by Fifi Flowers
Text copyright ©2018 by the Author.
This work was made possible by a special license through the Kindle Worlds publishing program and has not necessarily been reviewed by Rochelle Paige Popovic and Elle Christensen. All characters, scenes, events, plots and related elements appearing in the original Passion, Vows & Babies remain the exclusive copyrighted and/or trademarked property of Rochelle Paige Popovic and Elle Christensen, or their affiliates or licensors.
For more information on Kindle Worlds: http://www.amazon.com/kindleworlds
UNEXPECTED BLISS
A Yeah Baby & Unexpected
Delivery Crossover
FIFI FLOWERS
MESSAGE FROM
FIONA DAVENPORT
Dear Readers,
Welcome to the Passion, Vows & Babies Kindle World! In this combination of my Passion & Vows and Yeah, Baby series, we’ll bring you new books by some truly amazing authors. From sexy stories of married couples fighting against outside forces to keep their happily ever after, to unexpected pregnancies that lead to forever afters… the Passion, Vows & Babies world is full of over the top alphas, sassy heroines, insta-love, wedding bells, and growing families. Although the wide cast of characters in both series have managed to find love, there’s plenty more out there who could use Passion, Vows & Babies in their lives—like the couple in this story!
If you’re familiar with the Yeah, Baby and Passion & Vows series, you’ll see a familiar face (or more) in this story. I am so excited this author agreed to bring their storytelling talent to the Passion, Vows & Babies Kindle World! However, please keep in mind that this book is entirely the work of the author, and I didn’t have any part in the process of writing this book.
For more about the world, stop by the Passion, Vows & Babies website: http://www.fionadavenport.com/kindle-worlds/.
Happy reading!
Fiona Davenport
(Elle Christensen & Rochelle Paige)
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Other Books by Fifi Flowers
Prologue
Once upon a time, three women working in the same Downtown Palm Springs wedding shop received an unexpected delivery—a package without a return address. When the box was carefully cut open they found that it was minus a packing slip. It was highly unusual, as most of their ordered items had been delivered C.O.D. with a thirty day guarantee to pay. That option allowed them to ship anything back that wasn't right—as in, it looked better in the catalogue than on a hanger.
The delivery in question had none of the customary paperwork. In fact, it had none. All of them curious, gathered around while one of them attempted to pull a white gown from its fancy, no name, pale pink box that was inside of the typical brown shipping package. That was another unusual thing as most of the dresses they received came wrapped in plastic. Boxes were an option to be purchased—they did not come standard with the gowns. The idea was to purchase your own customized boxes advertising your shop's name and logo.
Once the high quality tissue paper was pulled back and the dress was lifted up, the women all gasped simultaneously. Not one of them said a word for several minutes as if they were each having their own individual moment with the beauty. Then what followed next was a war of words about who was going to keep the dress because it definitely was not to be put up for sale—they all wanted the magical dress for themselves.
When they finally settled down and calmly spoke about the exquisite white lace gown—like no other they had ever seen—they agreed that whoever got engaged first would get it. However, that didn't work for one of the girls because she had no intention of getting married ever and simply wanted to wear it to a fancy annual white party.
After much deliberation, they concluded that they would all wear the mysterious gown when the time was right. Then they properly steamed it to be stored away like a bride would do after wearing it for her wedding.
Chapter One
Saffron
Driving four hours north to a Santa Barbara beach resort, I tied my dark brown hair up in a high ponytail and put the convertible top down on my car. It felt nice having the sun toast my skin, but not too much as I had coated my pale skin with sunblock before I applied a light dusting of makeup to my face. Of course, I was sporting dark glasses to protect my light blue eyes—something my mother always cautioned me about. I could hear her every time I was outdoors enjoying the sunshine, “sunscreen and sunglasses are a must, light eyes are sensitive and squinting promotes wrinkles.”
The chance to get away—even for work—couldn’t have come at a better time. Things in my unusual love life had come to an abrupt end. And though I wasn’t in love with him, it was somewhat sad to me. It was like having a best friend say that hanging out together was no longer an option. Maybe I needed to look at the break up as a positive and revisit goals I had firmly written down because Ellis, definitely, wasn’t truly in my future plans.
I was always looking for the perfect, responsible mate like I had seen while growing up. My father had set a high standard and it seemed that I was always attracting older men or maybe I sought them out. Most of them were divorced. I tried to stay away from men who had small children. It wasn’t that I didn’t like or want children, I just didn’t want to be billed as the evil stepmother. Not that I had ever been privy to one since my parents had been married for a million years, still liked each other and were always off vacationing. I had to blame that image on all of the princess movies I had watched that seemed to always depict those characters as wicked and nasty.
