by Piper Rayne
“How fun! I do hope you’ll find time to stop by the library this summer.” She glances over at me with a reproachful expression.
So, I’m not much of a reader.
“I will,” Lily says.
I glance in the rearview mirror to see Lily with a huge smile on her face, practically bouncing out of her booster seat with excitement.
“I sure hope so.” Betty side eyes me again.
I get the point and make a mental note to get Lily in there at least once over the summer months.
“We have a summer reading incentive. Maybe you’d both like to be involved?” Betty asks.
“Oh yeah!” Lily exclaims.
Betty, who was my deceased dad’s old girlfriend, smiles at me now. She knows she’s got me.
“Bye, Betty,” I say, the light turning green and giving me an out.
“Have fun at camp, Lily,” she says and waves goodbye.
I roll up Lily’s window as we pass through downtown before someone wrangles me into hosting the fish derby this fall.
“Can we go to the library tonight?” Lily asks.
“We’ll see.” My usual answer when I’m putting off something I don’t want to commit to earns me a huff from the backseat.
Main Street is soon in my rearview mirror and I drive up into the hills. Fifteen minutes later, I turn my truck into the Camp Tall Pines entrance and we’re swallowed up by rows of trees that shoot high in the sky.
We follow a line of pickup trucks down the dirt road, but I spot my friend’s Mustang up ahead when we round a curve. Dane’s the only moron that would buy a sports car to drive around the hills of Oregon. I’ve had to pull him out of a ditch more than twenty times since I moved here six years ago.
“Daddy!” Lily screeches and rolls down her window. “Look at all the kids.” I glance in my mirror to see her gaze focused on the clusters of children and parents trying to find their way as I park the truck.
Camp Tall Pines is a camp for single parents. Lily will only attend during the day, but there is an overnight camp for kids coming from farther away. It was an option for Lily this year, but I’m not ready for that. Even if it’s only fifteen minutes away.
I open my door to get Lily out and take in the scene.
Shit, there are a lot of kids, and I have no idea where the hell Lily is supposed to go.
My hand is on the handle of Lily’s door when a fancy sports car grabs my attention. It’s red and shiny and sticks out in this small town just like the blonde currently bent over digging through the trunk.
Damn, that ass. I shift my stance and wonder how one glimpse has made my dick jolt for the first time in a month. Well, without the help of Pornhub.
Climax Cove isn’t exactly known for its beautiful single women. Not to say there aren’t any—there are—but they’re all looking for something I can’t give them. Marriage. My last serious relationship didn’t work out so well after Lily’s mother decided she’d rather party than be a mother and I’m not willing to jeopardize my little girl’s heart again.
I can’t pull my gaze from this woman’s long legs. Or maybe it’s the short shorts she’s wearing. She shouldn’t be able to wear those scraps of material around all the single dads. There’s going to be a pissing match at our next meeting over who gets to ask out the new girl in town.
A bang on the truck window pulls me from my trance of imagining those long legs wrapped around my head and I look over to find Lily’s shoulders slumped and her mouth hung open.
“Sorry,” I say and open her door.
She jumps out of the truck and turns her attention to where I was looking. I take the opportunity to adjust myself.
The woman is now standing up, thank God, and she’s propped a box on her hip as she shuts the trunk.
My gaze roams from her sneaker covered feet, up her long and tanned legs, past the too-short shorts, noticing the way her Camp Tall Pines blue t-shirt hugs her breasts and lastly, lands on her face.
“Shit,” I murmur.
“Daddy!” Lily holds her hand out in the air. “That’s a dollar.”
My eyes focus in on the woman across the parking lot and I’d bet my house it’s her.
Caterina Santora.
My client, Bill Santora’s daughter. I haven’t seen her in six years. Not since the time she hit on me. I wince remembering how harsh I was to her, but she was young, barely legal and ‘no’ wasn’t in her vocabulary at the time. Still, I’ve remembered my cruel words more than once since then and regretted them. Especially after I had a daughter of my own.
