“You make me work harder than I’ve ever had to in my life. But I won’t give up. Don’t underestimate me, Juliette. I always get what I want.”
“Here we go again—that arrogant swagger of yours.”
“Sorry, couldn’t help it. As an alpha, it comes with the territory. You know that.”
Juliette tsked. She couldn’t fault him for that. Nature of the beast.
He glanced at her. “So, I guess I’m finally getting that dinner with you?”
His gentle smile warmed something inside her, a place that had been cold for too long. She’d always been drawn to him, but fought that urge to avoid getting hurt again. Why did it feel like that wall was crumbling a bit now?
You feel sorry for him, that’s all.
Yeah. That’s it.
“I guess. Me and two others.” She turned toward Leah and wiggled her fingers in the air. She teased her with her fingertips. Leah squealed with delight, making her squirm so much that she nearly turned over onto her stomach.
Wilhelm decided to sit next to Juliette. “You know, today was the first time I saw these cubs since they were born. My brother and I weren’t on speaking terms for a long time. I’d just never thought I’d see Leah and Thomas when I have to plan their parents’ funeral.” Though his expression was neutral, his words dripped with sorrow and Juliette almost gave him a hug.
But, she caught herself at the very last second. Whoa. That would be bad. If I’m getting too friendly, he’ll get the wrong idea. You wouldn’t want that, would you, Juliette? She cleared her throat and carefully arranged her tone to sound normal. “I’m sorry to hear that, Wilhelm. I know how it feels to lose people who meant so much to you. Life has a way of not giving a shit about what we want.”
She could feel Wilhelm staring at her.
Finally, he said, “You’re speaking from experience.” It wasn’t a question.
Juliette wished she hadn’t said that. “My family had its fair share of tragedies.”
A warm hand covered hers, and Wilhelm leaned toward her, their shoulders pressing together. “You know what they say: misery loves company.”
“Ain’t that the truth.”
“We’ve known each other for quite sometime, but you never told me about your family. Bergefjord is a prestigious clan.”
“I don’t bore my customers with my pathetic life story, Wilhelm. In Bonbon, we’re selling candies and sweet, instant happiness.”
“Really? You just think of me as one of your customers?”
“Well, you’re also my landlord, who is sneakily trying to raise the rent.”
“You’re not going to let that one go, are you?”
“Cause I’m petty, that’s why.”
A snort. “You’re far from being petty.”
“A vindictive bitch?” she offered.
“I would never—” Wilhelm squeezed her hand. “Why do I have the feeling you’re just trying to rile me up?”
“We’re talking about your problems, not mine. Remember?”
Wilhelm sighed deeply. “I wish you’d open up to me, even a little. I’m crazy about you, you know? Ever since the day we met.”
“I’m not blind, Wilhelm.”
He stared at her. “Will I ever have the chance? A place in your heart, Juliette? I know you must like me too, even if it’s only a tiny bit.”
“Sorry,” Juliette shot him down cruelly. “This tigress is done with romance.”
His gaze felt like a laser that slowly burned her face. He grunted that sound like a deep animal growl. “I don’t believe that. No, I refuse to believe it. I think you’re just punishing yourself over something you have no control about. I’ve heard stories about your past, Juliette. Bergefjord alpha is one of my good friends. Being infertile is no reason for you to shut yourself away from the world. There’s plenty of people in your life who care about you.”
Juliette flinched as if his words had slapped her. “It’s not about being unable to bear cubs for Anders Bergefjord. It was betrayal, Wilhelm. He promised me…” Her voice getting smaller, “We would always be together. In richness, in sickness, ‘til death do us part. But he cast me away the second he found out I was barren.” Bitterness laced her voice.
After a long silence, his hand squeezed hers. “I’m sorry, Juliette.”
