by Gina Gordon
Liv placed a finger on his lips. She didn't need an explanation. “I trust you.”
Within seconds, he plunged into her, pumping fast and furious, giving her everything he had. The steam from the hot water enveloped them. Their slick bodies rubbed against one another. The coarse ripple in the tile scratched the smooth skin of her back.
“Liv.” He lowered her against the wall, changing their angle. “Liv.”
She could feel the pressure building, building, building. “Oh, yes.” Liv broke into a million pieces. White starbursts filled the darkness behind her eyelids.
“Liv.” Jake convulsed against her.
They held each other for a minute, basking in the tingly sensation. But just as soon as he released her from his grip, silence fell between them.
Emotions weighed heavily inside the shower stall. Words replayed in her mind. Words she could never take back. They huddled under the spray and washed, stealing quick glances at one another.
But the fog in Liv's brain had nothing to do with the steam from the shower. This thing with Jake, this relationship, was taking its toll. She wanted him to take her body in ways no man ever had. She wanted him to leave his mark on her, but he took more than just her pleasure. In the midst of passion, she crossed an invisible line and somehow, someway, he branded more than her body.
He had branded her heart.
…
Jake felt the distance between them even though they were standing only a foot apart. Her muscles tensed and clenched as she rinsed under the spray, the water slicing across her skin. Her face wore the same tension. Because she had opened up.
You make me feel unglued. Her words echoed in his head. For the first time, she had been honest about her feelings, but it wasn't the feeling he had hoped for. Despite the weekend they'd just spent together, she was still trying to convince herself they were only in it for the sex. Bitterness stung, leaving him in the exact spot that he had feared.
“Jake? Are you okay?” She had turned off the water and was wrapped in a towel, holding one out for him.
“Fine.” He cleared his throat. “Just thinking about a couple of things I have to do today.”
“Me, too. I've got to get a move on.” She lifted onto her toes and kissed his cheek before she raced out of the bathroom as if fleeing the scene of a crime.
When he entered her bedroom, she rummaged through her drawers for clothing. The creamy skin of her shoulders glistened with droplets of water. His desire mounted inside him again, but his stupidity squashed any feelings of want that simmered below the surface. He let her slide right under his skin and set up camp, tugging at all of his feelings of lust and desire, love and longing. She was worth it, wasn't she? It was time he found out.
“I guess it's finally time for me to leave.”
“I guess so.” She stopped and turned to face him, pulling back her shoulders as she spoke. “I had a really great time.”
“Maybe next time you can sleep over at my house?”
She let out a hard exhale as she thought of how to respond. “This week is going to be really hectic with the opening.”
“I can help.” God, he was pathetic. He heard the desperation in his own voice. She agreed to go to the book launch. That was mission number one. That's all he needed. So why did he want more? “I am a master of PR.”
“I can't focus with you around.” She grinned and patted her wet shoulders with her towel. “But I'll see you for the book party.” She clasped her bra around her torso, then spun it around to push her arms under the straps.
He took that as an invitation and stalked closer, enveloping her against his naked body. “I'm more excited for the after party.” He wiggled his eyebrows, hoping she'd get the point, maybe even lighten up a bit.
She tensed and fisted her hands against his chest. “Jake, I don't have time for this. Put on your clothes.” She waved her hand to his clothes that sat on her bed. “I'm already late.”
He released his grip, backed away with caution, and followed her direction. After dressing, he hooked his thumbs in the front pockets of his jeans. “I'm sorry.”
Liv was busy running a brush through her long, dark hair, but she acknowledged him when their eyes met.
He shrugged. “I just can't keep my hands off you.”
A quiet chuckle filled the room, and just like that all was right with the world.
When the brush had been pulled through every strand of her hair, she tied it up. “This is really important. This is my livelihood.”
He nodded. She was right. Today was a big day for her, and the last thing she needed right now, no matter how much fun they had, was his paws all over her.
He stepped forward with his palms out. His version of waving the white flag.
She smiled and lowered her arms. He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “Good luck today. Call me if you need anything, or…if you just want to say hi.”
Jake headed for the doorway, but paused before he stepped over the threshold and looked back. “I will see you later.”
Despite knowing that he risked losing her once she found out about Shelton, he just couldn't give up on her. He would give her the time and space she needed. But she was right. They both had other things going on in their lives, and making an appearance at his own job was probably a good idea.
But Liv would never be far from his mind.
Chapter Seventeen
This was supposed to be a great day. An exciting day. Instead, Liv spent the morning wiping tears from her cheeks. She'd showed up to a dark bakery. Not one watt of power, and a whole hell of a lot of water on the floor.
She immediately called Mr. Luko, who didn't appreciate the early morning wake-up call. But after flicking around with the breakers, she had no choice. Building maintenance wasn't on her list of skills.
It took Mr. Luko two minutes to figure out the problem. All he did was flick a switch. He mumbled something under his breath that she couldn't understand, but when he asked her if she had been playing around with the breakers, she got nervous. He said someone would've had to come into the bakery and turn the breaker off on purpose.
