Chapter One
Juliette Crabtree stifled a yawn and took another swig of her steaming black coffee from the mug. The brew scalded her tongue a little but it didn’t bother her. Despite making it extra strong—a double-espresso—the coffee failed to give her the super-charged caffeine effect she was looking for. It had been brutal when she finally roused herself out of bed two hours earlier. She’d been pulling late hours for the past three days filling a large order and she was exhausted. Making pastries and candies for people to enjoy was her passion, but she loved doing it long after the sun was up. Five-thirty in the morning wasn’t a good hour of the day to be doing anything but curling up under a thick comforter and dreaming of new recipes, or occasionally dreaming that her life might have turned out differently.
She gusted a little sigh.
The pink rose-infused macaron shells were lined up on the baking tray ready to be filled and assembled. Juliette cracked a tiny smile. Watching her creations gave her a sense of pride. Macaron shell had a bastardly reputation of being difficult to make. One small misstep and she’d end up with heap of unappetizing almond meringue lumps instead of pastel-colored delicately airy cookies. Good thing that the God of Macarons bestowed His blessing today. Everything came out perfectly. Her sweets would give some Parisian bakeries run for their money. Maybe even comparable to the famed Ladurée pastry house, if she said so herself.
Now all she had to do was to pipe the filling and assembled them. The thick, creamy, rose-flavored ganache was just at the right temperature and consistency to work with. As she scooped the filling into the pastry bag, a subtle yet tantalizing Bulgarian rose scent wafted from the bowl. She couldn’t resist taking a spoon and sampling the filling.
Hmm. So damn good, she moaned in pleasure as she was momentarily transported into sweet sugary clouds of nirvana. If she were allowed to have her little own way, she could eat the whole bowl by herself. Despite being a weretiger, Juliette had a chronic sweet tooth. Like hard core. Opening a French confectionery as her day job fueled her sugar addiction swimmingly.
As soon as she finished the macarons, the alarm on the oven chimed. The almond croissants had finished baking. She turned off the timer and unloaded the trays and the oven was ready for the next batch of morning pastries. After the macarons, she would make some eclair and tarte aux pommes.
All in all, today’s work was a pretty good distraction. Juliette had promised herself she wasn’t going to think about depressing things today. Not today, the anniversary of her divorce from the man she thought she’d be with the rest of her life. The man who cast her out over something she couldn’t possibly control.
“Ouch,” she yelped as she accidentally bumped her arm too close to a hot tray. “Nope. Today’s going to be good. It’s just a tiny burn that you won’t feel in a few minutes. You’re not going to let it bother you, because it’s a beautiful day, and you’re about to open and make some customers happy. Smile, Juliette. Smiiile!”
She realized Andy, one of her two employees, was leaning on the end of the counter holding a freshly baked tray of Kouign Amann, their second-bestselling pastry. Andy’s hairnet and beard-net framed the most amused expression she’d ever seen him wear. His smile widened. “It’s one thing to talk to yourself, but do you ever answer yourself?” he quipped. “Should I be worried about this? Can you still sign our paychecks?”
“Sometimes I do answer myself.” Her grin widened. “But at least it’s intelligent conversation.”
“Touché,” he said with a chuckle. “Gonna rack these to cool, then put them in the case.”
“Great, thanks. And the other voices in my head want me to thank you too.”
Andy laughed, saluted her, and headed to the other side of the kitchen to properly cool the pastries. “Juliette’s talking to herself again,” he said to her other employee, Noelle.
“Did she ever stop?” Noelle said, loud enough for Juliette to hear, then winked at her across the kitchen.
Her small shop was a three-person operation. Andy was in charge of daily pastries and cookies. Noelle manned the front and often helped the kitchen when they were swamped. Juliette made all the candies and macarons. All in all, she ran a tight and effective ship. Her employees were both humans who knew she was a were, and she could take a lot of teasing. She envied them both their youth, and the way their entire lives still stretched out in front of them. They could still look forward to falling in love, getting married, having children . . .
A tap at the front glass door of her shop drew her attention. Her breath caught, despite herself.
Ugh. Him again. Wilhelm Sorenson.
“I got it,” Andy said as he hurried to open the door.
She almost told him to let the man wait, it wasn’t even six o’clock yet, and she already thought that was a horribly early time to open. The morning coffee and pastry crowd made it well worth it, but couldn’t Wilhelm wait five more measly minutes? If he’d been anybody else she might have stared him down until the clock struck six—her official opening time.
But she couldn’t.
He also happened to be her landlord.
Her pushy, yet sexy, landlord.
Andy opened the door and flipped the sign to “open.” “Morning, sir,” he said.
“Morning, Dusfrene,” Wilhelm greeted Andy as he breezed in like he owned the place. Well. He did own the place. The building. The handsome businessman walked up to the counter and beamed to Noelle. “Morning to you too, Ms. Maison. Don’t you look lovely today. New dress?”