He didn’t try to tell her that maybe life had other things in store for her, or that there was more to life than having children, or that she should focus on the good things in her life. He simply said he was sorry and let it be, and her heart ached again at how grateful she was for that. When his fingers touched her chin to lift her face, and his thumb brushed away a tear coursing down her cheek, Juliette’s heart did something different than ache, and she wondered if any second she’d wake up in her bed or with her forehead in a puddle of dipping chocolate to discover all this was a terrible, wonderful dream.
Wilhelm leaned toward her, and she anticipated the taste of his lips.
“I have returned, Mr. Sorenson,” a shrill voice said from the doorway.
Juliette leaned toward Wilhelm as he pulled back, then realized what she was doing. The moment was lost.
“I thought you insisted on having the rest of the day off, Leanne.” Wilhelm rose, brushing off his pants.
The nanny strode in like she owned the nursery. She cast a derisive glance at Juliette as she picked up Leah and put her in her crib. “I felt bad about what happened and realized I shouldn’t have gone. I’m sorry if I was difficult earlier. Maybe I was in shock.” She put Thomas in his crib as well.
Juliette felt the loss immediately. She stood and looked down at the twins.
“Yes, of course you were. I understand,” Wilhelm said. He took Juliette’s wrist gently. “We’ll leave you to them for now.” He pulled Juliette with him.
She smiled at the babies before they left the room.
Once she was alone in the hall with Wilhelm standing in front of her, Juliette felt suddenly vulnerable in a way she hadn’t while sitting on the floor with the babies. A feeling of loss. An urge of asserting her dominance and kicking that nanny out of the nursery simmered to the surface. Juliette squelched it down forcefully.
“I hope you’ll still have dinner with just me?” Wilhelm asked.
She wanted to. She wanted to pull him to her for the kiss she’d wanted so badly seconds ago. But the desire was gone and things were changing so quickly that Juliette thought the best thing to do would be to leave and think about things before doing something rash.
“Thank you but now that the nanny’s here … I should go.”
“Juliette—”
She put a hand on his chest and could feel the heat of his body and the curves of his muscles through the shirt. Juliette swallowed hard. “Wilhelm, I just need to go. I—I’ll talk to you tomorrow, all right?”
And unlike his usual persistent self, he leaned back and gave her room to walk away, but he took her hand and squeezed it. “All right, Juliette. Thank you so much for your help today. I’ll call down to my driver to take you back to your car.” After a long look into her eyes, he let go and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He didn’t follow Juliette down the stairs, so she looked up and waved at him before she walked into the foyer. As she suspected—as she’d hoped—he was watching her walk away, and waved back.
When Juliette finally made it home, she realized that the sweet smell of the cubs clung heavily to her clothing. Silently, she resented the nanny again. If she hadn’t showed up, Juliette would still be playing with the twins. Perhaps, she could even hold them in her arms all night.
Let it go, Juliette. They aren’t yours.
I know that already, she thought angrily. But why does it hurt to see they are cared for by someone else?
Juliette crawled into bed without changing. She pulled the fabric of her shirt up to her nose. She sniffed deeply, filling her lungs with the scent of the twins. All of a sudden calmness descended upon her. It took her a while to fall asleep.
She
dreamed about Leah and Thomas.
And Wilhelm.
Chapter Seven
“Yes, I know it’s late,” Wilhelm said. It was actually early, two in the morning, but he couldn’t sleep and wanted to make sure everything was taken care of for the morning. “Her shop opens at six, and I want to make sure she gets the new rental paperwork as soon after that as possible. I don’t want her to spend a moment of the day worrying that there’s a mix-up.”
Getting that misunderstanding straightened out was the least Wilhelm could do after Juliette’s help with the babies. He’d been delighted when she’d offered. And when he’d stood in the nursery doorway, watching her with them, part of him wanted to cry at how perfect the scene was.
And part of him wanted to put the babies in their cribs and carry Juliette to a bedroom to express his appreciation in other ways.
