My Curvy Valentine: A Perfect Fit Novella (11 page)

“He’s been fussy all day,” the boy’s mother said to Maggie. “How did you make him so calm?”

“It’s not me,” Maggie said honestly. “It’s the cake pop. Everybody loves cake pops.”

“Are you sure I can’t pay you for that?”

“Of course I’m sure. It’s my pleasure.”

“Maybe I can pay you for your time then. Please tell me you babysit?”

“Not since I was fifteen.” Maggie grinned. “But if you come back when I’m here I promise to hold your cute little guy and let you drink an entire cup of coffee without interruption.”

“Sounds like heaven,” the woman sighed. “I should let you get back to work.” She stood and grabbed her bags. “I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble with your boss. I think he’s watching us.”

“He’s not my boss.” Maggie rose from the floor rather gracefully with the child in her arms. “I don’t even work here.”

“She’s volunteering,” Alex said, speaking up. “It’s a condition of her parole.”

“Ha-ha, Mr. Funny Man.” She locked eyes with him for a moment, before handing the woman back her child. “I’m on probation. Not parole. They are two totally different things.”

Alex couldn’t help himself. He had been around her all morning, she had been in arm’s reach but he hadn’t gotten to touch her yet, to kiss her smooth cheek, to feel the warmth of her curvy body. Last night he had convinced himself that Maggie was right, that they shouldn’t be anything other than friends, but when he saw her this morning looking so damn good in his sweater he realized that he didn’t care if she was right. There was no way he could keep his hands to himself when she was around. Maggie was always around and he liked it that way.

He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close. “I would pay Maggie to work here, but I don’t think she’d take too kindly to me bossing her around.”

“I couldn’t work with my husband either,” the woman said. “I think I would be the one bossing him around, though.”

“Women have been telling men the right way to do things since the beginning of time. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”

“Oh, I know he would.” She smiled at them. “Good luck with the bakery, guys. You two are good together.”

“Thank you,” Alex said, not bothering to correct the woman’s assumption. Maggie wasn’t his wife, but there were times when he felt like she was his partner, like he couldn’t do this without her. “Come see us again soon.” A few minutes later they were alone in the bakery again and instead of getting closer like he wanted, she was pulling away from him.

“The mail came when you were in the back.” She walked away from him, toward the counter, but he followed her, determined not to let any more time go by without getting what he wanted. “It looks like bills mostly, but this seemed very interesting.” She grabbed a red envelope
and held it up to her nose, shutting her eyes as she inhaled. “Expensive perfume. Floral with a hint of citrus. I think you got a valentine, Chef.”

He pulled the envelope from her hand and tossed back on the counter. He grabbed her hips, pulling her into him so that her entire body was pressed into his. “You didn’t have to send me a card, Maggie May. But I must admit that I’m honored.”

“I didn’t send you a card. I wouldn’t.”

“You wouldn’t?” He kissed the side of her face. “I’m hurt.” He slid his hands under the sweater she was wearing, pulling up her tank top so he make contact with her deliciously soft skin.

“Get your big paws off me,” she said but made no move to move away. “I don’t even like you.”

“Hug me back, Maggie May.”

“What if I don’t want to?” She looked up at him and he was unable to read the expression in her eyes. There was curiosity there, maybe a little confusion too. All he knew for sure was that she hadn’t moved away from him yet.

*

Hot. That was how Maggie was feeling in that moment. Alex’s huge, massive baseball-glove-sized hands were on her, and for once there was no barrier between them and her skin. All he was doing was rubbing her back, his hands working in long smooth strokes. It wasn’t sexual. It shouldn’t be sexual. He wasn’t being purposely provocative, but she felt the heat form between
her legs and the tingling of every nerve ending. It intensified with every stroke, with every pass of his thick fingers over her skin.

“Hug me back, Maggie May.”

