Page 34 of Meet Me at the Fudge Shop

Several hours later, after a longer-than-usual wait at the clinic, Lily had been stitched up, medicated, and given an overdue tetanus shot. In the dim evening light, Declan pulled up on her street. Somehow, they’d managed to evade the Jonathon Island police. He’d become a criminal for her.

Lily Hart struck again.

He cut the engine, drummed his fingers along the steering wheel. “It feels like I should drop you off around the corner. You know, so nobody sees.”

She glanced at him sideways. “We’re not kids anymore, Declan. Or…”

She didn’t have to finish.Or a couple, sneaking around.

Declan swallowed against his dry throat. “No. We’re not.”

Instead, they were competitors. Enemies.

Except tonight, under the stars, with the moon illuminating her eyes, it didn’t exactly feel that way.

She’ll get her claws in you, Decky.

Nope. “Goodnight, Lil.” Oops, the nickname just slid out. He held his breath.

Her mouth tightened, and she drew in a breath. Then, “See you tomorrow, Slick.”

She got out and hobbled to her house.

And he drove away without looking back.

ChapterSix

And now, she owed him.

The annoying fact of it only upped Lily’s speed as she headed south toward downtown from her parents’ house along Lake Shore Drive, her three-days-old stitches still pulling a bit in her knee. A bike was out of the question for the next ten days, but Dr. Lake had said she could walk—and good thing, since Dani had requested her presence at tonight’s Jonathon Island Business Association mixer.

“Please. All he did was take you to the ER,” Sadie piped up in her earpiece, having just heard the entire wretched story.

She’d left out the strange look he’d given her Saturday night, with the moonlight in his eyes, as if…

No. Noas ifs. “And did I mention he called me Lil? How dare he!”

“Oh my. Pistols at dawn.”

“The point is, he spent hours helping me, and now I feel like I can’t beat him fair and square.”

“Your logic escapes me.” Sadie’s wry voice felt eons away. Nine years since they’d been together, instead of nine days.

“It makes perfect sense.” Lily slowed her pace at a twinge in her knee. Her eyes wandered across the lake, where the lowering sun cast a long ray of light across the water. “I don’t want him holding this over me. And I know God doesn’t work this way, but what if God chooses sides and He blesses Declan for helping me? And wins?”

“Please. Didn’t you text me just yesterday that the man can’t even make fudge? He’s literally trying to run a fudge shop.”

“Is it terrible that I did a little happy dance when I peeked into the kitchen and saw the disaster he had on his hands yesterday? He overheated the fudge, so it got all separated and oily on top. And the look on his face…”

“His handsome face?”

A beat. “What—no. He’s…sure, he’s still hot. All that sweat turned his hair slightly curly, and—” She stopped. “I see what you did there.”

Sadie laughed. “Sorry. I was just wondering if being with him had stirred up any old feelings.”

“Not. A. Chance. He’s annoying and arrogant, and I did mention he’s trying to torpedo my entire future, right? And now he’s beingnice.”

“I know. What a jerk.”

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