Let It Be Me (Men of the Misfit Inn Book 1)

by Kait Nolan

  “Not a baby, just not up on classic romantic comedies.”

  “You’re getting a movie-cation. A movie-vention? Whatever, I’m totally making you watch it.”

  “Can we watch it from bed?” A guy could hope.

  “No. Because I want you to actually watch it, not try to distract me with amazing sex.”

  “I didn’t hear you complaining last night.”

  “I was not trying to fill in a gap in your pop culture knowledge last night.” She winced as she bent to grab eggs out of the fridge. “Besides, if you have your wicked way with me any more today, I don’t think I’ll be able to walk.”

  Caleb prowled over, sliding his arms around her from behind and nuzzling her neck. “You’ll just have to fulfill some of my other fantasies then.”

  “Mmm. You checked off several of mine last night, so it’s only fair.”

  “I’ve already gotten a pretty good start on the list.”

  “There’s a list?”

  “Oh yeah. I’ve been working on it for a while.”

  “What fantasies are we talking about?” The tone of her voice proved she was expecting the salacious kind. After the books he’d listened to, he had plenty of those stored up, too. But that wasn’t what he wanted just now.

  “I want to cook breakfast with you. Then, I want to clean up and take you on a tour of all the best street art of Nashville. I wanna get ice cream at Jeni’s. And then I want to come back and curl up with you for a nap because I figure that’s about as far as the cumulative endorphins and sugar will take us before we crash.”

  Very gently, she set down the egg in her hand. “Those are your fantasies?”

  He cuddled her closer. “I’m basically getting my fantasy every day I’m with you. I’ve never been happier. So yeah, those are my fantasies. For today, anyway.”

  Sensing he’d flummoxed her, he aimed for a little teasing. “I mean, I’d prefer to clean up in the same shower, but we’ve gotta protect your ability to walk for the tour. It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make, if you are.”

  When she said nothing, a kernel of worry lodged in his gut. Had he pushed too far after all?

  On a sigh, she pivoted in his embrace and slid her arms around his waist, resting her head against his shoulder. “I’ve never been happier either.”

  Pressing a kiss to her temple, he crossed another thing off his list.

  Chapter 11

  “‘I really like your mouth.’

  Aaron gave a strangled laugh and dropped his temple to hers. ‘Don’t say stuff like that. It makes me want to use it on every inch of you.’

  ‘Oh, God.’ Gemma closed her eyes and rode out the blast of lust that shot through her. ‘Don’t say stuff like that. It makes me want to let you.’

  ‘How do you want to proceed with this?’ he asked.

  Straight to your bed. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. She swallowed. ‘Carefully, I think. Very carefully.’”

  Satisfied with the take, Emerson stopped recording, saved the file, and tugged off her headphones. One more session ought to get this one done. But first, a break with Mooch and maybe a snack.

  Flipping the switch that controlled the On Air light outside, she opened the door to her recording booth. A glorified closet lined in acoustic foam, there was barely room for her computer, microphone, a stand to hold the iPad she used for scripts, and her shelf of moisturizing agents—eye drops, nose drops, lip balm, bottle of water—so her faithful pup always took up a position right outside. Mooch scrambled up from his post, ecstatic to see her as always. That never got old.

  “Hey baby boy. Want to go outside?”

  He wagged his butt and danced toward the stairs. In the kitchen, she snagged a fresh bottle of water and the phone she’d left on the counter, and headed out back so Mooch could have a run. He clattered down the deck stairs and began to pounce at the early autumn leaves that had begun to fall. How the hell was it already mid-October?

  Swiping open her phone, she checked her messages.

  Her heart gave a happy bump at the stack of texts from Caleb on the screen.

  Hey gorgeous. Miss you.

  She missed him, too. Missed having him in her bed. Not just for the sex—although, hell yes—but because she actually loved sleeping with him. Waking up with him wrapped around her was becoming her favorite indulgence. It seemed impossible that she’d already gotten used to having him there. Maybe she should’ve been concerned at the ease with which they’d fallen into sleepovers, but there was no question this thing between them wasn’t remotely a casual fling.

