Boxed Set: Intercepted by Love (The Complete Collection): Books One - Book Six

by Rachelle Ayala

  He moved Andie’s purse from hanging in back of her chair to the basket in the stroller. The bag lady might be honest, but Cade had enough street smarts to take precautions. After all, he grew up in the big city, not a tiny hamlet like Itasca, where people left their backpacks on the floor outside of a store when shopping.

  Andie seemed not to notice as she licked her spoon, an expression of heavenly joy beaming from her face. “I’m sure Bonnie loves this, too. She’s hopping and kicking up a storm.”

  “More like it’s the sugar.” Cade held onto his bouncing son while trying to spoon feed ice cream into his mouth. The kid insisted on grabbing the spoon and smearing chocolate over Cade’s face instead of his own. “Thanks for getting the license.”

  “Sure, it’s not like I don’t want to marry you.” Andie smiled and moaned over the chocolate. “We have to be sure the timing’s right and not rush things.”

  “If you want to marry me, why don’t we do it tomorrow? I have the mayor lined up.”

  Andie’s mouth turned down, and she left the spoon hanging in midair. “This is my wedding we’re talking about. A once in a lifetime, er, okay, so it’ll be my second one, but this time, I want to do it right. None of this rushing to the chapel thing for me.”

  “Uh, I agree.” Cade couldn’t help chuckling. “Don’t worry. I’m not as tacky as your ex, dragging you off to an Elvis Presley wedding chapel. What did he do? Perform the Hound Dog song?”

  Andie shoved him. “Who told you to watch the video?”

  “Your mom had it in the den. If she’d let me stay in the same room with you …”

  “What else have you been snooping into?”

  “How old were you before you grew hair?” He grabbed a spoon and dipped it into her lava cake, stealing a chunk.

  “Oh, for that, I’m going to make you pay.” Andie flung her flaming red hair over her shoulder. “I mean it, blue eyes.”

  “Ready to head over to your parents’ place?” Cade deflected the evil eye she was giving him. After all, he’d gotten what he wanted, grouchy Andie or not. The license was in his hot big hand, and by tomorrow, he’d have sweet talked, or sweet licked, or sweet fucked her into the institution of holy matrimony.

  “I know what you’re thinking.” Andie swirled her long spoon in the ice cream her cake was embedded in. “And it’s ‘no,’ you’re not going to whisper sweet nothings in my ear and get me to do the eloping, justice of the peace thing.”

  “Then why don’t you set a date?” Cade grumbled. Out of the corner of his eye, he spied the shabby woman push her chair back, almost hitting the back of Andie’s chair. She “dropped” a napkin, and proceeded to pick it up slowly.

  Yep. If he hadn’t moved the purse, she would have picked Andie’s wallet. The woman’s hair was stringy long, in need of a wash, and obviously dyed, with long bangs covering her face in addition to the baseball cap. Not wanting to stare, he put his attention back on Andie. “So, set a date, already.”

  “I can’t.” Andie avoided his gaze. “I just don’t know.”

  “Know what? Andie? What don’t you know?” He breathed with relief when the would-be pickpocket shuffled toward the door. Without seeming obvious, Cade checked the stroller basket. Nothing was missing. Good.

  “The date, that’s all.” Andie spooned a large scoop of ice cream into her mouth and cringed, shuddering, as if someone had walked over her grave.

  What was she hiding?

  Chapter 4

  “Happy Birthday!!!” An entire crowd of people greeted Andie as Cade helped her through the front door of her parents’ house in Itasca. Standing behind her father and mother were several coworkers from The Love Lives of King David production she was working on before the show was cancelled.

  “Papa!” Andie opened her arms and rushed toward her father who hunched over his walker. He’d had a stroke a little over a year ago and had been wheelchair bound until Cade’s celebrity status opened the doors to an expensive stroke rehabilitation center.

  “Happy Birthday, my darling. When and who are you today?” His speech was slow and slurred, but so much better than when he had to use a speaking device. Andie’s father was an archaeologist, and he and Andie enjoyed historical reenactments of their favorite personalities and cultures.

  “Not one of King David’s wives, that’s for sure.” Andie hugged him tightly. “I’m proud to be Antoinette Marie Wales, soon to be Prescott.”

