Sinful (7 page)

“I—”

“Honey, just try it my way for a few days and see how it works out for you. Ignore anything he might toss your way and direct those emotions towards a different goal. Didn’t you mention you need to design some extra promotional materials for the bakery? Have you given any more thought to getting a website up and running?”

Maymi knew Jazmaine was right and admitting it was a little painful but she couldn’t lie. “Yes, I’m running the idea through my head, but I’ve been working on this life-sized customized Hello Kitty cake that I’m getting close to ten thousand dollars for. I mean it’s my first huge order for Sinful. I just can’t get into getting a website set up right now.”

Jazmaine grinned at her. “See, that is what I’m talking about, focusing your attention on your gifts and not some guy who came out of nowhere to be a thorn in your side. I know you’re feisty and don’t back down from a battle, but just take a step back from Jensen. Unless there’s another reason you like the tension brewing between the two of you.”

The memory of how she used to be burned in her mind. Jazmaine was right. She had lost some of that woman and the thought of becoming her again was exciting.

“I’ll see what I can do about getting the old me back, but I need to finish baking and taking things out of the oven before my help comes back here screaming for more sweets I don’t have.”

“Don’t you have anything else to say to me?”

“Like what,” she said, walking up to Jazmaine.

“Maybe you’re sexually attracted to Jensen and that is one of the motivations for arguing with him. I mean I can’t blame you if it’s true. Who wouldn’t want the guy? He oozes that let’s have a one night stand kind of allure about him.”

Laughing, Maymi hugged her crazy friend. She always thought it was Tatum she had to be worried about because of her crazy ideas, but now Jazmaine was giving her a run for her money with that comment.

“No, I don’t see him as a sexy one night stand. Isn’t the purpose of a one night stand to sleep with the hot stranger and never see him again? Jensen is right next door to me, so that wouldn’t work for me. Not that I was thinking about doing it,” she quickly added. “But thanks again for coming to see me. Our talk really helped me a lot, I see things more differently now than before.”

“Honey, after the way you left the restaurant two weeks ago I had no choice but to come and see about you as soon as I could. Listen I know I’m busy with the Mashiro deal, but if you need help with anything let me know and I’ll make the time for you.”

Spinning around, Jazmaine grabbed her purse off the table and walked over to the kitchen door as the second buzzer went off for the cupcakes behind Maymi. She gave her friend one more look before going over to the oven and taking out her double chocolate treats. The mint frosting was already done and waiting at the side for the cupcakes once they were cool enough to ice.

As she removed the cupcakes out of the oven, Maymi couldn’t get Jazmaine’s words out of her head. She was here to stay for the long haul and he better get used to it. Sinful was hers after years of working hard and nothing Jensen threatened her with was going to frighten her away.

Chapter Ten

“Ms. Monroe, are you sure that you don’t need me to stay here with you? It already eight-thirty and it’s pretty dark outside.”

Glancing up from the dinosaur cake she was working on, Maymi spotted her assistant Olivia standing in the open doorway of the kitchen. She thought Olivia had already left and gone home for the night.

“No, I’m fine. You can go ahead and leave to pick your daughter up from dance practice. I only need to finish up a few more things on him then I’m out of here too. How does the case look out there?”

“It looks really good. You’re out of fresh pies and those little chocolate cream filled snacks,” Olivia answered.

“Great, thanks for reminding me about those. I’ll work on them tomorrow morning when I get here at six o’clock.”

“Are you sure about me leaving? I know it’s a pretty safe neighborhood, but you did park across the street near the basketball court because it was street cleaning day. I don’t feel right leaving you here alone. I can call my husband and he can pick up Meagan instead of me.”

Wiping her hands on the towel, Maymi came around the counter and stopped in front of Olivia. She was touched her assistant was concerned about her safety, but there wasn’t any need for her to be.

