Page 6 of Her Movie Star's Secret Plan

Chapter 2

“Delilah, can you put those loaves in the oven?” Alexis called from her office. “They should be ready to go in.”

“Sure thing,” Delilah called from the kitchen.

Alexis rubbed her throbbing temples. Her eyes were crossing from staring at these numbers. She couldn’t understand how they’d gotten so behind on bills. And the worst one was the tax bill that she’d found collecting dust behind her desk. She owed eleven thousand dollars, and she had no idea where she was supposed to come up with the money for that. She hadn’t accounted for such a big tax bill. It had been due back in December, and now she was sure it had a hefty late fee.

She couldn’t let her parents know how bad things had gotten. They’d try to bail her out just to flaunt their money.

“Alexis?”

She looked up to see Delilah standing in the doorway. “The Wilsons just canceled their order.”

“What?” That was a three-hundred-dollar order. She’d been counting on that money. Not to mention it was the second order that had been canceled that day. The other order had been for a church luncheon. They were loyal customers she’d worked with for years. And she knew that luncheon wasn’t canceled—it had been held every third Sunday for eons. Something was going on, and she had to get to the bottom of it. She couldn’t afford to lose any more customers. “Did she say why?”

“She’s ordering from Hadley’s.”

Alexis rubbed her forehead. “The new restaurant in town?” She could understand the draw; their bread was excellent. But it was a nightmare for her. “What, are they running a catering business now?”

“I don’t think so, but I know you can go in there and order bread from them to go. A few of the women found out about it, and now several of the churches in town are ordering bread from Hadley’s.”

Her stomach dropped. “That’s not good.” She’d spent years building relationships with those churches. Many of them ordered cookies or muffins for after their Sunday morning services. That was the bulk of her business. If too many more of her customers ordered from Hadley’s, it could cause her bakery to close its doors.

Her stress level skyrocketed.

“Is there anything I can do?” Delilah asked.

Alexis lifted her head and forced a smile. “No, you’re doing a great job. We just have to keep working hard and doing our best, right?”

Delilah nodded. “It’s all we can do.”

She couldn’t control the fact that people had ordered rolls from Hadley’s. All she could do was work hard to spread the word about her own bakery. Maybe come up with some new recipes to help her shop stand out.

The door jangled, and Alexis stepped out of her office to greet her new customer. She had to put on her best face if she was going to get repeat customers. She couldn’t afford to hide back in her office anymore. Even if the bills needed to be sorted through and paid. “Welcome toThe Icing on Top!” She stopped short when she saw who her new customer was.

Owen Hadley. Famous movie star. The guy she’d been crushing on since high school. Every time she saw him, he looked better than the last. She had to fight to keep from getting tongue-tied in his presence. How did he make a black t-shirt and jeans look that good?

She had to refrain from fanning herself. But if the guy had a fan club, she had to be the most obsessed. But that was supposed to be top secret, because she was too old to crush on a guy like that. She was a successful business owner—well, somewhat successful. Her level of success was questionable these days.

She hated that he seemed to know the effect he had on her. It made her want to die of embarrassment. He was probably used to girls fawning all over him. She didn’t need to give him a bigger head than he probably already had.

She needed to rein it in, but she didn’t know how sometimes. Her obsession would take over, and she couldn’t help it, no matter how hard she tried to act indifferent. Her biggest high school crush had had a Hollywood makeover, and the body that had already looked so good back then was a thousand times more in shape now. He had to have chiseled abs for the spy movies he filmed all over the world. She knew because she’d seen them blown up on the big screen in all their glorious detail. Not to mention his enormous arms and defined shoulders. She may or may not have noticed them too. And she may or may not have had a copy of every film he’d ever made. Surely she wasn’tthatobsessed. Just a little.

But he couldneverknow that.

“Can I get a lemon poppyseed muffin and a black coffee?”

“Sure thing.” She bustled around to fill his order. “Here you go.” She handed him his food and drink, and he paid her. “So why are you in Maple Creek a full month before the wedding?”

He gave her a confused look. “You don’t know?”

“Know what?”

“About the grand opening of the restaurant? You were there.”

His words sunk into her slowly. Hadley’s. That washisrestaurant. Of course. Owen Hadley. How could she be so dense? She even remembered him saying that it was his lifelong dream to open a restaurant, and she’d seen Hadley’s being built for months, but somehow, she hadn’t realized Owen was the Hadley behind it all. She had no idea how she’d had her head so buried in the sand in such a small town. And he’d even come up to her table and talked to her, but she still hadn’t figured it out. He hadn’t mentioned it was his restaurant when he talked to them.

“You didn’t know that was my restaurant.”

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