“Daddy,” Lily’s voice pulls my focus back to her.
I dig my wallet out of my back pocket, finding a dollar and shoving it into her hand.
“Nice doing business with ya,” she says and slides by me to the curb. “Let’s go! I don’t want to be the last one.”
My eyes refuse to look away from the woman. If it is Caterina, she’s definitely all woman now. A smile teases her lips as she passes a camper and his dad. Concentrating ahead, she rounds a car and she scans her surroundings. There. That dimple in her left cheek. It’s her. It has to be her.
Her eyes find me and I smile, moving my hand up in a small wave, but she only returns the gesture with a polite smile. One that says, I have no idea who the hell you are, but just in case I’m wrong, I’ll smile. Then she turns on her heel and heads in the other direction. Great, I probably freaked her out. I’m sure she thinks I’m some pervy stalker-type guy.
“Daddy!” Lily screams and my head snaps back to her.
“Sorry,” I murmur, still processing what I think I saw.
“I don’t want to be late,” she says, walking ahead of me.
I look at the signs, trying to figure out which direction I’m supposed to go in, but I haven’t a clue. There are parents wandering around everywhere with similar looks of bewildered frustration.
“Toby, get out of the car!” I hear to my right. My buddy, Dane is standing next to his Mustang trying to coax his son out into the sunshine. I turn Lily in that direction. If I’m going to be lost, might as well be with Dane. At least he’ll keep things interesting.
Does Cat really not remember Marcus?
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Acknowledgements
We have to admit, we’re a little sad that this series is com- ing to a close. This gang has been so fun to write and we hope you enjoyed seeing the softer side to Lennon as much as we enjoyed writing it. But if you head into our next series (The Single Dad’s Club) you’re going to see some cameos from your favorite Modern Love couples. Ooops! Were we supposed to keep that a secret? Oh well.
If you made it this far in the series we’re going to take a guess and say, “You like us! You really like us!” Sally Field’s Oscar speech anyone!? No? Anyway, we were blown away with how open and accepting readers were of the new (but not new) kids on the block. We didn’t anticipate all the enthusiasm readers have shown us and to say we’re grateful is an understatement. This is a tough, tough market and it’s near impossible to get noticed and having you shout your praise from the rooftops has helped so, so much! Each and every one of you is a special unicorn to us. *throws unicorn glitter on all of you*
We have to thank the team behind Mad about the Banker
RBA Designs, our Cover Designer
RJ Locksley, our Editor
Behind the Writer, our Proof Reader
Linda Russell, our PR from Sassy Savvy Fabulous
Give Me Books, our promotional company
Blogs, who carved out scheduling time to promote us and/
or read and review the book
IndieSage PR—Our Web Designer
Michelle New—Our graphics gal extraordinaire
Type A Formatting—Formatting the paperback
First Readers—Heather and Angela
* * *
And, of course . . . we thank each other. Because two heads are better than one. (Lennon just popped in and is dying to make a double penetration
joke at that but we’ll resist). ;)
Thank you again! We can’t wait for you to meet our single dads—Marcus, Dane and Garrett!
xoxo Piper & Rayne
About the Author
Piper Rayne, or Piper and Rayne, whichever you prefer because we’re not one author, we’re two. Yep, you get two USA Today Bestselling authors for the price of one. Our goal is to bring you romance stories that have "Heartwarming Humor With a Side of Sizzle" (okay...you caught us, that's our tagline). A little about us... We both have kindle’s full of one-clickable books. We're both married to husbands who drive us to drink. We're both chauffeurs to our kids. Most of all, we love hot heroes and quirky heroines that make us laugh, and we hope you do, too.
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Also by Piper Rayne
The Modern Love World
Charmed by the Bartender
Hooked by the Boxer
Mad about the Banker
* * *
The Single Dad’s Club
Real Deal
Dirty Talker
Sexy Beast
* * *
Dirty Truth
The Manny
Doggie Style
Chore Play
* * *
Bedroom Games
Cold as Ice
On Thin Ice
Break the Ice