Page 11 of The Gingerbread Bakery (Dream Harbor #5)

Chapter Eleven

Then

A nnie’s face was burrowed against something warm and firm and her arm was draped over something solid and… breathing? Her fingers trailed along bare skin. She froze. Whose bare skin was she touching? And where the hell was she?

Oh, dear God, she was still in Mac’s bed.

And so was he. And apparently, before she had woken up, her fingers had been tracing little lines across his abs where his T-shirt had risen up during the night.

She carefully moved her hand off his stomach, hoping that if she moved slow enough, she wouldn’t wake him.

This was so embarrassing! She was completely curled around him like some kind of deranged monkey clinging to his back.

How was she going to get out of this without him noticing?

Because obviously the solution to this problem was to run as far away from Mac and his cozy bed as possible.

Cookies and light displays and late?night chats were one thing, but snuggling in his bed was an entirely different story.

Before Annie could fully develop her escape plan, the body she was still inconveniently pressed against started shaking with laughter.

‘Good morning, Annie,’ Mac said, the amusement clear in his voice.

Annie rolled away from him in horror.

‘Did you sleep well?’ Mac asked, still laughing.

‘Oh God,’ she groaned. ‘I cannot believe I was spooning you.’

‘I’ve never slept better. I like being the little spoon.’

Annie was still groaning when Mac rolled over to face her. He had a huge grin on his face and, between that and the messy, morning hair falling over his forehead, and the abs she’d just been fondling, Annie felt more confused than ever. Why did he have to be so damn cute?

‘You hungry?’ he asked, still studying her with amusement.

Annie was so relieved to not have to discuss the spooning incident further that she said yes, not considering the implications of her answer.

Mac’s smile grew. ‘Great. You can stay for breakfast.’

‘Stay for breakfast? Isn't this your parents' house?’ Annie assumed he’d want her out of there as quickly as possible.

Mac shrugged. ‘Of course it is. Lucky for you, feeding people is my mother's favorite thing to do.’

‘And that includes feeding random girls that stay overnight in your bedroom?’

‘Well, I don't know. This is the first time it’s ever happened.’

With that interesting tidbit of information, Mac winked, rolled out of bed and left Annie staring at the ceiling wondering what she had gotten herself into with this boy and what the hell she was going to do next. Besides apparently eating breakfast with his mom.

Mac popped his head out of the bathroom, toothbrush dangling from his mouth.

‘I’ve got an extra,’ he said, pointing to the toothbrush. ‘If you want to freshen up before breakfast.’

Annie covered her face, the new horror of what her breath must smell like dawning on her.

Mac laughed, continuing with his brushing. ‘That wasn’t a hint or anything. I just thought you might want to brush your teeth.’

Annie continued with her groaning. She was sure her hair was a mess, she didn’t have a change of clothes or makeup, and she certainly didn’t feel prepared to go meet Mac’s mother or spend any more time with him before she went home and regrouped.

She needed a plan. She needed to completely reevaluate her thoughts and feelings about Mac and then determine what the hell to do about them.

This whole thing had thrown Annie completely off-kilter.

And she did not like to be off-kilter. Annie was an on-kilter kind of girl.

‘Maybe I should go. I could slip out before your mom wakes up.’

Mac popped out of the bathroom again. ‘Nah, it’s past seven. She’s already up.’

Annie let her hands slide away from her face. She took a deep inhale to calm herself down and the smell of bacon filled her nose. Mac was right; she had clearly missed her window to sneak out.

She sat up and attempted to rake her fingers through her hair and get it into some sort of order.

She found her bag from last night still slung over the chair in the corner.

She probably had at least a ChapStick and a tube of mascara in there.

She would never leave home without those.

Okay, maybe this was fine. Maybe she would eat some bacon, chat with Mac’s mom and then get out of here and pretend this whole weird night never happened. That was doable, right? Right.

New plan in hand, Annie swung her legs out of bed and went to join Mac in the bathroom.

She froze in the doorway watching him splash water on his face.

The whole scene was far too intimate. What did she really know about Mac besides that he liked sports, had more muscles than she knew were humanly possible, was sometimes a jerk—and sometimes, she thought, remembering last night, very sweet?

