Then his fingers relaxed and his head dropped so he could touch his mouth to mine.

When he lifted his head, I told him softly, “We need to talk about your talk.”

He nodded but said, “That was only a little less painful than this shit tonight.”

Not good news.

I licked my lips, then pressed them together.

Then I gave him a gentle tug toward the bed and whispered, “All right, come to bed and tell me.”

Brock studied me for a minute before his fingers left my neck to slide up into my hair then down through the back of it.

Then we went to bed and he told me.

He turned out the light, held me, and I held him back until he fell asleep in my arms but I lay awake in his.

And only then did I let the silent tears of frustration and powerlessness fall.

But luckily there were only a few.

Then I burrowed into my man and fell asleep.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The Nuggets Won

“THOSE LOOK FREAKING fantastic!” I exclaimed and I was not lying.

Kellie was at a stainless-steel table in the back of my bakery (where the magic happened) and she was adorning chocolate cupcakes with mountainous swirls of mocha frosting. She’d already finished a tray and they were lightly dusted with cocoa powder and showered with orange-flavored sugar and chocolate sprinkles.

They looked awesome.

Her eyes went from her pastry bag to me.

Then the tip of her tongue, which had been poking out the side of her mouth disappeared, and she asked, “Do you think?”

I looked at the cupcakes then back to her. “Uh… yeah.”

She grinned at me.

We’d had a busy day and stocks were low by the time she got there after school, so I set her to work alongside me, seeing as business was picking up due to the after-work crowd swinging by to get goodies for home. I’d just returned from refilling cookie jars (fat, yummy peanut butter with those crisscross fork indents in them and oatmeal with dried cranberries and white chocolate chips).

It was the first time Kellie had been let loose unsupervised and unaided. And by the looks of it, she’d done great.

I walked to her, gave her a sideways hug, and kissed her temple before letting her go and telling her softly, “Honey, you’re a natural.”

“So, they’re Tessa’s Cakes Worthy?” she asked.

“Absolutely,” I answered.

“Cool,” she whispered, eyes shining bright.

I smiled at her. Then I swiped a cupcake.

I started to walk away, peeling back the brown paper as I told her, “I’m off. When you’re done with those, take them out and unleash them on the world.”

“Okay, Tess, and tell Uncle Slim I said hello,” she called after me.