  She really, really had to find a way to tell Fiona about them. But Fi had been wrapped up in school, headed for midterms, and Emerson had just…let it slide. When she was with Caleb, it was easy to fall into the fantasy that it was just the two of them. After their trip to Eden’s Ridge for the family reunion this weekend, she’d just have to rip the Band-aid off and be prepared for the fallout.

  Resolved, she scanned the rest of the text thread.

  I forgot my phone charger. If you’ve got time when you’re on a break between sessions, could you bring it to me at the station?

  For a chance to see him for a few minutes? Yeah, she could totally do that. Glancing down at her ancient yoga pants and the t-shirt of his she’d totally stolen, she considered she should probably change first. And brush her hair. Not that he cared one way or the other, but there was that whole going out in public thing. Leaving Mooch to his leaves, she went to make herself presentable.

  Forty-five minutes later, she arrived at the fire station to find the yard overrun with tiny humans in red plastic fire helmets. Two firefighters were at the center of a circle, one of them in full turnout gear, the other obviously explaining things to the audience of children and the flanking ring of moms. Instantly recognizing Caleb as the one in the gear, she pulled off to the side of the lot and edged over to watch, not wanting to interrupt.

  “This right here is called an SCBA,” Darren—otherwise known as Showboat—explained. “That’s a self-contained breathing apparatus. This is how we breathe in a fire.”

  Caleb adjusted something and spoke. “It makes me sound kind of scary, but it’s still just me inside. Nothing to be afraid of or hide from. If you’re in a fire and you see somebody dressed like us, we’re there to help you.”

  As Darren went over some more rules of fire safety, Caleb began to strip his gear back off.

  One of the children crawled forward to tug on his pants leg.

  Caleb dropped down to one knee, getting on the boy’s level. Something about his intent focus on the child made Emerson’s heart turn over. Judging by a few of the sighs she overheard from the moms, she wasn’t the only one.

  “When there’s a fire, y’all have to get dressed real fast, don’t you?”

  “Sure do.”

  “Like…how fast?”

  Caleb flashed a grin. “How about we have a little competition to find out?”

  “Yeah!” the kids cheered.

  “Okay. I’m gonna strip back down. Y’all pick which firefighter you want to race me.”

  “I’d like to watch him strip down,” one of the moms muttered.

  It’s a helluva show. But Emerson kept that to herself.

  In the end, the kids voted on Peach and divided into teams supporting their preferred firefighter. One of the other guys—Roadie, she thought—stood in the middle, acting as emcee. He held a stopwatch in his hand.

  “We go on three. Can y’all count with me? One.” All the little voices joined in. “Two. Three!”

  The kids roared their approval, cheering on their chosen competitor. The pair of them flew, hands almost a blur as they stepped into pants and boots, layered on headgear, and shrugged on coats.

  Emerson couldn’t stop herself from joining in the cheers. “Go! Go! Go! You’ve got it, Torch!”

  Caleb fumbled the belt clasp on his SCBA, his head jerking in her direction. Oops. A ripple of laugher went through the rest of his c
ompany as Peach shot into the lead. Caleb got instantly back with it, but there was no catching up. Peach jerked on her gloves and pumped her fists in victory a full two seconds before he did.

  “We have a winner! 41.96 seconds!”

  In the wake of the competition, the kids got redirected to practicing stop-drop-and-roll on the grass. Several of the moms congregated to the side as Peach and Caleb slipped out of their gear.

  “You think we could get a special adults only show of the reverse of that process?” one murmured.

  “In slow motion,” another added.

  “Maybe with a hose.”

  As Caleb broke away from the group and headed their way, Emerson couldn’t help but agree with them. She knew exactly how good his bare chest looked when wet.

  With a polite nod at the women, he crossed straight over to her. “Hey, babe.”

  “Sorry about the distraction. I got carried away with the sense of competition.”

  “Worth it.” He brushed a chaste kiss over her lips and took the charger she offered. “Thanks for bringing this by.”

