Wait…what? It had never sounded like this before.
Tammy sat there frozen, listening to the strong idle of her truck.
“Hold up,” she murmured to herself as she shoved her door open and jogged to the front of her 4Runner. She shoved the hood up and her mouth fell open as she saw the brand-new battery installed. Arms locked above her head, propping up the hood, she moved her head to study around the battery. He’d done extra too. Holy moly!
Shocked, Tammy let the hood fall and pushed the top down to make sure it latched securely.
She stood back and stared at her rig. White exhaust was billowing from the back, and it sounded so strong.
When had he done this? The parts store must’ve opened at six this morning, and he came back and worked on it?
But…she frowned. He’d left so quickly after he’d slept with her last night. Almost awkwardly fast. He’d been very quiet.
But…then he’d woken up early and bought the parts and installed them without her even knowing?
Her heart was hammering in her chest, and there was this strange fluttering sensation in her middle.
What did all of this mean?
A slow smile stretched her lips.
He liked her.
No man would’ve gone through the effort of waking up early and purchasing car parts and installing them if he didn’t care. He could’ve slept with her and never talked to her again. Lots of men would’ve probably done that, but Tawk had made sure she had a good ride to her errand this morning.
That held weight with her. She respected it.
Shaking her head in pleased surprise, she climbed back into her truck and zoned out driving to Vaughn Gait Field. This space was usually used for a weekend farmer’s market, but today was the community bake sale, and the vendors were in full swing of setting up their tents and booths.
This was a once-a-year event, apparently, and she’d signed up just to do some networking in the community. Tammy was still the new girl in town, and sometimes the Cold Foot Crew was busy. She liked small towns and wanted to get to know what this place was about, and community events were a good way to see what was what, and who was who around here.
Plus, she genuinely enjoyed baking. Usually, she baked alone to relieve stress, but it had honestly been fun making these cupcakes with Tawk last night. They had made a good little team.
She wondered what he was doing. Probably sleeping. He hadn’t left her place until late and then got up early to fix her car. He was probably crashed at the hotel. Maybe she should get him some coffee and drop it by his room later. Maybe the front desk could point her in the direction of his room. Or bring him a couple of leftover cupcakes. Something to say thank you for what he’d done to her car, and also to her body last night.
He'd loosened up some tension inside of her that she hadn’t realized she was carrying.
Today, she felt like a million bucks.
There was no walk of shame, and she felt zero percent bad for a one-night-stand with him.
She just felt…steady.
She harbored no regrets at all.
“What a ho,” she teased herself under her breath with a little laugh.
She parked and hopped out, pulled on a hoodie because the morning was crisp and cool, and then pulled out the first two containers of cupcakes. She made her way through the cars in the grass lot and at the clearing, scanned the tents for Harley’s tent.
Harley and Timber had signed up for this a month ago, before Tammy had even known about it, so when she’d signed up, her cupcakes had been siphoned over to a tent called Sugar and Spice. Harley’s tent was bright orange with a big sign that read Shifter Sweets on the front. She and Timber were busy organizing pastries under it. They waved when they saw her. “I’ll come by in a minute,” she called.
“Need help?” Harley asked.
“Nah, it’ll just take me a few trips. Where are the guys?”
“Working,” Timber answered.
Tammy nodded and headed down a row of tents, scanning the signs for Sugar and Spice. It was a cupcake-only tent, and a big cartoon cupcake with legs and arms and a smile was painted onto a big sign in front.
