“He was in L-O-V-E with her in high school, Dad,” Thor said. “She was a reality-TV star.”
“Oh, that sassy redhead, right?” Beau asked. “I seem to recall walking into the den a couple of times and seeing Crowe toss a pillow over his crotch when he saw me.”
“Escaping now,” Crowe muttered, walking around Thor as a trio of teenaged girls came through the front door of the restaurant. He reached for the door and stalked through as soon as the space cleared, letting Thor film his back, making a mental note to delete the footage as soon as possible.
“Hey, girl,” Madison Alcott called to Jenny as she walked into her restaurant office the next day. Madison’s incredible beauty had not dimmed at all despite her pregnancy. Her figure was changing, but the stunning face hadn’t filled out along with her waistline.
“Taking a break from the hotel?” Jenny asked, giving her old friend and former Laguna Nights cast mate a hug.
“We ordered your pizza for a staff lunch. Special event-planning meeting.”
“Got your old-friend discount, right?”
“I need it now that I’m eating for two.” Madison rubbed her belly. “So how about you? I’m living vicariously through my single, non-pregnant friends now. I heard you were seen driving through Laguna Woods with a hot guy yesterday.”
Sometimes this town was much too small. “Crowe Erickson. He’s hanging around here filming for a reality show he’s hoping to get going.”
“He’s trying to go up against our old show?”
“No, it’s totally different. He’s filmed in the restaurant a couple of times.”
Madison gave her a bland stare. “Are you hooking up with him?”
Jenny leaned against her desk. “I’m afraid to even talk to him. I mean, I enjoyed our bike ride and we had an awesome kiss afterward but then it just fizzled.”
“What’s going wrong?”
“You know how awkward I am with guys. And he still thinks of me as wisecracking waitress Jenny from the show. I don’t think he gets the real me.”
“You don’t think he’s attracted to your real personality?”
Jenny lifted her hands. “What’s there to love?”
“Oh, honey. Come on. You may have been saying lines, but we weren’t real actresses. That was still mostly you. Everything was based on real life. I remember how funny you were in school. You were a couple of years behind me, but even as miserable as I was after I broke up with Josh, you could always make me laugh.”
“I could?” Jenny frowned. Really, she could have sworn no one thought she was funny. Her sister never laughed.
“Absolutely.” Madison settled herself behind Jenny’s desk, where the only chair in the tiny office was. “Pregnant lady’s privilege.”
“Of course.” Jenny wished she had a pillow to offer Madison for the back of the chair.
“Besides,” Madison continued. “Guys want to hear about themselves, right? Ask him questions about himself, laugh at his jokes. You know. He’ll think you’re the perfect woman.”
“I don’t want to rely on what anyone else does,” Jenny said. “I’m tired of following other people’s scripts. And I don’t want a guy so shallow that he doesn’t see through that.”
“He wants to be on reality TV,” Madison said. “How deep can this guy be?”
Chapter Three
“Crowe isn’t like that, according to his brother,” Jenny told Madison as she dispensed a cup of water for her friend. “He says Crowe doesn’t want his show for shallow reasons. Of course, that doesn’t mean he isn’t shallow about women. He likes me because of a television show, after all.”
“You were awfully sexy in those tiny tees,” Madison said, straightening a pile of invoices on Jenny’s desk, then leaning back in the chair. “The clothes we used to be able to fit in, right?”
Jenny didn’t mention her high school tees still fit. She’d archived some of them because they had the original restaurant logo. But that was nothing to tell a pregnant lady. “Yeah, I would love my teenage body back.”
“I think you should give this guy a chance,” Madison said, resting her hands on her extended abdomen. “There aren’t so many new faces around here. You find him attractive, right? And how long has it been for you?”
Jenny stared the ceiling instead of at her friend, embarrassed to admit the truth. Three years. “Too long.”
“There you go. Be careful, use protection, and have a good time.” Madison smiled and rubbed her belly. “Don’t make the same mistake I did.”
