The Baker's Beauty (The River Hill Series Book 3)

by Rebecca Norinne

  Naomi took a sip of wine, seemingly undaunted. “A page out of my playbook, then.”

  Maeve laughed and shook her head. “You didn’t abandon my brother so much as run away screaming.”

  Naomi winced. “In my defense, the idea of falling in love with a man who lived in another country was terrifying.”

  Maeve wagged her finger at her brother’s girlfriend. “Oh no, you don’t. You ran even after you found out he was sticking around.”

  Naomi’s cheeks turned red, and she sighed. “Yeah, I did. Thank goodness your brother doesn’t put up with my bullshit.”

  “Your bullshit?” Jess asked, curious to find out how Naomi had managed to make things right with the Irishman.

  “I’m a notorious commitment-phobe. Iain’s the only man I’ve ever been in a relationship with. We’ve been together for a year—”

  “Longer if you count all those months you were just having fun,” Maeve interjected, using her fingers to make air quotes around that last part.

  Naomi chuckled. “Okay, fine. A year and a half.”

  “And she still freaks out from time to time,” Angelica added. “She’s taken at least six baths in that room.” She pointed to the large bathroom Jess had occupied herself less than half an hour ago.

  Jess felt her anxiety begin to melt away. Not that she felt any less guilty about what she’d done to Sean, but at least now she had hope they might be able to see their way past it. “How did you get Iain to forgive you?”

  Naomi tossed her a sly look. “First, I asked him to move in with me, and then I fucked his brains out.”

  Maeve set her glass down and slapped her palms over her ears. “Ew, I don’t need to know what you and my brother do in the privacy of your own home.”

  Naomi looked toward Angelica, and the two women smirked.

  “And all around town, too,” Angelica said, a dreamy look coming over her face.

  Jess’s cheeks heated at the open and honest way they were discussing their sex lives. She’d never had that. Aside from Marisol telling her she either needed to pull the stick out of her ass or get fucked, this sort of banter had been absent from her life. Beauty queens were supposed to be sweet, prim, and proper role models. You simply did not hint to anyone that the man you were in love with had made you come in the front seat of his truck while parked on the side of the road.

  No, not on the side of the road.

  With a shy laugh, she turned to Angelica. “In your fiancé’s vineyard.”

  Angelica barked out a laugh. “I knew it! I told Noah I saw Bessie Blue slinking down the rear drive.”

  Jess covered her face with her hands. “Oh, my god.”

  Maeve patted her knee. “Don’t be ashamed. At least you’re getting some. I’ve got tumbleweeds in my pants. If the right guy walked into this room right now and propositioned me, I’d climb up on that table and tell him to have his dirty way with me.”

  Jess pulled her hands away from her face and looked at Maeve with shock. Talking about your sex life was one thing; actually having sex in front of people you knew was an entirely other thing.

  The Irish pixie chuckled and held up her e-reader. “Chapter ten of this week’s book.”

  At which point they all dissolved into laughter.

  By the time Iain and Noah walked in an hour later, Jess felt better than she had in days. She couldn’t say how, but deep in her bones, she knew everything would be all right.

  It had to be. Jess had finally found her place in the world. Sean—and by extension, these women—were smack-dab in the center of it.

  Chapter 23

  There were only so many smug text messages from Angelica that Sean could bring himself to read before he snapped and headed for The Oakwell Inn. But he had one stop to make along the way, and it didn’t even involve any driving.

  “You got a minute?” He poked his head into his mother’s office, listening to the hum of her scanner as it finished a page.

  “Sure.” She put the book she was scanning aside, carefully smoothing a hand over the pages to keep it open and the pages flat. “What’s up?”

  “I want to take you up on those cooking lessons.” He took a deep breath. “And the rest of it, too.”

  She was silent for a moment, observing him carefully. “You’ve decided to stay?”

  “Long-term,” he confirmed. “I want to keep baking, stay here in River Hill. Maybe work with some people I know to make a few changes, both at the bakery and in town.”

  “Changes, huh?”

