Page 213 of Tell Me Lies

He could tell she didn’t believe him.

The bell over the door rang, catching his attention. Three women walked in, talking. When they caught sight of him, they all stopped. They looked extremely uncomfortable being near him. He sighed and turned back to see Skye scowling at the women.

“How about three more things, and then I’ll get out of your hair?”

Skye opened her mouth to say something, looked at the women behind him, and snapped it shut. “Fine, I suggest our cookies. The double chocolate and sugar cookies are the most popular.”

“Then one of each,” he said.

Within two minutes, he had the box in hand and had paid for the treats. The fact that the women whispered behind him and the looks they gave him made him want to get out of there as soon as possible.

He’d deal with Skye another time.

In his truck, he pulled out and drove home. The thoughts racing through his head were that Skye would not want to be seen with him in public. He totally understood, but the fact he hadn’t thought about it until the women’s reactions made him rethink everything.

The last thing he wanted was to hurt or embarrass Skye. He guessed he’d be stared at wherever they went, and he could do nothing about it except not be around her.

The thought of never getting his hands on her again made him crazy and nauseous. Fuck, if he knew it was going to be this hard to be near her, he might have chosen a different place to put down roots.

Now, it was too late.

Chapter Nine

Skye watched Jared walk out of the bakery and felt hollow inside. Her emotions were all over the place, and it made it hard to concentrate on just one. The strongest feeling she had was remorse after seeing how the women treated him and how he shut down right before her eyes.

The clearing of a throat got her attention back to the women. Although she wanted to lambast them, this was business. She could separate herself from thinking of Jared for the moment.

“How may I help you?” Skye said.

By the end of the day, she was exhausted. She knew some of it had to do with the hours she spent at home in bed staring at the ceiling when she should have been sleeping. Skye found it hard before when he was away to keep Jared off her mind. Now, it was impossible.

The other part of her tiredness was trying to keep up a cheerful persona when she wanted to scream in frustration or bark at the customers.

Leslie, her boss, wrapped an arm around her waist after the last group of people left.

“Why don’t you head home?”

Skye shook her head. “I’m not going to leave you.”

“All the cleaning in the back is done, thanks to you and your nervous energy. Besides, we close in ten minutes.”

Skye frowned.

Leslie snorted. “Look. I know something is going on with you, and now that I’ve seen the man making you stare off into space, I understand it. The man is a one hundred percent pure dominant, hard male, but hot as hell.”

Skye’s eyes widened before she burst out in laughter. “Leslie, I didn’t know you noticed things like that. You’ve always been standoffish with men.”

“Because I’m close to seventy years old, honey. Maybe I’d be interested if I found the right man, but I haven’t found him so far. The other men around here don’t interest me, even though a few are downright handsome.”

Skye grinned.

Leslie patted her on the shoulder. “If you want to talk about it, I’m here.”

Skye hesitated. “I think I would like to talk about it. I’ll lock up first.”

Leslie started wiping the counters down and putting the cookies and cakes on rolling trays to put in the refrigerator for the night.

Skye pulled off her apron and hung it up.

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