And just like that, I’m lost.
Because this woman?
This maddening, radiant, infuriating baker?
She’s not just trouble.
She’s the kind of trouble I’ve been starving for my entire life.
Chapter 5
Marigold
My heart starts thundering inside my chest the second he walks into my shop.
It’s like boom-boom-boom, fast as Santa’s reindeer running across the night sky on Christmas Eve.
One second, I’m laughing with a couple of regulars, enjoying the five-minute break I gave myself from sorting dough for that ridiculous gala order, and the next—oh my freaking sex gods, he’s here.
I don’t even need a sign.
No name tag, no app notification.
I know.
I feel it—this spark that starts in my toes and races through me like I’ve just licked a live wire made of hot chocolate and panic.
Then, my gaze collides with his.
Emerald. Deep.
Serious enough to make my stomach somersault.
And bam.
I am officially a goner.
I recognize him from his profile pic, but it really didn’t do him justice.
Because Ebenezer Rogers isn’t just nice looking.
He’s gorgeous.
Refined. Built like temptation in a three-piece suit.
He’s got that buttoned-up energy that just begs to be unraveled.
I want to walk up to him, loosen his tie, mess up his hair—hell, maybe hit him with a handful of flour just to see what he’d do.
Because he looks like he hasn’t smiled in a long time.
And suddenly, I want that.
His smile.
His secrets.
All of it.
