The Gingerbread Bakery (Dream Harbor, #5)(22)

‘Okay, but I really think you should read next month's book with us, Mac. He’s loved her for years!’ Jacob was clearly prepared to relay the entire premise of the book. Mac took Annie by the elbow and guided her away from the table before Jacob could make any life-to-text comparisons.

‘Bye, everyone!’ he said. ‘Important wedding duties to attend to.’ He steered Annie out the door. The last thing he needed was to read about another poor bastard who had loved the same woman for years. And, while he was sure the book would end up happily, he was not at all confident the same would happen for him.











Chapter Eleven





Then


Annie’s face was burrowed against something warm and firm and her arm was draped over something solid and … breathing? Her fingers trailed along bare skin. She froze. Whose bare skin was she touching? And where the hell was she?

Oh, dear God, she was still in Mac’s bed. And so was he. And apparently, before she had woken up, her fingers had been tracing little lines across his abs where his T-shirt had risen up during the night. She carefully moved her hand off his stomach, hoping that if she moved slow enough, she wouldn’t wake him. This was so embarrassing! She was completely curled around him like some kind of deranged monkey clinging to his back. How was she going to get out of this without him noticing? Because obviously the solution to this problem was to run as far away from Mac and his cozy bed as possible. Cookies and light displays and late?night chats were one thing, but snuggling in his bed was an entirely different story. Before Annie could fully develop her escape plan, the body she was still inconveniently pressed against started shaking with laughter.

‘Good morning, Annie,’ Mac said, the amusement clear in his voice.

Annie rolled away from him in horror.

‘Did you sleep well?’ Mac asked, still laughing.

‘Oh God,’ she groaned. ‘I cannot believe I was spooning you.’

‘I’ve never slept better. I like being the little spoon.’

Annie was still groaning when Mac rolled over to face her. He had a huge grin on his face and, between that and the messy, morning hair falling over his forehead, and the abs she’d just been fondling, Annie felt more confused than ever. Why did he have to be so damn cute?

‘You hungry?’ he asked, still studying her with amusement.

Annie was so relieved to not have to discuss the spooning incident further that she said yes, not considering the implications of her answer.

Mac’s smile grew. ‘Great. You can stay for breakfast.’

‘Stay for breakfast? Isn't this your parents' house?’ Annie assumed he’d want her out of there as quickly as possible.

Mac shrugged. ‘Of course it is. Lucky for you, feeding people is my mother's favorite thing to do.’

‘And that includes feeding random girls that stay overnight in your bedroom?’

‘Well, I don't know. This is the first time it’s ever happened.’

With that interesting tidbit of information, Mac winked, rolled out of bed and left Annie staring at the ceiling wondering what she had gotten herself into with this boy and what the hell she was going to do next. Besides apparently eating breakfast with his mom.

Mac popped his head out of the bathroom, toothbrush dangling from his mouth.

‘I’ve got an extra,’ he said, pointing to the toothbrush. ‘If you want to freshen up before breakfast.’

Annie covered her face, the new horror of what her breath must smell like dawning on her.

Mac laughed, continuing with his brushing. ‘That wasn’t a hint or anything. I just thought you might want to brush your teeth.’

Annie continued with her groaning. She was sure her hair was a mess, she didn’t have a change of clothes or makeup, and she certainly didn’t feel prepared to go meet Mac’s mother or spend any more time with him before she went home and regrouped. She needed a plan. She needed to completely reevaluate her thoughts and feelings about Mac and then determine what the hell to do about them. This whole thing had thrown Annie completely off-kilter. And she did not like to be off-kilter. Annie was an on-kilter kind of girl.

‘Maybe I should go. I could slip out before your mom wakes up.’

Mac popped out of the bathroom again. ‘Nah, it’s past seven. She’s already up.’

Annie let her hands slide away from her face. She took a deep inhale to calm herself down and the smell of bacon filled her nose. Mac was right; she had clearly missed her window to sneak out.

She sat up and attempted to rake her fingers through her hair and get it into some sort of order. She found her bag from last night still slung over the chair in the corner. She probably had at least a ChapStick and a tube of mascara in there. She would never leave home without those. Okay, maybe this was fine. Maybe she would eat some bacon, chat with Mac’s mom and then get out of here and pretend this whole weird night never happened. That was doable, right? Right.

New plan in hand, Annie swung her legs out of bed and went to join Mac in the bathroom. She froze in the doorway watching him splash water on his face. The whole scene was far too intimate. What did she really know about Mac besides that he liked sports, had more muscles than she knew were humanly possible, was sometimes a jerk—and sometimes, she thought, remembering last night, very sweet? And now here she was watching his morning routine, getting a sneak peek at a popular boy in his natural habitat. It was surreal to say the least and the whole thing was freaking her out because, if she was being honest with herself, she liked seeing Mac this way and, if she was being completely honest with herself, she wanted to see more of him this way. Sleepy and rumpled with his hair a little bit wet. He looked harmless this way, like he couldn’t hurt her. He looked nice. She didn’t know what to do with that or if there was anything she could do with that, but she definitely needed more than four hours of sleep to sort it all out.