“What if I don’t want to?” She looked up at him. She had always thought Alex was a good-looking guy, but it amazed her how beautiful he had become to her lately. He looked the same as he always had. Same penetrating eyes, same strong jawline, only now when she looked at him, a whole colony of butterflies sprouted in her belly. It was crazy. She didn’t do butterflies or weak knees. Her heart had never raced before and she was pretty damn sure she didn’t like it. Still she wound her arms around him, resting her cheek on his hard chest and shutting her eyes. She liked the sensation of being held, of having this big man hold her close and not feeling awkward in her own skin. She wasn’t too big or too tall with Alex. She just felt like herself.

“You want to have kids, Mags?”

“With you?” She opened her eyes. “I thought we settled on three, but you didn’t give me anymore of that chocolate pudding cake so the deal is off.”

“I’m serious, Mags. Do you want to be a mother? No lies this time.”

She thought about it for a moment, still taken aback by the question. “If you had asked me that question a few years ago my answer would have been different.”

“What would that answer have been?”

“A resounding no.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to say. I hate myself for it.”

“You can say.” He removed his hand from her back and stroked her hair. “You know I won’t judge you.”

She did know that. She also knew that she felt safe with him. She hadn’t realized she had been missing that feeling, but now that she was here with him like this, she knew she had been. “I didn’t want to be a mother and a wife, because that’s all my mother ever was.”

“Explain.”

“She cooked and cleaned and took care of us. She never had a job. She never had her own money. She had to ask my father for everything. If she wanted new clothes or something or the house she had to practically beg for them. I didn’t want to be like that. I never wanted to ask a man for money. I never wanted to live just to take care of other people. And I thought the only way I could avoid that was by not getting married or having children.”

“And now?”

“And now I have pulled my head out of my ass. My mother went to college. She had a nursing degree. She could have worked if she wanted, but she chose to be a mother and a wife. It made her happy. If she was happy with her choice who am I to judge her?”

“So you do want kids?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Because I think it would be a shame if you went through life without being somebody’s mother.”

She pressed her mouth to his, not meaning to kiss him, but unable to stop herself from doing it because it was the sweetest thing anybody had ever said to her. He kissed her back
gently, cupping her cheek in his hand as he did. It was the type of kiss that went all the way down to her toes and made the warmth between her legs heat up just a little more. She didn’t want to think about it, or what it meant. All she knew was that she’d rather be there with him than anywhere else on the planet in that moment.

“So tell me about your brother working for my father,” he said as if the kiss was natural and normal and something that happened every day. It did feel natural, if not normal, and her kissing him seemed to be becoming an everyday occurrence.

“He’s the foreman at some construction site. Your father is building condos or something,” she said feeling a little flustered. “I don’t know much more than that. Maybe you should call him.”

“I will. Are you going to be around for Valentine’s Day?”

“Where else would I be?”

“You could have a Valentine. Some guy who can’t wait to get you alone next Saturday night.”

“I think he would be mighty ticked off if he saw me here now with your hands up my shirt.”

“What?” he leaned in and kissed her softly, a little more deeply this time, turning her mind and her knees to mush. “There’s nothing going on. Just two friends showing each other how much they care. You could still have a Valentine.”

He went to kiss her again, but she leaned back, knowing he was making it harder and harder for her to resist him. “I don’t, but you do. You got a card in the mail. Who would send you one?”

“I don’t know. You didn’t look at the name?”

“There wasn’t one. Just some address in England.”

“England?” He raised a brow at her, then shook his head like whatever thought in his mind was unimportant. “Who taught you how to kiss? You’re so good at it I think I need to send a thank you letter.” He moved closer to her again, about to take her mouth, but she backed away again.

“You know someone in England?”

“I think so.” He didn’t let her get away. He grabbed her braid and gently tugged her closer until her mouth met his. Her eyes shut momentarily as his kiss almost swept her away, but she refused to let it.

“You think so?” She pulled away from him and grabbed the card he tossed aside. “Open it.”

“I don’t give a shit about the card.” He grabbed her by the waist again. “I care about the beautiful girl in front of me.”

“Open it.” She crossed her arms across her chest.

His nostrils flared a bit as he tore into the card. He was frustrated with her, but Maggie didn’t care. It made him a little more sexy. “Happy now?” He glanced at the card, which was covered in multicolored lips, and tossed it back on the counter. It landed open and faceup and
even from where she stood she could see that feminine handwriting was scrawled all over the inside of the card.

