by Isabella Rae
“Did he know my bakery was in this building?”
“I don’t know, I don’t think so.”
“Then how could he know he was doing something that was going to hurt you, or me for that matter.”
“Screw you.” She smiles and pours me another shot.
“Don’t be mad at me because you’re being ridiculous.”
“You’re my oldest friend, Sage, and I can’t stand that he is going to hurt you this way.”
“This isn’t about me, or the bakery, ok well, maybe partially. What this is really about is Leland leaving.”
“No its not, he asked me to move to New York with him.” She doesn’t seem to be surprised by my announcement.
“What did you say when he asked you?”
“That I had to think about it.” She pours us both another shot, and when I take it I feel the effects of the alcohol.
“Then you’re a bigger fool than I thought.”
Chapter 36
It’s been three weeks since I walked out of Leland’s suite, and he finally gave up calling after a week. Today is my first day back at work, and I’m nervous as hell. Avery called me about a week ago and told me that Leland was getting suspicious of her. When I requested that Avery fill in for me, I asked her to keep me updated on how Leland was doing. Despite everything, I do care about him, and I didn’t want to come back before he was ok with seeing me. Around the same time construction started on the floor above Sage’s bakery, we were denied access when we tried to take a look. Now, as I stand looking in the mirror, scared to death, I begin to wonder what he’s up to.
I take my time driving to work, and when I get there, Avery is at her desk at the front door.
“Good morning, Victoria, how are you doing?” The tone she uses tells me she understands.
“I’m ok, nervous, I guess.” I give her a weak smile.
“You’ll be fine, if you need anything, I’ll be here.” She turns to answer the phone on her desk as it starts ringing. I head to the elevators and I prepare myself to see Leland again.
At my desk I settle in, not yet ready to face him just yet. When I go to put my purse in the drawer I find a small box inside. Lifting it out I pull a note off the top and read.
“A treat for your first day back. I hope you enjoy them, but don’t eat too much we have a lunch meeting at 12. -Leland.”
Opening the box I find three small chocolates like the ones I had the first night Leland and I worked late at the hotel. Despite myself, I smile and lift a chocolate from the box. The chocolate melts on my tongue and the hazelnut cream inside follows. A small sigh escapes as I feel a small amount of the tension leave my body. Suddenly I’m aware that someone is watching me. Opening my eyes I find Leland standing less than five feet away.
“I see you got my gift.” There is no smile when he speaks to me.
“I did, thank you.” It’s weird being back and somewhat uncomfortable at how distant we are.
“I have some things to take care of out of the office this morning, but I will be back at 11:30 to pick you up for our meeting.”
“I can meet you there if you give me the address.” There’s no way I can be in a car with him.
“That won’t be necessary, just be ready when I get here.” He turns and leaves without waiting for a response. Leaving me little choice I set an alarm on my phone to be sure I’m not late, and get to work.
Despite everything, it’s good to be back.
Chapter 37
At 11:30 exactly, I head down to meet Leland for our lunch meeting. I’m hoping the dread is not written on my face. Avery offers me a smile as I push open the doors and head out to the waiting car. Plastering a smile on my face, I allow Leland to shut the car door behind me before rounding the car and sliding in beside me.
“Is there anything I should know before we go into this meeting?” I force myself to talk about business before any personal stuff has a chance to come up.
“Not really, I just want you to observe and give me your thoughts afterward.” He turns to look out the window, but I think I see him smile as he does.
The car ride takes about fifteen minutes due to the lunch hour rush, but as we pull up I’m very confused. Instead of being at a restaurant, we are stopped in front of Sage’s bakery. Looking out the window I see Sage standing outside. While I am distracted, Leland makes his way around and opens the door for me.
“Why are we here?” Having Leland here is hard, and I fight back tears.
“Why don’t we get Sage and I can tell you both.” He acts as if he might grab my hand, but thinks better of it and leads the way across the street to where Sage is standing. “Miss McCarthy, thank you for meeting me here.” He offers Sage a warm smile that is refused.
