Sisters by Choice (Blackberry Island #4)(47)

“Why don’t you bake during the day?”

An excellent question. “It’s complicated. By the time I get the kids off to school and get set up, the morning’s half-gone. I’d have to be cleaning up by three. You know, so there’s no mess during dinner.”

He didn’t say anything, but then he didn’t have to. How ridiculous. She had to clean up her mess before the boys got home from school? Why was that? They didn’t care. When had she decided that was the rule? Why had she assumed everyone else was more important than—

“Kristine?”

“What? Oh, sorry.” She forced her attention back to Bruno. “I was just thinking.” She sighed. “I would very much like to be going to France and Italy.”

His gaze sharpened. “You don’t mean that.”

“Oh, I do. An escape from my life sounds pretty great right about now.”

“Things are difficult at home?” His tone was gentle.

“Yes. Jaxsen is being a jerk and it’s frustrating. The boys are great. I mean, they’re boys, but I love them. It’s just sometimes I wish I’d made different choices.”

She could so get used to private-jet life, she thought. To sitting across from a handsome man who knew things like how to open a bottle of champagne.

“You wouldn’t change anything,” he told her. “And I can prove it.”

Before she knew what he was talking about, he leaned forward and kissed her.

It was a nothing kiss—their lips barely brushed against each other, but still, he wasn’t Jaxsen and he’d kissed her on the mouth.

Before she could figure out what she felt or what it meant or anything at all, he drew back.

“You are shocked.”

“Surprised,” she said, touching her lips with her fingers. “You kissed me.”

“I did.”

“Why?”

“For a lot of reasons, but mostly because I wanted to.”

He wanted to kiss her? Why? She wasn’t glamorous or special or anything like the women she assumed he had in his life.

“I don’t know what to say,” she admitted, genuinely unable to figure out what she felt.

“Go to hell or kiss me again seem the most likely of options.”

He was watching her carefully, as if waiting to see which way things were going to fall. She didn’t see a reason to tell him to go to hell. As for kissing her again, well, she knew she didn’t want that, either.

She put down her champagne. “I should go.”

“Of course.”

He followed her out of the plane. When they were on the tarmac, he took her hands in his.

“I’ll be gone for a few weeks,” he told her.

“Let me know when you’re coming back.”

“I will.” He smiled and released her hands. “Goodbye, Kristine.”

“Bye.”

She started for her car, still trying to make sense of it all. Bruno had kissed her. She had no idea why he’d done it or what, if anything, he wanted from her, but he’d kissed her. On the mouth.

She sat in her car, staring out the windshield. Maybe she was crazy but it sure felt like Bruno would have kissed her again if she’d asked. And then what? Would things have gone further? Did he want to have an affair with her?

The question was so outside her regular world, she nearly laughed out loud. An affair? Her?

She thought of how Jaxsen had been acting the past week and for a second toyed with the idea of somehow paying him back. Only she didn’t want to sleep with Bruno. Yes, she was flattered and surprised and just a little bit tempted by his interest, but the truth was she wasn’t anyone who had looked outside her marriage for emotional engagement. She didn’t want another man or a different relationship. She wanted... She wanted...

“I want to open the bakery,” she said out loud, gripping the steering wheel in both hands. “I want a career that makes me happy. I want to lease the space and move forward.”

Filled with a sense of purpose, she drove home. She was going to do it, she told herself. She was going to put together a plan and tell Jaxsen that it was time for her to make a move. The kids were old enough and the space was perfect. If not now, then when? She was done with excuses and she was done with regrets. It was time to follow her dream.

  Sophie lay on the floor by the box with the kittens. Lily was taking a break from her litter, lying on the windowsill in the sun. Sophie’d come home at lunch to check on the family—something she tried to do at least every other day. Just in case.

She knew in her head that Lily and her babies were perfectly fine—that what had happened before was just one of those things, but she couldn’t help worrying.

She heard a knock on the front door. Before she could call that it was open, there were footsteps in the house.

“Back here,” she called.

Dugan appeared, a large brown paper bag in his hand. He’d offered to pick up lunch and she’d told him to meet her at the house.

As always she was struck by how good-looking he was. The deep blue eyes, the chiseled features, the broad shoulders. The man did it for her in a serious way and if she could summon the energy, she was going to suggest a quickie just as soon as they finished lunch. She’d gone into the office at five that morning and was starving.