Page 8 of The Mechanic's Secret Santa

Reallygood.

In minutes, I’m half a lap behind her.

Kendra’s look of concern isn’t the only thing that inspires me to pick up the pace. I didn’t agree to this fake relationship for the hell of it. I have a plan, and that plan includes convincing this elusive woman that there is nothingfakeabout what’s been going on between the two of us. Not now, and definitely not since I first stepped foot in her bakery almost four months ago.

When I catch up to Meg, I slip my hand into hers. She lets out a startled squeak.

“They’re watching,” I say, nodding to Kendra and Becky Sue and sending them a friendly wave.

“I have ten dozen snickerdoodle cookies I need to bake today,” Meg says without looking at me. I can’t quite tell if it’s exasperation or exhaustion in her voice. Maybe a little of both. “I can’t sneak back to the bakery if my mom is spying on our date.”

“No one else can bake them?”

“It’s a new recipe.” I get the sense that she’s withholding a couple of details, but with those damn walls up, I’ll never get the truth out of her.

I lean close and drop my lips near her ear. “More cocks?”

“Not everything I bake isdirty.” I’d bet the fresh red shine to her cheeks has very little to do with the cold. “But thank you for saving me back there.”

“Your mom wouldn’t approve of cock cookies?”

“Say that a little louder, would you?”

“What? Co?—”

Meg rocks forward on her skates before I can get the word out, twisting at the hips so she’s now facing me. Skating backward, as if it’s the most natural thing in the world, she places a chilled hand over my mouth. “Shutup,” she hisses but I swear it’s only one degree from a laugh.

I dart my tongue out and taste cinnamon. “Mmm.” Her eyes grow to twice their size and she whips her hand away.

I let my gaze glide up and down her body. “You know, it would help if you were a littlebadat this.”

“Bad at what?”

“Ice skating.”

“Why should I be bad at ice skating?” she scoffs, turning so we’re skating the same direction again. She tries again to wriggle her hand free. But our fingers are interlaced, and I’ll be damned if I’m letting go anytime soon.

“Because we might be more convincing if you were clumsy.”

“I don’t see?—”

A small, almost undetectable maneuver on my part causes Meg to wobble on her feet. A few gasps from the crowd draw the attention I was hoping. It’s not only Kendra who’s watching, but half of Alpine Valley. “Aaron!”

I catch her easily enough in my arms, bringing us both to a stop in the middle of the pond.

“What thehell?” she hisses.

“I was never going to let you fall, babe.” I comb a hand along her cheek, the graze of her soft skin against my rough palm causing an unexpected jolt of electricity to shoot up my arm and straight to my dick. “But thiswouldbe a really good time for a kiss.”

“What?” she whispers, her gaze instantly dropping to my mouth. Her irritated expression softens as her tongue wets her lips.

“Do you want to bake those cookies or not?” I hook a finger beneath her chin and tilt her face up. “One kiss might be enough to get your mom off your back. For today.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea?—”

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of one little kiss?”

“I’m not afraid,” she balks, that fiery spirit I love so much igniting.

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