She needed to be tamed...she was a little too wild with her words for him.
“What’s wrong? Have I shocked you speechless with my com—”
Jensen kissed Maymi, stealing the rest of the words from her mouth. He captured her moist lips with his, demanding a response. He was tired of her pretending she knew what his next move was going to be, it was time to show Maymi who was in the driver’s seat and it sure wasn’t her.
His tongue licked at the corner of her mouth before she acknowledged his request and opened her lips giving him entrance to her hidden treasure. Slowly, he traced his tongue along the recesses of her mouth as his cock hardened against the zipper of his suddenly too tight jeans. He gave her a few more nibbling kisses then raised his mouth before things got out of hand.
Usually, he wasn’t fond of PDA, but Maymi brought out sides of him he never knew existed until he stared in her chocolate eyes. He noticed the confusion mingled with unleashed desire simmering there.
“Wh...Wh...What do you think you are doing?” she demanded her lips swollen from his kisses.
“Showing you that you can never figure out what is going on inside of my head, so don’t even try. I will prove you wrong every time, Brown Eyes.” He brushed another kiss across her surprised mouth before spinning around and walking away first this time, leaving as flabbergasted Maymi watching him leave.
Chapter Fourteen
“Tatum, it took everything in my power not to slap his smug face,” Maymi complained as she pulled another tray of low fat cookies out of the oven and closed the door with her elbow. “I swear that man acts like every woman with a pulse should fall at his feet.”
“I think you’re complaining way too much,” Tatum said from behind her as she transferred the oatmeal raisin cookies to a cooling rack.
“I mean, are you really upset a guy hotter than most Hollywood actors kissed you in the middle of a store? Come on, it’s me you’re talking to, not Jazmaine. I saw how you were checking Jensen out at the restaurant. I can understand why because he’s super hot!”
Walking over to the table, Maymi worked on mixing up the last batch of cookie batter. She used a small ice cream scoop and placed the balls of dough on a sheet tray before taking it over to the oven. Opening it, she slid them inside, closed the door and set the timer.
She opened her mouth and then snapped it closed. She wanted to lie, but she couldn’t.
Jensen’s shocking kiss was so good it almost had her moaning and begging him not to stop. Why was it the guy who a woman wanted to hate? Somehow, he was the one who constantly made her panties wet.
“Alright, I was checking out Jensen,” Maymi admitted as she looked back over at Tatum. “However, it doesn’t give him the right to think he can kiss me to prove a point or stroke his already over swollen ego.”
Leaning across the work counter, Tatum picked up a no bake cookie and waved it at her. “Did his kiss take your breath away? Do you even know what that is? I don’t ever recall you talking about a man since Hudson.”
She wasn’t going to talk about Hudson or compare him to Jensen. Hudson had been the most loving, caring and supportive man she ever had in her life. Maymi blinked away sudden tears. She couldn’t let herself get dragged back into the memories.
“Yes, his kiss stole my breath away. I’ve had time to date and even to get kissed but none of their kisses compared to his. It was shocking and I hate to admit a small part of me wanted it to continue. Yet, I think... No, I know he kissed me for another reason besides wanting to prove a point.”
“Honey, don’t care about why Jensen’s gorgeous mouth touched yours. All I would do is pray every night for it to happen again.”
Maymi rolled her eyes wondering what she was going to do with Tatum. Her best friend always went for what was in her face instead of going for the bigger picture.
“What am I doing to do with you?” she asked.
“Listen to my wonderful advice,” Tatum suggested then took a bite of the cookie in her hand. “Mmmm. This is so good. Can I have another one for the road? You make these to tempt my willpower, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do, along with everyone else who has a sweet tooth,” Maymi answered.
Walking across the kitchen, she grabbed a small hot pink cookie box off the shelf and then added a few extra cookies inside for Tatum. “Here you go. Don’t eat them all in one day. Save some for tomorrow,” she teased, handing her friend the box.
Tatum took the box from her. “Girl, these are adorable,” she said, running her hand over the lettering on the top. “I love the look of them, very eye-catching.”
“Thank you. I’m almost out of them because business has been so red hot,” Maymi gushed. “Honestly, since the last time we had dinner together, Sinful has improved even more.”
“Sweetheart, you deserve all of this success. I told you not to listen to your father. He doesn’t have a clue what a talented pastry chef you are. Didn’t you come in second place on Incredible Desserts and then took first place on Monster Cookies? You’re very gifted and the best friend I could ask for.”
“We have been through a lot together, haven’t we?” Walking up to Tatum, she gave her a hug then stepped back. ‘Thank you for always being my sounding board. I can tell you anything.”
“Honey, you know I have been keeping your dirty secrets for years, so I’m not about to stop this late in our lives.”
“You better not.” Maymi laughed, linking her arms through Tatum’s. “Let me walk you out before I need to start working on these low-fat cupcakes.”
Maymi walked through the door, hoping this new recipe worked for her. She wanted them to be a hot seller like her grandmother’s other desserts, but she was a concerned the taste might not be up to par with the rich old school ones.
