My Curvy Valentine: A Perfect Fit Novella (20 page)

His heart slammed against his rib cage as he watched her come closer. He had wanted to see her tonight, he had wanted to leave here and crawl into bed with her, but he had been debating it. Not only because it was after one a.m. and he knew she would be asleep, but because he was wondering if it would be too much.

They were new. Too new to be serious. It was too early to be thinking about more, but it didn’t feel that way to him. He had known her since he was a kid. He had loved her half his life. And that’s why it scared the shit out of him that he wanted to be with her every minute of every hour of every day.

“Hello, Fernando.” She smiled shyly. “I hope things went well tonight.”

“Indeed they did, Maggie. Good night.” He smiled at her, then gave Alex a knowing look before he walked out.

“I thought you would be sleeping,” he said as he wrapped his arms around her.

“I thought I would come here and save you the trouble.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “Is it all right that I’m here?”

“Don’t ask stupid questions.” He kissed the bridge of her nose and for the first time that night he felt totally calm, totally focused.

“I don’t know why I was nervous for you, but I was. The whole day. Especially when we came home for lunch and I saw the amount of stuff you were preparing for tonight. I could barely focus. I wanted this to go well for you.”

“You love me,” he said, knowing it in his gut. No one else had cared this much. No one else was just there for him when he needed someone. No questions asked. Nothing expected in return.

“You’re my best friend, Alexei. I want you to be happy.”

He touched his lips to hers, kissing her deeply, finally getting the chance to do what he wanted to do this morning when he left her in his bed. She made him happy, he realized. It was
something he hadn’t experienced much in his life. Contentment, yes. Even satisfaction had come his way once or twice, but he had never been happy before. Who knew he would find it with the girl living next door?

“Everything went all right, right?” She looked up at him. “Tell me everything. Was the chocolate cake a hit? Did anybody get drunk? Was anybody backing it up too much on the dance floor?”

He grinned down at her. “Everything was perfect, Mags.” He pecked her lips. “I’ve got something for you.”

She frowned at him as he reached into his pocket. “You gave me chocolate this morning and had my favorite lunch waiting for me today. I don’t need anything else.”

“It’s not much.” He shook his head. “I shouldn’t say that. It’s something that I think you should have.” He placed a simple silver locket around her neck. It was old, probably not worth much anymore, but it meant a lot to him.

“This was your mother’s.” Maggie stroked her thumb over the surface.

“It was my mother’s and now it’s yours. I never knew what happened to it. Part of me thought she was buried in it, but I found it in her jewelry box. I carried it tonight for good luck, I guess. I was going to give it to you tomorrow, but my luck got better again when you walked in here.”

She bit her lip, tilted her head up toward the ceiling, and shut her eyes.

“What’s wrong, baby? You don’t like it?”

“Now who’s asking stupid questions?” She opened her eyes and looked at him. “Why are you doing this? Why are you making me like you so much? Why are you making it so hard for me to stay away?”

“I don’t want you to stay away. I want you closer. I want you with me. I…” He stopped himself from telling her that he loved her. He had never said it before to anyone and if he had he’d never meant it. Plus it was too soon to say it now, too much. His bakery was doing better but it was still on shaky ground. He wanted to be more secure, wanted to have more to offer before he spilled everything to her. “I-I couldn’t ask for a better friend than you.”

“Oh.” She blinked at him and he could have sworn he saw some disappointment in her eyes. “Are you sure it’s okay with your father if I wear this?”

“I asked him. He said he wanted you to have it. You’re our family.”

“Thank you.” She lifted her mouth to kiss him, but her body had moved away.

“Where are you going?” He reached for her hips but she backed away from his touch.

“I’ve got your present right here. All you have to do is unwrap it.”

“What?”

“This is a wrap dress, Alex. I’m going to need you to unwrap me.” She took his hand, placing it on the tie that held her dress together.

“Here?” He looked around. There manager was in the front office and he told him the cleaning staff was due in the early morning. They were alone.

“We’ll start here. We’ll finish at home.”

