It’s theplease.
That’s what does it.
And then I do just that. My head flies back, and I come—hard.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
LAINEY
Gunnar’s lipstouch the side of my throat one more time before he gently eases out of me. I watch as he reaches down, tugging his jeans back up his hips and zipping them before he reaches down again, this time picking up my pants.
He hands them to me, his focus no longer on me but rather shifting around the bakery’s kitchen. I think about not telling him what Dakota offered. But then I decide against it. He’ll find out soon enough. And he’d probably be pissed if it wasn’t from me.
But then again, I’m not sure why I would even care if he was pissed off at me.
In a month, I’ll be living a brand-new life, and he will forget I ever existed. Tugging my pants on, I jump off the counter and fasten the button before I tug my own zipper up.
“Dakota and Posey are going in on buying me out of the bakery,” I announce.
His spine straightens, and he turns his head, whipping it over to look at me. “They’re doing what?”
“Buying it from me, or rather from Axton, since he gave me all the start-up money for it and I’m still paying him back.”
He stares at me for a long moment in silence. As much as I want to demand he tell me something, anything, I’m not sure I want to hear it, so I just continue talking. And as I do, I realize that this plan is actually wonderful—for my friends, but also my brother and their club.
“Dakota knows everything about the bakery she needs to know to make the food and run the day-to-day operations. It’s better this way.”
“Better,” he mutters.
“Better.”
My confirmation is as much for me as it is for him. It is better this way for everyone involved. Thankfully, he doesn’t demand to talk about it any longer. I really don’t want to, anyway. This is my dream come true—this bakery, this man—and I have to walk away from it all and accept the fact that it’s not meant for me. It never was.
Walking out of the kitchen and into the main part of the bakery, I look around one last time. I won’t be coming back here. I’m going to walk away for good and allow Dakota and the rest of the girls to quietly take over.
I won’t be having a last day, I won’t be saying goodbye to any of my customers, I won’t be doing any of that. Dakota can open up tomorrow as far as I’m concerned. I won’t ever step foot in here again.
It needs to be a clean break.
If I continue to come back over the next month, what’s going to happen is that I’m going to be filled with emotions. Lots of emotions, and some of those will be regret. And I don’t want that. Not at all. What I want is to feel as if I’ve done the right thing.
No regrets.
Maybe I should feel regret over what I’ve done. Over what I’ve agreed to. I’m leaving my entire life behind. Even if I put it in the contract that I can still come back, I know it means leaving my life behind. Nothing will be the same after I walk down that aisle.
Nothing.
“I’m ready to go home now, Gunnar,” I call out.
He grunts, and I hear him flip the light off in the kitchen. His boots echo through the place as he moves toward me. I keep my back to him. I know that if I look at him standing in this bakery, I’m going to lose it. I’m going to cry.
“Lainey,” he calls out. I don’t respond. I don’t even flinch. “Look at me,” he demands.
My shoulders fall slightly, and I turn around, tipping my head back to look up into his face, into his eyes. He’s watching me, his brows snapped together, furrowed. I’m not sure what’s going on, why he’s looking at me the way he is, but I also don’t think I’m ready to question it, mainly because I don’t want answers.
I’d rather live in a delusional state.
One month. That’s all I need. I need to survive for one more month. And then my new life will begin, and I will have to navigate that, however it looks, but I can’t fall deeper in love with Gunnar.