Sinful (3 page)

Of course, he wouldn’t call to check on her because she had broken his heart by not wanting to take over his medical business. Her older brother, Broderick, finally agreed to step up and do it. Once he did, Dr. Monroe disowned her with a snap of his fingers and never looked back at his only daughter.

Going back into the other room, Maymi walked over to the sink and added the dirty trays to the dishes already soaking there and started washing them to ease her mind. All of the manual labor would have to be done by her but she didn’t care. Whatever she had to do to help accomplish her ultimate goal would be done because she relished in creating something that was all hers.

Her father thought she hadn’t inherited anything from him, but he was wrong. She got a very important quality—discipline. She made a plan a long time ago to own her own bakery and had stuck to it no matter what obstacles had been tossed in her way.

Why he couldn’t understand this, she would never know.

However, Jensen wasn’t something she had been expecting but she wasn’t going to let him get her off track proving a point to her father. She was good enough...no great enough...to make Sinful
one of the top bakeries in the city.

After she finished with the dishes, Maymi placed the last utensil in the sink to dry. Since the cupcakes were done, it was time for her to start working on the crust for her pecan, apple and cherry pies. All three had won first place at different baking shows and contests. Therefore why wouldn’t she have them at her own shop?

Who didn’t want a sweet treat when something happened like a bad breakup or loss?

She wanted to lure all of those customers through her door with a cupcake or a hot slice of pie. Both of them always took the blues away for her during those times. Which is probably why she had the curves she did instead of being slimmer like Tatum was, but she didn’t let that bother her much anymore.

Regardless of what her cranky neighbor thought of her being so ‘close’ to his personal space, she wasn’t going anywhere and she would love to see him try to make her.

Chapter Four

“Jensen, what’s wrong with you? You haven’t spoken three words to me since you picked me up for our date.”

Looking across the table at his favorite Chinese restaurant, he stared at his on and off girlfriend Chloe glaring at him. He hadn’t wanted to stay at home tonight because he didn’t want to think about Maymi ruining his business, so he called her up without thinking it through.

Her whiny personality was one of the top reasons he stopped dating her before. She had a very bad habit of always making things so much bigger than they were. Furthermore, if all of the attention wasn’t directed at her, she felt like something was wrong and complained like a little girl. His life was filled with too much conflict to be stroking her shallow ego.

“Chloe, I have a lot on my mind,” he finally answered, cursing his spilt second decision to call her.

“Please don’t tell me it’s about that gym of yours. I think you worry about that place way too much. You’re doing well with it. My friends are always bragging about how amazing your instructors are there. What else do you want?” she complained. “Aren’t you satisfied with what you have?”

“Fitness 24 is more than a business to me, Chloe. It’s my blood, sweat and tears. I’ve been working for years to get it where it is today. Besides my brother Casper, you’re the next person who should know how much it means to me. Why do you still have such a problem with it?” he demanded.

Sighing, Chloe flipped her curly brown hair over her shoulder before reaching across the table and grabbing his hand, brushing her thumb over the top.

“I’m sorry, baby. Can I do something to make it up to you?” She leaned forward showing off the huge amount of cleavage displayed by the deep opening in the front of her shirt.

In the past, his cock would have already been rock hard just from her touch, but he figured out Chloe’s game a while ago. She flirted with men when she figured out she was on the losing end of the argument. She loved getting her way and she used anything, including sex, to get it.

Jensen eased his hand away from her. Shit, he would make sure not to make this error in his thinking again. Being lonely was a way lot better than fighting off Chloe’s high sexual needs. He was surprised she wasn’t dating someone with the way she loved sex.

“No, that’s alright.” He sighed. “How about we just finish up our meal and then I can take you back home? I need to get up early to teach a class for Casper.”

Snatching her hand back from him, Chloe fell back against her chair and crossed her toned, tanned arms over her surgically enhanced breasts. She narrowed her hazel eyes at him, but he didn’t flinch under her cold stare.