He clenched his fist, his hand shaking with need. Maggie was naughty. Naughty wrapped up in one hell of a nice package.

“Don’t keep me waiting. It’s getting hot in here.”

He reached for the tie, giving it one good pull until her dress fell open before him. He had started to go hard when she told him to unwrap her, but he turned to steel when he saw her body. She wore a red bra-and-boy-shorts set covered in delicate black lace. She looked delectable, delicious, better than anything that had ever come from his kitchen. He wanted to eat her, taste every bit of her, and he wanted to start from the bottom and work his way to the top. “I could cry,” he said, feeling the lust clog his throat as he looked her up and down. “This is the best damn present I’ve ever gotten.”

“I’ve felt self-conscious about my body with every man I’ve ever dated until you,” she said when he stroked the curve of her waist. “I never knew that the boy who threw spiders at me would make me feel so beautiful.”

“I should have known then.” He leaned forward and took her mouth in a slow hot kiss. “I should have known when I was twelve that you were going to be the girl who would stay with me for the rest of my life.”

She backed away from him again. “Let’s get out of here. I need you.”

Chapter 12

A month had gone by since Valentine’s Day and Maggie had yet to spend a night alone. She hadn’t wanted to either. Every night she went to bed wrapped up in Alex’s big arms and every morning she woke up to him kissing her before he went down to work. Being with him was better than those bread-scented dreams she had.

Business had picked up at
Sweet Eats
and Alex had been busier than ever after the ball. He was happier than she had ever seen him. He was living his dream, moving forward, even expanding his business by taking on an extra baker and doing the desserts for a couple of weddings. Things were changing for him, but she couldn’t say that they were changing for
them
.

She’d gone into this thinking it would be a fling, hot burning and short-lived. But it didn’t feel like that. She was in love with him. Head over heels, heart-pounding-when-she-saw-him love, and it made her want to think about their future.

But she hadn’t told him. And as she walked downstairs toward the bakery that morning she realized that she was scared. She had never been in love. She didn’t know how to be in a relationship. She didn’t know what to expect from one. She wasn’t even sure if she was in one. Everything had changed for them, and at the same time not much had changed. They were still best friends, they still talked and shared meals and spent time together. They just made love now and he was sweeter to her. And he had given her his mother’s locket, which made her love him a little more every time she felt it against her skin.

But they had never said anything. Never had a conversation about what they were or where they were going. She kept thinking back to Valentine’s Day night when he called her his
friend. Just his friend. Not his girlfriend. Not his lover. Maybe it was foolish of her to expect more.

It had barely been six weeks since she first lay in his bed and with anybody else it would have been too new for any kind of declaration. But this was Alex, whom she had known for most of her life. And she was Maggie who had a screwed-up view of what love was. Her mother had cheated. Her father had been abusive. Her parents’ marriage had been miserable. She had learned so much from them. She had learned that even with the best of intentions love went bad and the loss of it destroyed people.

“What’s wrong, Maggie May?” Alex asked as soon as she walked through the door. He took her bag and her coat from her and tossed them on the nearest chair.

“Nothing,” she said as he brought her into his embrace. “I was just thinking.”

“Don’t think too hard, baby. Your head might explode.”

“It won’t. I promise.” She closed her eyes, loving the way his lips felt on her face.

“You want to tell me what you’re thinking about?”

“You. I was thinking about you.”

“Normally I love it when a woman tells me she’s thinking about me. But the way your face is looking I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing?”

“I haven’t killed you yet, so it must not be too bad.”

He grinned down at her. “You’re off work at five today, right?”

She nodded.

“Good. There’s some stuff I want to talk to you about. I thought maybe we could do it over dinner.”

“We have dinner together every night.”

“Yeah, we do. But not at a nice place with tablecloths.”

“We’re going out?”

“The fact that you seem so surprised by that means I don’t do it nearly enough. I know I’ve been busier than usual. We’re growing here and I just wanted to talk to you about some stuff.”

She didn’t know whether to be excited or nervous, but she was feeling whatever it was deep in her stomach. “We don’t have to go out for us to talk. Can’t you just tell me now?”

