“Erotic?” She replied, and I nearly choked on my own tongue.
“Erotic?” I asked, “Why does me calling Tanner a good boy feel erotic to you?”
She shrugged again, eyes alight with mischief, “Maybe because that’s just who you think he is, but I know better. And the idea of you realizing he’s not agood boyat all kind of intrigues me.”
Good-heartedly, I scoffed and walked back out into the hallway as ideas I shouldn't have started rushing through my mind.
The kind of things that included Goldie and me in a bedroom, shut away from the world, doing incredibly indecent things to each other.
While Tanner Brooks watched.
“Maybe one day I’ll let you show me just who he really is,” I called out, knowing I shouldn’t plant that kind of seed in her head, when it was obvious she wanted us both.
The conference roomat the community center smelled of burned coffee and lemon cleaner, and my stomach rolled in disgust, even though it was eating itself with hunger at the same moment. I had just gotten off a shift after having worked with Goldie all night hanging new drywall in Honey & Hearth. And when this meeting was done, I was planning on heading back over there again.
I was exhausted, but I knew she was even worse off than I was, so I kept showing up. In a way, I enjoyed the fact that her cute little bakery emptied of other helpers at about nine o’clock at night, when the rest of the town hung up their hats and settled down for the night.
Because it left just me and Goldie alone to rebuild her dream from the rubble.
When I lowered my tired body down into a chair at the large conference table, the chairwoman, Mrs. Deidre, glanced up from her paperwork, cell phone glued to her ear, finishing something up. She gave a quick smile and wave, but got back to it.
Which didn’t bother me at all, I could use the few moments of peace before we dove into the Cuffs and Hoses Charity Hockey Tournament planning meeting. The event was still over a month away, but it was going to be the biggest one Cedar Bluff had ever seen.
Thanks to Goldie.
She was incredible.
And she was unstoppable.
I sensed her before she made it all the way into the door behind me, like her energy was as warm as sunshine as she came into the room. Glancing over my shoulder, I bit back a groan as she floated in, wearing a pair of blue overalls with little sunflowers on them and a bright yellow shirt underneath with ruffles on the sleeves. A matching yellow headband contained her crazy curls, and a smile as big as Texas crossed her face when she saw me.
And I smiled back just as brightly.
At least that was until I noticed the pain in the ass firefighter following her in, as if they had arrived together.
Rhea.
Damnit.
“Hey Tanner,” Goldie said cheerily as she stopped by my side of the table and pulled a tin foil pan from her bag. “I made you dinner.”
I glanced down at the round pie plate and back up to her, “You didn’t have to?—”
She scoffed with a cute little shrug, “If I didn’t, then you wouldn’t eat.” She glanced over at the chairwoman, still on her phone, before whispering. “And I’ve been working you like a dog the last few nights, so it’s only right that I feed you in return.”
Goldie rounded the table and took a seat next to the chairwoman, leaving the only open chair next to me, and I nearly groaned with discontent when Rhea pulled it out, sitting down.
“Don’t get any ideas.” I snapped at her more aggressively than I needed to as I started opening up the dish in front of me, unwrapping the silverware Goldie thoughtfully wrapped in a linen napkin with a bow, because plastic wasn’t an option for her home-cooked meals. “This is mine, and I’m not sharing.”
Rhea snorted, leaning back in her chair with two cups of coffee in front of her, both with Goldie’s logo on them. “Don’t worry, Golden Boy.” She slid one large cup over to me. “I already ate mine earlier when we made them together.”
My mouth fell open as I glared at the woman next to me, looking smug as a cat with a milk smile before she winked and lifted her own coffee to her lips. She looked away from me and winked across the table, and I followed her gaze to where Goldie sat staring at the two of us with a blush on her face.
I snapped my jaw shut and looked back over my shoulder to Rhea, “You made these with Goldie?”
She glanced at me with zero interest, as if I were the most boring thing in the world. “I’ve spent every day with her since the sprinkler incident. Helping clean up and repair stuff.”
“Hmm.” I choked back a snotty retort about how I’d spent every night with her after my shifts because some of us didn’tget the cushy luxury of twenty-four-hour shifts in a bunk room with a full kitchen and locker room at our disposal but refrained. Barely.