“These’ll be gone in probably an hour or two tops,” Luke informed me.
“Pick one! Pick one!” Charlie chanted.
Lawson leaned in closer, his breath ghosting over my ear. “What flavor do you want?”
A shiver coursed through me, one I never wanted to end.
I scanned the options and settled on a pink frosted donut with rainbow sprinkles. Plucking it from the box, I straightened. “This one.”
“How’d I know you’d be strawberry?” Lawson asked with a grin.
“Good guesser,” I mumbled, nearly dropping my donut.
“Me next! Me!” Charlie yelled.
Lawson chuckled. “Pick a number between one and ten but don’t say it,” he instructed me.
“Okay…”
Drew immediately shouted, “Five!”
“Nine!” Charlie cheered.
Luke grinned. “I’m going with…two.”
“It was three,” I admitted.
“Aw, man!” Charlie complained.
Luke snatched up a Boston cream. Then Drew went for double chocolate. And Charlie got his chocolate sprinkles.
I turned to Lawson, who wasn’t touching me but was still closer than he normally was. “What about you?”
He reached in and snagged a bar with golden frosting. “Butterscotch all the way.”
“Gross,” Drew muttered.
“Your tastebuds are malfunctioning,” Lawson shot back.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a butterscotch donut,” I admitted. Donuts hadn’t exactly been a staple around the Astor home. French pastries, sure. Donuts, never.
Lawson held it out to me. “Try a bite.”
I sucked in a breath as my eyes locked with his. I leaned forward, taking a small bite of the confection. Sweet and almost caramelly flavors played on my tongue. “That is delicious.”
Lawson’s gaze heated. “Told you.” And then he took a bite right from where I had eaten.
My stomach dipped and rolled as heat pooled low. I forced my gaze away and back to my donut but didn’t miss the look Luke gave me and his father. Crud.
A phone rang, and Lawson pulled his cell from his pocket. “Hartley.”
He quickly straightened, setting his donut on the counter. “When?”
There was another pause. “Okay. Call in everyone else and get Roan, too. I want word getting out to Fish and Wildlife in case they spot something. I’ll be at the station in fifteen.”
He tapped the screen, ending the call.
“You gotta work?” Charlie asked, sounding bummed.
