Tackled by Love (10 page)

“Never underestimate that girl, Landon. If she’s taught you anything, it’s that you need to double check and protect yourself against her from everything. Go talk to that fancy lawyer of yours and ask him.”

“I guess I’ll have to.” With that, my dad turns around and flips the TV back on. Part of Valerie’s last statement starts ringing in my ears.

It’s called alimony, Landon. You see, I know you won’t be unemployed forever. And when you do get a new job, I plan to collect on it. Take care, love.

I’m really starting to hate that damn woman.

***

The next morning I wake up early to get a start on the day and make the deliveries for the bakery. Also, I’m a little anxious to talk to Autumn again. I was able to keep myself from texting her last night. Barely. I didn’t want to look like a major pussy or anything. But now that it’s morning and I told her I’d text her, it’s fair game.

Me: Good morning sweetheart what time r u opening up?

About five minutes go by before she responds.

Autumn: Oh my God. Are you a morning person? I was still sleeping. I’ll be there in 1 hour.

Oops. I’m used to being with Valerie, who takes half an eternity to get ready to go to the grocery store. I guess Autumn isn’t as high maintenance. 

Me: Go back 2 bed I’ll see u in 1 hr sorry for waking u I’ll bring u a surprise ;-)

After I hit send, I pull up my contacts and dial my lawyer’s number. The man never sleeps, so I’m not worried about waking him.

“Well if it isn’t my favorite client,” he answers. I roll my eyes. I’m sure he says that to all his clients. Especially with as much as we pay him per hour.

“Sure I am. Look, I need some legal advice,” I cut right to the chase.

“I figured as much since you’re calling me.” Always the smart ass.

“If I want to start a business now, can Valerie come after me for half of it?” I’m holding my breath hoping he’ll give me good news and tell me that bitch can’t touch a damn thing.

“Are you legally separated?” I hate when he does this. He’s my fucking lawyer so he knows we’re not legally separated.

“No,” I draw out.

“Then yes, she can. You guys are still in a legally binding marriage, and until it’s dissolved, she has 50/50 ownership of everything.”

Motherfucker!

“Then I need you to speed this shit up. I need this divorce finalized. Like yesterday,” I add, raking my hands through my hair.

“We can try to do a mediation and get you two to agree on the terms of the divorce. If that goes smoothly, then there’s no need to see a judge about it. But I’m going to warn you, I don’t think it’s going to work out. She’s hungry and looking to get everything she can out of you.”

I start pacing the room, this whole thing makes my blood pressure rise. “She can have it. There’s nothing left anyway. She spent it all in case she forgot.”

“Okay, I’ll call her attorney and set up a meeting.”

“Thanks, I’ll talk to you soon.” I hang up the phone. Mediation should be easy. We don’t have kids to fight custody over, and there really aren’t any assets left. I don’t want any of her fucking handbags or the ugly shit she bought for the house. We’ll have to sell the house because she can’t afford to keep it and I don’t want to, but everything else should be cut and dry. For some reason though, I have a feeling it’s not going to be.

Stumbling through the back door of the bakery, I flip on the lights and set my stuff down. I didn’t get much sleep and Landon’s early wake up text didn’t help. I hate that he woke me up with a sweet text. Yep, absolutely hated it. A few minutes later Landon walks in carrying two cups of steaming hot coffee.

“This is for disturbing your beauty sleep.” He holds a cup out to me. The aroma floating with the steam is heavenly, letting me know it’s coffee. I take hold of the cup, but his hand lingers, not letting go. I raise an eyebrow at him, “You know I can’t drink it if you don’t let go.”

He pulls his hand away starting to ramble, “I didn’t know how you take your coffee, but I figured we have sugar and creamer here. You know, since it’s a bakery and all.” He’s looking around the room, and if I didn’t know any better I would think he was nervous. If anyone here should be nervous it’s me. That simple brush of his hand next to mine ignited my body.

“Thanks, you didn’t have to do that, but I’m glad you did.” I take a small sip so I don’t burn my mouth and savor the yummy goodness that is caffeine. “Mmmm, just what I needed this morning,” I say with my eyes closed. When I open them, Landon is looking—no, devouring me with his eyes. I clear my throat and walk to my station to get the day started.

“I have to put a few more details on this and then it’ll be done,” I tell him, gesturing to the cake I’m about to pull out of the fridge. “But the delivery isn’t until this afternoon, so you can go home if you want and come back, since there won’t really be anything for you to do until then.”

“Would you mind if I just hung out a little bit? I don’t have anything really going on and the walls at my parents’ house are starting to close in on me.”

“Sure, I don’t mind.” I’m trying to play it cool, but inside I’m kind of freaking out. This is different than showing him around the gym. He’s going to be watching everything I do and it’s going to make me a nervous wreck.

Laying out all of my supplies, I take a seat on my stool and get started on adding the finishing touches to this anniversary cake. I’m about to start when I feel his eyes drilling a hole into my face. I pause and look at him from the corner of my eye. “Are you going to stare at me like that the whole time?”

“Yeah, why not? You’re the most attractive thing in this room.” He doesn’t break eye contact while complimenting me. I feel every red blood cell in my body rush to my face, causing my flesh to burn. Was Landon Stone hitting on
me again
? Surely he comes by it naturally and can’t help himself. If there’s a vagina in the room, he’s going to turn on the charm for it.

“Real smooth, Stone. Play a game on your phone or something and if I need you I’ll holler, okay?”