He quickly kissed her lips twice before he stepped away. “Don’t ask me anymore questions. You can wait until tonight.”

“Tease.” Tonight was the night, she decided right then. She loved him and if he didn’t know already she would make sure he knew by the end of the night.

*

“You leaving, Maggie?” She looked back at Belinda, who was just putting on her coat.

“I am.” She smiled at her extremely pregnant boss. “Where are you going?”

“With you, hopefully. The doctor said exercising would help me get this baby out and I’m ready to start the eviction process. I’m going to take a walk to the bakery and get Ruby some cookies. Do you mind if I walk with you?”

“Of course not. Just don’t go into labor on the way up.” She opened the door for Belinda. It was just after five p.m. and Maggie was happy to see that the days were getting longer and the weather had finally stopped being so brutally cold.

“My due date is not for another three weeks but I don’t think he’s going to wait that long. Don’t ask me how I know. I’ve never been pregnant before, but I feel like Reese Lancaster is ready to make an appearance.”

“Hopefully not before your baby shower on Sunday.”

“Oh God no. My mother-in-law would never forgive me. I thought my mother would be all about it because it’s her first grandbaby, but Carter’s mother calls me three times a day to ask me how I’m feeling.”

“Does it bother you?”

“No. She hated me before. I think she’s trying to make up for it. We misjudged each other, and I’m just glad we’ve come to love each other now. It’s like having a second mother. Speaking of mothers… . Have you talked to yours?”

“It hasn’t been radio silence between us, but it hasn’t been the same. How would you feel if your mother told you she had an affair?”

“I would be hurt, but hopefully I could forgive her. You’re going to want your mother around at this point of your life. You’re going to get married and have babies,” she said as they approached the front of the bakery. “She has to be there for that.”

“Let’s not rush things.”

“You’ve got a sexy man who’s in love with you. I’d bet my house that you’ll be getting a ring before the end of the year.”

Maggie went to open the door when she spotted a woman in a long red coat with Alex. But it wasn’t just any woman and she wasn’t just simply with him. Roya was there looking just as glamorous as she had the last time she saw her. And after all the calls and texts she had sent over the past few months, she was here now with her arms wrapped around the man Maggie was in love with.

“What’s wrong, Maggie?”

“I wouldn’t bet your house if I were you. That woman in there that Alex is hugging is his ex-girlfriend.”

“What?”

“The one who’s still in love with him.”

“What the hell is she doing here?”

“I’m pretty sure she’s here to get him back.” She watched as Roya let him go. She tried to see Alex’s face, tried to see the emotion that was there, but he turned away quickly, walking to the back before she could see him.

Roya walked toward the door then. Her face lit up when she saw Maggie standing there. Maggie went numb. With gorgeous olive skin and long blond hair, Roya looked like she just walked off a runway. Maggie could hate her if Roya’s insides didn’t match her outside, but she honestly liked the woman and when she’d seen Alex and her together before, she was positive that Roya was the one for him.

It had always bothered her then, their love. Because now Maggie could see that she, herself, had always been in love with Alex.

“Maggie!” Roya hugged her. “You look so beautiful.” She kissed both her cheeks. “Your skin is amazing.”

“Thank you,” she said, even though she felt hyper aware of how plain she was next to the exotic beauty. “You look great yourself. What are you doing here?” Maybe she shouldn’t have asked like that, but she needed to know.

“I quit my job. It was a great opportunity, but I missed Alex. I want to make things work.”

“Well, shit,” Maggie heard Belinda say from behind her.

Maggie and Roya both looked at her. “Hi, I’m Belinda. Maggie’s very protective friend. What exactly did Alex say to all of this?”

It was exactly the question Maggie wanted to know the answer to.

“We didn’t have the chance to talk about it all. He said he was expecting you, Maggie. But he didn’t say anything really. But you know how men are. I think I just surprised him.”

“He didn’t mention a girlfriend?” Belinda asked.

“No.” Roya blinked. “Why? Does he have one?”

“No,” Maggie answered. “I guess not.”