“I was being petty. Consider this my formal apology, but surely, you’ve had one since then.”
I shake my head. “Nope. I was on a boycott.”
His eyebrows knit together. “Were you boycotting the baked good or the baker, too?”
I snicker and take a bite. The Crush Cake is perfect—rich and sweet with just the right amount of tart from the raspberry. “This is delicious. Exactly what I needed.”
Not just the treat, but Patton’s stabilizing presence. His even inhales and exhales. His steady hands, covered in smallscars and calluses. Working hands. Hands that fix things. A hand that lands in mine.
I take a sharp intake of breath. His eyes widen with the faintest alarm.
“I’m trained in CPR, but please don’t choke.”
We both laugh lightly and it feels impossibly good.
“This is new and I can’t help but wonder how someone so grouchy and cocky turned out to be so sweet?”
He makes a face. “I’m not sweet.”
“You literally just brought me cake.”
“I’m a public servant and just doing my job.”
“Did you bring Mrs. Weaver one when her smoke alarm went off?”
He smirks. “No, I did not.”
Something about this feels special. Right? I take another bite and some frosting sticks to my lip. As I lick it off, Patton’s eyes track the movement. He licks his lip and his gaze turns heavy.
The air in the car does too.
“Off topic,” I blurt out, needing to break the tension before I do something stupid like kiss him in broad daylight in the municipal complex parking lot. “Tell me about your love life.”
This time, he nearly chokes … on nothing, on air. “What?”
“I mean—are you—?” I turn the color of the raspberry frosting. “You said you don’t do relationships, but I, um, that doesn’t mean that you’re not seeing someone.”
He looks at me like I’m wearing the squirrel mascot head. “Winnie, I kissed you the night we got snowed in. Multiple times. Why would I do that if I were seeing someone?”
“I don’t know! Maybe your lips were cold.”
His eyes flick to mine for a beat and then, with a warm crackling fire burning in his eyes, he says, “You know that’s not why I kissedyou.”
“I do?”
Eyebrows raised slightly, he nods slowly.
“I just—I need to know where we stand.”
He shifts in the seat to face me fully. “I had a girlfriend in high school. Didn’t work out. Dated someone after the fire academy. It didn’t last. Nothing serious since then because—” He stops. “Because I didn’t want anything serious.”
“And now?”
“Recently, that changed.”
My heart takes flight like a flock of birds migrating because the answer could be terrifying. “Recently?”
“Very recently.” His voice drops lower. “Like, the past few months recently.”
