And this wasn’t some rented limo, this was Ava’s personal car. She used it to travel from her incredible apartment that occupied the entire top floor of her building and overlooked the city to her equally incredible office on Madison Avenue so that she could work while her driver navigated the city traffic. It was practical. Parker had to give her that. But it was also very classy and luxurious too. And he didn’t mind that as much as he would have expected.
But, while he’d been impressed with her condo—and the six spray nozzles in her humongous shower…and how much fun those were when they were in there together—and he had enjoyed the Broadway show and he was a little fascinated with the lights and noise and bustle of the city, none of that had made the biggest impression on him.
What he knew he’d remember most from this trip was the way Ava had slipped her hand into his as they walked down the sidewalk, the way she’d leaned into him when he’d draped his arm over the back of her seat during the show, the way she’d turned and whispered in his ear, the way he’d caught her eye across the lobby when she emerged from the ladies’ room and that split second when they’d communicated silently and met at the base of the stairs leading back to their box seats.
Yes, what he would remember most was the way she was letting him date her.
Sure, it was her apartment, her boxed seats, her jet and limo. But those weren’t the important things here. It was how she was letting him close. How she was so…soft with him.
He knew that she didn’t hold hands with the men she typically went out with. She didn’t share private looks across the room with them. She didn’t allow them to play with her hair during a show. She didn’t lean over as the lights in the theater were going down and say that she loved her date’s tie…and that she hoped he’d blindfold her with it later. And she didn’t introduce her dates to other people as her boyfriends.
Somehow Parker knew that all of this was new.
And he felt like a fucking king.
Ava Carmichael was possibly the most high-maintenance woman he’d ever spent time with and yet, he didn’t need to plan the perfect night out, buy the perfect gift, say the perfect thing. He just had to adore her and want to be here with her more than he wanted to be anywhere else. And though it was kick-ass CEO and billionaire heiress Ava Carmichael, things had never been simpler.
As the car wound its way through New York City traffic on the way from the theater to the restaurant, Parker wasn’t looking at the incredible interior of the limo or at the big buildings and bright lights of New York City passing his window. His eyes were on the woman beside him.
“Hey,” he said softly.
She looked over at him and smiled.
“Come here.”
Her smile grew, but she shook her head. “You can’t mess me up. We have dinner.”
He gave a low laugh. “I’m not going to mess you up. Yet. Come here.” She slid closer and he put his arm around her, tucking her up against his side. “Just want you against me right now.”
Her hand rested on his thigh and she looked up at him. “Oh, yeah?”
He put his nose against her hair. “Yeah. I know when we walk into that restaurant you’re going to be kick-ass and in charge. I want you soft for just a few more minutes.”
“And you think you make me soft?”
“I do.”
She laughed lightly. “I guess you do.”
He reached to her face and tipped her chin up. “I didn’t mean that sexually. Though I do make you soft that way.” He leaned in and kissed her. Then, resting his forehead against hers, he said, “But I mean in other ways. You don’t have to put on your kickass-in-charge side with me.”
She sighed against his lips. “Because you know it’s all an act.”
He laughed at that. “It’s definitely not an act. You’re soft with me because I know the ways you’re kick-ass that have nothing to do with business deals and power suits and high heels.”
She looked surprised, and he turned in the seat so he could look at her more directly. For some reason, at this moment, in this place, he needed to tell her this.
“I know the real kick-ass stuff, Ava,” he said, possibly more earnestly than he needed to. But…he needed to. They’d been playing in New York for the past two days and it had been fun and sexy and light and flirtatious and all of the things he’d wanted for her from them dating. They’d done it all right. Back in Bliss they’d gotten to know one another. They’d flirted and laughed and argued and talked about the things that were important to them. They’d spent time together because they wanted to. And then they’d rocked each other’s world in bed and decided to take a weekend getaway. Dating. Just like it was supposed to be done. Then in New York there had been sex and showers and the theater and dinner and more sex and then more sex again and then more sex again. And another show. And now dinner.
It had all gone perfectly. And not at all according to any plan. And it was all really good.
And now, suddenly, in the middle of New York City, without a pie or a rooster or a spreadsheet anywhere near them, he felt earnest.
He swallowed. “I know how you love your sisters and will do anything for them. How you keep trying to find a way to make something work even when it seems impossible—maybe because it seems impossible. How your beautiful brain never stops working. How you throw eggs against the wall just because you like to break stuff.” He shook his head. “How you’ll march in and pick up a fucking rooster. How you’ll barely hesitate to grab a chainsaw and then want more stuff to cut up and pound on and blow up. And,” his voice got rough, “how you are actually incapable of really napping, but how you like to hold hands and snuggle. And how you don’t really care about food but you let Cori and me feed you because you know how much we love it.”
If he wasn’t mistaken, Ava had tears in her eyes. “Wow.”
He nodded. Earnestly. “Ditto, Boss.”
She wet her lips. Then she took a deep breath and, looking a little earnest herself, said, “I made a good apple pie.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “What?”