Just thinking about how she smiled at the twins, at how they responded to her as if she’d always been around them, brought out instincts he was unfamiliar with. He’d always wanted Juliette, but seeing her taking care of his niece and nephew added another edge to his want, a sharp and possessive one. He wanted to fuck her, to mate her. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t have children—his feeling hadn’t changed, not ever. Anders Bergefjord was a fool to let go a woman like Juliette. But then again, Anders might be burdened to produce heirs to further their lines. Anders was a future alpha, and in their clan, the position of alpha is passed down by bloodlines.
Unlike his clan that simply chose the strongest.
Juliette’s vulnerability that she showed him earlier had made him ache to touch her and protect her even more. No woman should have suffered alone like that, especially when she didn’t deserve it. She hadn’t been at fault. She was nothing but a victim in the cruel circumstance.
Gunther’s voice was groggy on the phone. “I’ll take the paperwork there myself, Wilhelm.”
“Good. Also … flowers. Take her a large bouquet of flowers.”
“On the card?”
“Just have them write thank you. She’ll know what for.”
Gunther sniffed. “Your usual bouquet?”
Wilhelm hadn’t had much time for dating lately, but when he did take a lady out and show her a good time, and usually after they’d spent at least a few hours in bed together, he’d tell Gunther to send the usual to her the next day—a large bouquet of mixed flowers in pastel shades with a card that simply said, “Thanks for a wonderful evening.” Gunther had once called it his morning-after flowers.
“No, not my usual. White roses. Two dozen in a crystal vase.”
Gunther didn’t say anything for a moment, probably from shock. Then he exhaled heavily. “Two dozen white roses in a crystal vase, and correct rental paperwork, six o’clock. Anything else?”
“That’s all. Call me when it’s all delivered?”
Gunther scoffed. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping at some point tonight?”
Wilhelm ran his fingers through his hair, still damp from his shower. “Text me, then. Better?”
Sometimes his beta got protective enough to question Wilhelm, and he appreciated Gunther for that.
“Yeah. Get some sleep,” Gunther said before they hung up.
Wilhelm didn’t get back into bed, though. He’d chosen one of the guest rooms closest to the nursery, so he padded barefoot down the hall to check on the babies. Both slept soundly.
He watched them for a few minutes, thinking about Juliette and the glow that came over her face when she looked at them. His pajama pants tightened as arousal washed over him. He wiped his hand down his face with a soft chuckle and headed back to the bedroom, feeling only slightly guilty that he could get hard thinking about Juliette on a day when he’d lost his brother. Maybe his sudden, stronger attraction to her was something to keep him from thinking about unpleasant things?
As he crawled back into the bed and immediately imagined Juliette sliding in next to him, straddling him, her hair brushing against his face as she lowered her mouth to his, he knew this wasn’t distraction. He’d gone from attraction and desire to something else, something he wasn’t ready to name.
Wilhelm thought about how he’d come so close to kissing her before they were interrupted, and how she’d leaned toward him, ready and willing. He fell asleep replaying that moment over and over in his mind, but without Leanne appearing in the doorway and stealing what should have been their first kiss.
Chapter Eight
Juliette’s morning had started fine, but Andy and Noelle had so many questions she felt interrogated before five thirty in the morning. She answered their questions as best she could without giving away too many of Wilhelm’s family details, and finally convinced them that she was all right.
She’d never left them in charge for a whole afternoon. They’d been shocked when she left at all, but when she called and said she wasn’t coming back, they’d both worried something was terribly wrong. Of course, it was, but there was nothing wrong with her.
She joked and told them to leave her the hell alone for the rest of the morning, so they’d both laughed and gone back to their tasks. Then Juliette noticed Gunther hovering outside the door in a sharp gray suit with pinstripes, his hair neatly slicked back, a frown on his face.
The only people who were ever there that early were the early-bird mall walkers, and most of them never glanced into her shop, probably trying to avoid temptation. But this morning, Gunther paced back and forth, his hands behind his back.
Wilhelm would have tapped on the glass and expected to be let in. Because Gunther was so polite as to wait, Juliette unlocked the door and opened it, a knot forming in her stomach when possible reasons for his visit flashed through her mind. Was everything okay with Wilhelm and the babies?
