“Are you stalking me? This is getting ridiculous.”
Oh damn. I recognized the voice immediately.
I twisted my neck and blocked my eyes against the harsh streetlight… and yup.
The woman I couldn’t get out of my head was standing next to me, staring down at me. And who could blame her for thinking that?
“No. No, I wasn’t.” I stood and brushed my hands down my thighs. She was the exact last person I’d expected to see. “What are you doing here?”
“Meeting.” She pointed back at the church. There were several signs I noticed earlier but didn’t pay particular attention to until now. Al-Anon. Nar-Anon. AA.
Right.
“Was it good?”
Lilly’s head fell to the side, long, blonde hair cascaded down just past her shoulder. She’d kept it short in prison, but it’d grown since then. When she was at the diner, she always wore it back in a ponytail. I’d never realized how long it was. Or full. Or how soft-looking.
Good God, Hudson. Get it together.
“Are they supposed to be?”
She had the hint, the smallest hint of an impish grin. It lit up her entire beautiful face which had much less makeup on it than when she was at the diner. Now it was muted, natural, giving her an incredibly sexy soft look. Had there been more light, I’d be able to see her freckles.
Something I shouldn’t be noticing.
“Your turn. Why are you here?” she asked, and I realized I was gaping at her. Admiring her beauty. She’d absolutely hate it if I brought it up.
Thin, arched brows waited for my answer.
Thinking of you…
I peeled my gaze off her and shrugged. There was no way my presence here didn’t look planned, and she had every right to that suspicious gleam in her eyes and cant of her hips. “I had plans that went bust earlier and went for a walk. Just… ended up here. And now, I’m thinking of getting a cupcake before I head home. Do you want one?”
“A cupcake and a walk.” Her tone was a mixture of thinking I was a liar or an idiot. She was probably correct on both accounts. “You live around here?”
“Few miles away.” More like ten. She didn’t need to know that. If I spoke anymore, I was at risk of spilling everything. The need to lay out all my cards, face up, thrummed in my chest like a bongo drum. This pounding for a woman I couldn’t have and shouldn’t want.
“So, cupcake?” I asked when she didn’t say anything. She kept watching me with this look, like she was trying to figure me out. Dig until she found my motive.
I couldn’t blame her. Running into her tonight wasn’t planned and hadn’t been wanted, but now that I saw her I didn’t want to be anywhere else.
She slid her hands to the butt pockets of her jeans. It pushed out her breasts I liked looking at. I hated everything about her clothes even if they clung to her body perfectly.
They were too worn, too faded… too… used by other people.
She deserved better and I wanted to ask her all my questions.
Did that bother her? Did she mind her hard life now or was she okay with it? What did she miss the most?
“Sure,” she finally said, squinting at the dark sky. “A cupcake sounds nice.”
“This place is really cute. I didn’t even know it existed.”
It’d been years since I saw someone so excited about cupcakes. Yet from the moment we walked in, Lilly’s eyes had been wide with wonder. If all it took was a wine and dessert bar to put that expression on her face I’d bring her here every week.
“A friend of mine from high school opened it.”
“Really?” She almost smiled at me. Almost. Closer though. “That’s cool. You still friends with her?”
“Acquaintances, mostly.”
“Those must be nice to have.”
My heart hurt with her flippancy, but she looked to the board filled with menu items and licked her lips.
Guaranteed, I’d be thinking of that lip lick at the most inappropriate times from here to eternity.
“What should I get?”
“Anything you want.”
We stood back and let customers who seemed more decisive order first and every time they ordered something, Lilly’s face gleamed with delight.
Over a fucking cupcake.
“You can always come back and try more,” I said, trying to prod her along.
“Not in my budget.” She pressed her lips together then and a pink hue creeped up her throat.
Ah. Shit. Sometimes when I was next to her, I forgot.
If it wasn’t in her budget now, chances are, it hadn’t been for the last year, either. When was the last time she’d had a fucking cupcake?
“Come on.” I placed my hand on her lower back without thinking and immediately, a fissure of heat traveled up my arm before I could yank it back.
Goddamn. Even through clothing, she affected me. Lilly flinched from my touch and I cringed, dropping my hand.
Damn it. Had she not liked me touching her?
“Welcome to Crème, what can we get for you this evening?” A perky, high school aged teenager grinned widely.
“I would like one of everything you have left in your case.” Other than the three-dozen selection of cupcakes available, there were rows of pre-sliced cakes and plates filled with cookies.
“What?” Lilly turned to me, mouth gaping in shock. “You can’t be serious.”
The hell I wasn’t. If she hadn’t had these kinds of treats in so long, I’d let her try everything.
“You can try whatever you want so you know what you like next time.”
The cashier choked down a laugh before her grin stretched from ear to ear. “To go, I take it?”
“No. For here.”
“Hudson—”
I looked down at Lilly.
She had her head tilted back; lips parted in surprise. It was fucking cupcakes. A hundred dollars max, and no skin off my nose to give her something decadent. “Don’t argue. It’ll turn me into a dick, and I was trying to be nice.”
“You were?” Her nose scrunched in the most adorable way.
And hell. She was teasing me again. It was a blink in attitude she lost quickly but was probably so similar to how she used to be, before she was abandoned and tossed into the system.
Good God. I might do anything to bring that out more often in her.
If only there was time before whatever this was I was doing with her turned to utter shit.
“I can be nice,” I muttered and handed my card to the girl at the counter. “A glass of chardonnay too, please.” Looking to Lilly, her smile had vanished. “Do you want a glass?”
“Just water,” she mumbled. Her eyes scanned the glass container, but she’d lost her luster. “Thanks, though,” she finally said, as if she was remembering manners and how to use them. They tripped over her tongue on the way out and she turned, her focus now on the windows and the streetlights and passing cars.
Due to her reaction when I touched her earlier, I gestured for her to choose a table and followed her to one at the far side. She put her back to the wall facing the small eating area with only a few tables. Outside were tables with umbrellas, strung fairy lights and not much more room.
Once seated, I tapped my fingers to my knee. I’d done something wrong. Blown out the first shimmering light I’d seen on her and that made something sour curdle in my stomach.