The Lumberjack's Nanny: A Forbidden Romance (Rockford Falls Romance)

by Natasha L. Black

  “And men go to war,” I shook my head. “How do they handle a battlefield scenario when a pediatrician’s office can undo them?”

  “It’s the helplessness,” Trixie said. “On a battlefield, they have a goal, and they can shoot at stuff. In a doctor’s office they’re useless, and it’s a nightmare. I would not have been surprised if Damon had tried to bribe someone to give Ashton a pain shot when he was cutting his first tooth. It’s horrible wishing you could soothe them, and it’s way worse than if you were hurting. But I think sometimes moms have the built-in practicality thing. Where we know it’s awful, but we know they’ll get through it unharmed.”

  “If it had been anyone but Brenna, I would’ve been openly drinking during the screaming fit. For example, if it was your kid, I’d be ‘bottoms up, bitches’,” Laura laughed.

  We raised our glasses in a toast. “To finally getting out of the house alone,” Laura said.

  “To the three of us, kicking ass and taking names.”

  “To your beautiful babies, and my eventual diner,” I said.

  “Are you still planning to revamp the menu?”

  “That’s what I want to do. But the truth is, I’m not sure the town will go for it. The diner’s such an institution that if I so much as take the tuna melt off the menu, I’m pretty sure they’d come at me with pitchforks and torches.”

  “Maybe a gradual change is better,” Trixie offered. “Try and get Hugh to adopt a few changes now, and next year when you buy in, you can do more. Kind of let the town get their feet wet with a couple new items and phase out a few old ones.”

  “What’s the least ordered item?” Laura asked. “Start with that.”

  “Easy but not so easy,” I said.

  “Why?”

  “Fish sandwich. It’s just a frozen rectangle of breaded fish we drop in the fryer, nothing special, and those fillets take up room in the freezer. I’d love to get rid of them and introduce something that you couldn’t microwave in forty seconds. There’s only two people that ever order it.”

  “Which two?” Laura inquired.

  “The mayor, for one thing. Like, do I ever want a food safety inspection to go well again? Do I want to apply for a liquor license? Don’t discontinue the mayor’s favorite.”

  ‘Who’s the other person?”

  “Max Shaffer,” I admitted.

  “Oh, you mean Hottie the Lumberjack?” Laura teased. “I think if you offered him a trade, he could say goodbye to the fish sandwich. Give him something better.”

  “Like a blow job,” Trixie suggested with a wicked grin.

  “Trix, you been spending too much time with me. You never used to talk like that,” Laura laughed. “I’m so proud of you! You were so shy when you and Damon got together.”

  “Yeah,” I said, “well, if that were an option, which it isn’t, which one of y’all is gonna blow the mayor for me?” I challenged.

  “NOT IT!” they both hollered, and we laughed riotously.

  “I’m gonna go to the bathroom. I’ll buy the next round on my way back.”

  When I got out of the bathroom, Greg Horseman was waiting outside the door. I tried to brush past him.

  “Hey, I been waitin’ on you,” he slurred, scratching his scraggly beard.

  “Uh, you needed the ladies’ room? Well, it’s all yours. Have a good night now,” I said, heading out of the hallway.

  He grabbed my arm.

  “Greg, that’s my arm. Let go of it,” I said through gritted teeth. I tried to pull away, but he held on, his fingers digging into my flesh.

  “Now don’t be all stuck up with me now, Rach, we go way back.”

  “You tried to feel me up when I was in middle school. That’s not the kind of history you want to bring up with a lady,” I said. “Now let me go before I have to make a scene.”

  “Now you wouldn’t do that. Everybody knows you’re a tease in them low cut shirts you wear waitin’ tables. Give Greg a little kiss,” he slurred, hauling me toward him. I kicked at his shin, but it wasn’t very effective. Apparently, the alcohol dulled his senses.

  I stepped in toward him, surprising him, and then jerked backward hard enough we stumbled out of the hallway together and back into the crowded bar.

  “Let me go,” I said, staggering to keep my balance with his swaying drunkenness dragging on me.