  Beside her, Cade greeted her father and shook his outstretched hand. “Dr. Wales, it’s so good to see you on your feet again.”

  “You just wait. Soon, I’ll be walking my daughter down the aisle.” Her father jiggled the walker. “This morning, I took two steps without this thing.”

  “Wow, that’s great.” Andie clasped her hands together. “This is wonderful news.”

  “Parts of my leg and one foot are numb, so it’s hard for me to balance,” her father explained. “But they have this machine that supports my weight while I practice moving my legs. I look like a robot strapped into all the mechanical braces.”

  “He’s practicing for hours every day. Those therapists work him hard,” Andie’s mother said, wiping her hands on her apron. “You should be proud of your dad.”

  “Oh, I am.” Andie hugged her mother. Hopefully he’d be ready to walk her down the aisle soon. Knowing how her father was, he’d want to ditch the walker rather than use it in front of everyone. “I’m real proud of him and grateful to you, Mom, for taking care of everyone.”

  “That’s what I’m here for,” her mother said. “How’re you feeling? How’s the baby?”

  “All okay. I’m not sure I needed the bedrest. No contractions. Kick counts on target.” She kissed her mother on the cheek.

  “Well, I’ll let you greet your guests.” Mother stepped back. “We were pleased as punch when your former coworkers showed up. They’ve been holed up in the basement with my pinball machine.”

  “Sylvia!” Andie held her arms out for her best friend from Hollywood, Sylvia Miyamoto.

  “You’re looking so awesome.” Sylvia hugged Andie. Behind her stood Leroy Chan, the King David expert who had been the scriptwriter for the show.

  “I’m so surprised you all flew out here,” Andie exclaimed. “It’s only a birthday party.”

  “We were in the area,” Sylvia said, bouncing on her heels.

  “We wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Leroy held out his arms for a quick hug. “You’d have made an awesome, blushing Princess Michal on her wedding day to King David.”

  “We never did get to shoot that scene,” Andie said, unable to help sighing. “Although I must say we set up the wedding tent so lavishly.”

  “Everything was exactly the way you dictated,” Leroy said. “Down to the details of the bronze mirrors and Michal’s jeweled sandals.”

  “Yep, no glass back then,” Andie said. “What are you working on now?”

  Leroy snatched a glance at Sylvia, and something seemed to pass between them. Were they dating? Was there something they weren’t telling her?

  “Okay, what’s up?” Andie crossed her arms and looked from one to the other.

  “Nothing, nothing at all.” Sylvia seemed to be sizing up Andie, her curious eyes traversing her from head to shoulder to large bosom to pregnant belly.

  “Well if it isn’t the chip off the old block,” a familiar voice said, sounding from the door.

  “Ronaldo,” Cade said, holding Bret for his buddy to greet. “What a surprise.”

  Ronaldo Silver had been the boss and producer for Andie and her group back in Hollywood.

  “Wow, he’s getting big.” Ronaldo shook the little guy’s hand. “And what big blue eyes you have.”

  Bret drooled and stuffed his other fist into his mouth. He’d been trying to pop his first tooth.

  Ronaldo made a show of studying Cade’s ring finger. “No ring? Not even your Super Bowl ring?”

  “Not yet. The ring ceremony’s mid-June.”

&nbs
p; “So, I take it you’ll get your wedding ring first.” Ronaldo gave Andie a side-eyed look.

  “Depends on whether she plans the wedding or not.” Cade shrugged, giving her a long suffering glance.

  “Who says she has to plan the wedding?” Ronaldo fist bumped Cade. “You’ve got time in the off-season. Oh, and now that you’re the hot man of the hour, I bet there’ll be any number of wedding consultants who’d offer up their services to you for free. You’re Super Bowl MVP. You proposed on TV. What a story.”

  “That’s an idea,” Sylvia said, inserting herself between Ronaldo and Cade. “I can do all of the costume designs.”

  “And I can write the script,” Leroy chimed in.

  “We might be able to spare a set down at The Lakeside Theater,” Ronaldo added.

  “Lakeside Theater?” Andie asked. Was this why her friends were here in upstate New York? “What are you guys filming?”

