by Angela Evans
“It was airtight. Our best guess,” his boss kept talking right through Dex’s snort of disbelief, “is there’s a mole on the inside. Someone let The Boss know you’re not doing time and you’re not in the hospital. They did some deep digging, and somehow got past all our blocks and found your cover story. You’re burned, buddy. Watch your six.”
The phone was muffled again as Captain Morrison barked orders at someone. Dex ran a hand through his hair as he tried to think. He knew what the men he’d spent the last year and a half with did to traitors, and in their eyes, that’s exactly what he was. And worse, he was a cop. That put a bullseye on his back. That was a risk he was more than willing to take, but having these guys track him down while he was with his family, and Amelia…he’d die before he’d let that happen.
“Give me your coordinates and I’ll send a team to scoop you up.” Standard protocol in this situation was for them to bring him in and hide him until things cooled off, but Dex knew this was not the kind of thing that was going to blow over with a little time.
“No, you can send a team if you want because I could use a little back up, but I’m not coming in. I have my family here,” Dex paused thinking of Amelia; she was naive and innocent and didn’t deserve the ugliness he was about to bring into her life. “And there are other people involved. If I come in, they’re still in danger.”
Silence stretched out on the phone until Morrison swore softly. “I knew you’d say that, and dammit I’d do the same thing in your shoes. I’ll send a team. They won’t get there until tomorrow, so I’m serious when I tell you to watch your ass!”
“I will.” Dex hung up. He had some explaining to do, and the first person he had to talk to was his mother. At least now she’d know he wasn’t really a lowlife, he thought ruefully.
* * *
Willow Hershey drove them through Mimosa Key, made a right at the intersection known as The Four Way, and headed down Center Street.
“So, tell me about this place? Is it still open?” Amelia asked.
“It just closed recently. The Donut Hole has been a Mimosa Key landmark for years, but the owner retired down to the Keys a few months ago and it’s been for sale ever since.” Willow smiled at Amelia as she spoke. “The kitchen is nothing fancy, but I think it should have everything you need. I made a quick call to the owner and she’s not only fine with you using her kitchen, but she’s hoping you might be interested in buying the bakery.”
“Oh, wow, I don’t…I mean I’m not really…I’d love to own a bakery, but my family is expecting me back.” She stuttered and stumbled through her denial. Buying a bakery wasn’t her plan; well actually, it was her plan, but now she had a new plan.
“No pressure! I have her number if you want it, but if you want to just do this one cake and then head back to the great white north, that’s totally fine, too!” Willow’s easygoing personality set Amelia’s nerves at ease. This was just a one-time thing; she was going to help them out, make a cake, and have a little fun.
The great white north was waiting for her, after all. She pictured the lodge in her mind as she watched the scenery of Mimosa Key pass by the window as they drove. Everything was so vivid here, alive with color and energy. That wasn’t to say Alaska wasn’t beautiful; it was more than beautiful, but it was the complete opposite of Mimosa Key.
“If you’ve always wanted to own a bakery, how did you end up running a kitchen in a hunting lodge, if you don’t mind me asking?” Willow asked as she pulled into a parking space in front of the bakery.
“That’s exactly what I’m trying to figure out on this vacation. I had my whole life planned, and I’m nothing if not a great planner, but somehow I’ve gotten off track.” Amelia stepped out of the car onto the sidewalk in front of The Donut Hole. “Sometimes the best recipes happen when you’re experimenting with things, so I need to decide if that’s what I’m doing or if I just need to throw out this whole mess and get back home.”
“Sounds like you’ve got a lot more going on here than just making a wedding cake to bail my butt out of a jam.” Willow wore a floral sundress and sandals, which seemed to be the go-to outfit for every woman in Mimosa Key. Amelia made a mental note to go shopping for at least one sundress and several pairs of sandals before she headed home.
With a sigh, she immediately realized the impracticality of owning either a sundress or sandals in Alaska.
