by Leanne Banks
“But he is your baby’s father,” her mother said. “He has some responsibilities.”
“I wish he wasn’t Piper’s father. I wish her father was someone more responsible, mature. Someone who adored her.” A lump of emotion caught in her throat. “I wish—” she said, her voice breaking. She took a deep breath. “It doesn’t matter what I wish. I’m probably never going to find anyone that loves me and Piper, and I need to stop whining about it. Piper and I are so blessed that my family loves us and supports us.”
“Well, of course we love you,” her mother said. “But you’re young, and you have a long life ahead of you. You’ll find someone—”
“I don’t think so,” Stacey interrupted. “I can’t count on that. I can’t hope for it. I’ve just got to focus on doing the right thing for Piper, and I think tutoring is the right thing.”
“If you’re sure,” her mother said. “And you know I’m happy to babysit for Piper anytime you need.”
“Thank you, but I’m hoping I can do this while she’s napping,” Stacey said.
Her mother studied her for a long moment. “I worry that you don’t get out with people your age very much. You and Rachel see each other now and then, but not that often. I wondered if you and Colton might be getting friendly.”
“Oh, no. He was just trying to be nice and brotherly,” she said, although her teeth ground together when she said it.
“If you say so,” her mother said. “There’s no reason you two can’t enjoy each other as friends.”
“Hmm. We’ll see,” Stacey said in a noncommittal voice. “At the moment, I need to make some copies of these posters and call in some favors from my teacher friends.”
“All right. You sound like a busy girl. Are you still going to make desserts for the Winter Festival?” her mother asked.
“That’s next week and I’ve already got it on my calendar,” Stacey said. “I’ve got it under control.”
Stacey did her best to stay busy during the next days. She didn’t want to think about Colton. She couldn’t help feeling dumped. Thank goodness, no one except she and Colton knew what had happened between them. The longer the time passed, the more she knew, for certain, that now that he’d indulged his passion for her, he was done with her. She would have felt a bit more used if she didn’t recall how much pleasure she’d experienced with him. Every once in a while, a stray image crossed her mind of the way he’d felt in her arms, the way he’d kissed and caressed her. Every time she had one of those thoughts she wanted to stomp it from her mind the same way she would stomp a spider. This was not the time for her to be thinking about her sexual needs.
Darn Colton Foster. Ever since Joe had abandoned her, Stacey had buried all her interest in sex. It hadn’t been that difficult. But being around Colton had brought those emotions back to life, and these feelings were not convenient.
Not at all.
* * *
“Colton, I need you to take my pies to Dessert Booth number three-B at the Winter Festival tomorrow,” Olive Foster said when he walked into the kitchen late Thursday evening.
Colton shook his head. “I’ve got a mile-long list of chores I have to do tomorrow. Maybe Rachel can do it.”
“Rachel is student teaching. She can’t do both,” his mother said. “You’ll only have to be there three hours.”
“Three hours,” he echoed, incredulous. “Why can’t I just drop them off?”
“Because they need people to help work the booth,” she said. “And I’m volunteering to help the handicapped at the festival.”
“You may need to help Dad if he decides to do any of the chores I have planned for tomorrow,” Colton grumbled.
His mother shot him a sharp look. “That’s a terrible thing to say about your father.”
“You know he has a problem with his back, even though he won’t admit it,” he said.
She sighed. “I’ll guilt him into coming with me. That should keep him out of trouble.”
“Kinda like you’re guilting me into working a bake sale?” he returned.
“Colton, you are bordering on being disrespectful. What’s wrong with you lately, anyway? You’ve been as grumbly as a bear with a sore paw. Are you having girl trouble?”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake.” Colton lifted his hand. This was not a conversation he wanted to have with his mother. “Just stop, Mom. I’ll do the darn bake sale.” Hell, he would do ten bake sales as long as he never had to discuss this subject with his mother again.
After lunch, the following day, Colton loaded up his truck with his mother’s apple pies and drove to the Winter Festival. There was already a mile-long line of people waiting to get inside, but since he was a so-called vendor, he walked right in. It took him a while, but he finally found his assigned booth. He set the pies on the card table and turned around to get the second batch.
He was in such a hurry he nearly walked straight into someone just outside the booth.
“Don’t,” she said, and she sounded remarkably like Stacey. He should know since he’d been hearing her voice in his dreams every night. “Don’t knock over the cupcakes,” she said.
Colton grabbed two of the boxes that threatened to fall off the tower of desserts she carried and noticed Stacey was hauling Piper on her back at the same time she carried the desserts. “For Pete’s sake, what are you doing?”
“I brought cupcakes and pies. I couldn’t decide which to bake, so I made both,” she said, striding toward the same booth where he just set down his mother’s apple pies. Stacey frowned, then looked up at Colton. “What are you doing here?”
“My mother guilted me into bringing her pies and working this booth,” he said.
“Well, that’s just great,” Stacey said, clearly disgusted. “Just great.”
“Hey, my mother pushed me into this,” he said. “Don’t blame me.”
