“Nah, I’m good. Um, gimme a moment to clean up.”
Her eyes were burning. Burning over something so stupid, so insignificant as a basket of fries. She hurried to the restroom and spent a moment dabbing her eyes with a tissue.
Maybe she wasn’t ready to move on. Maybe dating was a stupid idea. Maybe—
No. I’m ready. I need to do this.
Fuck, she didn’t just need to do it. She wanted to. Every time she looked into his golden eyes, she felt something old and rusty move in her chest, like the iron grip Greg held on her heart was finally crumbling loose.
Ellie popped a breath mint then emerged to find Griffin handling the tab. Fucker. She’d wanted to cover half of it, but figured he was true to his word about repaying what he’d taken from the bakery that morning. While he did that, she snuck her phone out of her purse.
The only message was from Maddie, a photo of her sitting on the floor in front of a barefoot Dean and Emma while she painted their toes a vibrant shade of Unicorn Horn Opal. She laughed and replied.
Ellie: I’m happy she’s having a good time, but she better be in bed now. We’re going home, BTW.
Maddie: She fell asleep two hours ago. Y’all going home together or…?
Ellie glanced up to see Griffin returning. His smile held unspoken promises, and he undressed her with his eyes, hiding nothing from her. “All done?”
“All finished.” He offered her his arm as any Southern gentleman should, and when they reached the door, he held it open.
It took being treated like someone valuable and treasured for Ellie to realize how much she really missed it. It took being in the company of a man who didn’t see her as a surrogate sister or a mommy to realize she’d been denying herself fun and living.
They chatted the entire way home, about Crisis, Swan Lake, their siblings. He had a twin sister who lived in Houston, and he had brunch with her once a month because brunch was what women like her did in their free time, of which she had little.
Suddenly, they were in front of her house, and she didn’t want him to leave. The light glowed on the porch, a welcoming, soft-golden halo beckoning them both to stand beneath it.
“So,” he started, at the same time she said, “Maybe you should take a moment to rest your eyes before you hit the road and go home.”
She traced her fingers over the inside of Griff’s thigh and delighted in the firm outline she could make out of his cock. The guy was definitely hung, and thick. Feeling wilder, she walked her fingertips down his fly and traced the girth.
He turned his head, seeking her mouth and kissing her in earnest, the way she suspected he had wanted to beneath the disco lights. Her lips parted for his questing tongue. She sucked the tip of it the way she wanted to suck his cock.
A few deft movements of her hand got his belt unfastened. That’s what made him catch her around the wrist. “You’re drunk.”
“I’m as sober as you are, Mr. Shifter. Supernatural stamina, remember?” Tugging his cock out, she walked her fingers down the silken contours of it, tracing every inch of his sinewy length before wrapping him in her fist. She pumped twice and watched his focus evaporate, his eyes close, and his head fall back while she jerked him.
“Fuck, Ellie,” he breathed on a lusty exhale.
“That’s exactly what I want you to do. Mm. What kinda shifter are you anyway?”
“If I tell you, will that get your mouth on my dick any sooner?”
A peal of laughter escaped her. She liked him.
I’d better like him if I’m going to do this. Bless Maddie and Dean, she thought. Bless them so much.
“C’mon, I have the house to myself all night.”
Griffin jerked the keys from the ignition, stuffed his cock back into his pants, and hurried across the yard. They ran like children dashing for an ice cream truck, though the only thing she planned to lick was throbbing, hot, and waiting in her sexy police chief’s pants.
The promise of breaking her almost-three-year dry-spell made her giddy with excitement. She fumbled the keys from her purse and knocked her hand against the door.
It swung inward a few inches, though she hadn’t even placed the key in the lock.
Ellie froze.
“The hell? Did you leave your door half-open?”
“No! I locked it. I—” Noticing a few out of place shadows that didn’t belong, she flicked on the light then gasped. The place had been tossed, her coffee table on its side, her television screen scratched up. Someone had taken a knife to the cushions and stuffing was everywhere.
Before she could process more of the destruction, Griffin pulled her away from the stoop and back to his car. He unlocked the center console and withdrew a handgun from it. “Whoever did it may still be inside. Run to Madeleine’s and call the station. Now.”
Someone was in her home.
6
Ellie knelt in the pile of trash that had once been her living room. She’d caught a few fleeting minutes of sleep curled up beside Emma in Maddie and Dean’s guest bedroom, but she’d spent most of the early morning tossing and turning. Her mind kept going back to her violated home. She tried to picture the heartless assholes who had taken their belongings, but they were just faceless silhouettes gliding through the home she’d built with her child, taking anything of value.
After Griffin cleared the place, they’d waited on the lawn until another officer arrived before they walked through and took an account of all her missing valuables. She’d known the moment she dashed through the house to her bathroom that they would be gone. The single carat diamond solitaire and its matching wedding band were no longer on the bathroom counter. The bandits had taken them, along with any sense of security she’d had in her home.
“This is my fault,” Ellie said quietly as she lifted shredded paperback pages into the trash bag.
“It is not your fault. The only person to blame for this is the fucker who came into your home, El.”
