“You and Jada snuck out of here like ninjas yesterday.”
“I texted you. And stop watching those movies.”
“Donovan, come on,” August said, joining them. They’d decided to double-team him. Great. Wasn’t he lucky to have two best friends? And there were no customers waiting to order to distract them.
He went with his only option—stalling. “What?”
Nicholas sighed. “At least tell us what happened with Dr. Asshole.”
Donovan’s hand tightened around the mug as he recalled what Jada told him. “He said he wanted to get back together. Jada told him no.”
“Then why are you grinding your teeth?”
“Because he had the goddamn nerve to show up here when he knows she’s in a relationship.”
“She is?” Nicholas exchanged a knowing glance with August.
Fuck. He’d stepped right into that one.
“But we can tell you’re not ready to talk about it, so we’ll leave you alone,” August said.
“We will?” Gossipmonger Nicholas curled his lip in disagreement.
August fixed a hard look on Nicholas. “Yes, we will.”
Nicholas sighed, his shoulders slumping. August didn’t put his foot down very often, but when he did, people listened. “Okay, fine, but when you’re ready to talk, we’ll be ready to listen.”
Donovan tapped him on the chest. “Thanks, man. I appreciate it.”
“You look happier than I’ve seen you in a long time.” August offered up that observation, then did his usual disappearing act, mumbling something about needing to fix a leaky faucet in one of the bathrooms.
The bell over the front door dinged, and there she was, looking more beautiful than any woman had the right to, even in her “blah” uniform, as she referred to it, of a Sugar Blitz teal polo, khakis, and Crocs. His heart skipped a beat like a pimply faced ninth-grader seeing his crush standing near his locker before school started.
Nicholas smacked his hand on the counter, drawing Donovan’s attention. “August was right, you know. It’s good to see.” Then he, too, headed to the back of the building, after calling out a greeting to Jada.
“Hi,” Donovan said, rounding the counter. He sounded like a besotted fool. Probably looked like one, too. There wasn’t much to be done about it. He was. He glanced around. More than ever, he was aware of the bakery’s patrons watching their every move. It had never bothered him much because they hadn’t been dating for real. But now they were, and he wanted to protect the relationship. He wanted to protect her. He’d seen and heard her hurt last night as she talked about the vitriol she’d faced on social media.
“Hi,” she said, offering up a tremulous smile. She didn’t know how to act, either. The whispers and phone camera clicks hadn’t abated since she walked in. Might as well give them something to talk about. Why the hell not? They wanted to know how things had ended after Dr. John showed up, right? And everyone thought they were dating anyway.
He looped an arm around her trim waist, pulled her toward him, and lowered his head. She met him halfway. Desire punched him in the gut as soon as their mouths met. He sipped at her lips like a man dying of thirst, savoring the taste of her. Her tongue slid inside his mouth and he gathered her closer, barely containing a moan that threatened to slip out.
Starting this was a very bad idea because he couldn’t finish it. He reluctantly backed away when the hoots and hollers from the bakery’s customers became too loud to ignore.
“Get a room,” Mr. Till grumbled on the way to his favorite table in the back, the one he claimed gave him the perfect view of the action in the store.
Donovan shook his head at the old man, then focused on the woman who commanded his attention. “Hi.”
She laughed, a flirty grin stretching across her pretty face, all previous traces of nervousness gone. “Hi.”
He drew her forward for a hug. Yep, this real relationship thing was pretty damn fantastic in his book.
* * *
“So, what do you have planned for tonight, Jada?” Ella asked in what she undoubtedly thought of as an innocent way. She’d been snooping and asking leading questions for the past two hours of her shift. Jada had dodged and weaved as much as she could, unsure of how much Donovan wanted her to divulge about the new status of their relationship. Unsure of what she herself wanted to reveal.
It didn’t help that Donovan was sitting at a table nearby with Nicholas and could hear Ella’s question.