“Make some extra ones so Jazmaine and I can be your tasters. You know your girls will tell you the truth. Just like I did about you liking the spontaneous kiss Jensen planted on you. All I have to say is, if it happens again, kiss his handsome butt back,” Tatum encouraged before turning around and going out of the door.
She loved Tatum even with her over-giving advice side, but she wasn’t going to listen to one word that came from her mouth about Jensen. The kiss he gave her was good...no exceptional...one of the best she had in a very long time, but she couldn’t let him seduce her emotions again especially not out in a public or alone.
They just shared a momentary lapse in judgment which neither one of them probably wanted to experience again. Yeah, Jensen better watch his step because the next time he tried something like his kiss again, he might get a surprise from her he wasn’t expecting.
Maymi took a minute to flip the ‘Gone to lunch’ sign back over to ‘Yes, we’re Open.’ She needed to spend more time actually sitting down to eat lunch instead of sneaking a bite here and there in the back while she was baking. She moved away from the door and was halfway across the room when the bell chimed above the door, making her turn back around.
“Great, you’re open,” a tall, gray haired man said. He wore an expensive dark blue suit, and hurried over to the cupcake display case. “How many cupcakes are in there?”
“I have a little over two dozen,” Maymi answered, going behind the counter.
“I’ll take all of them along with all of your chocolate chip cookies. “I need them for a retirement party at my office. My assistant was praising your goodies and she’s the pickiest sweets eater in the world. So I know if she loves the things here they must be first-rate.”
“Thank you. I make them myself,” Maymi said as she boxed up everything and rang it up for the man. She gave him the price then took the platinum credit card he handed her.
“I hope you enjoy everything and please come again.” She gave the gentleman his four boxes along with his receipt and card back.
“Oh, I don’t have a doubt I won’t and you have a nice day,” he told her then left as quickly as he came in.
For the next several hours, Maymi
worked on the steady flow of customers that came through the doors of Sinful with a bounce to her step. The rush of customers is what she wished for during her grand opening and finally weeks later, it was here. Her day couldn’t possibly get any better if she wrote the script of it herself.
Taking a towel from the waistband of her apron, she began wiping the few crumbs off the counter that came from handing out free cookies to the kids. She bent down and pulled out all of the empty trays placing them behind her on the counter just as the bell above the door chimed again.
“Give me a minute and I’ll be right with you,” Maymi called out as she finished stacking up the last of the trays.
“Should I feel insulted that my kiss was so lackluster that it didn’t have you next door warning me to stay away from you or else?” a familiar voice questioned behind her. “Maybe I should give it another try to get the reaction I wanted.”
Maymi felt her pulse jump as Tatum’s words rushed back to haunt her, but she shoved them down just as fast.
“I believe I told you before if you showed up here again uninvited, I would toss you out without thinking twice about it,” she countered, twirling to find Jensen standing on the other side of her dessert counter.
“I’ve been in here since then and you were very nice to me,” Jensen reminded her in his rich, deep voice that she was starting to hear in her dreams. “So your threats don’t scare me anymore. Besides, I believe I could take you.”
“Don’t let my size fool you. I’m tougher than I look.” Coming around the edge of the counter, Maymi stopped in front of Jensen, trying not to get lost in his masculinity, but it was extremely hard since it seemed to surround everything about him.
“I know you didn’t come over here to exchange small talk with me so what can I do for you?” she asked, hoping Jensen couldn’t see how excited she was to see him.
Damn Tatum and Jazmaine for giving her all of that stupid advice now she couldn’t keep it out of her head with Jensen standing right within touching distance of her fingers.
Chapter Fifteen
Jensen’s eyes sparkled at her as he crossed his arms over his wide, muscular chest. “You’re always brewing for a fight, aren’t you? Did you ever think I might just have come over here to see your pretty face?” he asked, shocking her, but Maymi quickly recovered.
“I’m betting Fitness 24 has several pretty women for you to find appealing so why don’t you tell me the truth?”
Numerous ideas raced through her head as to why Jensen was standing in front of her. One thing was for sure: this guy was full of surprises and she hated surprises, especially when they didn’t benefit her but him.
“You’re right. My gym does have a lot of gorgeous women over there, but I think you are a lot more interesting than they are. I never know what’s going to come out of your mouth and a part of me likes that about you.”
Something clicked in Maymi’s head and she was beginning to see where Jensen was going with this. Did he think she was so gullible that she would fall for his new tactic? She was a little disappointed he thought so little of her to do this.
“You have a lot of nerve, don’t you,” she said. “I mean your threats didn’t work on me because I was too strong. You saw another chance to manipulate me at the health food store with an unwanted kiss that wasn’t anything to write home about.”
God, she hoped he believed that huge lie! She noticed how Jensen uncrossed his arms and took a small step in her direction. Maybe he did because he looked pissed as hell with her.
“I didn’t hear you complaining at the store about my kissing abilities or the lack of them,” he tossed back. “Brown eyes, I saw your face and you liked it. You wanted me to continue.”
“How could I? You kissed me so quickly I couldn’t shove you away and tell you how bad it was. It would have torn down your fragile ego. Guys like you work out because you can’t do anything else with your life.”
