Page 88 of The Gingerbread Bakery
Until he didn’t.
And then she was devastated. It was her dealbreaker, and he knew it and he broke it anyway.
And then she’d gone and put his dick in her mouth. When had that ever helped anyone find clarity about their feelings? She was pretty sure never.
Not that she hadn’t enjoyed herself, because she definitely had. Mac had looked so delicious, sotorturedlying on her bed, his cock straining against the front of his jeans. He’d looked like he was about to burst, all just from being in the same room as her while she was getting dressed. He hadn’t even seen anything. She was sure of it. Just being near her had done that to him.
She’d have to be dead inside to not find that incredibly hot.
And besides, she couldn’t have him driving her around all day with that erection between them; they'd never get anything accomplished. So really, the blowjob had been for practical purposes.
Or that was what she chose to tell herself.
The day was bright and sunny and nearly blinding with the snow covering everything. Annie squinted out the window at the white fields and coated trees. She spotted a few cows, a farmhouse in the distance. It would be easier to enjoy the scenery if she wasn’t so confused about everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.
‘Five more exits to go,’ she said, breaking the silence they’d been driving in since they got in the car.
Mac grunted. You’d think he’d be in a better mood after the whole getting off thing, but he'd been pouty during their stop at the bakery and for the first half of the drive. He was probably regretting the offer to chauffer her around. In another first, she actually felt kind of bad about it.
‘I bet you wish you had let me drive myself today,’ she said, glancing at him from the corner of her eye. He kept his eyes on the road, but she could see the slight shake of his head.
‘I don’t wish that at all.’
‘You could have fooled me.’
He blew out a long sigh like she was exhausting him. ‘At some point we’re going to have to talk about it, Annie. All of it.’
‘Not today.’
‘You can’t keep doing that!’ He actually sounded… angry? He was mad at her?
‘You can’t keep stopping me from telling you how I feel,’ he went on. ‘It’s been hard enough these past three years but now it’s impossible.’
She opened her mouth to argue but opted to pause instead. Is that what she’d been doing? Silencing him, shutting him down at every turn?Of course it was,but she'd only been trying to protect herself. Ever since Mac came back to town, she’d either avoided him or picked fights with him. Even before he moved back, she’d refused to see him any time he’d been back home to visit his family. She kept busy. She told herself she didn’t need to see him, didn’t want to talk to him. It was all ancient history. Anything to keep her actual feelings at bay. And now here he was, forcing her to face them.
Except now, for the first time, she saw that maybe she hadn't been fair to Mac. Maybe, by trying to protect herself, she’d been hurting him. And while that may have been the goal originally, she suddenly didn’t want it to be.
She didn’t want to hurt Mac anymore.
‘One more day,’ she said.
‘One more day?’ He sounded ready to shut that idea down. She had never seen Mac at the end of his rope before, but, apparently, they’d finally gotten there.
‘Yeah, one more day. Just today. The wedding day. Let’s get through today and then I promise we’ll talk about everything.’
She waited, holding her breath. She still didn’t even know what she would say when they did talk but she knew she owed it to him. She owed him at least the courtesy of telling him nothing was going to happen between them—if that was the case—instead of ambushing him with surprise blowjobs and telling him to shut up about it. It was possible that she’d been sending some mixed signals.
‘Okay, I’ll give you one more day. And then you’re going to tell me where I stand with you, because I can’t play games anymore.’
‘Too old?’ she teased, desperately trying to get back on some familiar ground.
Mac huffed a laugh. ‘Too old to be chasing after a memory of you. I need the real thing. I need to know if we have any chance of working or if it’s finally time for me to let you go.’
Annie’s breath caught.
‘But I’ll give you till tomorrow,’ he added, saving her from having to speak.
She still didn’t know what she would say, but she knew she didn’t want Mac to let her go.
