Page 20 of The Gingerbread Bakery (Dream Harbor #5)

Chapter Eighteen

Now

T hey were making the treacherous drive through the snow up to Kira’s farm in silence.

The gingerbread house was safely in the back of his Bronco and Annie in the passenger seat beside him, but Mac might as well have been alone with his thoughts.

And his thoughts were mainly consumed with the fact that everything he’d thought about his time with Annie had been a lie.

If their experiences of that month had been so different, then maybe it really was time to let the whole thing go. Maybe that month hadn’t been some magical Christmas moment between them. Maybe he had been the only one who had fallen in love.

Or maybe it was all just about an orgasm.

And if it was just about an orgasm, that he could remedy.

In fact, that he would love to remedy. And maybe that would help everything.

Maybe one more time with Annie and he could finally put her in the correct category.

In his mind, she could go from being the girl he never got over to being just another ex.

An ex that he could move on from, a woman that he slept with; and then maybe they could actually be friends, or at least civil to each other.

Maybe a decade was way too long to replay a memory and the whole thing had become distorted over the years.

Maybe it hadn’t all been as magical as he originally thought.

What he and Annie needed was a night together to have closure once and for all.

He’d been losing his mind about it all day and then it had started snowing harder and he saw the bakery light still on and was at Annie’s window before he could stop himself.

He couldn't leave her there in the snow, knowing she’d put herself in a dangerous situation to make sure she didn’t let anyone down.

So here he was giving her a ride, and she hadn't said a damn word to him since they got in the truck.

‘You know you could thank me,’ he said, glancing over to the passenger seat. He took his eyes off the road just long enough to catch Annie glaring at him.

‘I could,’ she said, ‘but you basically forced me into accepting the ride.’

‘Only because I knew you would do something stupid if I didn't.’

‘Stupid? Excuse me?’

Mac huffed a laugh. ‘Yeah, something stupid. Like try to drive on these snowy roads up to Kira’s farm in that old delivery van that handles horribly and end up in a ditch somewhere instead.’

‘Really, Mac. I don’t know when you became so dramatic.’

‘Stop calling me that.’

‘Then stop acting that way.’

‘I’m not acting any kind of way, Annabelle. I'm trying to keep you alive for some reason that I really can’t remember at the moment.’

She scoffed and sat back in her seat, staring out the window at the snow. It was really coming down now and Mac hoped his snow tires were as good as he said they were, or they would both end up in a ditch.

His plan to have one more night with Annie had made perfect sense when he was alone, but all Annie wanted to do when they were together was fight. He wasn’t sure how he would convince her that what they really needed was to fuck.

The lights from the farmhouse appeared ahead on the dark road and Mac let out a sigh of relief.

At least they weren't going to die on the side of the road sexually frustrated.

That would be a tragedy. He pulled the Bronco up the driveway to the barn.

Annie hissed as they went over each and every bump.

She gasped after they went over a particularly big rut. ‘The gingerbread house!’ she squeaked.

‘I’m going as carefully as I can.’ Mac assured her. ‘It’ll be fine.’

They hit another dip in the road and Annie gripped tight to his forearm.

‘Careful!’ she gasped, her fingers digging into his flesh.

Mac kept the truck at a slow crawl all the way down the road to the barn. Annie didn’t take her fingers off his arm until they pulled up safely in front of the barn doors. It made him wish the road was longer.

She immediately hopped out into the snow and ran around to the back to check on the house. They’d buffered it on all sides to keep it from sliding around and it was at least relatively in the same place they’d left it. Annie let out a sigh of relief.

‘It might have a few cracks,’ she said when he joined her behind the truck. ‘But it looks like it survived.’

‘Good,’ Mac said, relieved that he hadn’t let her down for once.

She looked at him in the dim light from the trunk. ‘Thank you,’ she said.

‘Yeah, no problem.’

‘No, really. Thank you. As much as it pains me to say it, you were probably right about the whole me-ending-up-in-a-ditch thing, so I really appreciate the ride.’