Willow was unlocking the front door of the bakery, so Amelia followed her inside, pushing aside her thoughts of going home. The front of the bakery was obviously set up to sell doughnuts and other baked goods, but it was the kitchen that really held her interest. She was not disappointed. While The Donut Hole was clearly a small town doughnut shop, conveniently located within a block of the police station, the kitchen was filled with every piece of equipment she could hope to find. Commercial grade ovens, including a convection oven, a couple of large stand mixers, a huge walk-in cooler, a fryer, and more counter space than she had dared to hope for.
“Oh yes, this will definitely work.” Amelia murmured as she walked around inspecting each piece of equipment. Opening a few cupboards, she quickly located all of the supplies she would need: measuring cups, rolling pins, and pastry bags and tips, all neatly organized in exactly the spot she would have chosen to store them. “I just need to go shopping for the ingredients and I can have your cake done without any trouble at all.”
“Oh, that’s terrific news!” Willow cheered. “Let’s make a list of what you need and I’ll take care of getting it all delivered right here to the bakery.”
Amelia pulled a notepad from her purse. “I sketched out an idea of what I thought you were wanting.”
The pad contained a detailed drawing of a five-layer wedding cake, covered in rolled fondant and decorated simply but elegantly with piped frosting that gave the impression of vintage lace.
“I thought I would do the main body of the cake in a pale, almost frosted, blue fondant that will have a little shimmer to it, and then do the lace design in an ivory butter cream. The top will have a ribbon that contrasts with the blue of the cake and will stream down the side here.” She pointed to indicate where she envisioned the trailing ribbons would fall.
“Oh my gosh, Amelia…what on earth are you doing running a kitchen in a hunting lodge? If you can make cakes that look like this, even if you can only draw cakes that look this delicious, that’s clearly what you need to be doing.”
“So you like it?” Amelia asked.
“Like it? I love it, and more importantly the bride, Patrice Dexter, will love it too!”
“Patrice Dexter is the bride this cake is for?” Amelia gasped.
“Yes, why? Is that a problem?” Willow asked with concern. “I know you arrived at the resort with her son, and I’ve heard he’s a little intimidating.”
“No, it’s not a problem. I’m just surprised they didn’t mention it. I actually baked a few cakes and cupcakes for them yesterday.”
“Oh, well,” Willow looked chagrined. “She didn’t mention it because I haven’t actually told her there’s a problem with her cake yet. I wanted to wait and see if I had it all taken care of before I told her there was an issue.”
Amelia laughed. “Oh boy, you were really counting on me to come through weren’t you?”
“Maybe just a little.” The other woman laughed. “So, enough about cake. Let’s talk about how you get the cutest little pink color in your cheeks when I mention Blake Dexter.”
Amelia could feel the heat on her face this time as Willow deliberately said Dex’s name and watched her for a reaction. It was like trying to keep a secret from a fortune teller. Somehow Willow had already spotted the truth.
“I have no idea what’s going on between us. I didn’t come here to look for a guy. I came here to figure out where my life is going.” Amelia groaned and plopped down on a bar stool near the island in the center of the kitchen.
“You said yourself sometimes the best dishes come when you throw out th
e recipe and just see what happens.” Willow consoled her. “I can tell you when I met my husband, I thought that marriage was the absolute last thing life had planned for me, and it turned out I was dead wrong. Marrying him is the best thing that ever happened to me. But at the time I would have told you it was the most terrifying thing ever.” Willow pulled up a stool and sat across from her, both women rested their elbows on the stainless steel counter.
“I slept with him,” Amelia admitted.
“And?” Willow not only didn’t seem to think that was terrible, she seemed to be approving. “How was it?”
“The sex was phenomenal. Better than phenomenal. It was indescribable. But then after, his sister showed up with his cell phone and as soon as he got a look at it, he skipped out of my place like his tail was on fire.” That was the thing troubling Amelia. What had the texts said that chased Dex out of her bed? Who were they from?