  “You know Iain Brennan? I was thinking we could use his whiskey in the glaze for the fritters. I even found an Amory recipe for it.”

  “I tried one of your Mexican wedding cookies,” his mother said. “There were a few left over.”

  “And?”

  She smiled. “They’re delicious. I think we should start selling them. And if you have more ideas in that vein, I’d love to hear those too.”

  “I’m hoping I can recapture my source of inspiration,” he said, his mind roving ahead to the inn where Angelica had texted him that she, Naomi, and Maeve had captured Jess and intended to hold her for dinner. What he did with the information, she’d said, was up to him. But there was extra food.

  He hadn’t regretted calling Noah and blurting out his sins on speakerphone last night for a single second.

  “I’d like to meet your muse,” his mother said.

  He grinned. “You’ll like her.”

  “So, not a tapeworm after all, huh?”

  “Not a tapeworm.”

  He parked Bessie Blue in The Oakwell Inn’s graveled parking lot alongside Naomi’s car. He’d swung into the bakery to pick up some pastries for the crowd, and then he’d stopped at the farm stand nearby to pick up some fruit for Jess’s dessert. The perfectly ripe pineapple smelled as sweet as the frangipane tarts. He patted his stomach, where once upon a time a defined six pack had lived. These days, he was a little less cut than he used to be. It might be good to join Jess on her side of the carb-free fence for a while.

  He heard laughter coming from the kitchen when he pushed the door open. He smiled, realizing that his friends had the same effect on him that Jess did. He just hadn’t let them in until now. Maybe he should re-dub it the Friend Effect and save the Jess Effect for naked time. As long as she would let him, anyway.

  He pushed past the nerves bubbling in his gut. When Angelica had texted him, she’d told him he had a shot. More than a shot. Jess was here, and she wanted to see him. He wanted desperately to see her, too.

  “I brought dessert,” he said as he entered the kitchen.

  A chorus of ‘oooohs’ greeted him, but he was only interested in one voice.

  “Hi,” she said.

  “Hi.”

  Angelica nudged Noah. “Let’s go set the table.”

  “We’ll help you carry, uh, the forks,” Iain said. He handed Naomi a single fork, and she smothered laughter as she rose and carried it ostentatiously out of the room. Maeve rolled her eyes at Jess and Sean before following the others.

  “I’m sorry,” he blurted once they were alone, realizing that she’d said the same thing at the same time.

  “I didn’t mean to scare you off.” He took her hand.

  “I shouldn’t have run,” she replied. “I panicked, to be honest.”

  “About me?”

  “No! God, no, Sean.” She brought her other hand up to encase his in both of hers. “Never. I know you.”

  “But—”

  “I freaked out because I couldn’t imagine hurting you by bringing you to L.A., and I don’t want to give you up,” she said frankly. “It might be selfish, but it’s true.”

  “I don’t want to give you up either,” he said. “But the job—”

  “I got it.”

  He pumped his free hand in the air. “Hell yeah, you did. I knew you would.” He grinned at her, then sobered. “But—”

  She slid her hands from his, squeezing it just before they came apar
t. “I’m not going to sacrifice my career for you, Sean.”

  “You shouldn’t,” he said as his stomach sank.

  But she was continuing. “I’m not going to sacrifice you, either. Or my family. Honestly, I’m not sure I’m the sort of person who could live in L.A. full time, career or no career. I want to push forward, but I want to do it on my terms.”

  He raised his eyebrows, impressed. “You sound like you have a plan.”

  She grinned. “Actually, it’s Naomi’s fault. Or maybe Angelica’s.” She paused, thoughtfully. “Probably both. Maeve might be involved, too. You could even blame my sister if you wanted to create a sort of anti-hero for the story.”

  “You joined their book club, didn’t you?”

  She laughed. “It’s a damned good book club.”

  “So what do you want to do? I—I love you, Jess. But I’m all in on River Hill, now.” He quirked his lips into a smile. “I just announced it on TV, so it must be true.”

  She grinned. “Noah told me.” She sobered. “You love me?”

  “I love you.” He didn’t falter this time, so he repeated it for good measure. “I love you, Jess.”