  “Did you really need it, or was it just an excuse to see me?”

  “Both.”

  “I was happy to come by either way.”

  “Sorry I can’t visit.” He jerked his head back toward the kids. “I gotta get back to this.”

  “Mind if I stick around to watch?”

  “Sure. Stay as long as you like. If you play your cards right, you might get an invite to dinner. Fonzie’s making chili.”

  “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

  “You have a cast iron stomach and love all things spicy. You’ll be fine.”

  “Noted. I can’t really stay that long, though. I’ve still got work to finish up.”

  “Fair enough. You’ll be ready to go when I get off work tomorrow? I’d like to get on the road as early as possible”

  “With bells on. We’ll just need to drop Mooch off with Paisley on our way out of town.” Because she sensed the mom group staring, she couldn’t quite resist leaning in to kiss him again, lingering just a shade too long for polite company. “Thanks for making my day.”

  He winked, totally onto what she was doing. “Any time, pretty lady.”

  She stuck around at the periphery, watching him interact with the kids through the tour of the trucks. He was a natural. She’d seen it in how he interacted with Fiona, but this was different. He didn’t talk down to them, didn’t get impatient. He treated them as exactly what they were—little people who merited respect and consideration. It was seeing him crouched down with them for the hose demonstration that really gave her ovaries a squeeze, his arms around a boy and girl as they helped steady the stream of water, laughing and grinning and clearly having the time of their lives.

  She’d given up on the idea of a biological child of her own. But she’d been rethinking all kinds of things since her relationship with Caleb had changed. How could she see him like this and not imagine him with a child? The idea of it had been circling around her brain for a couple weeks now—that it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility. Now it reached up and grabbed her by the throat.

  She thought back to what he’d said on their run right before Fiona left for school. That he’d want kids with the right woman—if she wanted them. He’d made it crystal clear he thought she was the right woman. Not that he’d pressured her at all. She knew what it had to be costing him to let her set the pace, and she was grateful for his seemingly unending patience.

  But…a baby.

  Did she still want that? Did she even want to think about taking on that kind of commitment this late in life? She was thirty-six. Not ancient but definitely into that high-risk pregnancy age bracket. And if she had a baby now, she’d be—oh God—fifty-five by the time he or she left for college. But with Caleb it wouldn’t be like it had been with Fi. She wouldn’t be doing it alone.

  And that was a whole lot of getting ahead of herself. There was a lot of distance between dating and sleeping together and marriage and babies.

  But as she slid into her car to head back home, she glanced back at him, surrounded by preschoolers and thought, Maybe.

  “Caleb, we’re here.”

  He opened his eyes, blinking at the three-story Victorian with the turret and a wrap-around porch. For a moment his brain swam in old grief, seeing a slightly more run-down version of the house on a cloudy day half a lifetime ago. The present snapped into focus as the last wisps of sleep cleared from his brain.

  Home. He was home.

  Scrubbing a hand over his face, he looked over at Emerson. “Sorry I passed out on you.”

  “After the night you had, you needed it. Feel a little better?”

  A fully-involved warehouse fire had sucked up last night and stretched his shift by several hours, so they’d gotten a late start. His body ached from napping in the truck, and a low-grade headache gripped his skull. But that would fade as he got out, got moving. He’d certainly functioned through worse and on less sleep. “Yeah. Thanks for driving.”

  “It was no problem. It’s a pretty drive.”

  The front door opened and a blonde woman stepped out onto the porch.

  “That’ll be the start of the welcoming committee. C’mon. You’re about to have your brain explode with too many names to remember. Nobody will expect you to get them all on the first try.” Caleb slid out of the passenger seat as the first of his sisters came down the steps.

  “Caleb! You’re finally here!” Kennedy leapt, and he caught her in a swinging hug.

  “Good to be here. Great to see you.” Setting her on her feet, he held her at arm’s length. Contentment practically glowed out of every pore. “Marriage and mommyhood look good on you.”

