Page 5 of Sweet Valentine

“I thought I would stop by and see what all the fuss is about.” The blush that creeps over her cheeks sends heat straight through my body, and for a split second, I wonder how far down it goes.

“You want something to eat?” she asks, motioning to the chalkboard menus hanging behind her. As I read, I wonder if she writes it all out herself, or if she knows someone with great penmanship. I shake the thought from my head and order a blueberry scone, a butter tart, and a medium coffee. “So, how long have you been here?” I ask as she helps the next customer in line.

“Here in town, or here in the bakery?” She hands the lady her bag of goodies and gives her a sweet smile before turning her attention to the next in line.

“Both.”

“Well, I’ve been in town for just over six months, and I opened the bakery about three months ago.”

“And thank God she did,” a man down the line says as Val gives him the brightest smile I have ever seen.

“Earl, you know you're my favorite customer, and compliments like that will always get you extra donut holes.” Earl laughs, along with the rest of the customers, and I stare at her in wonder. She was made for this. Not just the baking part, but interacting with the community. She fits, and I want to be here right along with her.

“Sweetie, this bakery is the best thing to happen to this small town. You ever need a night out, I’m your guy.” I look over at Earl and swear he winks at me. How an old man can see through me but not the beautiful woman standing behind the counter is mindboggling. Earl gives me a nod, gesturing for me to step in.

“Don’t worry, Earl, if Val needs a night out, I’ll be the one to take her.” I smirk in Val’s direction, but I don’t see the blush I expected. Instead, I get her hard stare.

“First of all,” she starts, “Earl, you are a happily married man, so don’t even joke about stuff like that.” Earl holds up his hands in mock surrender as Val points her rolling pin in his direction.

“And, you!” She points in my direction now, and I find myself taking a step back. “I am flattered that you want to go out with me, but like I told you before, I don’t have the time.” A flash of something crosses her eyes, but it’s gone just as quickly as it appeared.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some more baking to do.” She gives me one last stare before she makes her way back toward the kitchen. As she passes one of her workers, I hear her mumble something about extra donut holes, and I hear Earl chuckle beside me.

“Boy, you just need to give her time,” Earl says, paying for his breakfast and patting me on the shoulder. “She’s a stubborn one, but she loves this bakery, and that will always come first for her.” I smile as he leaves through the front door, then glance back at Val, who smiles at another customer. I would never want to take away something that makes her this happy.

CHAPTER SIX

It’s been five days since Noah walked into my bakery, and every day since then, he’s come in and asked me out. That man makes me uneasy by just looking in my general direction. My heart rate doesn’t seem to understand that I don’t like him.

I can’t like him.

Yet, at the same time, I can’t wait to see him walk through that door. He’s somehow become a part of my morning routine, and I find myself looking forward to giving him his usual scone and butter tart, so much so that I always put one of each aside especially for him. I think back to yesterday when I might have finally pushed him away for good.

“You look beautiful today, Val.”

I couldn’t help the blush that crept from my cheeks down my neck and stopped at my chest. I watched his eyes follow its trajectory, the heat I saw in that stare sending shivers through my entire body. I knew he found me attractive, he all but blurted it out every time he was around me. Yet, somehow, I couldn’t believe him, or maybe it wasn’t that I didn’t accept that he thought I was beautiful, but more that I questioned his motives.

“You keep saying that, and I might be inclined to believe it,” I said, a small smile creeping across my lips. I didn’t look at him as I puttered around the display case, ensuring that everything was filled and making a mental note of what I needed to make more of.

“If you don’t see what I see when you look in a mirror, you need me more than I thought.” I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as he laughed, making me feel more at ease. I couldn’t say no to that smile, it brought me to my knees, and I could tell he was starting to realize that.

“Your usual?” I asked, handing him the bag with his goodies that I’d put aside for him earlier. Our eyes met, and I took in his appearance for the first time. He had on a sweater vest over his usual button-down long-sleeve shirt. Yet what made it sexy were his glasses. He’d changed them. They were usually black and sexy as hell, but today, they had that tortoiseshell finish that made his eyes pop even more. For a split second, I was transfixed.

“Val?” His voice brought me back to reality.

“Yeah?”

“Can I have the bag?” he asked. I looked down, and my hand still had a vise grip on his breakfast.

“Sorry,” I said as I let go of the bag and wiped my hands on my apron.

“If you wanted me to stay, all you had to do was ask, sweetheart.” The way he said sweetheart always got to me, I could feel the heat at the apex of my thighs and knew if I didn’t get away soon, I would cave. And a guy like Noah was dangerous with a capital D.

“Noah, you’re going to be late for school.” I said it teasingly, but in reality, I knew when school started, and he really would be late if he didn’t hurry.

“You gonna say yes this time?” He looked desperate, and every fiber of my being wanted to say yes. Saying yes to the feeling of his hands on my skin, his lips on mine, and his cock inside me. But I knew it was a bad idea. I knew guys like him, I was with a guy like him for years, and look how that had turned out.

“You gonna stop asking me?” I injected a teasing tone that seemed to surprise him—and me. He took his tart out of the bag and shoved the whole thing into his mouth.

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