Chapter 6
Chapter Six
THE END OF THE LUNCH HOUR signaled the end of their busy time at the bakery.
During the school year they’d sometimes have a rush of after-school moms and kids, but it was summertime and the afternoons were slow-paced.
Staci was in the kitchen trying to perfect a recipe she’d been juggling with for days. It was a main course, not a dessert.
Alysse was afraid sometimes that Staci was getting restless in the bakery. One of her greatest fears was that Staci would move on and leave Alysse alone with Sweet Dreams. She knew she could handle the shop, but she had come to really depend on having her friend around.
But that worry wasn’t foremost today, she thought, as she cleaned the counter in the empty shop front.
Okay, so she’d gotten the usual professions of love from men who liked her baked goods.
However, today it hadn’t seemed as much fun as it always did.
She’d had a hard time flirting, knowing that Jay was back.
Since their divorce had been final he’d been in the far recesses of her mind. But last night had changed all of that.
Meanwhile, her brother had called and invited her to join him and a group of their friends for a bonfire on the beach later tonight. She’d started to make her usual excuses but then decided to go. What was she going to do? Stay home and stew over Jay?
The doorbell tinkled as someone entered the shop. “Welcome to Sweet Dreams...”
Jay.
He stood backlit by the summer sun, looking totally out of place in her shop. He had on a pair of faded skintight jeans, a form-fitting khaki T-shirt and, despite the heat outside, a leather jacket. His aviator sunglasses were on so she couldn’t see those dark chocolate eyes of his.
Why was he here? This was her Jay-free zone. She didn’t want to talk to him or see him right now and certainly not in her shop.
“Why are you here?” she asked, knowing she didn’t sound hospitable but not really caring. She was tired from last night, edgy about Staci’s future plans and he was the source of a lot of her unease about her own future.
“I wanted to talk to you,” he said as he stepped into the shop and removed his sunglasses. He opened up the side of his jacket and put them in an inner pocket. “I don’t have any other number for you.”
“Oh. Right.” She wasn’t ready to deal with Jay. Not now. Possibly not ever.
She wished she could be cool and calm, instead she figured she was coming off as more than a little flaky.
Get it together, she admonished herself.
“So, what’s up?”
“I think we still need to talk. And I didn’t feel comfortable about the way you left last night,” he said.
“I can’t really do that here because if I have a customer they have to be my priority.” Thank God. The last thing she wanted to do was rehash last night and her bold proclamation that she was using him for sex.
“Can you take a break?” he asked.
“Can’t this wait until later?” She needed a good twenty-four hours of sleep and some distance between them so she could forget about how those big muscled arms of his felt around her. But right now all she could see was him last night as he’d moved between her legs and made her his once again.
“It could,” he said, moving slowly closer to the counter.
“Great,” she said.
“I can come back when the shop is closed and take you to dinner,” he offered.
She wanted to do that. Have a private dinner with him, but she knew she’d end up making love to him again.
She needed to get out and do things with him that brought other people into their company.
Otherwise, she’d fall back into bed with him and in two weeks he’d be gone and she’d be wondering why the hell she’d let him dominate her life again.
“I can’t tonight,” she said.
“Do you have plans?” he asked.
“Yes. I have a very busy life. You got lucky last night when you asked me to bring you that cupcake, which you never paid for,” she said.
“Let me rectify that now,” he said, taking out his credit card and handing it to her.
She went to the cash register and rang up his order from the night before and then slid the card through the credit-card machine. She focused on every detail of the mundane task, ignoring the spicy scent of his aftershave and the fact that he was so close she could reach out and touch him.
“I’ll need your signature,” she said as she tore the receipt from the machine.
She pushed the paper across the counter to him and handed him the pen with the flower on top of it that they kept in a jar by the register. His fingers brushed hers and a little electric tingle went up her arm.
How could one man’s touch affect her so much?
“What are you doing tonight?” he asked.
“I’m going to meet friends at the beach after work. We’re going to surf and do some paddleboarding.”
“Sounds interesting,” he said.
