Sweet on You

Chapter 3

Xander inspected every inch of the house, his black duffle bag gripped tightly in his hands. Lydia leaned against the kitchen counter as he did so, waiting for him to deem the house safe, despite the fact no one in the public knew who Lydia was, Kelly and the rest of the few people who knew she was now in possession of the multi-million dollar enterprise seemed to think she would become vulnerable to someone hurting her for money. Lydia fought the urge to scoff out loud, if they had access to her bank account before today, they wouldn’t even consider Lydia as someone to shake down for money.
   
“I’ll sleep on the couch,” Xander stated, dropping the duffle bag down beside her three-seater sofa.
   
Lydia gestured to the guest room that was beside hers, although it was more of a room with a double bed and walls head to toe with books from her father’s collection before he died. “You can sleep in the guest room.”
   
Xander shook his head, politely declining her offer. “I prefer to be somewhere where I can see most of the house.”
   
Lydia arched a brow, smiling slightly. “I bet you’re glad I live in a bungalow, it must make your job easier, huh?”
   
She meant it as a joke as she laughed a little, but Xander simply stared at her, his dark eyes settling on her bright green ones, his expression blank. Lydia had a feeling his presence was going to be chronically awkward if every conversation was similar to this one. Lydia tucked a strand of her velvety red hair behind her ear. “Okay, well, I need to get back to the bakery so…”
   
“All right,” was all he replied. He stepped toward her and held out his hand. Lydia was confused by the action, they were hardly speaking and now he wanted to hold hands? Xander cocked a dark brow, catching her confusion. “Car keys. You drive like a mad woman.”
   
Lydia scoffed as she slammed the keys in the palm of his scarred hands. She quickly looked away when she noticed she was staring at them. Instead, she pretended she hadn’t noticed them whatsoever. She crossed her arms. “Fine.”

### 

When they arrived at the bakery, Lydia kicked herself for taking so long at her mother’s office--which supposed it was now hers--because it was packed. Rhia, her latest employee, widened her warm dark eyes and muttered what sounded like a prayer in Hindi, something Lydia noticed she did when she was stressed. “Lydia, thank goodness you’re here. There was a problem with the Mclane’s order.”
   
Ignoring Xander trailing behind her, she swooped to Rhia’s side. She peered over the order book to see what Rhia meant exactly about there being a problem. When she couldn’t find it, she looked at her. “What’s the issue?”
   
“It hasn’t been made and they are coming to pick it up in an hour, are they not?”
   
Lydia shook her hand and pointed to the date listed for the pick up. “The order is next week, Rhia. Don’t worry, there’s still time.”
   
Rhia looked like the weight of the possible problem vanished completely. She took this time to drift her gaze to Xander, who sat at the counter on one of the stools. She looked back to Lydia. “There’s a man watching you.”
   
Lydia waved her off. “Ignore him, he’s harmless.”
   
Rhia didn’t question her further and returned to serving walk-in customers while Lydia was about to begin the orders she needed to finish for pick-up.

When she walked swiftly to Xander’s direction to get some packing boxes underneath the display, she could have sworn she saw a hint of a smile on Xander’s face, amused that she had labelled him harmless. By the look on his face and the scars on his hands, Lydia had a feeling she was very wrong. As Lydia stood up straight, packing boxes in her hands, she tried to smile at Xander. She felt bad he had to follow her everywhere, especially somewhere such as a small bakery where next to nothing of extreme excitement ever happens. She pointed to the back room with her thumb. “I’m just going to be in the back. There’s chairs there if you prefer to be somewhere more quiet.”
   
“Thank you,” he replied, his deep voice seemed to carry over the noise of the other customers with no problem.
   
Lydia nodded her head curtly. She opened the small counter gate at the end and let Xander through. Silently, he followed her to the back. She gestured at the chair in the corner where there were some books and magazines on the small table beside it. She suddenly had flashes of the lunch room and lounge area at Hollis Enterprises, which were much more lavish than this little corner. Xander probably had expected something, someone far more entertaining or special when he was assigned to protect the estranged daughter of a millionaire. She hid her look of embarrassment.

“It’s not much but--” she stopped herself and turned away from him, making her way to the depths of the kitchen. “--if you’re hungry, let me know. I can make you something.” 
   
Xander settled in the chair, inspecting each of the books. He read the title and the blurbs on the back of every one of them before settling on one that Lydia had never read herself, but she knew her father had once loved. As much as her father loved reading, Lydia didn’t enjoy such a pastime activity. When he died, despite not being a reader herself, she kept his collection, bringing books into the back room for her employees to read on breaks, swapping them out for different ones every few months or until one of them asked for something new. 

Once Xander was fully immersed in the book, Lydia began to work without tossing a glance at him every other minute, instead, she focused on her work. Lydia’s movements were merely muscle memory as she tossed ingredients in the mixer, placing the batter in pans and into the oven, then working on decorating already baked cakes while waiting for new ones to bake.  This is what Lydia enjoyed. The seamlessness of her work, the fact that she didn’t need to think terribly hard while doing it because it was something she had done for so long. She thought of Kelly, who had spent her whole life at their mother’s side, learning the ways of the business world, and Lydia found herself wondering if Kelly felt the same way about business that Lydia felt about baking.