“At least you’re happy with your little oopsie.” Madison and Josh had been reuniting, though, not meeting for the first time. “I’ll check on your pizzas for you.”
Jenny had burned out on restaurant duties by seven p.m. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Madison’s words. Maybe she should just go for Crowe. He could be her lover for however long he was here. No reason to make a big deal out of it. They were both single.
She made up a large pizza with onions, mushrooms, spinach, and feta with her secret white sauce then changed out of her restaurant clothes into a white tank top and skinny jeans before she took the pie out to her car. Any woman was welcome if she arrived at someone’s house with food. Or if not, she’d at least have a comfort dinner ready.
As she climbed into her SUV and pulled out her phone, she realized she didn’t have his phone number. If she wanted to see him, she’d have to drive over to his friend’s place. A big step, ripe for second-guessing. Should she go home and change? Put on a mini and lip gloss and do her hair? On the other hand, he’d kissed her and seemed to like it even after a sweaty bike ride. He was outdoorsy, and it wasn’t like she had pizza sauce down her shirt.
“Keep it casual,” she muttered, straightening her ponytail. She shoved her key into the ignition.
Summer traffic had died down by then, and she made it to Laguna Woods before Beyoncé’s sexy jam “Drunk in Love” appeared at the top of her playlist. She pulled into the driveway of the modest house where Crowe was staying and leaned her head back in her seat while the song played. Not that she needed it to get her blood thrumming. And Crowe might not even really want her. He could have second-guessed their kiss. Not only that, his father might still be in town.
She rubbed her eyes. What an idiot. Of course his father was still in town, and she was showing up here, not even cleaned up, hoping for a tryst.
As the song ended, she stuck her key back into the ignition. Just then, the porch light went on. She hadn’t even noticed if lights were on in the house. Now, the front door opened. She recognized Thor standing in the doorway, his hulking frame taking up most of the empty space. Maybe he was the only one home.
She opened her door, blanking on anything intelligent to say. Why hadn’t she planned this better? “Ummm, hey,” she called out.
“Hey yourself,” Thor said, that lazy grin spreading across his handsome face. He stuck his hands in the back pockets of his jeans.
She had a moment of horror as she realized he might think she’d come to hook up with him, not his brother. But no, he knew she’d had a date with Crowe yesterday. He probably knew all the details. “I thought I’d stop by.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“With pizza.”
He rubbed his hands together. “Excellent.”
“Yeah. Ummm, is Crowe here?”
“Well, sure. Come on in. Did he order the pizza?”
“No,” Jenny mumbled. “Random pizza delivery.”
“Cool, cool.” He planted his hands on his lean hips.
She opened the passenger side door and removed the carrier bag with the pizza.
Thor judged the shape of the bag. “I don’t suppose you brought breadsticks. Those are the best, man.”
“And quadruple marinara sauce,” Jenny said, grateful that she’d grabbed the extras as she walked out.
“Nice. Here, I can take that for you.”
She handed Thor the carrier bag and followed him into the house.
“Whose house is this?”
He went to the left, where the entryway opened into the small, pass-through kitchen, and set the bag on a counter littered with bread crumbs. “Justin Hutch’s. He was at UCI with Crowe.”
She didn’t recognize the name. “He didn’t go to school that far from here, then.”
“No, Crowe knows his stuff locally. That’s why he’s got a good shot at actually finding a treasure. But it would be nice to have a full show. You know, three cameras and all that. I can’t shoot everything I’d like.”
Jenny ripped open the Velcro tabs holding the carrier closed and pulled out the two boxes, one with the pizza and the other with the extras. “A better audio system.”
He opened a cabinet and grabbed a handful of plastic plates. Then he pulled the paper towel roll off its holder under the cabinet. “For sure, yeah. It was real primitive when we had our show. I’d like to do it properly.”
She followed Thor out of the kitchen, back through the entryway, into the living room. As bachelor pad–like as the kitchen, it was sparsely decorated with a huge television and a long black leather couch. Crowe had his bare feet propped up on a glass and chrome coffee table, holding a PlayStation controller. Jenny recognized the video game Uncharted on the television.
