Page 16 of The Baby Dragon Bakery
“I could do a little plaid moment, that would be fun,” she said, rummaging around her closet.
There was no response from Theo.
“Theo!” she snapped, turning back.
“Huh?”
“Wouldn’t a plaid moment be fun?”
“Super.” His voice was dry. He was just being no fun today. She wondered why he was in a mood. He was fine when they were downstairs.
Was he bothered about all the energy she was spending on Calahan?
But no—why would he be bothered?
She left her closet and instead dug through her dresser drawers, trying to find a plaid skirt. Before she could, she found a black leather skirt from university she had completely forgotten about. She held it up.
This was cute! Lavinia tried it on, and it was a little tighter than she remembered. A bit shorter as well, actually, but it wouldn’t look as promiscuous if she was wearing stockings. The skirt was one of her night-out pieces, but it served the purpose! Leather was very autumnal. Plus sexy. She was going for sexy.
Lavinia found a light gray sweater to go along with it, to make the outfit a bit more casual for work at the cafe. When she was done, she checked herself out in the full-length mirror, twisting this way and that.
Very nice! The leather was really working for her, perfectly accentuating her curves in the most flattering way. She did a little spin.
Lavinia turned around. “What do you think?” she asked.
Theo sat up with a sigh, taking in her look. When he did, his eyes immediately widened. His jaw slackened, and a moment later, he snapped his mouth shut. “Absolutely not.”
“What?!” she cried, looking down. “Why?”
He didn’t reply.
She frowned, hurt. “I don’t look good?” she asked.
He clenched his jaw. “The opposite,” he grumbled.
Oh. Her skin flushed at his tone, her pulse quickening. She felt shy for a moment. His eyes were dark.
But no, she must have been imagining it. When it came to her crushes, she never knew when to let go, to let a dead thing lie. She held on with gripped fingers until her clawed hands were cramping. She liked to think it was hope, but it was something more desperate and unruly, something ugly.
She was doing the same thing now, as she always did, and she needed to snap out of it. It would only break her own heart to hope when there was nothing to hope for, nothing at all.
There was no chance for her and Theo.
He had rejected her, after all.
Chapter 7
Theo needed tonotbe weird, which was a decidedly difficult feat to accomplish when Lavinia looked likethat. Fuck.
But it wasn’t for him; none of this energy or time or attention was for him—it was for Calahan. Theo was irritated, though he had no right to be.
It wasn’t that he was worried for Lavinia. Calahan wasn’t a bad guy; he was pretty perfect, as far as guys went. He was kind, clever, fun to hang around. Not obnoxious or problematic at all. Theo had always gotten along with Calahan, but now there was something about him that Theo didn’t like much, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
It didn’t matter what he thought. Lavinia liked Calahan; she didn’t like Theo. He must have imagined that almost-kiss at Saphira’s engagement party.
He was so stupid.
Why would she likehim? He was twenty-four years old with a useless business degree, working at a job that had once been his passion but he wasn’t even sure he liked anymore.
