by Quinn, Taryn
“I got it handled, Killer.” I kissed her again.
“Hmm.”
“Go talk to MB. Things are looking up. We should celebrate. Come to dinner at my house tonight.” I brushed my nose along hers. “Stay over.”
“Like a sleepover?”
“Yeah. A sleepover.”
“All right. We can do that. I’ll make sure I have coverage for the early shift.”
I lifted her onto her toes again. “Perfect. I might even make you my famous pancakes.”
Her lips twitched, but she cupped my face, brushing her thumbs over my beard. My damn heart turned over. “Looking forward to it.” She kissed me, then stepped back. “I’ll bring the coffee though.”
I laughed. Damn right she would.
Sixteen
Gideon’s hand slipped up my inner thigh. “When I said sleepover, I didn’t mean work all night.”
I tried to ignore his hand for my search history on my laptop screen. “Almost done. When we were decorating the hutch, I saw your Halloween candy. I’m impressed with your selection by the way.”
He flicked my hair back over my shoulder to get to skin. “I have a pair of Halloween-crazy girls in my life. You think I’m going to skimp on it?”
“You are a smart guy.” I glanced over to where he was pulling my sweater down for more access. When his clever hand snuck into the opening, I hissed out a breath as he ran the back of his knuckles over my nipple. “Distracting as well.”
“Then I’m doing my job.”
I tried to focus on Trick or Treat. Finding the paperwork for that business on the edge of town was becoming an obsession. Something about it kept niggling at me. “I just want to know who freaking owns it. And this stupid site gives me no freaking details. Isn’t it supposed to be public record?”
He sighed and peered at my screen. “Well, that’s because he used a registered agent.” He went for my neck and did that bite-nibble thing that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
“What the heck does that mean?” My limited scope on business terms sometimes bit me in the ass. I researched what I needed to know when I needed to know it. Otherwise, it was boring as fuck.
He closed the laptop. “It means the owner doesn’t have to use his real name.” He set the computer on his side table. “And it’s time for work to be over.” He rolled me under him and peeled open my slouchy cardigan. “I do love finding your version of lingerie, Killer.”
“Shut up.” I pulled him down. “You like my pussy tank tops.”
He laughed into my mouth. “The first part is right.”
I sifted my fingers through his hair. “We don’t get to do this in a bed very often.”
“I know. Why I wanted you to sleep over.” He inched over until he was seated between my thighs. “I like it. And I have a very nice bed.”
I snuggled down in the crisp navy sheets. “Gotta agree. I was expecting white hotel sheets, to be honest.”
His cheeks grew ruddy. “I bought these last week.”
I laughed and curled my arms around his neck. “Now that’s my Gideon.”
“Shut up. White goes with everything.”
I buried my face in his neck and drew in his fresh-from-the-shower scent. It had been the perfect evening. Dinner had been meatloaf and mashed potatoes that Karen and Dani had proudly made for us. Now that the soft opening for The Haunt was practically on top of us, it was harder to keep track of Dani in the café.
Luckily, Karen, Dani’s usual babysitter, was finally strong enough to take over when we needed her to.
We. God, I was already thinking in we.
We’d been stealing moments in between working, setting up, and my training sessions with my new employees. A few people like Rylee and Clara were pulling double duty at both places. Clara wanted full-time hours, and she’d become a solid employee at Brewed Awakening.
If I was lucky, I could possibly train her to be the head waitress. She was quickly growing a spine, but still had a healthy respect for my wrath. As one should.
“Hey,” Gideon lifted his mouth from his very active exploration of my chest. “Where did you go?”
“Right here.”
“No.” He dragged my tank down enough to suck my nipple hard. “You are definitely somewhere else.”
I combed my fingers through his hair. “And why would you say that?”
“Because you’re not making that little purring hum you make when I…there it is.”
I sighed and let Gideon’s very talented mouth drag me out of my head. “Sorry, my brain is like that stupid dog in Up.”
“Man, she made you watch that?”
I shrugged. “It was a good movie. A little sad, but really good.” Damn Pixar movies.
He inched down and dragged his chin over my belly. “Let’s see if I can distract you.”
I tried to grab his ears, but he wiggled further down and nipped my inner thigh. All thoughts of work and the scary we word dissolved. “Do you really want me to scream my head off while your kid is sleeping across the hall?”
“Lucky for you, she sleeps hard.” He grinned up from between my legs. “Lift.”
I gnawed on my lower lip, but I lifted my hips for him to rid me of my panties. And then there was blissful mindlessness.
The soft heat of his tongue and the tickle of his beard had me arching under his touch. I tried to reach toward him, but he stretched my legs out so he could wedge his massive shoulders between them to keep me in place. I cupped my breasts and tugged at my nipples to release some of the crazy ache.
He watched me, his eyes blazing with that dominant streak that came out every once in awhile. This was the Gideon who’d fucked me to within an inch of my life in his truck, then held me while I cried.
I rolled my hips against his mouth, searching for that combination that would let me freaking come, but Gideon had other plans. He kept backing off and letting me coast on the frustrating edge before driving me back up again with his long, thick fingers and perfectly rough tongue.
