“You needed a job done, and I had the resources to do it,” he said.
Shaking myself out of the stupor, my eyes narrowed. “So, you just . . . sent them over? Without consulting with me? I . . . I . . . I . . .”
I had absolutely no idea what to say to him. When I finally figured it out, it came rushing on a screech of frustration. “I don’t have any money to pay you.”
“You don’t need to pay me.”
“What?” Another screech. This time with a foot stomp. He was insane. We’d spent one night together. Okay. The most extraordinary kind of night. One that had altered my world. That and about two magical hours making out on his porch like teenagers in the middle of the night last night—but that was totally beside the point.
“I care about this community, Rynna.” There was almost a smirk hiding behind the staunch somberness of his expression and ridiculousness of his words.
“Are you kidding me?”
“Gingham Lakes is flourishing, and re-opening Pepper’s Pies is only going to be an asset to it.” I saw him rubbing his thumb and forefinger together. As if he’d been practicing the speech and he was making sure he was keeping time.
“You can’t just—” I threw my hands in the air. “You can’t just go into my restaurant and have your way with it. I have plans. I want . . . I need to do this. To figure it out myself. Not have some guy come in and do the job for me because I’m not capable.”
Pricks of tears burned at my eyes. Maybe I was revealing too much. Getting to the heart of the matter that came flooding out without my permission. The fear I didn’t have what it took to make it. That I was going to fail before I even had the chance to get started.
But shock dammed them when Rex flew around his desk and backed me against the wall. “Some guy?” he demanded.
All the aloofness he’d attempted to wear was gone. In its place was the same compelling, confusing man who’d pushed and pulled and taunted me since the day I’d met him. “That’s all I am to you? Some guy?”
I stared up at him, trying to decipher what was in his eyes.
Hurt.
It was hurt and fear and there was so much of it that it made my heart wobble. Thrown off. The man always managed to catch me off guard. “You know what I meant,” I said softly.
He blinked at me, his words nothing but honest. “No, I don’t.”
I reached up and touched the thunder at his chest. With trembling fingers, I let them tap across the vibrating strength. “What I meant is it’s not fair for you to come in and take over for me. Not when you didn’t even ask me. That’s my grandmother’s restaurant. She gave it to me. Trusted me with it. And for you to go in and take over without consulting me? It makes me feel as if you think I can’t do this. As if you think you need to rescue me. You’re not just some guy, Rex. You mean so much to me. More than you know.”
My voice dipped at the confession, and he sighed this strained sound, both hands planting above my head. He inched closer, pinning me to the wall. It spun my mind, the heat of him trembling all the way to my soul. God. He was too much. Devastating and overwhelming and irresistible.
When he spoke, his voice was raw. “And what if you’re doing a little of that rescuing yourself? You think I don’t believe in you? Fuck, Rynna . . . I’m doing it because I believe in you so much, I want to be a part of making it happen. I just . . . wanted to surprise you.”
Shivers tumbled down my spine, landing in a pool of emotion that just kept getting deeper and deeper. Pretty soon, this man was going to drown me. Take me all the way under.
Emotion clotted my throat, and I forced the shaky words out around it, fiddling with his shirt and barely peeking up at him when I spoke. “Rex, I am so grateful. So grateful. But this is one of those things you should have asked me about. It’s a big deal, and it’s a lot of money, and if you do believe in me? Then you need to respect me enough to talk to me about something that is going to affect my life this much. I can’t take that kind of money from you. I can’t because it’s not right. I want to work for this. Earn it. Breathe life back into Pepper’s Pies because I can.”
“I just wanted to do something nice for you.”