LITMIR.BIZ

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Madeline and—” She stopped, apparently startled to find him latched onto her door. For the tiniest part of a millisecond she gazed up at him unguarded, forgetting to finish her conversation. “Uh… thanks again, Madeline, for this opportunity. I won’t let you down. Bye!”

      She snapped her phone shut. “Thank you, too. You keep showing up right when I need rescuing.”

      “It’s a knack of mine.” He waited for her to step out of the way before he settled behind the steering wheel and snagged the keys from the ignition. He started fiddling with the remote.

      “And now what are you doing?”

      “Reprogramming this for you. So it won’t auto lock. There.”

      He was starting to look more and more like a fictitious knight in shining armor…well, more like a knight with a tool belt. It was nice to be rescued by such a good guy.

      “Who was on the phone?” he asked over a few electronic beeps that came from inside the SUV.

      “That was Madeline from Madeline’s Catering. She provided the food for your sister’s wedding reception. She asked me to make the desserts for a baby shower she’s catering. The funniest thing, though. She said you had highly recommended me.”

      “I might have.” He angled out from behind the wheel and closed the door.

      “Thank you. I met with Maxime Frost yesterday, and her daughter Carly chose one of my designs. Also because of your recommendation.”

      “I’m just glad it worked out. If you want to head in, I’ll bring in the boxes. Take a look at the plans. They’re on the worktable.”

      “Oh. Well, okay.” Ava tried so hard not to like Brice more, but found it impossible. Fighting her feelings, she accepted Rex’s good morning jump up, hugged him and promised him his own scone. Thrilled, his doggy tongue hanging, he bounded ahead of her on the way to the front door as if to say, hurry, faster!

      “It’s too bad I really don’t like your dog,” she said, not quite comfortable saying the truth, of how very much she adored Rex.

      “Yeah, I don’t like him either,” Brice said with a wink.

      She ducked her head to dig for her office keys in the mess of her bag. Truth was, she didn’t want to keep looking at Brice. And see more and more good things to like about him. But her attempts were futile. There was Brice’s reflection in the glass as she went to unlock the door.

      My, he was such a fine man. Her heart gave a little tumble—just the tiniest fall.

      It’s just business. That’s all. That’s what it had to be.

      So, why didn’t that rationale feel convincing? Best not to think about that too much. She pushed open the door. Rex sprang in, expertly dodging the sawhorses and piles of fresh wallboard, and she lingered, turning to watch Brice. It was hard not to notice the powerful agile way he hefted the boxes, shut the back of the SUV and locked up.

      He was a great guy—wait, rephrase that. He was a really awesome man. Why did that make her panic?

      “It’s starting to take shape.” His voice and his boots echoed in the big empty shop. “You can see we’ve got the rewiring done. The inspector’s supposed to be here in an hour. Once we get that okayed, the wallboard goes up. Do you like the cathedral ceilings? We were able to punch up a few feet higher than we’d first thought.”

      See? Just business. Ava managed to push aside the lump of feelings all wadded up in her chest. Did her best not to notice how she felt happy when he was near.

      “I love the ceilings. It’s better than I hoped for.” She walked around, giving Brice time to head into the kitchen with the morning’s treats, and to put space between them. “The guys have done a great job.”

      She could see her dreams of the new shop taking shape in the shell of the old. She’d have warm honeyed woods, cheerful yellow walls and the scent of happiness in the air. It was finally happening. For real. She thought of Madeline’s call—was it a sign her business would boom? Maybe.

      She had a business to build, not more mistakes to make. She caught sight of Brice unboxing the scones. A tiny question whispered inside her heart: What if he wasn’t a mistake?

      “Ava, you’ve topped yourself.” He had one of the sunshine face scones in hand.

      “I made a double batch, so the construction dudes can take some home to their families.”

      “Once you get this shop open, I hope you know that you’re going to be in demand.”

      “From your lips to God’s ears,” she said, trying to stay focused on the business. The business. Not on Brice’s kind words.

      He took a bite. “Sheer heaven. You’ll be open soon. Do you have hired help all lined up?”

      “Are you kidding? I’ve got enough extended family to hire without even putting an ad in the paper. I’m just hoping this doesn’t wind up being another failure.”

      “It won’t be.” Brice could see the burden of it weighing her down. “You have an excellent quality of product, and the decorating is top-notch. It’s all I heard at Chloe’s reception. I think you should believe in yourself a little more. It will turn out fine.”

      “You’re just saying that to be nice, mister.”

      “That’s the idea. I want to be nice to you. This is business, remember? We have this business relationship, but after that, I’m hoping you’ll want more.”

      “Oh, that’s scarier than starting my own business.” She swiped a lock of golden hair out of her eyes, looking adorable. “It’s that fault-blind thing. You look perfect to me, but it’s just because I can’t see the flaws. It’s like walking blind into a tornado.”

      “Good. No man wants you to see his flaws.”

      “Some people are better at hiding them than others.” She followed him into the kitchen where sunlight highlighted the drawings he’d set out beside the bakery box. “Take me, my flaws are totally noticeable.”

      “I haven’t noticed any flaws.”

      “Sure you haven’t. What about those accusations?”

      “Those were perfectly understandable considering you were confusing me with a Darrin Fullerton.”

      Really, he was just trying to get her to like him, and it wasn’t going to work. Absolutely not. The same way she wasn’t going to notice how wonderfully tall he was. Solid. Substantial. How he looked like a man who could shoulder any burden. Solve any problem.

      Okay, she was starting to notice, but only just a little. Really.

      Rex, the perfect gentleman, was sitting there with his big innocent eyes showing just how good and deserving he was of a scone. Ava turned her attention to the dog because there was no reason why she shouldn’t fall in love with Rex. She grabbed one of the cheerful iced treats. “Here you go, handsome.”

      Rex delicately took the scone from her fingertips, gave her a totally adoring look and sucked the sweet down in one gulp.

      “He seems to like your baking,” Brice said with a grin. “Can you stay for a while? I can pour you a cup of coffee if you want to look over the—”

      “Oh.” She was already looking at the drawings, and it was her turn to be utterly adoring. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Could she talk? No. The penciled images had stolen every word from her brain. Her mind was a total blank except for a single thought.

      Perfect.

      He’d taken the photos she’d shown him yesterday and transformed them into her vision. Into exactly what she’d imagined. There it was. Curlicue scrollwork and rosebud-patterned moldings and carvings framing the wood and glass bakery case. “There’s no way I can afford this.”

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