Page 67 of Coerced

The moment I felt his touch on my skin again, I lost all sense of myself. My mind wandered, and I was suddenly imagining what it would be like to feel his fingertips on other parts of my body. Would he want to do that as much as I was craving it now?

Paxton came to a stop out of earshot of anyone else and turned fully to face me. Only then did he speak. “I got home from work a little while ago and found your small token of appreciation waiting outside my door for me.”

I sent an excited smile his way. “Did you try it? What did you think?”

“I think it was unnecessary,” he returned.

My smile was gone, my eyes diverted to the ground. It was like I’d just taken a physical blow to my body. “Oh.”

I hadn’t expected that response from him. When I woke up this morning, I had this overwhelming desire to do something for Paxton. After what happened last night, after what he’d saved me from, I thought he deserved something more than just a couple of words of gratitude.

And while I didn’t think Paxton was the kind of guy who expected something in return for doing such a good deed, I thought he’d enjoy it. In fact, I was excited to see his response. The problem was that I never thought this would be it.

It was as the disappointment was moving through me when I felt Paxton’s fingers give my wrist a gentle squeeze. “Aria?”

I tipped my chin up to look at him again. “Yeah?”

“Just because it was unnecessary doesn’t mean I didn’t love it,” he shared.

A renewed sense of hope blossomed inside me. “You did?”

His lips twitched. “Best thing I’ve ever tasted in my life.”

I beamed at him. “I’m glad. I was hoping you would like it. And I was serious about it being safe. There are no raw eggs in it.”

Paxton let out a soft laugh. “Even if you hadn’t mentioned the safety factor in your note, I still would have tried it. Not once did I think you were trying to poison me.”

“I would never.”

He chuckled again before his tone turned serious. “Thank you for thinking to do something nice. Again, I’d have done what I did for you last night again in a heartbeat and without the expectation of something in return,but I can’t say I don’t like the way you chose to show some additional appreciation.”

Hearing him admit he’d step in to save me from an awful situation again shouldn’t have impacted me the way it did. If there was one thing I’d learned about Paxton from the moment I met it, it was that he was a noble guy. He cared about people and animals. And he wasn’t the kind of guy who’d look the other way when someone needed his help.

But there was something about hearing him admit it to me that resonated with me, that sent a rush of warmth through my body. Maybe it was that I hadn’t had anyone willing to look out for me in years. It was nice. It felt good.

“So, did you come here tonight just to tell me the cookie dough was unnecessary?”

He shook his head. “No. No, my buddy, Jesse, who is also Sawyer’s husband, is meeting me here tonight.”

A guys’ night.

While there was a part of me which felt slightly disappointed his reason for stopping in tonight had nothing to do with me, I was still thrilled to see him here. Relieved, even.

Because despite how much I tried to convince myself that what happened last night was a freak incident and was unlikely to happen again, I found my body tensing every time the door to the pub opened since I arrived.

“Oh, okay. Are you planning to grab a seat at the bar?” I asked.

Paxton twisted his neck and looked in that direction. “Looks like Jesse just walked in and made that decision.”

My eyes followed Paxton’s, and I instantly knew whoJesse was, because he was talking to Sawyer and looking at her like she was the most beautiful woman in the world, like he was in awe of how he’d become the man lucky enough to wind up married to her. The sight of it made something squeeze in my chest.

God, I wanted that.

And I wondered just how much I’d be willing to do to have it. There was no denying I’d done much worse for way less.

Shaking off the melancholy thoughts, I said, “Well, go get yourself a seat and grab a drink. I’ve got a couple of tables to check on.”

“Alright. Don’t be a stranger to the folks at the bar, though,” he teased.