Page 110 of His to Cherish
Next to me, Aidan’s hand on my waist tightened.
“You two are the talk of the carnival.”
“Fantastic,” Aidan deadpanned.
My head snapped up and I locked eyes with Kate. “What are you talking about?”
“The fact that you two are together.” She pointed, wiggling her finger between the two of us. “It’s all the women who have bought cupcakes tonight have been talking about.”
“Awesome,” I muttered, picking up one of her cupcakes. I bit into it before paying and groaned with delight. I intended to pay her. I also intended to eat a half dozen more cupcakes during this horrifically embarrassing conversation. I needed sustenance to see me through. “When you say all the women, how many are we estimating?”
Aidan picked out his own vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting and took a bite. “And why are they talking about me at all?”
Kate snorted, as if our questions defied logic. “Please. They talk to me because that’s what happens when women come to my booth and shop. I tell ya, besides bartenders and hairstylists, cupcake bakery owners have the monopoly on local gossip.”
I frowned. “Wouldn’t three make it a trilogy?”
“You and your books,” Aidan teased me, muttering over a mouthful of chocolate frosting.
“Well, she mentioned three—”
Kate shoved a finger in my direction. “Stay on point.”
“And what’s that?”
She rolled her eyes, cheerfully exasperated with me. “Please, sugar loosens lips faster than a lemon drop shot, I guarantee.”
“I’m pretty sure those shot glasses are lined with sugar, Kate.”
“Man, you’re being difficult,” she protested, waving me off. “The point of this whole conversation is that you two are the talk of the town tonight, and all the single ladies who have stopped by have been shoveling their faces full of my treats, mourning the loss of Latham Hills’s most-wanted bachelor.”
“Damn it. There goes my trophy this year.”
I nudged Aidan and watched as he chuckled next to me. His shoulders shook and his eyes crinkled.
I fought back the urge to roll up onto my tiptoes and plant a kiss on his lips.
“Yes,” I nodded with all the seriousness I could muster. “That’s the upsetting thing about this.”
“There’s nothing upsetting about this.” He turned his eyes toward me. I could see my reflection in his pupils, and the pull to move closer to him grew stronger. “I’m off the market, the vultures leave me alone, and I get to take you out on dates. I see no downside.”
“Hmm.” I took a bite of my second cupcake. “You do make sense.”
“God, you’re cute,” Kate said, happily interrupting us. “And you owe me five dollars for all the treats you just plundered from my table.”
She held out her hand and I rolled my eyes.
“Please. I’m eating under duress. If you hadn’t opened your mouth I wouldn’t have eaten anything tonight.”
She flashed me a look. “We both know that’s not true.”
I closed my mouth, picked up another two cupcakes for the road, and then handed her a ten. “Keep the change and keep the gossip fountain closed.
“That’s mortifying,” I said as we stepped away from Kate’s table. I figured with the looks we’d been getting all night long, people were talking about us, but to know with certainty that I’d been added to the town gossip-phone-tree system made my skin crawl.
Although being with Aidan, I might have to get used to it. The man made heads turn—both male and female—on a typical day. Losing Derrick only increased half the town’s interest in him.
“They’ll move on to something else soon. Someone more interesting.” Aidan placed his hand on my right hip and pulled me toward his side. I sighed and relaxed into his warm, firm hold. It was as instinctual as breathing, and helped me realize that it didn’t matter what other people said.