“I’m not blaming you for bringing your mother’s pies,” she said, but he could hear she hadn’t finished her sentence. There was more to it.
“You’re blaming me for something,” he said. “I can hear it in your voice.”
“I’m blaming you for not calling me, Colton Foster. That was pretty rotten, unless you just wanted me for a quick roll in the hay,” she said, and turned away from him.
Chapter Seven
Colton thought about responding to Stacey, but he couldn’t find the right words. So he returned to his truck, swearing all the way as he hauled in the second load of pies. How could he explain himself? He wanted her, but he wanted to be sensible. With her history, he thought they should take their time. Plus, there was a baby involved. He didn’t want to mess things up.
“Hey, Colton, you sure you don’t want to share one of those pies with us while we wait out here in the cold?” a neighbor called from the crowd.
Colton paused only a half beat. “I don’t have a fork handy for you,” he said in return.
“I don’t need a fork. I’ll just eat with my hands. I love your mama’s pies,” the neighbor called back.
Colton chuckled despite his black mood and shook his head, walking to the dessert booth he would share with Stacey. His chuckle faded as he reentered the booth and set down the second haul of pies.
“You might want to put those on the table against the wall,” she said as she arranged the desserts on the front table. “We don’t want them to know we have a lot of them. They’ll buy faster if they’re afraid we’ll run out.”
“True,” he said, and moved half the pies to the back table. “Are the cupcakes okay?”
“The frosting on two of them got smashed, but the rest are okay,” she said.
“I can eat the damaged ones,” he offered.
She shot him a disapproving glance. “We may have someone desperate enough to buy them,” she said. “We’re trying to make money for t
he mobile library, not stuff our faces.”
“I wasn’t suggesting we stuff our faces,” Colton said. “I just wanted to stuff mine.”
Stacey rolled her eyes and turned away, but Piper craned her head around to look at him. He couldn’t deny she was cute. She batted her big eyes at him. Colton hid his face in a game of silent peekaboo.
After a few times of peekaboo, Piper let out a gurgling laugh. It was, Colton thought, one of the best sounds in the world. He played peekaboo again, and Piper let out a joyous shriek.
Stacey whipped around and glared at him. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing,” he said. “Nothing.”
“Hmm,” she said in a short, disbelieving tone. “The attendees should be coming through soon.” She turned her back to him again.
Piper looked at Colton, and he wiggled his fingers and smiled at her. She smiled coyly, then giggled.
Stacey glanced over her shoulder at Colton.
“What?” he asked.
She made a huffing sound and turned away to arrange a display of cupcakes. Colton couldn’t help noticing Stacey’s backside. He couldn’t help remembering squeezing her curvy hips as he slid inside....
Colton felt his body instantly respond to the memory and visual. He shifted his stance and cleared his throat. “How have you been doing?”
Stacey immediately whipped around and stared at him with a wide-eyed gaze. “Since when?”
Colton shrugged. “Since last week.”
“Oh, you mean since the day we had sex twice in your bed and you rushed me out the door because you didn’t want your family asking questions and then chose not to call me. Even once.”
Colton’s gut twisted. Just in case he’d wondered, he now knew that Stacey had wanted him to call. He’d been unsure about how she’d felt since he’d taken her in his bed. Before, during and afterward, he’d wished that he could take her somewhere more private, but he’d been so hungry for her, and she’d seemed to feel the same way about him. Someone had to get control in this situation, although he was pretty sure he was nowhere near control. He didn’t know if he could trust Stacey’s feelings for him. To be honest, he wasn’t sure if he was a rebound man for her.
“I wasn’t sure you wanted me to call,” he admitted.
She screwed up her face in a confused expression. “Why would you think that?”
“Well, you left pretty fast,” he said.
“After you pushed me along,” she said.
“I was trying to protect you,” he said. “Did you really want to have to explain to anyone in my family why you were walking out of my bedroom with your hair all messed up and your coat on the floor in the hallway?”
Her hostility lowered a couple of notches. “I guess not,” she said and paused. “But that still doesn’t explain why you haven’t called,” she practically spat at him and turned around as the first attendees began to wander toward their booth.
After that, everything turned into a blur. It seemed that everyone who stopped at the booth wanted a pie or cupcake. The cupcakes went first because they were pretty and inexpensive. Every time Colton sold one of those cupcakes, he had to resist the urge to eat it. Red velvet with cream cheese frosting. His mouth watered. He kept hoping he could persuade Stacey to give him one of the defective cupcakes, but they were moving so quickly that he was losing hope. The booth was so tight she brushed against him every time she moved from the front to the back. He didn’t know which was worse, the temptation of Stacey’s body or of her red velvet cupcakes. Another brush of her sexy hips against his and his question was answered. He wanted Stacey a lot more than he wanted cupcakes.
“I need to ask a favor of you,” she said, pulling at the straps of her baby carrier.
He shrugged. “What do you need?”
“To go to the bathroom. I’d prefer to go without Piper. Can you take her for a bit?” she asked.