“I’ve seen him around the resort. He looks like a pretty intense guy.” Amelia knew that was part of the cover Dex had lived for the last year and a half and she knew inside he wasn’t that guy that everyone saw. But she didn’t know what made him run for the hills after making love to her.
“He’s not really that guy, he’s…” Amelia fumbled for the words. “His job is pretty intense.”
“His job?” Willow raised an eyebrow.
Amelia contemplated how much to say. Dex had told her even his own mother believed he was a lowlife drug dealer; no one knew he was really a police officer except her. She didn’t want to betray his trust, but damn she could really use someone to talk to. “He’s actually an undercover cop. Nobody knows, not even his own mother.” Amelia spoke in a low, quiet voice as if she was sharing national secrets with a spy.
“You don’t say?” Willow looked a little skeptical. “Look, I know a thing or two about that. Nick was a Navy SEAL, and that’s pretty intense too. What you’re saying makes total sense. Those jobs require a level of commitment most of us will never understand.”
Amelia nodded, suddenly very relieved she had shared her feelings with Willow.
“I mean, on one hand I feel really honored he shared the truth with me, but on the other hand I’m wondering, why me?” Amelia threw up her hands in frustration.
“Um, because he thinks you’re hot?” Willow said wryly.
“Sure, that’s gotta be it.” Amelia rolled her eyes sarcastically.
“Hey, don’t knock yourself. You’re worthy of being called a catch by any guy out there!” Willow insisted. “Look, I know what low self-esteem feels like, but I’m here to tell you none of that matters. Once a guy decides you’re the one, it doesn’t matter anymore. Love makes everything change.”
“Love?” Amelia gasped.
“Yeah, that is what we’re talking about, right? I mean that’s the only thing I can think of that makes someone who has planned their life like a recipe go completely off script and seriously consider starting over in a new town, on the other side of the world, with a guy that scares most of the staff at the resort.”
“Holy crap.” Amelia swore. “Is that what I’m doing?”
“Is it?”
“I think I’ve said ‘I don’t know’ more times in the last week than I have in my whole life,” Amelia moaned.
Chapter Five
Dex shook his head at the memory of the conversation he’d had earlier with his mother. Even now he couldn’t believe he’d had her unwavering belief and support all along. When he’d told her he was actually an undercover cop and not a drug dealing thug, he’d expected relief and support. What he hadn’t expected is her declaration that she’d never believed he was the criminal he pretended to be.
“How could you possibly have known?” He’d asked her, filled with skepticism.
“A mother just knows. I’ve always known your heart and you might be strong and tough, but your heart is filled with good, not bad.” She’d patted his chest as she admitted she’d always known he was a good guy despite his Oscar worthy acting performances. “I am proud of you son, I always have been. Please, be careful.”
He swallowed hard at the memory, and the look of emphatic support in her eyes as she’d left the room. His sisters had a similar reaction. Even his mother’s fiancé, a guy he barely knew, had declared he’d known there was something off with the appearance of Dex being a drug dealer while he was obviously a good guy at heart.
“So much for being undercover.” He mumbled to himself and shifted in the seat of the cheapest, most dilapidated rental car he could find. Actually, it wasn’t technically a rental car, it was the personal vehicle of the college-aged kid who worked the counter at the rental car desk. Dex had talked him into renting his own vehicle to him instead of one of the slick convertibles available from the company. Now he was parked down the block from a house that looked like any other house in Mimosa Key. Only someone who was looking to buy narcotics, or a trained undercover cop, would be able to spot the subtle differences between this house and the average one down the block. A few quiet questions asked of the nosy woman behind the counter at the convenience store known as the Super Min, had led Dex directly here. Word at the resort was, if you wanted to know about something in Mimosa Key, the Super Min was the place to ask. After watching the house for less than an hour and seeing no fewer than a dozen visitors come in empty handed, but leave with a hand in their pocket, he knew he had found the right place. If all of those things hadn’t added up, his nose had told him he was on target. The only question waiting to be answered was were these guys connected to his guys? Time would tell.
