“I don’t think that’ll be necessary.” I flashed a smile at Jace before shifting my attention back to my ex. “Right, Gage?”

  “So this is the infamous ex.” Jace came to stand beside me, his hand lightly brushing my lower back. “You okay?”

  “Better now that you’re here.”

  Gage’s entire body stiffened at my answer. After a long beat, he finally turned without another word and stormed out, the door slamming shut behind him. The second he was gone, my shoulders sagged.

  I stared at the closed door, trying to remember how to breathe as Jace pulled me close. “You holding up?”

  “Yeah,” I mumbled against his chest.

  “Guess I have a new reason to want to kick his ass.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, my eyes narrowing as I tilted my head back to stare up at him.

  Cupping my jaw, Jace brushed his thumb across my cheek. “After three years, he still has the power to hurt you.”

  I wanted to argue, but I would only be lying to him…and myself.

  2

  GAGE

  Ididn’t remember the drive back to the office, only the echo of Tessa’s voice telling me to get out. One minute, I was slamming out of the bakery, and the next, I was in the underground garage at Langford Tech, my hands white-knuckled on the steering wheel.

  I killed the engine and sat there, staring at the concrete wall like it might give me the answer to what the hell had just happened. My pulse was still hammering, the way it only did for one person.

  Tessa.

  Three years without a single word. Pretending she didn’t exist while I moved forward with a life I didn’t want because she wasn’t in it anymore.

  She looked incredible. That hurt more than I was ready to admit.

  Her hair was the same shade of brown but several inches longer now. Those hazel eyes that used to soften for me now had locked on mine like she was daring me to speak as she ordered me out of her bakery. Then ripped me to shreds when I did.

  She carried herself with more confidence than when we’d dated. She wasn’t the woman I left behind. She was stronger now. And I hated that she seemed to think I was the reason she’d needed to be.

  I dragged a hand over my beard, trying to scrub away the memory of her standing behind that counter in a flour-dusted apron, looking like she owned the world. Because apparently she did. Hale & Honey was hers. My assistant had said it was a trendy place that could do something high-end for me.

  The fucking cake I hadn’t even wanted in the first place was how this shit show started.

  I’d barely glanced at the order form Susan shoved under my nose a month ago. I just grunted in response and told her to handle it. The divorce party was a terrible idea, but I figured a cake might help drive the point home that my marriage was finally over.

  My gut twisted as I replayed the moment she stepped beside the register. The way she shielded the girl behind the counter. How she tore into me without hesitation.

  I raked a hand through my hair, frustration simmering under my skin. This wasn’t how I imagined it on the rare nights I let myself wonder what it would be like to see her again. I never thought she’d look at me as though she wished I were dead.

  Squeezing my eyes shut so the memory would stop playing in my head, I slammed out of my Aston Martin and headed for the elevator. The ride to the executive floor didn’t help, and I was in a foul mood when I stalked out toward my office.

  Susan’s head jerked up when I neared her desk. “Problem at the bakery, boss?”

  Her chipper question pissed me off even more since she was the one who’d suggested that if the damn cake wasn’t to my liking that I should go complain because she refused to do it for me.

  “Did you know?”

  Her brows drew together. “Did I know what?”

  “That Tessa owns the bakery.”

  “Your Tessa?” she gasped, her eyes widening.

  “What about Tessa?” Ethan asked from behind me.

  I whirled around. “I just saw her, and it went even worse than anyone could’ve possibly imagined.”

  “Fucking hell,” he groaned, gripping my forearm to drag me into my office. “What happened?”

  “Are you really going to try to keep me out of the loop?” Susan demanded through the door Ethan kicked shut.

  “You might as well let her in here,” I muttered. “She’ll just hound me relentlessly until I tell her what happened otherwise.”

  I walked around my desk and dropped onto my chair while Ethan opened the door just wide enough for Susan to slip into my office. She’d been my father’s assistant before mine, so she got away with a lot more than anybody else at Langford Tech.

