“Okay,” she said feeling disappointed but understanding where he was coming from. “Let me walk you to the door.”
They made the short trip in silence, but Daisy could hear her heart pounding in her ears. He opened the door to leave, pausing for a moment and turned around. “Goodnight, Daisy. Thank you for the ice cream.”
“Goodnight, Clayton.” Looping her arms around his neck, she stepped forward and kissed him. She could taste his surprise, but it melted away into something sweet and he opened his mouth beneath hers and his arms came up and pulled her body into his. It was one of those kisses that made her forget herself, forget her name, and who she was and where she had been. It was one of those kisses that she didn’t want to stop, but it had to and she stepped away from him and extended her hand.
“Thank you for coming.”
*
“Thanks for letting me borrow some of your tools. I really wanted to make these cradles for the babies,” Alex said to him as they walked down the stairs that led from his apartment to the bakery.
“You can keep those. I have three of everything at this point. You sure you don’t want any help making those cradles? I know you’re better in the kitchen than you are in the tool shed.”
Alex shot him a look. “Just because I’m a pastry chef doesn’t mean I’m not good with my hands. I was there right alongside you working for my father every summer. I could build a house with my bare hands if I wanted to.”
“Okay, cake boy. I just know it’s been a while since you’ve done it. Call me if you need help. You can’t work if you smash your hand with a hammer. You’ve got my sister to take care of now.”
“She takes care of herself,” he grumbled. “I want her to quit her job and lay around all day, but I’m not a stupid man, so I keep that thought to myself.”
“Yeah. If you want to keep your balls, you keep your opinion to yourself. My mother never worked while we were growing up so she was totally dependent on my father. Maggie never wants to be dependent on a man.”
“I know. I don’t want her to be dependent on me, but I want to take care of her. A man wants to take care of the woman he loves and I don’t like it when she comes home exhausted with her feet swollen.”
“Maggie will decide when she’s had enough,” he said. “Don’t push her. She’ll just dig her feet in.”
“I know. She’s stubborn as hell. Just like you. Why didn’t you want me to tell her that my father wants to give you his company? You’re practically running things as it is. And the company is doing great. You’re crazy not to take it.”
“I’ve never wanted to own my own business. But I’ve been offered another job where I would be making more than double what I’m making here.”
“Really?” Alex paused. “Where?”
“Overseas,” he said not wanting to give his brother-in-law too much information.
Clayton saw the concern grow in Alex’s eyes. “You’re going back, aren’t you?”
“I haven’t decided yet. I might not take either offer.”
“I’m not going to tell you what I think. But I’m going to tell you that it would kill your sister if you weren’t here for the birth of our kids. So don’t be a selfish dick and think about her.”
“I haven’t even made a decision yet and even if I go back, I’ll be there when the kids come.”
“If you aren’t, I’m tracking you down and Army Ranger or not, I’m kicking your ass.”
“I’m not going to let my sister down. I told you I wasn’t. I’m a man of my word and I have never done anything for you to think that, so back off.”
“She’s my wife now. You know I have to think about what’s best for her,” he said as they reentered the bakery. “Speak of the devil. There she is.”
She was talking to a customer and for a moment Clayton didn’t recognize who it was until he heard her laugh.
Daisy.
He hadn’t seen her for a few days now, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t crossed his mind on more than a few occasions. There were few kisses that Clayton remembered. His first, that time the girl with the braces bit his lip and made him bleed, and Daisy’s. She had tasted like ice cream, warm melted ice cream and with the way she brought that soft body into his and made those soft breathy moans made it even sweeter. It made him feel like he could live in that kiss.
“I wonder what she’s doing home so early,” Alex said to himself, a worried look on his face. He left Clayton and crossed the room to his wife.
“Are you okay, Mags?” He took her face in his hands and kissed her, ignoring Daisy completely. “Why are you home so early? Are you sick?”
“No, silly. I’m fine. I just took a half day off.”
“You sure?” He kissed her face a few more times. “What can I do for you?”
“I’m fine, but if you really want to do something you can feed me lunch.” She looked back at Daisy. “I’m going to have to cash in on this doting thing while I can. Once the babies come I’m going to be chopped liver.”
“Hi, Daisy,” Alex said. “I didn’t see you there.”
“Really? You must be in love, because I’m kind of hard to miss.”
Clayton walked up behind her then. Her hair was up today in some kind of messy bun that looked sexy on her. She wore a sundress it was black and from far away it looked like it had white and pink flowers on it, but as he got closer he could see there were tiny skulls along with the flowers. He might not have liked that dress on anybody else, but on her it worked.
He was about to call her name to say hello, but the little tattoo at the base of her neck distracted him. It was a tiny pink butterfly with the letters AG beneath it. “I didn’t know you had a tattoo here,” he said to her as he brushed his thumb across it. She caught his hand and held it on her neck as she turned around. “Those are my kid’s initials,” she said with a shy smile. “I got it because she kind of just flew into my life.”
“I like it. You got anymore tattoos in places I haven’t seen?”
