Point made. “Yeah, but—”
“You’re an amazingly talented baker,” she declared, with zero acknowledgment of his attempted interruption. “Not to mention a successful business owner, a hardworking member of the Harlot’s Bay community, a committed Nasty Wench, and a loving son and brother.”
Mingled pleasure and discomfort had him flushed and shiftinguncomfortably. She either didn’t notice or didn’t care, because she kept going.
“Plus, you’rehot.” Sounded like an accusation, which was weird, but whatever. Only a total dunce wouldn’t take that compliment from a woman like her. “Like,reallyfreaking hot. If a supermodel or athlete tried to get his hand inside my pants, I’d break his arm. Yours is still intact, Karl. There’s a reason for that. And that reason is your undeniable hotness. I thought I’d already made said hotness clear, so start paying attention, will you?”
Her lips-pursed, disapproving headshake would’ve done a schoolmarm proud.
Coincidentally? He kinda felt proud too. Less inadequate. Way more confident.
“You’re also really good with your hands, so I had high freaking hopes when it came to your fingering skills,” she added. “Hopes that—to be clear—werefullyrealized.”
At that, his dick basically stood up and saluted her. “Yeah?”
“What did you think, Dean?” Her eyes rolled to the wispy clouds above. “That I poured a gallon of lube down my jeans before going to your bakery? Then proceeded to fake coming so damn hard, my abs actuallyhurtthe next day?”
He snorted, amusement battling abject horniness. “A gallon, huh?”
She raised a superior brow. “Ever heard of hyperbole?”
Using his own words against him. She was a damn delight.
“A good life—a worthwhile life—doesn’t require moving somewhere else, and it doesn’t require a college diploma. Becky should have realized that, and the breakup was her loss.Notyours.” Her cheeks flushed with sun and conviction, she stabbed a finger in his direction. “There’s no way she found a better manthan you, no matter where in the world she roamed. And as someone who’s lived in a dozen different places, I would freakingknow.”
They were in public. Five feet to the left? Two hairy, overgrown rodents with fluffy tails eyeing his duffel bag way the hell too curiously. Straight ahead? A couple of gap-toothed elementary schoolers skipping around the pond in dorky tricorn hats.
Good thing she kept lecturing him before he could jump her anyway.
“Here’s the last thing I’ll say: Twenty years ago, you should havetrusted menot to be as shallow as Becky and explained the situation before asking whether I found”—the woman truly loved air quotes—“‘big motherfuckers’ attractive, Mr. Your-Lack-of-Trust-Is-a-Mortal-Offense.” Looking triumphant, she set aside her notebook. “See the irony? Because it’sglaring.”
Another point: hereby made.
His phone beeped with a text. Grateful for the reprieve, he snatched his cell from the blanket and held it directly in front of his face.
Communicate like the wind, Special K!While he was still reading Athena’s first text, another popped up.Only with actual words instead of howls or groans! Just to clarify!
Dammit. How did Greydon know? She invent some sort of sensor that activated whenever he got too tempted to stop talking and start sexing?
After sending a middle-finger emoji in response, he tossed his phone aside. “I get your point, Dearborn. Sorry.”
“Which one?” Molly immediately asked. “Because I mademanyexcellent points.”
He paused a beat too long. “All of ’em?”
“Really?” Challenge lit her eyes, turning them an incandescent blue. “Name them.”
Challenge damn well accepted. “Should’ve trusted you to be kinder than Becky.”
“And?”
She was going to make him say it? Fine.Fine.
“Shouldn’t’ve thought you and Becky were too good for me.”