On top of that, the hand-washing station had leaked, and water seeped from the pipe under the sink across the floor. Luckily, the water had contained itself and didn't travel to the kitchen or the front door. Unfortunately, it did enough damage to ruin the boxes of advertising material she had forgotten to pick up from the floor on her way out of the bakery yesterday morning. Jake had been just too damn distracting.
It was only three hours into her opening day and already Liv was hundreds of dollars in the hole. And not one business card to give out to make up for it. The events of this morning had initiated the conspiracy-theory wheel. She might have been a little stern working at the bar, but she didn't have any enemies. She had supportive family and friends who bent over backwards to help her. Like Nancy, who…
Suddenly the pieces began to fit. She had been around quite a bit. Showing up out of the blue. Liv shook off the thought. No, Nancy would never resort to sabotage. That thought scared her. Could it be sabotage? It was a possibility she should consider, because something deep in her gut told her this was more than just bad luck.
With the pipe fixed and the floors dry, Liv set out for the twenty-four hour grocery store. Who knew how long the power had been out? She didn't want to risk getting anyone sick, so she replaced the eggs, butter, and milk in her fridge.
When she had finally settled down to start baking it was after eight, which didn't give her as much time as she would have liked. She even had to put the plain cupcakes in the fridge to cool them down enough to frost them. Her cupcakes were by no means perfect when she finished, but at least she had cupcakes.
By ten, things had settled down and she had a couple of batches ready for the showcase just in time to open the door to the public. It was also exactly the same time Mr. Cross decided to grace her with his presence.
“Hello, Mr. Cross.” Liv greeted him with a
smile, despite the sour taste rising in her throat. “I think you'll find all of the changes made to your liking.”
“Not my liking Ms. Crawford, the City of Toronto's liking.”
She sneered because she could. He had already walked past her into the kitchen.
Instead of following on his heels, Liv let Cross do his thing. She puttered in the front of the store, doing her best to avoid annoying the man. She had better things to do, like serve her very first customer.
The cold winter air swirled around the bakery when an attractive woman stepped through the door and looked up when the bell jingled above her head. She pulled her red coat tighter against her body and inhaled deeply, a satisfied smile spreading across her face.
“Good morning and welcome,” Liv said. Maybe she should tone it down a bit. She didn't want to seem too eager.
“Hello.” The woman glided to the counter and extended her hand. “I'm Valerie. Your neighbor. I own the dry cleaner down the street.”
Liv gripped her hand. “Great to meet you.”
“I'm so happy you're finally open.” She smiled brightly, her teeth an abnormal shade of white. “I've been hungry for a cupcake ever since I saw your sign go up.” She peered inside the showcase. “I'll try one Chocolate Explosion, please.”
“Excellent choice.” Liv slipped on a plastic glove and grabbed the cupcake from the showcase. She reached for the single pink box but the woman stopped her.
“No need to waste a box. It's pretty, but it will be gone before I even get back to my store.”
Liv laughed. “Fair enough. That'll be $2.50.”
Valerie pulled out her change purse and rummaged around. She placed two dollars and fifty cents in coins on the counter.
Her very first sale. Liv's stomach danced with excitement. She was going to have to figure out how to frame two dollars in change.
Grabbing the cupcake from the counter, Valerie licked her lips and her eyes focused on Liv. “Fair warning, you might have to ban me from the premises if I start to eat too many cupcakes.”
Liv smiled at the woman's loud chuckle. “No such thing as too many cupcakes.” She dropped the money in the register. “Thank you so much, and it was nice meeting you.”
Valerie raised the cupcake and said, “I'll see you soon.”
Liv hoped every customer was as nice and excited as Valerie. She hoped she had fifty more just like her by the end of the day. She stared out the window into the busy street and sighed. In her dreams. But this was her dream, wasn't it.
Two minutes later, Mr. Cross interrupted her good mood when he asked, “What happened to those boxes in the sink?”
Oh, crap! “A little water damage. We had a power outage this weekend, but as you can see, everything is up and running.”
“As it seems.”
This time when he ripped the paper from his clipboard, the green color settled her nerves.
“You've fixed all of the necessary changes, Ms. Crawford.”
Liv had to stop herself from jumping up and down. She even had to stop herself from shouting a “take that” at Mr. Cross. But she was ever the picture of professionalism. “Thank you, Mr. Cross. I'll see you again in six months?”
“Give or take.” Why did it seem like he was angry at the fact she passed? Did he enjoy finding problems, messing with people's livelihoods? Maybe he was just a bitter city worker.
With the chaos finally behind her, and the green passing notice in her window, Liv's brain finally had the chance to remember the other reason why she was so upset this morning.
Jake.
Maybe she needed someone to walk the journey with. Maybe she wanted someone to come home to, to be there to listen to her ramble about her day. To notice the charm in her expression when she talked about the things she loved most in the world. Austin and Patti were supportive, but they had their own lives to live. She needed more.
But she couldn't put that into words.
Shaking her head, Liv pushed away thoughts of Jake. She had other things to concentrate on. Like getting a quote to reprint her publications. Liv had just checked on her latest batch of cupcakes when the jingle of the front door alerted her to a new customer.