And now here she was watching his morning routine, getting a sneak peek at a popular boy in his natural habitat.

It was surreal to say the least and the whole thing was freaking her out because, if she was being honest with herself, she liked seeing Mac this way and, if she was being completely honest with herself, she wanted to see more of him this way.

Sleepy and rumpled with his hair a little bit wet.

He looked harmless this way, like he couldn’t hurt her.

He looked nice . She didn’t know what to do with that or if there was anything she could do with that, but she definitely needed more than four hours of sleep to sort it all out.

Mac straightened and caught her looking at him in the mirror. He did that ridiculous winking thing again and Annie was once again relieved that no one was here to witness the flush in her cheeks; thankful she was the only one to feel her stomach flipflop every time he looked at her.

This was getting ridiculous.

He scrubbed his face dry with the towel and then handed her his extra toothbrush.

Annie was horrified at the thought of him watching her brush her teeth.

That was one intimacy too far. She could not allow Mac to watch her brush and spit !

He clearly sensed her hesitation, flashed her one more smile and left the bathroom.

‘I’ll give you a minute,’ he said from the bedroom.

Annie closed the door with a sigh of relief.

Why was she being so weird about this? None of this had to be a big deal.

Nothing physical had happened between them last night.

They’d had a chat. That was it. It was something that had happened between her and Hazel and Logan a million times before.

Although, to be fair, neither Logan nor Hazel made her feel all hot and confused and twisty inside.

She focused on brushing her teeth, splashing cold water on her face and attempting to look like some semblance of herself instead of on the panic slowly building in her belly.

She really needed her friends back before she did something she would regret.

Because whatever was happening here, Annie already knew she would regret it.

By the time she was following Mac up the stairs for breakfast, Annie had made up her mind that this morning would be the last part of their bizarre week of friendship.

Annie had plenty of friends, she had plans, she had a future here in this town.

Mac had, well she didn’t know what Mac had, other than the ability to make her completely flustered, but he was leaving anyway so there was really no point in delving into these insane feelings she'd been having. She’d let herself, for a brief moment, indulge in the idea of living out the fantasy of her silly high-school crush paying attention to her.

But that was all it was, a silly fantasy, and Annie didn't go for fantasy.

‘Morning, Mom,’ Mac greeted the petite woman pulling sizzling bacon out of a pan on the stove. She turned to face them, and Annie gave her a polite wave from her spot beside Mac in the doorway of the kitchen.

Annie had seen Mac’s mom before around town, of course, and she’d chaperoned a few field trips over the years, but Annie had never been in his house, and she had the same surreal feeling she’d had watching him brush his teeth. Like she wasn't supposed to be here.

His mother's eyebrows rose as she took in the two of them standing side by side, clearly still wearing last night’s clothes.

Annie shifted on her feet. Why did she feel so guilty when nothing had happened?

Not to mention they were fully grown adults.

She was allowed to do things like sleep at a guy's house, wasn’t she?

Although this wasn’t a guy’s house. This was a guy’s mom's house, which changed the math a bit.

‘I didn’t know you had a guest,’ she said, directing her attention to Mac.

Mac cleared his throat, suddenly less confident in the face of his mother’s scrutiny.

‘You know Annie,’ he said as if that made things less weird.

‘Annabelle Andrews.’ Her eyebrows rose even higher. ‘I didn’t know you two were friends.’

Annie bit back the words, I didn't know we were friends either, and instead she said, ‘Hello, Mrs. Sullivan, it’s nice to see you again.’

‘It’s nice to see you, too, Annie, although somewhat unexpected.’

Her gaze shifted back to her son. ‘I hope you were a gentleman,’ she said with a pointed look. ‘And that you remembered that it’s only fun if everyone's having fun. And in the bathroom cabinet we have plenty of?—’

‘I know!’ Mac cut her off with a wince. His face was bright red. ‘I know, Mom, but it's really not like that. Annie is just a friend.’

