Page 26 of Choosing the Rejected Mate
“I wouldn’t dare suggest otherwise.”
“Smart boy.”
****
By the time I finishmy jobs, the sun hangs low over town, turning windows gold and throwing long shadows across the pavement.I should go home.Shower.Eat something that does not come from a diner bag.Sleep.
Instead, I end up in the alley behind Sweetique Bakery, holding the order receipt and rehearsing words like a nervous teenager.
Pathetic.
I knock on the back door.Nothing.I knock again.Inside, something crashes.
Then Holly yells, “If you’re here to murder me, I’m armed with a rolling pin and unresolved rage.”
My mouth pulls into a grin before I can stop it.“It’s Daniel.”
A beat of silence.“That is not less threatening.”
The door swings open, and there she is.
Holly stands in the doorway with her hair half falling out of its knot, sleeves pushed to her elbows, flour dusting one cheek, and a streak of something pink on her forearm.Strawberry glaze, maybe.She smells like sugar, heat, exhaustion, and woman.
My wolf goes very still, and so do I.
Her gaze drops to my hand.“Is that paperwork?”
“Mixer parts.”
“Already?”
“I said I’d handle it.”
Her eyes flick up to mine.“I didn’t ask you to rush.”
“I know.”
“So why did you?”
Because you smiled at a dying mixer this morning like it was your favorite thing in the world, and I would rather chew nails than see worry pull your mouth down again.Because I have spent years being useful to people who never saw me, and somehow you looked right at me while pretending not to care.Because my wolf wants to lay every problem at your feet and then bite anyone who steps too close.
I say, “Because Carl tempts fate, and I don’t trust him.”
Her brows pull together.“That makes absolutely no sense.”
“I know.”
“Good.As long as you’re aware.”
She reaches for the paper, and her fingers brush mine.Barely.A nothing touch.But it still hits like lightning.
Heat shoots up my arm and punches through my chest.The bond flares bright and hungry, and for one wild second, all I can see is Holly pressed against this door, her mouth open under mine, her hands in my hair, her body soft and warm and willing.
My wolf lunges.Touch.
I clamp down hard, and Holly sucks in a breath.Her pupils widen.She feels it too.Of course she does.
The alley seems to shrink around us.Brick walls.Fading sunlight.Her scent.My pulse.The soft hitch in her breathing that nearly ruins me.She steps back first.
