Her eyes are two big saucers as she gazes at my bare chest. That jealousy fades. A smug, satisfied feeling pulses through me.
I grin and lean closer to her. “You know, for someone who said she didn’t want to see me half-naked, you’re spending a lot of time staring at me.”
She blinks and that dazed look in her big brown eyes disappears.
“I couldn’t really look away. Your giant chest is in my immediate line of sight.”
I grin at the insistence in her tone. I hold her gaze. “Whatever you say, firecracker.”
I pull the clean shirt over my head.
“Stop calling me that.”
I wink at her. “Never.”
Chapter 17
Liam
Iwalk to the bakery next to the gym and hold the door open for her. When we walk up to the counter, we’re greeted by a woman in her forties with a friendly smile.
“Can I help you, darlins’?”
“Barbara called me this morning about an issue with an order we placed. My name’s Kendall.”
“Oh, hello! That was me.” She explains that her main baker recently quit, so they don’t have carrot cake as an option anymore since that cake flavor was his specialty.
“Oh, really? That’s too bad,” Kendall says.
“I am so sorry about the inconvenience. And I’m so sorry to make y’all come down here, but I wanted to apologize in person and offer you a free cake tasting so you can pick a new cake flavor for your rehearsal dinner.” She beams at Kendall and me. “Goodness, y’all are a gorgeous couple.”
“Oh…” Kendall chuckles. “Actually, um, we’re not?—”
I slide my arm around Kendall’s waist, pulling her against me. “We’re not the biggest fans of carrot cake anyway,” I say.
Barbara chuckles. “Oh gosh, are you serious?”
I laugh. “Yeah. I guess this worked out well for us.”
I chuckle along with Barbara. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Kendall looking up at me, clearly confused.
Barbara tells us to sit down at one of the tables while she gets the cake samples ready. When she disappears into the back of the bakery, I glance down at Kendall.
“Liam, what are you doing? We’re not a couple,” she whispers.
“I know. But today is my cheat day. I went extra hard on the cardio, and I want some cake.”
She rolls her eyes. “You didn’t have to lie to get cake. You could have just bought some to sample.”
I shake my head. “Everyone knows that wedding cake is the best kind of cake. I’m not above pretending to be engaged so that we can get the good stuff for free.”
“This isn’t even a wedding cake. It’s rehearsal dinner cake.”
I shrug. “Same thing.”
She makes an annoyed sound, then looks down at my arm wrapped around her.
She looks up at me and raises an eyebrow. “Do you really have to put your arm around me?”
