Page 50 of Breathless With Her

“Well, you do own a bakery,” I put in. “It’s kind of your thing.”

“And Erin’s,” Amelia said, batting her eyelashes.

“Erin? Who’s Erin?” Thea asked.

“Erin Taborn. She used to be Erin Rose back in school.” Amelia started talking, and I tried to shut her up, but she just turned her back to me so the rest of them were looking at each other, and I was left out. That way, they could talk about me. Ah, family.

“Wait, and you dated her sister, right? In high school?” Dimitri asked.

“Her name was Jennifer,” Caleb put in.

I flipped them all off. “How on Earth do you know all that?” I asked, grumbling.

“Well, number one, Amelia knew. Therefore, we already sort of talked about it. But Thea didn’t know. Now that she knows, we can all discuss your sex life.” Caleb just grinned.

“After all, we did see her sleeping on your couch.”

“You made her sleep on your couch?” Thea asked.

“It was one time, and it was after she left her husband.”

“Oh my God, Devin.”

“Oh, stop it. That’s not what I meant.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I’m not getting into it.”

“I will,” Amelia said and then laid out all the facts as she knew them. It worried me how much she actually knew.

“And now her whole bakery is flooded?” Thea asked, her hands over her mouth. “Is there anything we can do? I mean, I know it’s a bit of a drive down to mine, but maybe I can help. I don’t even want to think about what would happen if that happened to my place.” Dimitri leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “Considering that your bakery tried to go down in a blaze of glory, and you got hurt because of it, as did your brother-in-law? Let’s not talk about what could happen to your bakery, okay?” Dimitri met her gaze, and we were all silent for a moment while the two of them just looked at each other.

The couple had gone through hell in order to get together, and I was glad that they had each other. And the fact that Thea was ready to help a woman that she really didn’t know spoke volumes.

“Erin should be fine. It’s been about a week now, and they’ve been working on things behind the scenes. She’s been baking out of her kitchen and out of another company’s kitchen, as well. It should only take another couple of weeks before things are back to normal. She’s stressing, but she’s getting stuff done.”

“Oh, that’s good to hear. But you let her know I’m here if there’s anything I can do, any supplies or stuff that needs to be replaced that she can’t get right now. I’m sure I have things that she could use.”

“I’ll let her know.”

“You better.”

“And you know, she’s pretty much like you, Thea. She’s probably not going to take help unless you push it on her. So, I’ll keep a look out,” Amelia said, smiling. “If it looks like she actually needs help and isn’t going to take any, I’ll push it at her.”

“Hey, don’t crowd her,” I said, looking down at my beer.

“I’m not going tocrowdher,” Amelia said. “She’s my friend. I want to help.”

“Well, she’s my friend, too. And she doesn’t like asking for help.” After all, she hadn’t asked me for help at all. She hadn’t even thought to contact me. No, everyone else had been there, helping her out. I hadn’t been.

It still bugged the fuck out of me. Because even though we were just friends—friends with benefits, in fact—there should have been more in times like these.

I should have been able to help. But she hadn’t wanted to rely on me.

And it grated.

“Friends?” Caleb asked.

“We don’t have an exact label. She just got out of a very long-term relationship. A marriage that really didn’t end well. And she doesn’t want anything serious.”

Everyone was silent for a moment, and Dimitri met my gaze, worry shining there.

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