Page 1 of If You Loved Me

Chapter 1

Sarah

“I’m a thirty-year-old virgin. My best friend is getting married in less than four months. All I do is work. And I’m going to end up like one of those cat ladies, except instead of being surrounded by cats, I’m going to be surrounded by dogs because I’m allergic to cats.” I slammed the fridge door closed after pulling out the piping bags of icing.

“I’m doomed, Deacon.”

His throaty chuckle sounded across the phone line. This was the third call I’d made to him since my best friend, Willow, and her fiancé, Johnny, got engaged this past summer. Somehow, it had taken a really long time for me to realize just how alone I was.

Sure, I had Willow, Deacon, and our friend group. But when Willow called to share the news of her engagement, I was struck with the startling reminder that I hadn’t had a boyfriend since I was in high school.

High school.I was almost thirty years old. Which meant that over twelve years had passed since the last time I had a boyfriend.

I groaned into my phone and Deacon finally responded, “You’re not even thirty yet, Sarah. You still have a couple of weeks to figure this out before you make that very very sad benchmark.”

“You arenothelping!” I squealed, which only made him laugh harder.

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry. That was a low blow, I admit. Honestly, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. You’ve been focused on making your business work for the past decade and there’s a lot to be said for a person who goes after what they want like that. It takes focus and grit. I can see how it would have been hard for you to date, much less have a significant other in your life during that time.

“But it seems like your business is thriving, so maybe now is the perfect time to shift your focus a little bit to find someone who would add value to your life.”

I mulled over his words. It was true. My life had been so consumed by turning my dream into a reality that I never stopped to think about what else I might want out of life.

It wasn’t easy. Building what had now becomeSarah’s Bakery. I started by baking in my home kitchen and selling orders online until I could save enough money to buy a storefront.

That was a huge adjustment as well. The townsfolk of Pebble Brook Falls were amazingly supportive…until someone told them not to be. And that someone just so happened to be my mother.

Both my parents had expectations for me and becoming a baker was not one of them. When they started to notice how my bakery was taking off, my mother went out of her way to tell her friends that they should go somewhere closer to the city for their more important orders.

Two summers ago, she stole the wind from my sails after I landed my biggest order yet. An elaborate birthday party for little Tommy Jackson needed an amazing cake with cookies and other sweet treats to go with it because children’s birthdays weren’t just a celebration for the kiddos in the South. It was an opportunity for the wealthy to show off just how much money they had to spend.

I always thought it was ridiculous seeing parents blow thousands of dollars on children’s birthday parties when they wouldn’t even remember it a few years later. Not to mention that most children would be happy with a sprinkler and a slip ’n slide as entertainment.

I headed through the kitchen door and to the front counter to take a quick inventory of what was in the glass display case from yesterday.

“But who the hell is going to want to be with a thirty-year-old virgin, Deacon? Men my age want someone who at least knows what they’re?—”

I skittered to a stop when I noticed an abnormally large guy standing on the opposite side of my checkout counter. My cheeks immediately grew hot under his gaze and giventhe smirk that played on his lips, I knew he heard everything I’d just said to Deacon.

“Sarah?” I heard Deacon’s voice through my cell phone but it came across muffled like he was underwater. That was because my entire body was shutting down under the embarrassment that had me feeling like I was being consumed by the sun.

How the hell did Ranger fucking Adams get into my store?I wasn’t supposed to be open for another hour.

Ranger must have seen me glance at the door because he shrugged his shoulders and said, “The door was unlocked and your lights were on, so I figured you were open.”

“Sarah!” Deacon’s voice boomed louder and clearer this time down the line.

“I have to go,” I hissed into my cell phone before tapping my finger on the screen to end the call.

Sliding my phone into my back pocket, I ignored its vibrating as I tried to collect myself.

“Um, yeah. I must have forgotten to lock it when I came in this morning. We don’t open for another hour.”

Idiot. I was a damn idiot.

Ranger Adams was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen and I was telling him to get out of my bakery. With piercing blue eyes and jet-black hair that curled slightly, ending just above his shoulders, he had a dangerous look about him. Dangerous in the way that had my heart skipping a beat because I knew if he ever got ahold of me, I wouldn’t be able to let him go.

That was exactly why I never told the man I’d beeninfatuated with him since I saw him picking up his younger sister in school. Not that I would have ever had the nerve to tell anyone that I was drawing hearts around our initials in my notebook as a freshman.

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