Love, Baby: a Crescent Cove Romantic Comedy Colletion

by Quinn, Taryn

  “Maybe. Then again, I still didn’t know about Dani.”

  He tugged my hair lightly. “And look at that, you like her.”

  “You still didn’t mention her.”

  He sighed. “I didn’t want to know what you’d say, I guess. Everyone knew you didn’t like kids.”

  I rubbed my cheek against his hard chest. “That’s not entirely true. I had one once. Kind of.”

  His fingers paused and I could hear his heart thundering under my ear, but then it evened out and he resumed the steady strokes.

  “I fell in love with one of my brother’s friends. He was always around my house. I kinda always had a thing for Lou, but I figured he wouldn’t want to have anything to do with me.”

  “You have a brother?”

  I lifted my head to rest my chin on my hand so I could look up at him. “Yeah.”

  “You never mention him.” He tucked my hair around my ear.

  “My family is kind of a mess. Some my fault, some not.”

  His gaze was brutally kind. “You can tell me however much you want to. Or none at all if you’re not ready.”

  My eyes burned and I took the easy way out. It was so much easier to tell the story without looking at him. Besides, if I saw pity in his gaze, it would kill me. I laid my cheek back on his chest, this time without the buffer of my hand.

  His steady heartbeat leveled me out.

  “My dad died a few years ago. It was a long, drawn out process that put a lot of stress on the whole family. Nolan—my brother—got out as soon as humanly possible. He hated my dad. Most of us did, to be truthful. But not my mom. She loved him so hard, even at his worst.”

  Gideon’s arms tightened around me.

  “It wasn’t like he was abusive or anything like that. Unless you count abusing himself. Which he did spectacularly. Drugs, alcohol, you name it, he tried it. But all that junk wasn’t what killed him, at least not directly.”

  “What it did to his actual body.”

  “Guessed it in one. Namely, his heart. Medical bills and medications just put everyone through the wringer. My mom worked three different jobs to keep a roof over our heads. When he died, I mostly just felt relief.” I slipped my hand under Gideon’s shirt. I needed more than just the grounding of his heartbeat. I needed his warm skin.

  He cupped the back of my head, massaging lightly.

  “Nolan couldn’t stand to be in the apartment. He took off before our dad died. He took whatever jobs he could. Sometimes he sent some back to help us, but mostly, it was to pay for his real love. He was—is still—an amazing artist. That crazy espresso machine I have? He built that out of an old machine. Boosted it and improved it to handle my style of espresso beans. Then made it badass. It was the hub of my coffee truck in Chicago. Only thing I kept when I sold it.”

  The memory of all that cigarette smoke in my folks’ old apartment made my eyes sting. I turned my face into the center of his chest and drew in his clean scent. Bringing myself back to the truck and the Cove.

  “Anyway, after my dad died, my mom didn’t last too much longer. She’d always been chasing him to the grave. First with work, then with a broken heart. I was lost after that. My whole life had been taking care of them. So, when Lou came around with a little boy in tow, I just naturally gravitated to him.”

  He made a low sigh that was half groan and half mumble.

  “Yeah. It was great at first, but Lou definitely had me pegged. Malcolm—his little boy—was almost four and dying for a mom. I just wanted to stop feeling so damn lonely. I should have driven my truck out of Chicago and started over, but that sweet little boy became my everything. And I was already enamored with Lou. He was funny and a little dangerous.”

  Dangerous with my heart was more like it. Now I could see it, but back then, it had felt like I had a ready-made family all my own.

  “I missed the signs at first. I was too happy to set up his house. Painting the rooms and raising Mal. He was the sweetest little boy. Loved everything Ghostbusters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” I laughed harshly. “Lou had the perfect setup. I wanted to take care of his kid and treated him just like he was mine. Only he wasn’t mine.”

  “Fucking piece of shit.”

  I finally looked up at Gideon again. “Can see where this is going, huh?”

  “He fucking cheated.”

