Cupcake Club 04 - Honey Pie Read Online Free

back to her car, realized she didn’t have the keys and turned back around, almost bumping right back into him. He held up the keys between them, his tight expression somewhere between what the hell is your problem and please, dear God, just let me get out of here.
    She’d seen it before. Many times.
    So, it shouldn’t have felt so . . . disappointing. She snatched the keys from his fingertips and turned quickly toward the car, feeling an irrational surge of anger. At him, herself, or a little of both, she couldn’t take time to figure out, but it got her through the motions necessary to dig into her car and drag out her father’s old leather suitcase. She manhandled it to the cement floor of the garage, then took one last look inside the car, and immediately decided she’d dealt with all she was going to deal with at the moment.
    She gripped the hard, camel leather handle and started to heave it up . . . to go where, she really had no idea, but she’d figure that out as soon as she got herself out of the garage and away from the intense gaze of Mr. Ross. How a gray-eyed gaze could be so piercing, she wasn’t quite sure, but his was. Piercing and penetrating. As if he’d figure out all of her secrets without even trying, much less meaning to.
    Of course, he hadn’t. No one could.
    â€œI’ll just get this outside, and you can lock up for the night.”
    He stepped in and reached for her bag, making her leap backward as if he’d scalded her. She banged her elbow against the car, swore under her breath, and gave him a heated look before thinking better of it. “Please. Just . . . don’t do that.”
    His jaw tightened slightly, but he managed to keep his gaze level. “I’m only trying to help with your bag. I was going to offer you a lift over to the B&B, but, you know what? My day has been long enough already, thanks. I don’t know what your problem is, darlin’, but I’m really not tryin’ to be part of it, okay? We clear?”
    â€œVery,” she said, well past mortification and operating solely on auto-pilot. She had to get out of there. Had to get somewhere away. Alone. Immediately. Everything that could go wrong had, and then there was the heat, and now this. She didn’t have anything left to deal with it. She wasn’t ready. How in the hell had she thought she’d ever be ready?
    She felt the tears well, which only served to undo whatever reserve she had left. When things got tough, laughter had always been her default reaction. Because crying wasn’t an option. Ever. Tears lowered way, way too many guards. But . . . at this point, what the hell difference did it make what she did? The mechanic already suspected she was some kind of a nut job, and, if small town Sugarberry was anything like small town Juniper Hollow, word would spread on that little piece of news before the dinner hour was over.
    He was in front of her again, but had stopped a clear foot or two away. He didn’t look belligerent—exactly—but he didn’t look compassionate, either. “Put the suitcase down,” he said in what she assumed was as close to a gentle tone as he could manage. “I’ll take it out to my truck. I’ll put it in the back. You can get in the back, too, if that helps. I’ll have you at the Hughes’s place in two minutes. And I’ll call you when your car is done.”
    He was trying to be kind, or his version of it, anyway. But he was talking to her like she was a crazy chick with a good chance of doing bodily harm—to him or herself. She couldn’t exactly blame him, but damn, it made her feel tired. So very, very . . . tired.
    And she hadn’t even started her new life yet.
    â€œThank you,” was all she said as evenly as she could manage. She let go of the suitcase and walked past him, frowning the threatening tears into submission. Straight through the back door, she