You Belong With Me (Book 1 in The Love and Dessert Trilogy) Read online

  Layla looked up at Michael. “That was crazy,” she whispered, thinking of her normally, cerebral, shy and reserved sister. Jane had just thrown a croissant in a police officer’s face all the while, telling him off.

  Michael laughed and then shocked her again by kissing her softly on the lips. “I wouldn’t worry about it. As a matter of fact, before anything else happens, why don’t you just come with me right now? You can borrow one of my jackets.”

  Layla glanced at the house, knowing she should probably check on Jane, but the water was calling to her and she’d never been able to say no. She was going to hand this one off to Kit.

  “Let’s go,” she said, sounding unsure.

  Michael nodded and grabbed her hand, pulling her down the stairs and to his car. Layla looked back over the seat as the bakery grew smaller and smaller and felt slightly guilty.

  “Hey, relax. This will give her time to calm down. She’ll vent to Kit and then when you get home later, she will be thinking more logically. Plus, it will let her process and she’ll be able to discuss it with you and get the rest of her mad out.”

  Layla turned and stared at Michael. “How do you know so much about women and how they work?” she demanded.

  Michael laughed and looked at her with a smile. “I have a mom, a sister and a daughter. I’d be an idiot if I didn’t watch and learn.

  Layla smiled and felt the urge to reach over touch him. She held back but couldn’t help the warmth in her heart the more time she spent with Michael. “You’d be surprised by how many men don’t take the time to understand women.”

  Michael shrugged. “Understanding makes life easier for everyone involved.”

  Layla gave up and reached over and held Michael’s hand, making him glance at her in surprised pleasure. He took her hand and kissed the back before resting their hands on his knee. They reached his house a minute later and Layla blinked in surprise. It was an old fashioned, beautiful restored nineteenth century Stucco Spanish Revival.

  “Wow. The real estate business must be doing better than I thought,” she said with a smile as she got out of his car and stood, looking up at the beautiful architectural elements of the home. The grounds were gorgeous with a walled entry courtyard and professional landscaping.

  Michael shrugged with a smile and gestured for her to follow him to the side of the house where a detached garage stood. In the driveway was a large black truck with a speed boat already hooked up and ready to go.

  “I do okay. Which comes in handy when you’re dating a woman who loves the water,” he said, looking back at her with a crooked grin.

  Layla couldn’t argue with that. She waited outside while he ran in his house to grab two jackets and hats. Within moments they were on their way to Elliot Bay. Forty-five minutes later, she was helping Michael get the boat in the water by backing the truck up right into the water. Michael expertly unhooked the boat and pushed it off. He anchored the boat while she drove forward and then they switched places. He went to park the truck while she hopped in the boat.

  Layla had always thought owning and operating a boat would be time consuming and tedious, but Michael made it seem easy.

  “Life jacket,” Michael said, and tossed one to her. As soon as she hooked her jacket they were off, zooming over the waves and heading toward the opposite side of the Sound. Michael opened a drawer and pulled out an extra pair of sunglasses and handed them to her.

  Layla looked at the glasses, grinning at how sporty they were. Kit was right. Life was so strange sometimes and very unexpected. Just a couple weeks ago she was planning on moving down to California to work for an adoption agency because if she saw one more abused kid she’d crumble. And now, she and her sisters owned a bakery and she was dating an amazing man who owned a boat. She stepped toward Michael who was sitting in front of the controls and put her hands on his shoulders to steady herself from the bumpy boat ride.

  He glanced over his shoulder at her and grinned. Layla wasn’t sure what was coming over her. She’d never felt comfortable showing physical affection with people but she felt so at ease with Michael. He made her feel comfortable and confident. No other man ever had before.

  Michael slowed the boat down as they came into view of a solitary beach and stood up. He went to the side hatch of the boat and lifted up the seat. Inside were fishing poles. He grabbed a box full of hooks and shut the seat. He sat down and quietly went about the business of attaching a hook. When he was done, he bent over and pulled a small cooler toward him and before she had the chance to be grossed out had a worm on the end of her pole.

