Holly Jolly Cowboy (The Wyoming Cowboy #7)(66)

Adam hadn’t realized that was how she was going to view it. “I should have said something. I didn’t realize you’d think it was embarrassing—”

“How could I not?” she wailed. “Do you know who the judges were? They were the owners of the two nearest bakeries that I’ve been trying to do side work for, for months now! Do you know how stupid I looked when I showed up with the world’s nastiest cake and tried to ask them for baking jobs?” Holly spread her hands in front of her, glaring at him. “Do you know how stupid I felt?”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Well . . . now I do.”

“How could you?”

“I didn’t think it was a big deal,” he admitted again, and the words felt lame coming out of his mouth. “It was just a cake.”

“Just a cake? Do you know the doors it could have opened for me if I had impressed the judges? Do you know what it could have done for me to have everyone in town talking about what a good baker I am? Do you think it might have helped to have a side gig like that to fall back on when, oh, I don’t know, my place of work burns to the damn ground?” She drew herself upright, that look of horror still on her face. “I can’t believe I slept with you! I can’t believe I’m having casual sex with a man who deliberately screwed me over!”

Adam bristled. Not only at her accusing tone, but at the whole “casual sex” thing. “Is that what this is? Casual sex?”

She put her hands to her forehead. “Does it matter? Don’t change the subject—”

“It matters to me,” he retorted.

“Oh, real great,” Holly huffed. “Coming from someone who’s explicitly said he doesn’t want a relationship at all. And you think women can’t be trusted?” She shook her head at him. “Maybe you’re the one that can’t be trusted, Adam. How could you?”

“We were enemies,” he said flatly. “It’s not like I thought we’d end up in bed together. It was just a petty moment and I’m sorry.”

“A petty moment,” she echoed, staring at him. “A petty moment. You deliberately messed up my cake and then let me present it to everyone in town. You let me make a fool out of myself and then you never said anything?” She gasped. “We’ve been sleeping together and all this time you never told me? Oh my god, Adam. How can I trust you after this?” She looked utterly floored. “I thought you had my back. You, of all people, I thought I could trust.” She shook her head. “Looks like I’m a bigger idiot than I thought.”

It was just a damn cake, for crying out loud. Why was she making this about their relationship? “I messed up,” he said again. “Can we move past this, please? It’s in the past and I’m trying to help you—”

“Maybe I don’t want your help,” she snarled at him. Holly stormed out of the bathroom and looked around the bedroom. She grabbed his strewn clothing, gathering it in her arms, and flung it into the hallway. In the next moment, Hannibal raced to grab his discarded jeans, no doubt thinking it was a game. Holly turned to glare at Adam again. “Hey, guess what? It’s a good thing you aren’t into commitment, because we are absolutely done here. Get out of my room.”

“Holly,” he began, frustrated. She was dumping him? Over a cake? “We need to talk about this—”

“I have absolutely nothing to say to you,” Holly told him, and went into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her.

He stared at the door, still holding the towel over his hips. How had this become his fault? He knew it was childish to mess up her cake, but was it really something to break up with him over? He glanced down at Pumpkin in her bed, and the dog just wagged her tail slowly, as if she, too, was reluctant to acknowledge Adam.

With a sigh, Adam headed into the hall to retrieve his clothing. He’d talk to her tomorrow, then, when she’d had time to process things and realize he hadn’t meant any harm.



* * *



? ? ?

The next morning, he found a sack lunch on the doorstep to his cabin.

Peanut butter and jelly.





CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR





Holly punched the dough on the counter, imagining it as Adam’s head. His stupid, stupid head.

It had been almost a full day since he’d confessed his dirty secret and she was still furious. It wasn’t just that he’d sabotaged her cake. It was that he’d had the nerve to sit there and say nothing while she made a complete ass of herself in front of the entire town. To think that she’d slept with him! To think that she’d been developing feelings for him!

She felt doubly stupid now. He’d fooled her repeatedly. Here she’d thought he wasn’t too bad a guy. That maybe she’d see if he was interested in casually dating—even if it wasn’t all that casual on her end—even after Sage and Jason returned and Holly no longer cooked for them or temporarily lived at the ranch. It wouldn’t kill her to take things slow, right? She’d figured she could date Adam for a while, see where things led, and if she got her heart broken, so be it.

Yeah, well, she’d gotten her heart broken, all right. She punched the dough again and glanced over at the oven. Her fruitcake was baking and smelled rather good, even if she said so herself. Not that she was a big fruitcake fan. In fact, she wasn’t sure that anyone was a fruitcake fan.