But I do.
Me:Only if the frosting-to-danger ratio is above 2:1.
Stella:Excellent. I qualify.
I don’t reply. Just watch her slip behind the bake sale table again, unaware that someone might be trying to hurt her. Unaware that I’ve already started keeping score on who gets close.
She’s not just a job. Not anymore.
And if someoneistargeting her? They better pray I never find out who.
Because I’ve got rules. But for Stella?
I’ll break every damn one.
THREE
STELLA
The moment I step into the town hall kitchen to grab more napkins, I feel it.
That weird, zippy, cupcake-tingling awareness thatheis near.
Jack Sinclair.
My frosting-splattered bodyguard with the don’t-mess-with-me jawline and a voice that sounds like it was engineered to be played on a loop during stormy nights.
And maybe it’s because he keeps appearing right before something bad almost happens—or maybe it’s because he caught a literal cupcake midair and handed it back like it was a live grenade—but I cannot stop thinking about the man.
Also: the way he said my name.
Like it was a directive.
Like helikedsaying it.
Like he might want to say it again, maybe at night, maybe when I’m wearing something a little more…not covered in powdered sugar.
“Hey, Hart?” a voice calls from the front hall, pulling me out of my daydream where Jack removes his sunglassesvery slowlyand maybe leans in a little too close.
“Yeah?”
“Lady from Channel 4’s here early. Wants a quick quote from someone ‘local and delightful.’” The volunteer grins. “You’ve been nominated.”
“Of course I have.” I sigh and wipe my hands on a towel. “Let me just?—”
I bump right into a solid wall of Lone Star Security.
No, not a wall. A mountain.
Jack.
He’s in the doorway, arms crossed, eyes alert, mouth doing that not-quite-a-smile thing again. My towel flutters to the floor.
“Oh,” I say, brilliant as ever. “You again.”
“You okay?” he asks, that voice low and steady, like we’re not surrounded by PTA moms and a suspicious number of glitter-covered five-year-olds.
“I’ve been promoted to media liaison,” I say brightly. “Which is terrifying because I say things like ‘yeehaw is physics.’”
