Page 10 of Worth the Wait

She managed to look more adorable by tilting her head. “What?”

“You were talking about the type of cookies.”

A cute crease formed between her eyebrows. She’d known he wasn’t paying attention a few minutes earlier, but she had no idea how he’d misinterpreted the word “sugar” when it originally slid from her lips.

And damn if he wasn’t a little disappointed. “Nothing, ignore me. I’m an idiot sometimes, that’s all. Yeah, sugar cookies sound great.” And now he knew she was a merciful woman, because she shook her head and let the subject drop. “Tell me how to help.”

* * *

LEIGH

Since she’d opened Short’n’Sweet,most of her baking time had been solitary. Occasionally, Lennox got it in her head that she wanted to make something and they’d share a couple hours here. There’d been times when Tim had helped her with large orders or had hung about the office, watching a much-younger Lennox play with measuring cups and bowls while Leigh worked.

Leigh cherished those memories, the sounds of love and friendship surrounding her while she mixed and measured. But this—laughing with Sam, having his hands on her while she sifted and stirred—gah, the kitchen had never been so hot. Like now, and he wasn’t even touching her.

“How many cookies will that make?” he asked as she dumped the ball of thick dough onto the work surface.

“Depends on the size, but around five dozen.”

“That’s a lot.”

“We don’t have to make them all now.” She reached for a knife, conveniently located in front of Sam, using the opportunity to brush against his warm, solid chest. “How many do you want for your friend? A dozen? Two? You never said what the occasion was, either. When you do, I can give you some ideas for the icing and decoration, unless you have something in mind already?”

The perpetual smile he wore dimmed. “Remember at the coffee shop the other day, how I had to take that call, then cover my buddy’s shifts at the gym?” He scrubbed one hand back and forth over the short brown hair that’d replaced his once clean-shaven head. “He took his girlfriend to the emergency department because of severe abdominal pain. Turns out her appendix had ruptured.”

“Oh no, that’s horrible.” Instinctively, she hugged herself around the middle. “Cassie’s okay, right?”

“Yeah, thank God. Brian would go off the deep end if he lost Cassie. I’m sure he’ll be hovering and brooding for many weeks to come, if not longer.”

“I imagine so. All right, tell me this—are the cookies for the patient or her giant nursemaid?” She played it off some, poking light fun at Sam’s massive friend-turned-boss, but in truth, envy tugged at her insides. She’d always wanted the kind of all-consuming love Sam described when he spoke of his friends.

“The cookies are for Cassie. Mainly.”

“Hmm. Sounds like she might not be the only one eating them. Two dozen it is, then.” Pushing the jealousy down, she focused on the task at hand. She dusted her palms with flour and worked one half of the dough into a smooth ball. “Maybe just some happy, solid colors for the icing, unless you have another idea? I like to personalize stuff, but I don’t know Brian and Cassie beyond the basic ‘hello’ in passing.”

“They’re both great.” The tension left Sam’s face as he smoothed his hand over her nape. “I think you’ll really like them when you get to know them better.”

“WhenI get to know them better? You mean, once you lure me to the new club?”

He shook his head. Hazel eyes twinkled at her, mesmerizing her. “I meant getting together with them outside of business. Strictly personal.”

The way he looked at her, as if he were looking beyond her skin with its laugh lines and beginnings of crow’s feet, directly into the essence of who she was, made her heart dance. Made her believe their age gap didn’t exist, let alone matter. And for the moment, it didn’t. That’s what she needed to focus on, not some farfetched idea of couplehood with a man fourteen years her junior.

Fourteen years. At fourteen, she was earning pocket money by babysitting, and when she was fourteen, Sam was a baby. Oh god.

“You okay?” he asked, sliding his arm around her waist as she wavered on her feet.

She shook her head. Time to acknowledge that doingstrictly personalthings with Sam was a mistake in the making. She should send him on his way before she went full-blown cougar on him.

“Low blood sugar, I bet.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s nearly seven. I’m going to run down the street to the pita place and grab us something to eat.”

“No, don’t.”

“You’re not hungry?”

“I’m fine,” she said, averting her gaze to a random tile on the floor.

“Hey.” Gently, he tipped her chin up, until their eyes met. “I know eating takeout pitas while you work isn’t the most impressive first date.”

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