Year of Living Blonde (Sweet Life in Seattle, Book 1) (59 page)

Anthony watches Natalie move up the street. He doesn’t stop watching until she’s completely out of sight.

He’s still in love with her.

Not that he’s surprised, having never been in love before he’s discovered it’s not an easy thing to fall out of love.

Seeing her again feels like being slammed with a brick.

Giovanni keeps telling him the cure is to go bang another babe, but Anthony isn’t feeling it. He doesn’t want another woman.

He only wants Natalie.

It killed him to let her go, but he did it because it was what she wanted. He couldn’t let himself get in the way of her happiness, but now that’s all changed. Because after seeing her today, he realizes something. She isn’t happy.

She’s miserable.

He stands there contemplating all that’s happened and when he notices the shop he’s next to, knows exactly what he has to do.

It’s time I sent a woman flowers.

THE FIRST DOZEN
red roses arrive for Natalie at work the next day. There’s a card from Anthony.

I miss you.

She brings them into the bakery’s back office.

The second dozen red roses arrive the day after that. This time the card says:

I love you.

Natalie stares at it for a long time.

She removes the card and displays the flowers out front where everyone comments on how beautiful they are.

This time Natalie leaves work and goes to find Anthony on campus, borrowing Isadora from Blair. She’s already called Maya and gotten his summer hours.

She finds him in his office typing on his computer, wearing his nerd glasses. He looks up when she comes inside and gives her that boyish grin, but she ignores it.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Natalie says, putting her hands on her hips. “Why are you sending me all these flowers?”

“I’m not giving up on you, that’s what I’m doing.”

“What?”

Anthony gets up and comes over to her, taking his nerd glasses off. “I’m fighting for you.”

Natalie stares at him with shock, then amazement. “You can’t do that.”

“Yes, I can. And I will. Watch me.”

“But I’ve already told you I’m staying with Peter.”

“I know. Martyring yourself. Has it ever occurred to you what you’re doing might not be the best thing for Chloe?”

Natalie grows quiet. “I’ve made my decision.”

“Stubborn as always,” he mutters.

“I know what I have to do.”

His jaw tenses. “And so do I.”

“Listen to me, Anthony,” she says softly. “Don’t do it. You’ll only be disappointed.”

He nods in agreement. “And possibly humiliated, but I’m going to risk it anyway. I don’t care. I’m not giving you up without a fight.”

As the next two weeks progress, Anthony doesn’t just send her flowers. He sends her baking books, a bottle of Italian wine, and two
Lord of the Rings
T-shirts. He also sends her emails and texts. Some of them are thoughtful while others are witty and make her laugh. He sends her a copy of a paper he recently published in an astronomy journal and even though she doesn’t understand it, she reads it three times—lingering over his words, amazed at the way his mind works. Every day is something new. One day he sends her a selfie they took of themselves in the back of the limo on the way to the awards banquet. She stares at that picture for a long time, both of them laughing into the camera.

Natalie knows she should delete all this, shouldn’t accept his gifts, but she does anyway. And worst of all, she hasn’t told Peter about any of it. He’s completely oblivious.

She does tell Lindsay and Blair about it after boxing class one night.

“No man’s ever wanted me like this,” Natalie admits. “I’m at a total loss of what to do. It’s like he refuses to give up.”

“Go, Anthony,” Lindsay says with approval. “I like it.”

Blair is quiet, considering things, and then she smiles. “You know what? This is the Bandito Test.”

“It is?”

Lindsay nods in agreement. “It definitely is. Think about it, Anthony’s the second man. He’s not giving you up without a fight, even if he makes a fool of himself.”

Natalie stares at the two of them. They both have huge grins on their faces.

The next time another dozen red roses arrives, Natalie brings them home and sets them in the center of the dining room table. The card says,
Come back to me.

Peter, of course, wants to know who they’re from.

“Anthony sent them.”

Irritation flickers across his face. “Why is he sending you flowers?” But then an expression of astonishment comes over his features. “My God, are you still sleeping with him?”

“You’re really asking me that?”

His eyes narrow. “Because it would explain a lot.”

“Maybe you’ve forgotten, but you’re the cheater, not me.”

Peter rolls his eyes. “I was wondering when you were going to throw that in my face. So what is this now—payback?”

“No.” Natalie glares at him. “It’s not. And I’m not sleeping with Anthony.”

He’s studying her as if he doesn’t believe her. “If you’re not sleeping with him then what is going on between you two? And why is he sending you flowers?”