The snow swirled in between them, and Annie’s cheeks were red with the cold. Mac ran a hand down the side of her face.

‘You drive me nuts, but I don’t want you dead in a ditch.’

Annie’s lips tipped into a begrudging smile. ‘That’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me.’

It wasn’t. He’d said plenty of sweet things eleven years ago. Or maybe he’d misremembered that too.

‘I could probably come up with some other things if you want me to.’

There were a million things he could think to say about Annie.

He could tell her how much he admired her or how proud he was of what she’d accomplished.

He could tell her how gorgeous she was and how over the years he’d compared every other woman to her.

He could tell her that she felt like home, even after all this time.

Or he could tell her he was dying to know what she tasted like between her thighs and that he regretted not finding out when he’d had the chance.

Mac could go on and on if she’d let him.

Annie’s full smile was a lovely and rare thing in the cold night. It reminded Mac of the night he first kissed her, and he wished he could do it again. She’d liked him that night. She still thought he was cute and charming. He’d made her laugh. He hadn’t broken her heart yet.

‘Remember when we made gingerbread cookies together?’ he asked. And he knew he was grasping at straws, looking for any evidence that they’d had the same experience.

‘I do,’ she said. ‘I remember you ate about a dozen in one sitting.’

‘They were small!’

Annie laughed, the sound so bright and beautiful that Mac could hardly believe she was letting him hear it.

‘They weren’t that small and that was after half a bag of sour cream-and-onion chips.’

‘Well, we had worked up an appetite.’

Annie’s cheeks flushed a deeper red and Mac felt vindicated.

She did remember. And she felt it, too. The pull of that time, the need to find out if it was still there, that thing between them.

If he kissed her right now, what would she do?

Would it feel like the first time? Better? God, he wanted to find out.

He wrapped his hand around the nape of her neck, his fingers putting pressure on the tension there.

Annie’s eyes fluttered closed. He leaned forward and she didn’t stop him, didn’t knee him in the groin.

He tightened his grip, just a little, just enough to have Annie melting toward him, her lips a hair’s-breadth from his.

‘Annie, is that you?’ Kira called from the barn.

Annie’s eyes flew open, but she stayed frozen in place. He could still kiss her, but it would have to be rushed, and the next time he kissed Annie, he sure as hell wasn’t going to rush. Not after waiting over a decade.

He dropped his hand from her neck. ‘Next time,’ he whispered.

Annie blinked, swallowing hard. ‘Yeah, it’s us,’ she called, her eyes still on Mac. He’d left her wanting, but this time he’d done it on purpose.

‘I brought the dessert,’ Annie said, taking a step back and then another, finally returning to herself.

Kira trudged around the side of the SUV with two dogs jumping around her in the snow. Mac found it impossible to keep all of her animals straight, so he had no idea which two these were, but one was huge and one was small and white with a Christmas bow tie affixed to his collar.

‘You didn't have to come up here in the snow,’ Kira said.

‘I promised I would help set up,’ Annie said. ‘And besides I wanted to get the house up here before tomorrow.’

‘House?’ Kira asked.

‘Gingerbread house. In lieu of a wedding cake.’

Kira nodded. ‘Right. Of course. The groom hates frosting. Makes perfect sense. Okay. Well, let’s get it inside.’

Bennett came out to help and between the four of them they were able to carefully move the gingerbread house onto a table in the barn. Annie needed to do a few repairs with the extra icing she’d brought, but overall, she seemed pleased that they made it with the house intact.

‘Okay, Kira, what else do you need help with?’ Annie asked, looking around the barn for her next task, studiously avoiding catching Mac’s eye. He had her flustered now and he liked it. Let her spend some time feeling as keyed up as he always did around her.

‘We were going to set up some Christmas trees on that end with white lights to serve as a backdrop for the altar.’

‘I can help with that,’ Mac offered, and Annie immediately turned to argue.

‘You don’t have to stay.’

