Sinful

by Marie Rochelle

  He was continually trying to live up to his potential and achieve recognition as the top gym owner in town. Nothing was going to stand in his way of getting that item crossed off his list before moving on to the next one.

  Was it really wrong for him to be confident in his abilities to make it happen? Carrying out all of his projects with purpose and passion is what made him jump up out of bed every morning.

  Fitness 24 was his life.

  He had worked too many odd jobs over the years to make this place a reality. He wasn’t about to lose his dream now because of ‘Little Miss Bakery’.

  Unquestionably, she had to be the most difficult and trying woman he had ever run across. Even during the five years he spent as a male stripper to save up money to start this place, none of those women in the night clubs had gotten under his skin the way Maymi did.

  She loved pulling his strings. He saw the pleasure in her eyes earlier when she stood there holding her boxes of devilish treats. She purposely came over there to rub him the wrong way and not to see Casper. She was getting him back for when he barged into her business and made all of those demands.

  However, he doubted Maymi hadn’t counted on her visit only fueling his fire even more. He had a very difficult time not picking up her enticing body and carrying her right back out the front door. She wasn’t ready to deal with that tougher side of him.

  So he allowed her to believe that she had won this round, but he always had something else up his sleeve. When the right time presented itself, he would show her.

  As much as he wanted to keep his mind focused on his dealings with Maymi, Jensen had to get more done on the new projects he had on his outline. Fitness 24 still wasn’t the premier gym he knew it could be. Everything he had written down on paper had worked out amazingly, but only a few things were left to get accomplished and time was running out to get them done.

  Glancing down at his wrist, he noticed his watch showed he only had a few minutes to leave and head over to his appointment with Jack Metz. He was surprised to find a message on his phone from his toughest competition in town.

  Everyone around town had heard the rumors blowing around town that Jack was interested in selling his privately owned establishment. His curiosity was piqued by why his nemesis wanted to sell his grandfather’s business to him.

  Were the rumors he heard actually true about the high-end workout center? Could Jack’s members be leaving because of the lack of professionalism shown their by his trainers? Could they really be hitting on their female clients and nothing had happened to the guys?

  If Jack had allowed all of this to happen and turned a blind eye to keep his employees then he needed to lose his reputation and his business along with it. He didn’t and wouldn’t tolerate any of his trainers, employees male or female, to disrespect anyone before or during their workout sessions.

  Turning around, he hurried for the door knowing that Jack might not like the price he wanted to offer him, but it would be a good offer since Health Pro, Inc. wasn’t up to the standards it use to have for people previously. A bad name attached to a building for a year and a half, it was going to take time to rebuild it back up but he could do it for the right price along with the help of Casper.

  Finally being able to give Casper a place of his own would give him the opportunity to make his sibling prove himself. It was a great opportunity to show him that he could run the huge kickboxing classes he kept bragging about.

  For months now, he had been complaining about wanting a bigger space to expand his classes to include more than fifteen people. Health Pro, Inc. was a lot smaller than Fitness 24 in some ways, but there was one huge spot that could be perfect for what Casper was craving to do with his talent.

  He prayed everything would run smoothly with Jack and he could be signing the paperwork in the next few weeks. Maybe having something else to give his attention to would get Casper’s mind off of the pretty Maymi.

  Opening his office door, Jensen stepped out then stumbled back to avoid running into his brother standing on the other side. “Shit, I almost ran right into you.”

  Casper held up his hands and took his own step back. “Sorry, I didn’t know you were about to leave.” He apologized, dropping his hands. “Krissy told me that Maymi dropped off two delicious thank you gifts for me and that you had brought them up here.”

  “Yes, she did. They’re over there on the table by the window,” Jensen said, pointing a finger over his shoulder. “I’m running late to see Jack Metz. So we’ll have to talk about her visit later on when I get the time.”

  “I know you won’t forget,” Casper mumbled under his breath but he still heard him.

  “Of course I won’t.” Jensen brushed past his brother and continued down the hallway towards the staircase.

  He was running late, so he had to make it worth Jack’s time to wait for him. Health Pro. Inc, was almost in the palm of his hand and he wasn’t about to have it snatched away for no good reason.

  Chapter Nine

  “Come on and tell me what has put that horrible look on your face,” Jazmaine complained, waving a potato chip in her face.

  Twenty minutes ago, Jazmaine surprised her with her favorite Subway sandwich for lunch. She was even nice enough to eat in the back of the bakery while she worked on patty cakes and then cookies. Now she was acting like a first class bitch by not answering her questions.

  Honestly, food was the last thing on her mind until Jazmaine showed up with sandwiches and that friendly smile of hers she loved so much. After eating several bites, Maymi had to admit her headache was better and she could think a lot clearer than before. “I had a run-in with Jensen again,” Maymi finally answered, dropping her food down on the Subway paper in front of her. “I swear that man must wake up on the wrong side of the bed every single morning. He never has a kind word for anyone.”

  “Tell me what happened this time. Did he come back over here again and throw another tantrum demanding you move away from him or else?”

