Chapter Six

 

* LOGAN *

 

“Sorry, I’m closed,” Julia’s muffled voice called out from somewhere in the café’s back room. “I just always forget to lock that damn front door.”

I ignored her and stepped into the café anyway, taking a step toward the jukebox. I knew damn well she was closed. So did everyone else in town, I assumed. It was two hours past her posted closing time. But I wasn’t here to buy coffee. Not today. I was here because ever since I saw Julia on that beach, her skin glowing in the sunlight with that little red bikini leaving very little to the imagination, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her.

I swiped my credit card on the side of the jukebox’s screen to buy credits, then chose a couple of Christmas songs to play. As soon as the notes from “Santa Baby” began filling the air, I heard a loud groan from the back. A minute later, Julia came storming out to the front of the café. She was wearing an aqua apron that was covered in flour, and she had a hairnet on over her red curls, which were gathered in some sort of an attempt at a bun. She was a mess, but the effect was surprisingly sexy.

“I’m closed,” she repeated. “And even if I wasn’t, I thought I asked you not to come around here.”

I turned, and flashed her a big smile. “I know. But come on, you were angry when you said all of that. And besides, I can’t stop thinking about you.”

She crossed her arms. “I’m still angry. In fact, now I’m even angrier, because I don’t want to listen to Christmas music right now. Go away, and find someone else to think about.”

Instead of going away, I walked up to the front counter and leaned across it so that my face was only inches from her own. I was banking on the fact that once I got close enough, she’d have a hard time resisting me. I’d seen the passion in her eyes when we kissed back on the beach. I knew that, no matter how many times she said that she wanted me to go away, she didn’t actually mean it in her heart. In her heart, she wanted me to throw her down on the counter and make love to her.

Just as I suspected, her expression softened when I got close to her.

“Go away,” she said, but there was much less conviction in her words.

“Not until you hear me out.” I moved an inch closer. She didn’t pull back, but her pupils went wide and I could tell that her breathing was becoming rapid. The air between us was electric, and I could feel my cock stiffening between my legs. I wanted her so badly, but I had to be calm and take my time. I had to show her that she could trust me.

A low yip broke the tension and heat of the moment, and I looked down to see that Decaf had hobbled out from the back to stand beside Julia. He was smiling up at me and wagging his tail like we were best friends, and I smiled back at him, leaning over the counter so I could stretch down to scratch behind his ears.

“Hey, buddy. How are you?” he let out a low, happy whine in response, and I scratched more vigorously behind his ears. I loved dogs, but I hadn’t had one since I was a kid. It just didn’t work well with my lifestyle of too-frequent travel and long hours at the New York Office. If I’d been able to sell out my shares of the company and retire, I would have moved to a house with land and bought a puppy immediately. But that day was still a long ways off. Zach didn’t want to slow down the business anytime soon.

“You can’t come in here whenever you want just because my dog likes you,” Julia said. She had taken several steps back from me, wary of letting me get too close again. Smart girl, I supposed. The heat between us when we were inches apart had been overwhelming. But I was determined to get through to her, and putting a few more feet of distance between us wasn’t going to change that.

“Actually, it’s your dog I wanted to come here to talk to you about.”

Julia frowned. “What about him?”

“I want to pay for the surgery he needs. No strings attached, I promise. This has nothing to do with me trying to take over your café or make you owe me a favor or anything like that. I just hate to see an animal suffer, and I can help Decaf. Please, let me.”

I had expected a little bit of pushback from Julia, but I hadn’t expected her eyes to darken as much as they did. “Get out,” she said, her voice dangerously low and tense.

“Julia, please. I mean it. I have more money than I know what to do with, and this would be a way for me to actually do some good with it. It has nothing to do with any schemes to try to expand the resort or—”

“I said, get out!” This time, she shouted the words. “Get out, and never come back again. I don’t want you in my café, I don’t want your stupid Christmas music playing here, and I don’t even want to send any food deliveries over to your damn resort. If you come back here again I’ll call the cops. And trust me, you don’t want that. All the cops here are locals who hate the Evans resort and will be more than happy to rough you up while kicking you out of my café.”

