A slight smile crossed his mouth. "It wasn'tright."
"It's over. Harry is never going to bother meagain."
Martin blew out a long, slow breath. "What anight."
I stood up and walked to the other side of the table. I touched his shoulder and before I knew it, he wrapped his arms around my waist and buried his dark head into my stomach. I let my fingers roam through his thick hair, marveling at the silkiness of it against my fingers. His contented sigh made something flutter in mystomach.
My hands started to tremble. What was happening to me? Why was in standing in my kitchen allowing my contractor to embraceme?
But...Martin wasn't just my contractor anymore, washe?
I sighed and he pulled me tighter, his strong arms wrapped around my waist as I continued to stroke his hair. "Martin?"
"Hmmm?"
"What are we doing?" I saidsoftly.
A shuddering sigh racked his body. He paused before he said anything and when he spoke I could have sworn I heard disappointment. "Comforting eachother."
It felt like so much more than that but I wasn't brave enough to addressit.
I allowed him to hold me for a minute more before I stepped away. "Goodnight," I said and didn't look back as I headed into mybedroom.
I felt his eyes on my back the entireway.
21
Islept like total crap,the feeling of being held by Martin paralyzing my thoughts. I stared at the ceiling most of the night and when I finally managed to get some sleep, it was plagued by restless dreams about him. It was totally unlike me to obsess over things. I either knew or I didn't know. I let out a strangled laugh because honestly me knowing hadn't exactly served me well over the years. Every time I looked in my closet my three wedding dresses practically laughed in myface.
I had to get up and get to working on the week's offerings for Sam. This week I planned to make a sweet bread, though I wasn't sure what kind, chocolate crinkles again, and a Devil's food cake. I had to drop everything off by tomorrow morning so I needed to get toit.
A lukewarm shower followed by freezing cold water on my chest and neck managed to bring me out of my stupor. I heard Martin letting himself in and I hesitated before stepping out. My hair was still damp and pulled back into a neat braid. I wore leggings, a long football jersey and a pair of flip flops. If I was going to be baking the entire day I wanted to make sure I wascomfortable.
I leaned my head against the door, took a couple of deep breaths and told myself that what happened yesterday meant nothing and that I shouldn't look at this as more than anything than what it was. Two people experiencing a traumatic moment who took comfort in eachother.
I stepped out only to stop in my tracks. Today it was a blue tank top and a pair of snug cargo pants. He wore a ball cap which covered up most of his beautiful hair, but it made him look like a sexy baseball player. Orsomething.
Probably just sexy because why try to compare Martin's sexuality to anything when everything seemed to pale incomparison?
I blinked at that thought. Where had that come from? I tried to think about Jeff and how attractive I thought he was, but I couldn't compare him to Martin because, honestly, there really was nocomparison.
I was in deeptrouble.
"Hey," he said, a slow grin sliding onto hisface.
"Hey," I parroted back. I couldn't hold his gaze for more than a moment because I could feel the blush roaring up from my feet. I tilted my head down, mumbled I had things to bake, and marched into the kitchen, hoping I wouldn't continue to make an ass out ofmyself.
But Martin followed me which abruptly threw that thought right out of the window. He stopped, just inside of my personal space. "What's on the menutoday?"
I looked up at him and saw amusement and...something else flickering in his gaze. My eyes dropped down to his lips and back up to his eyes. A small smile quirked the side of hismouth.
"Bread," I blurted. "I'm making bread. A lot of it. Very busy. With yeast. It has to be the perfect temp, otherwise it won't bloom and we all know that would be a disaster. Of epic proportions. World ending stuff there. So...I have tobake."
His smile slid into a wide grin and one of his eyebrows rose. "World ending? That sounds like pretty important bread." He leaned in and inhaled. "I like the body wash you use. It smells...likehome."
I cleared my throat, spun around, and went to get my yeast out so the world wouldn'tend.
With a chuckle, Martin headed into the guest bathroom and let me waffle in my humiliation. "World ending?" I muttered. "Could I be any more of an idiot?" He could not finish my house soon enough. I was on uneven footing in my own house and I didn't like it verymuch.
