Can't Resist You (Second Chance Diaries Book 3)

by Emma Vikes

  I honestly don’t understand how he could easily just sprung this on me as if this wasn’t our first meeting after all this time “You might have forgotten, Ansel, but you cheated on me and told me that I was unnecessary baggage. You did not only break my heart by cheating on me with another woman but stomped on it by making me feel like I wasn’t good enough.”

  My words seemed to have reminded him of our past because I saw a flash of guilt in his honey-colored eyes. “Maia—”

  “If you don’t have anything to say to me as your chef and employee, then I’ll take that as my cue to leave. It was nice to meet you, Mr. Moore.” Without letting him have another word, I opened the door and left.

  Part of me felt bad for doing it because I felt like Ansel would do something to me. If he did though, it would be petty of him to do so. I marched back to the kitchen and removed my apron as I tried my best to calm myself.

  Everyone looked at me, expectant.

  I flashed them a small smile. “He just wanted to compliment my dish.”

  They all seemed pleased to hear this and they finally allowed us to go home, telling us to arrive at nine sharp tomorrow.

  I rushed out of the hotel, making sure I wouldn’t bump into Ansel. The last thing I needed was to hear him respond to what I said. I knew what it sounded like to him. He would think I still hadn’t moved on.

  Psh. I’d moved on eight years ago. I even got married two years ago but that marriage didn’t end well either. My ex-husband was the guy I dated after breaking up with Ansel. It took me a while to get back into the dating scene after our breakup. When I met my ex-husband, it seemed to me that we were the perfect match until we weren’t.

  JC wanted to dominate our relationship and marriage. He didn’t want me to have a say in anything. Hell, he didn’t even want me to work. He kept telling me he would take care of Sage and me but I didn’t want to be just a housewife. I didn’t work my ass off in school to just be someone’s housewife. It was then when our marriage started to unravel.

  The two relationships I’d been in didn’t end well for me. Both guys had only caused me pain and had to demean my value as a woman. It wasn’t a feeling I liked and I didn’t want to be put in a box. If men were like that towards women, then I’d rather be alone. Besides, I had Sage with me so it wasn’t as if I was really alone.

  I arrived at Joanne’s bakery.

  Sage immediately hugged me. “Did you get the job?”

  Nodding, I kissed the top of her head. “I did, sweetheart. I did.”

  She squealed and hugged me tighter, telling me she had felt certain that I would get it.

  Joanne watched me interact with my daughter at the counter.

  I told Sage to get her things since we were gonna head home soon after.

  I approached my friend and gave her a hug. “I really don’t know what I’d do without you,” I told her after giving her a tight hug.

  Joanne only chuckled and patted my back.

  I stared at her for a while. For the time being that I was unemployed, I’d opted on doing catering services. There weren’t many customers and I didn’t earn enough profit but it seemed like a good idea. “You think we would survive if I only did catering services?” I asked Joanne out of the blue.

  She’d been busy packing some treats for Sage and me to take home. She paused for a moment and stared at me. “I thought I heard you tell Sage that you got the job?”

  I pursed my lips. During the bus ride, I had been considering resigning from the job. I’d been looking for a job for a whole month and now that I had one, I wanted to quit. I just wasn’t sure if I would be able to work well knowing Ansel was the one paying me. I didn’t like the idea of being employed by my ex-boyfriend.

  Shaking my head, I smiled a little. “Nothing. It was just a thought that occurred to me during the bus ride.”

  “Stop worrying so much, Maia. You have a job now and since it’s in a luxurious hotel, I’m sure the pay would be good.”

  I could only nod in a half-hearted agreement.

  Sage told me she had all her things ready and we bid Joanne goodbye. The two of us boarded a bus to take us home and five minutes into the drive, Sage fell asleep beside me. She rested her head on my shoulder. I brushed her bangs to the side a little and stared at her face.

