by Elle Linder
“Sounds like it. Wow.”
“I talked to him after he took the kids to see her, and he didn’t say much about it. Other than she didn’t look so good. I think he didn’t want to talk with the kids in earshot.” Lauren shook her head. “What?”
“That woman is going to be a thorn in my side too, isn’t she?”
“Maybe, but then maybe she won’t. She seems to get enough joy out of making my life miserable. I wish she’d leave me the hell alone!”
“So, what are you going to do?”
“Show Luke the letter. What else is there to do?”
“Well, can you wait until after I leave? I don’t want to be around for all the yucky stuff.” She winked.
“Sure, I’ll wait until after you leave.” Julia stared at Lauren’s belly with a longing to have life growing inside her. “A baby…”
“A baby,” Lauren repeated. She already had the pregnancy glow, and Julia truly was happy for her.
Tonight, her lumberjack would have his arms wrapped around her, and all would be right in her world. And in eight weeks she’d be Mrs. Luke Hamill.
A baby to celebrate their nuptials would be the sweet icing on the cake.
twenty-three
Timing Is Everything
There were two things that made Lauren utterly crazy these days: keeping a secret and having no privacy. From the second Rick arrived yesterday, she hadn’t been able to get him alone. Either Izzy was clinging to his leg or Isabel was barking orders as they unloaded the moving truck into a storage unit. And then, when she thought she would get him for a few hours in the middle of the night, Izzy puked all over the bed, leaving Lauren alone the whole night.
She wasn’t upset with Izzy; the poor thing couldn’t help herself. Nor was she upset with Isabel. But Lauren needed to be with Rick, to test the waters and hopefully have the courage to tell him she was pregnant before she returned to Los Angeles.
Instead, all she got were stolen glances, pecks on the cheek, and sensual words whispered into her ear in passing. Something had to give, so she took matters into her own hands.
And like the badass she was, she conquered her dilemma and convinced Rick to show her the building for the microbrewery. The short ten-minute drive was long enough to set her on fire from his touch. The way he entwined his fingers with hers and kissed her hand drove her wild. She wanted more than anything to put his hand between her legs but refrained.
“I’ve missed you, beautiful,” he said for the third time since they’d left the resort. “So much.” He kissed her hand again.
“Rick, you better stop kissing on my hand or you’ll be forced to take me here in the car.”
“Maybe I want to take you in the car. Or you could climb on my lap and have your way with me. We both know you’re the aggressor in this relationship.”
Relationship. She loved the sound of that every time he said the word. And it was true—she was the aggressor, and had been since the first time they met.
“Well, I’d hate to disappoint you.” She unbuckled her seatbelt.
“What are you doing?”
“Keep your eyes on the road.” She looked around; not a car in sight. Lauren rubbed his crotch, humming at the feel of him, and unzipped his shorts.
“You’re not serious?” He shot her a hopeful grin.
“You bet I am.” She released him and put her head down in his lap. He grew hard against her lips as she flicked and swirled her tongue over the head, feeling his thighs flex below her hands. There wasn’t anything she loved more than making him squirm.
“Baby…oh, shit!” He groaned when she took him in her mouth. He labored for every breath as she played with him. The sounds that filled her ears might have made her think he was in pain with all the gasps and moans, but she knew better. They weren’t from pain but from the pleasure she was giving him.
“Mmm…” she hummed.
Writhing in his seat, Rick gripped the steering wheel as she drew him in and then slowly out. “Oh, shit…I’m close…oh, baby, I’m close.” She amped up her torture of him, and she loved every bit of it.
The car came to a sudden stop. She swayed from side to side, never letting loose of him.
Rick gripped her head, threw back his own, and a wave of unabashed expletives left his lips. The colorful mural of words blended into his short, rapid gasps for air. He sounded like he had just completed an Ironman Triathlon, huffing and puffing, sucking in as much air as possible. He twitched and tensed, lacing his fingers in her hair, and then, “Holy mother of…fuuuuck!” A mighty explosion happened, and he held still to the very end. Rick panted, loosening his grasp on her. He was the only man she had been with that had monster climaxes. “I’m sorry, baby, I couldn’t hold it back.”
