Page 28 of Moonshine and Magnolias (Just Add Peaches #1)

The ringing started again a few seconds later. Wendy sighed against his mouth. “It must be important if my aunt’s calling back. One second.”

Eulalee started chattering as soon as Wendy answered the phone. “Honey, I just got a call from a nice young woman looking to book a wedding on Tuesday. Something happened with their original location and schedule, and their Rabbi is available, and our calendar was clear, so I’ve set it all up.”

“Tuesday? As in, after Monday?” She sat straight up. “Aunt Eulalee, there’s more that goes into a wedding other than setting a date!”

“They know it’s short notice, so they’re not expecting much.”

“That’s all fine, but we have Fountenoy Hall’s reputation to think of as well. I just don’t think we can execute a wedding with such little time.”

“You can do this,” Rob murmured in her ear. “I’ll help.”

She lowered her eyebrows and pursed her lips. “I’m sure the Rabbi can reschedule to another time.”

“He’s going out of town. The family is all gathering and the date is very special to the brides.” Her aunt continued to wheedle a yes from her as Rob raised her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. A flush warmed her cheeks.

“Tell her yes,” he said.

She shook her head.

He grinned. “I dare you.”

She narrowed her eyes at his teasing, but secretly, she enjoyed the challenge. “Okay, fine,” she told her aunt.

“Oh, Wendy. You’ll make them so happy. We’ll figure out the details tonight. ”

Wendy hung up the phone and glared. “What did you just do to me?”

“Nothing?”

“With all the prep I have to do for Pansy Hamilton and the retirement party, you have me considering more? You’re making me crazy,” she muttered. “That’s what you’re doing. That’s the only explanation.”

“I would like very much to make you crazy.” He nuzzled her neck. “I can help with the preparations. I’m very good at hanging tall things.” He trailed kisses to her mouth. “I can also spout off historical facts that no one cares about but me.”

She chuckled, the tension leaving her shoulders as she entered notes into her phone.

“We’ll have to hire the assistant chef much sooner than planned and get vendors and the like on board, but …

” She pointed a finger. “I will need your help. Beyond telling me when Georgia seceded from the Union and what the early settlers did for entertainment.”

“Eighteen sixty-one and dancing.” He grasped her extended finger and nibbled the tip. “Whatever you need.”

She paused for a moment, staring at him with the intensity of a soul searching for truth. “I think I need you to kiss me again.” Her voice came out much rougher than normal.

He grasped the silken hair under her ponytail, tilting her head up for better access and devoured her lips.

Acting upon this wanting was so unlike her.

Rob slid his tongue in her mouth and she moaned, imagining being with him with no barriers, physical or emotional.

She was freer with him. Her self-imposed restrictions didn’t matter.

He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and buried his nose in her hair. A growl built in the back of his throat, the vibrations sending tingles over her skin. Her fingers climbed up his back and dug into his shoulders, pressing the two of them even closer together.

Suddenly there was air between them. Rob’s hands were on her shoulders. His hazel eyes searched hers and he tucked some of her loose hair behind an ear.

Oh, God. The reality of what she had done hit her.

It was all wrong. This giving in, the desire, the acting without thinking.

She opened her mouth to defend herself, but nothing came out.

Light sweat broke out on her skin and she rubbed at her chest as the room swirled.

Agreeing to something because a man told her to?

That went against everything she had always set for herself.

Her stomach rolled and she felt ill. “I have to get out of here. Let me out. Let me out.”

Rob slid out of the seat. “Wendy—” She held up her hand and he stopped talking. She scrambled out of the booth and dashed across the coffee shop to the hallway that led to the bathroom before she lost the pound cake on the floor.

She pulled open the door to the small room and locked it behind her, then leaned against it.

Her breath came in short bursts. She’d seen what happened when women changed themselves to please a man.

Brandi was a perfect example, losing herself in what her boyfriend wanted and what she could do to make him happy.

They gave up their own goals, becoming a shell of what they could have been.

She turned on the faucet and splashed some cold water on her face as her heart rate slowed. She was supposed to be beyond this. Brandi was the one who changed her mind on a whim because someone tall, dark, and handsome beckoned to her. Wendy was the practical one.

She stared at herself in the mirror. Same brown hair. Same green eyes. Same mouth, same nose, same same same. And as much as she just tried not to be the same, it wouldn’t work. There was no use pretending.

A knock sounded on the bathroom door followed by a masculine growl. “Wendy.”

She looked around the room. There was no escape other than a small window above the toilet. She could boost herself up and be free.

Only then she’d be running because of a guy. Not much of an improvement.

“Wendy.” The voice was more insistent now.

“What?”

“Open the damn door.”

She took a deep breath, then gave her reflection a smile until she looked normal. She’d open the door, breeze past him like it had been nothing, gather her things, then head home and start planning a wedding.

Only the first part of her plan went right.

As soon as she opened the door, Rob slipped into the bathroom with her and closed it again. He stood with his back and his hands against the exit, his fingers splayed out.

“What are you doing in here?” Wendy asked.

“I don’t think anyone will bother us.” He locked the door.

“You bothered me.”

“True.” He didn’t approach her, but the room shrunk when he focused his heady gaze on her. “I’m going to kiss you now.”

Her heartbeat increased. “You’re…what? Why?”

He moved toward her in a slow, predatory pace, arms hanging loosely by his side. “Unless you tell me not to, or to go away.”

“In here?” She backed up, her breath catching in her throat. He wasn’t supposed to do this. He should be running far, far away from her. He fuddled her brain.

“There’s no one else I’d rather kiss in a bathroom.”

The wall behind her stopped her movement. Soon Rob was in front of her. Instead of feeling trapped, her body arched toward him. His head dipped down to hers and his hair brushed against her forehead. “Last chance.”

His breath fanned her face and her nipples tingled with anticipation and she knew she wouldn’t stop him. Even then he moved so agonizingly slow.

She closed her eyes, letting the heat from his body seep into her. She rose on her toes, almost without knowing it. His lips swept over hers, then his hands slid up her neck to her jaw as he deepened the kiss.

It. Was. Perfect. She might also have moaned a little.

He pulled back, caressed her lower lip with his thumb, then went in again, until he released her. His eyes stayed trained on hers and his breath came in pants. Her hand crawled up his chest, feeling the pounding of his heart against her palm. Its fast beat matched her own .

He didn’t move as she absorbed the knowledge that she’d been stagnant for so long. It wouldn’t be changing for a man. It would be changing for herself.

“Okay.” She ran her hands over his shoulders, enjoying the feel of his body underneath his shirt. “You made your point. And a darn good one, too. But I should probably get back out there before Jordan comes back and takes out a missing person’s report.”

He took her hand, not yet ready to let her go. “I’ll see you in the library tonight.” He placed a soft kiss on her lips. “Alone.”