Chapter Fifteen
She and Annabelle helped Hamilton make dinner, and, in the process, managed to drive him absolutely batty, which was kind of the fun part. It was so important to him that the onions be diced evenly and uniformly, and Annabelle was so giddy with excitement that Leah was surprised she could hold a knife. Leah tried to follow his exacting instructions about cubing cheese, but she had to retaliate when Annabelle tossed a chunk of carrot at her. Their mini-food-fight was nipped in the bud by Hamilton, and his stern reprimand dialed up Leah’s desire for him to a ridiculous degree. After that, she couldn’t concentrate on anything except for the way his arm muscles bulged when he flipped the hamburgers.
Annabelle rested her chin on Leah’s shoulder. “I kind of get your obsession,” she said, keeping her voice low. “He’s still a little uptight for me, but he’s really sweet, and talk about arm porn.”
“I know, right?” They studied him in silence for a few moments. “I’ve started to like the uptightness. It makes it more fun to muss him.”
Annabelle snickered, which set Leah off, and Hamilton grimaced at their giggle-fest. “These will be ready in two and a half minutes,” he said with exaggerated patience. Leah just smiled at him, knowing that her infatuation was obvious but not really caring. He darted a glance at her, and his cheekbones darkened, and Leah could hardly stand it because he was blushing and that was too adorable to take. He cleared his throat. “Could you please set the table?”
Leah couldn’t look away, though, and she continued gazing at him until a grinning Annabelle shoved three plates at her chest. “Sorry,” she mouthed at her roommate, who just smirked at her. Annabelle was obviously too excited to be annoyed with Leah’s Hamilton-based obsession.
As she took her first bite of her hamburger, Leah’s eyes rolled back in her head. “This is so good,” she said, not able to wait until her mouth wasn’t full. Annabelle’s groan agreed with her. Hamilton had mixed garlic and onions and cheese and some other things into the ground beef, and it was amazing. He’d even cut up potatoes to make seasoned oven fries, and Leah couldn’t decide if the burger or the fries were the best thing she’d ever eaten. She’d been so busy—and so distracted by Hamilton—at the bakery that she’d forgotten to eat her sandwich, so this was the first time she’d eaten all day, except for a broken cookie or two.
“Any sign of Stalker Jude today?” Annabelle asked, sneaking one of Leah’s fries off her plate.
“No, but his sister came in.” Leah held up her fork threateningly, warning off future fry stealing. They were so good that she was willing to fight to keep her food. “That was weird and awkward.”
“His sister?” Annabelle looked at Leah’s remaining fries, then her fork, and then the fries again, as if weighing the possible consequences of fry theft.
“Yes, and if you take one more of my fries, I will fork you. Hard.” When Annabelle appeared to give up her evil plan, Leah continued. “He told her we’d been dating for months, and I cheated on him, but then I sent my cop boyfriend to harass him, since I’m apparently a psycho who won’t let him go, even though I don’t want him anymore?”
As Hamilton let out an unhappy grunt, Annabelle stared, her mouth slightly open. “Wait, what?”
“Yep.” Leah shoved a fry in her mouth and chewed thoughtfully. “I felt kind of bad for her. It must be hard to hear that your brother is either a huge liar or delusional.”
“Isn’t that full-on, not-funny stalker behavior, making up a relationship with you like that?” Annabelle sounded uneasy. “He sounds seriously unbalanced.”
“Maybe.” The thought made Leah’s stomach roll uneasily. “It could be that he told her we were dating just to keep her off his back, though.” Even as she said it, she knew it sounded weak. “Like when I was in college and told Grandma that Aspen Lutvel broke my heart, so she’d quit setting me up with her friends’ grandkids for a while.” Hamilton shifted in his chair, his expression unreadable as he fixed her with his hooded gaze.
“Aspen Lutvel?” Annabelle repeated doubtfully. “Isn’t he the guy who tried mansplaining baguettes to you?”
“Ugh. He was the worst.” Leah made a face at the memory. The baguette lecture was only a small part of the horrendousness that was the date with Aspen.
“You went out with him once. How did he break your heart?”
“He didn’t,” Leah said. “That’s the point. I just didn’t want Grandma setting me up with any more ‘nice young men.’”
