You Belong With Me (7 page)

              Stella jumped up and down, happy at the thought of having treats any time she wanted them. “Yay!”

              Michael laughed and picked up his daughter in one arm and nodded his head to the three sisters. “Thanks for being so kind to Stella, . . .
and me
. Welcome to the neighborhood,” he added, glancing at Layla with a grin before walking toward the door.

              Layla held up her hand. “Wait just a second,” she said before hurrying to the pan. “Let me give you an extra brownie for later Stella.”

              Stella smiled hopefully and held out her hand for the plastic wrapped brownie. “Are you mad at Daddy Layla?” she asked with a little frown.

              Layla winced and reached out to push a lock of light brown hair over Stella’s ear. “Honey, of course I’m not mad at your daddy. We were just talking business.”

              Michael grinned and raised his left eyebrow. “Layla isn’t mad at me sweet heart. She’s mad at someone else and taking it out on me. There’s a difference,” he said dryly, grinning as Layla’s head snapped up and she glared at him. Not coldly though, with enough heat to burn down the house.

              He ignored Kit’s and Jane’s snickers and smiled down into Layla’s face. “But I don’t hold grudges Stella, so it’s okay. Let’s go baby,” he said and walked to the door. Before walking through, he turned back. “I’ll see you around,” he said and disappeared.

              When they reached the sidewalk outside the bakery he put Stella on the ground. She tugged on his hand immediately. Michael looked down at his daughter, still grinning over Layla’s affronted expression. “Yes Stella?”

              Stella looked up at him with bright blue hopeful eyes. “Daddy, I like Layla. Do you like Layla, even though she was mad at you?”

              Michael sighed and urged Stella to keep walking as he thought about how to answer the simple question. Unfortunately he did like Layla. But he didn’t want to get his daughter’s hopes up.

              “Stella, I think Layla is a very interesting person. I would like her if she wanted me to, but she doesn’t want me to like her,” he finally said, smiling at his genius.

              Stella grinned happily. “Oh good. Because she wants to like you too. She’s just scared. Now we can all be friends and have treats every day,” she said in a sing song voice as she began to skip beside him, holding her brownie high up in the air so everyone they passed would see what a wonderful treat she’d been given.

              Michael frowned at Stella’s answer.
Scared? Of him?
Or just men in general? The surge of protectiveness that whipped through him made him scowl. He glanced back over his shoulder at the bakery and sighed. Stella had just made it impossible not to think of Layla.

Chapter 6 – Wolves

              Layla stared at the empty doorway and ignored the soft laughter coming from her sisters. Michael Bender was starting to get on her nerves.
A lot
. She turned around and held up her hand. “I do not want to hear it,” she stated firmly before Kit or Jane could say a word.

              Jane shook her head and took a rag and started wiping the counter. “That’s probably wise Layla. Because if you
did
want to know what I think, I’d probably say something like,
I am so jealous
. Michael is hot,” she said shaking her head back and forth with a small smile on her mouth.

              Kit laughed and nodded in agreement. “It’s like he’s two completely different people all in one gorgeous package. He’s all serious and mature and grown up with everyone, but when he grins at Layla, the sun comes out and then Viggo Mortensen is standing there,” she said, sighing.

              Layla rolled her eyes and walked over to cover the pan of brownies with plastic wrap. Jane looked up, pausing with a frown. “
Wait,
who’s Viggo?”

              Kit looked at her like she was crazy. Layla looked up answering before she could stop herself. “He’s the man who played Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings movies,” she said and then blushed as Kit grinned at her knowingly.

              “Um Layla, didn’t you have a poster of Aragorn on your wall when you were in high school?” Kit asked, her eyes sparkling wickedly.

              Jane walked over to her, her eyes wide as she looked at her oldest sister. “Oh my heck Layla. You like Michael don’t you? He’s pulling you in every time he smiles down at you the way he does, huh?”

