Page 12 of Love Unwrapped
“He has? Learn anything interesting?” He nearly groaned at the thought. His friend better not have told her anything embarrassing. Lord knew, Ryan knew where all the bodies were buried.
“Well, I didn’t know you’d learned how to bake from your grandmother. And that the recipes you use are hers.” She glanced his direction and he smiled her way. “I also didn’t know you’d been a SEAL and that you were medically discharged after an incident while attempting to defuse a bomb.” She rubbed her forehead and looked out the passenger window. “I’ll admit there’s a lot I don’t know about you other than the hell you put me through in high school and how you got my sister in trouble just after we graduated.”
“Me?”Me?She had to be joking. Blake laughed loudly. “You might want to check your story on that too. I had no idea what she was up to until the police pulled us over and dragged me out of my car. I was too naïve.” He shook his head as he drove toward the venue. “I still can’t believe I had to join the military and she had to do twenty hours of community service. Don’t get me wrong. Joining the navy was the best thing that happened to me. But at the time, bitter didn’t begin to cover my emotions for your sister…or you, for that matter.”
“Me?” She echoed his indignation with her question. “What didIdo?”
“You refused to see how much I liked you.”
“Youlikedme?” She shifted, dragging a knee up on the bench seat so she could face him more directly. “What on earth are you talking about? You pulled my braids the first time I saw you and it went downhill from there. The teasing and harassment were never-ending. I thought when you started dating my sister that you’d leave me alone. But then you were just everywhere I was.” She shook her head at him.
“I never dated your sister.”
“Sure you did. All through senior year, up till when you got her arrested.” She waved her hand as if he were being dense.
“Nope. Never happened. Nat saw I had a thing for you and said we could be friends if I drove her places. Hanging out with her was an opportunity to be near you. That’s it.”
“Are you serious? That makes no sense. My sister hated being around me. I never hung out with her. You couldn’t think that would work. You’re lying.” Andi had her head turned to the left, staring at him as if trying to understand Sanskrit on an ancient etching.
“Well, hindsight is twenty-twenty, Princess.”
He saw her bristle at the endearment. He used it to bait her and he had no idea why it had come out of his mouth.
After an audible sigh, he said, “I apologize. I didn’t mean it. Something about you and the past raises my hackles so easily. You’ve always had that effect.”
She made a non-committal noise and faced the front again. They remained quiet on the rest of their way to the venue, but Blake couldn’t help but think some of their animosity stemmed from misunderstanding the other person. Ryan had thawed her ice and whittled away at her pre-conceived notions. She always seemed irritated by him, but she was drawn to verbally spar with him whenever he was within shouting distance. He was man enough now to admit he’d pushed her buttons intentionally. Maybe it was time to push other buttons and see if they had the chemistry he’d hoped they’d had when he’d been a teenager.
Blake took his missions seriously as a SEAL, and this time, as a civilian, was no different. Ryan was correct. He was ready to plot out an attack plan. Only in this case, they wouldn’t be bringing down the bad guy when he stormed the compound. He’d bring down that damn wall they’d built between them. If nothing was there, then so be it. But he wouldn’t spend another ten years wondering what-if.
~~~
Andi stalled. She knew exactly what she was doing, and it didn’t change a thing. She stood beside her grandmother, several steps into the front foyer of the senior center and listened as her grandmother regaled her in the most minor details of tomorrow’s event. Of course, her grandmother and friends had been working too hard. The event space looked marvelous, well planned and the bazaar going to be a huge hit. None of that was in question. What bothered her right now and kept her side by side with her grandmother was the man with his ass parked against the side of his delivery van, currently staring at her through the windows of the front entry.
She had no way to know for real, yet she was one-hundred percent certain that he stood there staring at her to get further under her skin. It seemed such a Blake thing to do. “Honey, it’s dark outside. You don’t have to stay here with me. We’re just about ready. Get going. You’ve got more to do.”
“I can send Blake back, and stay to help you.” She hoped that sounded like a gallant offer, not desperation making her thoughts erratic and actions clumsy.
Her grandmother, who she now questioned if she’d ever truly loved her, said, “Of course we don’t need your help. This isn’t our first time doing this, but it is your first time to pack cookies. You’re not a natural, dear.”
Her hopes were instantly dashed, but like normal, Andi didn’t take no easily. “All the more reason I stay and help. Besides, we’re almost done at the bakery. He’s got more than enough help…”
“Andi, honey, I love you, but you’re bothering me. Please go.” Her grandmother reached for her arm, tugging her down for a quick kiss on the cheek before propelling her away and toward the front doors. “Go now.”
That seemed enough of a goodbye. Andi turned back to see her grandmother going to her group of friends without a backward glance. Still Andi stayed there, her heart hammering, watching that little old lady’s curls bouncing as she walked away, leaving her stranded. This was too much. Andi’s chin hit her chest in defeat, the ends of her ponytail whipping forward and slapping her in the eyes, “Ouch!”
She had a newfound hyperawareness of everything Blake Mangold, which absolutely stunk since she’d vowed to hate that man for the rest of her life. But everything she’d learned about him today from Ryan… The stories seemed to be on the up and up. And they didn’t jibe with what she knew about Blake. But how could she have been so wrong about him? It made no sense.
She swiveled on the balls of her tennis shoes and let out the deep exhale before plodding her way toward the van. With each step, she stared at Blake, who stared abashedly right back. Her hunch said all Blake’s staring, sly touches, and his big body always being in her way were not because Andi had suddenly turned into the clumsiest person on the planet. He’d done it all on purpose to get in her space. Because he was interested, like he’d said? Or because he wanted to irritate her? Jury was still out.
His charming smile and genuine kindness to all these senior citizens had them eating out of his hand. He never rushed anyone, remaining patient through every conversation about his grandmother and how excited they were that all her tasty cookies were back in the center. Those moments seemed genuine, not calculated in the least, just Blake being a really great guy. Who knew he had all that inside him? Those exchanges were behind her true struggle to keep her back up against the man.
Shoot, if she could just find something to kick, that would help.
“Your chariot awaits,” Blake said, pushing his butt off the van, reaching for her door handle as she came out of the event center.
“I can get my own door,” she snapped, and like every time they were in a situation that he should be listening to her and reading her irritation, he didn’t. Blake just smiled patiently and put his hand on her elbow to help her into the van. Instant goose bumps sprang to life on her arms, spreading like wildfire over her body, and she hurriedly jerked her arm away. “I get my doors, no one else. How many times do I have to tell you?”
“At least once more,” he said, reaching for her seatbelt. She was certain that was done to tease her, and she yanked the strap out of his hand. His patience seemed endless. She just couldn’t figure out his motive. After he’d shut her door, she glared at him rounding the hood of the van, missing the buckle of the seatbelt in her attempt to fasten herself in. Her gaze never left him as she tried the buckle again. Blake looked like he didn’t have a care in the world. Andi guessed that with the way those ladies cooed all over him, he had to feel pretty proud of himself.