  “Oh, so much worse.”

  He sat up and cupped my face in his huge hands. “How can that be worse?”

  “Cheated with Malcolm’s mother. The woman who flaked out on him and left her little boy alone.”

  “Jesus.”

  “Yeah. I didn’t quite fit into that happy little setup. So, now here I am.”

  “That’s a big fucking leap forward.”

  I sniffled and hated myself. I didn’t even realize I was crying. There was only so much I was willing to lay bare for him. He didn’t need to know the true colors of the old Macy who almost took Lou back so she wouldn’t lose the little boy. That Macy who didn’t care as much about Lou as she did about his child. “So, yeah. I had a kid for almost a year. Then I didn’t.”

  “And you moved to Babytown, USA.”

  “Yeah. That’s a story in itself.”

  “I still think there’s something missing in there. Why didn’t you go to your brother?”

  “My brother didn’t choose me.”

  “Maybe he had a good reas—”

  I scrambled back and sat on my feet on the far side of the truck. “To choose a friend over his own sister?”

  “I don’t mean it like that.”

  I held up my hand, my gut churning with all the old feelings. “Look, I get it. You weren’t in the middle of all of that. But would you choose anyone over Dani?”

  “No.”

  His answer was so quick that my belly calmed down. When he reached for me, I braced at his touch.

  “It shouldn’t have happened that way.” His voice was almost a rasp. “You should have been able to rely on your family.”

  “I couldn’t stand being in Chicago after that. I literally threw a dart at the map in Malcolm’s room. And I started over.”

  I had literally walked away and built a new life. One that I loved so much. And Gideon was already a huge cornerstone of it.

  “That’s not going to happen with me.” He wrapped his arms around me.

  “You can’t know that.”

  “I do.”

  I slowly melted into him. I didn’t know if it made me an idiot or a fool, but I wanted to believe him. I climbed on top of him again and lost myself in him. In the almost promises that might be blooming between us.

  For the first time in a damn long time, I stepped into the unknown.

  The sun was lower in the sky, burnishing his dark hair with chestnut streaks from the summer sun. September had arrived and with it, the shorter days.

  Soon, it would be time for us to go back to our jobs and responsibilities. His included the child I was growing to love so very quickly. This time with an equal, if not more overwhelming, attachment to the father.

  That was what terrified me the most.

  This time, it might actually break me in two.

  His mouth found mine without the brain-melting passion that usually flared between us. The way he branded me with beard and teeth left me breathless and spinning.

  This time, it was slow. It was thorough and soft. A seduction instead of a campaign to show me how hot we could be. He slid to the center of the seat and widened his legs to be on either side of the console that took up space in the center of the bench seat. And because I was so tall, I had room to straddle him without being hampered by the steering wheel.

  We took our time. Soft sighs and a touch of laughter as we shifted more clothing out of the way. It wasn’t a race. Exactly what I needed after spilling all my ghosts into the small space we shared.

  We put them in the past where they belonged.

  There was only now.

  Only him.

&n
bsp; Only this connection I would hold onto.

  When he slid into me this time, it was just us. When I tried to hide my face in his neck, he held me fast. Our eyes locked as the intensity hit.

  “Gideon.”

  He gripped my hips, dragging me tighter to him. The friction and the emotions slammed together like a seawall. And Gideon held. He was that stone wall that would take anything.

  I curled my arms around his neck until we were chest to chest, mouth to mouth, and the reassuring thunder of his heart synced up to mine.

  My thighs shook and the vibrations snaked up my body until there was nothing but his name shuddering through my lips. He held me. Split me open and put me back together.

  His eyes went blind with pleasure and I caught the groan with my mouth and swallowed it whole. Took it inside for the dark nights when there wasn’t a sun outlining him.

  When he wasn’t in my arms.

  Just for in case.

  Just for me.

  Fifteen

  The weeks had been a flurry of complications and finalizations for The Haunt. We’d managed to get the kitchen ready ahead of schedule, but Macy was still on the hunt for a new chef.

