Page 56 of Sugar & Shadows

He looked back at the children’s room with a wistful smile. “Hardly. Favorite day of the week, though.”

I took a step closer, my traitorous feet propelling me toward him. Why did he smell so good? And when had I developed such a good sense of smell?

“You were very committed to the well-being of Sammy the Sloth.”

He grinned, and I swore his perfectly straight teeth sparkled. “Strong storyline. Good versus evil, the weak rising up against the strong, and the power of friendship.” His expression faded. He ran a hand through his perfectly styled hair—one of his nervous tells—and looked down at me. “Were you rooting for the snake?”

I scoffed. “No.”

He shook his head, his lips quirking up. “You were probably rooting for a giant corporation to come and cut down the rainforest and build an AI data center.”

Annoyance and a little hurt ran through me. I glared.

“The snake is the villain,” he mused. “But you, Sabrina Monroe, you are a super villain.”

“Are you done?” I asked, tamping down on the sting of his words.

He was too busy laughing at his shitty joke to notice how unamused I was.

“I was going to say…” I sighed, then forced the words out of my mouth. “You’re good at that.”

He arched a brow. “Reading?”

“Connecting,” I corrected.

“Ah. Always strategic,” he said softly.

While it was likely intended as a brush-off, it sounded more like a compliment.

“One of us has to use our brain,” I replied, suddenly realizing just how close we were.

How had we gravitated toward one another like this?

“You use your brain, I’ll use my charm,” he said, his chest rising and falling rapidly, like he was out of breath.

My mind went blank. I could come up with no quip to get the upper hand. What was wrong with me?

“You okay, boss?”

I startled, bringing my hand to my chest.

Harper strode up behind Gabe, dressed in another all-black ensemble.

“Yes,” I said too loudly, taking a giant step back and splashing coffee onto my snow boots.

As she came closer, she stared at Gabe. The kid had a lot of potential, but her poker face needed work. Her distrust was practically oozing from her.

I gave her a small smile. “I thought you weren’t coming in until noon.”

She shrugged. “I’d rather be here working. And I’ve got a few things to show you. One of our reels went semi-viral yesterday. You’ve got to see these engagement numbers. And the town website is getting seven times as much web traffic as normal. I think we should add the live maple cam feed there too.”

“Maple cam?” Gabe asked with a smirk.

She gave him a blank look. “You need something, Mayor?”

He slapped on his mayor face and stuck his hands into his pockets. “Just offering to help the committee with anything you might need.”

Eyes narrowed, she examined me, then him again. This kid was far too smart for her own good. “We need to build a sustainable media infrastructure,” she said casually.