  “Not filming,” Sylvia said. “We’re doing a series of plays for the summer. Ronaldo here’s designing the set.”

  “Set design?” Cade asked his friend. “I thought you were a producer.”

  Ronaldo’s lips pressed together, grimacing. “Doing penance. After my aunt found out about Dick and Barbara and their love child, you, she assigned me to revitalize the summer theaters in upstate New York. We have locations in Skaneateles, the Catskills, and here in Itasca. She’s always had fond memories of her summers as a child in New York.”

  “Ha, ha, more like it’s exile for you,” Cade said. Everyone knew how much Ronaldo loved the Hollywood scene.

  “Exile or not, this thing is happening,” Ronaldo said, puffing his chest. “Set the date, and I’ll plan the wedding for you two, as a present.”

  Cade’s eyes widened, and he stared at his friend and then at Andie. “You think?”

  “Um … well, it’s an attractive offer,” Andie said. “Except I haven’t set a date.”

  “Why not?” Sylvia looped her arm over Andie’s shoulder. “Cold feet already?”

  “She wants my mother to attend,” Cade said. “And no one knows where she is.”

  “You should find her then,” Ronaldo said. “That shouldn’t be too hard.”

  “Wait, whoa there,” Andie cut in. “Aren’t you working with the FBI? Do you know something we don’t?”

  “Not me, but my brother, Fernando. The FBI’s still very interested in Barbara Prescott’s testimony.”

  “I thought all the perps were caught,” Andie said. “Rob Cash is in jail, Roxanne has probation, Devon’s in jail, and Dick is dead.”

  “Oh, those were just the little fish,” Ronaldo said. “Itty bitty tiny minions. The real kingpins are much more mysterious. Fernando’s been tracing the money trail, and it’s all leading back to someone big in Los Angeles having to do with the revitalization projects and money laundering. Bribes are being paid to city council members and environmental impact reports are being fast tracked. Have you ever wondered how they were able to build a football stadium on Lake Hollywood? Anyway, there’s more at stake, including a big project on Griffith Hills and a new financial district. It might even mean leveling Chinatown and moving it south to Monterey Park.”

  Cade swallowed, shaking his head. “Wouldn’t it be dangerous for my mother to return if she was involved with these bad guys?”

  “We can fix that,” Ronaldo said. “Once she returns and fingers the bad guys, we can change her appearance and give her an entire new life, including a story for why she’s associated with you two and your babies.”

  Andie’s heart leaped at the chance. She’d do anything to redeem Cade’s mother and give her a new lease in life. She looked at Cade expectantly. “Isn’t this a good thing? We should do it.”

  Cade’s face turned grim, and he clenched his fists, blowing out a harsh breath. “Absolutely not. Wherever my mother is, let her stay away. If she’s safe, that’s all I care about. You guys can plan a wedding for Andie and I’ll go along with it, but keep my mother out of it. That’s non-negotiable.”

  Chapter 5

  The next day, Andie and Sylvia sat at a table on the wraparound porch of the Lakeside Café. The weather had warmed up into the mid-sixties. For upstate New Yorkers, it meant flip-flops, sundresses, and sandals. Sylvia, however, was huddled inside a warm sweater while complaining about the nippy breeze coming off the water.

  Cade had taken baby Bret for the day to let Andie have time to catch up with her girlfriend and show her the sights around Canandaigua Lake and Itasca University.

  “I can’t believe all the varieties of ice cream out here,” Sylvia twirled her spoon in her carrot mango and blood orange rhubarb scoops.

  “It’s like the food trucks you have in LA.” Andie alternated licks between the rosewater kiwi and jasmine tea Nutella concoction double-decked on her marzipan flavored waffle cone. “The university has a dairy farm on campus, and the students mix and match flavors for special projects.”

  “Yum, it’s like macarons. I love the burst of flavor from each tiny cookie.” Sylvia moaned over her bright red and orange ice cream. “They really hit the taste buds hard.”

  “Love it, and so does little Bonnie.” Andie licked a drop from the ridged cone, and rubbed her abdomen where Bonnie was dancing a jig. “Besides, she’s my excuse to indulge.”

