“Well, don’t think too long, or you’ll be running after your kids with a cane in one hand.”

“I’m still young,” he said. “I have plenty of time.”

She rolled her eyes. “Not that young. Don’t forget we’re from the same graduating class.”

He dramatically grabbed his chest. “You wound me.”

“All thirty-two years of you.” She snorted.

That familiar spark hit his chest, urging him to keep sparring with her. It had gotten him into trouble when they were younger, but he couldn’t remember right now why he needed to avoid that. “There’s more to me than just my age, Tessa. And you’re welcome to see it for yourself.”

She went still, leaving those words hanging between them. Had he really just—

“Geesh,” she said. “Do these terrible lines actually work on women?”

He leaned over as if he were about to tell her a secret. “Yes,” he said simply. “They do.”

She laughed. Laughed. Now he really was a little hurt.

“Anyway,” she continued, “I’m not leaving my future to fate. I’m going out to get it myself.”

His eyes narrowed at her. “You’re really leaving Blossom Glen? How soon?”

Her turn to shrug. “The Chicago French Pastry School has rolling admission. Classes start in July and January. I could get in at any moment. Well, okay, it’s already May, but you never know. They could call me any day. But…I can’t leave my mom in a lurch.”

“Yet another reason why my plan is perfect. We’d work hard together to get both businesses profitable. Then your life would be yours.” She had a conviction about her that he hadn’t given her credit for prior to this moment. Maybe she had more ambition than he thought. She’d been competitive in high school—he knew that better than anyone—but until now, he’d assumed she’d been driven more by stubbornness than a will to succeed.

“You’re asking me to do something ridiculous—not to mention legally binding—for an idea that might not even work.”

He sat up, his eyes drilling into hers, but she straightened her spine and stared right back. And, he was shocked to find, he was drawn to her defiant expression. Her full lips. She was challenging him.

Then something buzzed and crackled in the air between them.

Tension. Sexual tension.

He shook it away and chalked it up to the fact that he hadn’t dated anyone since Svana. He really needed to get back out there. So he wouldn’t be tempted by troublesome women like Tessa. “Oh, it would work.”

“You’re so cocky,” she said, stabbing at the air. “And too arrogant.”

He shot her a smug look. “Those words mean practically the same thing.”

“Still the same know-it-all from high school. Just like all those years ago when you thought you were going to win that scholarship.”