‘How are you going to get home if I don’t stay?’ he asked. If she thought she was getting rid of him now, she was very, very wrong.

‘Bennett has a plow. I’m sure he could get me home or I could crash here, right?’

‘Sure, of course,’ Kira said. ‘Whatever you want to do.’

‘I’m staying,’ Mac said. ‘I want to help.’

He held Annie’s gaze, daring her to challenge his willingness to help his friend, but she let it go with a raised eyebrow.

‘Okaaay…’ Kira said, her eyes flicking between them.

‘So, Mac, you can help Bennett haul the trees in and get them dried off, and Annie, you can help me and Daisy from the flower shop set up the flowers and place settings on the tables.

Hazel and I got a lot done earlier, so that's all we have left to do!’

‘Sounds easy enough,’ said Annie.

‘Great! Because there’s one more thing,’ Kira said, walking toward the corner of the barn. She came back with a cardboard box in her arms and an apologetic look on her face.

‘So… we found these.’ She held the box out in front of her and two small faces appeared over the edge.

‘Kittens!’ Annie squealed. ‘Oh my gosh, Kira! They're so cute!’

The kittens were perfectly normal but what was really cute was Annie’s reaction to them.

Kira sneezed and the two furry faces disappeared back into the box. ‘Yes, they are very cute,’ Kira agreed. ‘However, I am very allergic to them.’ She sneezed again, as though to put a point on the matter.

‘Where did they come from?’ Mac asked, reaching out to rub the little orange kitten between its ears. It nuzzled against his hand.

‘We found them curled up together in the pile of tablecloths,’ Kira said, sniffling. ‘We’re not sure where the mother is, but we can’t have them in here for the wedding and I can’t bring them in the house.’

She sneezed again three times in rapid succession. Bennett had appeared at her side at this point, and he draped an arm over her shoulder, shaking his head. ‘It’s one of the great tragedies of Kira’s life. She can kiss reindeer but she’s allergic to cats.’

‘Reindeer, dogs, bunnies…’ Kira listed on her fingers. ‘I can do them all, but I get within a few feet of a cat, and I can’t breathe.’

Mac took the box from her hands looking down at the two little kittens inside, one orange and one black and white. They peered up at him with big green eyes. Annie came closer and looked into the box as well. A small crease appeared between her eyebrows.

‘What are we going to do with them?’ she asked.

‘I was hoping you would be able to take them at least for a few days until we can find them a home.’

‘I can’t,’ Annie said, shaking her head. ‘My landlord won’t allow pets.’

Kira sneezed three more times and Bennett dragged her away from the box of kittens.

‘I guess maybe if we kept them in one of the guest bedrooms away from me then it might be okay,’ Kira said, rubbing her eyes but Bennett was already shaking his head.

‘Babe, if we bring these into the house, I’m afraid you will actually die. And I prefer that not happen. I kinda like you.’

Kira looked up at Ben, her eyes already more puffy and swollen than when they started this conversation. ‘We can’t just put them out in the snow!’ she wailed.

Annie was wringing her hands next to him, and Mac knew it was killing her that she couldn’t do something to fix the situation. But he also knew that she loved that little apartment of hers and she couldn’t do something that would jeopardize her lease.

‘I’ll take them,’ he said, and Annie’s gaze snapped to his.

‘You’ll take them?’

‘Yeah, I’ve been meaning to get a pet anyway.’

‘You have not,’ said Annie.

Mac crossed his arms over his chest. ‘Do you want to put the kittens in the snow?’

‘No, of course not.’

‘Okay, then let me take my kittens in peace.’ He put down the box and took a kitten in each hand.

They greeted him with eager meows of thanks.

Annie was right. He’d had no intention of having pets, but they were pretty darn cute.

And as he tucked one in each of his coat pockets, he caught Annie smiling at him.

‘Let's go get those trees,’ he said to Bennett, leaving a slightly stunned, still smiling Annie to help with the flowers.