“Believe it or not, no big gala. For which I am grateful.” He drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “But I’ve also been crazy busy since I took over for Chief Kendal.”
“How has the change in jobs gone? Actually, I don’t know what you did before you came home. Maybe it’s not such a change.”
It was still weird to be “home,” but that wasn’t what she’d asked. “I was a detective in Austin. Same type of job more or less. Way more responsibilities now, though. And lots of paperwork. Probably easier than owning your own company.” He leaned his elbows onto the table. “Have you always baked?” What a stupid question. Jax all but groaned and wanted to kick himself in the ass.
Marissa gazed at him for a long moment and didn’t answer at first. Then she said, “I’m sorry. It’s just a little surreal to be sitting here with you. Chatting.” She shook her head.
Jax chuckled. “Why?”
“I don’t know. We didn’t exactly know each other in school.” She ducked her head for a moment. “What did you ask me?” She waved off the trip down memory lane. “Have I always baked? For pleasure, sure. I didn’t get into the business end of it until just a few years ago. I was working in an office and it just wasn’t fun.” She shrugged. “I needed a change and voilà, my shop was born.”
The waitress came and cleared the table.
“That’s got to be scary.” Jax leaned closer. “Starting something from the ground up can’t be easy.”
“There were days when I didn’t think it would work. And days when I was so tired I didn’t know if it was worth it. But it’s gotten better and it’s all mine and I love doing it.” Marissa’s eyes lit up. “Now I can’t even imagine not baking every day.”
The waitress came back and set a single dish in the middle of the table with two spoons. It had a thick slice of chocolate cake with a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Marissa picked up the spoon and scooped a bite, barely taking her eyes off him. “The best part is coming up with new recipes. I like experimenting and playing around with ingredients.” She licked a small speck from the spoon and waved it at Jax. “It’s fun to try new combinations or toppings. I like paring up flavors you might not think to use.”
“It doesn’t hurt—” he picked up a spoon and followed suit “—that the food tastes fantastic.”
A smile creased her mouth. “You tried the cupcakes I gave you?” She scooped up another bite and ate. “The orange one,” she said after she swallowed, “is new.” She scrunched up her nose. “I wasn’t sure at first.” She scooped half a spoonful of cake and half ice cream and took a bite.
His dick got hard as he watched her lips close over the spoon.
“It kept coming out way too sweet,” she said, snapping him from his fantasy of her savoring him the same way.
“What?” He shifted slightly to ease the constriction of his jeans.
She frowned for a moment. “The orange crème. When I first started working on it, it took me a while to get the right balance of orange and vanilla without it practically giving you cavities.”
“I think you found your balance. It was good. Reminded me of the orange-vanilla ice creams from when I was kid.”
She rewarded him with the biggest smile yet. “That’s what I was going for.” She tilted her head to the side. “Would you be interested in trying another flavor? I’ve been working on a maple and bacon cupcake. Something a little different for the men who come in.”
“Maple and bacon. In a cupcake?”
She laughed. She had a musical lilt to her voice when she laughed. It went straight to Jax’s gut.
“It’s not as gross as it probably sounds, I promise.”
Jax’s phone vibrated. He didn’t want to look at it, and he was off duty, but like Marissa had said, he was never truly off duty. If something came up, he had to go in. He glanced at the screen. Ada, the dispatcher, had texted him. One of the stores downtown had a break-in and the two other officers on duty were out on other calls.
“Thanks for letting me cut in on your dessert.” He waved his cell at her. “Unfortunately, duty calls.”
“Oh sure.” She licked at a bit of chocolate from the corner of her mouth.
Jax fought off a moan as he stood.
She waved the spoon at him. “Be safe.”
Marissa blinked several times at Jax’s departing back. “Be safe.” How stupid was that to say to a cop? The chief, no less. She looked down at the plate in front of her. She’d never even realized there was food in front of her. And she’d eaten half of it. In front of Jax.
Cherry slid back into her seat.
“Where the hell have you been?”
Cherry waggled her blond eyebrows. “I was giving you and the chief time to talk. You swear you haven’t hooked up with him?”
“Don’t you think I’d remember if I had?” Marissa set her spoon down. “Why’d you send this over? I looked like a pig eating all of it.”
“No you didn’t. And he was too busy staring into your eyes to worry about a little cake.”
“Shut up. He was not.” Marissa’s heart pounded. “Was he?”
“Swear to God.” Cherry held up her hand. “He looks just like he did in school but so much more. Bigger. Sturdier. I don’t know what else, just more.”
Marissa nodded. “Protective. Like it’s personal for him.”
“Exactly.” Cherry glanced at her watch. “I need to get back to work. Are we still on for the Blue Spur this weekend?”
“Absolutely.” Marissa smiled, but going out to a honky-tonk Saturday night was about the last thing she wanted to do. Jax’s face flashed in her mind. She would much rather sit and talk to Jax. Getting knocked into and hit on by a bunch of sweaty guys… It had taken her a while to be able to accept positive attention from men in a way she hadn’t in high school. The Blue Spur, however, wasn’t her favorite spot.
She shook her head. Jax hadn’t asked, and she wasn’t about to presume he would. Hell, she didn’t even know if he was single. Even if he was, she wondered if he had weekends to himself. He’d barely made it through dinner before he was called into work.
* * *
Jax was fastening his badge to his belt as he walked into the stationery store. He’d gone out back behind the building as soon as he’d gotten to the scene. He wanted to check and see if his hunch would pan out and it had. The back door had a hole similar to the one at Marissa’s shop. Just below the push bar. The stationery store hadn’t fared as well, though. Stock had been knocked off shelves. The registers were broken and several high-end gifts had been taken along with a small safe that had sat under the manager’s desk in the office.
At