  There was absolutely nothing I wouldn’t do for my daughter. It killed me how I could barely provide for her. Any parent would want to give their kids the world and I was no different. But for a while, I wasn’t able to do so and Sage never complained. She never said anything but I knew she understood our situation and tried the best she could to make sure she didn’t add to our problems.

  Whenever I had a client to cater, Sage even helped me. She was wonderful that way and that was why it broke my heart that I couldn’t give her everything she deserved. Now that I had a decent paying job, it would be better for the two of us. The only issue I had with it was the fact that I would always be in the same space as Ansel.

  A big part of me wanted to write a resignation letter as soon as I got home then submit it to Alice tomorrow. I really didn’t want to be on guard every time I went to work because my ex-boyfriend was there. At the same time though, it would be unprofessional of me to let my emotions dictate my decisions.

  Besides, I needed a job because I was desperate for an income. No matter how much I wanted to believe a catering business would sustain us, I knew it wouldn’t. It would be stupid of me to let go of a good job because of such a petty reason. With a sigh, I kissed the top of Sage’s head.

  I’ll do this for her. I’ll endure it for her.

  For Sage.

  4

  Ansel

  Maybe there had been something wrong with what I said. Or maybe it was how I phrased it or the tone I used when I said it. Maybe I’d been too direct and too blunt about it, so it caught Maia off-guard. But then again, that wouldn’t make sense. If I remembered correctly, she valued honesty the most. So being honest about what I wanted should’ve been a good move on my part.

  I was only being honest about what I wanted. Over the years, I’d compared every woman I dated with her. For some reason, she became my standard that no other woman could reach.

  I’d always imagined how I would approach her if I finally met her again. There were times when I thought it’d be best to play it cool and take it slow. To slowly ease myself into her life again. Other times, I thought about how Maia liked things out in the open, so I thought voicing out what I wanted to happen was a good idea.

  Apparently, it wasn’t. She didn’t seem to like how direct I’d been. She didn’t appreciate my blunt honesty and it didn’t make sense to me. We were both grown adults and it had been a long time since we’d broken up. We were at a point where taking it slow wouldn’t be the best idea for people our age.

  Joey suddenly entered my office and snapped me out of my thoughts, “You seem to be drowning in your thoughts a lot, lately.”

  I played with the fountain pen on my desk and shrugged. “Do you think I’m losing touch, Joey?”

  My assistant looked at me, confused. “What do you mean?”

  Before seeing Maia the other day, I hadn’t been dating. I hadn’t even gone to parties or hooked up with anyone. My dating life had been close to non-existent. “I’ve been too caught up with the construction and everything else about Onyx Shrine. I haven’t put myself out there lately. No dates or parties. And the only person I wanted just rejected me,” I said the last part in a whisper.

  Joey didn’t seem to hear it as he shrugged his shoulders in response to my statement. “Maybe you’ve reached the age where it doesn’t thrill you anymore, Ansel. Sometimes, we just outgrow the things we used to love. Maybe you want to settle now. You are at the right age.”

  I couldn’t help but scoff at this. Joey must be kidding me. Just because the things I used to do didn’t give me the same thrill anymore did not mean I wanted to settle. I wanted Maia back in my life but it didn’t mean I wanted to be tied
down. Because ever since I’d lost her, something seemed to be missing in my life.

  I couldn’t help but wonder if it was her.

  “Did you get me what I asked for?” I changed the topic instead.

  Joey nodded, handing me a brown envelope.

  “There are about a hundred other things that need your attention. I don’t know why learning about newly hired kitchen staff is more important. I thought you trusted Alice and Doug’s judgment.”

  I did trust their judgment. I didn’t actually care about the others and I only wanted to know more about Maia. I had no idea how she had been doing in the last eight years and judging from our last conversation, it didn’t seem like she was inclined to catch me up on her life.

  Flipping through the pages, I stopped when I reached Maia’s page. “Is it bad for an employer to learn more about the people that work for him?”

