Page 57 of The Gingerbread Bakery
‘See? Very pretty.’ He wiggled his toes some more and Annie ran a finger up the arch of his foot.
Mac squealed and pulled his foot back.
‘You’re ticklish!’ Annie exclaimed like she had revealed some deep dark secret, but she liked learning new things about Mac.
‘Of course I’m ticklish on my feet! Who isn’t? And let’s just pretend I never made that noise.’
Annie shook her head, laughter bubbling out of her. ‘Oh no, I’m going to remember that high-pitch squeak for the rest of my life.’
‘Shoot.’ Mac put his head in his hands. ‘That plan really backfired.’
‘And what plan was that? To seduce me with your pretty feet?’
He looked up at her with a wicked grin. ‘That was exactly my plan,’ he said. ‘Until you foiled it with those sneaky fingers.’
Annie scoffed. ‘You were the one putting your feet in my lap! What was I supposed to do?’
Mac shook his head with a smile, grabbing more chips. ‘Seriously,’ he said, ‘dealbreakers?’ He asked like he really wanted to know, but what did it matter what Annie’s dealbreakers were?
‘I don’t know. I guess I would want someone who was there for me. Someone to count on.’
Neither of them brought up the fact that Mac was still planning to leave at the end of the month. The ultimate dealbreaker.
‘And they can’t cheat at board games. That would be a huge problem,’ Annie added.
‘Ooh… I guess that takes me out of the running. I’m a notorious cheater,’ Mac said, the playfulness back in his voice.
‘Well, that settles that, I guess,’ Annie said. ‘What about you? What are your dealbreakers?’
Mac shrugged. ‘Probably the foot thing.’
Annie tossed the dish towel at his head with a laugh before getting up to pull the cookies out of the oven.
Mac followed her, trying to grab a cookie straight off the tray. Annie moved it out of his reach.
‘They need to cool,’ she said. ‘You’re going to burn yourself. Not to mention they don't taste as good when they're hot.’
Mac put his hands up in surrender. ‘Okay, okay. I’ll wait. You’re the cookie boss.’
Annie moved the cookies from the tray to the cooling rack and as soon as she was done, Mac had her pinned against the kitchen counter.
‘What are you doing?’ she asked with a breathy laugh.
‘I wanted you to know I don't have any dealbreakers with you, Annie.’ His voice was a whisper against her cheek and suddenly it didn’t matter that she was still wearing his mom’s plaid oven mitt or that maybe her breath had a hint of sour cream and onion. All that mattered was that Mac kissed her. Immediately.
His lips met hers and Annie sighed in relief.
‘I love that little noise you make when I kiss you,’ he said, running the tip of his nose along her cheek.
‘You do?’
‘Oh yeah. You might remember that embarrassing squeal I made but I’m never going to forget your little sighs.’
It felt like they were talking about the end of all this, and Annie didn’t want to talk about that. Not yet. So she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him again and again, sure that she would never get her fill because somehow the boy she’d thought was just a dumb jock was actually a sweet man who could make her laugh and who loved his mom and memories of baking with his grandpa and who still had a stuffed polar bear on his bed. Everything she learned about Mac made her want to hold on to him for a little bit longer.
ChapterTwenty
Now