“I’ll be perfectly safe. This won’t be the first time I left Sinful at night and it won’t be the last time I do it either. Now, get out of here and pick up your little girl. Remember, I need you to come in at ten o’clock tomorrow. I have to finish up this dinosaur cake along with the hundred count cupcake order.”

“Have you thought about hiring a few more people to help you out?” Olivia asked. “I know my sister- in-law is an amazing cake decorator and she was looking for part-time work.”

“Right now, I don’t have the extra money so I can’t do it. Besides, I’ve a good system that keeps things easy for me. However, if I start getting more customized cakes orders, I will have to hire two more people. Now, enough worrying about me. You can’t have your daughter waiting for you at the dance studio.”

“Okay, if you’re sure,” Olivia hedged. “I just don’t feel right leaving you here to walk across the street alone while my car is parked right out front.”

“Don’t, I should have moved mine back after they finished cleaning the street, but I didn’t do it. Besides, I’m pretty sure nothing is going to happen to me. I’m honestly not scared to walk the short distance to my car.”

Olivia gave her another doubtful look before spinning around and walking away. Maymi followed behind her and waited while her assistant got her things, so she could lock up and turn over the sign on the front door to closed.

She would be out of here early for once on a Friday night. She might even stay up late and read for an hour or two which was something she hadn’t done in a while.

“I want you to be safe and check everything before you leave,” Olivia told her, heading for the exit.

“Okay, Mom. I’ll do that,” she teased, standing at the door watching as Olivia got inside of her vehicle, waved at her then drove off.

She closed the door, locked it and then turned over the sign before spinning around and hurrying back to the kitchen. She wanted to keep up with the time so she could out of here exactly on time for once.

Today’s sales turned out to be more profitable than she thought after the slower than usual start. If every day became a regular day with a steady flow of customers, she would be able to hire two more assistants in the back and another one to work up the front with Olivia.

Humming to herself, Maymi went back through the door and sat back down on her stool. She picked up the carving tool and began working on the fine details on the mouth and eyes for the dinosaur.

When she first took the order and the boy’s father had told her what he wanted done, she turned him down until he offered to pay extra for the background on the cake. Every extra dollar earned went right back into Sinful, so she agreed to have it ready for him by late Saturday afternoon.

Good thing she didn’t open up until ten o’clock on Saturdays. She could come in and have the entire place to herself for hours until Olivia showed up to open the doors.

Maymi continued working on the tiny details on the nose, mouth and teeth until everything looked exactly like the picture on the table given to her by the customer. She laid down the tool then glanced up at the clock. She had the last part of the cake with an extra ten minutes to spare. All she had to do tomorrow was add the last of the finishing touches and the little guy would be ready to pick up.

Picking up the dinosaur, Maymi took it over to the cooler, placed it inside making sure to block the door so it wouldn’t slam closed and lock her on the inside since it had been acting crazy for the past couple of days.

She had been meaning to call someone to check on it, but with not having the extra money she was dealing with it the best way she could and nothing had gone wrong so far. Leaving the ice box, she made her way back over to her work area and she spent the next ten minutes cleaning up her tools then wiped off the counter.

She folded the rag and laid it across the sink as she took one final look around her work space. Every piece of equipment was in the correct spot before leaving the kitchen so she could finally go home and get lost inside the new mystery book she bought at the mall a week ago. Walking through the bakery, she stopped at the wall long enough to flick off the lights before going outside.

The warm night air brushed against her bare arms while she locked the front door. Maymi spun around and just as she was about to walk across the street a loud sound of voices coming from around the side of her bakery caught her attention.

“Listen asshole. We aren’t about to tell you again. Do as we tell you and you won’t get hurt,” a man’s angry voice snapped.

Easing closer to the side of the building, she stood there wondering if she should peek around the corner to see what was going on or hurry to her car instead and speed off leaving whoever might need her help alone.

“I’m not giving you a damn thing,” a voice she immediately recognized hollered.

Jensen.
She would know his cocky voice anywhere.

