Brutus leaped onto the table, striding over with his tail flicking. But before he got close, Luke scooped him up, petting his short, dark fur.

“Those aren’t for you, buddy.” He scratched the cat’s head, which didn’t seem to distract Brutus. His golden eyes were locked on that box. “I got raspberry creme, lemon-blueberry, and strawberry icing with sprinkles. But Tess gets dibs,” he said, giving Ivy a chastising look.

Ivy in turn gave me a look, one that said, See? Donuts!

The realization that she was right—thus making me wrong—sent a twisting cramp of aversion through me. I hated being wrong. I hated that Luke made me feel this way, and I hated that he’d done something nice when all I wanted was to keep on hating him.

But you know what I didn’t hate?

Donuts.

I licked my lips, peering into the box and deciding on a lavender-lemon donut. When I looked up, his eyes were on my mouth, hungry as I was for the pastry in my hand. And then they met mine with a nearly audible click.

I took a breath, filling my lungs to power my will. “Thank you, Luke,” was all I could manage.

And the words set his smile tilting again.

“You’re welcome, Tess. I really am sorry about yesterday.”

“I know,” I admitted. “Me too,” was the closest I could get to an apology, considering he was the one to grope me. “For being so…”

“Bitchy,” Ivy finished.

We laughed, and I flushed. She wasn’t wrong. But Luke did that to me.

“So, truce?” he asked, eyeing me with mock doubt.

“Truce,” I echoed.

At that, he grinned, flashing brilliant teeth. “I knew donuts would work. Donuts always work.”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t talk. You ruin it for everyone when you talk.” I took a bite, and the second it hit my tongue, the donut melted like spun sugar.

“Not the first time I’ve heard that today.”

Just like that, the donut turned to ash on my tongue. I’d forgotten he’d just come from Judy’s. Had he slept with her? And why the hell did I care? And why the hell was I scanning him for signs—mussed hair, hickey, anything.

And why, oh why, did I find myself so satisfied to find none?

Ivy shot me another look as she took a rude bite of her own donut.

Be nice, that look said.

I forced a smile. “Your mouth might be the only predictable thing about you.”

Ivy choked on her donut.

But Luke smiled. “Oh, my mouth can definitely be counted on.”

For lies and kisses you don’t remember.

“Ivy, weren’t you going to show Luke the registers?” I offered in my best effort to put some space between me and the devil.

“Mmhmm,” she hummed around her food.

“Oh,” Luke said with a snap of his fingers. “We’re meeting here tonight to talk about plans for the shop if you two want to come. Around eight-thirty, here in the back. You in?”