She nodded. “Four times now actually.”
“You…made a good pie?” That was definitely not what he’d been expecting her to say.
“I couldn’t believe it either. It was just like everything suddenly clicked. After I started tasting it as I went and adjusted it to how I liked it, it started to work. And…”
She bit her bottom lip, and Parker had to just make himself wait for her to go on. He had to hear this.
“It was as if, after we started hanging out, I stopped worrying about it so much. I stopped thinking I had to get it perfect, because I knew I had you as a backup, and I knew that you would fix it if needed, and I knew…it didn’t matter. Me being perfect and getting it exactly right didn’t matter. And then, it just worked.”
He wasn’t sure what to say to that. But his heart was pounding. “Why haven’t I tried any of these pies?” was all he could come up with.
She smiled, almost sheepishly, and he wanted to start kissing her and not stop until sometime the next day.
“I got rid of the evidence,” she said.
“What? Why?”
“If I could do the pies, then you wouldn’t have to coach me anymore. And I wanted to keep having that time.”
“We have never actually baked a pie together, Boss,” he reminded her, his chest feeling tight.
She gave him a grin. “I know. That’s maybe the best part.” Her voice got soft. “I’ve learned a lot even though we never actually did what we’d planned to do.”
Well, he couldn’t argue with that. Nothing that had happened between them was anything he’d planned.
He lifted a hand to the back of her neck, pulling her close. “Kick-ass,” he said gruffly. He kissed her, this time taking a few minutes to really taste her. But he pulled back before he wanted to, not wanting to mess her up. Yet. “Tell me we can make this work,” he said, finally having to say what he’d been thinking abou
t since they’d first boarded the jet in Kansas. “Tell me you can travel back and forth. That you don’t have to be in New York that much. That you can work from Bliss for the most part.”
Her eyes widened and she took a deep breath, but as Parker steeled himself for her to tell him all the reasons that was crazy and would never work, she said, “We can make this work. I can travel back and forth. I don’t have to be in New York that much. I can work from Bliss for the most part.”
“Really?”
She nodded. “I’ve been thinking and…I can simplify.”
Parker felt that word, one of his favorites, rock through him.
But Ava kept going. “I do way more than I really need to as CEO. I’ve loved having my hands in everything, but now there are some other things that need more of my attention.” She gave him a little smile that made him want to crow like Ras did when the sun came up in the morning.
“Everyone here in New York is actually doing a great job,” she said before taking a deep breath. “And one of the things I’m really good at is seeing other people’s potential and truly, there are some people in our organization that I should give more responsibility.”
“So you’re going to let go of some things. And simplify.”
She nodded.
He squeezed her neck and dragged in a breath, relief and happiness coursing through him. “If you don’t want to be messed up, you better slide over.”
“We’re here,” she told him as the car pulled up at the curb in front of a high-rise building with a black awning with gold lettering. A literal red carpet stretched from the glass doors to the curb, and a man in a tuxedo came to stand by the door to help them out. “And you should know that there are a number of very important people inside. People who, once I go through those doors, will want to talk with me. People I should talk to and reassure that me being in Bliss these past few months doesn’t change anything. People who are dying to know what’s going on with Carmichael since my dad’s passing and who have heard only gossip and snippets of the stipulations of the will.”
“So, you’re going to be busy for the next couple of hours,” he said, resigning himself to the fact.
“I am,” she said with a nod. “Busy eating the frittata my very hot boyfriend is going to make for me back at my apartment.”
Parker stared at her. “You don’t want to go in?”
She glanced at the building and then back at him. “I really don’t.”
He let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “You sure? Why not?”
“Because I can’t reassure them that nothing has changed,” she said, putting her hand against his face. “Everything has changed.”
Parker took her hand, turned his face and kissed the palm, then said, “You’re going to get messed up before you make me slave away in your kitchen.”
She settled back in her seat with a satisfied smile on her face. “I can absolutely live with that. Making you my slave in the bedroom sounds more fun anyway.”
However, by the time they made it to her bedroom, she had already gotten messed up in the back seat of her limo. And in the elevator to the penthouse suite.
* * *
Is everything ready?
Ava glanced at Parker as she sent the text to her sister, but he was reclining in his seat on the jet, absorbed in a book. She wondered when he’d last had a chance to just sit and read.
Yep! Cori responded.
Everything is cleaned up?
Not a speck of sawdust or paint anywhere. Relax.
She couldn’t. She was way too excited. She’d been planning this surprise for Parker for about a week, but nothing had been done until they’d lifted off for New York. She was paying an exorbitant price and had needed to pull contractors in from Great Bend because no one local could get the supplies and do the work fast enough, but it was worth it.
Cori and Evan had helped her put it all together, and Cori had been texting her updates throughout the process, but Ava had been nervous about it right up until Parker had asked if she could work from Bliss and travel back and forth rather than returning to New York full-time. That was the moment she’d realized that he really was feeling everything she was and that this was definitely the right move.