              Layla closed her eyes, completely mortified and turned away from her sister’s gleeful faces. “I haven’t been seventeen for ten years. And he only looks like Aragorn when he smiles, which is hardly ever. I’m taking Bubba for a walk,” she said with as much dignity as she could muster and walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs to grab her dog and his leash. She needed some air.

              Bubba howled in delight as she grabbed his leash and clipped it in place. As she walked past the kitchen she could hear her sister’s happy chatter and she ground her teeth in irritation.
Why did they have to spin their little fairy tales around her?

              She opened the front door for Bubba and followed him out, shutting the door firmly behind her. She ran lightly down the porch stairs to the sidewalk and headed toward the water. She knew it was at least eight miles away and there was no way she could walk there today, so she’d have to settle with getting to know the neighborhood better.

              As the cool air whipped through her hair, she felt all the frustration, irritation and embarrassment ease away and she was able to smile at herself. She knew she had issues with men. She wasn’t an idiot. Since hanging out with her sisters though her issues had become a hot topic. It had gotten worse in the last year for sure, she had to admit. There were three men in her group of friends she enjoyed hanging out with back in Seattle. Men she was comfortable with, laughed with easily and enjoyed being around. So it wasn’t
all
men. But every man who attempted to ask her out lately, she’d immediately shut down.

              Layla smiled politely at an older gentleman walking his Schnauzer. She pulled Bubba away and quickened her pace frowning as she realized she’d been closing herself off emotionally for a while now. Being abandoned by their father at a young age hadn’t helped her, but that wasn’t the whole story. She rubbed her hand over her heart as she thought about the hopeless women and the hollowed out children she’d worked with during the last few years. She’d allowed herself to judge all men based on the men she dealt with at work. Logically she knew it wasn’t fair, but emotionally she couldn’t seem to help it. Was it so wrong want to not end up like all of the women she’d seen and talked to during the last four years? Left alone and desperate, abused or victimized? All the women she’d worked with through the years had looked up at her with battered faces and broken noses and had sworn that they’d loved the men in their lives. If love meant pain and damage then she didn’t want any part of it.

              Layla paused at the street corner, waiting for the light to turn green before crossing over. She heard a wolf whistle and automatically ignored it. She pulled Bubba down a residential road and smiled at the older homes with the large front yards and bright flowers. She missed Seattle but it was nice to get away from the City too. She was able to breathe a little easier here away from all the rush and stress.

              She stopped and allowed Bubba to sniff around an especially interesting bush and remembered the way Michael had smiled down into her face as if he could see to her very soul. It was a disconcerting feeling. One she’d never felt before. She wasn’t used to anyone seeing that far, let alone a man she didn’t even know. But his daughter Stella was an angel. Layla smiled softly remembering the little girl’s joy in the simple brownie.
Where was Stella’s mommy ?
And why did she leave? There was a story and before she allowed Michael to look any further into her soul, she’d want to know all the details of that situation.

              Layla pulled on Bubba’s leash and wondered if their hour walk was going to take three hours with the way he wanted to sniff and study every new thing. But it was a new territory and he was determined to be thorough. She sighed and reached down to pet her dog. He looked up at her with soulful brown eyes filled with love and she forgave him immediately. The world would be a better place if everyone had a Bassett hound to love. There was a reason why people had dogs. It was nice to know that there was at least one living creature in the world guaranteed not to betray you.

              An hour and a half later, she and Bubba returned to the bakery and walked up the steps. Layla smiled, feeling recharged and emotionally centered. If her sister’s wanted to tease her now, she’d just smile and brush it off. She loved being around Kit and Jane but she’d probably be taking a lot of walks to decompress in the future.

              Layla pushed through the door and immediately smelled a dark heavy cologne. The store was empty and she heard voices coming from the kitchen. She walked quickly through the door knowing it wasn’t Michael or even the cute young police officer. Someone else was here.

              She tied Bubba’s leash to the door handle before walking into the kitchen where Kit was standing in front of Jane talking calmly to a man in a well cut dark suit. His hair was slicked back and his cologne was even stronger in here. She wrinkled her nose and cleared her throat.