  Shaking her head, Maymi pushed a potato around with her finger. “No, this time I was at Fitness 24. He just happened to see me and he threw a major fit. I thought he was literally going to pick me up and toss me out on the sidewalk,” she admitted.

  She tried glancing away from her friend, but Jazmaine’s eyes caught and held hers. “Sweetie, I think you and Jensen just need to stay away from each other as much as possible. Why you decided to make an appearance at his gym, I will never know. Usually, you are so reasonable and practical when dealing with people. So why does he seem to get underneath your skin so badly?”

  “I believe our personalities clashed so hard the first time because I made a decision then not to let him intimidate me again.

  “Jensen seems to believe that he is the only one who has worked their ass off to make their business where it is today. Well, he hasn’t and I’m still angry he came over here and got in my face almost telling me I was too worthless to handle running this place.

  “I won’t let him, or anyone else, take this away from me. I've worked too hard to get this far. My pastry arts degree means the world to me and it will help me attain a profitable business doing something I love.”

  “Oh, I see what the problem is now. It has become a lot clearer to me,” Jazmaine told her.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Maymi said. She started clearing away the trash off the table leftover from her lunch.

  “Has your father called you at all since the grand opening? I know you called and told him about it; despite the fact, he hasn’t been all of that supportive of your career choice.”

  Getting up from her seat, she tossed the remains of her sandwich into her trashcan. Why did Jazmaine have to bring up her father? She wasn’t in the mood to discuss her father.

  “Maymi, are you going to answer me?” her girlfriend asked from right behind her.

  She spun around and took Jazmaine’s trash from her. “No, I haven’t heard from him, but you know
that he isn’t big on giving words of encouragement to the only girl in the family.”

  “I can’t believe your father treats you so differently from your brothers. Surely, he’s still not mad because you decided to go after you own dream and not the one he had picked out for you.”

  She understood that Jazmaine was trying to be a good friend to her, but this conversation was going nowhere. They had been talking about Jensen and somehow it had turned down a side street and gotten onto her father.

  “Look, I know—”

  The beeping sound of the timer cut Maymi off signaling to her that it was time to take the cookies out of the oven. Walking away from her girlfriend, she grabbed a potholder off the counter then went over to the oven and removed the cookies. Maymi moved around Jazmaine and sat the cookie sheet down before she worked on removing the warm cookies to a rack.

  “Maymi, you need to talk about this. I know you’re upset with your dad, but you need to fix things with him.”

  “Aren’t you going to be late getting back to work?” she asked, hoping Jazmaine took the blatant hint and left it alone.

  “Alright, I got it. You want me to leave but I do have one more thing to tell you. You aren’t going anywhere and I doubt Jensen is going to uproot his gym to a new location either. So the two of you need to get along or find a better way to avoid each other.”

  Angry at the advice which came across more like an attack on her, Maymi twirled around giving Jazmaine a look. “Why do I have to be the one getting a lecture? He started the feud with me. I was minding my own business working away and he came over to my bakery...it wasn’t the other way around. I only went over to Fitness 24 so I could see Casper. I had no interest in looking at his face or hearing his voice for that matter.”

  “I’m not giving you a lecture. I’m only pointing out the facts. The more you stay away from him the more productive your day will go.” Jazmaine looked her directly in the eye. “If you see him coming go the other way, it will keep down the arguments. You want to use all of that energy to draw more customers through the doors. Fitness 24 had been around a while and already has a name in the community. Sinful has only been here months. You can’t let him detour you anymore than he already has.”

  “I—”

  “Honey, just try it my way for a few days and see how it works out for you. Ignore anything he might toss your way and direct those emotions towards a different goal. Didn’t you mention you need to design some extra promotional materials for the bakery? Have you given any more thought to getting a website up and running?”

  Maymi knew Jazmaine was right and admitting it was a little painful but she couldn’t lie. “Yes, I’m running the idea through my head, but I’ve been working on this life-sized customized Hello Kitty cake that I’m getting close to ten thousand dollars for. I mean it’s my first huge order for Sinful. I just can’t get into getting a website set up right now.”

  Jazmaine grinned at her. “See, that is what I’m talking about, focusing your attention on your gifts and not some guy who came out of nowhere to be a thorn in your side. I know you’re feisty and don’t back down from a battle, but just take a step back from Jensen. Unless there’s another reason you like the tension brewing between the two of you.”

  The memory of how she used to be burned in her mind. Jazmaine was right. She had lost some of that woman and the thought of becoming her again was exciting.

  “I’ll see what I can do about getting the old me back, but I need to finish baking and taking things out of the oven before my help comes back here screaming for more sweets I don’t have.”

  “Don’t you have anything else to say to me?”

  “Like what,” she said, walking up to Jazmaine.

  “Maybe you’re sexually attracted to Jensen and that is one of the motivations for arguing with him. I mean I can’t blame you if it’s true. Who wouldn’t want the guy? He oozes that let’s have a one night stand kind of allure about him.”