And you baked the pie?
Yes. The entire place smells like apple pie now.
Ava had made a pie—one of the really good ones—before she’d left and frozen it so that Cori could bake it for tonight. Ava wiggled in her seat. This was going to be so great. Cori had sent her a few photos, but she couldn’t wait to see the whole thing in person. And see Parker’s reaction.
It was Sunday night and the diner had been closed since Friday. Parker needed to do prep for the Monday breakfast crowd and she’d offered to help. It was the perfect excuse to get him down to the diner as soon as they got to Bliss. She had debated about having Evan, Cori, Brynn, and Noah there. She thought there was a very good chance she and Parker would want to celebrate privately with some apple pie filling…and no clothes. But in the end, she’d decided to have all of their friends there. Cori was, of course, a big part of the new endeavor, and Evan had been the one to draw the paperwork up. And just as they’d done when the girls had first cleaned and redecorated the pie shop, Brynn and Noah had pitched in with paintbrushes and hammers and nails over the past two days. So it was fitting they all be there when she revealed the big surprise to Parker.
They’d just have to take the pie filling back to his house afterward.
And you’ll have the shots ready? Ava asked Cori.
Of course.
Instead of champagne to toast with, Ava had decided that apple pie shots were more fitting.
And the aprons are there?
Cori sent her a GIF of Krysten Ritter rolling her eyes, but added Yes, they’re all here. Everything is good.
Ava grinned. She’d ordered aprons especially with Parker in mind. He seemed to love her in aprons. And in blue jeans. So she’d found a woman who made aprons out of old jeans. They were waist aprons, had an apple on one pocket and a cherry on the other, and a red ruffle at the bottom. She couldn’t wait for him to see them. He might even want her to take one home and wear it, and only it, for him privately.
“What are you grinning about?”
She looked over to find him smiling at her, with a look in his eyes that made her toes curl. She’d never had a man in love with her before, so she couldn’t be sure that’s how he was looking at her now, but if that wasn’t what he was feeling, it was something very close. She felt her stomach flip and was incredibly happy that she’d paid to use the private airstrip outside of Great Bend to land this time.
“Just happy to be almost home,” she said, lifting a shoulder.
His expression changed slightly and it was her heart that flipped this time. He looked…pleased. And intense. Intensely pleased.
“You just called Bliss home,” he said.
She had. “I know.”
“I like that.”
“Me too.”
Finally, nearly two hours later, they drove into Bliss.
“You’re still going in to do prep for tomorrow, right?” she asked. She was nearly bouncing in her seat and she had to work to keep the excitement out of her voice.
“Yeah, guess I better,” he said, turning his truck down Main. “Rather do it now than get up early tomorrow.”
She laughed. “You already get up at a God-awful time of day.”
He gave her a grin. “Yeah, well, you better get used to it.”
“Me? No way. I’m a nine a.m. girl at best. No heels until after the sun comes up for sure.”
“Yeah, you’re definitely going to be wearing your heels before the sun’s up once in a while,” he told her.
“Come on. I’m not the farmer here.” She was, actually, willing to get closer to Parker’s chickens and pick some of his spinach, but she was waiting to tell him that as a part of the surprise too.
“Well, I didn’t say you
’d have to get out of bed with them on.”
Ah, now she understood. She grinned and nodded. “Right. I guess early morning meetings can sometimes be productive.”
“I definitely have some motions I’d like you to consider.”
She laughed as they pulled up at the stoplight just a block from the diner. “I think we can come to a consensus on most points.”
But Parker’s attention was no longer on their banter. He was peering through the windshield and frowning. “Why are all the lights on at the diner?”
It was clearly a rhetorical question. He didn’t expect her to know.
When the light turned green, he drove through and pulled up in front of the diner rather than parking in back like he usually did. He shut the truck off and got out, still frowning. “It looks like Evan’s in there. And Noah.”
Through the big front window, it was easy to see their friends standing in the middle of the diner talking. Dammit. Ava should have texted Cori to let her know how close they were. But it wasn’t as if they’d planned to hide and jump out yelling surprise.
She felt the butterflies in her stomach swooping in bigger, faster circles. This was a big deal for her. Would he understand what the gesture fully meant? She had always had everything in her life organized in very particular way. Each part of her life went under its own colored, labeled tab. Or even more accurately, the parts of her life each had its own box. The pie shop was one of those boxes. It was almost perfectly square-shaped, in fact. And while it had been overwhelming over the past few months, everything she’d needed to handle had been contained within those four walls.
Until she’d started going outside of that box and into Parker’s. The diner was no more familiar or comfortable for her than the pie shop had been, and yet, she’d been drawn over there, first by needs like butter and eggs, and then out of necessity for a baking coach. And then by desires. For Parker’s off-menu food. And for him.
The boxes around the parts of her life had started opening up and combining. And at first, that had freaked her out and caused her to hide out at home. But now…she wanted it all in one big box.
High Heels and Haystacks: Billionaires in Blue Jeans, book two Page 26