Page 55 of Perfect Pairing
I hadn’t been ableto answer fast enough when Brie’s name popped up on my phone screen. I knew she’d been back in town, but we were keeping our distance, so I hadn’t sought her out. In fact, our only communication since she’d moved home was a text from me the day she arrived, asking if she made it safely. Her response had been polite but distant.
I did. Thanks for checking, and thanks for all your help these last few months.
Like I said…polite, but lacking all the intimacy we’d found together.
Fuck, I’d found myself in a real mess, hadn’t I?
Either way, when she asked me to come down to the bakery to taste test her menu, I jumped at the chance. I didn’t want to miss out on a single opportunity to spend time with her.
“Okay, buddy,” I said to Hansen as I walked him up to the front door of his friend’s house, where he was going for a playdate since my dad was at work. “I’ll be back to pick you up in a few hours. You have fun with Gerard!”
Gerard’s mom, a pale blonde woman who was so soft-spoken, I barely heard her most of the time, opened the door and grinned widely at my son.
“Is that Hansen Wendt I see?”
“Yes, Miss Penny!”
“Well, come on in then.” She stepped to the side and ushered Hansen in. He was off and running to greet Gerard the moment he crossed the threshold, his old man entirely forgotten.
“Thanks for taking him on such short notice,” I told Penny.
She waved me off. “No problem at all. How long do you think you’ll be?”
“Only a few hours, I’m sure.” It couldn’t possibly take more than that to sample a few menu items, could it?
Penny nodded in agreement. “Great. We’ll see you then.”
I offered her a grateful smile and said, “Thanks again” as I turned to leave.
As instructed, when I reached the bakery, I parked at the back of the building and entered through the door off the kitchen. The second I laid eyes on Brie, my whole world narrowed to that point. Nothing outside of those walls mattered. There was only her.
My honey.
“Hey stranger.”
She looked up with a gasp, her hand flying to her chest. “My god, Ez. You scared me.”
“Sorry,” I said sheepishly. “I should’ve knocked or something.”
“No, it’s okay.” She waved me off then stilled to look at me—really look at me. Her emerald gaze swept my body, setting my skin on fire.
“What’re you doing?”
“Looking at you,” she said with a shrug.
“Why?”
She met my eyes again, the green blazing even in the dim lights of her kitchen. “Making sure you’re real.”
I fisted my hands at my sides, doing everything I could to remain rooted in place, to not go to her, sweep her into my arms, and kiss her soundly. Every fiber of my being craved her—but that wasn’t who we were to each other. We had to remain friends, which meant I needed to keep, at the very least, the massive island between us.
I wanted her so badly, in every single way she’d have me, but platonically was the only way I’d get to keep her, and I wasn’t about to fuck that up.
Was it rude to blatantly ignore her comment? Probably, but she had to know she was toeing a fine line. I was a red-blooded male with a finite amount of restraint, and the bulk of it had gone out the window the second I laid eyes on her. She couldn’t fault me for skirting around my desire and diving right into the reason she asked me here.
“So what am I sampling today?”
Brie blinked slowly, like an owl, before she seemed to come back to herself. With a quick shake of her head, she tore her gaze from me and moved to one side of the island, gesturing to the five trays she had spread across its surface.
