Page 48 of A Brambleberry Summer

Her gaze narrowed, as if he had offended her somehow. “You only kissed me. I am not like some glass figure in my store falling off the shelf. I cannot be broken by a kiss, Wyatt.”

There was his name again. It seemed to slide under his skin, burrowing somewhere in his chest.

What was he going to do about her?

Nothing, he told himself again. He just had to suck it up and forget about the way her kisses made him feel alive for the first time in years.

“I’ll walk you upstairs.”

She didn’t argue, much to his relief. She only turned away, gathered her things and called to Fiona, then she and her dog hurried up the stairs.

Wyatt caught up with them on the second landing. The dog seemed to give him a baleful look, but he thought maybe that was just a trick of the low lighting out here in the stairway.

At her apartment, Rosa unlocked the door and opened it. “Good night.”

Before he could thank her again for helping him out with Logan, she slipped inside and closed the door firmly behind her.

Wyatt stood for a moment, staring at the beautiful woodwork on the door, a match to his own two floors below.

That was as clear a dismissal as he could imagine. She had literally shut the door in his face.

He couldn’t blame her. It was now nearly three and he knew she had to open the store early the next day, just as he had another shift.

He turned and headed down the stairs. He gripped the railing and told himself the shakiness in his legs was only exhaustion.

Something told him it was more than that. That kiss had just about knocked his legs right out from under him.

He was falling for her.

The reality of it seemed to hit him out of nowhere and he nearly stumbled down the last few steps as if the fabled ghost of Brambleberry House had given him a hard shove.

No. He couldn’t be falling for Rosa. Or for anyone else, for that matter.

He didn’twantto fall in love again. He had been through that with Tori. Once was enough, thanks all the same. These feelings growing inside him were only attraction, not love. Big difference.

Yes, he liked her. She was sweet, compassionate, kind. And, okay, he thought about her all the time. That wasn’t love. Infatuation, maybe.

He wouldn’t let it be love.

The next day, Rosa was deadheading flowers in one of the gardens when Jen drove up in her rickety car, now running but not exactly smoothly. It shimmied a little as it idled, then she turned off the engine.

Rosa waved and Jen and Addie walked over.

“Hello, there,” Rosa said. “How did the interviews go?”

“Good. Great, actually. The school offered me a job on the spot.”

“Oh, that’s terrific! We should celebrate. Have you eaten?”

“Yes. Sorry. Addie wanted a Happy Meal today.”

“No problem. Maybe we can celebrate later. I have a bottle I’ve been saving for something special.”

“It’s a deal, as long as it goes with your famous chocolate-chip cookies.”

Rosa had to smile. She had taken a plate down before she headed to the store and left them outside Jen’s front door.

“Can we help you with the gardening?”

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