When I met Ellis Fleming, I didn’t take into account the fact that he was old enough to be my father—he even had children older than me. I had never met them as they were grown and dealing with their own families in another part of the country. I had learned those things about him as he casually mentioned them in conversations before anything had started between us. In the beginning, I found him to be charming and off-limits since he was somewhat of a boss to me. He was the CEO of a few hotels in the desert area that had hired me from time to time to organize their weddings. But the more we talked over lunch, drinks, and, eventually, dinner, we just kind of fell into a groove, a rhythm...and it was nice.
Everything had been comfortable with us until I mentioned that I was opening up a wedding shop with my two longtime friends, London and Savannah. I’m not sure why that would make a difference to him since I was not employed by any of his properties. I even worked at other hotels that weren’t his and he was well aware of that. So why did he congratulate me in one breath and then dismiss me in the next? I was shocked by his words that really made no sense, like bringing up his stance on having babies and that he had been nipped after his last child. While others sounded more fitting, “We’ll just keep things professional
from here on out and skip the dating.”
We hadn’t even been intimate and I had never let on that I wanted more than our casual dates. But, he had me totally confused and feeling down…and a bit dejected as I left his office.
Thankfully, my friends and business partners were willing to close up the shop early, hit happy hour and listen to my romantic...non-romantic brush-off. I loved seeing them waiting for me with delectable finger foods and drinks already ordered, allowing me to spill my woes right away.
“You’re better off without him,” London assured me once I shared my break up news. She was always on the positive side and looked angelic with her flowing, nearly platinum blonde hair and beautiful green eyes.
“He was too old for you anyway,” Savannah wrinkled her nose as she spoke up. She never pulled any punches and had a way of telling things exactly how they were—good or bad. She was the complete opposite of London in so many ways—including looks as she had almost dark brown hair and big brown eyes that reminded me of a doe.
I could always count on London and Savannah to cheer me up and, better yet, they did it with fancy martinis at a place just down the block from our new shop.
I had to agree that Ellis and I were a bit mismatched.
“Yes, but it was nice to have someone taking me out for dinner and not pressuring me for sex.” I never even thought about us getting to that point which I guess was kind of weird. “At least he didn’t remove me from the hotels’ referral lists.”
I sipped my rosetini, complete with floating rose petals, waiting for their next comments.
“I’m going to guess that he has most likely been getting it elsewhere.” Savannah had a definite opinion about that and had told me a few times that it wasn’t normal for an older man to not tap a hot young thing like me. I shook my head at her choice of words when she first mentioned that to me.
“Yes, keeping him as a contact is a good thing...but nothing else,” London added. I was sure that she never agreed with mixing business and pleasure...or personal lives.
“You still think he cheated on me?” I had mixed emotions over the ending of us.
“Just reminding you that he is a big flirt…and gorgeous.” Savannah had to admit there was something about him that was appealing to all women.
He was very good looking and did not look his age. He was the epitome of the expression that fifty is the new thirty. Charming, flirty…maybe they were right about everything. I needed to move on. I also had to admit that I wasn’t in love with him and that sometimes our relationship was more about friendship with make-out benefits a few times—he was a good kisser. But, things never went further and, truthfully, I had no desire for them to and, again, that should’ve been my reason for ending things sooner than he did. I had a feeling that my new shop had very little to do with his dismissal of me.
“Sooo...when you’re off for the weekend…time to go wild!” Savannah exclaimed, doing a little wiggle with her top half; arms swaying and fingers snapping.
“Yes, have some fun!” London’s bright smile was infectious and had me smiling until I had to remind them that it wasn’t a vacation.
“It’s a work getaway,” I tried to explain with my outlined details.
“No reason that you can’t do your job and then get drunk—” Savannah wasn't backing down and I had to laugh when she repeated her seated dance. A party girl!
“Let your hair down a bit!” Even London seemed to be suggesting that I was a bit uptight and needed to unwind.
Maybe they were right I thought to myself days later as I pulled out a bright red rolling luggage bag that I was using for the first time. I did have my lists and goals and being with Ellis was taking me away from them:
Meet a nice guy.
Wait five dates before sex.
Introduce each other to our families.
Get engaged on one-year anniversary.
Six months to plan the wedding.
Perfect Ceremony - Honeymoon - House
Baby two years later.
With Ellis, none of that was possible and, of course, I never even thought about any of it with him. He was a nice man. No desire for sex with him. I could not imagine introducing him to my parents. Again, no desire to marry him, so engagement was out. Six months was the perfect amount of time to pull everything together for the ultimate ceremony and honeymoon. He did have a nice house but it wasn’t my style with its dark features and heavy European furnishings. Ohhh...the baby part was a no go with him and I laughed remembering his outburst about having a vasectomy. I wondered what was going on with him—he was so different that day.
