side and she looked at him. Even on Belinda the white hair caps they were required to wear at all times in the kitchen looked cute.
“How did you know it was a man?”
“Because you’re not the type of female to get bothered by what another female says about you. Besides, if it were a female, you would have simply cursed her out and kept it moving.”
She chuckled. “You’re right about that.”
He’d seen Belinda tear down jealous females with a look and a few words spoken in the coolest voice. She wasn’t the screaming and hollering type, nor was she into physical altercations. But she was no doormat, either. Anybody coming at her with smart words should prepare to get an earful. So it had to be a man that had said this to her. A dumb-ass man that most likely needed an eye-opener to see the error of his ways. Malik would be more than happy to open his eye for him—or close it permanently.
“It’s nothing. Just another date gone wrong. I should probably start my own reality show. Surely my love life is entertaining at best.”
Her love life. How long had Malik been thinking about Belinda’s love life? Too damned long. Belinda Drayson-Jones was not on the list of available women for him—no matter how attracted to her he was. How attracted to her he had been for some time now. But pursuing her would go against too many of his rules on dating, namely the no-drama rule. If he went after Belinda, Carter would totally go off. The men in this family were very protective of their women. And as his best friend, Carter would definitely have strong feelings about a relationship between Malik and Belinda—especially with Carter’s never-mix-work-with-pleasure rule. And then there was the fact that Belinda was Lillian’s favorite granddaughter. No secret there. The matriarch doted on everything Belinda did, because everything she did was always right.
Still, he couldn’t stop himself from saying, “You’re dating the wrong guys.”
“Tell me about it,” was her reply.
“Okay, I will.” He smiled to keep things on this light tone. “Just because he comes from a good family, with money and stature, has a high-paying job and drives a fancy car doesn’t mean he should be a candidate.”
“That is not how I select my dates.”
Malik gave her a knowing look. “You’re not going to date any man you think will tarnish the Drayson family name. So in your mind the man for you has to be influential, accomplished, handsome and debonair. Those are all superficial traits, flimsy as the society pages that describe him that way. Hence, big mistake for you.”
“Malik, really? Do you think I select men from the society pages? You make me sound desperate.”
“Not at all,” he said shaking his head. “You’re too beautiful to be desperate.”
Now, that was a first. Malik wasn’t shy when it came to women; he’d just been careful to stay in his lane where Belinda was concerned. With that comment he’d just swerved into the left lane and had to regain his control to keep from crashing.
“That’s sort of what he said. Apparently I’m also too beautiful to be so stuck-up.”
“Like I said, he’s an idiot. Which means you made a bad choice.”
“Apparently beauty has nothing to do with that that, huh?” she asked.
Malik wanted to let this conversation drop. He’d never talked to Belinda about the men in her life before. Actually, he’d made a point not to discuss that with her. Pity parties weren’t his thing so thinking about the woman he’d never had was a pastime he tried to do without.
She’d finished the yellow border of the cake and was just about to line up the previously made sugar roses when one of them slipped from her spatula and landed on the table instead of the cake. She cursed, her lips drawn tightly as she retrieved the rose that hadn’t been harmed and put it in its place.
“What you need to do is relax,” he told her. “Take some time to just let loose. You’ll forget about what’s-his-name taking his frustrations out on you.” And you can stop being perfect for just one minute, he added, though he kept that part to himself. Because Malik was sure the perfect routine was one tiring job.
“I don’t see how relaxing is going to make a difference in the man I choose to go out with.”
“I’m not saying it’ll make a difference in your choice of men, only you can make that change. But sometimes it’s good to just get away from all the pressures of life. How about this? I pick you up tonight at seven. We’ll go out and have a fun-filled evening at which time you will not think about what’s-his-name that didn’t have the good sense God gave him. You will not think about this bakery and what orders we have for tomorrow. You will not think about the competition that’s coming up or what you can do to contribute for us to win. Deal?”
* * *
First of all, Malik Anthony had always been too damned fine for his own good. As if it wasn’t enough that his body was perfectly toned, tall and sculpted like the basketball player he used to be. No, his honey-colored skin had to be smooth and enticing. His always-close-shaved head and dark brown eyes were like dangling a carrot in front of every female rabbit. The tattoos he had on each of his biceps should have been a turnoff and yet Belinda had always found the scorpion on his left bicep, which represented his zodiac sign, as well as the justice scales on his right bicep, which represented his mother’s zodiac sign, heartwarming instead of offensive.
His laid-back demeanor and almost-always-positive mood tended to give her a headache more often than not. Nobody could be in a good mood all the time. It just wasn’t possible. Life wasn’t that good. Especially not for him, Belinda presumed. Having his dream collapse and ending up here could not have been easy for Malik. But watching him move around this bakery, laughing and joking with Carter and working just as hard as the rest of them, she couldn’t tell he was suffering. Sure, it had been years and he’d probably gotten over the cruel hand fate had dealt him, but Belinda was positive he harbored some resentful feelings. He had to, right?
“I can’t go on a date with you. Besides we both have to be back here first thing tomorrow morning. We have a heavy schedule,” she told him matter-of-factly.
“We’re not the only staff members that work here. Besides, I’m not talking about keeping you out overnight. We’re just going to go out for a few hours and have a little fun.”
“I don’t need you to show me how to have fun,” she said defiantly.
“I didn’t say I was going to show you. I said we’ll have some fun. Meaning both of us. Stop analyzing it to death. I’ll pick you up at seven.”
“What if I say no?”
“You can. I’m not desperate either, you know. I won’t beg to take you out,” Malik said in that casual tone
of his.
Why did that hurt her feelings? She didn’t care if Malik didn’t want to take her out. Why should she?
Rolling her shoulders, Belinda took a deep breath. This was silly. Malik was like family—even though his wide smile and infectious laugh often did things to her that neither Carter’s nor Drake’s ever had. Spending an evening with him wouldn’t be that big of a deal. She’d done it before when they’d worked late nights, or at