  “Hey,” a male voice said, low in warning.

  “Hey, Max,” Greg muttered, “you know my girlfrien’? Thish ish Rachel.”

  “Get your hands off her,” Max said, his voice like stone.

  Greg dropped his hand. I rubbed my arm instinctively and stepped away from him. Max didn’t reach for me, didn’t act like he had some proprietary interest in my body which was very respectful, but I would not have minded a comforting arm around me at that moment. My heartbeat was jittery. I noticed my palms were clammy and I was sweating. He’d scared me more than I thought.

  “Are you okay?” Max asked, turning his attention to me. Greg started to turn and walk away.

  “Hey, you don’t go anywhere,” Max snapped at him, and Greg halted, only swaying a little. Then Max turned back to me.

  “Are you hurt?”

  I shook my head. I forced a smile, “No, I’m good. Thanks,” and I turned and went back to my table.

  “What the hell was going on?” Laura demanded. “What were you doing in the hall with Horseman?”

  “Trying to get away from him. I don’t wanna talk about it,” I said. “I’ll go get the drinks. I forgot to grab them.”

  “Nope, wait up,” Trixie said, putting a hand over mine, “Your arm’s red where he had a hold of you. Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I don’t want to make a bigger deal about it. It’s embarrassing,” I said.

  “Embarrassing for him, maybe,” Laura said. “Want me to arrest him?”

  “God, no,” I said.

  “Come on, I could get him on public intoxication, disturbing the peace, assault—” Laura listed off. “I’ve even got the Taser in my car.”

  “Stop!” I said with a laugh. “It’s fine.”

  “Sure looks like Max jumped to your defense,” Trixie offered.

  “Hottie Lumberjack didn’t like that drunken asshole putting his hands on you,” Laura agreed. “It was kinda sexy.”

  “It was sexy as hell. But he was just being a gentleman because he saw there was a problem. Any guy would’ve done that.”

  “There’s like forty other guys here. Nobody else jumped up and offered to rip off Greg’s dick and feed it to him,” Laura said.

  “You’re disgusting. No one said anything about that.”

  “Well, if you won’t let me arrest him, can I at least rip off his dick? He’s so wasted he won’t notice till tomorrow anyway.”

  “No. I want to put this behind me, really. I’ll go get drinks.”

  I went to the bar. The bartender asked if I was okay and apologized for not coming to my aid. “I’m the only one on right now since Jerry’s on break. I’m sorry,” she said.

  “You’re fine. It’s all okay.”

  “Listen, when Jerry gets back from his smoke, I’m gonna have him show Horseman the door. We don’t want that kind of crap going on here, our customers not feeling safe. And your next round’s on the house.”

  “Thanks, Sandy,” I said, and ordered another drink for my girls. “Can I send a beer over to Max? Just for helping me out. You don’t have to say it’s from me.”

  “Sure thing. I got it covered. I’ll have Julie run your drinks over in a minute,” she said.

  Soon we had another round of margaritas to sip and a basket of chips and salsa to go with them.

  “Max keeps looking at you,” Trixie pointed out.

  “He’s probably just looking around. I thanked him and I sent him a beer from the bar. Let it go,” I said. Still, I knew my cheeks were flushed. “Is it hot in here?”

  “Only in your pants,” Laura said with a snort. “You’re making horny eyes at
Max Shaffer. It’s like Trix and I aren’t even here. Jeez.”

  “Shut up. He helped me out. He’s good-looking. I know that’s a dead-end, okay? Let a girl enjoy the view.” I stole one more glance at him and then turned back to my friends.

  “So, I’m guessing you won’t be taking the fish sandwich off the menu now,” Trixie teased. “Now that he’s your hero.”

  “I don’t think Hugh would go for changing the menu anyway,” I said.

  “What would you add to the menu?” Laura asked.

  “Lemon ricotta pancakes with blueberry conserve,” I said instantly.

