by Layla Hagen
“Yummm,” I exclaimed, rubbing my palms together as Landon held the door open for me. The shop was small, just an L-shaped display containing goodies, but no sitting area.
“Happy Fourth of July,” a woman greeted us. “What can I get you?”
“Do you have lemon cake?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No. We only have what you can see here in the display.”
I squinted at the small labels under each cake, my mouth already watering. Landon pointed to an apple cake with a small American flag made out of whipped cream on top.
“This looks more homemade than the others.”
I straightened up, scandalized. “Landon Connor, are you suggesting I pass a store-bought dessert for a homemade one?”
“That’s exactly what I’m suggesting.”
“Wouldn’t have occurred to me.”
Leaning in, he whispered, “Always happy to save your honor.”
I wondered what other honor-saving techniques he had in his arsenal, and if kissing me against the wall was among them, but I kept the question to myself.
“Can you take out the apple cake?” I asked the vendor. “I want to take a closer look.”
My stomach rumbled when she put it on top of the glass case, right under my nose. Landon was right.
“It does look homemade... except for the whipped cream flag. It’s too perfect.”
He grinned. “We can mess it up. Can we have a spatula?”
The vendor was looking at us as if worried we were unhinged. “So you’re buying it?”
“Yes,” I assured her.
“I’m going in the back to bring you a box,” she said, handing me a spatula.
Landon and I both laughed once she disappeared through the door.
He held out his hand. “I believe I should do the honors. Since it was my idea.”
I pretended to consider this, tapping a finger against my chin. I loved the boyish enthusiasm lighting up his face.
“I didn’t peg you for a mischief maker.” I was still playing with the spatula between my fingers, and Landon was watching my every move. I wondered if he was making plans to snatch it away from me. Then I wondered if said plans included kissing me. I bit the inside of my cheek.
“Ah, that would be a correct impression. I was a mischief maker growing up. I just started taking myself too seriously in... recent years. You have an interesting effect on me.”
“Honored to claim that praise.”
I was slowly piecing together an image of who Landon had been over the years, and I was glad to help him rediscover bits of himself. Handing him the spatula, I pondered the effect he had on me. Usually, I wasn’t so open with people. It was as if Landon had dislodged some bricks off that wall I’d erected around myself on the day he kissed me. I wasn’t sure if it was because he’d pulled me out of the rain despite my manic stubbornness, or because being in his arms had felt so perfect. He maneuvered the spatula around the flag, messing up the whipped cream until it looked like an amateur chef had poured it.
“You’re good at this,” I said.
The multicolored cream on the edge of the spatula was beckoning to me. Which was why I was appalled when Landon brought it to his mouth without even offering it to me.
“Hey!” I gripped his hand after he’d had just one lick. “I want some of that too.”
“You’ll have to fight me on this, Maddie, because it’s so good, I don’t plan to leave you even a lick of it.” He took another swipe. “Come to think of it, Val might not buy it that you made this. It tastes too good.”
The nerve of him! That was it. I refused to be called out on my atrocious baking skills while he licked the spatula clean. I lunged at him, but he held his arm up, out of my reach. I was debating how ridiculous I’d look jumping up when I realized I didn’t have to. His armpit was ready to be tickled. He was wearing a rather thick cotton polo shirt, and the fabric was covering the sensitive area, but I was confident I could do some damage anyway. Landon shrieked when I ran my fingers over his armpit, his entire body coiling forward. He jerked his arm down, but then quickly raised it again. Damn, his reflexes were too good.
“You know how to play,” he teased.
“You’re standing between a woman and her whipped cream, Landon. That’s a dangerous place to be.”
“How dangerous?”
Lowering the spatula, he offered it to me. And then watched as I licked the frosting off. I went up in flames when I realized his mouth had been on it moments before. I didn’t know who leaned forward first, but suddenly his mouth was on mine and we were kissing like there was no tomorrow. He brought a hand to the small of my back, pressing me against him. I relished the contact, wanted even more. I didn’t want to let go. I wanted him to kiss me for hours. I hoped he planned to do that tonight after the fireworks. Or during the fireworks. I didn’t mind, really.
“Ahem.” The sound reached me as if through a haze, but it was a while until I realized it was the vendor clearing her throat. Landon and I stepped apart.
“Is the cake ready for packing?” she asked.
“Yes,” Landon and I answered at the same time. We watched in silence as she packed, then left after I paid. Landon’s phone buzzed when we stepped onto the street. He pulled it out, frowned, then shoved it back in.
“That looks like trouble,” I said.
“The partnership isn’t going as smoothly as it should.”
“Why not?”
“The owner of the other company keeps going back on points we’d already agreed upon.”
“Negotiations are your strong suit, though.”
“Yeah, but negotiations were supposed to be over. That’s why I took this vacation. I’m not looking forward to going back to deal with stuff I’ve already spent months on. It’s a waste of everyone’s time.” He shook his head, smiled. “But I don’t want to waste my time now thinking about it.”
“Wow. Who are you and what have you done with Landon Connor?”
“I think the more appropriate question is what have you done to me?”