I could see by the look in her eyes that she was serious. I looked down at Decaf, pleading with him to help me out a little bit here. But even he wouldn’t meet my eyes now. He knew when his momma had reached the point where she was not to be crossed, and it looked like she had reached it. Still, I was not ready to give up yet.

“Julia, think of the pain Decaf is in. This could make his life so much better, and—”

“You have three seconds to get out of my café before I call the cops.”

“Julia, really!”

“One.”

“I’m just trying to help!”

“Two.”

I raised my hands in surrender. “Fine. I’m leaving. But if you change your mind, give me a call at the resort. I’ll tell them to send through any calls from you.”

She made no reply, other than to point at the front door. Dejectedly, I walked over to it and slipped out onto the street where my driver was waiting for me inside the sleek luxury car that seemed to stick out like a sore thumb in this downtown area. I slipped back into the car before he could get out and hold my door for me, and instructed him to take me back to the resort.

As he drove, I stared unseeingly out the window. Today was Tuesday, which meant the long weekend was over. I was scheduled to fly back to Miami tonight and then back to New York tomorrow morning. I should have been thrilled to leave, especially considering the way Julia had just kicked me out of her café. I had been looking forward to getting off this island since the moment I arrived, but suddenly I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving. I pulled out my smart phone and started scrolling through my schedule for the rest of the week. I had a lot of meetings, but they were all conference calls or video meetings which could be done from anywhere with internet. I could stay here another week, no problem. In fact, it looked like I could stay another two weeks without running into anything that couldn’t be handled remotely.

My heart started pounding in my chest. This was crazy, but I was going to do it. I was going to extend my stay by two weeks and find a way in those two weeks to show Julia that I really was a good guy. I guess I couldn’t blame her for not wanting me to swoop in and save the day by paying for Decaf’s surgery. She didn’t seem like the type who was searching for a knight in shining armor. But still, I wish she would just let me help. What else was I going to do with the ridiculous amounts of cash I had, other than to help people?

Julia had been pretty serious about not wanting me at her café, though, so I was going to have to figure out a way to see her that didn’t involve the café. And I thought I had the perfect plan. I called up my assistant at the resort on my phone, already feeling a rush of excitement at what I was about to do.

“Yes sir?” my assistant asked in her typical, overly-professional tone.

“Hi, Carrie,” I said, too excited to match her formal manner. “I need you to change my travel arrangements. I’m going to stay here on Driftwood Island for an additional two weeks.”

There was a momentary pause, and I almost had to laugh. I knew I had shocked her. I hadn’t been too secret about the fact that I couldn’t wait to leave the island, so my decision to not just stay longer, but to stay two whole weeks longer, must have come as a surprise to her. She recovered quickly, however.

“Of course, sir. Consider it done. Anything else?”

“Yes, actually. Are you familiar with the Summer Fair here?”

“Yes. It’s a local event that’s quite popular with the island’s permanent residents. They’ve been trying for the last few years to entice resort guests to attend, although I’m not sure how successful those efforts have been.”

“Right. Well, there’s a cake sculpting contest this year, and I’d like you to enter my name in the contest.”

There was an even longer pause. This was not something about which my assistant could easily hide her shock.

“I’m sorry, sir. Did I hear you correctly? You want me to enter you in the cake sculpting contest?”

“That’s right.”

Another long pause.

“Um, certainly, sir. But I didn’t realize you were a baker.”

“I’m not. But I’m going to try to learn in the next week. Can you see when the resort’s head baker might be free to give me some lessons? And I’d love it if you could research whether there are any video lessons or YouTube tutorials or something like that online that deal specifically with sculpting cakes.”

“Uh, of course, sir. I’ll get on it right away.”

“Excellent. Keep me posted on what you find out.”

I ended the call and leaned happily back against the backseat of the car. I had no idea how much progress I could possibly make on learning to bake and sculpt cakes within the next week, but I was going to try my best. Even if my cake looked god-awful, entering the contest would give me an excuse to attend the judging panel, where Julia would surely be. It would give me a legitimate excuse to see her, and surely she would be impressed that I had at least attempted to bake. Besides, entering the contest would show everyone that I did care about the locals and about supporting their events and businesses. How could Julia claim I didn’t when I showed up at the fair as one of the contest participants?

She was going to be so impressed.