  “That sounds amazing,” she said. “I would order the shit out of that. And Brenna loves lemon so—”

  “So I can make her some and bring them over this weekend!” I said. “I’ll bring you all breakfast. You have to leave her in her pajamas with her messy bedhead though. Promise?”

  “I promise. If I can put off trying to drag a brush through those tangles while she freaks out, I will. I’ll delay as long as possible.”

  “At least she has hair. Ashton has like three little ginger sprigs and that’s it,” Trixie said. “In pictures he looks bald.”

  “Prince Harry is a ginger and he turned out hot.”

  “Thanks, I’m really hoping to have a hot baby,” she snarked and we all laughed.

  “I meant he won’t be bald forever. I mean, probably. You hardly ever see a bald kindergartener, right?” I teased.

  “She’s sensitive about his volleyball head,” Laura said.

  “Isn’t it billiard ball head if they’re bald?”

  “Not with a head that big,” Trixie said. “I swore when I gave birth that he had to have a skull like Megamind because that was one huge cranium on that kid.”

  “Ouch,” Laura and I both said at once.

  “Brenna was a really easy birth. Which she owed me because she scared the shit out of me in the first trimester with the bleeding. Jesus,” Laura shook her head, recalling the scare they had.

  “True. It just makes her even more precious now that she’s here.”

  “Because she started terrorizing me before she was born?” Laura asked with an eye-roll.

  “It’s good to have someone to pass the torch to,” I said. “I can’t do it all alone. Someone has to keep you on your toes.”

  “I think Brenna is a sweetheart,” Trixie put in.

  “You’re her aunt. You have to think so.”

  “It’s true though. She’s the prettiest little thing I’ve ever seen. When you had her at your mom’s with that white bow in her hair—she looked like a little angel.”

  “You’d look like an angel too if my parents were catering to your every whim,” Laura said wryly.

  “You know, I think you’re right. I’d be pretty damn angelic if I was being pampered,” she said. “Do you think if I wore a cute white bow, they’d fall for it?”

  “Okay, you two. Drinks are on me. Get out of here. I’m not keeping you from your gorgeous babies another minute. Give them kisses for me and tell Brenna that Rach is making her pancakes for Sunday morning.”

  “I will. She loves to get up early, so like any time after six.” She groaned.

  “Oh, quit whining and go love on my favorite girl,” I said.

  We hugged and they both took off sheepishly and in a hurry. I felt a tiny pang of envy. I had goals. I wanted to own the diner. I was putting all my energy into that. Except for the fireworks that kept trying to make me trip over my own feet whenever I saw Max or heard his voice. Him coming to my rescue didn’t exactly help the lowkey crush I had on the hot lumberjack. In fact, the way he’d stepped in and protected me was a major turn-on. One I’d have to get under control before he and his daughter came back to the diner.

  4

  Max

  “It’s nice to see you out after dark, man,” Noah wisecracked.

  “Just because I don’t go out much doesn’t mean I’m no fun,” I argued. “I just finished season four of Doc McStuffins with Sadie. It was wild.”

  “I know you’re a great dad, but it wouldn’t hurt you to go out more.”

  “I’d rather spend time with my kid, give her the kind of upbringing I didn’t have. Earlier she was painting the bench I made for her dollhouse, and she said she loves having supper with me. She said Cassie’s daddy is never home at suppertime.”

  “Cassie Winslow? Her daddy’s probably out losing money at the video gambling machine at the convenience store. He’s a jackass,” Noah said. “Hired me to fix his garage roof last fall and still hasn’t paid me.”

  “Sounds about right,” I said. “I thought he was just a workaholic like I used to be back before I had Sadie.”

  “No, I don’t think so. You’d be the first person to ever say Joey Winslow worked too hard,” he chuckled.

  “So, how’s the fancy cabin coming?”

  “They keep adding stuff to the plan. A media room, a balcony, maybe a sauna. If they don’t make up their minds soon it’s gonna be the weirdest looking structure ever.”

  “Have you told them this?”

  “Yep. But I’ll need some more pine, and cedar if you can get it.”

  “Just text me what you need and when.”