“Victoria, what is this about?”
“I wish I knew, I thought we were going to a lunch meeting.” I walk over to her and give her hand a little squeeze. No matter how hard this is for me, I know it’s harder for her. We both look at Leland, waiting.
“Why don’t we go inside and I can explain better.” Instead of going to the door of the bakery, Leland pulls out a set of keys and heads to the door that leads upstairs, reminding us that he owns the building now. He holds the door open long enough for us to step through and then locks it behind us. We follow as he leads the way past the bank of newly installed mailboxes, and up the stairs. None of us says a word as he stops at another door and, using the same set of keys, opens it and goes inside. Following him, once again, we enter into what appears to be the first of the new apartments being built.
“Why are you doing this, Leland? What sick reason do you have for torturing Sage this way?” A fire is burning inside me. There was a time I would have said he cared about me, but clearly I was wrong.
“I’m not trying to torture anyone. Here.” He extends the keys to Sage, but she just stares at him. “The apartment is yours Sage, if you want it. We have a lot to discuss, but I’m not closing your bakery, and as the only current tenant in the building, we wanted to offer you the first apartment.” Sage looks at me briefly before taking the keys from him.
“Are you serious?” Tears fill Sage’s eyes, “Thank you, Leland, but even if you don’t make me close, I can’t afford to stay open.” Sage makes to give Leland the keys back, but he refuses them.
“You can with this.” Pulling an envelope out of his jacket he passes it to Sage. When she opens it she lets out a quiet sob as tears begin to fall.
“Thank you.” Leland is caught off guard when Sage catches him up in a big hug.
“We’ll discuss everything in a few moments, but could you give me a few minutes alone with Victoria, please?” Letting go she wipes away her tears.
“Sure, I’ll be downstairs.” She leaves, abandoning me alone with Leland. Neither of us speaks right away, seemingly both collecting our thoughts.
“I’m sorry.” He startles me, breaking the silence with the simple words. “Victoria, I know that I hurt you and Sage, and I’m sorry. I promised you I would make it up to you, and I hope that this helps a little.”
“What was in the envelope?” I can’t very well forgive him, when I don’t know all that he’s done to make it better.
“An investment. I did a lot of thinking about how I could fix this, and since the deal was done I decided to make the best of the situation. I am personally investing in Sage’s Sweet Delights. Instead of putting in a restaurant downstairs we are going to leave the bakery there, and with my investment Sage will expand into the space next door to her existing space. Not only will it benefit our investment into the building, but Sage will benefit with all the added foot traffic.” He sounds like he’s really thought about this a lot, and it does seem like a good plan.
“Thank you.” The smile I give him is genuine.
“I never meant to hurt you, Victoria, but I think it worked out for the best. This was I can make sure no one will make Sage close her doors.” He had a point, but I just can’t manage to put my hurt aside.
“Maybe you’re right. We should get downstairs so that you and Sage can talk about things.” I start to leave but Leland stops me.
“Victoria wait, can you please forgive me?”
“I’m sorry, Leland, I don’t know if I can.” I leave him standing there, but I don’t get very far. Outside the door I stop and finally let out the tears I have been holding in. I didn’t notice at first, but Sage was standing at the bottom of the stairs.
“I thought you might need a shoulder when you were done.” Through my tears I laugh.
“I can always count on you.” I rush down the stairs and give her a huge hug. Together we walk to the bakery and she hands me a cupcake.
“I don’t have to take the money, Vie.”
“Yes you do, and I want you to. This is your dream, and I will never let you give up on it.” Just then Leland walks in, it looks like he’s been crying but I think that’s just wishful thinking.
“I’m going to give you two a little time to talk about things.” I just can’t be here right now, so I step outside to catch my breath.