“If you weren’t interested in going back to my place after dinner why did you invite me here? We never stayed together because we had long, meaningful conversations.”

He wanted to deny with Chloe was telling him but he couldn’t. The only reason he asked her out was because of her killer body when he saw her working out at Fitness 24 for a body building competition. His first thought only consisted of how good she was going to look on his arm because she wasn’t overly muscular but she was perfectly in shape like one of the female diva wrestlers from WWE.

“You’re right,” he admitted. “We both loved the hot sex and being the best looking couple in the room. However, I thought maybe you might have matured a little since we last were a couple. I know I’ve grown up a lot.”

Rolling her eyes, she unfolded her arms and picked up her purse from the side of the table. “Well, good for you, Jensen,” she snapped. “I’m going to the bathroom so I can freshen up and instead of dropping me off at home you can take me to Raven’s. I heard the live band there tonight is incredible.”

Are you sure about that?” he asked. “Raven’s is a tougher part of town.”

Chloe shot him a disgusted look before getting up from her seat. “I will be fine, Dad. I know a couple of bouncers there. So, I’ll be okay. Just be ready to leave when I get back.”

Storming away from the table, Chloe made her way through the semi-crowded restaurant without looking back at him. Jensen quickly prayed for the guy that would get hooked by her tonight. She was in one of her moods and she wouldn’t stop until she got what she wanted from the poor soul.

The only good thing that came out of tonight was Chloe’s selfish personality got his mind temporarily off her. Maymi wasn’t going to get underneath his skin anymore. If he could control his temper with his unmotivated brother Casper then there was no way Ms. Monroe shouldn’t be a lot easier for him to handle.

All he had to do was find a way to make her understand that her bakery business Sinful might be a lot more profitable away from his gym.

If Sinful stayed located next door to Fitness 24, it wouldn’t be good marriage between the two of them. Maymi might act like there was something unfair about his demands, but he had enough sense to know there wasn’t a damn thing wrong with them.

She would feel the same way he did if a doughnut franchise suddenly moved in next door to her and slowly stole her customers away. She might not be strong enough to confront her competition, but he was he would keep doing it until she got the hint.

Taking a deep breath, Jensen blew it out through his nose, trying to get himself back under control. Usually, he wasn’t bothered by small stuff, however after dealing with Maymi and then his mistake of adding Chloe into the mix he was about at the end of his rope. Nothing else could happen to make his night any worse, because all he wanted to do was get home and forget the events of today even happened.

The sounds of female laughter coming from his left drew Jensen’s attention. After his horrible day, he wondered who in the hell could be having such a good time and if they would be able to share their secret with him.

Because he would give almost anything to have a good careful laugh right now to block out all of the craziness going in his world. It was almost enough to make him regret opening up Fitness 24 in the first place.

Spinning around in his chair, Jensen’s gaze searched the room until he stopped at a table of three African American women sitting off towards the corner. One of the women was a little bit on the curvier side and her dark black hair tumbled carelessly to her shoulders in a mass of natural curls showing off her dark mahogany skin.

The second was just as attractive with her lighter caramel complexion, but her straighter hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail that stopped right above her shoulder blades.

But the last female seated at the table held his attention the most. She made his earlier anger resurface with record speed. However, before he could glance away Maymi’s big brown eyes looked up from her plate and found him watching her.

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise before they slanted down into a frown as she glared at him. She looked just as stunned to see him here as he was to see her.

Wonderful
, he thought.

Jensen didn’t think anything else could happen to piss him off before leaving the restaurant, but he was wrong. Little Miss Bakery had to show up at his favorite restaurant and completely ruin what little he had left of his already horrible day. Hell! He was beginning to wonder if he could go anywhere without her showing up.

Chapter Five

“I swear I hate that asshole,” Maymi mumbled underneath her breath, tossing her fork back down on her half-eaten plate of food.

She came out with her two best friends to finally celebrate the opening of her bakery. Tatum had been out of town on business so she and Jazmaine decided to wait until tonight so they could all have a good time together.