“Good morning,” she said softly. Before she could ask her questions, Gunther pulled an envelope out of his breast pocket and a smile replaced his frown.
“Wilhelm wanted this delivered to you first thing. It’s rental paperwork, so you can rest assured that your rent isn’t going to double or go up at all. Just sign it and mail it, or someone can come and pick it up.”
“Oh.” She took the envelope but didn’t open it. “Thank him for me?”
“Of course. Oh, and also …” He took a few steps to the right, and Juliette’s gaze followed him. Gunther picked up a large glass vase with a light pink tint to it, filled with huge, blooming, white roses. “He wanted you to have these.”
Juliette took the roses, and closed her mouth when she realized it had fallen open a little. “How lovely,” she said. She put them on one of the tables and plucked the card from between two fat blooms. “Thank you,” she read out loud. Juliette smiled so broadly, she was glad her back was to Gunther and he couldn’t see it.
“Please tell him the flowers were unnecessary. But they’re beautiful, and I appreciate the gesture.”
“Certainly,” he said.
She turned and waved at Gunther as he left, then carried the gorgeous roses to the display counter and placed them at the end near the register.
“Oh my God,” Noelle said when she carried fresh croissants to the display case. “Somebody’s got a crush.”
Juliette sniffed the flowers and couldn’t seem to stop touching them. “I helped him yesterday. This was a thank you, that’s all.”
Noelle rubbed the back of her wrist over her forehead, a spatula in her gloved hand. “C’est des conneries. You expect us to believe that? The gentleman had the hots for you for months. I doubt those roses are only a simple thank you. Hey, Andy—” she called her co-conspirator, “if you were to give a girl you like roses, do you expect her to be just a friend?”
“Friendzoned? Hell no. I’d want her to sleep with me. Roses ain’t cheap.”
“I know, right?”
“Duh.”
She and Andy traded a mocking glance.
“Hey, I see that!” Juliette pointed out. “And nothing happened. This is just an elaborate thanks, that’s all.”
“Right. Did you sleep with him?” asked Noelle brazenly. Sometimes, that French girl lacked social filter. She wagged her tongue as she pleased. Andy looked surprised with her boldness this time.
“No. Like I said, nothing happened,” Juliette responded hotly.
“Do you want to?” Noelle wasn’t ready to let this one go.
“Get back to work, Ms. Busybody.”
Noelle nodded at Andy conspiratorially. “Yeah, she does.”
Andy chuckled.
“I heard that,” said Juliette. “Stop meddling in my personal life.”
“I’m a multi-tasker, Juliette. I’m perfectly capable of doing both.”
Juliette shook her head. She shooed her away and went back to arranging pastries in the case while admiring the bouquet every few minutes.
Before six o’clock and opening time rolled around, Juliette had made a decision. She took off her apron and her hairnet, put her hands on her hips, and addressed her employees.
“Kids, how’d you two like to run Bonbon for a whole day?”
*
As Juliette pulled up outside the mansion, she decided for the third time that it was a bad idea. It was too early to drop in on someone for a visit, but she knew Wilhelm was always up early, usually hovering outside her shop. He’d been through a lot in the last day, so maybe he’d slept in? She kept arguing with herself that this was foolish, an intrusion. The signed rental paperwork could be mailed.
But it made a great excuse to stop by. She could have waited and brought the paperwork to his office after he left for the day, but then she wouldn’t get to see the babies.
And damn if she didn’t miss them after being with them only a short time yesterday.
She wanted to thank him for the flowers too. Juliette felt a personal thank you would be better than a note or a phone call. And maybe in thanks, she’d kiss him on the cheek. Put her hands on his arms, maybe a light embrace. She wanted him to know that she was definitely open to something along those lines.
And she wanted to test herself, to see if what she was starting to feel was real.
It took a few moments before someone answered the door, and she chided herself for showing up at such a stupid hour again. Leanne frowned at her. “Yes?”
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