Page 101 of The Candlemaker

And that was another problem.

The way I wanted him was now on steroids.

Every day I drooled over his tipped smile, his broad shoulders, and the tight curves of his ass. I considered offering him anotherpleasurearrangement at least a dozen times a day, always remembering just in time what trouble that kind of decision-making ended up in the last time.

It wouldn’t be just pleasure. Not this time. Not the way he fed my pregnancy cravings nor the way he put pregnancy audiobooks on blast so both of us could listen. Not the way he rubbed my lower back at the end of a busy day when I started to hunch over my desk. And not the way I saw the ultrasound photo was now the background on his phone.

It was a mess.Iwas a mess. I was afraid of all the things he made me feel—all the things he promised to give me—and that was why I hadn’t told the rest of my family that he was back. And after her slip about my pregnancy, Lou buried herself in the renovations at the inn and excused herself from the entire narrative.

But the secret could only last so long. I guess I was hoping it could last just a little longer.Like a kid who’d stolen a bag of cookies, I wanted to hide and devour all these moments myself without sharing them with anyone, afraid the second I did, he’d be taken away.

“Collins, I want you gone. What you did?—”

“Stop, Jamie?—”

“Frankie, stay back,” Chandler warned, and I halted just at the curtain. The pumpkin spice fragrance stretched the very tips of its fingertips under my nose, and my stomach started to churn.No.I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to will it away.

“No, she can be here. She should hear this.” My brother stalked toward Chandler, whose eyes were only on me. “She doesn’t need you in her life, let alone controlling?—”

“I’m not leaving.”

Jamie grabbed him by the collar. “The hell you aren’t.”

“Jamie!” I didn’t think. I pushed into the room to stop my brother from being crazy and gasped a huge lungful of pumpkin spice.

Oh no.

It was like a wave. An instant tsunami of nausea that crashed over me.

I groaned and grabbed the counter as I started to double over, catching the panic on my brother’s face as he let go of Chandler.

“Dammit.” Chandler’s curse reached me a second before his strong arms did. The next thing I knew, Jamie was shouting and my feet were lifted off the ground, Chandler carrying me with surprising speed to the front of the shop.

I heard the bell at the door.

I felt the fresh, clean breeze swipe over me.

“Breathe, baby. Just breathe.” Chandler’s voice soothed me even as my brother threatened him.

“I don’t know what the hell you think you’re doing, Collins, but I swear to God, if you don’t put her down?—”

“What I’m doing is getting her away from the smell that makes her sick—that makes her vomit the very soul from her body,” Chandler growled over his shoulder and then loweredme onto the wood bench in front of my store. Ignoring my brother for a second, he asked me, “You okay? Do you need my shoes?”

That made me laugh.

“No,” I murmured. “Just need a minute.”

His face tensed, and he nodded. If I would’ve known he was going to then stand and face my brother on his own, I would’ve told him I needed something else.

“I don’t understand,” Jamie said low, his fist balling at his side. “What’s going on?”

“The pumpkin spice makes her sick. That’s why I’m in the back making the candles because she can’t stand the smell.”

Jamie growled. “My sister can speak for herself.”

“Yes, she can,” Chandler growled. “She can also stand up for herself and protect herself and make decisions for herself, and yet, you’re still here acting like she can’t.”

Oh boy.

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