“Why don’t we give this pretty boy a lesson in manners?”

Maymi heard someone snicker before the sound of fist hitting bone sounded out around her and then Jensen’s deep, rich voice screaming out in pain. She started to take a look then stopped herself. She needed a plan before she just jumped into something she didn’t know anything about.

“Hit him again. Kick him harder. Show this cocky asshole what happens when guys like him don’t give us what we want,” another guy yelled as Jensen hollered out in agony again.

Digging into her purse, Maymi grabbed her cell phone before going around the corner. She gasped at the sight of a battered and bruised Jensen lying on the ground bleeding by the side of his white truck.

“Leave him alone,” she screamed, making the two guy jump away from his prone body. “I’ve called the cops and they are on the way.”

God, she hoped they believe her bluff because her cell phone battery died on the way to work this morning and she had forgotten to charge it. She didn’t know what else she could do if they decided to test her.

“Hey, look here. The little bakery lady is trying to get tough.” A tall red haired guy laughed and moved towards her. “I don’t believe you called anyone pretty lady. You’re just trying to scare us. I’m pretty sure I can take you. I mean you aren’t that big.”

“Leave her alone,” Jensen yelled behind her before the guy standing next to him kicked him in the ribs. “She has nothing to do with any of this.”

“Are you sure?” Maymi bluffed as her heart pounded away inside of her chest.

Why had she even opened her mouth or showed her face? It wasn’t like Jensen was her favorite person in the world to begin with. She could have walked away, gotten inside of her car and driven away and no one would have been the wiser.

Because you are a good person and you would have remembered leaving someone screaming out in pain
, her mind whispered, softly.

“I’m positive, pretty lady,” the guy said coming even closer as the sound of police sirens suddenly echoed in the distance out of nowhere.

“Fuck!”

Maymi tried to keep the surprise off her face as he took a step back from her. “See, I told you I had called the police. You better get out of here before they get here and arrest your sorry asses.”

“Hell, I’m out of here. I’m not about to go back to jail. I’m already on probation,” the younger guy said, standing next to Jensen. He spun around and ran back towards the car parked at the far end of Fitness 24 near some trees.

“Aren’t you going to follow your buddy?” she asked, staring at the other man.

“I won’t forget this, bitch,” he warned her. “You’ll get yours.” He glared at her for only a few more seconds before taking off after his friend.

Slowly, some of her fear eased away as he hopped into the car at the corner and it took off in the opposite direction of the sirens. Holding the phone against her chest, she took several deep breaths as her heart continued to pound away against her ribs.

She sent up a silent prayer of thanks to whoever called the cops just at the right time. They weren’t coming here, but it was enough to scare those two thugs into running away leaving her alone to give Jensen some help.

Tossing her cell phone back into her purse, Maymi rushed over to Jensen who was holding his side struggling to get up off the pavement as blood slid from the corner of his mouth.

“Here, let me help you,” she said, wrapping her arm around his waist.

“No, I got it,” Jensen, said, his dark brown eyes clashing with hers.

She tried not to stare at how beautiful they looked up close with their faces only being inches apart. He might get on her last nerve, but he was
fine
as hell and the sad thing was he knew it too.

“Well, it’s a good thing you do because I’m going to need your help getting you back to the bakery,” she told him, blowing off the glare he was giving her.

“No, you can help me back to my business,” Jensen told her as he started leaning some of his weight on her as he slowly stood up. “I’ll call Casper from there to help me.”

“No, Sinful is closer and you can call your brother after we call the cops. Now, will you stop fighting with me so I can get you there? You aren’t the lightest man in the world.”

Jensen’s eyes flashed for a second like he was going to get all macho on her, but he only shook his head and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. She tried to move as fast as she could with his muscular frame leaning against her.

Despite the fact, he was beat up, bloody and his clothing was tattered, the scent of his cologne was making her very aware of him as a man.

What was wrong with her body
? How could it be drawn to someone like Jensen?