Page 55 of Meet Me at the Fudge Shop

Oh.

He pulled her to the edge of the dance floor.

“Declan.” She stopped and let go of his hand. “Wait. People might talk.”

He turned. Met her gaze. “They might.” His voice had turned quiet, husky, and it sent a shiver through her. “But none of these people are from here except Arnie and Caleb Kennedy, and neither of them are gossips.”

Lily caught sight of the innkeeper, a well-built guy who was friendly and objectively handsome—buthedidn’t make her heart rate skyrocket like the man beside her. “True.”

“C’mon, Lil. For old times’ sake?” Declan held out his hand.

She shouldn’t, but then Etta James’s “At Last” came on over the speakers and what was a girl supposed to do?

Lily slid her hand into his. “Just this one.”

“Just this one.” He squeezed, smiled, and see, his charmwashypnotizing. No wonder he sold gobs of fudge.

Then Declan led her onto the dance floor. He slipped his hands around her waist, and she placed her hands on his shoulders. And then he gently rocked to the beat.

Fine. Okay. This might be nice. And she allowed herself to inhale the delicious aroma of Declan. Even let him pull her tighter against his chest.

My lonely days are over…

It was all heady, to say the least.

“Lil?” he murmured.

“Hmm?”

“I wish…I wish things weren’t so contentious between us.”

Her too, suddenly. “Let’s not talk about that. Not right now.”

“It’s just, you know whyI’mdoing this. For Grandma. But why are you? Did something happen in Florida?”

Oh. But the last—very last thing she was going to tell him about was failing. Not just in school, but at her job.

Her life.

In fact, since leaving Jonathon Island, and frankly, him, her life had pretty much been in shambles.

After a moment, his chest rose and fell, a sigh. “I wish we could find a way for both of us to get what we want.”

She pulled away from him. “But we can’t.”

“No. I guess not.” His eyes searched hers, irises darkening like the sky above them. In the distance, thunder boomed. “What will you do if the fudge shop doesn’t work out? Will you…” He frowned. “Go back to Florida?”

“No. Florida is a dead end for me. I don’t really have a Plan B.”

He was still swaying them. “I’m sure there are a ton of places looking to hire a smart, creative genius like you.” And oh, the warmth in his smile poured all the way through her, touched her bones.

She just might be a soggy, melted mess if he kept looking at her like that.

Somehow, she found her voice. “Not as many as you might think.”

“Oh?”

And maybe, right here, not looking at him, so much of their past in the air, okay. “I got fired from my last job.”

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