Me? I could take credit for this? He definitely looked more relaxed than the evening he’d arrived, or even the next day, when having free time seemed to make him uncomfortable.
“I can’t wait for this evening,” he said, bringing a hand to my waist, tucking me into him. I warmed up all over. After having had his mouth on me, I was sure my body would combust if he kept touching me. But he seemed to have no plans to let me go. And I didn’t make any attempt to wiggle out because he felt amazing against me. I could get used to this, which I absolutely couldn’t do. I looked at the cake I was carrying and sighed. I wasn’t so sure my heart was safe.
Chapter Thirteen
Landon
In the time I’d been away, my brothers had already set up a bonfire, where everyone was welcome to skewer meat, or s’mores, or whatever else they wanted. We’d brought the picnic table and benches from the front yard to the back, and all the plastic chairs Val kept in storage for outdoor parties.
I loved these gatherings. In San Jose, I often joined my cousins. Celebrations with the Bennetts were fun. There were nine siblings. All of them were married and most had kids, so it was always a full house. I was particularly close to Sebastian, the oldest cousin. He was the founder of Bennett Enterprises—the most successful jewelry company in America. I valued his business knowledge. But as much as I loved the Bennett gatherings, nothing beat being with my siblings.
“Okay, I couldn’t help myself and stole a bite of the apple cake from the fridge,” Val exclaimed as I passed her and Maddie. “I need that recipe.”
“Oh, it’s... I don’t know it by heart,” Maddie mumbled. We’d told Val that Maddie had baked the cake.
I headed to Jace, who was roasting chorizo on the bonfire. I took another skewer and followed his lead. Mid roasting, I snapped my head up and searched for Maddie... and found her sitting next to Will at the picnic table. He had an arm around her shoulders. She didn’
t attempt to push it away. In fact, she seemed comfortable, almost as if they were... familiar with each other. My throat tightened, jealousy coiling inside me, twisting my guts. I couldn’t believe I was jealous of my own brother. One hand was on her arm, the other around her shoulder. Time to break up that party. I handed the skewer to Jace and walked over to Will and Maddie. I glared at my brother, and he had the good sense to take his hands off Maddie. He gave me a cat-got-the-cream grin before he joined Jace at the bonfire.
“You two ever gone out?” I asked Maddie without further ado. Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline as she stood up, looking around. My sisters were far enough away not to be within earshot.
“You’re seriously asking that?”
“Yeah.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You’re jealous of your brother?”
“Apparently so.”
Maddie bit back a smile. “Will does have that whole hot-cop thing going on.”
I cleared my throat. She pointed at me.
“Did you just growl?”
“Maddie,” I said warningly.
She gave in to that smile now. “You did growl. Wow. That was hot. Relax, Landon. I like a man who can rock a set of cuff links. Cuffs, on the other hand, aren’t really my thing.” She looked past me, frowning. “Val and Lori are looking at us.”
“They’re probably having a blast trying to read our body language.”
“Did you all have spy training or something?”
“Sort of. We cut our teeth on spying on each other to report to our parents.”
“Who was spying on whom? Were there teams?”
I didn’t miss a beat. “Teams changed according to interests.”
Hailey stepped up to us, looped an arm around Maddie’s waist. “Maddie, I need you. Val and Lori are teaming up against me, and I need someone on my side.” She turned to me and informed me, “We’re discussing shoes. Pumps versus peep toes.”
I grimaced. “I’ll steer clear of you.”
“You do that.” Leaning closer to Maddie, she whispered loud enough for me to hear, “Last time he decided to contribute to our shoe conversation, he proclaimed they all look the same to him.”
Maddie gasped. “He did not.”
As Maddie and Hailey joined the rest of my sisters, I headed to the bonfire to my brothers.
“Landon, you just lost me five bucks,” Jace said, then turned to Will. “He really does like her.”
Will grinned. “I knew it.”
I stared between the two of them. “What’s going on?”
“I had a hunch you liked Maddie. Jace disagreed. Thank you for proving me right.” He turned his attention to Jace again. “He turned green with jealousy, I’d say.”
“He was choking on it,” Jace continued.
“You made a bet?” I asked.
“Gee, you’re slow today,” Will said. “Yep. You do remember what a bet is, right? You used to bet with us all the time.”
I did. It was the most surefire way to motivate him to do something he didn’t want to do, to help him get out of his comfort zone.
Jace took a bite out of his chorizo. “We should fly out to San Jose more often. He’s losing his touch without us around to give him a hard time.”
“All that trouble just to give me shit? You can do that via FaceTime.”
Jace pinched his nose, as if considering it. Will shook his head. “Impact’s better if we do it in person. But seriously, you should listen to our advice from time to time. You raised us to be well-adjusted individuals.”
“It’s like listening to your younger self,” Jace added helpfully.
Hailey walked up to us, rubbing her belly. “Maddie is a deserter. She sided with Val and Lori on the shoe debacle. Mmm, fire looks ready for roasting some goodies. Will any of you tell on me if I start with some marshmallows?”
I pointed to our nephew, who was loading his plate at the buffet table we’d set up a few feet away from the fire. “After Lori gave Milo an earful about doing the exact same thing?”
