Except she says it the same moment the door opens and my bathtub fantasy walks into the bakery.
“Noah,” I say, forgetting about the game.
This has both women laughing.
“That’s not what I meant,” I quickly say.
“Oh, so you would marry him?” Tilly asks in a hushed voice. Thankfully.
“No, I wouldn’t marry him. He’s a player. Players are designed to break hearts.”
“Not if he finds the right woman.”
“Are we talking Noah specifically or players in general?” I don’t wait for their reply. “Can you give me a second? I need to talk to Roxy and Noah.” More like I need to escape the current line of questioning. Now that Meg has me tripping over what I’m saying, I doubt it will be easy to reroute the train back onto the tracks. Not when she seems so eager to promote Noah as my future date or husband.
I practically sprint to the counter, leaving the chuckling women behind.
“Hi, what can I get you?” Roxy asks him.
“I came to see if you had any bat muffins. Or maybe cupcakes with bats on them.” He winks at me.
“Ha ha, you’re very funny. But you have to admit it was a scary bat. And you have no idea if it had ambitions to turn me into a vampire or not.”
“Something tells me you were safe from being transformed into a mythological creature.” Noah’s mouth slides cockily to one side, and my girlie parts tingle.
Roxy laughs, the sound deep and smoky. She then looks him over, making aWell-isn’t-he-yummy?sound. Or maybe that’s just me making it in my head. “By the way, Noah. No flirting with my customers, please.”
“And where’s the fun in that? My day wouldn’t be complete without one of your donuts and a little harmless flirting with your customers.” He nods at me. “Kate specifically.”
“Just don’t go breaking her heart. The last thing I need is for you to chase Kate off while she’s in town. And I promise you this, Noah Anthony Daniels, if you do either of those things, you’ll be banished from the bakery for the next year.”
I glance over at Meg’s table. Both women are watching us with great interest. The young moms—or nannies, I’m still not sure—who are much closer to us, continue chatting as though we don’t exist. They’re not hanging onto our every word like some people are.
They’re not leaning closer to us, trying to catch everything we’re saying.
Noah snorts a laugh. “You really play hardball, don’t you?”
This earns another deep laugh from Roxy. “What can I say? I know your reputation, and it’s my job to protect Kate’s virtue.” She inspects the display case. “I’ll be right back with some more donuts.”
“Wow, you’ve really got her wrapped around your finger, don’t you?” Noah says. “You’re the only woman I know who’s put me at risk of being banished from here.”
My gaze darts to the two older women. Both are tilted so far to the side, they’re at risk of falling off their chairs.
“What did he say?” Tilly asks, a lot louder than she’d probably realized.
Meg hushes her. “I can’t hear anything if you keep talking.”
Noah looks over his shoulder at them. “Do I want to know what they’re up to?” He jerks his head in their direction.
Smiling, I shake my head. “Probably not.”
“Now you have me even more curious.”
I lean closer to him. If I move my head slightly to the left, my mouth will be brushing against his cheek. “They want to know who I would marry, fuck, or murder: a cowboy, a sheriff, or a veterinarian.”
At the f-word, Noah sucks in a hard breath and then chuckles.
“What did you tell them?” His warm breath fans against my cheek, and the tingling in my girlie parts from earlier increases.
