Make Your Move - By Samantha Hunter Page 0,43

again. It had been happening more, and she was distracted when she was here. Jodie didn’t know if it was because of her new romance with her ex-husband, or if she was taking on too much between family and working two jobs, but it was difficult not to be annoyed.

Jodie tried not to be judgmental, but Just Eat It was her business, and she had to have reliable help. Hopefully, whatever was happening with Ginger and Scott would sort itself out soon. She didn’t want to have to be “the boss” with her friend, but if it came down to it, she would.

Needless to say, she was relieved when she heard the back door open and shut, and turned to greet Ginger, hoping to find out what had made her late, but found herself staring in wordless shock at Jason Kravitz instead.

“You! You turn right back around and get the hell out of my shop,” Jodie hissed, her fingers opening and closing around the handle of a very large rolling pin.

“Is that any way to greet a guy you almost slept with?” Jason said with a sickening smile.

“Get. Out. Now.”

“Jeez,” he said, walking around the other side of a large stainless-steel table, putting it between her and him as he eyed the rolling pin. “I’d think twice about the rolling pin—don’t want your business in the paper again so soon, do you? Bakery owner not only sells hopped-up products, but is charged with assault. Could there be a link?” he said mockingly, as if citing a newspaper headline.

“It would be self-defense,” Jodie countered. Why wouldn’t this creep just go away?

“Your word against mine, just like everything else,” he replied without missing a beat. His eyes were trained on hers, cold and calm. How could she have not noticed before what a jerk he was? Normally, she had good instincts about men, but this time, she’d really botched it.

“Why are you here?” she asked between clenched teeth. “Were you hoping to steal something else?”

“Hardly. Maybe I’m here to ask you on another date?”

“Yeah, like that’s going to happen.”

“You never know.”

“Oh, I know. And we’ve seen record sales this week. So it didn’t work anyway,” she said, hoping the news bit him hard. “Your sabotage didn’t work.”

Jason’s expression was feigned shock. “It wasn’t my intention to cause you to lose your business. If it was, I would have gone to the FDA directly. They probably wouldn’t have done much, as your formula is harmless vegetable extracts, but it would have been a concern for your customers, wouldn’t it? Of course, I knew that the news coverage and minor controversy would probably bring in as many people as it would discourage, maybe more.”

“So what? You want me to thank you for defaming us? Our product?” she asked sarcastically.

Jodie was confused. If he hadn’t been trying to get revenge on her and Dan, then what was his endgame? She asked him as much, and he shrugged, pursing his lips in a very unattractive way. It gave her the willies to think that she’d almost gone to bed with this guy. Or that she had thought that he was ever, remotely, like Dan.

“Well, basically, I wanted to yank Dan’s chain. He’s our departmental golden boy,” Jason said with no small amount of derision. “He gets whatever he wants. Funding, projects, graduate student researchers…it makes me sick. Now that he’s been appointed Chair, it gives him even more authority. Plenty of other scientists deserve those resources he sucks up.”

“Jealous much?” Jodie said with a tight smile.

“Hardly. I’m a brilliant scientist. My work in agriculture could help feed millions, but my work is being waylaid by politics and schmoozing, and Dan is the main offender. He’s the one who’s jealous of me. I expect you to do something about it.”

Jodie blinked. “Listen, I don’t know where this is all going, but what on earth can I do?”

“Let’s put it this way, I said it wasn’t my intention to damage your business, but that’s not to say I won’t.”

Jodie ground her teeth, hearing the bell ring out front.

“I have to get the counter. If you’re staying, you’re going out front. No way am I leaving you here alone.”

“Fine, you first. I love watching you walk out of a room, you know,” he said, making her wish she could avoid turning around as she left the kitchen.

It took every bit of discipline she had to wait on a couple of young women who seemed to take forever to make