AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I smiled. “I guess they’d have to go in search of a woman.”
What was I saying? The muffins weren’t real. She had to know that deep down. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have let me take a bite of it. She certainly wouldn’t have agreed to take a bite of it herself.
Unless shewantedto fall in love with me.
“Maybe just make a batch for me,” I said. “And anyone else who’s already tried them.”
“Just Tucker,” she said. “Oh, and I think the woman who owns the bakery gave some to a bunch of guys who are friends. Will and Phoenix. Do those ring any bells?”
I nodded. “Different crew, but yeah, we all know each other.”
And those guys were all married now. A growing number of Blackbear Bluff’s loggers were. Women came to town and were snatched up by the single men. I laughed at it along with the other guys, but I had to admit, I was a little jealous. Why couldn’t a woman cross paths with me?
A woman like the one standing in front of me now. A woman who was leaving soon.
Unless I could somehow talk her into staying.
“You ever thought about making a business out of these muffins?” I asked. “You could set up a website. Come up with a slogan. ‘Love at first bite.’ Something like that.”
I sucked at stuff like this, but I did know that this muffin was like nothing I’d tasted before. It was the perfect combination of flavors. I was in love, not with her, but with the item on the plate in front of me.
“I’m pretty sure I’d get in big trouble for saying my muffin makes people fall in love.” She paused to think for a second. “Isn’t that the type of thing people get in trouble for? Claiming they have a cure for a disease and stuff.”
“You don’t say it outright,” I said. “But you have a write-up of the history on your website. You can even put a little card in with each box that has the story.”
She appeared to be thinking through what I was saying. “I did minor in business.” She leaned against the counter behind her and stared at the coffee-making equipment. “There’s not much I can do with my psychology degree unless I want to be a social worker or pursue a master’s.”
“Psychology is a huge part of running a business,” I said. “You have to understand why people buy, right?”
She looked over at me then. “Are you sure you’re not secretly a billionaire or something? You seem pretty knowledgeable about this stuff for…”
Her words trailed off there, but I knew where she was going. For a small-town logger. Funny thing was, the loggers I knew were some of the smartest guys out there, but she’d learn that if I could get her to stick around a while.
“I spent most of my twenties in the military,” I said. “I moved up through the ranks and got life skills no college could teach me. You’ll find a lot of the guys around here have a similar story. We came to Blackbear Bluff after leaving the military because we heard about the job opportunities.”
“Specifically, logging.” She nodded. “My sister said this area’s a huge source of trees for businesses around the region.”
I nodded. “And now developers are interested in building. The town is growing by the day. We have a daycare and bakery now. This place has a big future.”
What was my plan? To talk her into moving here, then marry her and have kids with her? I’d just met her.
But if she moved to Blackbear Bluff, I could get to know her and see if this was going somewhere. The truth was, love muffin or not, this woman fascinated me. Now that I’d met her, the last thing I wanted to do was see her walk out of my life.
“I guess it’s tough being in a town with all men and no single women,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
We were still standing fairly close together. I set the plate down and closed the gap even more.
“It does get kind of lonely sometimes, but I don’t plan to spend the rest of my life single. I’m going to meet a woman, marry her, and have three kids with her.”
“Three?” Her eyebrows shot up. “That’s pretty ambitious.”
“How many do you want?”
She blinked several times in rapid succession. Finally, she said, “Three sounds good.”
Her voice sounded a little choked. Yes, she was definitely feeling this too. There was a tension between us. The air around us felt almost electrified.
I knew, without a doubt, that I was going to kiss her. The only thing that could stop me was her.
