AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Eyeing me with zero remorse, he opens the bakery door for me and displays the early bird crowd. Coming at insane o’clock is the only way to get fresh stuff. Unfortunately, I don’t need fresh stuff. I need something Alana ordered two weeks ago. But I do happen to need it before Mom wakes up…
So.
Here I am.
Fighting for my life in order to retrieve sugar and carbs.
The deal was if Alana ordered the cake, I’d pick it up while she and Dad decorate the dining room for our little family party.
Nowhere in that deal did I think Ollie would insult my knowledge of the Pride and Prejudice hand flex.
“Apologize,” I mutter as I sneak myself into the storefront chaos.
“Physically incapable.”
“You’ve apologized before.”
“But this time I am not sorry, and therefore…”
“Wow,” I whisper as I dodge someone plowing out the door with a box of doughnuts. “To think your every apology must be genuine. You are, like, the least stressful boyfriend ever.”
Wrapping an arm across my shoulders, he pulls me back, out of the way of a man’s elbow, against the firm, stable plane of his chest. My entire being ignites. The chaos of noise and bustle crammed into the little storefront perishes. Sparks erupt, hazardous.
I force down a swallow, tilt my head back, and find Ollie looking at my face.
His eyes widen a fraction before he jolts his attention off me. “Sorry.”
“Wh—” I stammer, take a deep breath—warm bread and nighttime rain. “No. No, no. That’s not what you get to feel sorry for. You may apologize for gatekeeping the Pride and Prejudice fandom, of which you clearly belong.”
“The Pride and Prejudice fandom,” he echoes, instead of apologizing. Before I can complain, he swipes my blunt bangs up and touches a kiss to my forehead. “Ollie uses diversion,” he whispers against my flesh.
“It was very effective…” I murmur.
He smirks, revealing a dimple.
“Sneaky.” I fix my bangs as he eases his hold around my chest. Then I battle my way to the front, show my order ticket, and fumble gracelessly back to the car with my quarry.
All the while, I stare in through the plastic window of the slim box and tell myself not to hurl it across the lot then run it over with my car. “Hey,” I say as I make it to the driver seat and deliver the cake to Ollie’s lap once he gets in.
“Hm?”
My mouth opens, but sound doesn’t come out. Did I really almost ask him if my tendency to think marvelously inappropriate thoughts comes from my faerie heritage?
Like, hi, I’m a terrible person, and I want to know if it’s because I am what you are.
I shudder, shake my head. “No. Never mind. I forgot.”
He stares at me.
My jaw clenches.
Pressure builds in my chest as I start up the car, leaving it in park as the engine rumbles. “Okay!” I blurt and force air into my lungs. “I didn’t forget.”
Ollie blinks, looks at the cake, looks back at me. “Did you do a human just now, sunshine?”
I sniffle. “I did. I did do a human. I’m so sorry.”
His brows dip as he smiles, patient and kind. “Zy can just about read Willoughby’s mind.”