“If I didn’t leave that backup key—”
“Girl, that thing looked like any other rock outside. Remember what Griffin said? He said that kinda stuff means it’s someone who knows you. Someone who watched you put it there.”
The police had conducted their search about three hours after her return with Griff. They’d dusted all points of entry, even checked the windows, but then Ellie realized something was missing. The thief had used the imitation rock Hide-A-Key and taken it with him. Griffin stayed there with her another hour after finding a locksmith to change every lock on her home.
She felt awful. They were supposed to have spent the night banging her headboard against the wall, not sorting through evidence. Not retiring to her bedroom for a fun romp had been the cherry on top of the shit sundae.
Ellie sifted through the fluff of the couch filling and grazed something sharp, nicking her finger. “Ow!” She frowned and found the offending object was a jagged piece of glass attached to the base of a souvenir from their first trip to Disney World. Emma hadn’t been born yet.
“Remember when Greg gave me this?” Lifting the shattered snowglobe, she blinked up at Maddie through watery eyes.
Maddie took it from her. “I can fix this. We’ll put a new globe on it, fill it with fresh snow and water. This can be salvaged.”
“I just can’t believe anyone would do this. Why ruin so much?”
“Because some people are just assholes. I’m so, so sorry, girl. I just—nothing like this ever happens in Swan Lake. And then when it does happen, it feels so…wrong and alien. Are you staying with us again tonight?”
“I don’t want to intrude—”
“You aren’t intruding. I couldn’t sleep knowing you’re over here with Emma alone. Not until the security company comes out and installs the new system.” The bell rang. Before Ellie could rise, Maddie jerked to her feet. “I got it.”
Her friend pranced to the door and opened it, leaning out. After a few silent words, Madeleine said in a louder voice, “Come on in.
I think you’re just the face she needs to see.”
What?
Maddie stepped back and Griffin entered, dressed for duty with his shiny badge on his black uniform shirt. He lingered on the welcome mat.
“Hey, Ellie. You ladies need a little help?”
“I better go get dinner out of the oven. You’re going to hang around for a few, right?” Maddie asked.
“I don’t…” His gold eyes darted toward Ellie. Whatever he saw in her face changed his tune. “Yeah. I got time.”
* * *
Most of the crime in Crisis had to do with domestic disputes between neighbors, family violence, and the occasional petty drug bust. They couldn’t keep the latter out of the town, and the former two were just a part of small-town life. Griff didn’t like it, but he spent a lot of his time following up on house calls about violent men.
While Ellie helped Maddie in the kitchen with the rest of the dinner fixings, he stood outside on the porch with Dean.
“Third burglary this month. I didn’t wanna worry her, but word’s bound to get around sooner or later.”
“You think it’s all connected?” Dean asked.
“I know it is.”
“If I hear anything, I’ll let you know, man.”
Finding a thief wasn’t as easy as the cop shows made it out to be. The job at Ellie’s place had been really good. Fucking professional. They’d gone in and out, apparently taking her shit by boat across the water, judging from the tracks left behind. Unfortunately, no one saw a thing. The nosiest residents of Swan Lake had been in bed.
“I hope you find this asshole.”
They ate dinner together at Maddie’s table, little Emma looking despondent about losing many of her toys. The fuckers had taken the brand-new Nintendo Switch gifted to the girl on her sixth birthday.
What kind of monster took a kid’s game?
Emma stabbed her mashed potatoes, stirring them around in the gravy. “Chief Griffin?”
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“You gonna catch the guy who took our stuff?”
“I’m sure going to try,” he promised.
Afterward, while Dean cleared the table to load the dishwasher, he took Ellie by the elbow. “Come with me for a sec.”
“Okay.”
He led her onto the porch, away from Emma’s curious ears. “You ever thought of owning a gun, Ellie?”
“A gun? No.” She shivered. “Do you think I need one? That he’ll come back?”
“I can’t really say that. I don’t think the thief is going to hit the same place twice, but I’d sure feel better if you weren’t over here helpless.”
She cocked a brow. “Trust me, being a swan doesn’t mean I’m helpless, Griff. I can defend myself.”
“I believe you can, but I’d still feel better if you could put a slug in somebody and call me to come initiate the coroner removing the body.”
She huffed a quiet breath and glanced away. “I don’t know. With Emma in the house…”
“We’ll put an easy-to-access safe here in the house, and when you leave for work, you take it with you in your purse.”
“But Emma—”
“Don’t leave the bag out of your sight if the gun is there. Don’t leave it loaded, but treat it like it is anyway.”
He could see he was swaying her slowly. Her eyes glittered with interest. “You’re putting the safe in?”
“Yes, ma’am. I will.”
“Fine.” She pursed her lips, eyeing him. “Are you picking out the gun, too?”
“Sure am, but first, you’re going to come shoot with me at the range some time this week. And tomorrow, a friend of mine with a home security company is coming out here to install a system. Don’t worry about the price. It’s on the house.”
7
From the comfort of her office, Ellie spent her the mornings interviewing potential bakers to train alongside her and Luke in the mornings, with the expectation that in a few weeks, they’d be trusted to open the place Mondays, Sundays, and Wednesdays. In addition, she brought in two more employees to serve food.
