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How could I still feel so reliant on him?
My mom would hate it, might even hate me for being weak… but maybe I was.
Maybe that was a character flaw of mine.
Maybe the reason Finn and I worked so well together was because I let him take charge.
“Maybe you’re just fucking weak,” I muttered to myself as I baked.
When Finn left me to it and went to bed without saying goodnight, I baked some more.
And I carried on through the night until the following dawn. I barely ate, and I didn’t drink all that much. I stopped to put Jake to bed twice, to nurse him and change his diaper when he woke up, but then I went right back to it.
At five AM, I messaged Billy, my runner, to come to the apartment to pick up all the things I’d developed.
Most of them were new products, things I was trying out. My life was a mess, but the only thing that made sense were my recipes.
I had more stacks of Tupperware than a Tupperware party by the time the elevator buzzed. Heading into the hall as the doors opened, I frowned when I saw Billy wasn’t alone.
“Louise? What are you doing here?”
She shot me one of those pitying smiles that made me want to curl up into a ball and die.
In my kitchen, no one pitied me.
Outside was another matter entirely.
“When he told me what he was picking up, I said that he’d probably need help. So, here I am.”
Nodding in understanding, I jolted in surprise when I heard the heavy padding of feet behind me.
It wasn’t like I didn’t know it was Finn, but Louise’s eyes lit up like a stoplight and that had me narrowing mine as I turned around and saw him in a pair of gray sweatpants, striding forward, his destination? Me.
He approached with a frown, demanding, “What the hell’s going on?”
I might have been upset with my husband, but every instinct I possessed wanted to rage at the way Louise was eying him up like he was one of my brownies. I could feel my claws extending with the desire to swipe them at her. That was when I knew I was losing it.
Louise had been a trusted member of staff for years.
And as big of a jackass as Finn was, I knew he’d never cheat on me.
Still, I cast him a look, curious if he reacted to Louise’s evident attraction to him, but unsurprisingly, his focus was all on me.
“Aoife?” he bit off angrily.
I pursed my lips. “They’re here to collect the prototypes I’ve been making.”
“Prototypes?” he repeated.
“While interest in the bakery is at a peak, it’s a good time to gauge response to new recipe ideas,” I said quietly, stepping away from him and heading for the kitchen.
As I did, I noticed the gun he had tucked into the back of his sweatpants and had to shake my head.
I was well aware that he didn’t realize I’d noticed, but I had extra guards despite the fact we were so high up even the birds felt nauseated when they looked down.
With extra security in the lobby and all the alarms we had now, I had no idea who he thought would get to me.
Even if it stirred something in me that he was so protective, I shoved it away as Billy was saying, “Holy crap, Aoife! Do you think we should hold off on producing our regular menu to work through this stock?”