“I’d bet you would love to find out.” Again his eyes went to her lips. Those pretty soft lips that he thought about more often than he would like to admit. Those lips he thought about kissing other places on his body.
“I’m guessing you two know each other?” He heard Maggie ask. It was then he realized how close they were standing, with her breasts nearly brushing against his chest. His fingers were curled around the back of her neck and they hadn’t looked away from each other once since he touched her.
“We do,” he said, still looking at Daisy.
“Clayton is my next door neighbor.”
“Oh? You didn’t tell me you lived next door to my brother.”
“I had no idea he was your brother until about a week ago or so.”
“But you moved here six months ago. It just came up?”
“I guess neither one of us is very neighborly.” She looked away from him to Maggie. “We’ll have to work on that. My kid tells me I should make an effort.”
“We’re getting there.” He unwillingly dropped his hand from her neck and took a step away from her. He felt Maggie’s eyes on them and knew he shouldn’t let his sister get any wrong ideas about them, but he didn’t really care what she or his brother-in-law thought. Ever since he kissed her that first time his body didn’t want to stay away from her, even though in his mind he knew all the reasons he should.
“I just stopped by to get biscuits for tonight’s dessert.”
“Biscuits for dessert?” he asked.
She nodded. “I warm them up and serve them with homemade sweetcorn butter and the best damn marmalade on the planet. Come by and I’ll give you one.”
The way she described it made him hungry, but he wasn’t sure if it was for food or just another taste of her lips. “Okay. I didn’t think I would like coconut avocado ice cream but you made me a believer.”
“That’s me.” She gave him a smile so sexy that his groin tightened. “Queen of converting the unwilling.
”
“I’ve got about a half dozen biscuits in the back that were just made,” Alex said. “They’re on the house for the flowers you replaced for my mother-in-law. She loved them. Come with me and I’ll box them up for you.”
“Thank you, Alex. I appreciate that.” She walked away with him.
Maggie pinched him.
“What the hell was that for?” He rubbed his arm.
“When were you going to let me know you had a thing going on with my friend?”
“I don’t have a thing going on with your friend. I didn’t even know she was your friend. In fact I’ve never heard you mention her name before.”
“She shops at my store and supplies the fresh flowers Alex uses on his wedding cakes. Maybe we aren’t friends but we’re friendly and by the way you were looking at her so are you.”
“Looking at her like what?”
“Like she is a bottle of water in the middle of a damn desert.”
He shook his head, slightly annoyed by his sister’s observation. “She’s my neighbor and we’re friendly. I didn’t even know her name until I went into her flower shop. And I’m looking at her that way because she is hot and I’m not dead and I can look at her any damn way I please.”
“She is hot,” Maggie said thoughtfully. “I didn’t think she was your type.”
“What’s my type, Maggie?”
“You know blonde haired, blue eyed, Swedish looking but all American girl types. You know, kind of how you looked before you went all Grizzly Adams and grew all that gross hair.”
“My hair is not gross. I wash it every day and my type is hot. Plus we don’t have a thing going on.”
“No?” She raised her eyebrow and tipped her head to the side. “You want me to hook you up? I’d bet she would go for you. She doesn’t even seem to mind that you look like a caveman.”
“Maggie.” He grasped her shoulders. “You remember when you were nine and I called you a pain in the ass and then you ran and told Mom?”
“Yeah.” She nodded.
“Well, I think you had better get your phone ready because I’m about to call you a big pain in my ass again.”
She grinned up at him. “Now there’s the big brother I used to have. Welcome back. I’ve missed you.”
*
“Are you sure you want to go, Aubrey? Because if you’ve changed your mind, I’ll call up Kenya’s mom and tell her you want to stay home.”
“I want to go, Mama,” she said softly. “Kenya’s mom is going to make us tacos for dinner and then we are going to watch movies and then tomorrow we’re going to the science center because we don’t have school because the teachers have professional development day and you forgot all about it. And I would have to go to work with you tomorrow at the flower shop.”
“All of that is true, but you’ve only slept at Nonna Loretta’s house before and I was just making sure you were ready to sleep over at your friend’s house.”
“I’m ready, Mama. I’m going to sleepaway camp this summer with Kenya. I need to practice.”
“Practice what, Cookie?”
“Being away from you.”
“Oh, knife in my heart, kid. No mama wants to hear that their baby wants to be away from them.”
“Oh, Mama.” Aubrey climbed into her lap. “I love you.”
“You’re smart. Giving me snuggles before you leave me.” She kissed her cheeks a half dozen times. “Next thing I know you’ll be telling me that you want to go to boarding school.”
“Do you want me to stay home?”
Yes! “No. I want you to have fun and see new things and meet new people. I’m proud that I’m raising a very smart independent little woman.”
“I’m glad.”
A car pulled up in front of their house and she knew it was time to let Aubrey go.
An hour later she was standing over her stove making a grilled cheese sandwich for herself when she heard a knock at her door. She turned off the oven, removed the sandwich from the pan and went to answer the door. Daisy had finally learned how not to burn down her kitchen. She probably held the record for most kitchen fires in a year and at this point knew how to put out every type of fire including electrical. Danny used to laugh at her. He joked that she should have joined the fire department. Of course he never attempted to cook either. They ate out a lot.