“Push all thoughts of Ellis Fleming out of your head,” I said out loud as I slipped my suitcase filled with my signature Jackie-O sleeveless sheath dresses and color-matched high heel sandals into the trunk. Then climbing behind the wheel, I started the engine and zipped down the highway which was rather boring. At least I had a good variety of music to keep me interested—singing—and awake. My outlook changed immensely once I rounded the bend near the downtown Ventura exit and was treated to the gorgeous California coastline. I had a spectacular view all the way up to the resort that was absolutely mesmerizing with its jungle-like surroundings as I drove onto the grounds. The beauty never stopped.
Turning my car over to a parking attendant, I strolled into the lobby pulling my luggage behind me over the terra cotta tile flooring. The interior was so quiet and serene that its high ornate ceiling accentuated the clack clack clack of my bag rollers along with the click click click of my high heels until I stopped at the front desk. Not exactly the first impression I wanted to make...attracting attention to myself. I already looked a bit out of place—not like your typical beach resort goer—walking in dressed for a business meeting.
However, standing in front of the check-in girl at the front counter, it was obvious that I hadn’t phased her one bit. In fact, she seemed a bit off and nervous as I began to speak to her, telling her my name and she did her best to respond.
“Ummm...yeah...continental breakfast if you want.” She was looking down and then back up, but never directly at me. “Two keys if you want...only you...never mind...” I began to wonder if I was the first person she had ever checked in and then I turned to see if there was something going on behind me.
That was all I needed to do to see what had her so incredibly tongue tied. It was an extremely handsome, impeccably dressed man—not in typical beach resort garb—not far away. In fact, he was close enough for me to see that he had light blue eyes that went nicely with his dark brown hair. I would definitely add him to my list as Mr. Fantasy. He was too perfect to be real and probably attached to some equally beautiful woman.
Chapter Two
Laird
Where had the time gone? When I had filled out the RSVP card saying I would be attending the wedding of my closest friend from college, I didn’t even think about how much I hated weddings and avoided them. I just wanted to support him. But damn, I couldn’t believe how fast it crept up on me and I found myself flying across the country.
Think of it as a vacation, I told myself as I opted to fly into LAX, grab a rental car and drive up Highway 1 through Marina Del Rey, Venice, Santa Monica, and Malibu until I hit Point Mugu. That was the only point in my trip—through the Oxnard and the beginning of the Ventura area—that didn’t include the Pacific in my view. But that detour was very brief before I caught route 101 up to Santa Barbara. I never grew tired of that beautiful drive even with the traffic backed up in a few spots.
There is nothing like the California Coast on a clear, sunny day. It always reminded me of one summer when some of my college buddies and I surfed practically every beach from the Mexico border up to the Oregon border. I can say it was one of the best times of my life and I was actually looking forward to seeing some of those surfer bums at the wedding.
We all met through the groom as he was the ringleader for our surfing safari. Perry and I were both enrolled in a hotel restaurant mana
gement program at the same college. I was interested in the hotel portion, while he was in it to become the next great chef. I was happy to sample the cooking but as a profession, it wasn’t for me. Within the program there were required elective courses that were in different areas of hotel and restaurant management and I found myself in an advanced cooking course.
I can still hear the first words Perry said to me, “Dude, you’re going to chop your damn finger off the way you’re holding that knife! Fuck! Didn’t you pay attention in basic prep?”
I couldn’t lie to him the way I had lied my way into that particular class. “This is my first cooking class, ever.” I was quiet as I confessed, leaning toward him.
He shook his head with closely cropped dark hair, “This is not a course you should be faking your way into. The chef is French trained and extremely strict.”
I begged him not to rat me out and asked him if he could give me some crash kitchen tutoring sessions. Fortunately, he said yes and invited me to a house he was renting with a bunch of guys. That was also how I abandoned the dorms to become another one of his roommates and enjoyed some incredible food. I learned a lot from Perry and made it through the advanced cooking class so I could get back to what I knew, coming from a family of hoteliers.
My great-great-grandparents started a little hotel in Switzerland many moons ago after leaving their homeland of England. They lived there for years—many extended relatives are still there—raising their family and expanding their little inn into a grand hotel. Some of the next generation of Hayes family members had other ideas and, like their forefathers, left the country where they had grown up to start fresh in America.
Landing in New York, once they were cleared through Ellis Island, they purchased an existing hotel, fixed it up, and put their name on it. They did that a few times within the city until their boys were old enough to run their own hotels. Selling off all but one hotel that still remains on the island of Manhattan, the boys headed out of state: One up north to Boston, one south to Florida, one a few states away to Chicago, and the last two to leave the nest split California; one to the north and one to the south. My part of the Hayes clan came from the Florida area and that was where I was born and raised.