  “I’ll absolutely take that compliment. Caroline thinks sleep is for pussies.” She linked her arm through his and turned to Emerson. “Now, introduce me.”

  “Kennedy, this is my girlfriend, Emerson Aldridge. Emerson, my sister Kennedy Kincaid.”

  Kennedy sighed. “That never gets old.”

  Caleb pointed to her. “Newlywed.”

  “Got it.” Emerson smiled. “Nice to meet you.”

  “It is definitely nice to meet you. We were starting to think he’d made you up.”

  “Why would I make her up?”

  Another voice called down from the steps. “Well, it took you four years to bring her home. What were we supposed to think?”

  He turned and snagged his youngest sister in another hug. “Athena. You were supposed to think I was taking my time and being respectful.”

  She squeezed him tight. “There’s being respectful and there’s being a chicken shit.”

  Rolling his eyes, he tweaked her hair. “You sound like Kyle.” Turning to Emerson, he opened his mouth to make introductions, but she was staring.

  “You…you’re Athena Reynolds. Chef Athena Reynolds.”

  Athena laughed. “Apparently my reputation precedes me.”

  Emerson fixed him with an accusatory stare. “How many other famous siblings do you have?”

  “I’m not sure internet famous counts as famous,” Athena qualified.

  “Are you kidding? I freaking love The Misfit Kitchen! My daughter and I watch every week.”

  Athena jerked a thumb in Emerson’s direction. “I like this one, Caleb. You did good. Now, come eat. Dinner waits for no man in my kitchen. You can unload later.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He held out a hand for Emerson’s. Contentment slid through him as she twined her fingers with his and climbed the steps.

  “We’re being fed by Athena Reynolds!” she hissed.

  “We always did have good eats around here.”

  Inside they were greeted by more of the family and put through the gauntlet of hugs and handshakes from his eldest sister, Pru; her husband, Flynn; their teenage daughter, Ari, and baby, Bailey; Kennedy’s husband, Xander, with their infant daughter; Athena’s husband, Logan; and the last of adopted Reynolds daughters, Ma
ggie; her husband, Porter; and their brand-new baby girl, Faith. Caleb had to hand it to Emerson…she took the crazy in stride.

  Xander bounced Caroline. “This one’s fussy. I’m gonna see if I can get her to go down for a bit, so we can eat in peace.”

  As he strode out of the room, Porter pulled Caleb into a back-thumping hug. “It’s good to see you, brother.”

  “Back, atcha, Papa.”

  Porter beamed, the picture of a proud daddy. Considering how long he’d waited for Maggie, Caleb wished him every shred of happiness.

  “Everybody sit!” Athena ordered.

  With the well-ordered chaos he remembered, everyone snagged a serving dish and carried it to the long farmhouse table. He had so many memories at this table, and he loved that the girls had kept it when they’d updated the house to an inn. Conversation flew fast as food was dished and passed. Beside him on the long bench, Emerson sat quiet. He couldn’t quite tell if she was overwhelmed or just absorbing it all.

  “Emerson, don’t mind us,” Pru told her. “We’re a loud, noisy bunch. Just jump into the conversation.”

  “It’s sink or swim around here,” Xander confirmed, slipping onto the bench beside Kennedy.

  She laughed. “I don’t know how I’m going to remember everybody!”

  “No, no, I’ve got you,” Ari said. “You narrate romance, right?”

  Emerson’s lips twitched. “Yeah.”

  The teen moved slowly around the table, pointing. “Kennedy is married to Xander. He was her high school sweetheart before she moved abroad for a decade, and they were a second chance romance situation when Kennedy came home for Joan’s funeral. They now have Caroline.

  “Athena met Logan when she came in for Kennedy’s wedding, but they didn’t get together until after she left her fancy restaurant in Chicago on account of her business partner boyfriend was a cheating douchecanoe. Award-winning chef and organic farmer. I mean the foodie romance practically wrote itself.

  “Maggie and Porter were foster sibs—I think at the same time you were here, Caleb.” She looked at him to confirm.

  “Yep. Same time.”