High Heels and Haystacks: Billionaires in Blue Jeans, book two

by Erin Nicholas

  “By the time we came here,” Parker agreed. “It wasn’t always like that. His work was his priority up until the last three years or so. And it killed him.”

  “You’re afraid Ava will be like that?” Hank asked.

  Parker gave a short laugh. Clearly it was quite obvious who the woman was. “Maybe not that she’ll kill me.” But he sobered quickly. “But that she’ll make me start looking for more. For bigger and better, and I’ll forget to appreciate the good stuff I’ve already got.”

  “You’re scared of her,” Hank observed.

  “Yep,” Parker said without hesitation. “And scared of what she makes me want. She stirs up all of this energy and a bunch of what-ifs in me. She gets me excited about things, gets me thinking about making changes to this life that I’ve built a very specific way for a very specific, good reason.” He took a deep breath. “Hank,” he said seriously. “She makes me want to close the diner early, take days off, stay up late, try new things.”

  “And you don’t want those things?” Hank asked.

  “I want to be content,” Parker said honestly. “Why can’t I just look at this great life that I’ve got, that my dad gave me, and be happy? Bliss, and my dad, saved my life. This diner saved me after Dad died. It’s easy and laid-back and peaceful and stable, and it should be enough. Ava is the opposite of Bliss. She’s always on the go, she’s never content with the status quo, she stirs things up—stirs me up—rather than calming things down. How can I think being with her is better for me?”

  Hank leaned in, pinning Parker with a serious look, and pointing his fork at Parker’s nose. “Ava Carmichael is not the opposite of Bliss. She’s hardworking, loves her family more than anything, and will do whatever it takes to make them secure and happy. She loves them enough to come to Bliss in the first place. She has all of that in common with most of this town. They live here because this place gives them what they need and what the people they love need.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. Then he leaned back and set his fork down. “Hell, Parker, Ava is really just like your dad if you think about it.”

  Parker let that roll around in his head. Ava had come to Bliss because it was what her family needed. No, she hadn’t thrown a dart at a map, and maybe she’d argued about it for a couple of hours, but in the end, her family needed to be in Bliss, and she was right there beside them, leaving her life behind, trying new things, dedicated to doing whatever it took to insure their stability and happiness.

  Ava was just like his dad.

  Parker felt his heart turn over in his chest.

  “The main difference is that she got to Bliss earlier in her life than your dad did,” Hank went on. “But that, of course, is nothing but a good thing.”

  Parker nodded, his thoughts spinning. His father had only lived in Bliss for three years. But he’d been so much happier in Bliss than he’d ever been anywhere else. Rudy had lived in Bliss for only five years, but he too, had found an unequalled happiness. Happiness that he’d wanted to pass on to his daughters.

  Ava had years to be happy in Bliss. Parker’s life here was good. Very good. Maybe being involved with her didn’t mean he had to change. He could change her life. He could give her what his father had given him. What her father had wanted so much to give her. A home. A community. A family. A purpose. And really amazing chicken salad.

  Hank sat back in the booth. “Help her find her Bliss, Parker, and I think you’ll find yours.”

  Hank’s words hit Parker directly in the chest, and he had to swallow hard as his whirling thoughts slammed to a stop.

  This was all supposed to just be a way to get Ava through the stipulations of the will and back to New York. He sighed. That had lasted all of a day and a half.

  13

  Two hours later, Parker was in his kitchen, finally cleaning up the broken glass, eggs, and avocado. The breakfast rush had come in shortly after his conversation with Hank, and Parker had been, gratefully, busy nearly nonstop since.

  Of course, his thoughts had still been on Ava, but he hadn’t stomped over to the pie shop to check on her. Or to demand that she let him show her why Bliss was better than New York. Or to kiss her.

  Nope, he hadn’t done any of that. Yet.

  As if on cue, he suddenly heard a loud crash against the wall that separated the pie shop from the diner.

  This was a big one too. Without a second thought, he propped the broom against the wall and headed out his back door and through hers.

  There was a glass pie pan lying in pieces in a mess of apples, crust and filling at the base of her favorite egg-throwing wall.

  But what he was focused on mostly was the gorgeous blonde who was wearing a white and black striped skirt, black blouse, and bright red heels. She was sucking on the tip of one of her fingers.

  “You okay?” he asked from the doorway. Because once he stepped fully into the kitchen, he was going to touch her and once he started touching her, he wasn’t sure how that was going to end. Or if it would.

  “I burned my finger.” She held up the digit she’d had in her mouth.

  He gripped the doorknob in his hand, memories from the night before flooding his head and mixing with a strange sense of protectiveness. Burns could be serious, of course, but the finger was only red. There was no blister or anything. She’d be fine.

  But a second later, he made a decision. It felt like it was a lot more than just letting go of the doorknob and crossing the kitchen to where she stood, but he did those things with some kind of subconscious realization that once he did, everything was going to change.

  He took her hand and pulled her to the sink. He started a stream of cold water and held her finger under it.

  “You chucked the pie because you burned your finger or you burned your finger chucking the pie?” he asked, watching her finger instead of looking at her.

