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He clapped his hands together. “What is it this time?
“Maple bacon.”
“Hmm.”
That was a noncommittal response if she ever heard one. “Trust me. You’ll love it.” She handed him the box. “You’ll be calling me begging for more. Just you wait and see.”
Once Duff left, Marissa finished the rest of the time sheets. Paying her employees was much more important than leaving a little early if she wanted to keep said employees.
Kya popped back into her office about an hour before close. “Boss, there’s a group of teens loitering outside the shop.”
Teenagers on their own weren’t that big a deal—their orders made up probably a third of her business—but for Kya to come back and bring it to her attention… The fine hairs on the back of her neck stood but she shook it off. It was probably nothing. Or it could be someone returning to the scene of the crime. Marissa sat up straighter in her chair. Would Hill be brazen enough to come back to the shop when she was open? She pushed back in her chair and followed Kya out to the front of the shop. “Where?”
“Right now they’re across the street but they’ve walked past the front of the shop at least three times.”
“Did they come in?”
The younger woman shook her head.
Under the guise of wiping down the tables, Marissa moved to the large window next to the door. A group of three guys stood next to a trash can on the opposite side of the street just as Kya said. It was hard to determine their ages, but they were dressed like typical teenagers. Hill was not with them. One of the guys, dressed in khaki pants and a loose button-down shirt, looked over at her. With his close-cropped blond hair, he didn’t stand out—he looked like any young man from the local high school—other than the way he kept eyeing her. When it looked like he might cross the street, an Oak Hollow officer drove slowly down the street. The boys walked in the opposite direction, not fast enough to look like they were running, but enough to see they didn’t want any part of the OH police force.
“They’re gone now,” Marissa said returning the rag back behind the counter. “But I’ll stay here with you ’til close just in case they decide to come in and cause trouble.”
The rest of the evening was thankfully uneventful. Marissa even managed to get the rest of her reordering done since she had the payroll out of the way. By closing time, they’d not seen the boys again and her jitters had tamped down considerably.
She and Kya went through the closing procedures in silent efficiency and said good-night in the parking lot. Marissa sat behind the wheel of her SUV, unsure where to go next. Her little power nap had energized her enough she wasn’t completely dead on her feet but wasn’t ready to head home. She’d promised her best friend since practically birth, Cherry Humphries, that she’d stop by at some point. Since it’d been at least two weeks, she might as well stop on her way home. And if she happened to pass by the bridge where she’d seen Hill’s backpack…who was to know?
Chapter Three
She drove over the bridge three times and saw no lights, nor any sign of life for that matter. And while she may have been crazy enough to go down there in the middle of the afternoon, after dark there was no way she’d pull over, much less scale the slick embankment.
She wasn’t sure what she expected, nor was she sure what she might have done had she found Hill there, but when her side trip came up nil, it swiped at her suddenly waning energy. At the next intersection—a four-way stop that to the right would take her home or to the left to her friend’s family restaurant—she merely sat. Contemplating.
Cherry or sleep. She waffled for a moment. When her SUV crept into the intersection, she hadn’t made up her mind, but at the last minute she made a left and headed out to the far edge of town to see her friend. Sleep was highly overrated.
Marissa’s stomach rumbled in happy relief as the scent of baked bread and grilled meat engulfed her the moment she stepped through the door of Calista’s Bistro. The young girl standing behind the host stand smiled brightly when she saw Marissa.
“Hey, sweetie.” Marissa enveloped Cherry’s youngest sister in a hug.
“My mom’s been wondering when you were coming by.” Violet made a notation in the book on the stand. “Come on back. How’ve you been?”
“Good. Busy. How are the desserts selling?” Once a week, Marissa sent over a few dozen cupcakes for the restaurant’s Sunday brunch. She was pretty sure that Mrs. Humphries only ordered them to help her business along. She wasn’t going to complain, though.
“Usually gone before we can sneak one.” Violet winked at her as she guided Marissa to the kitchen where the staff was bustling about. At the back of the kitchen, at a sturdy wooden door, Violet paused to rap her knuckles quickly, but didn’t wait for a response. “Knock, knock. Momma, look who I found out front.”