One of the new staff members was a sixteen-year-old high school student seeking an after-school job. Hiring her had been easy since she had Samantha to vouch for her. The other employee worked at Panera Bread and desperately needed a job closer to home. For part of his interview, she’d set him loose in the kitchen, letting him make sandwiches for her and Luke from the croissants and fresh bread baked that morning.
Otherworldly.
Luke wouldn’t have let her live it down if she didn’t select him, but she still needed a morning baker, which meant calling in even more applicants throughout her afternoon. She’d almost gotten through the stack.
“Wake up, boss lady!” Luke called through the open doorway. “No sleeping on the job.”
Jerking her head up, Ellie blinked across the office at her friend. It wasn’t dark in the room, but it was cozy, the atmosphere lulling her to sleep. The window caught enough sunlight that she didn’t need a lamp in the afternoon, and the shelves all held little ceramic miniatures of pastries Maddie had made her since the store opened.
Thank God they’d been here, safe from the asshole burglar. Over a year ago, before Dean came to their town, her bakery had been small, barely large enough for all the equipment needed to prepare batches of doughnuts. New employees were a must if Ellie wanted to expand her business. Why build and add so much space to stretch her four employees to their limits? Adding more staff was the next logical step.
The more she put into Glazed and Confused, the more the bakery yielded in revenue.
Besides, it wasn’t fair to have Luke work all of her morning shifts on top of his own now that she had a life and other responsibilities. She’d become a landlord, and her thriving bakery deserved more from her. She needed another baker on staff to open and at least three more employees able to wait tables.
Somehow, Glazed and Confused had become more than a bakery, outselling many of the franchise businesses in town because people were tired of reheated food and freezer-burnt burgers.
This year was the year she took care of herself, and that began with actual self-care instead of empty promises.
“Your next applicant is here, El!” Samantha called.
“Send her in!”
One by one, Ellie interviewed the remaining potential bakers, praying one would be up to their standards. Luke needed the time off and couldn’t keep up the early morning schedule forever.
A little after noon, she was down to her last applicant. An older woman with a round, matronly figure entered the office. She had a kind voice and an even sweeter smile.
Ellie had a good feeling about her and their chat affirmed her gut feeling.
Grace had spent all of her life waking up with the chickens, unable to sleep in past sunrise since she was born. She retired early each evening, lived with her cats, and her only hobby was Thursday night bingo at the VFW. Baking was her life. She’d tried three years ago to establish her own pie and cake catering business, selling pies at a farmer’s market during the summer, but her plans fell through.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I’m not.” Her smile thinned. “Right after I decided not to get that building space in Huntsville, my Robert fell sick, and he needed me at home with him. So I suppose all those hurdles were God telling me it just wasn’t my time to go into business.”
Oh no, Ellie thought. “I’m sorry.” It felt like a lame platitude.
“Don’t be. I visit him every day at Paradise Meadow. He’s happy there. I just couldn’t take care of him anymore. Now I have all of this free time, our children and grandchildren live out in San Antonio, and what have I got to do with myself? A bunch of nothing.” Her eyes crinkled. “Except help you, maybe, if you’ll let me.”
“I’m certainly open to giving it a try, ma’am.”
“Don’t you do that. Grace. You just call me Grace.”
“Grace it is.”
She really liked Grace. They wandered the bakery, and as she’d done with the other so-called bakers, she asked her to prepare a standard item from the menu. Peach cobbler was a staple of Southern living, and one of Ellie’s most popular dishes during lunch from the nursing crowd at the nearby rehabilitation center.
Grace knocked it out of the park with a flawless buttery crust and a sweet filling that didn’t rot Ellie’s teeth out of her head. She scraped her fork against the plate while Grace beamed proudly.
“Does that mean I’m hired?”
“It sure does.”
“Now, I don’t now how to make croissants and all these things you bake, but I sure would like to learn.”
“Meet me tomorrow at 2 AM, and we’ll start training.”
In the office again, she passed over the stack of employment forms for Grace to fill out.
After Ellie walked the old woman out, she stepped behind the counter to help with the afternoon shift. For once, they weren’t shorthanded, but success had infused her with an abundance of energy.
Luke nudged her side with his elbow. “How the fuck did you resist eating a whole plate of that cobbler?”
“I thought about how fat my ass already is.”
“If you didn’t hire her, I was going to quit and unfriend you on all social media. Now I have to hit the university gym before class.”
“You had a tiny fucking square, and you look like…like this.” She gestured wildly with her hands at his chiseled physique.
Luke wasn’t her type; despite his enormous biceps, washboard abs, and muscled thighs, she didn’t have an ounce of attraction for him. It had nothing to do with his personality or that they were both swans.
The spark just wasn’t there. One day, some lucky lady was going to reel herself in one hell of a considerate, hardworking, and loving fellow. In addition to his sweet nature, Luke was ripped like a professional athlete on account of playing football throughout college and never letting his figure go. He’d even been drafted. A second-choice pick who played for two years in the NFL as one of Dallas’s star running backs.
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