Alexander (6 page)

“
It was my pleasure, really. I needed the exercise and it’s not too cold out yet for me to get a cold. You have a great day at school, kid.”

“
My name is Jack,” he said as he walked up the steps and onto the bus. The door was closed before he could say anything back.

~Chapter
6~

Heather was exhausted. It had been five days now since she’d been working the extra half shift in the morning and wasn’t sure she could do it much more. The tips were great and so long as she was there, she wasn’t as tired because they were so busy. But now, standing with her hands in bread dough, she wasn’t so sure. When the timer went off, she went to the oven, pulled out a pan of cookies, and put them on the cooling rack. While she was standing there, Lisa came back to get some supplies.

“
Out of sugar cookies again. And a customer wants to know if you’ll be making some Christmas ones soon. I tried to tell him it was only November, but he just smiled at me. Moron.” Lisa started putting the sugar dusted cookies she needed on a tray as she continued. “Also, Mom wants to talk to you later if you have time. She’s got some great news.”

Heather nodded. She hoped that she was hiring another cook, but quickly changed her mind. The extra money she was making wouldn’t be extra if she lost her job. When Lisa was gone, she moved to the bread again.

She couldn’t remember when she’d had her last good night’s sleep. Probably since before Jack was born. She grinned when she thought of him this morning telling her he was going to be in the Christmas pageant at school. She closed her eyes for a second and drifted off. When the alarm went off again, she nearly screamed. She had actually fallen asleep standing up. When she pulled the first batch of cakes out of the oven, she grabbed her bottle of water and stepped outside.

It was mid-November now and it was feeling it. She knew she had to get to the store and get Jack a coat before much longer. He was growing so much. Then there were the presents she wanted to get him for Christmas.

Last year had been rough on them. Grandda had had a very bad cold and all their extra money had gone to medicine for him. She’d had to work some parties that she didn’t care for just to make the rent. Nothing bad in the parties; she just hated drunks. Laughing, she thought about her Friday night job and went back in. The frigid air had made her feel more awake. She was taking out the next batch of cookies when a man walked in the kitchen.

“
You’re not allowed back here. This is the kitchen and the pastries and stuff are out there.” She pointed to the door he’d walked through. “I’m sure whatever you looking for is out there.”

He grinned and Heather felt her belly clench up.
Man, to have a man smile at you like that could hurt a girl
, she thought. He was gorgeous and sexy-looking standing there leaning against the doorway. She felt herself flush when she thought of sex. It had been years…She closed that thought off immediately.

The man was tall, really tall, and he looked like he could keep a girl happy all night. She flushed again when that thought popped in her head. She turned around to her dough.
Christ, love a duck
. She must be more tired than she thought. His laughter made her think he knew just what she’d been thinking. And for whatever reason, that pissed her off. “You need to go away. There’s no reason for you to be back here.” The timer went off again. “I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

“
Smells good back here. You must be the baker. I’m Alex.” She could hear him move, but ignored him. “Can I help you with that?”

When he started for her, she moved and the bread shifted on the pan. When it did, she had to shift it to keep the bread from falling to the floor. In doing so, she felt the hot edge of it touch her forearm. She couldn’t help the cry of pain, but she didn’t drop the pan.

When she got it on the rack, she rushed to the sink to run cold water over it. She could feel the tears spilling down and she had to bite her lip to keep from screaming at the man.

“
I need you to go to the front,” she stated calmly when she was jerked around. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing? Let me go.”

He growled at her to hush and pulled her injured arm to him. She could smell him now, expensive. He had on something that probably cost more than she made in a week. And that made her mad.

“
Let me go you baboon. I want to put water on it. If you’d just gone to the front like I told you I wouldn’t have gotten burned. Now let me go.”

“
If you want to blame me then go right ahead, but you should have let me help you. I was trying to be a gentleman.” He was patting a towel over the burn when she looked down.

“
Oh shit. I’m going to be sick.” She jerked from him and rushed to the bathroom. She had just locked the door and was leaning over the toilet when she threw up.

Hard heaves came up from her belly and burned her throat. It was always like this when she was hurt, worse when Jack or Grandda was hurt. She just couldn’t stand seeing open wounds. When she thought she was finished, she stood up and looked in the mirror, careful not to look at her arm. Turning on the cold water, she stared at the woman looking back at her.