She swallowed, slowly lifting off him. Her hands crawled up his stomach to his chest and cupped his face. His eyes flashed opened. Watching him pucker his lips and feeling his chest rise and fall below her was all the pat on the back she needed for a blow job well done.
“Mercy, woman. You could have made me drive off the road.”
Lauren licked her lips, then his, and kissed him with all the passion she had his cock. “That good, huh?” She winked.
“Good? No. Fucking spectacular.” He stroked her cheek tenderly.
“Well, you’re welcome.” He kissed the tip of her nose, and she could feel them, the tears stinging behind her eyes. She pulled back hard and redirected. “Is this the place?”
“It is. What do you think?”
“I like it. From the outside it has an urban, hipster feel.” The two-story weathered-brick building had a black metal roof with a small parking lot located off Lake Drive. Along with a sign and storage shed, pines and aspens engulfed the property.
“Perfect. Just the look I was going for. Let’s go in.” He jiggled the keys in the air, then quickly zipped his shorts back up.
Getting a blow job while driving had been a fantasy of Rick’s, a fantasy most men had whether they admitted it or not. Leave it to Lauren to make the dream a reality. She shied away from nothing when it came to sex. It made their intimate life sexy and thrilling as hell.
He’d struck gold with her.
Lauren stood in the middle of what he would call the tasting room. The way he saw it, visitors could stop in and sample beers with a few choice snacks, like homemade kettle chips or popcorn. On the west end of the building there would be a little shop with merchandise and beer. It wasn’t big, but he had big plans for this dream that was about to come true.
“Over here will be the bar. Visitors will be able to sit on barstools, talk to the brewmaster, me”—he puffed out his chest proudly—“and sample beer. A few pub-style tables will line this wall, and over there by the door will be the customer care counter.”
“Customer care?”
“Eh, where customers go to pay for their purchase and ask questions.” He could feel his broad grin stretch across his face, probably the furthest it had ever gone.
Lauren smiled sweetly at him but didn’t say anything.
“My three-year plan,” he continued, “is to have my beer in all of northern Idaho. Then by year five, I want it in Montana, Washington, and maybe Portland.”
“That sounds like a viable plan.” She walked around a bit more, taking slow, steady steps. “It’ll be a lot of work to get this place up and running. What about Izzy?”
“Well, Mom will watch her so I can be here.” His eyes roamed the room. “Probably working my ass off twelve hours a day, seven days a week to get the place off the ground.”
“Probably.”
“But don’t worry. When you come to visit, you’ll have my undivided attention.”
“Will I?”
He turned around to look at her when he didn’t hear her usual teasing tone. There wasn’t a glint in her eye or a scrunch of her nose. She was serious. “Of course you will.” Rick went to her and gripped her waist. “Is everything all right?” The mood seemed to have shifted, and he’d
missed what changed it.
“I’m excited for you.” Lauren diverted her eyes away from him. “I know what’s involved in starting a new business. To make it a success requires long hours and dedication. We couldn’t have accomplished what we did with the inn and spa if we had families…distractions.” She slipped away from his grasp.
“Well, I can handle it with just Izzy.” He stuck his hands into his shorts, feeling a bit defensive. “She’s almost three, sleeps through the night most of the time, and she’s potty trained. She’s past all the hard parts of having a kid. In a year, she’ll go to preschool and my mom can have a break from her during the day.” That’s right, he had it all figured out in his head. “I couldn’t have done this when Izzy was a baby.”
Lauren turned around with her mouth open as if she were going to say something, but she didn’t.
“What?” he pressed. “Don’t you think I can do this?”
“Yes! I know you can do this, and it’s going to be the best microbrewery in the whole Pacific Northwest! I can feel it in my gut.” She laid her hand over her stomach.
“What’s wrong?” He furrowed his brow as he jerked his chin toward her stomach.
“Nothing.” She waved him off. “I’m so proud of you for taking a chance to make all your dreams come true. Not many people would take the risk.”
