The Gingerbread Bakery (Dream Harbor, #5)(69)

He felt like he was losing his mind. A few days ago, Annie couldn’t stand being in the same room with him, and then this morning it seemed like maybe she was about to forgive him, and now she was giving him blowjobs and trying to pretend it never happened. It was enough to make a man go crazy.

‘Fine,’ Annie ground out, like he was being the unreasonable one. ‘But we really need to go.’

There was clearly no point in arguing with her any further, so he used the bathroom, they grabbed their things and headed for the door. But on the way out he spotted something on Annie’s refrigerator. An old postcard, one he recognized from the Grand Canyon.

‘Wait a minute,’ he said, and Annie paused, glancing back at him. ‘You kept it,’ he said. It was one of the later ones he’d sent her, after he stood her up and went back out on the road. The Grand Canyon was supposed to be one of his original stops, one of the ones on the list they’d made at the diner. He never made it in that first year but when he finally did, he felt like he should let Annie know.

It had been the first time he’d reached back out to her. The first time he’d let himself admit that he missed her.

He’d kept the message simple. Something about the canyon being as cool as they thought it would be and that he hoped she was well.

She’d never written back but she’d kept it.

Annie’s eyes flicked to the postcard and back to his face.

‘Yeah, well you got my name tattooed on you, so I guess we're both idiots,’ she said before heading out the door.

Mac couldn't help but laugh.

He took one last glance at the postcard before following Annie. Maybe there was still hope for them to get this right.











Chapter Thirty-Two





Now


In the course of three hours this morning, Annie had hit a man and made the very questionable decision to engage in oral sex with him, and she was now stuck in his passenger seat trying to pretend neither of those things had happened. To his credit, he seemed to be doing the same.

She wouldn't have done those things with anyone other than Mac, the man who seemed to be determined to make her act completely out of character.

Why could she not keep her damn emotions in check around him? She’d spent the last two days wanting to murder him or mount him and today had not provided any more clarity on which option she should choose.

Sure, he’d apologized, but what the hell good did that do her now? She’d spent ten years hating the man; could she really change her feelings for him just like that?

Maybe she should let it go. Maybe no one should be held responsible for things they did before their brain was fully formed.

But every time she looked at him, she remembered how much it had hurt to sit alone in that diner. How was she supposed to forget about that feeling? The feeling of being abandoned by someone you considered a friend? Someone who was supposed to come back for you?

She’d been so convinced he would.

Until he didn’t.

And then she was devastated. It was her dealbreaker, and he knew it and he broke it anyway.

And then she’d gone and put his dick in her mouth. When had that ever helped anyone find clarity about their feelings? She was pretty sure never.

Not that she hadn’t enjoyed herself, because she definitely had. Mac had looked so delicious, so tortured lying on her bed, his cock straining against the front of his jeans. He’d looked like he was about to burst, all just from being in the same room as her while she was getting dressed. He hadn’t even seen anything. She was sure of it. Just being near her had done that to him.

She’d have to be dead inside to not find that incredibly hot.

And besides, she couldn’t have him driving her around all day with that erection between them; they'd never get anything accomplished. So really, the blowjob had been for practical purposes.

Or that was what she chose to tell herself.

The day was bright and sunny and nearly blinding with the snow covering everything. Annie squinted out the window at the white fields and coated trees. She spotted a few cows, a farmhouse in the distance. It would be easier to enjoy the scenery if she wasn’t so confused about everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

‘Five more exits to go,’ she said, breaking the silence they’d been driving in since they got in the car.

Mac grunted. You’d think he’d be in a better mood after the whole getting off thing, but he'd been pouty during their stop at the bakery and for the first half of the drive. He was probably regretting the offer to chauffer her around. In another first, she actually felt kind of bad about it.

‘I bet you wish you had let me drive myself today,’ she said, glancing at him from the corner of her eye. He kept his eyes on the road, but she could see the slight shake of his head.

‘I don’t wish that at all.’

‘You could have fooled me.’

He blew out a long sigh like she was exhausting him. ‘At some point we’re going to have to talk about it, Annie. All of it.’

‘Not today.’

‘You can’t keep doing that!’ He actually sounded … angry? He was mad at her?

‘You can’t keep stopping me from telling you how I feel,’ he went on. ‘It’s been hard enough these past three years but now it’s impossible.’