  Joey looked at me suspiciously. “You learn more about your staff when you spend some time with them and you actually do that. You’re the kind of boss who gets his hands dirty just to make sure that everything is in place and through that, you get to know your employees too. I don’t understand why you’re suddenly, so interested in these four people.”

  Out of those four people, I was only interested in one. “Don’t you have other things to do than question me, Joey?”

  He narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously but nodded his head a little, slipping out of my office.

  I let out an exhale and read through Maia’s file. Most of the things mentioned in the first half of the first page were already things I knew about. But then the word ‘ex-husband’ caught my attention and I stared at his name for about half an hour.

  John Christopher Hale. Maia had been married to a guy named John Christopher Hale. She married him two years ago and got divorced earlier this year. They also had a daughter named Sage who was seven years old and was under Maia’s custody. For some reason, she was fired a month ago in the restaurant she worked at and had been unemployed for a month.

  She had gone through a divorce. She was broke. And she was raising her seven-year-old daughter on her own. Holy shit.

  I stared at the information I just learned about Maia and couldn’t help but wonder what went wrong with the marriage she had. I’d always assumed when Maia got married, she wouldn’t allow the marriage to dwindle. It had been something she had sworn on because of how her parents’ marriage turned out. She didn’t want her children to have divorced parents too.

  I couldn’t help but want to intercede in her life. She must’ve gone through hell and had struggled so much in last month. I wanted to help her in any way I could. Abruptly, I headed out of my office.

  “Where are you going?”

  Ignoring Joey who was calling my attention, I marched into the restaurant.

  We already had people dining in. It was only our soft-opening for the hotel and we would have our grand opening on Friday. I’d already invited a lot of respectable people in the industry, as well as the media. It also helped that I had celebrity friends too.

  This was one of the reasons why Alice and Doug were hiring more kitchen staff. The sous chef that they knew couldn’t work with us which was why the position was available. As for the other positions, we just needed more people, especially for the grand opening.

  When I arrived in the kitchen, I realized I hadn’t really thought things through. The conversation I wanted to have with Maia was meant to be a private one. Something meant to be talked about during dinner and not in such a public space.

  “Is there anything we can do for you, Ansel?” Doug asked, approaching me?

  I pursed my lips and flashed him a smile, waving at everyone. “Seems like you have a busy day today with the customers coming in. It’s gonna be busier during our grand opening and we’ll have guests staying in by then too. I hope it doesn’t stress any of you out.”

  Doug laughed beside me and patted me on the shoulder. “Ah, you’re always looking out for your employees. I love that about you.”

  Grinning at him, I gave him a thumbs up but I couldn’t stop looking around. Finally, my eyes landed on the woman I was looking for. Even when she was wearing a chef’s hat and in her chef uniform, I knew it was her.

  “Excuse me for a moment, Doug.” Moving forward, I approached Maia with intent.

  She didn’t seem to notice my presence or she didn’t care or she was pretending not to.

  I stopped beside her. “Have dinner with me tonight.”

  She stood by the stove, flipping rice in a wok, and didn’t even bother to look at me, then at my words, she paused. She pursed her lips and concentrated on the food.

  I poked her on the shoulder. “Maia, have dinner with me.”

  Again, Maia continued to ignore me.

  Someone approached her and glanced at me. She bumped her hip against Maia’s. “You’re aware that the CEO of our hotel is standing right next to you, right?”

  Maia looked at her and then turned her head to me. Her eyes widened a little, feigning surprise. “Mr. Moore! I could barely hear you over the hustle of the kitchen.”

  I smirked. She must’ve wanted to ignore me but her co-worker nudged her. “Have dinner with me tonight, Maia.”

  Maia pursed her lips and the woman beside her glanced in our direction, leaning closer to us so she could hear more of our conversation. “I’m off early for today, Mr. Moore. I’ll make sure to tell someone to make your dinner.”