  Her smile was brighter than the sunrise he saw every day during his shift at the bakery. “I love you, too.”

  “Can we make this work?” He shifted their bodies to fit his arms around her waist, resting his forehead against hers and feeling her warm breath on his chin.

  “We can do anything we want,” she whispered.

  “Are you clothed?” Angelica’s voice rang out, but she didn’t wait for them to answer before she sailed back into the kitchen.

  “If we weren’t, what would you have done?” Sean asked.

  “Had a pleasant surprise,” she answered saucily. “Scootch; I need to take the chickens out of the oven.”

  He took Jess’s hand, and they escaped to the dining room, where the others were waiting.

  “Did you tell him about the plan?” Maeve asked, practically bouncing in her chair.

  “Not completely,” Jess said. “We had a few other things to cover.”

  “Ooey-gooey lovey-dovey stuff,” Naomi said. “Yuck.”

  “What are you, twelve?” Iain asked. “You say that ‘lovey-dovey’ stuff all the time.”

  “Sure, but I don’t tell anybody about it,” she said. “I’ve got a reputation to uphold, here.”

  Sean snorted. “Pretty sure that ship sailed once Iain moved into Fortress Klein.” Naomi had famously not allowed most people into her home, where she also had a studio.

  “We’re talking about you, not me,” Naomi said primly. “And Jess, who is on the way to being the next Big Face Of TV.” She made jazz hands around her face.

  Sean felt the pinch of anxiety again. But Jess said she had a plan. Noah and Angelica made their thing work, but Sean didn’t relish the idea of months without Jess while she was off filming like Angelica did. He’d do it if that’s what she wanted. He’d do anything she wanted. Maybe he could visit. Visiting L.A. was a far cry from living there, and he’d meant what he’d said during his interview— he’d like to get back in touch with some of his old friends.

  Jess held up a hand. “Can we not get ahead of ourselves?”

  Angelica shook her head. “We’re not getting ahead. We talked about this, Jess. You have all the leverage, here.”

  Jess turned to Sean. “Naomi reminded me the same thing that Jai told me a few days ago. I’m not just the girl who auditioned who was the best fit. I’m a recognizable brand.”

  “With millions of followers online,” Naomi added. “Your blog is amazing. Changed my approach to eyebrows completely.”

  “Angelica pointed out that I have a lot of leverage to negotiate how the show is filmed.”

  Sean nodded. “You could do what she does.”

  Jess shook her head. “Not quite what she does.”

  Angelica sniffed. “Works for me.”

  Jess grinned. “You’re a role model, but we’re not supposed to blindly follow people, right? I think my sixth-grade teacher told me that.”

  Angelica waved her hands. “Whatever.”

  Jess turned back to Sean as Noah started carving the roast chickens. “I’m going to talk to them about a couple of options. There’s plenty of studio space here that they could rent—it’s a new show, and a new network, so it’s not like they have a lot of campus space they’re trying to use up. Sylvia Barrows from the morning show has a lot of leverage with her station, and she likes me. I could probably hook them up. And if that doesn’t work, we’ll shoot in short bursts. I’ll be gone for a day or two here and there. But the bulk of my work will be done here, researching, prepping, and exploring additional opportunities to grow the scope of the show.”

  Sean stared at her. “You came up with all of that in two hours of book club?”

  “We also discussed some very important romance novel scenes,” Maeve said.

  He shook his head. “River Hill is a strange place.”

  “It’s home,” Jess said simply. Her hand curved into his again. “I might grow, and change, but I don’t want to leave.”

  “Neither do I.”

  As they ate and chatted, Sean found himself slotted into a dynamic that was at once familiar and unfamiliar. These were his friends, the people he’d chosen to spend time with for years. But somehow, it was different. Sean-and-Jess was a different part of the group than Just-Sean. He stole a glance at Maeve, the only single member of their dinner party now, and wondered if it ever bothered her. If it did, he suspected she wouldn’t turn to drinking like he had.