              “Hi,” she said as everyone turned and looked at her. Kit looked relieved and Jane looked worried. The man turned and smiled at her showing way too many teeth. Layla’s smile faded as the first thing she noted about him was his cold, calculating eyes. Here was a wolf if she’d ever seen one and she’d seen plenty in her line of work. Wolves could be business men, teachers, construction workers or computer analysts. They came in all shapes and sizes and different income brackets. But they all had one thing in common. The need to devour, dominate and destroy.

              “You must be Layla. Let me introduce myself. I’m Alex Foster. When I got the call from Michael that you’d turned the offer down, I figured I might as well try and change your mind. I was just offering to take your sisters out to dinner. Please join us,” he said smiling charmingly, his cold gray eyes looking her up and down deliberately.

              Layla glanced at Kit and she shook her head slightly. Jane just looked at her with wide eyes. Layla’s eyes narrowed and she stepped forward to shake Alex’s hand firmly.

              “I’m afraid we already have plans tonight Alex. Regardless, we wouldn’t want to waste your time. The answer is no. That’s not going to change now or ever,” she said, walking around Alex to stand in front of her sisters.

              Alex’s smile stayed in place as he studied her, trying to gauge her for weaknesses he could take advantage of. Layla smiled back, using her social worker smile. The one that said,
I’m tougher than you and I’ll take you down if I have to.

              Alex shook his head in regret. “Well, I have to admit that I’m very disappointed then. I had a lot of plans for this property, but if you girls are determined to stay and run the bakery, then I want you to know there’s no hard feelings. As a matter of fact, I wish you all the luck in the world. We might not be able to do business, but I hope that as fellow business owners and neighbors here in Fircrest we can be friends. I would be happy to introduce you around and open a few doors for you. And my invitation for dinner still stands. There’s a great restaurant just a block away called The Iron Skillet. I know the owner and the food is amazing. What do you say?” he asked, looking past her and Kit to Jane.

              Layla could almost feel Jane shrinking behind her and moved slightly to the left to block Alex’s view of her. Alex looked at Layla and frowned. Layla shook her head firmly, staring him straight in the eyes. “No Alex. Sorry, but like I said, we have plans and we had lunch there just this afternoon. We appreciate your offer of friendship but we’re going to be very busy getting everything up and running.”

              Alex stared coldly at Layla and then pursed his mouth. “Well, I tried. If you ever change your mind, here’s my card,” he said and stepped forward to hand it to her. “Call me anytime,” he said and turned around and walked through the door, disappearing into the front room.

              Layla watched him go and felt a cold shiver creep down her back. The man was a snake. She followed him into the front room just as the door shut. She hurried and locked it and closed the blinds too. She felt her sisters come to stand beside her and Jane’s hand on her arm. Layla turned and hugged her youngest sister and looked over her shoulder at Kit’s worried face.

              “He’s icky,” Jane said, letting go of Layla and stepping back.

              Layla tried to smile and nodded. “He’s the worst kind of icky. I don’t want him in our bakery again,” she said rubbing her arms.

              Kit nodded and bit her lip. “Yeah, but we’re a business open to the public. What can we do if he comes here during business hours?”

              Layla shrugged and walked to the window, peeking through the blinds. Alex was still sitting in his car across the street from the bakery. Just staring at their house. Ick was right. “Well, we can’t stop him from coming by. Let him spend his money if he wants to. But all he’ll ever get from us are cupcakes and donuts,” she said quietly.

              Kit stepped toward Layla. “He wouldn’t stop staring at Jane, Layla. I’m worried.”

              Layla looked at Jane sharply and she nodded. “It was freaky. He just kept staring at me like he’d just seen a new toy in the store,” Jane said, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

              Kit nodded her head and she and Layla exchanged worried looks. Layla rubbed her hand over her face as she looked down at her feet. There were men in the world who only loved one thing. Innocence. Jane was pure and good
and
innocent. To a man like Alex, she would be fascinating.