  She’d been stressed with the interview process. Both in hunting them down and taking applications. Three of her more promising people had fallen through. Each time it happened, I’d get dragged away for a rage fuck.

  I wasn’t quite sure how to react to her need to get distracted with orgasms. I’d tried to talk to her about it, but I’d only gotten a growl in response. One time had ended in a blow job behind my truck just to shut me up.

  Her words.

  Other times, it was perfect. Dinners in the café after hours. She practiced endless forms of hot chocolate on Dani. She even encouraged my daughter to name them.

  Dani had been delighted to see her concoctions make the menu board more often than not. She was getting closer to Macy every day while her mother was even more distant.

  The anvil of her custody demands was forever hovering over our heads. Again and again, Jessica had been blowing me off in favor of meetings with her agent or auditions for some new project she was after.

  Talks about taking Dani for more visitation had all but stopped, but she wouldn’t give me a straight answer about any of it.

  Luckily, the restaurant was almost done. Most of my crew had moved onto other projects. The late fall season was full of wrapping up outdoor projects. Some of my older clients needed winterization before the brutal cold came through.

  Central New York was no joke when it came to snow and blustering winds off the lake. The lake effect alone ground a lot of my jobs to a halt. It was just too hard to get supplies in and out when a foot of snow could come out of nowhere.

  Frankie jogged into the main dining room with a stack of papers that instantly gave me an eye twitch. “Hey, boss.”

  “Don’t tell me Spinelli screwed up another order.”

  Frankie rubbed the back of his neck. “Wish I could. Two dozen bat candle holders that are supposed to go along the vestibule are wrong.”

  I sighed. “Macy will be thrilled. What did we get instead?”

  He handed me the top form.

  I skimmed the order and groaned. “Flower mason jars? What the fu—”

  “Did you say mason jars?”

  I looked up at the voice. “What the hell are you doing here?” I handed the papers back to Frankie and crossed to the prodigal son who had returned to Crescent Cove a few months ago. We shook hands and did a half hug. “Where you been, man?”

  Mason Brooks flipped the brim of his baseball hat around and gave me a dimpled grin. “Been here and there. Couch surfing at Jared’s house was getting old. Besides, he’s all rules and regulations these days.”

  “Comes with the badge.”

  “Tell me about it. My brother, the sheriff. Not quite sure how that happened. And if those nosy busybodies in the town council knew the shit he got into when we were younger, they would’ve never voted him in.”

  “Yeah, well, Jared was always a wily one. You were the one who kept getting caught.” I wasn’t from Crescent Cove, but I’d played baseball and ran in the same circles as the Brooks brothers.

  “Guilty.” He gave me a sheepish grin. “I blame Charlotte Burke and her perfect breasts.”

  “Well, they were pretty spectacular. Still are, to be truthful.”

  “Very distracting.”

  “You just here to shoot the shit? I have to deal with this order, but we can grab something in the café if you want.” I could use the distraction and maybe I’d get a bonus round with Macy.

  “Actually, I’m here to talk business. And I’ll take a look at those mason jars.”

  I nodded to Frankie. “I’ll take care of the delivery.”

  Frankie gave me a grateful smile. “Thanks. I’ll go work on the chair railings.”

  “Great.” I gestured for Mason to walk ahead. “What’s up? Did you finally buy a house?”

  “Not exactly.” He glanced around at the web of twinkle lights along the ceiling rafters. They were on super thin wires to give off a spooky almost-lit vibe that highlighted the wild carvings on each end. Bats, ravens, skeletal hands—they all caught the eye and made you do a doubletake.

  The few people that had been in here already were always aiming their gazes skyward. Mason was no different.

  “This place is insane.”

  I grinned. “I hope you mean that in a good way.”

  “Definitely. This is my third walk-through and each time, I see different stuff. That animatronic zombie caught me off guard both times I was here at night.”