“Yeah, I don’t blame you. You should have seen the guy my parents tried to fix me up with last time I went to Flor—Hey!” Annabelle cut herself off and glared at Leah. “Quit trying to change the subject. How dangerous is this Jude guy? Be honest.”
“It’s highly possible that he’s a threat.” Hamilton leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. Leah wished he wouldn’t do that. It made his biceps bulge in distracting ways, and she had to concentrate on not letting him scare Annabelle, whose eyes had gotten huge.
“What kind of threat? Do you think he’d hurt Leah? Try to kidnap her and keep him in his basement?”
“No,” Leah said before Hamilton could answer, giving him a warning glance. “All he’s done so far is sit at the bakery and eat croissants, walk in the kitchen through an open door, act pissy, and lie to his sister. Since Ham ran him off, Jude hasn’t even shown his face in or around the bakery.”
“That we know of.”
Bugging her eyes out at Hamilton, Leah held back an aggravated growl. “Stop trying to scare her.”
“I’m not. I’m being realistic. You give people the benefit of the doubt, and they usually don’t deserve it.”
“I do not.” She paused, confused by the insult that wasn’t really an insult. “Okay, maybe I do, but I think they deserve it more often than not.”
His gaze was locked on hers. “I’m not willing to risk your safety because you want to hold on to your faith in the positive side of human nature.”
“As much as I appreciate your concern, I’m not crazy about how you’re dismissing my opinion and implying that I’m an idiot.”
“Not an idiot.” His expression didn’t change as he argued, and it was making her crazy. Her emotions were churning around inside her, and she wanted to see some sort of sign that he was just as affected. “Optimistic. Possibly a little naïve.”
“Naïve?” She leaned toward him, resisting the urge to jump out of her chair and tackle him, and not in the sexy way she usually wanted to tackle him. This time, she just wanted to punch him. “I am not naïve!”
“You are in this case. How do you not see that Jude is a real threat?” His voice rose slightly, and Leah pushed aside her own anger to examine him closely. Although his expressionless mask was in place, it was warping a bit around the edges. His mouth tucked in and down at the corners, and the lines of his face were tighter than normal. The twitch in his eyelid gave away his feelings, as well—Hamilton was terrified for her.
Somehow knowing that wiped all Leah’s anger away. Standing up, she walked around behind him. He kept his gaze fixed on her the whole time, his glare smoldering with suppressed emotion. She wondered how she’d thought he’d been neutral earlier.
Wrapping her arms around his shoulders from behind, she could feel the tension that vibrated through him. She kissed him on the cheek and spoke quietly by his ear. “I do see him as a possible threat, but scaring Annabelle won’t help anything. You’ve been with me when I’ve walked to work and back, and I’ll drive if you’re not available. I’ve kept the back door locked. Officer Castillo knows what’s going on, and he’s talked to Jude. I understand why you’re worried, but I’m not ignoring the danger. I’m taking precautions, but I’m not freaking out needlessly about it. Okay?”
He was silent and stiff for several moments before he blew out an audible breath. His muscles softened slightly under her hold. “Yes.”
She kissed him again, this time on the rim of his ear, and she felt him shiver. His reaction made her smile, glad that she wasn’t the only one reduced to jelly by a simple, light kiss. “Good. Want some brownies?”
“Yes.” Reaching up, he grasped her forearms, holding her in place as he turned his head to kiss her jaw. A ripple of pleasure spread out from the point of contact, and she resisted the urge to drop onto his lap and kiss the stuffing out of him. After all, as fun as it would be, Annabelle would probably find it awkward. Giving him a final squeeze, she disentangled herself from him and grinned when she saw Annabelle had her back to them as she retrieved the cookie jar.
“It’s safe to turn around now,” Leah said, sitting back down in her chair.
“All clothes are on?”
“No nakedness allowed in the kitchen. You know my rules.”
Laughing, Annabelle carried the brownie-filled cookie jar over and set it in the middle of the table. “I thought maybe your horniness mowed down your rules.”
Hamilton let out a half choke, half cough, and Leah and Annabelle grinned at each other.
Sobering, Annabelle gave her a stern look. “Promise me you’ll be careful.”
Holding out her hand, pinkie extended, Leah said, “I promise.”
Annabelle hooked her pinkie with Leah. “Keep Mr. Muscles P. Hamilton close by.” He made another slightly strangled sound.
With a smile, Leah nodded. That would be a fun promise to keep.