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Strange and sort of wonderful.
“How come you don’t think it’s going to work out?” he asked, voice slightly strained, once they’d made it past the sprawling hardware store.
“I don’t have the staff, for one thing. My new floral designer just took another job so I’m on my own. Except for Nellie, the godsend. She’s working with me part-time.”
“That’s good. Sucks about your other designer though.”
Alexa shrugged. “Patty got a better offer. I can’t really blame her for going. If I were in her position, I would’ve left too.”
“No, you wouldn’t.” His quiet certainty caused her to stare up at him. Perspiration dotted his temples, but somehow that only made him look more rugged. She could so see him on a ladder, painting a house with his shirt off and all those golden muscles flexing. Those talented hips swiveling with his natural grace while he mounted each step, then turned to shoot her one of those dazzling grins that swept the thoughts from her head like sand from a bucket.
She shook herself out of her reverie. Whatever the positives to having Dillon around, he certainly didn’t help with her concentration. “How do you know I wouldn’t have left?”
“Because you’re determined. You’d see the possibilities at Divine, not the problems. As you do now, even though you’re frightened you’re not enough to face them.” He turned her toward him with a gentleness that made her heart race. “You are.”
She swallowed and gazed up into his compassionate expression, w
anting so badly to burrow into the safety of his embrace like he was her shelter in the storm. Her gut told her she could trust Dillon James.
God, she wanted to.
When she didn’t respond, he tugged lightly on her hand and they started walking again, slowing at the attractively decorated windows of the bakery. “So you think the friend’s event will be way too big for you to handle on your own?”
“I’m not set up for something that size. Even with temporary help.” She pressed a hand over her stomach as it growled. “Eileen’s inviting over a hundred people. I just don’t think I could do it, even with a ton of lead time. Even if Nellie continues to pick up flower design as well as she has so far, I can’t ask her to bust her ass when she’s exhausted and dealing with swollen ankles.”
“Nellie’s your sister-in-law?”
“And best friend. She’s very pregnant.” Alexa sighed and dragged her attention from a fancy wedding cake. It was just making her hungrier. At least she had a granola breakfast bar with her name on it waiting for her in her desk drawer. “She’s due in four months.”
“That’s great. You must be excited, auntie-to-be.” He gifted her with another of those smiles he dispensed like candy and pulled on her hand. “Let’s go in.”
“Oh no, I shouldn’t,” she said weakly as he led her into the bakery.
The scents of freshly baked bread and vanilla washed over her in a comforting wave, and her stomach rebelled with another loud groan. She clutched her belly and winced.
“On a diet?” Without looking back at her, he urged her up to the huge, well-lit case of decadent treats. “Trust me, you don’t need to. You’re perfect as is.”
“It’s not my diet I’m worried about.” Her gaze dipped to the price beneath a fat cranberry-orange muffin. Three dollars for a stinking muffin? Her lunch cost that at the deli down the street.
“Don’t worry about anything, okay? Can you do that for me?”
She didn’t reply to his low question as the older woman behind the counter bustled up to them. It wasn’t as if Dillon could be in an incredible financial position himself. Handymen didn’t make that much, did they? She honestly had no clue. Though he probably could afford a few muffins, right?
But when he bought half a dozen of them along with two cups of coffee—more chocolate raspberry for her—and various assorted treats the woman packed into multiple boxes, she raised an eyebrow. “You planning on feeding a battalion?”
He flipped out his wallet and withdrew a gleaming silver credit card. “I thought it’d be nice to leave some on the counter at Divine. And—” He broke off, looking uncharacteristically awkward. Then he covered his unease with a smile for the woman behind the counter. “Throw in a bunch of napkins, would you?”
She beamed. “For you, Dillon, of course.”
“She knows you?” Alexa whispered when the woman went to fill his order.
“I come in here now and then.” He shrugged.
Maybe handymen made more than she realized. He did seem to have a wide range of skills in that area. Perhaps he diversified enough to bring in a decent income. She bit her lip, considering his profile. Or could he be trying to show off a little? Maybe he’d suggest an expensive restaurant next and then she’d know he was wooing her.
Which didn’t sound half-bad, truthfully.
Laden down with several white bakery bags, they entered Divine a few minutes later. She didn’t have to unlock the door, which gave her a moment’s pause until she heard the music flowing out from the back room. More jazz. She blew out a breath. Imagine that.