Chapter 38
She just walked out again. I don’t understand why she can’t forgive me. I have turned everything around for her and she still can’t forgive me. I didn’t even do anything wrong to begin with. I know that Victoria is hurting, but damn, she’s being unreasonable. One thing is for damn sure, I’m not going to fall down at her feet and beg her to forgive me. I take a minute to calm myself, I was so sure this would fix things with her, but now, I just have to suck it up and deal with it. Walking out of the apartment, I lock the door behind me and head down the stairs to the bakery. When I enter, Sage and Victoria are sitting at the counter talking.
“Yes you do, and I want you to. This is your dream, and I will never let you give up on it.” I only catch part of their conversation, but it just proves how much Victoria loves her friend.
“I’m going to give you two a little time to talk about things.” She rushes out quickly leaving Sage and me alone to discuss business. The moment the door closes behind her the room feels empty.
“So, did you have any ideas for the expansion?” Sage looks at me for a moment before saying anything.
“So how do you plan to get her back?” Her question catches me off guard.
“Honestly, I don’t know.”
“Then yes, I do have some ideas for the expansion. First idea being that you will be very hands on with the whole process.” Before today I though Sage just tolerated me for Victoria’s sake, but as we start to discuss the plans for expanding the bakery I realize that she was just protecting her friend.
Chapter 39
Today marks day fifteen of our remodel of Sage’s Sweet Delights, which means day fifteen of working side by side with Leland. A sweaty, shirt off, muscles rippling, sexy as hell Leland, who barely even looks in my direction. Not that I care, I mean, I’m still mad at him, I think. At the moment, Leland is bent over a sawhorse sawing a piece of wood for the new counter, and I am doing my best not to look. I’m failing miserably. This isn’t the first day of this either, every day that we’ve been here remodeling Sage has delegated some task to him that makes him even sexier than he already is. I think she might have gone Benedict Arnold on me.
Sage insisted that in order to save money, we do as much of the labor as possible. Turning back to my wall I realize that I’ve spent more time looking at Leland than I have painting, and get to work. The new bakery is going to look amazing when we’re done, which with the schedule the way it is now, should only be a day or two more. It’s amazing what money can accomplish. Leland invested one million dollars, of his own money, into Sage’s bakery, and the company was spending a lot more than that to ensure that the apartments are ready to open when the bakery does.
Since we started the remodel I have been staying with Sage in her new apartment so that we could get an early start every day. It’s been really nice being so close to Sage, but I will be very happy when I we can go back to being just friends and not roommates. Not that I don’t love her, it’s just that I am kind of a neat freak, and Sage is not. Lost in thought, I barely notice that my bright yellow wall is painted.
“You know, the second coat goes on after the first one is dry.” It’s the first words Leland has spoken to me in over a week.
“What? Oh, guess I was somewhere else.” Setting my paint roller down I step back and make sure there aren’t any spots I have missed. Satisfied I wrap my roller in plastic so it doesn’t dry out before the second coat.
“Things are going pretty well so far.” I didn’t notice that Leland has walked with me to the sink.
“Yeah, it looks really good. Look, I know I said it before, but I just want to thank you again.” Looking over at Sage I see her looking through a catalog of bakery equipment, circling items like a kid with a Christmas catalog. “It’s been a really long time since I’ve seen Sage this happy.”
“You’re welcome.” I turn to walk away but his words catch me. “I miss you.” I almost don’t hear him say it, and almost walk away, but I know this has been hard on him, too.
“I miss you, too.” I don’t think I’ve ever missed anyone so much. Not wanting to say anymore I head over to see if there is anything else Sage wants me to do before I call it quits for the day. She simply waves me off saying dinner will be here in twenty minutes. Knowing I don’t have enough time for the kind of shower I would like, I head upstairs to change, calling dibs on the shower after dinner.
Chapter 40
When I get upstairs I just can’t wait until after dinner to take a shower, so I grab a towel and head to the bathroom. Turning the shower on, I undress and take my hair down before stepping in. The water, which is almost too hot, feels amazing on my dirty skin. I stand there for a while under the hot spray and enjoy the feeling of the sweat being washed away. I turn to grab my body wash and hear something that sounds like the door opening.