He was so close she could see the scar on the left side of his face more clearly. Last night when she’d been kissing him she’d concentrated on other places, but today in the bright sunlight that scar seemed more prominent.
“How did you get this?” she asked, reaching up to touch it.
“Our convoy was attacked. I went out looking for high ground to get a good shot, ran into an enemy combatant with a knife. We fought. He cut me.”
The words were sparse but the image in her head was horrifying. She reached over and touched the scar again. She didn’t know what to say. He stood there and let her touch his face. There was so much more to her ex-husband than she’d ever guessed.
“We’re planning to have a bonfire on the beach tonight. Do you want to join us?”
He shook his head. “That’s not what I had in mind. I wanted a private night with just you, me and not on the beach this time.”
As empathetic as she felt toward him right now, she wasn’t about to have another night alone with him. They needed to be with other people or they’d spend the entire time naked. And she’d learned more about Jay in the last five minutes than she had all of last night.
“My offer is the only one that’s on the table at this time,” she said.
“Fine, but I want to have a chance to talk to you properly,” he said, handing her back the pen. “I need to get your opinion on a job offer I got today.”
“Really? I thought you were just thinking about leaving the Marines,” she said.
“I was. But near misses like this one,” he said gesturing to his scar. “Make me think I might need to change professions.”
“That’s very true. But you’ve only been here one day... I didn’t think you’d started job-hunting.”
“Well, one of my buddies owns the company so it wasn’t exactly hunting that had me find it. He knows I’m due to re-up and wanted to see if I’d be interested in joining him instead,” Jay said.
She wasn’t sure what any of this had to do with her but she did know it would be helpful for a long-term relationship if he got out of the Corps and took a job here. That was an interesting tidbit.
“What is the job?”
“Can you take a break? I don’t want to talk about it in the store,” he asked.
“Let me check with Staci,” Alysse said. She left the shop to go into the kitchens and found Staci standing right inside the doorway, clearly eavesdropping.
“What are you doing?” Alysse asked her friend.
“Listening in on your conversation, obviously. So that’s the guy?”
“Yes,” Alysse said. “I guess you aren’t working now.”
“No. I hit a snag and need to think about what I want to do. I really want this dish to be more than a main. But it just tastes so bland... Not enough wow,” Staci said.
“I’ll give you a hand if you want,” Alysse offered. Even though she knew Staci would decline the help. Staci was always trying to prove something to herself with her cooking, and, Alysse suspected, to the world.
“Nah, I’ll figure it out. So are you going to do it, go talk to him?” Staci encouraged, peeking around the corner at him.
Alysse wanted to, but a part of her thought getting to know him better was stupid. He was the one man who’d hurt her worse than any other. Was she really going to open herself up to that kind of pain again?
“He is one hot-looking guy,” Staci said.
“Yes, he is.”
“I can see why you fell for him, but you aren’t the same person you used to be. I think you are in the right place to deal with him,” Staci said.
“Me, too,” Alysse said with a confidence she was far from feeling. “I’ll be back in twenty minutes or so.”
“Take your time,” Staci said. “It’s not like we’re busy right now.”
Alysse took off her apron and went out front where Jay was still waiting. He was studying the glass cases but she sensed his attention was really on her.
“I’m ready to go,” she told him.
“Good. Do you want to go someplace on my bike? Or we can walk,” he suggested.
“Let’s go to Old Town. It will be busy but there are a couple of quiet streets where we can walk and talk,” Alysse said.
Her plan to use Jay made sense when she was in the throes of wanting him sexually and trying to justify that to herself.
Now, in the bright light of day, she wanted more.
She wanted to find out what kind of man Jay was.
Finding out more about Jay would be hard and she’d have to stay focused because Jay didn’t give up much information about himself and she didn’t blame him because she also played her cards close to her chest.
She’d learned the hard way that being as open as she used to be didn’t pay off. And she hated that she’d become so guarded and afraid to risk herself. Jay had stolen that confidence from her. She wanted it back, but she also wanted to fix him.
Oh, my God, she thought. That was what this was about. Jay was her latest project. Someone who needed her help. But she wouldn’t fix Jay for herself. She’d help him so he could move on and so she could finally be over him.