  They spent the next hour talking and enjoying the peacefulness of the water. Michael pulled up a steelhead trout but she had no luck. After she covered a few yawns unsuccessfully, Michael told her to go lay down on the bench. Since she’d been up before five that morning she gave in, handing her pole to Michael. She laid down on the soft cushioned bench, put her arm over her face and quickly fell asleep.

  When she woke up, she had a large umbrella on a pole attached to the side of the boat shading her from the sun and a warm quilt over her. She sat up, blinking her eyes awake and sat back as she studied the man quietly fishing. The mist and gray were gone over the Sound and sparkling bright sunlight fell on everything. She sighed and felt completely at peace with herself, the water and the man. She stood up and stretched before walking behind Michael.

  “How long have I been asleep?” she asked glancing down at the large cooler and noting that Michael had caught three more trout.

  Michael turned and smiled up at her, grabbing her hand in his. “Just a couple hours. You must have needed it. What time did you wake up this morning?”

  Layla told him and laughed at his horrified expression. He pulled her into his lap and she put her arm around his shoulders companionably. “Thanks for this. It’s been lovely,” she said and kissed him before she lost her nerve.

  Michael pulled back and leaned his pole against the side of the boat before wrapping his arms around her waist. “Try that one more time,” he said softly.

  Layla smiled, allowing herself to relax in his arms and opening herself to his kiss. He allowed her to take the lead and didn’t push her in any way. She kissed him lightly at first but then changed angles and kissed him more deeply before pulling back and kissing his jaw. For some reason, she loved his jaw line. It was so strong and even the five o’clock shadow just made him look more rugged.

  She grinned down into his face while he took a moment before opening his eyes. He was breathing slightly faster than before and his eyes were a deeper blue now.

  “Please feel free to do that any time you want to,” he said, his voice sounding low and husky.

  Layla laughed and kissed his cheek before hopping off his lap and grabbing her ignored and forgotten pole. They fished for another half an hour before Michael called it. After he stowed the equipment away he took her on a tour of the sound, showing her all of his favorite places. By the time they reached the bay, Layla felt as if she’d been recharged.

  A half an hour later, they were back on the road and heading home, holding hands. “Want to grab something to eat?” Michael asked as she went through his playlist.

  Layla nodded her head immediately. She was starving since she’d taken off with him instead of grabbing lunch. They stopped at a little pizza restaurant and shared a mushroom, olive, pepperoni and tomato pizza covered in mozzarella and parmesan.

  When they finally made it back to the bakery she was surprised to see it was 7 o’clock. As Michael walked her up the front steps, she pushed her hair out of her eyes and glanced at him. When she had been young and dreamed of being together with a man, she’d always pictured herself choosing someone slightly nerdy, with glasses. The way Michael looked now with his wind tousled dark hair, gleaming sunglasses, tanned face and muscular arms, she was glad she’d been totally wrong.

  Michael pulled her back before she could open the door, putting his arms around her and tilting her chin up to look a
t him. “Before you go inside, I just want you to know that this has been one of those perfect days. I haven’t had a lot of those and I’m grateful for this one. I loved spending the afternoon with you on the water,” he said leaning down and kissing her temple. “I can’t wait to go again.”

  Layla smiled and laid her head on his shoulder before she looked up at him. “It was a perfect day for me too.”

  Michael leaned down to kiss her but was interrupted when the front door banged open. Michael and Layla pulled apart in embarrassment.

  “Stella?” Michael said and leaned down to pick up his daughter in his arms.

  “Daddy! Grandma and Grandpa brought me here. We wanted to surprise you. We brought a super extra special surprise!” she said, smiling so wide her little face practically glowed.

  Layla smiled and reached up to run her hands down Stella’s soft brown hair. “Where’s the surprise?” she whispered.