“Who are you talking about?” Jazmaine Ramey said, turning around to look over her shoulder.

“Don’t look,” she whispered, grabbing her friend’s arm. “I don’t want him to think we’re talking about him. He already has a big enough ego as it is.”

Spinning back around, Jazmaine eased her arm away from her. “God, what has crawled up your ass and died? I thought this dinner tonight was supposed to be fun and relaxing, but you’ve been on edge ever since we picked you up at your house.”

“I agree with Jazmaine,” Tatum Barnes agreed, cutting in. “Who has rubbed you the wrong way?”

Looking past Jazmaine, Maymi tried not to roll her eyes as Jensen got up from his seat and left with a leggy brunette. Of course, he would be with someone as perfect as him. They probably ran in the same circle as other flawless people who never step foot in her bakery.

“Turn around and look at the tall guy leaving the dark-haired woman,” she said, knowing she would regret telling her friends anything about Jensen.

Maymi hoped he would hurry up and leave so she wouldn’t have to look at him anymore but he stopped at the door then stared at her one last time before going out of the door. Slowly, her best friends faced her again after Jensen was finally gone.

“Who in the hell was he?” Tatum gushed. “Did you see how gorgeous he was? I mean his face was perfect in every sense of the word. How could you call someone like him an asshole?”

“Maymi, you can’t keep your connection to that sexy man a secret from us,” Jazmaine complained. “You know that we will keep asking you until we break you down. Why go through all of that with us?”

Why did she ever open her mouth
?

Maymi knew she should have kept quiet when she spotted Jensen staring in her direction. She had actually seen him right after the waitress seated them, but just kept her mouth shut.

“Maymi, are you paying any attention to us?”

“Yes, I hear you Jazmaine.” She sighed. “I just don’t want to talk about Jensen Lowe any more tonight. I’ve dealt with him enough today.”

“He’s the guy you told us about on the drive over here?” Tatum asked, shocked. “I can’t believe it. How could you leave out how good he looked? I mean, I would love to do some baking with him and it wouldn’t occur inside of the kitchen.”

“You’re supposed to be on my side, not drooling over my enemy,” Maymi snapped, wondering how the conversation had gotten so sidetracked.

Tatum’s light brown eyes lit up with mischief as her hand reached for her drink and then she took a sip. “What can I say?” she said. “You know I have a weakness for tall, handsome, physically fit white guys. Why do you think I work out at our local gym four days a week?”

“I thought it was to stay in shape because you love wearing those short skirts and high heels.” Maymi grinned. “I don’t have a clue how you keep up with all of the men you date. You seem to have them falling over their feet to ask you out on a date.”

“I tell you it’s the ponytail. Men have fantasies about pulling long hair while making love.” Tatum grinned. “Why shouldn’t I give them a little visual stimulation? It doesn’t mean I’m going to let them get any.”

“Okay, you two, enough of that,” Jazmaine cut in. “I want to know how a guy who looks like that can be such a jerk? Is he serious about you moving your bakery away from his workout gym? He can’t force you to do anything. I hope he knows that and takes a step back.”

Maymi was positive that Jensen knew the law, but none of that meant he wasn’t going to make her life a living hell. He was without a doubt going to be a pain in her side. No matter how gorgeous he might be on the outside, he was nasty and not worth another moment of her time. She was supposed to be having a good time, not plotting ways to get rid of him.

“How about we forget about Mr. Lowe and enjoy the rest of our dinner?” she suggested. “I have to be at work early to finish up three cupcake orders plus finish decorating a Hello Kitty special order cake for a five-year-old’s birthday party.”

“Can I ask you one more thing about him?” Tatum asked.

“No, you can’t,” she answered, tired of talking about Jensen. “I want to know what’s going on with you two.”

“Nothing as exciting as you have going on,” Jazmaine answered then glanced down at her watch. “Damn, I have to go. I’m supposed to be back at work in twenty minutes for another board meeting.”