“Shouldn’t you be out treasure hunting yourself, rather than playing a game about a treasure hunter?” she teased.
Crowe sat up and paused the game. Thor plunked his plates and paper towels exactly where Crowe’s feet had just been.
“Jenny brought dinner,” Thor said cheerily.
“I doubt she brought it for you,” Crowe responded.
“I disagree. My favorite breadsticks were included.” Thor opened the top box, still in her arms, and pulled out the little containers of sauce.
Crowe glanced up at Jenny, his eyes heavily lidded. “What’s the plan?”
Despite Crowe looking sleepy to her, she found him completely sexy as always. She set the pizza on the edge of the table, tongue-tied.
He waited a beat, then announced, “We eat.”
Grateful he hadn’t pushed, she sat next to him. Except that he immediately stood up. Was he repulsed? Oh no, did she smell?
“What do you want to drink?” he asked. “Numbnuts here isn’t being much of a host.”
She blinked and shifted on the squeaky leather. “Water, I guess. I hope this is okay. I forgot that your dad might be here, or this Justin guy.” Was she babbling? Was it hot in here? Something about Crowe’s narrow, sexy bare feet had her feeling a little crazy. Not to mention, now that she looked, his legs were great, too, heavily muscled and a little furry. He wore nylon athletic shorts, not his usual board shorts. She could actually see the outline of his—
She glanced up, face flaming. His eyebrows rose and he grinned at her. “I guess I know what your plan was, huh.”
She stared at him, mute. He chuckled and walked out of the room. Thor pretended to be oblivious to the entire humiliating exchange. She decided that she adored him.
The front door opened and closed. A prototypical surfer dude came into the house. He wore board shorts and a faded Billabong T-shirt with sunglasses folded over the collar. His feet were bare, his hair longish and sandy colored. She estimated his age as about twenty-five.
“Got any of that to spare?” he asked, pointing at the pizza. “Who are you?”
Thor swallowed a bite of breadstick. “Jenny Craft, pizza maestro.”
“I’m not hungry,” Jenny assured the newcomer. “Dig in.”
Justin unfolded a metal chair that she hadn’t noticed leaning against a wall and pulled it in front of the coffee table. Thor sat down at the end of the sofa. Crowe came back with an armful of water bottles and a four-pack of a local microbrew. He set them down on the table and pulled a bottle opener from the crook of his elbow, then pushed past Thor and sat between them.
“I wonder what we would have eaten if you hadn’t shown up, Jenny,” Thor said.
“It’s seven-thirty. Maybe you already had dinner.”
“No,” Thor said. “You give us too much credit.”
“What have you eaten today?” she asked.
“I made pancakes,” Crowe said.
Her eyes widened. “You cook?”
“I make pancakes.”
She stroked her hand down her ponytail. Did he have to be perfect? Her voice rose. “And eggs?”
“I do the eggs,” Thor said. “Our dad makes great bacon, and Viking does fresh-squeezed OJ.”
“So you only eat a complete breakfast if the family is together?” She knew Viking was their oldest brother. Now she realized that the name probably was his real name and not a nickname. Poor guy.
“Not complete. Mom grilled tomatoes and mushrooms. It’s not the same since we lost her.” The corner of Crowe’s mouth jerked up. “Our sister tries, but she hasn’t figured out the secret spices Mom used.”
“I’m so sorry. It sounds like she taught her boys well.”
“We can all make coffee,” Crowe said, straightening from his slouch. “Iced or hot.”
“Such an accomplished bunch of dudes, you Ericksons,” Jenny said. “What about you, Justin?”
“I specialize in the Hutchmuffin,” he said. “That’s an English muffin, egg, bulk sausage, and mayo.”
“I want that for breakfast,” she said, surprising herself.
Crowe nudged her. “Sure, but which one of us are you staying over with?”
Her face grew hot. She grabbed a breadstick and a plastic cup of housemade marinara, not knowing how to dig herself out of the hole she’d made. “None of you. Feel free to deliver a Hutchmuffin to me in the morning.”