  I waited until Ethan and Susan sat across my desk from me to fill them in on the basics of my trip to Hale & Honey. When I was done, I asked, “How did you not know Tessa owned the bakery when it’s named after her?”

  Susan offered me a sheepish smile. “Why would it ever occur to me? Tessa worked in an office when you two dated, and she never shows her face on the bakery’s social media. All the photos and videos are focused on what she’s making. And it’s not like Hale is that unusual of a last name.”

  “Is that how you heard about her place?” My shoulders slumped. “On social media?”

  “Yeah,” she confirmed. “I started following her account a couple of years ago when she really began to blow up. She had about one hundred thousand followers back then, but she’s up to more than half a million now. Celebrities from across the country get their cakes from Hale & Honey. Some of them even send private jets to pick their orders up.”

  I was impressed by what Tessa had accomplished during our years apart, but I wished I knew all of this a few hours ago. Then maybe I wouldn’t have fucked up so badly.

  “How pissed was she?” Ethan asked.

  “Very.” I scraped my palm down my beard. “She looked at me like she hated me.”

  “Well, you were being an ass,” Susan pointed out unhelpfully.

  I shook my head. “It was more than that. She said something about how I ended our relationship. That she’d put up with my arrogance when we dated but didn’t have to now. And I don’t see people like her employee when I tear through whatever is in my way of getting what I want.”

  Ethan let out a low whistle. “Damn.”

  “I mean, you’ve been more short-tempered than usual lately, but I wouldn’t go that far.” Susan reached across my desk to pat my hand. “The past six months have been rough with Vanessa fighting you every step of the way on the divorce.”

  “It’s no excuse for how I lit into that poor girl behind the counter over a cake I didn't even want,” I mumbled.

  I wasn’t proud of how I’d acted. She’d barely been twenty, stammering apologies while I acted like the entitled prick Tessa accused me of being.

  “It isn’t,” Susan agreed with a mischievous gleam in her eyes. “But your bad behavior just might be the perfect excuse to go back. You can apologize to the girl in person.”

  “And risk Tessa actually calling the police on me?” I scoffed, shaking my head.

  Ethan leaned forward and pressed his elbows against the top of his knees. “What do you think she meant about how you guys ended?”

  “I don’t know.” The woman who’d just threatened to have me trespassed didn’t look like someone who’d moved on without a backward glance. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

  Ethan and Susan had both been in the office when my engagement to Vanessa came about, so they knew what had all gone down. How messed up I’d been over the end of my relationship with Tessa.

  “Do you really think she’d have you trespassed from the bakery?” Susan asked, tilting her head. “I just can’t see her doing something so drastic, no matter how angry she is with you.”

  “Probably not,” I conceded, rubbing my chest in an attempt to ease the ache there that had nothing to do with rowing at dawn or the divorce that had just been finalized. “But the asshole who thought he needed to come to her rescue would jump on any excuse to call the cops again.”

  Ethan quirked a brow. “Sounds like you left some details out of what you told us.”

  Remembering how that guy put his hand on the small of her back like it belonged there while Tessa tilted her head up to him and smiled like he was her salvation. Jealousy roared through me so hard my vision tunneled. I wanted to punch something. Preferably his smug face.

  It took me a minute to get myself back under control, my teeth clenched too hard to speak. Then I gritted out, “Because I did.”

  I told them about the man who’d come in toward the end of my confrontation with Tessa, and what he’d said about calling the cops, how he’d been willing to get arrested for punching me, and that he had easily guessed who I was.

  Figuring out why I was struggling, Susan murmured, “You can’t be angry that Tessa has a boyfriend. It’s been three years, and you were married to Vanessa.”

