Page 21 of Fierce-Baker

He turned and left, she threw out what was in her hands, then washed them and walked back to her job, wondering what she could have been thinking.

That she was almost flirting with the guy.

The first person in years.

If Jolene had a hand in this, or was whispering in his ear, Baker seemed the type to brush it off for that reason alone.

Might be better to just go on her way like she’d been doing all along.

Happy ever after just wasn’t going to be for her and she wasn’t sure why she always thought she could find it.

6

BACK TO REALITY

Three days later, Baker hauled grocery bags out of his trunk.

God, he hated food shopping. He put it off for weeks at a time, then bought enough crap to last him until he ran out of coffee again.

Pretty pathetic thatcoffeewas his survival gauge.

“Micah, no!”

The voice snapped his attention sideways. A woman up the street had stopped her stroller and bent to retrieve something from the road, handing it back to the toddler inside.

As she pushed closer, the recognition hit him square in the chest.

Tasha.

He shouldn’t have been surprised as there were over six hundred townhouses sprawled across God-knows-how-many winding streets, but still. He’d never seen her here. Then again, he didn’t exactly take evening strolls or mingle with the neighbors.

He barely talked to the people in his own unit, and that was on a generous month.

He didn’t linger at the pool or pretend he’d ever use the gym in the main building.

He liked people well enough…but not enough to dothat.

He shifted another bag onto his hand, suddenly aware of how stupid he probably looked standing in his driveway holding three sacks of groceries and a loaf of bread about to slide out because he balanced it on top. Or the eggs tipping and ready to fall onto the ground and crack everywhere.

Of all the moments for her to show up.

He turned and walked up the stairs to his place, dropped them on the table, then went back for the last of his load. Maybe she’d be gone.

But she wasn’t.

She slowed when she got close enough to recognize him. Her eyes widened, not startled, but curious, and that big, effortless smile he’d noticed at work curved across her lips.

Damn. It looked even better out in the sunlight.

The same with her legs in much shorter shorts, the muscles flexing as she walked.

She had some serious tone on her in motion. Might be from chasing all those kids she talked about a few days ago.

Had it really been a few days?

Yeah, it had, because she’d been popping into his dreams when that hadn’t happened in years.

“Well, hey,” she said, tightening her grip on the stroller handle. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”