  Laughing, Maymi hugged her crazy friend. She always thought it was Tatum she had to be worried about because of her crazy ideas, but now Jazmaine was giving her a run for her money with that comment.

  “No, I don’t see him as a sexy one night stand. Isn’t the purpose of a one night stand to sleep with the hot stranger and never see him again? Jensen is right next door to me, so that wouldn’t work for me. Not that I was thinking about doing it,” she quickly added. “But thanks again for coming to see me. Our talk really helped me a lot, I see things more differently now than before.”

  “Honey, after the way you left the restaurant two weeks ago I had no choice but to come and see about you as soon as I could. Listen I know I’m busy with the Mashiro deal, but if you need help with anything let me know and I’ll make the time for you.”

  Spinning around, Jazmaine grabbed her purse off the table and walked over to the kitchen door as the second buzzer went off for the cupcakes behind Maymi. She gave her friend one more look before going over to the oven and taking out her double chocolate treats. The mint frosting was already done and waiting at the side for the cupcakes once they were cool enough to ice.

  As she removed the cupcakes out of the oven, Maymi couldn’t get Jazmaine’s words out of her head. She was here to stay for the long haul and he better get used to it. Sinful was hers after years of working hard and nothing Jensen threatened her with was going to frighten her away.

  Chapter Ten

  “Ms. Monroe, are you sure that you don’t need me to stay here with you? It already eight-thirty and it’s pretty dark outside.”

  Glancing up from the dinosaur cake she was working on, Maymi spotted her assistant Olivia standing in the open doorway of the kitchen. She thought Olivia had already left and gone home for the night.

  “No, I’m fine. You can go ahead and leave to pick your daughter up from dance practice. I only need to finish up a few more things on him then I’m out of here too. How does the case look out there?”

  “It looks really good. You’re out of fresh pies and those little chocolate cream filled snacks,” Olivia answered.

  “Great, thanks for reminding me about those. I’ll work on them tomorrow morning when I get here at six o’clock.”

  “Are you sure about me leaving? I know it’s a pretty safe neighborhood, but you did park across the street near the basketball court because it was street cleaning day. I don’t feel right leaving you here alone. I can call my husband and he can pick up Meagan instead of me.”

  Wiping her hands on the towel, Maymi came around the counter and stopped in front of Olivia. She was touched her assistant was concerned about her safety, but there wasn’t any need for her to be.

  “I’ll be perfectly safe. This won’t be the first time I left Sinful at night and it won’t be the last time I do it either. Now, get out of here and pick up your little girl. Remember, I need you to come in at ten o’clock tomorrow. I have to finish up this dinosaur cake along with the hundred count cupcake order.”

  “Have you thought about hiring a few more people to help you out?” Olivia asked. “I know my sister- in-law is an amazing cake decorator and she was looking for part-time work.”

  “Right now, I don’t have the extra money so I can’t do it. Besides, I’ve a good system that keeps things easy for me. However, if I start getting more customized cakes orders, I will have to hire two more people. Now, enough worrying about me. You can’t have your daughter waiting for you at the dance studio.”

  “Okay, if you’re sure,” Olivia hedged. “I just don’t feel right leaving you here to walk across the street alone while my car is parked right out front.”

  “Don’t, I should have moved mine back after they finished cleaning the street, but I didn’t do it. Besides, I’m pretty sure nothing is going to happen to me. I’m honestly not scared to walk the short distance to my car.”

  Olivia gave her another doubtful look before spinning around and walking away. Maymi followed behind her and waited while her assistant got her
things, so she could lock up and turn over the sign on the front door to closed.

  She would be out of here early for once on a Friday night. She might even stay up late and read for an hour or two which was something she hadn’t done in a while.

  “I want you to be safe and check everything before you leave,” Olivia told her, heading for the exit.

  “Okay, Mom. I’ll do that,” she teased, standing at the door watching as Olivia got inside of her vehicle, waved at her then drove off.

  She closed the door, locked it and then turned over the sign before spinning around and hurrying back to the kitchen. She wanted to keep up with the time so she could out of here exactly on time for once.

  Today’s sales turned out to be more profitable than she thought after the slower than usual start. If every day became a regular day with a steady flow of customers, she would be able to hire two more assistants in the back and another one to work up the front with Olivia.

  Humming to herself, Maymi went back through the door and sat back down on her stool. She picked up the carving tool and began working on the fine details on the mouth and eyes for the dinosaur.

  When she first took the order and the boy’s father had told her what he wanted done, she turned him down until he offered to pay extra for the background on the cake. Every extra dollar earned went right back into Sinful, so she agreed to have it ready for him by late Saturday afternoon.

  Good thing she didn’t open up until ten o’clock on Saturdays. She could come in and have the entire place to herself for hours until Olivia showed up to open the doors.

  Maymi continued working on the tiny details on the nose, mouth and teeth until everything looked exactly like the picture on the table given to her by the customer. She laid down the tool then glanced up at the clock. She had the last part of the cake with an extra ten minutes to spare. All she had to do tomorrow was add the last of the finishing touches and the little guy would be ready to pick up.