My Curvy Valentine: A Perfect Fit Novella (14 page)

And that was a problem.

“Chef?” Fernando was standing behind him with a tray of fresh fruit tarts. “You okay?”

“Huh? Yeah.” He shook his head. “Yeah. I’m just tired. I’m glad you’re back.”

“Thank you, Chef. My wife is sad that I’m better. She says she misses work.”

“She could still come in a few hours a day until the baby comes if you are okay with that. We got a bunch of custom orders and she’s one of the best self-taught decorators I’ve ever seen. We can even schedule her for after you leave so you can have the chance to miss each other.”

“You would do that?”

“Of course. She does great work.”

“Forgive me for asking, Chef, but you can afford to hire Alina?”

“I heard from Mr. Kerman. He wants us to supply more cakes for his stores. Plus I’m expecting a pretty big check after we cater the country club ball. We’re going to be fine.” They were going to need the extra help. He had to take on these jobs if he was going to pay his father the rent that this place was worth.

But what he wasn’t going to do was work for Kerman’s stores. Maggie was right. This place was his dream. He couldn’t see taking his energy away from it to put into somebody else’s.

“Good morning.” Maggie came through the back door, wearing a gray dress and tall black boots, looking just as good fully dressed as she did nearly naked. “Fernando! I’m so glad to see you’re feeling better.”

“Next year I’m getting the flu shot. Can’t take any risks with the baby coming. How are you, Maggie?”

“I’m okay. I’m just glad you’re back. Alex was missing you. He even cried a little.”

“It’s true, Fernando. I did.”

“I was the one who should have been crying. I hated to leave you hanging like that.”

“You were sick. Give yourself a break.”

“Yeah,” Maggie said walking over to Alex. “Chef Sanna has his good qualities, but you act like you betrayed him by getting the flu.”

“Chef sponsored me so that I could become a citizen. He helped me get insurance. He introduced me to my wife. I owe him everything.”

“You don’t,” Alex said feeling uncomfortable. “You do good work and I know if I needed help you would help me. So we’re good.”

“He doesn’t like it when I mention these things, but I don’t care. I have something for you, Maggie. For helping Chef when I was out. It’s in the back.” He finished stocking the tarts in the display case and left them alone.

“Who knew Chef Sanna was such a big mushy sweetie pie?” Maggie wrapped arms around him and rested her head on his chest.

He had wondered how things were going to be between them, if he’d gone too far and messed things up. “You didn’t come around yesterday.”

“You told me not to.”

“I said don’t come around Sunday. Yesterday was Monday and, besides, when do you ever listen to me?”

“You missed me, Alex?”

“No,” he lied. Her hair was loose today. He couldn’t help but run his fingers through it. “But when you give a lady an orgasm, the least she could do is say thank you.”

“Where are my manners? I should have sent a note.”

“I would have enjoyed some flowers.”

“You’ll see me tonight.”

“Yeah?” His arousal grew the moment she walked in, but hearing her say that she wanted to see him tonight… The anticipation caused him to go hard. “Want me to pick up dinner? Or you can let me take you out.”

“You are taking me out. To my father’s house. Remember?”

“Shit.” He had forgotten.

“Yeah, how do you think I feel?”

“I have to make a cake. What should I write on it?”

“Hope all your teeth fall out, you son of a—”

“I’ll figure it out,” he said, cutting her off. “Hopefully there will be alcohol there.”

“Don’t let me drink a lot. I do stupid things when I drink.”

He slid his hands down her back and grinned at her. “Maybe I should bring a flask. Your
something stupid
could be me.”

“You’re not stupid.” She stood on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “This would be so much easier if you were.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Here it is, Maggie.” Fernando came back, interrupting the moment. “I hope you like it.”

Alex noticed how Fernando’s eyes widened slightly when he saw that he and Maggie still had their arms wrapped around each other. It wasn’t the first time they had been caught like this. Maggie’s father had caught them kissing last week and for some reason he didn’t care what was going through Fernando’s mind either. He didn’t care what anybody thought of them. He had a thing for Maggie. There was no denying it.