“You’re right. She’ll scalp me.” Hailey looked at the skewers in my brothers’ hands, then narrowed her eyes as she took in our expressions. “Will, Jace! You’ve been messing with him.”
Jace nodded. “That’s our job.”
“Stop it or he’ll visit us even less.” Hooking an arm around mine, she nudged me. “Do you want to go to the buffet with me?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
We went to the buffet, and I loaded my plate with steak, guacamole, and Val’s famous veggie burger with quinoa buns. There were so many different dishes that the blend of spices caused an aroma overload.
“Let me guess. Tuna salad is your dish?” Hailey asked.
I schooled my features in a serious expression. “Yes. Fish is healthy. Salad’s healthy.”
“Really, Landon?”
I shrugged as we made our way to the plastic chairs, which were far enough from the picnic table that I couldn’t overhear the conversation between Maddie, Val, and Lori. Milo had joined my brothers at the bonfire.
“Your tuna salad is not as bad as I remember. Sad you haven’t expanded your range, though,” Hailey said.
“Cooking’s never been my forte.”
“Oh, you don’t need to remind me. We’d all make contingency plans when it was your turn to cook. They mostly consisted of stuffing our faces with sweets when Val wasn’t looking.”
“Ouch! Some things I don’t need to know, Hailey. I was really making an effort there.”
Her face fell. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful. I know you were doing your best, and you were doing great. I just—”
Chuckling, I held up a hand. “I was messing with you. I knew my cooking was shit, but I didn’t want to leave it up to Val and Will all the time.”
“Still, that wasn’t a nice thing to say.”
I kissed her forehead. “We’re good, kiddo.”
“So, what did Will and Jace do to mess with you?”
“Just the usual.”
“They went ahead with that bet, didn’t they? I told them not to.”
Was everyone in the family five steps ahead of me? I bit into the veggie burger.
“But it worked, huh?” she asked.
“Oh, there was a purpose to it?”
“Well... thinking their territory is under threat usually makes alphas react.”
“Territory?”
She waved her hand away. “It’s a figure of speech.”
I continued to chew on my burger, aware that Hailey was nearing exasperation waiting for me to talk.
“We all want you to be happy, Landon. It might be easier than you think... if you tried. You’re not really trying, though.”
“We’re really having this conversation?”
“Hey! I’m eating your tuna salad. The least you can do is listen to me.”
I inspected her plate, noticing the careful way in which she’d pushed my salad to one side, as if to make sure it wouldn’t contaminate the rest of the food.
“It is as terrible as you remember, isn’t it? You were just buttering me up.”
She looked down at her plate, then smiled sheepishly. “Possibly. So, we noticed you’ve been spending time with Maddie.”
“You’ve all talked about this?”
“We simply exchanged information,” she said with a straight face. “And my analytical mind immediately saw a pattern. So, care to explain yourself? I’m here. You’d better take my amazing sisterly advice.”
“I can’t stay away from her.” I knew Maddie deserved more than I could offer her, but I still couldn’t stay away. “We’re going out tonight.”
“That’s so great, Landon.” Hailey sighed, but instead of dishing sisterly advice, her gaze followed Val as she moved from the picnic table to the buffet, and she said, “Is it just me or does Val look like she’s carrying a hundred-pound weight on her shoulders?”
“She’s got an important meeting tomorrow,�
�� I explained. Val had told me that she’d try her best to relax today, and she’d go into the office early tomorrow to go through her pitch one last time. I could relate to the worrying. I had a partnership going from bad to worse waiting for me in San Jose, but I was determined to enjoy these last few days here.
“I know. But it’s the Fourth of July. I love how Val preaches to you all about how you should relax on your vacation, and she’s just as bad. I’m going to try to get her to relax. But don’t think you’re off the hook,” she said.
“Wasn’t dreaming of it.”
I spent the afternoon chatting about everything and nothing with my family, the way we always did when we got together. Maddie fit in so well that I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if she was part of my life permanently. I had a hard time keeping my hands off her. Every time she was within my reach, I touched her. Christ, I needed to be alone with her.
When the sun began to set, she headed to the bonfire, skewering marshmallows and holding them over the flame. I didn’t take my eyes off her, and every few seconds, she glanced my way, which might have something to do with all her marshmallows melting off their stick. I watched her melt off six before heading to her.
“You’re distracting me,” she said.
“How is it my fault?” I challenged.
“You sit there, looking at me, and looking all... you.”
She stared at me like I was supposed to understand what she meant. I didn’t, but she was adorable, all flustered.
“Here, I’ll show you how to get it just right.”
She impaled another marshmallow on the skewer and I gripped her hand, guiding the marshmallow over the fire.
“Keep turning it so the flames don’t burn one spot constantly.”
“Okay.” She sounded breathless. I trailed my fingers over her bare forearm and felt her shudder against me.
“I love your skin, Maddie.”
“Landon... is this okay?” she asked, moving her hands the way I’d explained. “Am I doing it right?”
A vision popped into my head: Maddie spread-eagled on a bed, touching herself at my command, following my instructions to a T, those gorgeous eyes looking straight at me when she’d double-check if she was doing it just the way I wanted.