Mrs. Humphries and Cherry had their heads bent over a computer and looked up together. The two women smiled broadly and stood.
“Marissa.” Mrs. Humphries held open her arms for a hug. She smelled of Chanel No. 5 and bread. It was one of the most familiar scents from Marissa’s childhood.
Marissa’s own mother had run off when she and Marlie were only two years old. It was six months later that the Humphries moved in down the street. Glen Llewellyn, at his wit’s end trying to raise two boys and twin girls, had jumped at the chance to set playdates for his girls with the Humphries children. Mrs. Humphries hadn’t hesitated to give Marissa and her sister a mother’s love despite having three girls of her own. She and her husband Chuck had been surrogate parents when her father was bogged down with work.
Marissa and Cherry and Marlie had been glued at the hip all through grade school and even into junior high. Marissa was the one who kept them all grounded when Marlie and Cherry tried their best to get them into trouble. She had always wanted them to be good, so they didn’t end up like her mother.… Once they reached their teens, though, Marlie drifted off into her own little world of high school fashionistas and Marissa simply tried to blend into the woodwork with Cherry nudging her out of her social sequestering from time to time.
Still, over all the years not a week had gone by in which she hadn’t spoken to Cherry—more often than not in person. She gave her friend a little extra squeeze. Just seeing her friend released several knots of tension she hadn’t realized had built up in her shoulders.
When all the small talk was exhausted, Cherry finally pulled her aside. “We’re going to eat, Momma.” Cherry looped her arm with Marissa’s. “Sorry, my mom’s been on a family bent since Lily moved away.”
Marissa nodded. She remembered when her brother, Tanner, had moved away from Oak Hollow she’d cried for days. To this day, she still got a wobbly pull in the pit of her stomach at her brother all the way in Iowa.
Cherry gave her a quick pat on the arm before motioning to the family’s booth. “You look like crap.”
“You always know just what to say.” Marissa gave her a wan smile. “I’m just tired. Didn’t get much sleep last night.” She told her about the break-in and Hill but left off her growing suspicions about his living arrangements. “But I don’t think he was trying to steal anything.” Besides the smallest amount of food.
“Hon, why would someone break in without the intent to steal?”
“I don’t know.” She wiped her hand across her face. “I think my brain’s too tired. My judgment’s off. When I saw Hill this afternoon I ran after him down the street. Hell, I even got in my car and chased in the direction I thought he went.”
“Hill? You know who he is?” She frowned. “Why does that name sound familiar?” She waved her sister over after she seated a couple. “Vi, why do I know the name Hill? He’s a teenager?” She looked at Marissa, who nodded.
Vi tilted her head and tapped her index finger to her pursed lips. Finally she snapped her fingers. “There was a woman who worked here a few years back. Patricia Hillman. She had a son, I think. I think they called him Hill.”
Cherry nodded. “I remember her. She died, didn’t she? Seems like it was a car accident.”
“Aw man.” Marissa slumped back in her seat. “What about his dad?”
Her friend shrugged. “Sorry. Don’t know.” She sipped from the water the waitress set down in front of her. “Did you tell the police you know who it was?”
“I didn’t know ‘til later. Oh.” Marissa widened her eyes. “Do you know who the new police chief is?” She fanned herself and gave a low whistle.
“Do I know? He’s eaten here every night this week. I think he’s—” Cherry twisted around in her seat “—here right now. Yeah, there he is over near the bar.”
Jax Carlisle was sitting alone eating his dinner. He wasn’t dressed in his dark uniform, but had on jeans and boots and a tan button-down shirt. As if he knew they were talking about him, the new chief of police shifted his gaze in their direction. A quick smile spread across his mouth and he nodded hello.
“Well, isn’t that pretty interesting.” Cherry straightened in her seat and waggled her eyebrows. “When did you and Jax hook up?”
Marissa choked on her water. “Hook up? I’ve seen him exactly one time since he moved back. I didn’t even know he was back until he walked into the shop this morning.” She wouldn’t tell her friend how she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the man.
“Not a bad choice. You’ve had a long dry spell.”
“He’s not a ‘choice.’ He was just responding to my call.”
