He went right up behind Evangeline, circled her waist with his arm and pulled her back into his front. At the same time, he caught her chin with his free hand and turned her head so she was forced to look at him. He took her mouth.

He might have kissed her for all the wrong reasons, but the moment his lips touched hers, those reasons became all about Evangeline. Tasting her. Losing himself in her taste. In that fire that rose so fast he didn’t know when the ice melted and the burn started. Only that it was there. That her mouth was fucking paradise and he never wanted to leave.

He kissed her like he owned her. He kissed her like he was in mad, passionate lust with her. He kissed her like he loved her. Because he felt all those things at once. She should have pushed him away, but she didn’t. She opened her mouth under his and gave herself to him. Evangeline didn’t do anything in half measures. She gave herself completely to him, handing herself into his keeping without hesitation.

Her brain, that intelligent, logical part of her, might feel conflicted, but her body was all his. She reached one arm back to circle his neck and she kissed him just as thoroughly, just as intimately and as possessively as he kissed her.

Alonzo lifted his lips just a whisper from hers. “I missed you, woman, far too much.” He meant it. Every damn word. He had missed her. “I’m considering moving my office into the bakery.”

“I missed you too,” she admitted. “Now sit down out of the way so I can close. You’re a distraction.”

He liked that he was a distraction. “Am I too late for my coffee?” He kept his eye on the door. Brice was scowling, and he was just dick enough that he took far too much pleasure in that.

“I haven’t cleaned the machines. I’ll get all of you coffee and then I’ll close.”

“What are you going to do with the leftover pastries?” Sevastyan asked, a hopeful note in his voice.

She laughed. Alonzo loved that sound. It was the sweetest music he’d ever heard. “I bag them up and take them to a shelter.” Of course she did. What else would she do with them?

“Then can I just . . .”

“You want pastries, Sevastyan, you buy them,” Alonzo growled.

Sevastyan and Gorya both made for the counter, pointing out their favorites. There wasn’t much left. Evangeline had it down to a science and when she ran out of each type of pastry that was all there was for the day. Today there wasn’t going to be much to bag and give away, and it looked as if Timur and Mitya were going to grab whatever was left. They were just going to be casual about it.