I go cold. Shit. My smile evaporates. Of course, their adoration is connected to that…incident.
Brittany must sense the shift because she grabs my arm. “No, babes, it’s totally okay. We love you. We’re so on your side. We think Dax is such a dick. We were talking about it at pickleball, and we love both you and your pickleball outfit,” she says, plucking at the sleeve of my dress, while Tiffany pets the skirt.
“I mean, look, you play pickleball, we play pickleball,” Tiffany adds with a smile that seems real.
It’s not like we just became best friends or anything, but I feel a little better. “That’s great. We all love pickleball. Yay.”
“We love pretty ribbons too,” Tiffany puts in, twirling another strand of red hair. “You’re basically, like, our queen. You were dumped, but look what you did.”
I wince but try to hide it.
Brittany gives me a supportive smile. “Like, it sucked so much. But then look at you. You turned it around.”
I die a little inside. Is that how they see the whole situation?
Obviously, it is.
Brittany gives me a side-hug, her shiny brown hair soft against my shoulder. “You opened a whole bakery to try to be less sad,” she says. “That’s amazing. Isn’t it amazing, Ronnie?”
The Brit snaps his focus to the love fest, offering me a patronizing smile. “It’s so wonderful to think about how you took that terrible, awful day at the romance fair and turned it into something better. You were dumped on TV, and then you opened a bakery thanks to my cake contest and unwavering support,” he says, somehow taking credit.
But also…what?That doesn’t add up. I couldn’t have been dumped the day Dax talked about me on TV because the show was recorded in advance.
Before I can point out this flaw in the timeline, Corbin comes around the counter and wraps a strong, toned arm around my waist, beaming at me with something like adoration. “I don’t know why she’d feel that way. We’re very happily together, and we have been since before the fair so you must have your timeline wrong. We’ve been working on this bakery for a while. We were even talking about it in the trailer that day.” He squeezes my shoulder harder, holding me like a boyfriend would, urging me to play along. “Weren’t we, sweetheart?”
Sweetheart.
That day.
His eyes.
All the hearts and flutters.
This man is utterly convincing.
I’m so sold. “You did. You really saved the day, then. You’ve been doing that ever since,” I say, flashing adoe-eyedgrin at him.
“I’d do anything for you,” he says, lifting a hand to dotingly stroke my jaw.
Impulsively, I inch closer.
A second later, maybe less, I gasp when Corbin drops his mouth to mine and kisses me in front of them. He’s sweet and tender, gently cupping my jawline in front of my nemesis and his two youngfriends. Declaring me his with a kiss that makes my stomach flip and my pulse skitter.
When he lets go, I’m swimming in endorphins. Corbin has the most sheepish look on his face. “So hard to resist,” he says to me, but maybe it’s for them.
I’m still woozy from that knee-weakening kiss when he turns back to Ronnie. “My girlfriend and I have been planning this bakery for some time. In fact,” he says, laughing a little, “I couldn’t really stop from kissing her in your trailer too, Ronnie. I hope you don’t mind. That’s why it took us a little while to get back out there. But you understand, don’t you? Man to man?”
Ronnie chuckles and says, “Right you are.”
Well, two can play at this fake-dating one-upmanship. I grab the ties of Corbin’s apron, and I tug him close to me again, taking another kiss.
A hot, prelude-type of kiss. One that has me wanting them all to go away so he can Dirty Dog me.
When we break it, Tiffany and Brittany clap and cheer, then spin to face each other.
“I totally know what we should do,” Tiffany says to Brittany.
The brunette grabs the redhead’s hands, and they nod as if they can read each other’s minds. Maybe they can.