She stole a look under the curtain and froze when she registered Jake standing in front of her. He was persistent. And a glutton for punishment. But something inside her warmed at the sight of him. She did her best to repress the smile she wanted to flash him.
He stood stiffly, his eyes glued to her, his fists clenched at his sides. Like he wanted to punch something.
She owed him an apology. She had no doubt hurt his feelings. Okay, she owed him more than one apology.
But she had been humbled this morning. Nancy had been right. She'd had it too easy all these years, and it was time she paid her dues. Why not get all of the feeling-like-shit moments out of the way in one morning? She needed to fix things with Jake.
Liv looked him in the eye. “I'm sorry.”
“You weren't supposed to do that.” His voice was stern, hard, nothing like the smooth tone she was used to.
“Do what?”
“Apologize. That's not how I planned this.”
He planned their encounter? “Jake, I know I—”
“Let me say what I need to say.” He held his hand up, cutting her off, and took a deep breath. “You freaked out this morning.”
She lowered her gaze to the floor. She knew what was coming. He was here for closure.
“You were worried,” he hesitated. “And I'm sorry.”
She looked up at him. The last thing she expected was an apology.
“If I came on too strong, I'm sorry. I should know what not to do.”
Shame gripped her. It took a lot of guts to do what he was doing right now. She only hoped she'd be able to do the same thing when it was her turn to lay her cards on the table.
“I know you're busy. I'll give you as much space as you need. Maybe one day, you'll trust me and let me in.” He stepped closer. He had changed into a suit. No one looked better in a suit. The pale pink of his dress shirt matched his pale, pink patterned tie. So he did have pink in his wardrobe.
Jake reached out and covered her hand with his. “I know we aren't together-together, but when I'm with you, I want nothing more than to have your hands all over me.”
Agreed! She loved Jake's hands all over her. Couldn't get enough of his hands all over her.
“But I don't want to just hide under the covers in your bed.” A sly smile spread across his face. “Not that it wasn't fun.”
He was drawing her in. She was inching closer and closer, leaning over the counter. “It was fun.”
“I can't wait for the book launch. Say you'll go out with me on Wednesday.”
Before she could answer, the ding of the oven interrupted. “Uh…can you…? Can we move this to the kitchen?”
She couldn't handle burnt cupcakes on her conscience today, too.
He nodded and followed her to the back.
She grabbed her oven mitts on the way to the ovens. When she opened the doors, sweet chocolate flooded her nostrils. Despite the problems this morning, her feelings toward cupcakes hadn't been tainted. The smell still brought back wonderful memories.
“Those smell great.” For a moment she had forgotten that he was with her.
She placed the trays on the wood island then shut the oven door.
“Have you sold anything today?”
Despite the gnawing sense of dread that sat heavy in her stomach, she gave him a genuine smile. “A few. But it's early in the day. The two o'clock craving hasn't hit yet.” Not to mention the after school crowd. She'd noticed there was an elementary school just down the street, which meant lots of stay at home moms, and lots of sugar-craving kids to cater to.
“What happened there?” Jake gestured to the sink where the soaked boxes sat. She didn't have the heart to throw them out just yet.
Liv sighed. “Let's just say it's been a chaotic morning.”
; He gave her a sympathetic look. “What happened?”
She let her shoulders droop. She was going to have to recount the events at least three more times, anyway—Austin, Patti, and her mother. She might as well practice.
“The power went out.” She didn't mention the weird circumstances. “The sink leaked and flooded the area behind the counter, ruining all of my business cards and advertising materials.”
“I'm sorry.” He sidled up to her and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her into his body. “That's not the best start to your opening day.”
“It's just…” She hesitated. This was a suspicion she didn't want to say out loud, but she needed to talk it through with someone. She raised her head from his chest. “I think someone might be trying to sabotage me.”
His body tensed and his eyes narrowed.
“Do you think it could be someone I know? All of these bad things have been happening, like someone doesn't want me to open.”
Jake lifted his hand and cupped her cheek. “You really believe this, don't you?”
She did. With every passing minute, a feeling of dread settled heavier in her stomach. “I think it might be Nancy. She's my mentor. I owe her a lot, and I just feel so…” She felt awful thinking that Nancy could have anything to do with her failing. “I feel horrible even saying it out loud, but she's just been around a lot, and all of these bad things are starting to make me paranoid.”
“Has she given you any reason in the past to believe she might not want you to succeed?” Jake asked.
Liv shook her head. Nancy was her number one fan and supporter. And Liv was so eager to throw her under the bus. Shame on her. But that didn't stop the suspicion from growing in her mind.
“Businesses have ups and downs,” he said. “Sometimes it takes a lot of downs to finally get your stride.” Jake stroked her hair. “Everything will work out.” He smiled.
And she believed him.
How easily she believed him. How easily she missed the signs that someone could be out to get her. This man was a distraction. Everything she had worked for was at risk the closer they became.
She whispered, “Thank you,” and wiggled out of his embrace.
