Page 77 of Meet Me at the Fudge Shop

Declan stood, drawing her to himself, tucking her in. “Please tell me.”

“Okay.” She relaxed into his embrace. “Back in Florida, I dated this guy, Tony.”

“I hate him already.”

Lily laughed and pinched Declan’s side. His low chuckle filled her ear, filling her up. “So Tony and I dated for quite a while in school. We were partners for this creative project. Even won a free trip to Paris.”

“What? That’s amazing, Lil. I’m guessing it was your creation that led to it too, huh?”

“It was the bergamot. Gets the judges every time.”

“Of course it was.” His hand lightly stroked her back, and she couldn’t help but lean into his touch. “So what happened with Baloney Tony?”

She snorted. “Baloney Tony ended up being a phony.”

“I see what you did there. How was he phony?”

“Um.” This part, ugh. “A few days before our trip to Paris, he broke up with me. Said he’d rather take Jessica, another chef in our class, instead.”

“What an absolute…” He cleared his throat. “I hope you said no way and went to Paris and amazed all the chefs there.”

“Not quite.” Her words were soft, filled with the aching of those days. “I should have. But I spent the week holed up in my room claiming a cold, and my teacher let Jessica go in my stead.”

Declan held her tighter. “I’m so sorry, Lily. That shouldn’t have happened. Sounds like you dodged a bullet, but I imagine that hurt. Especially after what I did.”

She nodded into his chest. “I’ll admit, for a long while, I wondered what was wrong with me.”

He pushed her away slightly so he could look down at her. “Absolutely nothing. You are perfect.”

“I’m hardly that.”

“Maybe you’re just perfect for me, then.”

Oh, her heart. Her fingers tugged on his belt loops. “All right, I spilled. Now what about you? Any exes to report?”

Something shifted in his gaze. “You don’t want to hear about her.”

“Ah, so there is someone.” And why did the thought of it make Lily want to find this woman and feed heron purposethe same batch of fudge she’d accidentally fed to Kent Mercer?

“Wassomeone.” He lifted her chin. “But she was never you, Lil.”

Oh, Declan. “Still. I want to know. If you’ll tell me?”

Sighing, he kissed her temple and pulled her back to himself, settling his chin on top of her head. “Kim and I dated for a few years in Chicago. We were serious. At least, I thought so. I was working hard at my current job and applying for grad school. It took me a few rounds of application to get into the program I really wanted. But Kim didn’t stick around long enough to see me succeed.”

“What do you mean? You’re not saying she dumped you because you didn’t get into grad school on the first try?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

Now it was Lily’s turn to hold her tongue when she really wanted to call this Kim character some colorful names. “But why?”

“She was from a rich family and said she could never be with someone who couldn’t provide her with a certain standard of living. Guess when we started dating, I had all these ambitions, and she thought I was her meal ticket to the fancy life. She never wanted me for, well, me.”

Looking up, Lily brushed her fingertips across his jawline. “It’s her loss, then.”

“You think so?”

“I do.”

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