  Their bodies were touching, he could smell her shampoo mixed with the scent of cinnamon, and even cradling her hand in his under a stream of cold water made him want her with an intensity that shocked him. Sexual desire, want, lust—none of those were new. But with Ava he felt like he was feeling them for the first time.

  This had seemed so obvious to him when it was happening to Evan with Cori that Parker decided to be a grown-up and not deny or ignore the truth of what he knew was happening—he didn’t just want to sleep with her or even date her. He was going to fall in love with her.

  “No. I—” She glanced at the counter next to his right hip.

  He followed her gaze and saw that she had a couple of file folders and papers laid out. “What’s this?”

  “Work.” She lifted a shoulder. “I was on a conference call while I was baking this morning.”

  “And you got distracted?” he guessed. That was a lot of her issue with being unable to make a decent pie. She didn’t pay attention to textures or timers when she was doing something else at the same time she was baking.

  “There’s a big merger that was supposed to go through last month and now it’s stalled.”

  “You chucked the pie at the wall because you were pissed off about Carmichael business stuff?”

  She hesitated. “I threw the pie at the wall because things aren’t going my way this morning.”

  Parker shut off the water. He grabbed a towel but paused. Then he lifted her finger to his lips and placed a kiss on it. “Wait right here. I’ll be back in a second,” he said, wrapping the towel around her hand.

  Her eyes were wide. “Um. Okay.”

  Parker blew out a breath. Then he pivoted and headed back to the diner. He strode through his kitchen, shutting off the oven and the stove burners under the pots on his way. He pushed the door open and stepped into the main part of the diner.

  “Okay, everybody, closing time,” he announced loudly.

  Everyone in the diner seemed to freeze. Conversation stopped. There was no clinking of silverware. Nothing. They all turned to look at him. Parker put his hands on his hips and lifted an eyebrow. “What
?” Though he knew very well what.

  “Everything okay?” Al asked.

  “Yep. Ava needs me today. So I’m shutting down. I’ll be open for breakfast tomorrow morning.”

  If the first announcement had shocked people, the news that it was because of Ava sent a tremor of amazement through the room that was almost palpable.

  But damned if everyone didn’t start getting up and pulling their wallets out.

  “Just put the money on the counter,” he said, gesturing toward the counter where the register sat. “You all know what you owe.”

  As Ava had pointed out to Al, they’d all been eating here long enough and often enough to know what their bill would come to approximately. If they were off by a few dollars, he didn’t care.

  And if he made that admission out loud, he’d probably cause a rift in the space-time continuum or something. Because words like “approximately” weren’t in his vocabulary, and he did care that things added up correctly. Literally and figuratively.

  Until today. Now he just wanted to get back over to Ava.

  “Hey, Hank?” he called. “Can you be the last out and lock up?”

  “Yep,” the older man replied. With a wink.

  He was back in Ava’s kitchen a minute later. “Okay, come on.” He grabbed her purse, took her unburned hand and started for the parking lot behind their businesses.

  * * *

  Ava didn’t even try to figure out where they were going as Parker helped her up into his truck—his hands lingering at her waist—and then pointed the truck out of town. Nor did she ask. She didn’t care. The guy had kissed her finger after she’d burned it. She’d go just about anywhere with him right now.

  Hell, she’d thrown the pie at the wall to get his attention. In part anyway. She’d also tossed the damned thing because it had turned out great. Again. Better than the one before. She’d even baked it while on a conference call. Still, the pie had turned out.

  She’d actually cried over that pie. A little.

  It had been delicious. It was something she would be more than proud to serve, and she hadn’t been able to help wondering what her dad would have thought of it.

  And, without warning, tears had welled up.

  She’d been relating to Rudy’s challenge of making the “perfect” pie. He’d been trying to recreate a pie that he remembered from his childhood. With no recipe. She could imagine how hard and frustrating that had been when she was having trouble even coming up with something edible. Even with recipes.

  And then suddenly, unexpectedly, she’d done it. She’d tossed the recipes and had found the right combination all on her own. She was astounded by how satisfying that was.

  All her life she’d been following in Rudy’s footsteps, sure of her course, because he’d mapped it out first. Then he’d made her leave everything that was familiar and had given her a to-do list to accomplish, without a plan for how to make any of it happen. Here she was, having to make up her own recipes and strategies.

  But she was actually succeeding.

  She was making something she liked. All on her own. She had Cori and Brynn’s support and Parker’s general tips. But she’d made the pie that morning with her own two hands.

  She had no idea if Rudy would have loved her pie or if it was even close to being the one he’d been looking for. Really, she would never know that. And that thought was a little sad. Rudy’s pie quest had died with him, and there was no way of knowing if that pie would ever exist again.

  But maybe this was even better in a way. She’d had to create a pie that she liked. That she approved of. It was her pie. And she was proud of it. She didn’t have to follow Rudy’s paths to be happy and satisfied and proud of herself. She really could be successful with her own plans.

  And then, staring down at that pie, right on top of the feeling of accomplishment, she’d realized she wasn’t ready to fully own that pie and success. She liked the idea of her and Cori and Brynn working together to make this all happen and all of them falling just a bit short on their own. And she liked the idea of needing Parker’s help.