She reached the door only to see Clayton there and she felt a little rush of excitement, just like she had when she saw him earlier today. When he had brushed his thumb over her tattoo and wrapped his long thick fingers around the back of her neck, when his eyes traveled to her lips as she spoke, when he stood so close to her that she felt the heat of his body burn through her clothes.
“Hi.”
“Hi.” He stood there in a black tee-shirt and jeans, his hands in his pockets and for once he was completely free of paint. “You said something about biscuits for dessert.”
“Oh shit. I did.”
“You forgot.”
“I did, but come in anyway.” She stepped aside. “Aubrey sprung a sleepover on me when I picked her up from school and I got all mixed up and kind of depressed. She’d rather have tacos, watch movies and go to the science center than hang out with her old aunt. Anyways, I didn’t even feed myself, but I can feed you. You like grilled cheese?”
“Those were a lot of words in a row.”
“Your brain too small to keep up with them all?”
He grinned at her, his eyes growing crinkly in the corners and causing her heartrate to speed up just a bit. “I think it can handle them without exploding. Let me process them one at a time. Why are you depressed about the sleepover? Isn’t that what kids do?”
“Yes.” She turned around and led him to the kitchen. “It’s why I let her go. I was the irresponsible sister, you know. I went to college in New Orleans and I nearly flunked out because I went to more parties than classes. My first serious boyfriend was a biker who owned a tattoo shop and had a record longer than my leg. You think I would have learned my lesson, but I married a guy whose idea of a quiet night was only going to two bars. I partied hard. I drank too much. I woke up in places I didn’t recognize and then somebody from social services called me up and offered me a kid. Suddenly my whole life revolved around that kid. I thought I would feel resentful or stifled, but I never did, because she needed me. I got into huge fights about it with my husband, because I replaced him as the most important thing in the world to me. And now she turned seven and she wants to go to sleepovers with her friends and camp in another state. She doesn’t need me like she used to. I know that sounds kind of pathetic, but it is what it is.”
“It doesn’t sound pathetic. I’m thirty-four and my mother still laments over me growing up. Your husband didn’t want you to take her?”
“I didn’t give him a choice in the matter. When they called me I went running. He didn’t want kids and I agreed, but what was I supposed to do? My parents were dead. My sister had just died. Aubrey was all I had left and he was mad at me for taking her, for changing our lives without even asking. And I was mad at him for not understanding why I had to. I think that was the first thing that drove a wedge between us.” She stopped and turned back to look at him. “I don’t even know why I told you that. I’ve never told anyone that.”
“I guess I have one of those faces that make people want to spill their guts.”
“I think you have the exact opposite of one of those faces, but still I find myself over sharing with you.” She smiled self-consciously at him. “I bet you want to run for the hills right about now?”
“No,” he said and she felt relieved. She hadn’t realized how much she didn’t want to be alone that night. “You said something about grilled cheese. I don’t think I can leave without it.”
“Oh, good. Now that you’re here, we can experiment.”
“Experiment?”
“Aubrey is pretty great when it comes to trying new stuff, but the girl likes her grilled cheese with just cheese
. I can make you a grilled provolone with red pepper pesto. Or I make one with Bartlett pears. Or there’s one I’ve been thinking of trying that has apple, cheddar and bacon.”
“You said bacon. Bacon is the magic word.”
“A man after my own heart. Grab an apple. I’ll start on the bacon.” She reached for the freezer, but he grabbed her hand causing her to stop.
“Oh, no, no, no. I make the best bacon in town. You grab the apple. I’ll make the bacon.”
“Okay,” she said hoping she didn’t sound as breathless as she felt. His hands were huge. He was huge and hard and he made her feel small which was hard to do considering that she was the average height and weight of a man. “I have high expectations for this bacon. You better not let me down.”
“I won’t.” His eyes swept her face before he let her go.
He turned out to be more competent in the kitchen than she had expected. After she had peeled and sliced the apple he took over completely, frying the bacon and assembling their sandwiches which looked beautiful when he sliced them in half. “I have to get my phone and take a picture of this.” She grabbed it out of her bag.
“You’re one of those people,” he groaned. “Do you take a picture of every meal and post it on the Internet along with every single thing you have done for the day?”
“No. I take pictures mostly of cake and I keep those just for myself to gaze at longingly when I’m having a bad day. I’m taking a picture of this because no man has ever cooked anything for me. It’s an experience that might not happen again so I should get photographic proof.”
“No man has ever cooked for you?”
“No. My first serious boyfriend’s name was Scar. I would have been lucky if he cut open a can of beans and let me eat out of it. As for Danny, he was the youngest boy in a large Italian family. You think he ever had to lift a finger to feed himself? His mother treated him like a king.” She put her phone down and took a seat at the table beside him.
A Curvy Girl for the Cadet: A Perfect Fit Novella Page 6