Mac’s mom looked skeptical at that assessment, but she gave a little shrug and let it drop. ‘Well, who’s hungry?’ she said, turning back to the pan on the stove. ‘I made bacon and eggs but I’m happy to throw on some pancakes if you’d prefer, Annie.’

‘Oh no, eggs are fine, thank you.’ Annie sat where Mac had gestured at the table.

He nudged her shoulder. ‘Sorry about that,’ he whispered.

Annie let out a small laugh. ‘Did your mom actually just remind you about the location of condoms in your house?’ she whispered back.

Mac’s face turned even redder, but he laughed with her. ‘Yeah, and to make sure both partners get off.’

More giggles spilled out of Annie even as her face heated with Mac’s words. What would it be like to get off with Mac?

‘Now you’ve had a glimpse,’ he added, ‘of how horrifying my parents’ sex talk was for me.’

Annie snorted. Mac grinned at her from his seat next to her.

Mrs. Sullivan turned back to the table with two plates heaped with bacon, eggs, and toast. She looked like she was about to ask what was so funny but seemed to change her mind halfway to the table.

Instead, she smiled at them like she knew exactly what was happening here. Annie wished she would fill her in.

They spent the rest of breakfast chatting about Annie’s plans and the upcoming holidays and about how Annie’s family was doing. Mac was mostly quiet, but after her initial nerves, Annie found it easy to talk to his mom. She was nice and funny, and Annie had always been good at talking to adults.

‘Mac was so attached to me when he was little,’ his mom was saying. ‘I couldn’t even put him down long enough to bring in the groceries without him screaming his little head off.’

‘Aww…’ Annie teased as Mac groaned.

‘Okay, Mom, I think that’s enough stories that make me look like a sad little mama’s boy for one day.’

His mom lovingly patted his cheek. ‘There’s nothing wrong with loving your mother,’ she said. ‘And next time,’ she said, turning back to Annie. ‘I’ll bring out the photo albums.’ She winked conspiratorially.

‘That would be great. I’d love to see them,’ Annie said, even as she wondered if there would be a next time that she sat and chatted with Mac and his mother after spending the night. It didn't seem likely.

‘We definitely don't need to do that,’ said Mac as he got up to clear the plates.

‘But you were so cute and chubby.’ His mom tried to take the plates from his hands. ‘I can get that. I’m sure you two have plans for the day.’

‘Actually, I really should get home,’ Annie said before Mac could jump in with his next great idea.

‘Yep. I’m wide open to get these dishes done for you, Mom.’

‘Okay, sweetie, thanks for that. I need to get to work anyway.’ Mac leaned down so she could give him a kiss on the cheek before she hurried out of the kitchen to get ready for her shift.

‘I like your mom,’ Annie said.

‘Yeah, I like her, too,’ Mac said, leaving the dishes in the sink for later. ‘She’s kind of the best, which is why I need to find her the perfect Christmas present this year.’

‘What do you usually get her?’

Mac shrugged, leaning against the counter. ‘Usually something last-minute, or if my dad’s feeling generous, he’ll let me throw my name on something he bought. Or some bullshit like that. Seems like it’s time I up my gift-giving game.’

Annie happened to be an amazing gift-giver. It was one of her special talents, something she really prided herself in. But she needed to get out of here and away from Mac and back to her regular life. She could not volunteer to help him, and yet it was taking all of her energy not to suggest it.

‘Anyway,’ Mac said, ‘I’ll probably go back to the Christmas market to look for something good.’

Don't say it, Annie. Don't say it.

She tried to hold it in, she really did. But that was a terrible idea! He couldn’t just keep wandering the market waiting for a good idea to hit him. He needed to think about it before he went. The market was huge. He needed a plan. He needed her help.

‘I could come with you.’ Well, there goes that.

She was not doing this because of the confused feelings last night had stirred up, or the possible sexual awakening Mac’s abs had inspired this morning.

She was doing this for Mac’s mom, who deserved a good Christmas present this year.

And maybe a little bit because of the abs.

Mac’s face lit up at the suggestion and Annie’s plan to spend time away from him went right out the window.

She could live in the fantasy for a little bit longer. What was the harm in that?