  So she’d thrown the pie against the wall before anyone else could discover that she’d figured it out. Which she’d known would get Parker over to her kitchen. That was multitasking at its finest.

  She glanced at Parker. It was silly to get all swoony over him kissing her finger probably. It was actually probably just a good excuse to give herself for not putting up one iota of resistance when he’d said “come on.” But she’d had very little coddling in her life and she liked it from the gruff diner owner who didn’t coddle anyone.

  But as she studied him, she realized that wasn’t true either. He did coddle. The entire town, as a matter of fact. They got to eat Rueben sandwiches well past closing time. Of course, they couldn’t substitute provolone for the Swiss, but they also didn’t pay a nickel more than they had a decade ago for it.

  He did coddle people. He just wasn’t showy about it. So the finger kiss and running her hand under cold water were stupidly significant to her.

  Ava had loved being seen as capable and independent and able to tackle any issue and handle any complication. She’d had to show her dad that she was the one that solved problems, not the one that needed to be looked after so that he would ultimately trust her at the head of the entire company. But from Parker, a little extra attention to her needs, was very, very nice.

  Bottom line—she wanted to get this guy naked even more than she wanted the Ashton merger to go through, or the second quarter profit reports in her inbox, or to go over the spreadsheets showing amazing growth in their west coast branch. And she loved mergers and profit reports and spreadsheets showing growth. But there would be more reports. There were other mergers, other companies, other deals. There was only one guy who made her feel the way she was feeling right now, and even studying the way his hands curled around the steering wheel, the way his thigh muscles bunched under the soft denim of his jeans as he pressed the gas pedal, the way he tensed his jaw as if keeping from saying—or doing—something at the moment, all made her stomach fluttery, and her body feel warm, and her panties damp.

  Her phone pinged, interrupting her thoughts. She glanced down. The text was from Cori.

  You’re taking the day off?

  Ava glanced at Parker. She didn’t know what exactly he had planned or how long it would take, but she was sure he had his watch alarm set. Just a long lunch, she replied to her sister.

  Are you with Parker?

  Yes.

  Well, whatever you’re doing, he’s not planning on recovering quickly ;)

  What are you talking about?

  He closed the diner for the day.

  Ava stared at Cori’s response. That wasn’t right. He’d been open when she’d gone to the pie shop that morning. Are you sure?

  Hank just put a sign on the door.

  Ava looked over at Parker. “You closed the diner for the day?”

  Parker rolled his eyes. “It’s been like fifteen minutes and everyone already knows?”

  “It’s true?”

  He focused on the road but lifted a shoulder. “Yeah.”

  “You’re just not going to go back? What about when people show up for lunch and dinner?”

  “Pretty sure no one’s showing up for lunch or dinner,” he said dryly.

  Ava pivoted on her seat to face him more fully. “Why?” And why was her heart pounding like it was?

  “Because when I threw them all out, I told them it was because you needed me.”

  Ava felt her mouth part in a surprised O. And her body heat. “I…need you?”

  Now he did glance over at her, the corner of his mouth curling up. “You sure do, Boss.”

  Yeah, she sure did.

  Her heart skipped and her stomach flipped. “And the whole town knows you did this for me?”

  He sighed. “Apparently.”

  Ava sat back in her seat, chewing her bottom lip, as emotions swirled through her. First a
nd foremost was anticipation. Whatever he had planned, she wanted in. She knew what she hoped he’d had planned. And she was suddenly thinking that she might like to know what it was like to make out in a pickup for the first time in her life.

  Or maybe that wasn’t so sudden.

  Parker had closed the diner. For her. He grumped about the food because the food was very personal to him. But he also let people linger in his diner nearly thirteen hours a day. Because they were personal to him. The diner was about his dad, on one level. On another, it was all about him. Because fulfilling the needs of the town fulfilled him.

  And now he’d closed it all down for her.

  “The town will think there’s something going on between us,” she finally said.

  That was part of her plan, but now she needed to know how Parker felt about it.

  He looked over as he turned off the highway onto a dirt road. “Yeah, they will.”

  The look in his eyes made her heart thump. “You’re okay with that?”

  “I am,” he said with a short nod. “You?”

  She nodded. “Yeah.”

  “I figure this can count as your six months of monogamy. I fit all the criteria.”

  Ava decided she shouldn’t be surprised that he was thinking along the same lines. He was a smart guy. A goal-driven guy. He wanted Ava to meet all the conditions of the will for a number of reasons.

  But this didn’t feel like just a means to an end.

  “You do,” she agreed.

  “And we’ve already spent some time together,” he went on, his eyes on the road again. “We maybe wouldn’t have to do the whole six months. We could count some of the time before now.”

  Yeah. Exactly. But Ava said, “Or we could start counting now. I mean, just to be sure.” Six more months with him instead of two? That seemed like one of her more brilliant ideas.

  His hands tightened on the steering wheel and he swallowed before answering, “Yeah, we could do that.”

  Ava felt a little flutter of what might have been giddiness. She’d never actually felt giddy before so she couldn’t be sure, but this had to be it.