  The two friends fell silent while savoring the strange tasting ice cream combinations. White fluffy clouds drifted across the sky over the lake and the water shimmered prettily. Birds chirped and sang in the trees which were budding with fresh green after a harsh, icy winter. Busybody squirrels scurried and scampered up the tree trunks, and the scent of spring flowers and damp earth signaled the start of the new growing season.

  Sylvia, who used to wear outlandish costumes, clothes cut in half and stitched with another half of a mismatched outfit, was wearing regular single-colored jeans and a heather gray sweater. Even Leroy, the King David expert, who dressed in flamboyant ancient Israeli garb, had worn normal clothes to the party the day before.

  “I’m so happy you and Leroy will be around this summer,” Andie said. “Are you two, like, going out?”

  “What makes you think that?” Sylvia dabbed a spot of orange from her chin. “When Ronaldo’s aunt offered him this special project, he recruited us right away. We were both waiting tables and jumped at the opportunity.”

  “So, there’s nothing going on between you two?”

  “Why would you suspect that?” Sylvia widened her eyes in an overtly innocent expression.

  “Just wondering why you both are dressed normally. I mean, not that what you used to wear was not normal, but you have to admit, you and Leroy looked like a perpetual Comic-Con convention was in town back in California.”

  Sylvia wiped her hand over her naturally curly hair. “People in upstate New York are so conservative, they kept trying to direct us to the airport, thinking we were on our way to a foreign land.”

  “I can picture you two being escorted by Homeland Security.” Andie chuckled, waving her hand back and forth. “Speaking of fashion faux pas, don’t look now, but there’s a woman wearing hot pink leggings, oh gosh, check out the panty lines.”

  Sylvia swiveled in her seat, swiping a napkin from the next table. “Didn’t anyone tell her halter tops went out with the last rotary phone?”

  “What’s with the floppy plastic Easter hat?” Andie suppressed a snort. “Oh, no, she’s coming our way.”

  “Uhm, uhm, uhm,” Sylvia grunted. “She’s lucky she isn’t wearing those blue and red checkered bandanas in LA.”

  Andie lowered her face as the woman sauntered past them, taking a seat at the next table. She returned her focus to her friend. “Speaking of you and Leroy … Spill. All during my party, you two were exchanging secret glances, like you’re up to something.”

  “Oh, hell no.” Sylvia sat up straighter. “We’re not up to anything except helping you plan your wedding.”

  “And here I thought you were helping Ronaldo with the summ
er lakeside theater.”

  “There’s that, of course.” Sylvia’s eyes flitted across her face. She was definitely hiding something. “So, what’s the real reason you’re not setting a date?”

  “Cade told you already. I want his mother to attend.”

  “Then set a date and send out invites, announce it on social media. Maybe she’ll contact you.”

  Andie squirmed in her seat, staring at the glittering rock on her ring finger, feeling the heat broil her face. She really did want to marry Cade, but would it work out? Would they stay together through thick and thin the way her parents had? Or would one of them be sacrificing for the other, only to end up dumped?

  “Well? Are you afraid of marrying Cade?” Sylvia asked.

  Strange how a best friend always knew.

  “All this doesn’t feel real.” Andie’s throat tightened.

  “Hello? Girl? The rock? The baby? The whole nine yards? The Super Bowl MVP? You should be on cloud nine.”

  “And I am, which is why it doesn’t feel real.” Andie lowered her voice. “I married Declan three years ago, and it feels like it was only yesterday.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa there, girl.” Sylvia’s sat up straighter. “You’re not still hung up on that clown, are you?”

  “Of course not, but even though I remember everything, the concussion knocked a couple of years out of my life, so all I remember are events, like names and dates in a history book. What if I don’t really remember everything? There are still blanks in my mind.”

  “But you love Cade, you know that.”

  “I believe I do.”

  “You believe you do? Wait, is there a snake in paradise? Have you been speaking to Declan?”

  “Of course not.” Andie turned her partially melted ice cream cone into a paper cup. “I just don’t see what Cade sees in me.”

  “He thinks the world of you, Andie. The world. He proposed on worldwide TV. He loves you.”

  “But why?” Andie hated the pathetic sound coming from her throat. “I bet you think I’m so lame, but the same thing happened with Declan. He was way out of my league, and he married me.”