“This looks amazing.” Maggie let go of him and took the beautiful cheesy creation from Fernando. “What is it?”

“Fugazzeta. Stuffed Argentinian pizza. With caramelized onions, three different types of cheese and sautéed vegetables.”

“Three different kinds of cheese,” Maggie groaned. “Do you know how much I love cheese? My brother got me a cheese of the month club subscription for my birthday two years ago and it was the best gift I’ve ever received. And now you’ve given me cheese stuffed inside of a delectable crust and stuffed with veggies. You just made my whole day.”

“If she’s this grateful when you give her pizza imagine how happy she’ll be when you give her jewelry, Chef.”

“I think she’d rather have pizza.”

“I like presents period. And if you are so inclined. Aquamarine is my birthstone and I wear a size seven ring.”

He shook his head and walked away from her. “Let me get you your coffee. I didn’t forget your birthday, and even if I did I couldn’t help but pick up that hint you dropped.”

“Oh good. I was afraid I was being too subtle.” She kissed Fernando’s cheek. “Thanks for my lunch and tell your wife I love her. And you,” she said to Alex as he handed her her coffee, “I’ll see you tonight.” She reached up to kiss his cheek.

But he wasn’t satisfied with that. He grabbed her by the waist and set a soft kiss on her mouth. She blushed, unexpectedly and adorably, and it hit him in the chest. “Make sure you bundle up.” He zipped her open coat. “It’s cold outside.”

She blushed again. “I’ll see you later.”

He watched her walk away. “Is there something you want to tell me, Chef?” Fernando asked. Alex didn’t have to turn around to see the smile.

“Yeah. You’re working late on Valentine’s Day.”

A customer came in then and he was glad for it. He wasn’t ready to answer questions about Maggie and him yet. He didn’t know what the hell was going on between them, he just knew that he couldn’t seem to get her out of his mind.

He took care of the customer and as he was closing the cash register he noticed a red piece of paper sticking out from under it.

The card from Roya had nearly slipped from his mind, but he hadn’t forgotten about the text message she sent. Because every time he glanced at his phone he was reminded that he hadn’t answered it.

He had really liked Roya and before she went away he thought they might be getting serious, but she had been gone for so long. And he had stopped missing her, stopped thinking about her. And even if he hadn’t, he’d moved to a different place. He had a different life now, one he didn’t see her fitting into. Plus there was Maggie. Maggie who with her sweet simplicity made him feel more alive than all the other women he had been with combined.

Chapter 8

Maggie went around the store, shutting off the lights in
Size Me Up
before she left for the evening. Usually at the end of a long day she looked forward to getting off her feet, but tonight she was reluctant to leave the store. Dinner with her father was the last thing she wanted to do, but it wasn’t something she could avoid. Her father was not going to give up. If she had to spend a few hours tonight pretending not to hate his guts to avoid spending time alone with him later, it would be well worth it.

She shut off the last set of lights by the front door, ready to walk out into the cold, when a large hand settled on her should just as she opened the door. She screamed, turning on her attacker, arms swinging. She stomped on his foot, using the move she had learned in her self-defense class, just as he was reaching for her hands. “Ouch, damn it! Stop trying to kill me, Maggie May.”

It was Alex. She let out a deep breath and gripped his coat. “Crap, Alex. What the hell are you doing here? How the hell did you get in and why are you trying to scare me to death?”

“Ellis let me in as she was leaving through the back. And I came to get you because it’s eight degrees and pitch black and I didn’t want you walking home alone.”

She looked into his eyes and even with just the streetlight lighting them she could see there was genuine concern there. “This town is safe and this street is well lit. You know I’d be fine. I’m always fine.”

“I know, but it’s still cold and I wanted to come get you. We need to pick up a card on the way.”

“A card?”

“That’s right, a card. It’s his birthday and you’re going to be so nice that you won’t have to see him again until next year.”

“I think your theory has major flaws.” She took a deep breath. “My goddamn heart is still in my throat. I don’t know what you were thinking, sneaking up on me like that in the dark.”

“I think you broke my foot. At least I know you can defend yourself.”

“I can.”

“I still don’t want you walking home alone at night, though. I think you should drive from now on.”

