Page 35 of The Gingerbread Bakery
Mac had followed her out to the parking lot and got to her just as she was realizing they had driven here together. There was no way he was letting her get away with saying something like that and then running off. She should have kept her mouth shut. But this was what happened to her when she spent too much time around Mac. Her sense left her completely and she reverted to childish behavior.
But she didn't hate the way Mac looked chasing her across the parking lot. She found it quite satisfying actually, which of course was part of the problem.
‘We have to go,’ she said. ‘We don’t have time to talk about this right now.’
‘Like hell we don't.’ Mac had caught up to her and had her crowded against his truck. His voice was nearly a growl. With anyone else she would have felt threatened and perfectly within her rights to use her favorite self-defense maneuver of a knee to the crotch, but with Mac, she found herself wanting to piss him off more, just to make him get closer.
‘You can’t drop a piece of information like that and then walk away,’ he said. She hadn’t seen him this mad since she spilled the cocoa in his lap last year. His chest rose with each angry breath and pressed against hers. Damn this winter weather. Why was she wearing so many layers?
Annie sighed like this was all very taxing for her and not at all like she wanted to throw Mac into the backseat of his big stupid vehicle and have her way with him. ‘I don’t know what you want me to say.’
‘Say it’s not true,’ he ground out. ‘Say you said it to make me mad.’
‘You’re being awfully dramatic about this.’
‘Dramatic?Dramatic. After all these years you’re trying to tell me you didn’tenjoyyourself when we were together and I’m supposed to be okay with that?’ His voice dropped on the word enjoy and Annie felt it down to her toes.
But she’d be damned if she’d let Mac know the effect he was having on her. She rolled her eyes, and she was sure, if it was physically possible, steam would have come out of Mac’s ears at the sight of it. ‘The sex wasfine. I wasn’t expecting much more than that. We were young and inexperienced. It’s really not a big deal.’
Mac was pacing in front of her now, leaving scuff marks in the fine layer of snow that had accumulated in the parking lot. His brow was furrowed, his mouth set in a firm line. He looked like a man whose entire world had been turned upside down. With that one admission it was like Annie had completely rewritten their past. And she almost felt bad about it. She almost felt bad forhim. She nearly relented and told him the rest of the truth. That, while she may not have had an orgasm, that night with Mac was still one of the best of her life. But he didn’t deserve that truth.
‘I thought… I thought you… I mean, I thought we…’ Mac kept up his pacing, talking to the pavement instead of Annie. When he finally looked up, there was so much hurt on his face it took Annie's breath away. ‘I thought that night meant something.’ He stopped moving and the weight of his stare had Annie pinned to the side of the truck harder than his body had.
She could lie. But instead found herself telling the truth. ‘It did mean something,’ she whispered.
With that admission Mac stepped in closer until Annie could feel the heat of him, but he didn't touch her. She really freaking wished he would.
‘Yeah?’ he said.
‘Yeah. It meant something.’ She felt him nearly sag in relief.
‘Let me try again,’ he said, his voice tight.
‘Try again?’
He was so close now that his words brushed against her ear. ‘Let me try again.’ His voice dropped, sending shivers through Annie’s body that had nothing to do with the falling snow.
For a brief second, she actually considered it, letting Mac try again. Her body was very interested in what that might look like. She was hot from her head to her feet and was about thirty seconds away from tearing off both of their coats so she could press herself against him. They had only been nineteen the last time she’d had the chance, and she was sure Mac had acquired many new skills since then. Maybe she should let him try. Maybe she wasowedthe effort. Hate-sex was a thing, wasn’t it? Maybe they could do that.
But if Annie had one character flaw, it was her pride. And hers had been irreparably injured.
‘I thought it meant something, too,’ she said, meeting his gaze. They were so close their noses nearly touched. ‘I thought it meant something until you ditched me like the whole thing meant nothing.’
Mac flinched. ‘That's not how it happened,’ he growled.
Annie laughed in his face, causing him to take a step back. ‘Not how it happened? As I remember it, we had an agreement, and you never showed.’
‘Annie, Iwantedto.’
‘Save it, Mac. I don’t have time. I have a mani-pedi to get to and a grandmother to track down.’ Annie opened the door and got into the car, slamming the door shut before Mac could get another word out. She’d heard enough from him for one day. If he had wanted to show up all those years ago, he would have done it. She wasn’t going to let him rewrite the story now. Just because her body was fooled, didn’t mean the rest of her would fall so easily.
All this reminiscing wasn’t doing anyone any good.
ChapterThirteen
Then
They’d been walking around the Christmas market for over an hour, and honestly, Mac was surprised Annie had showed up. Almost as surprised as he was that she offered to help in the first place. She was obviously freaked out when they’d woken up together a few mornings ago. She was clearly embarrassed that she’d been all snuggled against him, but Mac had been relieved that it hadn’t been the other way around. If he had been the big spoon, it would have been all too clear what he had been dreaming about right before he woke up. And he was pretty sure that waking up with his boner pressed against her ass would have been a surefire way to never see Annie ever again. And at this point he was positive he wanted to keep seeing her.