  “But I didn’t want to be,” I growled, getting to my feet to pace the floor-to-ceiling windows that lined the wall behind my desk. “There hasn’t been a single day I’ve been truly happy since all that shit went down. I’ve wanted to be CEO since I was a little kid, but it wasn’t worth losing Tessa.”

  Ethan stood and circled my desk to clap his hand on my shoulder. “We already knew you felt that way, but Tessa is the one who needs to hear that.”

  I raked my fingers through my hair with a groan. “Like I said at the start of all this…my first conversation with Tessa in three years went even worse than you could imagine.”

  3

  TESSA

  After Gage left, I stared at the space where he’d stood seconds earlier, my breath catching in my chest. Now that I didn’t have to act like seeing him didn’t wreck me, the adrenaline that had carried me through the confrontation bled out of my system all at once.

  My hands trembled so hard I had to press them against the counter to steady myself. I hated that he could still affect me at all. That my body recognized him even when my heart wanted nothing to do with him.

  The anger and hurt were so close to the surface that I felt scraped open.

  The silence pressed in, and I exhaled shakily, suddenly aware of the weight of Jace’s hand at my back in a way I wouldn’t have been just yesterday. Before I could dig too deeply into why that was, the kitchen door swung open.

  Jenny hovered just inside the doorway, her fingers twisting in the hem of her apron. Her gaze darted toward the front windows, as though she was afraid Gage might come barreling back inside.

  “I’m so sorry,” she blurted. “I should’ve handled that better. I—I must’ve said something wrong. I didn’t know what to do when he was so angry about such a pretty cake.”

  “Hey.” I stepped toward her, keeping my voice soft. “You did nothing wrong.”

  She blinked at me, disbelief written all over her face. “But he⁠—”

  “What he did was not okay,” I cut in gently. “I don’t pay you to be treated like that by my customers. No matter who they are or why they’re upset.”

  Jenny’s lower lip wobbled. “I tried to stay calm, but my mind just went blank. I love this job, and I was scared I was going to mess everything up.”

  “You didn’t.” I shook my head and gave her a gentle smile. “In fact, I’m proud of how you handled yourself. You’ve done great these past two weeks, and today doesn’t change that.”

  Her shoulders sagged on a relieved exhale. “Really?”

  “Yes, really,” I assured her. “And you won’t need to deal with him again. I promise you that.”

  I’d be the one who handled Gage if he ever dared to show his face here again. Which I didn’t expect to happen now that he knew I owned Hale & Honey.

  “That’s really good to hear.”

  She moved toward the counter, and I reached out and squeezed her arm when she got close enough. “There will always be the occasional difficult customer. But you’re not dealing with them alone. I have your back.”

  “Thank you,” she murmured with a shy smile. “I really like working here.”

  “I’m glad.” I gave her arm another quick squeeze. “Will you be okay out here while I go take care of a couple of things in the kitchen?”

  She looked around the empty space. “Yeah, I think I can hold down the fort while we’re so busy.”

  Her ironic comment let me know her humor had returned. She was fine now.

  Jace slid his hand a little more firmly against my back and nodded toward the hallway. “Can we talk for a second before you head into the kitchen?”

  “Sure.” My legs felt unsteady enough that I was grateful he stayed at my side to guide me into my office.

  The moment the door clicked shut behind us, Jace sighed and raked a hand through his hair. “What a fucking asshole.”

  I huffed out a laugh that held no humor. “I can't really argue with that description.”

  “He seriously came in here with that attitude? Talking to Jenny and you like he did?” Jace kept talking, as though he hadn’t heard me. “I should’ve hit him.”

  “That wouldn’t have helped.” I hopped up onto the edge of my desk. “It might’ve felt good for a minute, but he wasn’t joking about the lawyers. You really would’ve been stuck in jail. He’d use all of his considerable influence to make sure you were charged.”

  Jace leaned against the closed door, his arms crossed over his chest. “I don’t get what you ever saw in a guy like that.”