Unfortunately, Noelle was immune to his compliments. Wilhelm wasn’t her type she said. She preferred a lone wolf type of guy with a chip as big as a small moon on his shoulder.
Noelle replied in her typical “meh” expression that complimented her goth-attire, “Bonjour,” she said. Many people told Juliette that Noelle shouldn’t man the front of the store because she was stingy with smiles, but Juliette liked the girl. Noelle was an efficient worker and could handle high-stress situations like a boss. Plus, Juliette liked Noelle’s unique personal style. Noelle was always decked out in goth clothes that looked like cute-ified French maid dresses. It went extremely well with the theme of the shop: the turn-of-the-century Parisian confiserie. Besides, Noelle was French. Her accent sexy as hell. “The usual, sir?” she asked.
“S’il vous plait.” Wilhelm cast his gaze around and clashed with Juliette. The Bonbon kitchen was visible from the counter. He threw her his signature killer smile before he glided to the sitting area and took a seat on the bistro chair. His tall stature and long legs made it look as if sitting on it was uncomfortable, but he didn’t seem to care. He had been a Bonbon loyal customer since the first day they opened.
And just like always, Juliette found his immaculate designer suit made him look particularly dashing. Like today, he was wrapped in a midnight blue suit jacket with a light blue shirt underneath. His pinstriped tie was featured on the Brook Brothers’ catalogue last week, tied in a half Windsor knot and secured in a gold tie clip. The filtered sun rays from the glass window bounced against the Rolex watch on his wrist. If someone robbed Wilhelm of everything he wore today, the mugger could buy a new car with the loot. Although that scenario was most unlikely to happen. Beneath his cool and composed persona, Wilhelm was one big, scary weretiger. Besides, he was an alpha. One growl and it’d scare the shit out of his would-be offender.
He tapped his fingers on the table as he waited for his order. His gigawatt smile shone brighter than the sun. Though it wouldn’t do much for Juliette even though Wilhelm was a prime male specimen. He was luscious, with dark hair and eyes, a chiseled jaw, and a two-day growth of stubble that made an ordinary woman want to purr and feel it against her neck. Too bad Juliette had sworn off men. Indefinitely. Her heart wasn’t open for business. Ever.
If Juliette had any interest in taking a man to bed, she realized it would be him. He’d always flirted with her, ever since she rented this space in his strip mall almost a year ago. He made no secret of how much he wanted to date her, and had asked her out numerous times. Unlike some men, he didn’t come off as demanding or harassing, just persistent. Usually Noelle manned the counter, and he asked for Juliette anyway. Today it would have looked silly for her to rush to the back to avoid him.
His persistence probably should have bothered her, but Juliette thought that if she could face him almost every morning and not get involved, then she’d be able to protect her heart from anything that came her way.
Noelle brought his order to the table. Tea—English Breakfast—and a cream cheese pastry. He always had the same thing every morning.
“Merci. And if it is not too much trouble, may I have a word with your boss, please?” he asked.
“Sure.” Noelle returned to the kitchen and informed Juliette.
Juliette’s brows rose. “Twice in a week?” Wilhelm always found an excuse to talk to her.
Noelle shrugged.
Sighing, Juliette wiped her hands. She went to see what he wanted. “Morning, Wilhelm,” she said. “What can I do for you?”
“Don’t be so formal, Juliette. Would you accompany me for tea?” His smile was so bright it was blinding. “Have you taken any break at all since morning? I know you’re an early riser.”
“I guess I can take a five-minute break.” Juliette waved at Noelle and asked her to bring her a cup of tea and scone.
“Thank you for indulging me.” Wilhelm bit into his pastry and let out a little moan as if it had been the best thing he’d ever put in his mouth. “Still the best pastries I’ve ever eaten,” he said.
“Andy made them.”
“Compliments to the chef. You know, Juliette, plenty of people would love your sweets if you open another store. I feel this location doesn’t give your shop its full potential. For one, this part of the mall doesn’t have a lot of foot traffic.” Wilhelm dusted remnants of powdered sugar from his fingers.
Bonbon was sandwiched between an insurance agency and a Realtor and it wasn’t clearly visible from the street due to the shape of the buildings. Her customers mostly found her from word of mouth.
“I’ve told you before that I’ve acquired the Ludwig Center on Broadway, right?”
“Yeah. I believe so.”
