Page 17 of Tasting Sin

“I warned them.” I put my hand on Enzo’s chest in a failed attempt to calm him. “We don’t want to get to that point.”

“We’ll burn their cars,” Enzo sneered, cracking his knuckles.

I shook my head, making a conscious effort not to grit my teeth. “We’ll burn a lot more than their cars,” I promised.

Enzo clapped and grunted in agreement. “Fuck yeah!” He looked about ready to run out and burn anything in sight.

Giaco nodded briefly then shook his head. He leaned forward, reaching into the box for the last macaron and turning it over in his fingers. “Let’s hope we don’t have to.”

Chapter 11

Nellie

When I heard the bell ring, I hurried to the front of the shop with butterflies racing toward my throat. I wasn’t sure who I was expecting to see standing at the counter, but it wasn’t Stu. I swallowed the disappointment when I realized I wouldn’t be selling cupcakes to a man who had a sudden interest in sweets.

“Oh hi, Stu,” I said, wiping my hands free of flour and frosting that wasn’t on them to begin with. Could he see them shaking? When I couldn’t decide what to do with them, I shoved them in the pockets on the front of my apron.

“Nellie.” He just sighed. “I’m afraid I’m not here with good news.”

My stomach sank, and the breath rushed from my lungs. It was like he’d punched me. “I still have nineteen days.” My voice was airy and dripping with desperation.

“There’s someone interested in buying the building,” he said sympathetically. “I’m sorry.”

Suddenly, it was like the rest of the room faded into a pink blur. I couldn’t hear the whir of the mixers Ava had running in the back, and when a timer dinged, it sounded like it came from outside of the building. “Buying?” I blinked back the tears that started to sting against my bottom eyelid. “So there’s nothing I can do?”

Stu shook his head. “I’m afraid not.” He looked sympathetic, but he shrugged. He was selling the building. This didn’t affect him like it did me. “Not unless you want to buy it.” When he laughed, my eyes narrowed. He had to be joking.

“Buy it?” I closed my mouth, quickly scanning the mostly empty bakery that had become my home. “How am I supposed to do that?”

“If you can get the downpayment, I’ll sell it to you instead.” Did he have any idea how impossible that felt? I was struggling to scrape together enough rent to get above water, and now, I needed a downpayment no bank would ever approve me for.

“In nineteen days…”

He nodded. “Like I said, I’m sorry, Nellie. I know this isn’t what you were hoping for.”

I bit my tongue until it stung to stop myself from telling him that was obvious. There was no way I was hoping to lose my bakery with no chance of being able to keep it. Instead, I rolled my eyes. “Yeah,” I said.

Stu sighed, bowing his head for a moment. “I’ll be in touch,” he said, tapping the counter. The sympathetic look returned before he turned to leave, and Ronan’s voice repeated offers to help in my mind. I wasn’t going to take it.

The sound of the lock on the bakery door echoed in my mind while I walked down the dimly lit street toward my apartment. It had sounded so final—like a countdown that led to something disastrous. I wiped the fresh stream of tears from my cheeks and flipped the key over in my pocket, gripping it in my fist when I turned the dark corner next to the strip club.

It was rarely busy, but sometimes, there were shady people smoking in the shadows. I breathed a sigh of relief when the street was empty, and I passed by the faded wood door quickly. It opened behind me, and I held onto the key tighter. When steps got louder, I picked up my pace.

My heart pounded against my chest when the steps behind me matched my stride and got closer. I felt dizzy when I could hear his breathing, and I tried to remember anything I had learned in the self-defense classes I had taken. Everything I learned had disappeared, and all I could think to do was run, but before I could, a heavy hand closed over my shoulder. I shrieked, whipping around and pulling the key from my pocket.

“Woah, woah, Nellie. It’s just me.” Ronan? I blinked, as if trying to see his face more clearly. I recognized his dark eyes and the dimples in his cheeks almost immediately, even in the shadow cast by the weak streetlights.

“You scared me,” I gasped, gripping my chest.

Ronan chuckled, putting his other hand on my shoulder and directing me to look at him. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Are you following me?” I looked around, trying to place where he was coming from. The street was mostly empty, apart from a couple of shops that had been closed for hours and the strip club. I couldn’t imagine Ronan was the type to spend much time at The Full Spread.

Ronan shook his head, scanning my face until I felt the urge to look away, and I looked at the sidewalk. “What’s wrong?” he asked, ignoring the question I had asked him first.

“What?” I looked up, catching the reflection of the streetlight off his stare. I swallowed the nervous butterflies that fluttered in my throat.

“You’ve been crying,” he said, brushing his thumb over my likely still damp cheek. “Why?”

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