Twice Smitten (A Modern Fairy Tale) (23 page)
Read Twice Smitten (A Modern Fairy Tale) Online
Authors: Melissa Blue
Tags: #AA Romance, #enemies to lovers, #a modern fairy tale, #bakery, #melissa blue, #work romance, #Contemporary Romance
“I’m sticking to my plan and I’m not calling off the bet,” Sasha said.
Emma’s shoulders lowered and she slid her hands off the glass display case. “Ok. What do you want?”
Sasha sniffed. “Josh has been teaching you his puppy dog face, hasn’t he?”
Emma grinned. “Did it work?”
Sasha shook her head with a soft laugh, but the ball of frustration growing in her chest hardened. “Give me a slice of that strawberry tart and a chocolate covered croissant.”
“Coming right up.” Emma set to work.
Sasha’s gaze, once again, sought out Warren. His lips were moving as he focused on the laptop. Lost in his own world, he hadn’t noticed it’d taken much longer than necessary to order their pastries. Right there proved their incompatibility and she was done dating men she knew were wrong for her.
Warren needed a keeper. It took him five minutes to find the keys he’d lost—they were in his pocket. He patted himself and the laptop bag and the actions had been cute. Not to mention, nighttime would have fallen before he noticed the hunger pangs. He grilled her and watched her work in equal measure. She sighed. No matter how many times Sasha gazed at him, he wouldn’t suddenly turn into Prince Charming for her. Hell, he didn’t even believe in fate.
Resolute, she paid for their desserts and slid into the booth. He didn’t glance up. Sasha placed his pastry box in his line of sight with a fork and then dug into her croissant.
“What’d you get me?” He continued to type.
“Oh, um,” Sasha said, caught off guard.
Her tongue flicked out to catch the stray crust of the croissant. Warren looked up at the same time. She had no intentions in making the motion provocative, but the way his nostrils flared and those damnable irises became richer, darker and more decadent than the chocolate drizzled over her croissant proved intent didn’t matter.
His gaze narrowed, and she felt wanton for making the action. And hot. Heat prickled along Sasha’s skin and she had the sudden urge to lick the corner of her mouth again just to see what he’d do next.
His eyes lighted with knowledge. “Must be delicious.” His voice had deepened. “What’d you get me?”
She tried to remember how adorable he was, but simply couldn’t recall any examples of him being cute, or nice, or geeky. The man who continued to hold her gaze in challenge didn’t need a keeper.
Run. “Strawberry tart,” she eeked out a dry throat.
She won the staring contest by default when he opened the box and picked up the fork. He closed his eyes and hummed after the first bit.
“I see the appeal.” The corner of his mouth twitched.
She got her heartbeat under control with another breath. The look had been a fluke. He was adorable. That heated reaction had all been in her imagination. Warren had practically blushed at his earlier slip of the tongue.
“If that’s your reaction, I must have made a poor choice.” Still, her voice sounded husky.
He sampled another bite, eyes closed and it wasn’t wrong to detail his features in her mind. Strawberry syrup glazed his bottom lip and he scraped his teeth over the lush flesh. He tilted his head and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed.
She wanted to nip at the masculine skin, swipe her tongue over it to see if he would make the same humming noise as he did now.
Don’t walk, leave dust in your wake. “Second thoughts?” ’Cause boy, she was having some.
“The strawberries were cooked while ripe. The crust has a perfect crispness to it. Not soggy yet.” He opened his eyes and the heat in them melted the knot of frustration in her chest. “It’s damn good.”
She took a large bite out of her croissant. Trouble. He was trouble disguised as a forgetful, fumbling writer. She looked to Emma, who had leaned against the counter, hands under chin as she watched them openly.
Emma mouthed, “Told you so.”
Sasha glanced at Warren, who resembled the adorable type again with his gaze back on the computer and the dessert forgotten already. She felt like she’d just dodged one hell of a bullet. And, still, the croissant felt like a huge ball of dough in her mouth, because, maybe, Sasha had bitten off more than she could chew.
Coming Soon
Table of Contents
Twice Smitten, A Modern Fairy Tale: Book 2
Excerpt from the final book of the A Modern Fairy Tale series: Double Trouble
