The Magnolia Chronicles: Adventures in Modern Dating(25)

There was a challenge in that gesture. Something that whispered, Try me.

And those fucking forearms. They demanded attention, a challenge to anyone who spotted them. Just try and get your hand around me, they taunted.

Rob down stared at me, his eyebrows crawling up his forehead and his hands on his lean waist. "Magnolia, I don't—" He stopped himself, shot a sour glimpse at Ben, and then looked back to me.

Holy shit. I was the jam in a Rob-and-Ben sandwich. Not that I wanted a sandwich. Open-faced, sure. Not a panini.

"Yo, Brock," a voice boomed from the other side of the bakery. "Time to roll."

Ben glanced over his shoulder at the crew of firefighters waiting for him. "I'll see you Saturday," he said. Then, facing Rob, he said, "Seems like I'll be seeing you around too."

"Bet on it," Rob replied, smoothing his tie as he settled into his seat.

Ben laughed to himself, nodding, and then hit me with a quick smile. "Saturday."

"Permits," I called as he walked away. Once Ben and the other firefighters filed out of the bakery, I glanced at Rob. "Sorry about that. It was this whole weird thing last night where I went over there and realized he was committing every renovation sin known to building craft and I had to jump in."

I casually omitted all references to my free-boob situation. Just didn't seem relevant.

Rob sat back and clasped his hands in his lap. He smiled at me, a curious, almost amused smile that made me wonder for the second time this afternoon whether I had poppy seeds in my teeth.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing." He shook his head. "I wanted—I just needed to get over my ex. She really fucked me up and I'm…I don't know what I am."

"What happened?" I asked. "What did she do that traumatized you so much?"

Rob shook his head again. For the first time, I saw inside his weariness, into the bleak blankness where his relationships once lived. I understood his desperation to fill that space at any cost. "I don't want to get into it. Nothing atrocious. Just people who had different expectations and different definitions of loyalty," he said. "But I thought I'd find a hot woman who looked nothing like my ex"—I was inwardly squeeing at that—"and fuck away the memories. Instead, I met you."

End the squeeing.

"Oh, well, I guess I'm sorry about…something," I said, stumbling over each word. "Maybe I should—uh, just—maybe I'll go now."

"No, no, not—no." His entire existence seemed to cringe. "I said that wrong. I meant that I had a very narrow objective."

"Mmhmm."

He tucked a finger under his collar, dragged the fabric away from his neck. I couldn't explain it but I wanted—I wanted to lick him there. "I didn't expect to, you know, feel anything."

"Mmhmm," I repeated.

"I thought my ex had reached in and torn out my heart with a soldering iron and I was incapable of doing anything but slowly bleeding to death."

Again, "Mmhmm."

He looked up at me, his brow wrinkled and his lips pulled up in a slight grin. "But I wanted to beat the shit out of that guy just now."

"And that's a good thing? I wouldn't call that progress, Rob."

He laughed. "It's something. It's a lot more than I've managed in months." He brought his fingers to his temples, his smile faltering. "But you should know I don't share. I can't. Not after what she—no, we're not poisoning this air with that story."

"I'm helping Ben with construction because I don't want him to accidentally take down the power grid in my neighborhood," I said. "Not for any"—those forearms flashed in my mind before I chased them away with an impatient eyeroll—"other reason."

Rob pressed both palms to his eyes and let out a groan. The noise was deep, sexy. "Yeah, it's not you I'm worried about, Magnolia. It's the way that guy looked at you."

He pulled his hands away from his eyes and pushed to his feet. A pang of sadness quivered through my belly when I realized he was leaving. Despite our odd history, I had a soft spot for Rob and all his personal drama. I didn't want to nurse him back to health, but I enjoyed the guy.

Instead of leaving, Rob rounded the table and beckoned toward me. "Stand up," he ordered.

I stood but asked, "Excuse me?" That was how I rolled—I followed directions while arguing about them.

"Just—just come here," Rob said, gripping my elbow. He tugged me closer and slipped a hand up my spine, into my hair. He gazed down at me, his focus locked on my lips. "I don't know whether I should resent you for making me feel again or love you for it." Before I could respond, he continued. "Don't say anything. I already know."

Then he kissed me.

Lips, tongues, hands, heat, sighs—all at once. Everything beyond us dissolved. The bakery, this city, the convoluted premise behind our lunch date. None of it existed when I pressed my hands to his back and urged him closer.

I was certain he hadn't gone looking for it but somewhere between yanking me into his arms and claiming my mouth, he stumbled upon my bleak blankness.





Chapter Thirteen