Page 13 of Sweet Like Honey

I chuckled, unsurprised. Since the moment he’d sat down, awkwardness had spiked the air like fairy dust. “How many people are you interviewing?”

“For this position?” He leaned back and crossed his arms. “Just the one, it seems.”

I’d been studying the light wood grain of Ivy’s desk and the notes scattered near her keyboard, but my head lifted as a spark of hope lit in my chest. “Are you offering it to me?”

“Like I said, the ad wasn’t my idea, but it’s my fault, and I need help undoing it. You’re the only option available.”

I scowled at that glowing compliment. “I don’t want your charity.”

Blue-gray eyes sharpened. “This isn’t charity, Honeycutt. You know the hole you’ve volunteered to dig us out of. If anything, this is punishment. Besides, I haven’t got a choice. Ivy’s decided she loves you, so ‘no’ isn’t an option anymore.”

Well, at least I had someone in my corner, though I wasn’t sure what I’d done to earn Ivy’s apparent love. I chewed on my lip and deliberated, but what was the downside? A job was a job, and I needed a paycheck. “I don’t know what it pays.”

“Don’t worry,” he said, standing. “I’m sure we can find an amount that will satisfy you.”

Stinging heat slinked through my blood.

Satisfy you.

I was such a creep. The man barely tolerated my presence. Why did I still harbor this crush after all these years?

He came around the desk and offered a warm hand to help me up. His skin was rougher than I imagined, and it sent sparkles through my own. Once standing, the space between us became like a vacuum, sucking me closer to him. We stared at each other a beat too long, and a glimpse of that bewildering and beguiling fire I’d sometimes found in his eyes when we were teenagers flashed and disappeared, just like it used to. Hot and untamable.

That was the reason. That was why no man had ever ousted the one standing before me from my heart. No man had ever looked at me the way Cam Shepherd did. No man had ever stoked this deep-seated, ineradicable longing. This was why all my previous relationships failed.

Unknowingly, I’d always been searching for someone to look at me like this.

How pathetic.

“It’s…surreal to see you again, Honeycutt.”

Surreal didn’t necessarily mean good, but he still hadn’t dropped my hand.

I thought of the unexplained tension that always existed between us. The competition with grades. The academic arguments. The secret dance in the dark.

His judgmental voice calling me trailer trash.

My gaze lowered to his throat. “I hope it’s not too much of an inconvenience.”

His mouth quirked. “You are many things, but never inconvenient.” I smiled despite myself, and he dropped my hand. “Ivy will give you the rest of the details.”

Five

Later that evening, Maribel made us her favorite dinner—chicken parmesan—and I played sous chef.

I sipped my wine while Mari pulled the food from the oven, the scent of garlic and cheese percolating through the air. “I can’t believe you guys still haven’t set a date.”

Ravi, who was chased off earlier for over-seasoning the chicken, settled at the kitchen table. “I’ve tried. She keeps saying no.”

Maribel shot a sassy scowl his way.

I laughed in his face. “She didn’t say no. She said, ‘Marry me at the courthouse because I own a business and don’t get vacation.’ To which you replied, ‘My parents would kill me.’”

Ravi was all wide-eyed innocence. “I’m not hearing a difference.”

High school sweethearts turned ideal couple, Ravi and Maribel had been “official” in their hearts for years, but the fitness studio she opened several years ago took all her time—hence, not officially official.

I moved to help Maribel dish out the food onto plates. “You’re missing out on a lot of tax benefits.”