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“Thanks.” Noelle was glad her sister had moved on from giving her grief for being upset with Wes. They’d talked that morning, Noelle having slept like a rock the night before. The performance had gone off without a hitch and—feeling as if she were made of lead—she’d fallen into bed and didn’t stir for ten hours. It was glorious. She rubbed her right thigh. Happy as she was that all went well, her leg was pretty sore.

“You okay?” Holly had a sixth sense about Noelle’s health. If Noelle even thought her leg was hurting Holly would know before Noelle ever spoke a word. She hadn’t seen Noelle rub her leg and yet she knew.

“Yes. Fine.”

They watched as each bachelor mixed ingredients and moved around. Noelle’s eyes were fixed on Wes getting the caramel just right. Memories of him, his lips and tongue kissing caramel from her lips, made her too warm for her coat. She peeled it off and draped it over her arm. Okay. So. She still had feelings for the man. Attraction. But that didn’t mean they were meant for each other. She’d been attracted to men before who for sure were not right for her. And yet, she’d never been pulled toward someone like this, even when she felt she couldn’t trust him.

“Stop overthinking.”

“I’m not.” Man, she hated when her sister read her mind like that.

“Yes you are. I’m not even looking at you and I can tell. My attention is on these hot guys baking, Lord help us all, and the tension from your overthinking is palpable.”

The two sisters had sat over breakfast that morning going over—again—why Noelle was hurt and how Holly thought she was overreacting. Noelle would rather die than admit it, but the more she thought it through, when she’d hashed out the story one more time with Holly, her hurt was waning. Had she really been too hard on the guy? From what she could tell of Ronald Spellman the night before, he was a Hollywood director who didn’t mind attention, but that didn’t make him a bad landlord. Shoot, he’d probably never even be involved. His people had people who had people who would handle things, most likely.

What did it matter? Maybe it was best she’d overreacted. She and Wes had no future anyway. She’d been dreaming. She’d thank him for a lovely trip and an adventure in baking and move on. The practical side of her found this acceptable. The romantic side of her that was in love with him did not.

“Are you going to help him bake for the last Bake-Off?” Holly’s question pulled her from her thoughts.

A shrug was all she could manage. Her eyes found his as he smiled and shook hands with the other bachelors. He’d done well so her sister’s question was a valid one. Could she spend more time with him as just friends? Maybe he wouldn’t even want her help anymore. The idea was silly; even she knew that. The man had stayed behind after the performance the night before for almost an hour waiting to talk to her. She’d done her best to avoid him, which was no small feat. He didn’t put off the vibe of someone who was going to back away.

In fact, he made his way toward them, his demeanor cautious, his eyes searching hers for any sense of welcome.

“Hey, Wes. Nice job.” Holly gave him a hug.

“Thanks. Your sister’s a great teacher.”

“The best.” Holly patted his shoulder and moved past him to talk to a friend over by the counter. That left the two of them alone in the corner. People were putting on coats, milling around. People who had bid on the slices of pie were picking up their prizes to take home or having their picture taken with the bachelor who baked them. Glenna had bid on Wes’s whole pie and won.

“I see your pie is going to a good home.” Noelle motioned with her chin toward Glenna who was talking to Daniel St. Claire and grinning from ear to ear over the pie she now held in her hands.

Wes looked over his shoulder to Glenna then back at Noelle again. Man, he looked good. A black button-down shirt was tucked into his jeans; a gorgeous silver watch adorning his wrist drew attention to his forearms. She’d always been an arm girl. Other women could have men with six-pack abs; Noelle would take muscular arms any day. Although she guessed the black shirt covered a decent set of abs on Wes as well.

He smiled and tucked his hands into his pants pockets, his MO when unsure of things, she’d figured out. “Yeah. I told Glenna my angst over having a complete stranger bid on my stuff, so she stepped up for me.”

“She looks pretty happy.” However, the single women in the room, not so much. They’d been duped again at getting close to the wealthy bachelor. In fact, a few of them eyed Noelle with disdain at that moment.

“Well, it didn’t take too much convincing. She said she’s been making me food for so long it’s about time I made her something.”

“You couldn’t have just made her a pie at home?”

“Now where’s the fun in that?” The twinkle in his eye wormed its way in and warmed her to her toes.

Despite her unsettled feelings for him, she laughed. He had a knack for getting to her, even when she wanted to be mad at him.

“Besides, my dad is the one paying. He’d never let Glenna do that.”

“Your dad’s a good man.”

“Yes.”

They looked around, the diner now only filled with stragglers, people helping to clean up and small groups of friends talking about heading over to Grey’s.

“So, are we going to talk about the pink elephant in the room? The one standing between us?”

“Not here, Wes.” With two of the women hungry to be in her position in the corner with Wes St. Claire still eyeing them, the last thing she wanted was to start crying again.

“I simply meant that I wanted to know…well, I was hoping…” He looked at his shoes and then back at her.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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