Page 30 of Lakesides and Longing

She whipped out her phone. “Let’s see what our horoscopes say. If they say anything about true love, then we let the muffins burn and go back upstairs to bed. If they don’t, we’ll just pretend like this awkwardness never happened. Sound good to you?”

He should’ve said no. But his hormones overrode his brain. “Sure, we’ll consult the stars.”

Before she could read them, the doorbell rang, and she jumped off the counter. He followed, knowing full well it was the UPS driver he couldn’t stand.

Paige flung open the door, and the idiot on the other side beamed at her. Blake rolled his eyes.

“What’d you order this time?” Sammy—that was his name—set the box just inside the door, and Paige leaned against the frame.

“You know I never tell.”

Blake couldn’t see her face, but her tone was very flirtatious.

“Come on, just this once.”

Nope, he wasn’t going to let her continue this stupid conversation with this dimwit. He snuck up behind her and slipped his arm around her waist, tugging her close to him. She squeaked.

“Hey, Sammy, how’s it going.” Blake forced a smile on his face.

Sammy gulped and stared up at him. “F...f…fine.”

“Betcha got a lot more deliveries to make.” Paige had stiffened in his arms. Blake kept his tone easy going.

“I…I…do.”

“Well, we wouldn’t want to keep you,” he said and pulled Paige into the house. “Have a nice day.”

He shut the door quietly.

Paige punched him on the arm, her face full of indignation. “What was that all about?”

“He was flirting with you.”

“So?”

“So.” He stared at her for a moment and realized that maybe he’d read her all wrong. She seemed really upset. “So, I thought we were about to see if our horoscopes said were meant to be.”

“You don’t believe in that stuff.” She pursed her lips and backed away from him.

“But you do.”

“And maybe my horoscope is about Sammy.”

He creased his eyebrows. Wait, what? How did this go from about him to Sammy? “I’m confused.”

“Maybe Sammy doesn’t care about my brother. Maybe I should go after him instead of you.” She crossed her arms and glared at him. He wasn’t sure if she was really mad or just messing with him.

“Oh, so now you’re going to date him?” Blake didn’t know why this bothered him so much. It shouldn’t.

She lifted a shoulder. “Maybe I should. It’s time for me to get out there again, and he’s a nice guy. It’s not like I have any other prospects.”

She was taunting him, and he was falling into her trap. He couldn’t figure out what she wanted.

His timer beeped, and he raced to the kitchen.

CHAPTER21

Paige needed Blake to stop giving her mixed signals. She was baiting him with Sammy, and she thought that would make him finally admit how he felt about her, but instead he ran away.

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