“This isn’t only for me, you know? It’s for us.”
“Us? What does that mean.”
“Well, I would love for it to be a family business.” He walked over to her and took her hand. “Luke’s offered to help me part-time, and maybe you’ll eventually move up here…after the dust settles, of course.”
“Oh, sure. After the dust settles.”
“The way everything is falling into place is proof—the timing is perfect. And having your support, even from all the way in L.A., means the world to me.”
“I support you one hundred percent.”
“How did I ever get so lucky?” Rick hugged her tightly. “After having Izzy, I thought my life was over. I thought I’d have to work at a job I hated to pay for her child support. And then Renee went off the deep end. But look at me now.” A swell of emotions filled him. “I’m starting a brewery, I have custody of Izzy, we moved to Idaho, and I have the most amazing girlfriend in the whole freaking universe. Nothing’s going to stop me now or get in the way. Damn, I’m so happy.” He lifted her up and swung her around, joy overcoming him. When he put her down, she clung to him tightly, and her quiet sniffles startled him, quickly shoving his happiness aside. “Lauren, what’s wrong?” He pulled back to look into her wet eyes.
“You’re a remarkable man. And I don’t want to leave you in two days.”
“I know, I don’t want you to leave either. But we’ll be okay. We’ll make us work. Sure, having a long-distance relationship isn’t the ideal situation, but we’ll make it work like so many do. And in a year or two—”
She put her finger over his lips, stopping him.
“Shhh. Just kiss me.”
twenty-four
Pinky Promise
Lauren milled around Seaton’s Flower Shop as Julia stocked up on huckleberry syrup and jelly. She also had a bottle of each in hand to take back to Los Angeles tomorrow per Julia’s insistence. To hide her sour mood, she hadn’t balked and had agreed to buy the so-called “addictive treats.”
The little shop and all its harvest decorations weren’t doing a thing to lift her spirits. Heartbroken and confused after touring the building with Rick yesterday, she had been struggling with what to do next.
The thought of destroying Rick’s dreams killed her. She and the baby would be distractions, big distractions, and she wouldn’t do that to him. Not after he had finally turned in his Romeo keys for a set of daddy keys. Rick had turned out to be more than she imagined, and she wouldn’t saddle him with yet another kid. Derailing his life would be the worst thing she could do to him, just like her mom had done to her dad.
Wes Daniels had had big dreams, like Rick. He’d wanted to play on Wall Street with the stock market leaders. He’d wanted to build an empire, and one day, sometime in his thirties, he would settle down and have a family. Only then, when he could afford to provide a comfortable life.
But that wasn’t how Wes’s life had turned out. Paige had gotten pregnant. Wes had gone to community college after they graduated high school and worked at a bank to keep a roof over their heads. And they’d eaten a lot of mac ’n cheese and Taco Bell. It hadn’t been a horrible life by far. Lauren had felt loved by her parents, adored even. For the first seven years of her life, they’d horsed around, spent days out at the beach, and given her all their attention. Until…
Wes changed after he finally graduated from college. Bitterness had invaded their home. Resentment drove a wedge between him and Paige, and Lauren had been left alone while they argued nonstop. For a year, Wes had tried to get a job on Wall Street to no avail. It crushed him. That was when the tide shifted in the Daniels home. Wes worked late at the bank, stopped by his favorite pub for a drink, and came home late. The arguing had increased, along with the number of doors slamming Lauren had to endure. Through it all she had heard every single word, and they were seared into her heart.
If Lauren hadn’t been born, everyone’s life would have been better.
Of course, Wes had never said that exactly. He blamed Paige for stealing his dreams and ruining his life by getting pregnant. To Lauren, that meant she had ruined his life by being born. And if she hadn’t been born, Wes would be working on Wall Street, he wouldn’t have cheated on Paige, and they would have lived happily ever after.
