Page 58 of Valentine's in Bayberry

“The better question is, do you like it?” His gaze searched hers.

“I do. I love it.” And she wished that the gift had come from him. Then she would have the perfect excuse to walk over to him and wrap her arms around him.

“And there’s one more thing...” Sadie walked away.

What else could there be? No sooner had the question come to her than she saw the answer in Sadie’s hand.

Sadie handed over a long-stemmed red rose. “I wish I had a secret valentine.”

“Thank you.” Carrie sniffed the rose. She loved the soft, sweet scent. She would add it to the growing collection of them at home.

They talked for a few minutes more before Jackson carried the box containing the wall hanging out to the car for her. She carried the red rose. Once she was seated inside the car, her gaze strayed to Jackson. Could he be the secret valentine?

She wanted that to be the case, but she’d made such a fuss about them being only friends that he wouldn’t be her valentine. Regrets plagued her.

When the car pulled to a stop at the back of Totally Chocolate, she turned to him. “Thanks for the ride. I hope I didn’t take up too much of your time.”

“No worries. I enjoyed every minute of it.” He hesitated for a moment and then said, “Are you sure I can’t talk you into grabbing dinner tonight?”

Her immediate response was to accept his offer, but she knew that wasn’t possible. “I would love to, but I really can’t. I let myself get distracted this week, and I’m going to be working late to get caught up.”

“I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry about?”

“That I kept you from your work.”

She shook her head. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I really enjoyed spending time with you.”

He smiled. “I enjoyed it too.”

His gaze met hers and held longer than was appropriate. How had she missed how mesmerizing his gaze could be? And how she felt as though she were drowning in his warm-brown depths?

She wasn’t sure if it was him or if it was her, but suddenly they were leaning toward each other. Her lips tingled with anticipation of his kiss. This time she wouldn’t stop him. This time she wouldn’t push him away.

Because right now, it was her heart that was running the show, and it had totally shut down her mind and silenced all of the reasons this was a bad idea. And then his lips were just a breath away from hers. All the while her heart was hammering in her chest. It was pounding so hard it echoed in her ears.

Honk!

They jerked apart. Immediately, heat rushed up Carrie’s neck and set her cheeks aflame. What had she been thinking?

Oh, that’s right. She hadn’t been thinking. She’d been acting on emotion without a thought to the consequences.

“Thanks again.” She grabbed her things and got out of the car.

Jackson said something to her, but she didn’t catch it before she closed the door. She rushed in the back entrance of the chocolate shop.

She’d been gone much longer than she’d expected. With no appetite, she got back to work. She’d worry about eating later, after she’d calmed down from that almost-kiss.

She threw herself into the work. She stopped now and then to help behind the counter when they got busy. She enjoyed talking to the customers. Some were old friends and others were visitors passing through their small town.

A while later, Alice entered the kitchen. She looked around at everything Carrie was able to create. There were chocolate-dipped cherries, which were wildly popular. She’d also createdsome dark-chocolate mints. And her pride and joy were the campfire s’mores. They weren’t quite the same as the actual thing, but they were very close.

“I can’t believe how quickly you were able to get these done,” Alice said. “They look fantastic.”

“Thanks. Remember when we were just starting to make chocolates in large quantities?”

“Yeah. It took us forever.”

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