  Stella grinned at Layla and pointed behind her, into the bakery. Michael and Layla exchanged curious looks, but before she could walk inside, Michael held her arm and leaned over to whisper in her ear.

  “Stella’s grandparents are a little . . . different. If they say anything offensive, just ignore them, okay?” he said worriedly.

  Layla shrugged and smiled. Being a social worker meant she’d been called everything there was to be called many times over.

  “Hurry Daddy!” Stella urged.

  They walked into the brightly lit bakery and Layla noticed immediately her sisters looked tense and upset. She frowned at them before her attention was taken by an older couple. The man was tall, with salt and pepper hair, fit and attractive. The woman was thin, brittle looking, with fluffy blond hair and an excess of makeup.

  Layla smiled as she walked forward to introduce herself but paused as she felt Michael stiffen beside her. She turned to look up at him and was surprised to see his easy going smile was now gone. He pulled off his sunglasses and his eyes looked distant and hard.

  Layla swallowed nervously and turned to look at Stella’s grandparents again, but standing in front of them now was a tall, beautiful woman with long, light ash brown hair and large green eyes. She was smiling at Michael as she stepped forward.

  “Michael!” she breathed out as she ran the last few steps to him and threw her arms around his neck, including Stella in the hug.

  Stella laughed happily as she hugged her mom and dad. “Mommy’s back!” she said, closing her eyes blissfully.

  Layla felt like a bucket of cold water had just been poured over her head. She took a faltering step back, away from Michael as he pulled the woman’s arms from around his neck. He looked coldly at Stella’s grandparents before looking down into Ashley’s face.

  “Ash, long time, no see,” he said dryly and then set Stella down on the ground.

  Stella immediately went to her mother and held her hands up in the air, the universal signal for all children that they wanted to be held. Ashley looked down and frowned and then took Stella’s hand in hers awkwardly instead, shaking it before looking back at Michael with a bright smile.

  “We wanted to surprise you. I was visiting mom and dad for the week and of course I wanted to see Stella. When it was time to bring her home I couldn’t bring myself to say good bye. But I wanted to see you too Michael. I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately,” she said softly, as she reached out and touched his arm.

  “Right,” Michael said, looking down at his feet and letting his breath out.

  Stella stared up at her mom and then looked over her shoulder at Layla. She walked over to Layla and held her arms up in the air and Layla immediately picked her up in her arms, hugging her tightly. She walked with Stella over to where Kit and Jane were standing mutely, watching the scene before them as if they were in a horror movie.

  Kit leaned over and whispered in her ear. “I hate her.”

  Layla smiled and shook her head. Jane put her arm around Layla’s waist not saying anything as they all watched Michael and Ashley.

  Stella looked down at Layla’s face and put her two small hands on her cheeks. “Are you sad Layla?” she asked and before she could respond, she leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. “There, all better,” she said, smiling hopefully into her eyes.

  Layla smiled at the sweet gesture and had to clear her throat.

  “Stella said this was her favorite place in the world and that this is where you’d be,” Ashley’s father said, looking accusingly at Layla as he stepped forward.

  Michael looked over at Layla and tried to smile as he answered. “Stella happens to be right. Jared, Lillian, why don’t we go to my house? I’m sure Kit, Jane and Layla have better things to do then witness this surprise visit from your daughter,” Michael said looking uncomfortable.

  Ashley’s mother came to stand next to her daughter as she looked back at Layla and her sisters with a frown. “You’re right Michael. You and Ashley have a lot to talk about,” she said as she took her husband’s hand and led him to the front door. She looked back over her shoulder at Layla and her sisters and sent them a cold, stare before her husband opened the door and ushered her through it.

  Michael walked over and took Stella out of Layla’s arms. “Look, this is . . ., unexpected to say the least,” he said quietly. “I’ll call you later tonight, okay?” he said and then leaned down and kissed her softly on the mouth.