Natalie finally tells Peter how Anthony has been pursuing her. How he still wants her.

Peter shakes his head in disbelief. “The nerve of him! What the hell is his obsession with you, anyway? You’d think you were the last woman on earth or something.”

Natalie grows quiet at this. “I guess Anthony thinks I’m worth fighting for.”

Peter frowns. “I hope you aren’t encouraging him. You need to be firm when you tell him to stop.”

Natalie doesn’t say anything as she considers her next words. “Would you fight for me, Peter?”

“What do you mean?”

“If I was captured by a group of banditos, would you fight for me even if it meant risking everything—including your life?”

“Captured by banditos?” He gives her a strange look. “Have you been drinking?”

Natalie shakes her head. “Never mind.” She already knows the answer. In her heart, she’s known it all along, but didn’t want to admit it. “This isn’t going to work between us, and I think we both know it.”

Peter studies her defiantly for a long moment, but then sits on one of the dining room chairs. His shoulders slump. “You’re going back to him, aren’t you?”

She lets out a deep breath, but doesn’t say anything.

“You might as well,” he goes on. “You’re obviously in love with him.”

Natalie is startled. “How do you know that?”

“Are you kidding? I could tell the minute I saw you two together at that banquet.”

“What?” Natalie suddenly feels queasy. She sits down too, facing him. “Are you saying you knew all along I was in love with Anthony?”

“Yeah,” he admits. “I knew.”

Her stomach churns. “And you broke us up anyway?”

“I wanted you back,” he confesses. “I wanted what I lost. Our family. What was I supposed to do? Just let you go?”

And that’s when she realizes Peter doesn’t care about her happiness. Not in any real way. He always puts himself first.

She thought she was moving in uncharted waters this last year, but now realizes she’s been on the right course all along.

The next day while Natalie is still absorbing the situation with Peter, something even more astonishing happens. Graham comes into the bakery and tells them they’re getting Santosa’s space after all. The investment group has agreed to lease it to them.

“Really?” Natalie and Blair both rush over to him.

“It’s true,” Graham says with a grin. “I’ve got the paperwork right here.”

“Oh, my God!” Natalie and Blair hug each other, jumping up and down. “This is amazing!”

“But how is this possible?” Natalie asks when they finally stop yelling with excitement. “Did they change their mind about the year’s rent in advance?”

“No,” Graham says. “Somebody paid it for you.”

Natalie and Blair both go quiet, staring at Graham.

“Who?” Blair asks.

“Anthony.”

Natalie is taken aback. “Where did Anthony get that kind of money?” She knows he would never go to his parents, but she can’t figure out where it would come from. “I hope he didn’t take out a loan. We can’t accept it then.”

“It’s not a loan,” Graham says. “He asked me not to tell you any more, though. He said you could just pay the normal rent to him.”

Natalie sits down. It’s too much to take in. As she thinks about it, she feels her chest go tight, because she knows exactly where he got the money.

Later that night, there’s a knock on Anthony’s door. He turns toward the sound. It’s so quiet where he lives, he usually hears a car approaching.

He opens the door and his eyebrows go up in surprise.

It’s Natalie.

And damn, she looks
good.

“Hey,” he says, trying to play it cool. He had a feeling he’d be hearing from her, but didn’t realize it would be this soon.

She’s wearing a sleeveless red dress and he sees lots of skin—bare arms, legs, and a nice eyeful of cleavage. Her long blonde hair falls loose around her shoulders. There’s a cold pack in her arms. “Can I come inside?” she asks, an edge to her voice.

He looks at her pretty face and realizes she’s highly pissed about something. “Sure,” he says, stepping back to let her in. “Can I take that from you?”

“No, I’ve got it.” She makes her way to the kitchen and he follows. The sundress is clingy in all the right places. It goes to about mid-thigh, and he can’t take his eyes off her gorgeous ass.

She looks really hot.

Anthony figures to hell with it. Natalie is the love of his life and if he wants to stare at her ass, he will.

“What’s in the cold pack?”

She glares at him. “Tiramisu.”

He perks up. “You made me a tiramisu?”

“Yes, but you don’t get to eat it.”

“I don’t?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Natalie sighs and rolls her eyes as if he’s asking the most ridiculous question in the world. “Because it’s for later, dummy.”

Anthony’s mouth twitches and he tries not to smile. He can’t remember the last time someone called him a dummy. In fact, he’s pretty sure no one ever has.

“I brought it as an apology,” she says.