Page 47 of The Gingerbread Bakery
‘Sorry, Mac, no strippers and no sneak peeks for you tonight. You should probably head home. Drive safe!’ Annie wiggled her fingers in a wave goodbye and was turning toward the door when Mac’s words stopped her in her tracks.
‘How are you going to move it into the van?’
Shit.He had her there.
‘You don’t want to ruin whatever it is you made, Annie. I know you don’t want to disappoint the bride and groom.’
Double shit.
Of course she didn’t want to disappoint the bride and groom. She'd spent the whole day trying desperately to make sure this wedding would go smoothly. What kind of monster wanted to disappoint the bride and groom? Annie quickly assessed her options. She could tell Mac to go to hell, which was what she really, really wanted to do, and then wrestle the very large, very delicate gingerbread house into the van herself and risk dropping the whole damn thing and ruining Jeanie’s secret gift to Logan or… she could let this asshole help her.
Ugh.
‘Fine,’ she said over her shoulder as she strode back into the bakery. ‘But I’m only doing this for Jeanie.’
She didn’t bother to turn around and heard Mac’s footsteps behind her as he followed her to the back room.
‘Shit.’ She rushed over to the gingerbread house. ‘These damn gables keep sliding off. I must have mixed the royal icing too thin,’ she muttered to herself as she went to repair the damage. ‘I just need to… a little bit more…’ She piped on more icing and almost had it… there. She stepped back to assess her work and collided with Mac’s firm chest.
He grabbed her upper arms, keeping her clutched tight against him.
‘It’s beautiful,’ he whispered. His voice was low and admiring in her ear.
Oh no, you don’t. Not ‘sweet’ Mac again.
‘Yeah, well,’ she said, squirming from his grasp. ‘The damn roof keeps falling apart.’
‘It doesn’t have to be perfect.’
She spun to face him. ‘Ha! It’s like you don’t even know me.’
Mac’s gaze bore into her, his eyes flicking down to her mouth again as though he was thinking about all the ways he did in fact know her. Annie’s face heated under his stare.
‘Of course I know you, Annabelle,’ he said, and she knew immediately that she was in danger. That was the worst part about all of this. Hedidknow her. And that was the problem. He smiled smugly as he went on. ‘You’ve been working for days to get this house exactly right because you want it to be special for the people you love. And you’ve been doing it all while filling Christmas cookie orders for the entire town and fulfilling your bridesmaid duties which somehow included a manhunt, and if I know you, and I think I do, probably babysitting for half your nieces and nephews while your sisters go Christmas shopping. And every single one of these tasks you’ve put your whole heart into. And you want things to be perfect because you think being perfect shows people that you love them, and a little piece of you believes they would love you less if you weren’t.’
Annie swallowed hard. Damn it.
This was what she got for never leaving this town, for hanging out with the same people since she was five, for showing this man too much of herself back when she thought it was safe.
Mac stepped toward her, tipping her chin up to meet his gaze.
‘I also know that by this time of the day your head hurts from having your hair pulled back too tight and your feet hurt from standing for hours but you never, ever complain.’
Annie couldn’t breathe. This little speech had literally stolen the air from her lungs.
‘AndI know that a part of you wants to forgive me but you’re too damn stubborn to do it.’
That cocky grin spread across his face at her wide-eyed expression. He leaned in closer, so his words brushed across her lips. ‘But lucky for you, I’m just as stubborn. And I haven’t given up yet. Your little admission earlier today gave me even more motivation. I’m not nineteen anymore, Annie, and I don’t leave women unsatisfied.’
Annie swallowed hard.Holy shit. She forced herself to take a step back, to step away from this man and his smirk and his alarmingly accurate knowledge of her inner workings. Because he was right on all accounts, but especially the fact that she had not and would not forgive him. And it wasthatand not his very appealing offer that she had to focus on.
‘Just help me get the damn thing in the van,’ she ground out.
Mac chuckled, knowing exactly the effect he was having on her. ‘Of course, darling. Anything for you. But you’re not taking the van.’
‘Why wouldn’t I?’
‘Because I’m driving you.’