Cherry waggled her eyebrows again. “The guy was good-looking in school. Now he’s an outstandingly fine specimen. I wonder if I should have some sort of ‘emergency’ myself. See what his, um, response time is.” She laughed herself silly until the waitress approached, then sobered enough to order food for the both of them—a Cobb salad for her and the meatloaf special for Marissa, the same meal they’d eaten a thousand times before; there was something satisfying in routine, especially when Marissa’s day had started off as anything but.
Marissa glanced back over to Jax’s table several times and every time he caught her at it, he smiled. She had to make herself not look again and eventually managed to relax into the evening with her dearest friend. Halfway through dinner, though, Cherry was called to the back to deal with a vendor.
A moment later, Jax slid into the booth with her. “How are you?”
The bite of potatoes Marissa had just stuffed into her mouth threatened to choke her. Luckily she managed to swallow without gulping too loudly, or needing CPR, though mouth-to-mouth with the chief… She had to shake herself before she could answer. “Fine, Chief. Yourself?”
A slow smile quirked up the corner of his gorgeous mouth. “I’m off duty. You can call me Jax.”
Marissa dropped her fork onto the edge of the plate knowing there was no way she could take another bite in front of the man. What, was she sixteen again? She gave herself a quick pep talk. You’re a grown woman who owns her own business.He’s just a regular man.Talk to him like any old customer. She settled her arms on the edge of the table and leaned forward. “Are you really ever off duty?
Am I? Jax smiled wider at her question. “No, I guess not.” She hadn’t changed her clothes since he’d seen her earlier in the morning but her hair was down around her shoulders. For a brief moment he imagined that hair floating around his as she lay atop him. He shifted and cleared his throat. “Any other troubles at your shop?”
“Nothing worth mentioning. I saw a cruiser go by. Thanks for that.” She ran her finger over the edge of her water glass, and then tilted it toward herself.
He started to rise. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your dinner.”
She set the glass upright, reached out and set her hand on his forearm. “You’re not. Interrupting me, that is. Stay for a minute. I’m finished.” Just as quickly as she’d touched him, she pulled her hand back and pushed her plate to the side. “I bet your mom is glad to have you home.”
Jax shrugged. His mom dithered between giving him the cold shoulder to making so many demands of his time he had to screen his calls from her. “Bunny is Bunny.”
Marissa’s eyebrows lifted quickly. “I can only imagine. Did she throw you a big gala event for a homecoming?”
There was a hint of derision in her voice. Bunny rubbed many people the wrong way.
“Believe it or not, no big gala. For which I am grateful.” He drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “But I’ve also been crazy busy since I took over for Chief Kendal.”
“How has the change in jobs gone? Actually, I don’t know what you did before you came home. Maybe it’s not such a change.”
It was still weird to be “home,” but that wasn’t what she’d asked. “I was a detective in Austin. Same type of job more or less. Way more responsibilities now, though. And lots of paperwork. Probably easier than owning your own company.” He leaned his elbows onto the table. “Have you always baked?” What a stupid question. Jax all but groaned and wanted to kick himself in the ass.
Marissa gazed at him for a long moment and didn’t answer at first. Then she said, “I’m sorry. It’s just a little surreal to be sitting here with you. Chatting.” She shook her head.
Jax chuckled. “Why?”
“I don’t know. We didn’t exactly know each other in school.” She ducked her head for a moment. “What did you ask me?” She waved off the trip down memory lane. “Have I always baked? For pleasure, sure. I didn’t get into the business end of it until just a few years ago. I was working in an office and it just wasn’t fun.” She shrugged. “I needed a change and voilà, my shop was born.”
The waitress came and cleared the table.
“That’s got to be scary.” Jax leaned closer. “Starting something from the ground up can’t be easy.”
“There were days when I didn’t think it would work. And days when I was so tired I didn’t know if it was worth it. But it’s gotten better and it’s all mine and I love doing it.” Marissa’s eyes lit up. “Now I can’t even imagine not baking every day.”