  She turned back to her co-worker and said something I didn’t hear and then walked away.

  I followed her. I grabbed her wrist and forced her to turn to look at me.

  Everyone looked our direction.

  Maia was looking around, seemingly uncomfortable with the attention.

  “There’s something we need to talk about, Maia.”

  She pulled me closer towards her a little and growled, “Ansel, please, I’m working right now. Please be considerate.”

  When I looked around, everyone immediately turned the other way. I sighed and nodded, letting go of her hand.

  She quickly walked away in the opposite direction.

  Doug was at the door, staring at me with curiosity as I made my exit. “I thought you never wanted to date an employee.”

  All I could do was chuckle and pat his shoulder before stalking back to my office. “What time does she get off work?”

  Doug glanced at the direction where Maia was. “I think she leaves at four. We’re still trying to figure out how to work her schedule since she’s a single mother with no one really to look after her kid.”

  I kept that in mind before leaving. For the rest of the day and until the afternoon, I buried myself with work. Despite how much I tried to keep myself busy though, I was constantly glancing at the clock. When it was four in the afternoon, I rushed out of my office again, surprising Joey for the second time.

  Quickly heading to the kitchen, I looked for Maia but couldn’t find her. I bumped into Taylor, the waitress. “Have you seen Maia, Tay?”

  Taylor looked at me for a moment and then nodded her head slowly. “She said that she was heading out since she was done for the day. Is there something wrong?”

  I flashed her a smile and shook my head before rushing to the staff room. She wasn’t there either so she must’ve timed-out already but I still didn’t catch her there. Rushing outside, I spotted her. I thought she would be making her way to the parking lot but she didn’t. Instead, she continued to head out until she was walking along the sidewalk.

  “Maia!” I called out her name, running after her. I wasn’t sure if she heard me or she was purposely ignoring me again so I sped up. Finally catching up with her, I grabbed her by the wrist again. “I told you that I needed to talk to you.”

  Maia glared at me. “Do you think that because you’re my boss, you can be just that brazen with me, Ansel?” She’d dropped her politeness with me now that she was off work.

  I could see I was upsetting her again. “Have dinner with me
, Maia.”

  Maia let out an annoyed exhale and shook her head. “Why do you think I would agree to have dinner with you?”

  “Look, I know, okay?”

  My words made her pause and a flicker of something showed in her eyes. “What do you mean you know?”

  “I know you had a divorce. I know you’re raising your kid alone and I know you lost your job over a month ago. It must’ve been hard for you. It must still be hard for you, that’s why I want to have dinner with you and help.”

  Maia stared at me for a moment and then let out a harsh laugh, shaking her head at me. “Do you honestly think that it’s gonna be that easy for you to waltz back in my life, Ansel?”

  I stared at her in surprise. “I only want to help, Maia. You’ve been through so much and I can help. All you have to do is let me.”

  Maia took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly as she stared at me with hard dark eyes. “I don’t need your help, Ansel, and I don’t need your pity either. It’s my shit to go through and not yours. So stop trying to re-insert yourself in my life. You are my boss and that’s it. Let it stay like that.” She turned around again, to walk away from me.

  I reached for her hand again and yanked her back. “I meant what I said that I want you back, Maia. I want you back.”

  “Why are you doing this?” Her voice sounded tired.

  I could see annoyance glittering in her eyes. “How many times do you want me to say it? I want you back. I won you over with my persistence before. I’ll do it again.”

  Maia shook her head at me. “We’re not kids anymore, Ansel. It’s been eight years and you need to stop acting like you never broke my heart. You broke it in pieces, Ansel, in case you needed a reminder. I’d be a fool if I let you have it again.” With that, she pulled her hand from my grip and walked to the bus station.

  I stayed where I was, taking in her words. I watched as she walked away from me, remembering how she’d walked away from me all those years ago, heartbroken and betrayed. She was still angry at me.