  “That’s why you get so much business from me. You don’t make excuses. The guy at the lumberyard in Overton is so full of shit about some order didn’t come in or he gave me exactly what I asked for even though I wrote the order down too and it’s wrong. I do not miss having to deal with him.”

  “So you just remember to send me flowers and tell me I’m pretty,” I said. “Or you might find yourself out in the cold and stuck with that loser from Overton.”

  “You’re so pretty, Max,” he laughed. “And you have the best lumber. No one else’s wood is as good as yours.” He was cracking up.

  “You’re weird,” I said.

  “No, you are, you started it.”

  “Can you blame me? I’m pretty and I do have the best lumber,” I said sternly, and managed to keep a straight face for about six seconds before I cracked up too.

  I downed the rest of my beer and waited for Noah to get himself together. About that time, I saw some drunk guy with a beard stumble out from the bathrooms dragging Rachel, the waitress from the diner. It didn’t take me two seconds to get off my seat and cross the bar to them. I wasn’t a man to watch anyone manhandle a woman, and this felt personal, a violation.

  Maybe because I wasn’t used to seeing her outside the diner, or maybe because I had a strange, panicked thought that this could be her abusive boyfriend. Maybe because I just didn’t like the way he had his hands on her when she was clearly trying to get away, trying to keep quiet like she didn’t want to attract attention. But they had my full attention. I dealt with him easily, quickly. Then he tried to slink away like the snake he was. Once I knew Rachel was okay, I turned back to him. I’d wanted to walk her to her table, but I wasn’t letting that little shit get away with that kind of behavior.

  I closed the distance between us and loomed over him, height on my side as well as righteous rage. “You’re going to the bar to pay the bill for her whole table. Then you’re leaving. You’re not driving drunk either. Get a cab, unless you have a friend who can drive you. Don’t come back here tonight or I’ll show you out myself. I assume you’re still sober enough to know you don’t want your teeth knocked out by a man who swings an ax for a living.”

  He shrugged and said he didn’t mean nothin’ by it. I watched him, followed him with my eyes as he went to the bar and then swiftly out the doors. When I got back, Noah looked like someone had just given him a winning lotto ticket.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Rach is a fantastic girl. I’ve known her since we were kids. You should ask her out. She sure looked at you like you were Jamie Fraser.”

  “Who?”

  “The guy from Outlander. Don’t you watch anything good?”

  “Cartoons with my kid, survival shows. Not girly time travel crap,”
I scoffed.

  “If you know it’s about time travel you’ve watched it,” he said.

  “Maybe I saw a preview. I don’t know,” I said.

  “The way I just saw her look at you—I mean, she let you help her. I’m pretty sure if I’d tried to step in, she would’ve kicked me in the nuts.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “She’s a tough nut to crack. Real independent, hard worker, funny as hell. But she doesn’t let a lot of people get close. She and Laura have always been friends, but that’s about it.”

  “So that wasn’t her boyfriend?”

  “No. But you’re interested, or you wouldn’t ask?”

  “Not interested, wondering if I need to call in a domestic disturbance report.”

  “If it was a domestic disturbance, her best friend there’s a cop, and besides, if Rachel had an abusive boyfriend, he’d disappear. There wouldn’t be an arrest. Those two girls would take care of business.”

  “You sound like you’re impressed by them.”

  “And a little scared. It’s good to have a healthy fear of a strong woman,” he said.

  “Does she work nonstop at the diner?”

  “Rumor has it she wants to buy the place,” Noah said. “But I think old Hugh’s gonna be in a body bag before he retires.”

  “She sounds ambitious.” “You should totally ask her out.”

  “I don’t have time for that kind of thing.”

  “A date? Lunch? Dinner? What do you mean you don’t have time?”

  “Look, tonight, I only called you because Sadie had been begging to go see Miss Denise all week, and she said she had time to watch her a couple hours. I don’t have a lot of free time.”

  “And when you do, you’re spending it with me. Love ya like a brother but spend those two hours with that hot woman who looks at you like you’re the ice cream sundae she’s gonna break her diet for.”