The waitress came back and set a single dish in the middle of the table with two spoons. It had a thick slice of chocolate cake with a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Marissa picked up the spoon and scooped a bite, barely taking her eyes off him. “The best part is coming up with new recipes. I like experimenting and playing around with ingredients.” She licked a small speck from the spoon and waved it at Jax. “It’s fun to try new combinations or toppings. I like paring up flavors you might not think to use.”
“It doesn’t hurt—” he picked up a spoon and followed suit “—that the food tastes fantastic.”
A smile creased her mouth. “You tried the cupcakes I gave you?” She scooped up another bite and ate. “The orange one,” she said after she swallowed, “is new.” She scrunched up her nose. “I wasn’t sure at first.” She scooped half a spoonful of cake and half ice cream and took a bite.
His dick got hard as he watched her lips close over the spoon.
“It kept coming out way too sweet,” she said, snapping him from his fantasy of her savoring him the same way.
“What?” He shifted slightly to ease the constriction of his jeans.
She frowned for a moment. “The orange crème. When I first started working on it, it took me a while to get the right balance of orange and vanilla without it practically giving you cavities.”
“I think you found your balance. It was good. Reminded me of the orange-vanilla ice creams from when I was kid.”
She rewarded him with the biggest smile yet. “That’s what I was going for.” She tilted her head to the side. “Would you be interested in trying another flavor? I’ve been working on a maple and bacon cupcake. Something a little different for the men who come in.”
“Maple and bacon. In a cupcake?”
She laughed. She had a musical lilt to her voice when she laughed. It went straight to Jax’s gut.
“It’s not as gross as it probably sounds, I promise.”
Jax’s phone vibrated. He didn’t want to look at it, and he was off duty, but like Marissa had said, he was never truly off duty. If something came up, he had to go in. He glanced at the screen. Ada, the dispatcher, had texted him. One of the stores downtown had a break-in and the two other officers on duty were out on other calls.
“Thanks for letting me cut in on your dessert.” He waved his cell at her. “Unfortunately, duty calls.”
“Oh sure.” She licked at a bit of chocolate from the corner of her mouth.
Jax fought off a moan as he stood.
She waved the spoon at him. “Be safe.”
Marissa blinked several times at Jax’s departing back. “Be safe.” How stupid was that to say to a cop? The chief, no less. She looked down at the plate in front of her. She’d never even realized there was food in front of her. And she’d eaten half of it. In front of Jax.
Cherry slid back into her seat.
“Where the hell have you been?”
Cherry waggled her blond eyebrows. “I was giving you and the chief time to talk. You swear you haven’t hooked up with him?”
“Don’t you think I’d remember if I had?” Marissa set her spoon down. “Why’d you send this over? I looked like a pig eating all of it.”
“No you didn’t. And he was too busy staring into your eyes to worry about a little cake.”
“Shut up. He was not.” Marissa’s heart pounded. “Was he?”
“Swear to God.” Cherry held up her hand. “He looks just like he did in school but so much more. Bigger. Sturdier. I don’t know what else, just more.”
Marissa nodded. “Protective. Like it’s personal for him.”
“Exactly.” Cherry glanced at her watch. “I need to get back to work. Are we still on for the Blue Spur this weekend?”
“Absolutely.” Marissa smiled, but going out to a honky-tonk Saturday night was about the last thing she wanted to do. Jax’s face flashed in her mind. She would much rather sit and talk to Jax. Getting knocked into and hit on by a bunch of sweaty guys… It had taken her a while to be able to accept positive attention from men in a way she hadn’t in high school. The Blue Spur, however, wasn’t her favorite spot.
She shook her head. Jax hadn’t asked, and she wasn’t about to presume he would. Hell, she didn’t even know if he was single. Even if he was, she wondered if he had weekends to himself. He’d barely made it through dinner before he was called into work.
* * *
Jax was fastening his badge to his belt as he walked into the stationery store. He’d gone out back behind the building as soon as he’d gotten to the scene. He wanted to check and see if his hunch would pan out and it had. The back door had a hole similar to the one at Marissa’s shop. Just below the push bar. The stationery store hadn’t fared as well, though. Stock had been knocked off shelves. The registers were broken and several high-end gifts had been taken along with a small safe that had sat under the manager’s desk in the office.