Jensen’s rich hazel’s eyes grew a shade darker as soon as the words left her mouth and Maymi wondered if she should have kept her mouth shut and just walked away.
“I believe you are denying our kiss way too much, Ms. Monroe. I think you got into it more than you want to admit to me and more importantly yourself,” Jensen taunted, softly.
His arrogance was going to be his downfall with me, Maymi thought.
No matter what Jensen did, she wasn’t ever going to give him the inch he was trying to get out of her. “You’ll be waiting forever if you think I’m going to admit I like you.”
“I don’t need you to admit anything to me. You might be denying it now, but you kissed me back. Sure, we might be arguing but we both know our arguing is—”
The bell chimed above the door and Maymi quickly slipped around Jensen as the tension began to get a little too thick between them. She would be extra nice to whoever the person was who just showed up and stopped her from kissing Jensen first this time.
“Good morning, can I help—?” Her eyes widened at the sight of Casper standing there holding two boxes.
“Casper, what are you doing here? I wasn’t expecting to see you today.”
What in the hell was going on this morning? She couldn’t figure out why Jensen was even here because seeing him was a total surprise.
His eyes darted over to Jensen then back over to her. “Am I interrupting something?” Casper asked, staring at her.
She didn’t like the confused look on his face. It looked like he was reading more into the situation than there really was. She wasn’t doing anything with Jensen. They had only been talking and nothing else.
“Actually your timing is perfect since your brother and I were about to get into another useless argument over nothing.” Maymi glanced over her shoulder making eye contact with Jensen. “Was there anything else you wanted from me?”
Jensen cocked one eyebrow at her. “No, I guess there wasn’t since you aren’t capable of having an adult conversation with me. I’ll leave so you can talk to my brother instead of me since the two of you seem to have grown so close.”
He brushed past her and then paused in front of Casper. She could tell from his body language Jensen wasn’t pleased his conversation with her had gotten taken over by his brother’s surprise appearance.
“Don’t waste too much time over here. We need to have a staff meeting in twenty minutes and I want you to be there,” Jensen said then literally stormed away, went out the door without looking back at either one of them.
“I swear he’s constantly in a bad mood,” Maymi complained. “I think he hates seeing me every day.”
“I think the problem is bigger than you. Jensen is a great guy, but he takes on too much sometimes. He needs to cut loose more, but I didn’t come here to discuss him. I’ve a present for you.”
Excitement raced through Maymi’s veins as she took the boxes from Casper. She couldn’t image what was on the inside. She hadn’t known him long enough to be getting gifts from him.
“What’s in here? Should I be getting presents from you?” she asked, walking over to a small table.
“Why don’t you open them up and find out?” Casper suggested.
Not wasting another minute, she opened the large box gasping at the bakery boxes on the inside with Sinful designed across the top in beautiful black lettering. She was speechless. Maymi swallowed a few times trying to regain her composure.
“Do you like them?” Casper asked, leaning over her shoulder. “I still felt bad for ruining the other ones, so I had these made to take care of the ones I couldn’t fix.”
“My God...these are beautiful but they’re too expensive. I mean the lettering alone would put me back two months. I can’t accept them. It wouldn’t be right.” Maymi tried reclosing the lid, but Casper’s hand shot out and stopped her.
“I won’t take them back. Besides, my buddy who did them owed me a favor and I got them at a discount. There’s also another reason I got these made for you,” he admitted, softly.
Taken back by the sudden change in Casper’s usually carefree voice, Maymi turned around and was caught off guard by the serious look in his eyes.
“If you hadn’t helped my brother that night something could have happened to him. I know Jensen has been a pain in your ass about your bakery. You could have ignored his situation and walked away and not one person would have known about it.
“He can be a hard man to like, even love, when he’s trying to get his point across, but I love my brother. I don’t tell him that enough and I probably won’t ever confess it unless I’m really pushed. However, I still have him here trying to dictate my every move and I’ve you to thank for that. Thank you.”
She opened her mouth to say something but no words came out. How was she supposed to tell him something after that little confession? Who knew Casper could be so deep?
“Hey, I made you speechless and that usually only happens after a woman sees me naked,” he joked.
Snap. Maymi was suddenly jerked out of her world of silence. Only Casper could bring up sex inside of a bakery.
“Alright, I think you need to leave,” she said, giving him a small shove in the shoulder. “You are preventing me from finishing up the last of my orders. I can’t have your crazy humor side-tracking me.”
“Oh, you’ll be thinking about me all day,” Casper teased, wiggling his eyebrows. “Unless, it’s my brooding brother who has captured your attention; I noticed how the two of you were awful close before I came through the door. It was so hot I almost walked away.”
“If there’s anything hot in Sinful, it’s the oven and nothing else,” Maymi denied as she opened the door and shoved Casper outside to the sidewalk.
“Come on, sweetness. I know my brother can be a complete jerk; but he was blessed in the looks department. Of course, not as much as me but certain woman find that dark, tortured soul look of his sexy.”
Maymi honestly didn’t know what to say. Casper was either out of his mind or loved pushing her to the edge when it came to Jensen. Either way, she wasn’t going to take the bait because he was seeing something that wasn’t there.
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