“Yeah,” she said as he grabbed her waist again. “Who was it from?”

“Roya.” He slid his hands up her shirt again, stroking her lower back and causing her insides to turn to jelly this time. “You’re wearing my sweater.”

“You want it back?” she asked absently. His ex had sent him a Valentine’s Day card. She had met Roya before. She was beautiful and sweet and in love with Alex. Maggie had liked her a lot the few times they had met.

She was still in love with him. She wouldn’t have bothered sending a card from halfway across the world if she wasn’t. Maggie wasn’t sure why that bothered her so much. Alex was just her friend. Her friend that she sometimes dreamed about and kissed. Her friend who right now had his hands up her shirt and his lips pressed to her face.

“No. I don’t want the sweater back. I like to see you in it.”

“I washed it,” she said, feeling disappointed, but not knowing why. “It doesn’t smell like you anymore.”

He pressed his nose to her shoulder. “It smells like the bakery and you, which is even better. Have dinner with me tonight?”

“You want to order in? I’ve only got frozen junk at my place.”

“Let me take you out, Maggie. Somewhere nice.”

“You want to take me out?”

“Why do you seem so surprised?”

“Because your ex just sent you a Valentine’s Day card from across the world and you don’t seem to care.”

“I don’t care. And what does that have to do with you going out with me?”

“You should care about the card. Or at the very least you should be freaked out by it. You barely looked at it, but I know there was more than just her name in there. She wrote to you.”

“Maybe she did, but I’m not concerned about that right now.”

“Don’t you miss her?”

“It’s been eight months!”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“Did Clayton say something to you about being my rebound girl? Because that just isn’t true.”

Rebound girl? Clayton?

They had talked about her.

“I’m going to pass on dinner tonight.” She stepped away from him, feeling a little bruised when she knew she shouldn’t. He wasn’t promising her anything. He wasn’t asking for a relationship, which was good because it was the last thing she was looking for from him. Or from anybody, for that matter. She was trying to find herself and the last place she needed to get lost was in his arms. “I’ll see you later.”

He grabbed her hand, pausing her flight. “Wait.” She looked back at him, surprised to see that he looked a little hurt. “We were having a good time until you made me open that damn card. Why did things change? Why is a piece of paper from somebody I haven’t talked to in nearly a year messing things up?”

“It’s not. You’re still my friend. I still love you.”

I just don’t want to fall in love with you
.

He took her face in his hands once again, his touch gentle and something that she was beginning to crave. “Come out with me tonight.” He kissed her.

She wanted to say yes, but she knew that if she went out with him, if she got dressed up, and did her hair and put on makeup for him, he would no longer be her friend. He would become the guy she was seeing. She didn’t want to lose her friend, her comfort around him. And she sure as hell didn’t want to compete with some love from his past.

“It will be good.” He kissed her again, and her eyes slid closed as his third and fourth kisses followed, each one a little deeper and slower than the last.

“Maggie.” Her eyes popped opened as she heard a familiar deep voice. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and her heart slammed against her rib cage.

Shit. Shit. Shit
. Her father had come for a visit.

“Lieutenant Calhoun.” Alex stood up straight, but he didn’t let go out her. “Hello, sir. I haven’t seen you in a long time.”

“No.” Her father agreed. “This place has come along nicely. I’ve heard good things.” There was still a little bit of bark in his voice, even though he hadn’t been a commanding officer in years.

“Thank you, sir.” Alex looked down at her then, his eyes telling her to turn around and face him.

She didn’t want to, but that would be cowardly. That was the last thing Maggie wanted to be.

She gasped a little seeing him. He was the same tall, stately-looking man. His sandy hair had little streaks of gray in it. His eyes were still that intense icy blue, but her father wore jeans and a leather jacket. There were black leather boots on his feet instead of the sensible black wingtip shoes he had worn ever since she could remember. But that wasn’t the thing that made her mouth drop open. There was a tiny diamond stud in his ear.