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“Thank you for coming out with me tonight.”
“You shouldn’t be thanking me.Thank youfor tonight, Liam. Really, it was perfect.” I stared up at him in front of my apartment door, wanting to just invite him in for the night. But I couldn’t make myself do it.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.” He softly placed a hand on the side of my face and tilted my head up. Like a schoolgirl, my stomach flipped and twisted and did gymnastics at his touch. Was he going to kiss me? “I’ll see you in the morning, Em.”
He bent down and I held my breath as he pressed his lips against my forehead. When he pulled away, I still couldn’t breathe and watched in silence as he walked back to the stairwell.
22
Liam
I, as usual, was an idiot.
I thought that I could read Emma and tell that she wanted me as much as I wanted her, but fear of her rejection kept me perpetually one step away from being open with her.
Instead of telling her that yes, I wanted her back, I told her we’d keep it a mystery for the fans’ sake. And instead of kissing her at her front door like any sane man, I kissed her forehead like a high school boy with no experience would.
An idiot.
But there was time. And I could only hope that Emma wouldn’t lose the interest I could see in her eyes.
So I showed up to help her box all of the orders, and Grady filmed most of it. We all stayed pretty silent as we worked diligently. I could feel a weird energy coming off of Emma, and I wondered if I’d made her feel uncomfortable in some way.
We were about halfway through the orders when Anne arrived, earlier than Emma had told her to. She jumped right into helping us and together, the three of us packaged all of the orders by two in the afternoon. Grady filmed a celebratory video where Emma thanked all of her followers and everyone who got to order this week.
With nothing else to work on, Emma sent Anne home and I lingered as Grady bid farewell. After realizing he had no interest in Emma, I’d really come to like the guy. He was headed to the airport to catch a flight back to New York, where he had work to do.
I looked at Emma from across the room, surrounded by boxes of packaged cookies, macarons, and cinnamon rolls. She gazed dreamily at the pink boxes, and I couldn’t help but admire her. Which was all I ever seemed to do around her.
“I called the postal service. They’ll be here in twenty to pick all of this up.” I walked towards her, shoving my hands in my pockets. The urge to wrap my arms around her and tell her how proud I was of all of her hard work nearly won me over, but I kept my hands to myself.
She gnawed on her lip, nodding her head. Her eyes stayed away from me, and it almost looked like she was crying. I stared for a few moments longer, realizing that shewascrying.
“Hey,” I said softly, closing the distance between us. I pulled her chin towards me and lifted it up so that I could look at her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
She smiled, her watery eyes overfilled. Tears streamed down her pink cheeks. “Nothing. I just can’t believe this happened.”
“I can.” I wiped away her tears with my thumb, using my free hand to wrap around her shoulders. The restraint I’d used just a few seconds ago was gone. I had to comfort her. “You have worked your ass off for this. This is your dream. And you deserve every ounce of success that you get.”
She sniffled, her eyes trained on mine. “But I didn’tdoanything to deserve this. It was all Grady.”
“Do you really think it wasjustGrady? All of those people didn’t follow you and became obsessed with your bakery because of Grady’s camera skills. They loveyou. They love your personality and how sickeningly pink everything in this store is. Grady may have made the videos, but it wasyouthat made them viral.” Both of my hands were now cupping her cheeks, forcing her to look at me as I said every word. Our faces were inches apart, and though I wanted to lean down and kiss her, my restraint was back.
“You think so?” Her bottom lip trembled and she pulled it back into her mouth. Slowly, I pulled her lip out of her mouth with my thumb.
“I know it, Emma. It’s always you. You’re a magnet, and that’s why people are ordering. Not Grady.” I rolled my eyes as I said his name to make it clear that I meant what I said. He was talented, but his subject was what was so intriguing.
Her eyes were on mine for a second longer before she dove into my chest, wrapping her arms around my torso. Her hands latched behind my back, and I returned her hug instantly.
#
After the postal service picked up all five hundred of Emma’s orders, she declared she was not doing anything for the rest of the day. I helped her tidy the kitchen before she went on her way, and I used the time to check out my store.
I’d been so caught up in helping Emma that I had entirely neglected my bakery. The employees could handle everything just fine, but I didn’t even know what my sales looked like this week. Since I was just next door, I walked into the front.
It was empty, which was a first. At least that I had seen. Every time that I’d visited the store, there had been at least four people in there. Not today.
I walked behind the counter to the iPad that ran the point-of-sale system, and used my code to unlock the full range of features. This allowed me to quickly look over sales.