  “I haven’t seen you once.”

  Mason shrugged. “Lucky loves showing it off. We head to the Spinning Wheel whenever I’m in town. You’re always too busy with your pretty new girl.”

  “Macy would lop off your head and add it to one of her decorations for calling her a pretty girl.”

  “How about hot?”

  I laughed. “That might work. She’d respect you more if you talked about her coffee though.”

  “Her coffee is a religious experience.”

  “See, now that’s how you talk to Macy.” And yeah, she was definitely my girl. I couldn’t help wanting to spend every available moment with her.

  Spinelli was sitting on the edge of the dock, thumbing along the screen of his phone. His perpetually scraggly hair stuck out from under his dirty baseball cap. When he spotted me, he popped up to his feet. “Hey, Gideon. I thought Frankie would come back.”

  “You screwed up another order.”

  He looked down at the boxes of mason jars with the top one opened. “What do you mean? Every restaurant needs a mason jar.”

  “I’ll have to agree with him,” Mason said good-naturedly.

  I rolled my eyes. “By chance, did you notice what the name of this place is?”

  Spinelli looked down at his clipboard. “The Haunt.”

  “And would floral mason jars go with that aesthetic?”

  “Aestheta-what?”

  I bowed my head and prayed for patience.

  Mason stepped forward and dug out one of them. “A little pretty for my taste, but I’ve been collecting these things for my own place.”

  My eyebrows shot up. “Your what?”

  “So, do you want this order or not?”

  “Call your boss, Spinelli. I need those bat candles here by the end of the day.”

  “What? I have to drive all the way back out there—”

  “Yeah, you do. We need this order to finish up the front of the restaurant for the soft opening this Friday.”

  “Man…” Spinelli’s already stooped shoulders sagged. “I’ll be right back.” He dug his phone out on his way back to his truck.

  Mason whistled. “Such a taskmaster.”

  “Dude, I’m not messing with Macy’s plans.”

  “That bodes well for me then.”

  I folded my arms. “You starting a business, MB?�
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  He grinned. “I am. I bought the old Nelson farmhouse on the lake.”

  “Man. Hope you got a good deal.”

  He laughed. “I did. I’ve been talking to Lucky about the build you guys have been doing. This place is freaking incredible.”

  “Thanks. It’s been a bitch, but it came together.”

  “That’s for sure. I’d like you to do my place. I’m calling it The Mason Jar.” He picked up one of the pink-hued glasses in the box. “I’ve been collecting them from all over on my travels. It’s kind of been my dream ever since I started culinary school.”

  “I had no idea.”

  He shrugged. “I’m tired of working for other people. My last head chef used my head for target practice one too many times.”

  “Jesus.”

  “Yeah, Colorado is kinda crazy.”

  Chef. Huh. “So, you saved up for this place?”

  “Yeah, I’ve been stashing money away, and I have a business plan in place with the local bank to renovate. The historic people in town were thrilled that I wanted to keep the integrity of the old place. It’s over a hundred years old.”

  “That’s quite the undertaking. I’m not really—”

  “Gideon, this place is phenomenal. You and your guys can totally make my place come together. If we can get a decent quote put together.”

  I laughed. “Well, we can certainly discuss it. It’s going to be a long project. I don’t remember you being exactly handy.”

  “Oh, hell no. I want to pay people to take care of that stuff. I’ll help with some demo if you let me.”

  “Everyone wants to do demo.” I shook my head. “But you were pretty good with a bat, so maybe you can do a few swings with the sledgehammer.”

  He flipped me off. I laughed. Mason Brooks had gone to college on a baseball scholarship. His parents hadn’t been exactly thrilled when he picked cooking over going pro.

  “So, what are you going to do in the meantime?”

  He shrugged. “Jackson over at the Grille has been bugging me to work there, but I’m not really looking to get back into another second-in-command situation. Especially when I’m focused on getting my own place moving.”

  “How would you feel about working here?”