Seducing the Bride

I snatch my phone off the table and grab my nearby car keys. “I have to go or I’ll be late to the cake testing.”

“How about some company?”

Oh, he’s tempting me—on purpose, I’m sure. I shouldn’t let him get too close…but it would be nice to have another opinion. At least that’s what I tell myself. “All right.”

The way he smiles says he’s up to something. “By the way, our office manager, Linda, has a son who’s an associate pastor. He could probably perform the ceremony. Want me to call?”

“Have you met him?”

Hayden nods. “Nice guy. Young, funny. He’d be good.”

“Sure. I’d appreciate it. Let me grab my lipstick and my wallet so we can go.”

“My truck is blocking your rental. I’ll drive.”

“Fine.” I disappear to gather my belongings—and my wits.

I’m still suspicious of the reasons he’s being so helpful, but Hayden has always been the first to lend a hand to people who need it. He’s a great problem solver, a good networker, a fabulous friend, and he has an uncanny ability of convincing everyone to see things his way…

That last trait worries me. He’s knows exactly how to push my buttons.

By the time I reach the foyer again, he’s smiling and tucking his phone back into his pocket. “Linda’s son, Josh, is open to meeting you this evening and seeing if you’d be a good fit.”

“Great,” I say as we head out the door. “If I can check one more thing off my list…”

“I’ll set it up for five thirty?”

“Perfect.”

He sends off a text just before he unlocks the truck and opens the passenger door to help me inside. It’s a perfect Arizona day, cloudless and blue. The slight breeze ruffles my hair and my skirt. I’m drinking in the blessed sunlight. My earlier peek at Seattle’s forecast showed days of gloom and rain ahead.

The ten-minute drive to the bakery is full of classic grunge tunes and awareness-heavy silence. Hayden steers a vehicle like he leads his life—competently, confidently, and without much apology. It’s one of the things that most attracts me to him. He doesn’t spend a lot of time second-guessing himself. If he gets something wrong, he just fixes it.

Is that what he’s trying to do with me?

When he opens my door and holds out his palm, I realize we’ve arrived.

I attempt to brace myself before I put my hand in his, but it’s useless. Hayden’s impact on my restraint is nuclear. Trying not to be affected by him is like trying not to notice a mountain directly in my path.

Impossible.

When our fingers touch, I shudder. It’s pathetic. And his little grin tells me he knows I’m not immune.

I slam the car door and head for the bakery. “Don’t gloat.”

“Not wasting time with that. Are you even going to try convince me that he satisfies you in bed or are you just going to cede that point to me?”

“What we do in bed is none of your business.”

From behind, he grabs my shoulders and presses my back against his chest, hard from years of physical labor. There’s absolutely no missing the singe of his firm fingers on my skin or the press of his steely erection against my ass.

It’s all I can do not to melt against him.

“Stop it.” I mean the protest to come out forcefully. It’s totally breathy instead.

God, it’s been four awful years since he turned me down. Why can’t I get over this man?

“Give me a chance to make you feel so much better,” he whispers into my ear.

I don’t dare. “We’re here to focus on cakes. If you have sex on the brain, you’re going to be sorely disappointed.”

“When you’re around, I always have sex on the brain.” He opens the door to the shop for me, revealing a long glass case full of sugary temptations under a fascinating floral ceiling painted in a wash of white, grays, and pale pink. “But I’ll be a good boy while we’re here.”

His words do crazy things to my equilibrium. For years, I’ve fantasized about being naked with Hayden, about his large, capable hands gripping my hips as he pushes his way inside me and makes me his for the first time.

With his hot palm settling on the small of my back as he ushers me into the cool, white interior and sets my good sense ablaze isn’t a good time to think about that.

I should resist baiting him. I should…and yet I send a quelling glare his way. “Zip it. I already know you’re all talk.”

Hayden laughs, something low and throaty and totally self-satisfied. “Oh, princess, I’ll be happy to show you how wrong you are. All you have to do is ditch the deadbeat, and I’ll be all over you all the time. And I won’t just fuck you until you have an orgasm. That’s too easy. I’ll fuck you until I’ve imprinted myself on your soul.”