Love on the Sweet Side

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Back in town by twelve-fifteen, Maggie had the doors of her shop open by one. A dozen carrot vanilla frosted cupcakes were shelved. She liked to have at least three-dozen before opening, but she already lost the entire morning clientele. She could keep baking and keep an eye on the front. It wasn’t what she liked to do, but desperate times and all.

If someone was messing with her, she was going to bake them some laxative cupcakes and shove them down their throat.

She couldn’t afford all these hiccups and closures. Plus, all this worry over a possible saboteur was only adding to her stress level. There was enough on her plate with the blogger and whatever was going on with her and Colton. She didn’t need a crazy, cupcake-hating vandal added into the mix.

The bell above the door chimed. Filling the last cup with batter, she popped the cupcake tray into her recently fixed oven.

“Be right there!” she called to the front.

“No hurry.”

She recognized that deep, calm voice. Taking a quick moment to wash the batter off her hands, she made her way to the front. Sure enough, there stood Sheriff Jake Ryder.

A handsome man with long, dark hair in a braid down his back, brown eyes, caramel skin, and chiseled, high, Native American cheekbones, he was around the same age as Colton, but had arrived in Peak Town after she stopped coming. She had only known him for the past eight months. What she did know of him, she liked.

“Hey, Sheriff. I just put a dozen Vanilla Lemon cupcakes in the oven. Should be ready in about fifteen minutes or so.”

He smiled, making his handsome face even more attractive. Still, as good looking as Ryder was, he didn’t make her heart race like Colton did. Just thinking about the sexy cowboy made her breasts ache and her palms sweaty.

Damn. She had it bad.

“You sure know how to tempt a man, Maggie, but unfortunately, this isn’t a social visit.”

Her stomach twisted into knots. “You found something?”

He nodded. Just as he had promised, two uniformed officers had been waiting for her when she arrived home. With nothing to report, she’d thanked them both and told them to stop by later for a few cupcakes. On the house. The hungry light that filled their eyes at the mention of free sweets made her feel better about them having to sit in the cold all night watching her place.

“And?” she prompted when the sheriff said nothing.

Ryder took off his hat and placed it on the counter as he took a seat on the high stool in front of her.

“It looks like someone pulled out your hose. Intentionally.”

The knots got tighter.

“I need to know if you have any enemies. Anyone who would want to harm you or cause harm to your business.”

She shook her head. She just couldn’t believe someone was actually out to get her. What the hell had she ever done to anyone?

“I can’t think of anyone, Sheriff. I really can’t think of anyone who hates me this much.”

“How about someone who hates you just a little?” he asked, pulling out his notebook and pen.

“The thing is, Ryder,” she began. “I’m so busy with the shop, I don’t really have time to socialize enough to make anyone mad. Except…”

“Except who?” he asked when she trailed off.

“Well, Natalie Brake has never cared for me very much, but I highly doubt she’s behind this.” The woman was too wrapped up in herself to spend this much time messing with her.

“Why does she dislike you?”

No way was she airing out her cat fighting with Ryder. Even if he was the sheriff. “Does it really matter?”

He paused in his writing to glance up. “Maybe, maybe not, but I’ve found that every detail, no matter how insignificant it seems, is important to breaking a case.”

Great, she was a “case” now. Wasn’t her luck supposed to be turning around? Maybe it was on a roller coaster of hills and valleys.

“Fine. She owns the store next to mine and constantly complains.”

“About what?”

She shrugged. What didn’t the woman complain about? “The smells, the sounds. She says I’m disrupting her clientele.”

His pen scribbled on the paper. “Anything else?”

This was the part she’d rather keep to herself. It seemed so juvenile, but he did say he needed to know everything.

“She never liked the fact Colton and I were friends. She, um, dated him in high school and kind of told me to get lost.”

He paused again, catching her gaze with his dark brown one. A smile curled the corner of his mouth. “I take it she’s not happy you two are dating?”

“Jeez. It’s been less than a week.” She threw her hands up in exasperation. “We’ve had one date. One. And not even in public. You’d think people in this town would have better things to talk about.”

He chuckled. “Small town. Not much else going on.”

A heavy sigh escaped her. “Yeah, she’s not happy about it. But I seriously doubt Natalie Brake would waste her time trying to sabotage my business. She’d probably chip a nail breaking in and then try to sue me for damages to her perfect manicure.” She was only half-joking about that.

“I still have to check every lead. Is Jamie working today? I need to talk to her, too.”

Maggie glanced at the clock. Just after two. “She’ll be in after school gets out. Should be another twenty minutes or so.”

Grabbing his hat and placing it on his head, he rose, notebook and pen still in hand. “I’ll come back in a half an hour then. I’m going to go next door and have a chat with Natalie.”

Fan-freaking-tastic.

Just what she did not need. Another reason to piss off the bitchy blonde.

Hey, Natalie, I know you think I stole your man and I’m running your clients away with my sugary smells, but here’s a cop to accuse you of sabotaging me. Hey, why are you trying to strangle me?

Yeah, that was going to go over real well.

“Don’t worry, Maggie. We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

She nodded, but didn’t feel as positive as he sounded. “I’ll have some of those Vanilla Lemon cupcakes iced with buttercream frosting by the time you get back.”

He smiled wide, revealing perfectly straight, white teeth. He really was handsome. Too bad it had absolutely no effect on her. A calm, gentle sheriff was probably a safer bet than the outlandish, sexy-as-hell cowboy who made her blood boil.

“My stomach is already growling,” he said, opening the front door. “Colton sure is one lucky man.”

“One date!” she shouted after him, but he was already gone.

Good grief, she and Colton hadn’t even discussed their relationship yet, and the whole town was ready to marry them off. Good thing she was smart enough to know things were always temporary with men. They could promise you the world, but eventually, they always left you. Her mother had learned that, and so had she.

Didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy the time she and Colton had.

She smiled, thinking of their dinner date tomorrow night. Time with Colton…yes, she was going to enjoy every single second while it lasted.

****

Dark.

Cold.

But, it didn’t matter.

She sat in her car, across the street from that bitch’s shop. The lights were off, the doors locked, but the apartment above the store was lit up. Maggie was in there now. Making dinner? Alone, or with Colton?

She had seen the way he rushed to the woman’s side last night. Little slut clung to him like he was her goddamn hero. Colton was too good for Maggie Evans. The rumor around town had them pegged as an item. The rumor mill in Peak Town had been wrong before, but this time, it seemed to be spot on.

Damn it all to hell!

It wasn’t fair. Maggie was ruining everything, and now that stupid sheriff was going around asking questions.

She should stop, wait until the heat died down. She would.

After one more warning.

Reaching out, she touched the heavy rock in the seat beside her. Large, bigger than her fist, and heavier than the hand weights she worked out with every morning. She’d found it in the creek bed. Anyone could have taken it. There was no way to trace it back to her. She watched the crime shows on TV. Peak Town may be small, but that Sheriff Ryder was a smart one. If she left any evidence behind, he’d find it.

Grabbing the red permanent marker she bought in Aspen during her last trip—paid with cash at an out of town store—she scrawled out a message on the large rock.

There, that ought to get through to the bitch.

There was no room in this town for Maggie Evans. She needed to leave, the sooner the better. If she didn’t leave, well, then things would get a little more personal.

The lights in the apartment turned off. Perfect.

Smiling, she grabbed the rock. Time to deliver a message to the cupcake maker.