His mind wandered yet again, thinking back to his time with Amelia. His sister delivering his phone had been a lifesaver in the literal sense, but what he wouldn’t have given to spend several more hours in that bed with the sexy redhead…
He owed her an explanation. Actually he owed her a lot more than that. Deep inside he wondered if he was capable of giving her even a fraction of what she deserved, of what he owed her.
“Bingo!” Dex whispered to himself as he spotted a familiar face slipping up on the porch he’d been staring at all afternoon. There was definitely trouble in town, and it was trouble Dex happened to know by name. “Hello, Hector,” Dex whispered to himself.
* * *
“I’m fine, I promise,” Amelia said into the telephone for what felt like the hundredth time since her oldest brother, Jaxon, had called her.
“When are you coming home?” He demanded gently. “I understand why you needed to get away, I just wish you’d told me you were going so I could have arranged to cover for you at the lodge.”
When in doubt, always use guilt. It was her big brother’s way.
“Jaxon, you know as well as I do if I had told you, you’d just have made an excuse why I couldn’t go. I was supposed to be helping out for a few months after Mom and Dad died. That was years ago, with no end in sight. I love you, and I know you love the lodge and so do the rest of the guys, but I don’t. I never have, to be honest.”
Amelia hated that she was having this conversation over the phone. She knew she owed it to her entire family to talk to them face to face. The problem was, whenever she had tried in the past, they’d always managed to talk her out of it. Talk her into following their plans instead of her own.
A long pause followed her declaration. As Amelia struggled not to speak and fill the silence, she wondered if her brother was angry, disappointed, or more likely a combination of both.
“Amelia, I think we all owe you an apology.”
“What?” Amelia was sure she hadn’t heard right.
“We promised you we’d hire someone to replace Mom and then we just let ourselves get too comfortable. We never even tried to find someone new to do the job you’ve been doing, frankly because you’ve done it so well we never wanted to.” Jaxon said.
“I came down here to figure out what I want. I know I don’t want to run the kitchen in the lodge anymore. Somehow, I got way off track. Way off of my plan. I ended up
engaged to a man I didn’t love, in a job I never wanted, living in a part of the world that never felt like home to me.” Amelia paused to think before she spoke again. “I don’t know yet what my new plan is, but I know I need to find a new one.”
Amelia looked up to see Dex standing in the doorway. He seemed to turn up whenever her guard was down. She wasn’t at all sure where things stood between them, and she was distracted by the conversation with her brother. Still, she felt a tingle up her spine just at the sight of him. A zing of electricity passed between them when their eyes met. He simply nodded towards the phone in her hand and raised a single eyebrow.
“My brother,” she mouthed.
“Jeffery actually came by yesterday. He seems pretty torn up about the broken engagement,” Jaxon said on the other end of the phone call, pulling Amelia back to their conversation.
“Trust me, the only thing Jeffery is torn up about is that he got caught red-handed cheating on me and since I called off the wedding he won’t get his hands on the money the lodge is worth.” Amelia responded, earning her another raised eyebrow from Dex.
“He said he thought you had already found someone new. He said you won’t even take his calls.”
“Whether or not I found someone new is none of Jeffery’s business. It stopped being his business the minute he decided to take another woman to a motel. I made sure he knew it was no longer his business when I told him our engagement was off. I also told him not to call me, which would explain why I haven’t been taking his calls.” Amelia stood up from the couch where she’d been relaxing while she talked to her brother. Suddenly she didn’t feel very much like relaxing. “Jaxon, I’ve got to go. I have company.”
“Company? You don’t know anyone else there…” She heard through the phone as she clicked to end the call on her cell phone.