“We’re in the final stage of renovation. If everything goes according to plan, we set to have a grand opening next spring. Currently, we’ve booked ninety-nine percent of occupancy and half a dozen more have been put on the waiting list. But I have reserved a special spot for you, Juliette, should you be interested in expanding your business. Think about a boutique chain. Small, elegant, and classy. People can get their sweet tooth fix anywhere, but they will come to you because you offer them something special. We want to sell exclusivity. Think about Dominique Ansel. “Remember that craze a while back? People lined up for hours to buy the cronuts. Some even paid strangers to wait in line for them. If you adopt that business model, you don’t need to up the production just to fill the demands. Therefore, you can control the quality of your products. By limiting the size of the order to each customer—again, exclusivity—you’ll drive the value of the market up. People’ll go crazy for products that aren’t easily obtained. It’s in the human nature. They want something that others can’t or don’t have. Of course, it would help that you have superior products to begin with.” Wilhelm plucked his phone from his suit pocket. He swiped the screen and presented Juliette with a blueprint of his new building. “The space is located at the ground floor, two thousand square feet of prime spot with endless money-making possibility. It would be the first store that people would see as soon as they enter the lobby. This unit is already fitted with a state-of-the-art refrigeration system and rotating convection ovens. It is in move-in-ready condition should you decided to take me up on my offer.”
Juliette examined the blueprint by scrolling it back and forth. Whoa. Tempting. Very tempting. She really liked the dynamic layout of the working space that flowed into the retail area. It looked like her dream kitchen. Whoever designed this had put a lot of thought and knowledge of the industry into it.
“Your offer is very interesting, but as I said before, I like my shop just the way it is.”
He didn’t give up. He never did. “If it’s capital you’re worried about, I’d be happy to offer an exclusive partnership. I feel deeply that this business venture will benefit both of us. With your talents and my business savvy, I think we’ll make a very profitable partnership. Ludwig Center had been my pet project for years. When people walk into my building, I want them to be greeted by the delicious aroma of your pastries and sweets. Personally, I find the experience is incredibly soothing. Just the kind of pick-me-up I need in the morning.” More of his dazzling smile. His eyes twinkled with it.
“Really?” Juliette commented randomly to distract herself from him.
“Can I let you in on a little secret?” Wilhelm leaned forward. “I have two prospective leasees who represent national brands competing in a bidding war over this particular unit. I hold this one with you in mind, Juliette.”
“I’m flattered, Wilhelm, but—”
He held up his palms. “Would you at least sleep on it a little? You only gave it two seconds of consideration before you said no.”
“Because I only needed two seconds.”
He drank the rest of his tea. “As a favor to me, think about it.” He extracted a thick envelope from inside his suit jacket. “My business proposal. Please examine it at your leisure. Once you read it, you’ll see how great of an opportunity it is for both of us.”
“Fine.” The least she could do was to read it even though she was sure her answer wouldn’t change.
“See you tomorrow, Juliette.”
“Have a nice day.”
Wilhelm left a twenty on the table. Juliette watched him walk out the door with interest. Celibate or not, she still appreciated a fine male like him. And he was lucky he was handsome and charming because if he kept pushing this expansion idea, she was going to lose her patience fast and kick him out of her establishment.
The morning crowd came and went, and almost everything Juliette and her helpers had made that morning was gone before noon. People knew if they wanted fresh pastries, morning was the time to come, as the afternoon was mostly reserved for handmade chocolates and confections. Pastries were fine, but Juliette preferred making candies, one more reason she didn’t care about the morning pastry-eaters who might be waiting downtown.
She took a break when the mail came at one o’clock and had a light lunch while she opened it. She almost didn’t get a swallow of her sandwich down around the growl that bubbled up inside her when she read a letter from Wilhelm’s property management company informing her that her rent was going to almost double in two months.
“That son of a bitch!” Juliette fumed in her tiny office, a spot she fashioned in the storage area.
“Which one? The ex, the alpha, the nerd, or the handsome one?” Noelle yelled from the counter.
“Is the landlord the handsome one?” Juliette yelled back. There was no customer in the shop at the moment so yelling was permitted.
“Totally, but he’s not my type.”
“Yeah that one.”
Andy and Noelle crowded the cramped space curious about what was happening. Juliette showed them the letter.
“I didn’t hear anything about them raising the price. You know my roommate works at the management office. She’d have told me if something like this happened,” said Noelle.
“This is kind of fishy. Don’t they require them to inform the tenants in advance if they’re raising the rent?” asked Andy. “Should we worry about this, Juliette? Will this put us in the red?”
Juliette understood his concern. Andy was supporting his elderly mother, a widowed sister, and a nephew. They were counting on his paycheck every week. Juliette waved her hand. “We’re good, don’t you worry. Our loyal customers keep us in business. I just don’t understand why Wilhelm did this.” She pondered why he proposed a business partnership that morning. He knew she’d get the letter that day about raising her rent—did he think she would want to take him up on his offer of financing the expansion? If this was his fumbling attempt at blackmail, she wasn’t going to have it. “I’m going to get to the bottom of this.” She lifted her office phone to call him, but decided that what she had to say was probably best said in person. She turned to her employees. “You kids watch the shop while I’m out.”
“Yes, mom!” said Andy.
“Oui, oui,” said Noelle.
Gritting her teeth, Juliette stripped off her apron and headed out to give Mr. Wilhelm Sorenson a piece of her mind.