“Deep in thought there, missy?” the rickety old woman asked. Lauren instantly raised her iron shield to face Louise Seaton, the last person she wanted up in her business. A busybody like her would only make matters worse. “I hear you and that hunky guy from The Peak are an item.” Lauren nodded, recalling the night Rick pressed her against the bathroom door minutes before she bumped into Louise. “I knew there was more to the two of you that night.” Louise winked. “So, when are you moving to Faithful Falls? Are you lovebirds tying the knot soon?” She clasped her hands together. “A winter wedding would be perfect, since Julia and Luke are having a fall wedding!”
“Louise, slow down,” Julia interrupted. “They’ve only been together a month. You’re always so quick to jump to a wedding.”
“Because I love weddings! And babies. Any talk of starting a family?”
Lauren was stunned silent. Does that old bat ever keep her fucking mouth shut?
“Let’s focus on one couple at a time. And for now, that’s me and Luke.” Julia winked at Lauren.
“Oh! My favorite couple.” Louise swooned. “Are y’all talking babies yet?”
“No. But they’re in our future.” Louise danced a little jig. “Now, how about we look at the order for the flowers.”
“I got it right here!”
Lauren exhaled after nearly being pummeled by Louise’s nosy questions. She strolled through the store, putting space between them. The last thing she wanted was to bite off Louise’s head for butting into her business. Especially since she could feel her nerves on edge after yesterday’s informative talk with Rick.
The store bell dinged, and in walked Tiffani Burns. Lauren had hoped she wouldn’t see her during this visit, but so much for hoping. She rolled her eyes. Tiffani and her resting bitch face. It looked cemented in place. Lauren hovered in a corner, out of the way, to observe the woman she believed was the town slut.
As harsh as her thoughts might have been, she knew the type well and was ready to pounce on her if she even looked cross-eyed at Julia. But Tiffani didn’t seem to be on a mission for a cat fight. “Good afternoon, Louise. Julia,” Tiffani said, greeting them in a chipper mood.
“What’s got you in a bubbly mood?” Louise asked just as Lauren thought the same thing. Freaky.
“Fall is my favorite time of year. Did you feel the change in the weather this morni
ng?”
“I did, now that you mention it. That also means the town’s planning committee will reconvene to work on the harvest celebration.” Louise eyed Tiffani curiously. “You and Bruce still heading it up?”
“Mhmm. Just like the last two years.”
Lauren looked over at Julia, who appeared stunned stupid. No doubt she was thinking the same thing Lauren was: Tiffani and Bruce? No fucking way. Lauren tugged on Julia’s arm to get her attention, then jerked her head for her to follow.
“Oh my God, are you hearing what I’m hearing?” Julia whispered.
“Yup. Have you seen her and Bruce together?”
“Well, yeah. All the time at The Peak. But not like together together. He’s usually serving her up a beer while she preys on the newest man in town.” Julia looked over at her. “Bruce is too good a guy for her.”
“Probably, but everyone deserves to be loved.”
She could see Julia read right through her meaning. “Lauren, you are nothing like her. But you’re right, everyone deserves love,” she whispered and then mouthed, “even Tiffani.”
Julia wrapped up her dealings with Louise, and they paid for their items and left Seaton’s. Not a moment too soon. All the scented candles and stale air Louise produced with her prying questions turned Lauren’s stomach inside out. The nausea wasn’t bad, like she had read, but she had grown a nose like a bloodhound and smelled everything within a five-mile radius.
A deep whiff of fresh air cleared out the sugary and dank lingering scents from Seaton’s and helped her relax. They strolled to Julia’s car with the late afternoon sun warming them, much like a day at the beach sans the swooshing of waves.
Faithful Falls had all the charm of a small rustic tourist town with well-maintained shops, wine barrel planters along the sidewalk, and hanging baskets of flowers on lampposts. Beside Seaton’s Flower Shop & Gifts was the Italian Pie, which any other day would have smelled divine, but it turned her stomach as well. Next was the barber shop where Luke and now Rick went to get their hair cut. On the corner was the little market Julia claimed was smaller than The Wine House by their apartment in L.A. Inconceivable. How could a market that supplied food for a whole population of locals, albeit a small one, be smaller than a liquor store? But as they walked by it, Lauren could tell from the outside that Julia was indeed correct in her assessment.
