Page 30 of Forbidden to Fall

Me

Hey, it’s Sadie. I just made something, and it might be disgusting. Will you try it?

I stared at the screen, waiting for a response.

The minutes ticked by, and I began to regret my attempt at being funny. I typed out I was kidding just as a text rolled onto the top of my screen.

James

You sold me. Be there right away

I smiled and deleted my follow-up text.

He could do humor. I’d known that, though. I wouldn’t soon forget those twinkling eyes. Their usual darkness made it all the more memorable, like stars in the night sky.

I worked on cleaning up, and a couple of minutes later, the door to the kitchen opened.

I glanced at James over my shoulder. “Regretting your decision to stick around yet?”

“Ask me in two minutes,” he said, coming up to the counter.

Look at that! Another little joke.

I dried my hands on a towel and joined him at the cooling rack, leaning my hip against the counter. “I’m not even going to tell you what they are. I want you going in blind.”

He looked at the cookies. “I’m looking at them right now.”

“Metaphorically blind, James.”

“Yeah, but they’re cookies. And I’m going to go out on a limb and guess they’re maple?”

I grabbed one and shoved it toward him. “Just eat the maple cookie, James.”

With the ghost of a smile, he bit into it.

And I watched. Every micro-expression, every feather of the powerful muscles in his jaw.

The man gave nothing away, though. It was no wonder I’d been bewitched by him for years, waiting and hoping for a peek behind the curtain.

He chewed for an eternity. My jaws would’ve been exhausted. His were made of something altogether different.

“Any…reaction?” I prompted.

He swallowed. Finally. “It’s really good.”

I stared at him. “But?”

“But nothing. It’s really good.”

“And yet?”

A breathy laugh escaped him. “There’s no and yet, Sadie.”

I pressed my lips together. There was something he wasn’t saying, and I needed him to say it. “You’re fired.”

His brows went up. “What?”

“Yep.” I turned back to my dishes. “Fired.”