  “Gage wasn’t like that when we were together.” I dropped my gaze to stare at my hands. “He could be arrogant at times, which isn’t surprising considering how he was raised. But he was never cruel.”

  Jace pushed off the door and stepped closer. “Shit, I’m sorry, Tessa. I shouldn’t have thrown your relationship with him in your face like that. I’m pissed at him, not you.”

  I tilted my head up again to meet his gaze. “Trust me, I understand being mad at him.”

  That was a major understatement, considering how furious I’d been with Gage after he ended our relationship to marry Vanessa without even having the decency to give me a real conversation. Just that voicemail asking me not to hate him before being blocked.

  A muscle in his jaw jumped. “I know.”

  I hadn’t shared all the details with Jace, just enough for him to get why I didn’t want anything serious. Even after all this time, the rest still felt too raw to talk about.

  “I’m sorry you had to swoop in to rescue me like that.” I gave him a half-hearted smile. “But I appreciate it.”

  His gaze softened in a way that made my breath catch. He’d given me that look before, and I knew what it usually led to.

  He closed the distance between us and lifted his hand to brush his fingers along the side of my jaw. His touch was familiar, safe in a way that should have comforted me. “Tessa.”

  I leaned into him, and Jace pressed his lips against mine. His kiss stoked a spark of chemistry between us. We were mostly just friends, but Jace and I had blurred lines before. I knew he could make me feel good if I let him.

  But something about this time didn’t feel right. The ghost of a different touch came between us, uninvited and unwelcome. A memory I didn’t want. The one I’d spent three years pretending couldn’t still bother me.

  I pulled back, my hand coming up to his wrist to gently guide it away from my face.

  “I’m sorry. I can’t,” I whispered, shaking my head.

  Pain flickered across Jace’s expression, but he masked it quickly and took a step back to give me space. “It’s okay. You don’t owe me anything, Tessa.”

  “I know.”

  But that didn’t make me feel any better about pulling away from him. Jace was a good guy. He’d always been kind to me and never pushed for more than I was willing to give. He was exactly what I needed for the past year.

  What we had between us had proved I wasn’t completely broken. Gage hadn’t taken that from me.

  Unfortunately, that kiss showed me something I hated to admit, even to myself. A piece of me still reacted to my ex, even after everything that happened. And until I figured out how to pry it loose, I wouldn’t be ready to fully move forward with someone else.

  Jace lingered for a moment, like he wasn’t sure if he should stay or give me space. In the end, he let out a quiet breath and jerked his chin toward the door. “I should get back to my shop, but you know where I am if you need anything.”

  “Thanks.”

  He hesitated another second, then slipped out, closing the office door behind him with a soft click. For the first time since Gage walked in, I was alone. But I wasn’t ready to face the thoughts swirling in my head. So when my gaze drifted over my cluttered desk, I decided to tackle the mess.

  I organized printed copies of order forms and invoices and filed everything into the cabinet on the wall behind me. Then I opened a new pack of highlighters and yanked on the top-drawer handle to drop them inside. I moved around the scraps of everyday things I’d already stuffed in there—receipts, pens, and a sticky note with a half-finished idea for a flavor combination. But sitting near the back, half buried beneath a jumble of rubber bands, was a narrow strip of glossy paper.

  I squeezed my eyes closed to shut out the image of the matching set of photos to the ones that had been inside the box of my stuff Gage had left in my apartment. This one wasn’t ruined, and I hadn’t been able to throw it away even though I hadn’t looked at it in all this time. Until now.

  I unearthed it from the chaotic mess in my drawer and stared down at the proof of happier times. My head on his shoulder. His mouth pressed to my cheek in the last frame. We looked like we were so in love with each other. The version of me in those pictures had no idea what was coming.

  I pressed my fingers to my trembling lips, but a sob ripped free anyway. Clutching the worn strip of photos against my chest as the dam cracked wide open, I dropped onto my chair and let myself cry it out. Again.

 

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