He’s trying not to grin, but it finally breaks through before he lets out a soft chuckle. “I must be losing my touch. You wounded me, sweetheart,” he jokes, clutching his heart. “But if it bothers you, then I won’t stare at you.” He backs away with his hands up in surrender. Walking over to the other long table across from me, he pulls out a stool and sits on it. Then he makes a big show of pulling out his phone and I have to hold back a smile.

About ten minutes later, I hear Landon let out a long, loud sigh followed by some grumbling. Glancing up at him, I see his eyebrows are furrowed and his jaw is clenched. “Everything alright over there?”

“Yeah, it’s great,” he deadpans.

“As convincing as that was, do you want to talk about it? I’m not trying to pry or anything.”

He finally looks up and locks eyes with me, and I can’t look away. He’s got me trapped in his gaze and it’s making me a very weak person. I hate it and I love it at the same time. I’m so confused.

“Just some bullshit I’m trying to sort out with Valerie and my lawyers.” He pinches the bridge of his nose and squeezes his eyes shut. Whatever is going on is obviously causing him a lot of stress.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. I wish there was something I could do to help.” I figured that would be the end of the conversation. I didn’t want to ask any more questions and appear nosey, so I’m prepared to go back to work and let the silence settle over us again.

“Everyone knows we’re getting a divorce. Hell, the tabloids have been splashing my face across their covers for months now. But what they don’t know is that I’m broke. She spent almost every penny I ever made.”

My eyes go wide. I definitely wasn’t expecting that. He had told me she left because he wasn’t making all that money anymore, but I had no idea she spent it all. I guess no one does.

“Oh my God. That’s terrible.” Lame response, I know. But what do you say to someone who just told you that? I would never ask, but I’m sure that’s a shit ton of money she went through. “What are you going to do?”

“That’s the thing; I’m stuck until the divorce is finalized. As long as we’re married, she can take half of whatever I do. Now I feel like my life is on hold, when all I want to do is move on, you know?” I think I understand more than he knows. This small town is filled with memories and images that I would rather forget. Every day I walk by the same people at the grocery store who made my life hell and act like all was right with the world. I think they look back on it now like they were just a bunch of dumb kids goofing off, but I was left with major self-confidence and trust issues. It was so hard to compartmentalize that part of my life and start a new one.

“Trust me, I know what you mean,” is all I offer him. I don’t want to bring up my past with him.

“You do? How?” He sounds genuinely curious and that makes me nervous. No way I’m ready to open up to him about all the shit I keep locked up.

“Let’s just say high school wasn’t that fun for me. I don’t really want to talk about it, but things were hard for me then. It was difficult to put that aside and move forward and not let it hold me back,” I tell him.

He studies me for a moment and opens his mouth to say something, but stops. Finally he breaks the silence, “The only people that know about the money issues are my parents, my agent, my lawyer, and my accountant. That’s it. I’m not even sure why I told you, but it kind of feels good to get it out there.” He still seems stressed, but at least his shoulders have relaxed some.

“Anytime you need to talk, I’m here.” I smile at him and go back to work.

“Thanks, I might take you up on that.” He takes a sip of his coffee.

When it’s time to send the cake out for delivery, Landon asks me something that just about has me falling off of my chair in disbelief.

“Would you go to dinner with me sometime this week?” He’s got his hands in his pockets, nervously rocking on the heels of his feet waiting for my answer.

“W-what? You want to go to d-dinner with me?” I point to myself to confirm that he is in fact asking me and not an imaginary girl I can’t see.

“Yeah, is that okay? You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I just thought it might be nice to get together outside the bakery or when you’re not all sweaty.” He crinkles his nose in a playful way. At the mention of my sweat, I start to blush. Damn you cheeks; you’re always giving my embarrassment away! This causes him to laugh. He walks closer to me and leans into my ear, “Don’t be embarrassed, baby. I’ll take you any way I can get you.” With him leaning into my ear, my brain has lost all ability to talk. Actually, it’s lost the ability to walk, blink, think, pretty much everything. I’m just standing there like a statue afraid to move. “Just text me if you want to go.” He pulls away, grabbing the cake and heads out the door for the delivery.

Once he’s gone, I fall back on my stool and finally take in a full breath. Holy shit. Did Landon ‘Sex-On-Legs’ Stone just ask me on a date?! I need an outside opinion, and quick. I whip out my phone and quickly text my friend, Layla to get her take on this.

Me: SOS! If a guy asks me out to dinner, should I assume it’s a date or just friends?

I start pacing the room waiting for my phone to go off with Layla’s words of wisdom. However, that’s not what I get.

Landon: If u r referring to my invite then u should assume it’s a date

Shoot. Me. Now.

I want to crawl in a deep hole and die right now. Because I’m a dumbass, I didn’t check to see who I was texting. I’m so used to Layla being the last person I’ve texted that her messages are already up, but nope, not today. Looking down at my phone in disbelief, I’m praying that the last five minutes did not just happen. Unfortunately, those prayers go unanswered because my phone vibrates in my hand.

Landon: Have u decided? Are u gonna go 2 dinner with me?

I guess it’s best to get this over with now rather than wait until he shows back up here.

Me: I’m sure it’s obvious that text wasn’t meant for you. Now excuse me while I go jump off a bridge.

Landon: LOL don’t do that, then I wouldn’t be able 2 take u out. just 1 dinner Autumn I promise we’ll have fun

Letting out a sigh, I know I’m going to cave. What woman in her right mind would say no to him?

Me: Fine. Let me know when and where.

Landon: Awesome! ;-)

Even his emoticon winky faces make me happy. There’s something wrong with me.