“Don’t be an asshat, Crowe,” Thor said, rapping his brother’s head with a breadstick. Crowe laughed. “You know she’s here for you.”
“I’m going home now,” Jenny said. “I can make a Hutchmuffin for myself.”
“No, you can’t,” Justin said, picking at the cheese that had glued itself to the box and dropping the bits on a slice. “You don’t know all the special ingredients.”
“They are really good,” Thor said. “And Crowe somehow managed to snag the only guest room.”
“Couch chump,” Crowe said, then winked at Jenny.
She shook her head, but she was smiling again. “Maybe I should take Thor home and let him stay in my guest room.”
Thor pumped the air with his fist.
“Ummm, no,” Crowe said. “If anything, you can take me home and he can stay in Justin’s guest room.”
Jenny couldn’t think of a response to that.
“Dad left,” Thor said, filling the lull in the conversation. “He went home this morning. What Crowe isn’t saying is that he had to sleep on the floor last night.”
“And my guest bed sucks ass,” Justin said around a mouthful of pizza. “It’s my secret weapon. No one ever wants to stay more than two nights. It’s just too painful.”
“Wow,” Jenny said. “You pull us in with the Hutchmuffin food fantasy, then kill it with the death bed.”
“Exactly.” Justin grinned.
It only took them about ten minutes to finish off the food Jenny had brought. “I should have brought two pizzas.”
“You thought we’d eaten already,” Crowe said. “This was just a snack, right?”
“I was being impulsive.”
Their gazes caught and held. She could feel that connection between them, so she folded her hands across her lap so that she didn’t reach over, grab his shirt and tug him toward her. The warmth was low in her belly now. Inside, she was melting, but she wasn’t about to follow him into the guest room in front of the two other guys, and her bedroom was not date-ready. She hadn’t thought this through at all. Laundry, dusting, her pedicure? Everything was lacking.
Justin picked up the PlayStation controller. “Anyone up for Madden?”
“I should go,” Jenny said, standing up. “I’ll grab my bag.”
The brothers stood so she could get
out from between the furniture. She smiled vaguely and fled in slow motion.
Crowe followed her out of the room. “Too much testosterone?”
“I was only thinking about you when I came over,” she admitted. “I forgot about everyone else. I didn’t have your phone number.”
“Yeah?” Crowe patted his shorts. “I don’t know where I put my phone. But give me yours and I’ll put my number in.”
She handed her phone to him and he typed in his information, then gave it back to her.
“Thanks for dinner,” he said, putting his hands on her waist. He liked to do that.
She was still proud of her measurements. He pulled her hips against his, then angled his head so that their lips met softly. She tasted the pizza, the sour tang of the beer. He pulled away with a nip at her lower lip, then smiled at her.
“This was a nice surprise. You don’t need to call or anything if you want to stop by. We’re casual.”
“Okay.” She stared at him for a moment, and when he didn’t say anything more, she opened the front door and walked out. When she realized she’d forgotten her pizza carrier, she decided it wasn’t worth it to go back.
He hadn’t asked her out. He hadn’t followed up on the idea of coming back to her place with her. In fact, he hadn’t even invited her to take a walk, let alone go to his bedroom. He’d basically said she could bring him free food whenever she wanted.
When she was safely in her car with the door closed, she said, “Asshole” aloud. What did she expect? That kiss after the bike ride had obviously just been one of those moments. Women who hadn’t had sex in three years didn’t give off sexy vibes. He hadn’t even asked her to write her phone number down.
She refused to cry over something so stupid. Her face felt frozen as she drove away, back into town where her own little condo was. She’d gotten a great deal on a foreclosure near Crescent Bay back when the housing market had fallen apart the last time. It wasn’t a forever kind of place, since it only had one bathroom and a tiny second bedroom she used for an office, but it was great for single life. Dinner parties were a snap since the kitchen was generously sized for the space, and her picture window looked out on the courtyard of the complex.
Laguna Beach: A Treasure in Laguna (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 4