“Jesus.” I arched and grabbed for anything above my head. I found the heavy headboard with sturdy slats for me to hang onto. He moved to his knees and held me splayed open as he filled me with his fingers and lapped at me. I was beyond blind and incapable of watching at this point.
I was in survival mode as I thrashed under his touch.
“Fucking come, dammit,” he said before he sucked on my clit hard enough that I saw all the damn angels and stars in the freaking sky. I hoped to freaking hell I wasn’t really screaming because in my head I certainly was.
“Yes.”
I wasn’t sure if he said it or me, but it was a fuck, yes. I came so hard my breath stopped, and the world went black and silent.
Then he was over me. Inside me. The part of him I needed most finally filling me up.
I wrapped my legs around his hips as he drove into me, bracing one arm on the headboard to create even more of an angle. I tore at his back, bit his shoulder and neck. I tasted myself on his beard as our kisses became erratic and wild.
He wrapped one big arm under me and held me close as he battered me into the mattress with every ounce of the passion that always seemed to sneak up on us. And for the first time, I wished there was no condom. Nothing between us.
I held on as I broke again, but this time, he was with me.
He threw back his head and the cords in his neck stood out in stark relief before those crazy green eyes that I loved so damn much zeroed in on me. He touched his forehead to mine as he gathered me in close and collapsed on me for a moment.
I laughed and let out a strangled, “oof.”
He grunted and rolled us over until I sprawled across him. “I might need another shower after that one.”
“Showoff.”
He laughed and slipped out from under me to take care of the condom. When he came back from the bathroom, he grinned down at me. “I like you in my bed, Mace.”
“If those are the perks, I’m l
iking it quite a bit myself.”
“Shove over. I’m not one of your cats who’s happy with a slice of the bed.”
“Ah, you’ve never slept with a cat before. It’s the human that gets a slice, not the cat.” But I moved over and we settled in. Surprisingly, a heavy male arm around me worked as the cure for insomnia.
Or maybe it was the orgasms because the next thing I knew, the alarm next to his bed was blaring. I peeled one eye open and then sat up like a shot before I remembered I didn’t have to be at the café. I hadn’t slept until six-thirty in the morning in…
I couldn’t even remember.
I was then ceremoniously body-slammed into the mattress again.
“It’s not time yet,” Gideon grumbled into my neck as he spooned around me.
“Then why did you set your alarm?”
“Because if I don’t set my alarm, I’ll sleep until nine.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t usually sleep.”
“You were out.” He wound his arms around my waist and cupped my breast. “So, my orgasms are a sleeping pill?”
“Not sure there’s anything to preen about with that statement, pal.”
“Fucked you into a coma? Yeah, I’m good with that.”
I elbowed him and squeaked when he bit the back of my neck.
A knock came at the door. “Dad! Dad! Wake up.”
I stilled and hiked the sheet up to my chin. “Oh my God.”
“She doesn’t—”
The door flew open and Dani held out her arms. “You guys are still in bed?”
“Is she like this all the time?” I asked out of the side of my mouth.
“Nope. Special case, evidently.”
“Go start the batter. It’s a pancake morning.”
“Yes!” Dani turned on her heel before her stomping footsteps receded down the hall.
Gideon’s hand firmed on my breast. I elbowed him. “Are you kidding?”
He laughed. “What? You haven’t heard of a quickie?”
“Not that quick, buddy.” I slipped out of bed and grabbed my bag before bolting for the bathroom.
“Damn, you’ve got a nice ass,” he yelled after me.
I was smiling as I dug my way through my overnight bag.
“I’ll go down and start breakfast. You gonna take a shower?”
“Yes.” I opened the door to peek out. He was wearing ancient sweatpants and a wrinkly white shirt. His hair was sticking up and he was stupidly attractive. Me? I was afraid to look in the mirror. I knew what I looked like in the morning.
It wasn’t hot.
“Give me fifteen.”
His eyebrow went up. “Really?”
“I mean, I can probably do ten.”
He laughed. “You do know who I used to live with. I was expecting an hour.”
“What part of me seems like it would take an hour? I’m nothing like that—”
He reached in and pulled me through the small space. “Nothing about you is like my ex. That’s why I...like how we are so much.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Like how we are, huh?”
“You really want me to go there this morning, Macy?”
That was a no times three-thousand. I wiggled out of his arms and closed the door in his face. “I’ll be downstairs in fifteen.”
I actually made it in ten. My wet hair was pulled back in a tail, and I hadn’t bothered with makeup. I followed the scent of bacon and paused at the kitchen doorway. Gideon had a towel tucked into the front of his sweats, and the radio was playing.
Dani was conducting with a spatula as One Direction sang, “Olivia”. She was singing at top volume and Gideon was laughing at her.
It was so obvious that he loved her. It was always obvious, but he knew the words to the song too.
Dani spotted me and jumped off her stool. “Macy, you took forever.”
I tugged on her ponytail. “I barely had time to put my jeans on since you interrupted.”
“There’s no sleeping on sleepovers, didn’t you know?”
I laughed and caught Gideon’s gaze across the room. Definitely wasn’t touching that one. “Smells amazing in here.”