“It’s a ten-minute walk, you bossy ass!”

He shrugged. “I can start picking you up.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Maybe not, but you can’t stop me.”

“I don’t need another big brother, you know.”

He stepped closer to her, lowering his face so that his lips were a fraction of an inch away from hers. “A big brother is the last thing I would want to be to you.” He stood up straight, leaving her lips unkissed and slightly bereft. “Let’s go. It takes time to pick out the perfect card.”

Thirty minutes later she sat in Alex’s warm car with a heart-shaped box of chocolate and an expensive singing birthday card on her lap. They were early, and if they’d been going to
dinner at her mother’s house they just would have walked in, but she couldn’t force herself out of her car. Because she didn’t want to spend any longer in her father’s company than she had to.

“Crack open that box of chocolates, Mags, and give me a good one.”

“What?” She looked over to him. “I thought you bought them for me.”

“Yeah. I brought them for you to share with me. Give me a coconut one.”

“I like the coconut ones too and there are like two in this whole box.”

“We’ll split it in half.”

“Half? You’re insane.” She opened the box anyway and handed him what he wanted. “You should have gotten yourself a box too.”

“Can’t buy myself a box of chocolates,” he said with his mouth full. “What guy does that?”

“Who would know you were buying them for yourself?” She bit into a cream-filled chocolate. The sugary rush was just what she needed to get her through the next few hours.

“I would know. I hate being single on Valentine’s Day because I can’t eat any of my girlfriends’ chocolate.”

“That’s a great reason to stay with somebody through this pseudo holiday. Cheap chocolate that you can buy a shitload of for five bucks the day after.”

“The best Valentine’s Day I ever had was when I was dating that model. I knew she was on a no-carb, no-sugar diet, but I still brought her three of the biggest boxes of chocolate I could find.”

“Why three?”

“One was all creams, one was nuts only, and one was the fancy stuff made with Belgian chocolate. Another pastry chef got it for me. I knew she was never going to eat all the stuff so I spent the next couple of weeks eating candy like I was a third grader who had just come back from trick-or-treating.”

“That’s super romantic,” she said dryly. “And I had wondered why you were single.”

“She didn’t eat carbs, Mags. No sugar. Carbs and sugar are my life. I knew that shit was going to get on my nerves.”

She handed him the other piece of coconut chocolate. “Why did you go out with her in the first place?”

“Because she was hot and she was into me. I didn’t need much more of a reason than that.” He popped the entire chocolate into his mouth. She watched him chew, getting caught up for a moment in watching his strong jaw work. It brought back memories of the other morning. Everything he did brought back memories of the other morning. When she looked at his mouth she recalled his hot deep kisses, and when she looked at his hands she throbbed between her legs, remembering how he stroked her so expertly.

“Is that the standard you judge all women by?” She cleared her throat, trying to disguise her lust. “Hot and into you?”

“No.” He placed his warm hand on her knee, just underneath her skirt, and kissed her cheek. “Sometimes I like a woman who kisses me senseless in her sleep and dreams about my
desserts. And I really like a woman who’ll give me all of the coconut chocolates even though they are her favorite kind too, just because she knows how much I like them.”

“Where the hell are you going to find a woman like that?” The excitement built as he slid his hand a little further up her skirt and between her legs. He caressed her there, lightly, just once, and she trembled. She was wearing thick tights, but his fingertips still burned on her skin as if there’d been nothing separating them. She wanted nothing to be there. She wanted no barriers between them.

“Hopefully, I’m going to find that woman in my bed tonight,” he said, and it sent a surge of heat through her body. They had been dancing around their attraction for weeks. This was finally going to happen, all the sensible reasons it shouldn’t be damned.

“Alex…”

The front door opened to her childhood home and her father stepped outside and waved at them.

Shit. Hell and goddamn
.

It made her wish that the ground would open up and swallow her father, or that a large bird would come and take him away. A lightning strike would do. But it seemed none of those things were coming to her rescue. A girl couldn’t be so lucky when she was trying to get lucky.

“Come on, baby.” Alex took her hand and squeezed it. “Time to get this party started.”