“Sage, is that you?” Getting no response from the shadow on the other side of the glass, I shrug it off. If there is a murderer here to kill me I might as well be clean before I die. After about two minutes the shower door opens slightly and Leland peeks in.
“Did I ever tell you how beautiful you look in the shower?”
“What the hell are you doing, get out!” I yell at him and do my best to hide my exposed skin.
“Sorry, dinner will be here in ten minutes, and I have orders to be clean and presentable or I am not allowed to eat.” Opening the door wider, he steps into the shower with me. “Don’t worry, I’ll behave, I just want to take a quick shower.” He sounds pretty convincing, at least to my distracted mind he does. Figuring I can wash off and get out in a matter of seconds I turn quickly to wash my body and rub against him in the process. I’m not used to being in such a small shower with another person. Doing my best to ignore the burning that has started inside me I scrub my body.
“I can wash your back if you need me to.” I am just weak enough to accept and hand him my loofah. He begins to wash my back slowly, and after a few seconds I realize he’s washing me with his hands. Instantly I feel the need inside me grow, and yell at myself to not give in.
“I never did get a chance to show you the right way to have shower sex.” His hands come around to cup my breasts, pulling me into him as he whispers in my ear. My will to fight is not nearly as strong as I need it to be, and a small moan escapes my throat. Traitor. I can almost feel his smile as he tweaks my nipples hard.
“We shouldn’t do this.” I don’t sound nearly as convincing as I would like to.
“Then tell me to stop.” One hand sneaks down to cup me, and my legs go weak. He supports my weight as he slides two fingers into me and massages my g-spot. Leaning forward, I brace myself on the wall of the shower as the first waves of the orgasm hit me. Leland leans with me and keeps my orgasm going until I go limp again. “Now, here’s the fun part, no matter how much you want to scream, you have to stay quiet. Unless you want Sage and everyone else to know what w
e are doing in here.” I shake my head and shout in my head for him to enter me. Understanding, he leans back and pushes into me from behind, using the water as lubrication as it runs between our bodies. At first, I’m talking a big game in my head, of course I can stay quiet, I am a pro at staying quiet, and then he picks up speed. The only noise, besides the water, is the sound of our bodies slamming together as he takes me roughly. I have to hold my breath to keep from screaming out. Leland adjusts slightly placing one hand on my shoulder for leverage, and putting the other over my mouth, understanding my struggle. As the water starts to turn cold he moves the hand on my mouth to massage me, sending me over the edge once again. As soon as he feels me start to come, he lets go and comes with me. As soon as the euphoria leaves me, clear thought returns. This was a mistake.
“I told you that you were doing it wrong.” I dry off quickly and sneak to my room to get dressed. As I close the door I can hear at least two voices in the kitchen. Finding clothes quickly I pull my wet hair into a bun and take a deep breath before going to face the music.
Entering the kitchen, I find Sage, Nick, Carter, and Leland all fixing plates of Chinese food.
“Victoria, come and get some food before it’s all gone.” Sage passes me a plate. Exchanging a look with Leland, he shakes his head, no one heard us. Breathing a sigh of relief I start piling food onto my plate.
Chapter 41
I take a moment alone in the bathroom after Victoria leaves. I don’t remember sex ever being that good. All I want to do now is follow her into her room and throw her on to the bed for round two. There have not been many women I have been able to be rough with, but from what I just saw she enjoys a little bit of roughness. I can’t wait to find out how much. I make sure to towel dry my hair before I leave the bathroom, then I head out to enjoy the rest of my evening.
I join Sage, Nick, and Carter, who have all started filling their plates with lo mien, and sesame chicken. Filling a plate, I dig in and wait for any of them to mention what just happened, but if any of them know, they keep it to themselves.