Page 27

“How does it feel now?” he asks, as if I hadn’t said anything at all.

“Better.”

“Good.”

I look up, way up, into his blue eyes. He’s still holding my wrist in one large hand.

I gulp. “Your muffin.”

Marcus doesn’t break eye contact, but he slowly lets me go.

I take out the muffin using the oven mitt this time and Marcus sits at the counter again.

I slide it toward him, steaming.

“Here you are.”

“I have to admit, I’m not much for sweets,” he says, tearing a small piece off and popping it into his mouth. His eyes widen. “Wow. That’s delicious, Ms. Reyes.”

“Call me Margo.”

“Margo,” he says, low, and my stomach tightens again.

Damn my daddy issues.

First Cole and now Marcus, two men probably double my age.

Apparently, I like a man who knows what he’s doing. Preferably before I have to ask.

Is the universe sending me a sign?

My mind flits to Season’s Greedings. This couldn’t be it, could it?

No. It can’t be. I’d run into Cole by chance, and I’d called Marcus here.

I’m being ridiculous.

Just because I want men like Cole and Marcus to be the claimers of my wishes doesn’t mean that they are.

I draw in a long breath.

“Do you handle backup generators, too?” I ask, trying to keep things professional. “Mine’s been acting up. I don’t want the next outage shutting me down.”

“I can take a look,” Marcus says. “If it needs an electrician, I’ll tell you.”

“Can I take this muffin to go?”

“Of course.” I bustle around to put it in a bag and Marcus lays a bill on the counter. “No, no. Muffins are on the house for groundskeepers.”

“Not a muffin like that,” he responds, and smiles at me.

A real smile, not just a half-smirk. It lights him up, and my breath catches in my throat.

“I’ll see you around, Ms. Reyes.”

“Margo,” I remind him as he walks out the door.

I grab the bill he put on the counter. A fifty.