“Sure,” he said, feeling lame for not offering sooner. “Can I have one of those cupcakes in exchange? Half?” he added when he saw her frown. He needed some sort of consolation for how much he wanted her and couldn’t have her, although he suspected a cupcake wasn’t going to do the job.
“Half,” she said, and eased the carrier from her shoulders. “You want to put her on your back?” she asked.
“That sounds good,” he said, and turned around so she could help strap the carrier on him.
“I’ll put her so she’s facing away from you. That way she’ll keep her fingers out of your hair. I’ll be back soon,” she said.
“We’ll be here,” he said.
Piper made an indistinguishable noise, but she didn’t cry, so he figured he was good. He continued to sell pies and cupcakes, although the cupcakes were growing scarcer. “I need to put this cupcake in a protective place,” he murmured and hid the treat behind his cup of coffee at the back table.
He smelled a peculiar odor, but was too busy to focus on it when a rush of attendees bought pies. Thank goodness, the pies were popular. Colton couldn’t deny, however, that he was ready for this to be over. He’d rather be driving posts in dry ground than this.
Stacey returned, appearing breathless. “Sorry. The restroom was on the other side, and there was a line.”
“There is always a line for the ladies room,” he muttered and turned his back so Stacey could help disengage him from Piper.
“Oh, no,” she said. “Oh, no.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Is she okay? She’s been quiet for a while.”
“That’s because she fell asleep,” Stacey said.
“And that’s bad because?” he asked.
“That’s not the bad part,” Stacey said. “Piper pooped all over your back.”
“Oh, great,” he muttered. Now he understood the source of the strange odor. “I’m glad someone feels better.”
Colton and Stacey shut down the booth until the next volunteers were scheduled to appear. They were mostly sold out, anyway. Stacey helped Colton out of the baby holster, and she took Piper to the restroom while Colton headed home. This was one of the rare instances that Colton didn’t have a fresh shirt in his car, so he drove with his windows open due to Piper’s stink bomb.
He headed straight for the shower, stuffed the shirt in the washer on rinse, then fixed himself a bowl of soup from the Crock-Pot on the kitchen counter. Colton parked himself in a chair in the den to watch an action movie. He wanted to think about anything except Stacey and Piper, and it wasn’t just because Piper had cut loose on him. He had been trying to dodge his feelings for Stacey since they’d been together, and seeing her today had felt like a slap in the face. Even though he saw his orderly life veering out of control when he was with her, he’d missed her terribly, and now he didn’t know what to do.
A knock sounded, and Colton rose from his chair and opened the door. Stacey stood on the front porch holding a small covered plate. “I’m really sorry about what happened with Piper. It doesn’t happen that often, but, well, babies can be messy. I kept back a couple of the cupcakes for you. I hope you’ll accept them along with my apology.”
His chest tightened at the kind gesture. “That was nice of you,” he said. “Would you like to come in?”
She bit her lip. “I have Piper in the car.”
He hesitated. “Bring her in. There’s chicken noodle soup in the Crock-Pot. I’m just watching a movie.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, her gaze searching his.
“Yeah, I’m sure,” he said.
Stacey returned to the car and pulled Piper from her car seat, along with a diaper bag. Colton rushed to take the bag for her. He wouldn’t admit it aloud, but he was still a little gun-shy with the baby.
Stacey pulled a blanket from the diaper bag and spread it on the floor in the den while Colton ladled soup into a b
owl for her and poured a glass of water. Colton returned to find the baby propped against some kind of pillow thing that kept her from falling over.
“Does she like that?” he asked.
“She can actually sit by herself, but she eventually topples. She didn’t get much of a nap today, so I thought she could use a break,” she said, and placed a couple of toys next to the tot. “I’m hoping for an early night.”
“I’ll say,” he said, and set Stacey’s soup on a tray on the end table.
“Thanks,” she said, taking a seat on the sofa. She took a spoonful of soup. “This is good. It’s nice eating someone else’s food for a change.”
“Yes, it is. That’s probably why my mother does most of the cooking. She’s good at it, so we just let her do it,” he said.
“My brothers don’t cook either. I got more interested in cooking when I went to nursing school,” she said. “Then, after I got engaged, I wanted to take my mother’s recipes with me when I got married. But that didn’t work out,” she said, and took another spoonful of soup.
An uncomfortable silence stretched between them.
“I’m sorry I didn’t call,” he finally admitted. “I wanted to.” How could he tell Stacey that he feared he was a rebound man for her?
She looked up at him in surprise. “You did?”
“Of course I did,” he said. “I didn’t exactly hide how I felt with you when you were in my bed.”
She looked away. “Well, I have a previous experience with someone who wanted to go to bed with me, but then left.”
His gut clenched. “I don’t want you to feel that way, but it just seemed as if everything was moving fast. It was out of control.”
She nodded. “I wanted you, but I didn’t want to want you.”
“Exactly. I wasn’t ready for what I was feeling,” he said.
She gave another slow nod and took another sip of her soup. “Does that mean you want to forget what we did and go back to being friends?”
“That might be like trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube,” he said. “I always want to be your friend, but I’d be lying if I said I don’t want to be more.”