  He noticed that Jess didn’t have a glass of wine, though the others all had one. Nobody had offered him any, but they weren’t trying to be secretive about their drinks either. He appreciated their silence on the matter, but he loved Jess. And she loved him. He was still marveling about that little fact when dessert was set on the table. Somebody had sliced up the fruit, and he handed it to Jess before taking a few pieces from the platter for himself. She shot him an appreciative glance, and his gaze fell to her water glass. A grin crossed his lips, and she smiled back, a small, secret lifting of her lips. She squeezed his hand knowingly. They were a team.

  He drove her home later, after hearing about the running snafu that had brought her to Angelica’s in the first place. In borrowed clothes, she’d seemed a little embarrassed about the situation, but he could only be glad of the excuse to get her into his truck.

  On the road, she was silent for a few minutes before she said anything. “They all seem so… comfortable together.”

  “The couples?” He saw her nod. “They’ve been together a while. They’re building lives together, even if Naomi won’t admit it. Noah and Angelica will get married eventually. They’re going to have kids. He’s a white picket fence kind of guy.”

  “Do you want kids?” She quickly covered her mouth with her hand. “You don’t have to answer that.”

  “Jess. Did you miss the part where I said I love you, or the bit where we were talking about planning our future together?”

  She shook her head. “I know, but—”

  “I do want them,” he said. “Eventually.” He wasn’t ready yet. He needed to call Noah’s therapist and settle in for some hard work on himself. “Do you?”

  She nodded, and he caught a glimmer that might be the sheen of tears in her eyes. “I always have. I just… my family doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to making the nuclear family thing work.”

  “I want to try that with you,” he said. “Wow, that sounds really intense when I say it out loud. Don’t freak out.”

  She laughed. “I’m not freaking out. I feel the same way. But you might want to meet my family before you decide.”

  “Too late for that.” He took her hand. “I’m in this for good. Bring ‘em on.”

  “Oh, you’re going to need a good night’s sleep first,” she said.

  “Well, then I guess we won’t be meeting them tomorrow.”
r />   “Why?”

  He grinned at her as he pulled the truck into her driveway. “Because I intend to keep you up all night.”

  Epilogue

  “An eco resort?” Sean protested as he was led toward the front desk. “Come on, Jess, do I seem like an eco kind of guy to you?”

  His girlfriend grinned. "All natural, all the way, baby."

  He snorted, but let her tug him to the desk to check in.

  “Casillas-Moore,” Jess said to the girl behind the desk.

  The girl typed the name in without looking at the keyboard, then paused, her eyes widening as she looked at the screen. “Jessica Casillas-Moore?” When Jess nodded, the girl beamed at her. “I love your show. I stream it every week.”

  “No cable here?” Sean asked as his eyes bounced around the rustic lobby.

  The girl shook her head. “We do have high-speed internet and complimentary WiFi, though. Some people find that their best wellness comes from disconnecting—at least a little bit.”

  “They can't stop checking their email in between smoothies?” Sean asked. He’d known people like that back in L.A. They preached about living their best lives or being in touch with nature, but their phones were practically glued to their fingers like an extension of their bodies. Hell, he’d been one of them. But unlike him, they’d also carried around their yoga mats like security blankets. Strangely enough, most of their “wellness” routines had been a combination of starvation, nicotine, or cocaine while their Instagram feeds showed a life others tried to emulate. He’d pass.

  Jess elbowed him. “Behave,” she whispered under her breath.

  “Sorry,” he said to the girl.

  She lifted her shoulders in a small shrug. “You’re not entirely wrong.” She passed Jess their keys. “Anyway. Welcome to Costa Rica. Since you haven’t stayed with us before, let me give you an overview.” She pointed, bracelets jangling. “Sauna is over there, and the fitness center is behind it. You've got the therapy pool next to the salt cave, and the leisure pool overlooks the beach.” She glanced at the screen. “You’re in cabin fourteen, on the beach. Head down the path behind this building to get there. This is an all-inclusive resort, so all of your meals on the property are included. Since this is an alcohol-free resort, all our fresh juices, coffees, and flavored waters are also included.”