“Dad’s making his pancakes. Do you like bacon?”
“I love bacon and all forms of meat.”
Gideon’s lips twitched. “Well, you’re in luck. I also put the electric kettle on so you could make coffee in the French Press.”
“Look at you all fancy.”
He shrugged. “Only way I’ve figured out to make my coffee taste remotely like yours.”
“I’m sure you still fail spectacularly.”
“You’re a hard woman, Macy.”
But there was nothing but humor in his voice so I didn’t bristle up. Instead, I crossed to the man holding out a piece of perfectly crispy bacon for me. Perfect enough for me to eat it even before coffee was saying something.
He stole a kiss before I got the bacon and I wasn’t mad about it.
Dani happily chirped about school and buying more decorations for the house. I’d helped attack the dining room with decorations Dani had dragged out from the attic last night, but she wanted more that were like mine at the store.
“It’s a little late in the season, but that usually means we can get a good deal.” I took a healthy sip of my coffee. “We’ll go this week.”
“Awesome.” Dani stabbed her fork through a heart-shaped mini pancake.
Gideon’s phone started buzzing halfway through the meal. He tried to ignore it, but it kept going off. He looked down at it finally when it turned into a phone call instead of his text message tone. “I should take this.”
“About The Haunt?”
He shook his head. “For once, no.”
Unlike him to not give specifics. The back of my neck buzzed, but I forced myself to ignore the sensation.
He looked at his watch and swore. “I’ve got to take her to school.”
“I’ll take her on my way.”
“Really?”
I shrugged. No big. “Yeah, sure.”
He growled at his phone ringing in his hand again. “That would help me a ton.” He gave me a distracted kiss on the cheek and stalked out of the room.
I gathered the dirty dishes on my way to the dishwasher. “Guess it’s you and me, kiddo.”
“Can we listen to One Direction in the car?”
I laughed. “Only if you clear the table.”
She raced around the table and collected cups and dishes at a truly impressive rate of speed.
“And if you know all the words.”
Dani grinned. “Alexa play ‘Drag Me Down’.”
And look at that, she knew all the words.
Seventeen
I flipped my keys back and forth around my finger as I paced outside the front of the Rusty Spoon. As usual, Jessica was late. Fucking hell.
My gut churned. Again, she hadn’t given me anything to go on. In fact, she’d deliberately left the entire meeting vague. I’d been so pissed off that she had intruded on what had been a perfect morning, I’d made her meet me at the diner. In hindsight, that probably wasn’t my finest moment.
Especially since Macy was right across the damn street and I hadn’t told her about seeing Jessica.
Hell, I should have told Macy right when I got the call. Instead, I’d run into the other room. Hiding it like some dirty secret.
And it wasn’t. I didn’t care about Jessica in the least, but I cared that she’d try to take Dani from me. That was the only thing I could focus on right now. I’d do whatever it took to change her mind about adjusting custody.
She’d left us high and dry for weeks after her little bombshell.
And now she thought she could snap her fingers and make me come to heel? Yeah, that wasn’t happening. My keys snapped together louder as I kicked a leaf out of my path.
Finally, a black Escalade pulled up. At least it wasn’t a freaking limo this time.
I shoved my hands into my Carhartt jacket p
ockets as she waited for the driver to walk around the SUV to open the door. I sure as hell wasn’t going to be her lackey again. Once upon a time, I’d done everything I could to please that woman.
Now all I could think about was what was the quickest and least traumatic way to get her out of my life again. I hated thinking that way about my child’s mother, but every time she came back into Dani’s life, things went very sideways.
Dani loved her mother—of course she did, and she should. However, Jessica looked at motherhood more like a weekend at a spa with a little girl to play dress up with. She didn’t do discipline. It was far easier for her to shower Dani with gifts than to find a way to be a true mother.
I wasn’t even sure Jessica knew what reality was any longer. She certainly didn’t fit the part of the up and coming actress I’d met all those years ago. That Jessica had been more down to Earth. More accessible and less plastic.
My eyebrows rose as she stepped onto the sidewalk with a little sneer at the gazebo swathed in orange and purple lights for Halloween. She handed the driver her bag then swiped her…was that a cape?
Jesus.
She swung some extra long part of it over her shoulder and it draped over her lush body as if she’d just stepped off the runway. Add in the slouchy hat that seemed improbably placed on her head and the yard of blond hair, and I didn’t recognize any part of this woman.
She took her bag back and flitted her fingers at the driver. The guy nodded at her and returned to the driver’s side, got in, then pulled away from the curb.
Well, shit. That didn’t bode well for a quick conversation.
I sighed and opened the door to the diner. “Nice of you to make it.”
“Don’t give me that snide tone, John.” She swept by me on a cloud of expensive perfume.
I sighed and followed her inside. She paused in the vestibule for a moment before stalking down between the row of tables to a booth in the back.
“Hey, Gideon.” Gina Ramos came through the swinging doors. “I didn’t know you were coming in today. Thought you only came in when we had the roast beef special.”
“Macy keeps me fed with trying out her new menu items for The Haunt’s opening.”
