Page 42 of Sugar & Shadows

“Ready to go?” I asked. “I dug out your car.”

Her thumbs stilled and she looked up at me. “Thank you.” With that, she put her head back down and resumed the critical task she’d been in the middle of.

Once she’d finished, we climbed into the car in silence, and after she’d pulled out of the lot, I kept my eyes on the road.

“Is there a Dunks off 89?” she asked a few minutes into the trip.

“You drink Dunkin’?”

Rather than respond, she sat up straighter and kept driving.

Sighing, I unlocked my phone and navigated to the maps app. “Two more exits,” I instructed. “On the left.”

Armed with a medium black coffee, I was ready to get back to town and deal with whatever shitstorm awaited my return.

“Are you going to continue being weird, or can we get back to work saving the town?” she asked once we were back on the highway.

My breath caught in my lungs. “I’m not being weird.”

Taking her eyes off the road, she pushed her sunglasses down her nose and glared at me. “You are being so weird. And I really don’t have the time or energy to deal with that. So we fucked. It’s over with. Move on.”

I blinked at her, caught off guard by her tone. Yeah, we had fucked.

“Should we talk about it?” The moment the question was out, I winced. Damn, those words sounded sad and awkward coming out of my mouth.

She shook her head, intent on the highway ahead again. “It’s times like this I wish I kept an NDA on me.”

“An NDA?” I sputtered.

She dipped her chin sharply. “Yes. Non-disclosure agreement.”

“I am an attorney,” I retorted. “I am familiar.”

“Standard practice.” She plucked her coffee from the cupholder and sipped it casually. “If you only knew how many NDAs I’ve made people sign. Usually, I won’t have sex without one.”

I almost spit out my own scalding coffee. “You won’t have sex without a legally binding document?”

She shrugged as if this was a perfectly reasonable requirement. “I made an exception for you and now I regret it.”

I sat back in my seat and shook my head. “Don’t go making me feel special or anything.”

She barked out a laugh. “You’re not special. Trust me. Now, if we’re done talking about the brief moment the two of us were naked together, I’d like to get to work. You’re sitting in my car pouting while we could be strategizing and rescuing your dumb ass.”

A familiar sense of anger churned in my gut. Every time this woman spoke, my body responded. “Rescuing me? By getting me recalled before I can accomplish anything?”

“I don’t give a shit if you’re recalled or not. I’m here to help the town.”

Pinching my eyes closed, I willed myself to breathe steadily. She was unbelievable. Cocky, dismissive, and wrong.

“Is your ego really that big?” she asked. “It’s not about you, Gabriel. Sorry to inform you, but Maplewood is a lot bigger than one fragile man. It survived without you for hundreds of years.”

God, this woman twisted every word that came out of my mouth. “It’s not like that. It’s—” I sighed. I never had trouble being articulate, but around her, I couldn’t get the right words out of my damn mouth.

“I want to help the town,” she said. “The town that, for better or for worse, raised me. The town that took care of my mom after my dad died. The town that has given opportunity and support to so many wonderful people. Maplewood is bigger than the mayor,” she rearticulated.

I sat with my focus straight ahead, still unable to form a snappy response.

Dammit. She was right. Not that I was capable of saying that out loud.