  Layla nodded but didn’t say anything as Michael turned with Stella in his arms and walked to the front door where Ashley was waiting for him. Layla stared at Ashley for a moment and took in the hostile glare. Michael ignored her and walked out the door followed by his ex-wife, leaving total and complete silence in their wake.

  Kit broke the silence as she walked over to lock the door with a loud click. “They showed up here over an hour ago and insisted on waiting. Worst hour of my life. Ashley’s parents talked loudly the whole time about how in love Michael is with the daughter and what a cute family they are. Completely ignoring the fact that their daughter went off and abandoned Michael and Stella,” she said furiously.

  Jane nodded her head, rubbing Layla’s arm soothingly. “Stella just sat there, staring at her mom the whole time, smiling as if she’d just gotten Christmas, Easter and her birthday all at once. Ashley did a lot of smiling and nodding but that was it. She’s really awkward around Stella. She doesn’t seem to know how to handle being touched by her. It’s weird.”

  Layla walked to the front window, peering out the blinds as she watched Michael help Stella up into the truck. Ashley stood behind him, her hand on his arm and she felt a harsh wave of jealousy rip through her. She gritted her teeth against the unwanted emotion and closed her eyes before turning around. She was overreacting to Ashley showing up. Michael had already told her that he wouldn’t be interested in getting back together with his ex. But she’d seen Stella’s face. Stella wanted what every child wanted. A mom and dad. Together.

  “It’s no big deal you guys. So she’s here for a visit. It’s a good thing. Really. Stella hasn’t seen her mom in years. This will be wonderful,” she said softly, looking away from her sister’s unbelieving expressions.

  Kit glanced at Jane with wide eyes and shook her head. “You’re right Layla. No big deal. Listen, when I was at the store earlier I picked up the latest Channing Tatum movie from Redbox. Let’s go pop some popcorn and get in our pajamas. It’ll be fun.”

  Layla smiled brightly and nodded. “Perfect.”

  She watched her sisters leave the room, looking back at her worriedly as she stayed to turn off the lights. She sighed and closed her eyes. Her perfect day had just been decimated.

  Chapter 12 – Locked Away

  Layla stood at the counter the next day and stared down at the most beautiful loaf of sour dough bread she’d ever seen. Kit looked at her pensively. “What do you think?” she asked nervously.

  Layla grabbed her sister by her shoulders. “It’s perfect. Now stop worrying,” she ordered.

  Max snorted rudely
behind them. “That’s only half the battle. Now let’s see how it tastes. Slice her open,” she said handing Kit a bread knife.

  Kit frowned, not wanting to ruin the beauty she’d created but did as she was told. Layla took the slice Kit handed her and walked over to spread a light layer of butter over the still warm fragrant bread. She took a big bite and closed her eyes, concentrating on texture and taste.

  It was incredible.

  She opened her eyes with a grin and let out a loud whoop. “You did it Kit!” she said, hugging her sister tightly. Kit grinned but continued to stare at Max who was still chewing.

  Max finally opened her eyes, licked her lips and frowned at Kit. “How the heck did you figure out how to make better bread than me?” she growled.

  Kit’s face bloomed in delight and she grabbed Layla’s hands jumping up and down as she laughed in relief. “I did it Layla!”

  Jane walked into the room and stared at her sister’s jumping around laughing and yelling and decided to join them. “What are we celebrating?” she asked, smiling at her sister’s happiness.

  Layla pulled away and pushed her hair out of her face, still smiling. “Kit just made the best bread in Fircrest.”

  Jane’s mouth fell open in surprise and she looked to Max who grinned and nodded in agreement. “You could probably advertise it that way too,” Max said taking another bite.

  Kit collapsed against the counter, smiling tiredly. “Now I’m going to deliver the goods to Rob and if he turns his nose up at our bread this time then I’m going to pull a Jane and throw the whole loaf at his head,” she said, grinning at her sister.

  Jane smiled and shrugged. “Some men deserve getting food thrown in their face. I don’t think Rob is one of them though,” she said and walked over to cut herself a slice of bread.