Page 20 of Her Movie Star's Secret Plan

“You meant it wasn’t possible that I was interested.”

Alexis clamped her jaw shut. “Yes. That’s exactly what I meant.”

Owen stepped closer to her. “It’s possible.”

Alexis’s dark chocolate eyes looked back up at him, full of desire. Her bright-red lips parted, and his head swam. He could take this woman in his arms and kiss her senseless. It would be so easy. But he stepped back. Chase’s face swam in his memory, and he imagined his rage at Owen’s idle thoughts running wild. “You should go. You wouldn’t want to leave your bakery unattended for too long.”

“Goodbye, Owen.” And she turned away and left.

Owen sighed once she was gone. That had been close. Too close. He’d need to watch himself around that woman. He rarely reacted this strongly to women. But there was history here with her. She undid him in a way that he’d never experienced. He’d have to be extra careful with her.

He took Katie inside the house and called Chase.

“Hey, Owen, what’s up?”

“Are you home?” Owen asked.

“Yeah.”

“Text me your address. I’m coming over.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Nice try, attempting to keep Alexis from calling me. She found me anyway.”

“How?”

“I told her where I was living.”

“Oh.”

“She has my number now, but you don’t have to worry about her heart. I can assure you I won’t be breaking it.” How he could promise such a thing, he had no idea. But he would do his best to protect his best friend’s little sister’s heart. He hung up with Chase and got into the car. He drove through town to the outskirts and followed a road that curved through the Blue Ridge mountains. It led to the top of a peak where the new Remington estate stood. He pulled up to the stone and rustic wooden house and parked next to Chase’s red Mercedes.

He knocked on the front door, and Chase answered. “Come on in.”

“Thanks.”

“What’s going on with Alexis?” Chase led Owen into the rustic-but-posh living room.

“She told me Hadley’s has been taking her customers.”

“Through your pastry chef?”

“I must have generated enough buzz about my restaurant opening that it caught their attention. Now several of her once-loyal customers are ordering from Hadley’s, and it’s putting her bakery in trouble.”

“Ooh. That’s rough.” Chase took a seat on the brown leather couch, and Owen sat across from him on the matching love seat. “What are you planning to do?”

“I don’t know what to do. I was hoping you’d have some ideas of how I could fix this. I don’t want to hurt Alexis.”

“I appreciate that. There’s got to be something you could do.”

“Maybe there’s a way I could tell the customers who come to my pastry chef to go to Alexis instead.”

“That’s not likely to work. If they’re coming to you, they’ve most likely made their mind up about where to go.”

“Then I’m better off finding the people who don’t know where they want to go yet.”

“You need to reach out to Maple Creek’s finest and let them know how amazing Alexis’s bakery is.”

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