Who was she? Heather had been working so hard for so long, she didn’t know her any more. She looked like one of those women she saw in Wal-Mart at two in the morning. Too tired to wear makeup and wearing jammies. Heather didn’t own any makeup, but she refused wear jammies in public. With a splash of cold water to refresh her, she stepped out of the bathroom. It was too much to hope Mr. Expensive would be gone.

~~~

Alex had called Lisa back to tell her what had happened to the girl. She said her name was Heather. Lisa said she’d call her mom and have her come in. He’d found her coat near the door and was holding it when Heather looked at him.

“
Come on, I’ll take you to the hospital. Lisa is calling her mom to have her come and finish what you have going.” He held out her coat for her to slip on. “Come on, miss, that needs to be looked at.”

“
I’m not going anywhere with you. And I’m certainly not going to the hospital. You need to go back up front and leave me to my job.” She walked past him to the paper towel rack and pulled off several sheets. “It’s just a burn. It’s part and parcel of the job. Now if you’ll excuse me.”

He watched her wrap the sheets gently around her arm, not looking at the area until she had it covered. He still held her coat as he walked toward her.

“
Maybe you didn’t hear me say we were going. I didn’t ask. Put on your coat and let’s go. I have things I have to do today and they don’t—”

“
Then go do them. I’m not stopping you. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m a big girl and can take care of myself. Been doing it awhile now.”

He’d noticed she was a big girl. It would be hard not to. And a beautiful one at that. He couldn’t decide if it was the blue eyes or the sadness in them that had him wanting to pull her into his arms. And he wasn’t even sure he’d live to talk about it if he tried. She was a prickly thing.

“
I want you to put this damn coat on and let me take you to get that wound looked at. I’m not kidding, Heather. Either we do this easy or we do this hard. Understand me?”

She looked at him for several seconds, studying him, he supposed, when she threw back her head and laughed. She walked to the oven when the timer went off and opened it. Testing whatever was in there, she closed it up and put another five minutes on the timer.

“
I spoke to you on the phone once. About a month ago. You were demanding then too. Called me a liar. Twice. I didn’t like you then and I don’t like you any better now that we meet face to face.”

The girl on the phone. The one he’d come by to apologize to. He’d never seen her before today, but he’d heard a great deal about her. He walked to her, holding out her coat again. “Well, you’re really going to hate me now. As of yesterday, I’m part owner of this place and as such, I’m taking you to the hospital. Now put the fucking coat on or so help me I will bend you over my knee, blister your ass good, and take you anyway.”

He watched with fascination as her face went from happy that she’d remembered him to violent in a heartbeat or two. He had never seen anything so beautiful and sexy in his life and wondered fleetingly if she put that much passion in making love. He felt his cock twitch thinking about it. But when she stepped toward him with a look in her eye that he’d seen his sister have, he backed up.

“
Why you overbearing, pigheaded swine. You think you can just waltz your ass back here and order me around like I’m…like I’m a child? Well I’m not going anywhere with you. I quit.” She tore off her apron and threw it at him. “You can take this job and shove it up your bottom. I won’t work for you.”

She was nearly to the door when he grabbed for her. He didn’t mean to grab her arm, but when she snatched the coat out of his hand and moved, he saw red. When she screamed, he let her go immediately. She crumpled to the floor and would have hit her head on the sink, but he caught her before she did. Caroline came in just as he was lifting her up.

It took him five minutes to explain what had happened. He felt like shit and hated himself more in that moment than he’d ever had in his life. He was putting her in the back of his car, talking to Caroline as he strapped her in.

“
I’m so sorry. I hurt her arm and when she started to leave…she quit. I’ll take care of that. I’ll give her a raise or whatever. I’m so sorry, Caroline.”

“
Just call me when you get her there. And Alex, you’d better make her stay or our deal is off. I love this girl and I don’t think she has a pot to piss in and she can’t lose this job. I know…well, we’ll talk about her when you get her back.”

Heather came around as he was putting her on the gurney at the hospital. She was sobbing now and he wanted to comfort her. But the emergency team that came to get her from him wouldn’t let him near her. The receptionist stopped him before he sat down.

“
You’ll need to fill out the paper work for you wife, sir. Then I’ll take you back to her. Poor thing. She’ll be all right.”

Alex started to tell her that she wasn’t his wife, but knew that if he did, he’d never get to go back. And he needed to see her again. Taking the clipboard that she handed him, he went to find a seat. The place was nearly empty so he took the one furthest from the desk.

Name. He had no idea other than Heather. He wrote that down and skipped to the next question while he pulled out his cell to call and ask Caroline. He was at the part where her address needed to go when he realized he had no service. Taking a deep breath, he started filling it out with a mixture of her name and his information. He was quite satisfied when he handed it back to the woman at the desk.

“
Okay Mr. James, let me take you back to see your wife now. If they have any questions, I’m sure they’ll know where to find you.” He looked down at the name he’d put on the paper when she did. “Heather James, what a lovely name.”

When he was shown her room, he hesitated. She was going to be more pissed than she had been at the bakery. He took a deep breath and walked around the curtain. What he saw when he did made him whimper a little. Christ, she was lovely.

Her back was to him and naked. She had taken off her shirt and her bra was unhooked. Her jeans were still on, but they were low-riders and he could see the colorful tattoo she had at the base of her spine. It was a rose in the middle with swirls on either side of it. It was about three inches high and about five inches wide. He found himself wondering just how far those blue and green lines went down and wanted to taste his way there. When she turned toward him, he found both his mouth dry as a bone and his heart pounding in his chest. He was a dead man.

“
They told me I could come back to be with you.” He walked to her slowly. “The nurse at the desk said the doctor would be in soon.” He was babbling. He watched her carefully for any signs of murder or weapons. When she started to slip her shirt back over her head, he took it from her and tossed it on the chair.

“
I’m going home. I can’t afford to be here. And I certainly don’t want you here.” She’d been crying and he felt bad. “Don’t you ever listen?”

“
Not really. Has anyone looked at your arm yet?” She was still holding the gown in front of her. “I think you’re supposed to put that on, not hold it like that.”

“
I would, but there’s a strange man in my room. I want you to give me back my shirt and go away. I’m having a really sh…crappy day and I just want to finish it.”

“
No.” He grinned at her. “It’s been shitty. You can say it. Let me help you put this on properly.”

She smacked his hands away from her. He wasn’t deterred by either the glare or the slaps.

“
I bet your wife wants to murder you on a daily basis. I know I would.” She stilled when he lifted her chin up and looked her in the face. “What?”

“
You should know something.” He looked at her lips when her tongue darted out and moistened them. His train of thought completely vanished. He looked up into her eyes.

“
Know what?” Her voice had gone husky and low. When her tongue came out again, he lowered his head to hers. He found that he wanted to kiss her, taste her in the worst way.

He brushed his mouth over hers softly. He already knew she was going to taste as good as she looked. When he went back again a little firmer, she signed. Since he didn’t feel anything sharp poking him, Alex gave in and kissed her.