“Becca. I don’t even know her.”
“That’s just great.” I ran my palms over my black apron.
“Reuben.”
“I’m going to need you to give me more than that.”
“My teammate? Tommy Reuben. He matched with Charlotte on the app and was supposed to come on this date with her. A big publicity thing forMeet-Cupid. But he had a full-on panic attack and called me. So I agreed to take his place. For the team.”
My anger flickered out. “I...”
“Becca, I swear, I wanted to be with you. I’ll come home with you right now if you want.”
The way his jaw flexed had my heart hoping I could believe him, but I really didn’t know. “No. You have obligations to uphold. You chose to take one for the team, so that’s what you should do.” I turned away from him, but he snagged me by the elbow. “Taylor...”
“This isn’t over, hen.”
“It never had a chance to start.”
7
PRESENT DAY
BECCA
Taylor Savage was standing outside my house, shifting from foot to foot, holding a manila envelope. Why the hell was he here? I hadn’t been in contact with him for months. This didn’t make sense. He looked good enough to eat, though.
No. Stop it. He’s not good for you.
I watched him from the path that led up to our front porch as he rang the doorbell and waited, his big body shivering.
Jogging back to the kitchen, I grabbed a few handfuls of sugar cookie dough and ran back to where I’d been standing.
“Bloody fucking hell,” he muttered as he adjusted his cap and zipped his jacket.
When no one answered because I was right there, he shouted, “Becca, let me in, lass. I’m freezing my bollocks off out here.”
I tossed the first glob of dough at him, hitting him in the back of the head. He turned, shock evident on his handsome face.
“Did you just assault me with... cookie dough, lass?”
“Yeah, I did. What are you going to do about it, Taylor?”
“That’s a real waste. I thought you were meant to be a baker. Bakers... bake, don’t they?”
Oh, that cocky smirk was going to be the death of me.
“Normally, yes, we do. This morning is an exception. What are you doing here?”
“I needed to see you.”
“Why? We’ve said everything we need to say.”
“No, we haven’t.”
“You could have texted me.”
“Aye, but then you’d have been able to ignore me.”