Crazy Love

by Lee Kilraine

  “What’ll it be, HL?” Renee stopped wiping and slid a paper place mat in front of the kid and grabbed out a box of crayons for him too. “Your usual?”

  “Yes, please, Ms. Renee.” He had already pulled out two crayons and was working away on the place mat. He peeked two serious brown eyes toward the side entrance he’d come through, then back over to Renee. “With whipped cream on top.”

  Renee grinned but slid it off her face real quick. “Chocolate shake with whipped cream on top, coming up. Where’s your daddy?”

  “Outside. Ms. Jewel stopped him to ask him a question.” He put down the red crayon and picked up the orange one. He worked studiously for a few minutes, his face squished up in concentration. “Ms. Renee, can I borrow your tape, please?”

  “You sure about this, HL?” Renee waited for him to nod his head. “Okay, but leave me out of it, you hear?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She handed a roll of Scotch tape over the counter, and the kid grabbed up his paper place mat and taped it to the glass door on the other end of the diner. The entrance his daddy wasn’t going to enter. Smart kid. Lu didn’t know what his sign said, but it was obviously something that wasn’t going to make his daddy happy.

  The kid skipped back over to the counter and hopped back up on his stool. His head turned and his brown gaze settled on her, studying her carefully.

  “Hello.” She smiled at him, not sure if she should because her friends with kids had stranger-danger rules and passwords set up.

  Renee paused in the middle of scooping chocolate ice cream into the silver malt cup and gestured over to her. “Lulubelle Swan, meet Henry Lee.”

  The boy’s face lit up. “Hi! My daddy’s named after a bird too.”

  “He is? Well, who is he? Mr. Peacock?” Lu grinned when the kid laughed at her joke.

  “No. His name is Hawk.” Henry Lee scooted off the stool, grabbed his crayons, and moved down to climb up on the stool next to her. “He’s a very nice man, my daddy.”

  Lu glanced over at Renee, who winked. Okay, whatever. “You know, I bet he is.”

  He shook his head. “That’s all I got, though.”

  “What do you mean, that’s all you got? Oh, you mean you don’t have a mother? I’m very sorry.”

  He blinked up at her. “It’s very sad, but what’s a kid s’posed to do?”

  Awww, what a sweetie. “I . . . I’m sorry, I don’t know.”

  Renee slid a new place mat and the chocolate shake in front of the kid. “Here you go, HL.”

  All three of them turned when the door at the far entrance jangled open. A man—a very large man, possibly even bigger than Tynan—stood holding the door open. The second door at the opposite end of the diner; the door HL hadn’t figured his dad would use. When the door drifted shut, his dad reached over and pulled the sign off the door.

  Henry Lee’s little body deflated in the seat next to her.

  “Good try, kid.” Renee reached down and grabbed up the canister of whipped cream and squirted another dollop onto the top of his milk shake.

  Darn if that didn’t perk him right up.

  The man lumbered over and sat next to his kid. His forehead creased over his serious face. “HL, what have I told you about this?”

  “That I can’t put up any more posters for a mommy.” HL shrugged and looked ever so innocently up at his daddy. “But that wasn’t a poster, Daddy. It was a place mat and I just writed on it.”

  Lu couldn’t stop the snicker that bubbled up. She slapped her hand over her mouth and looked away, but Renee had snorted also, so it wasn’t just her. Once she had herself under control, she turned back to find the man’s gaze on her.

  She shrugged and mumbled, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. It’s just . . .”

  The man cracked a beautiful smile and reached over to rub his knuckles on his kid’s head gently. “Yeah, I know. HL, you’re a knucklehead.”

  The boy laughed and hugged his dad. Then he waved to a newcomer in the diner and popped off his stool again. “It’s Jordy! Can I go sit with him?”

  “Just for a few minutes, sport. We need to grab our burgers and then pick up your sister from ballet class.”

  HL zoomed over to his friend’s table before his dad had finished his sentence.

  “Why don’t you just find someone and put that boy out of his misery?” Renee shook her head and leaned her elbows on the counter, batting her eyelashes at him. “Lord knows there are enough women willing to try out for the job.”

  “I keep telling you, if you’d be willing to take on a younger man, I’d seriously think about it, Renee.”

  “Oh, stop.” She rolled her eyes and snapped a dish towel at his arm. “It’s not keeping up with a younger man that worries me—it’s keeping up with young kids. HL exhausts me and poor Heather confuses me. But hey, here’s a young, single woman sitting right next to you.”

  Lu choked on the water she was sipping. When she finally regained her breath, she reached her hand out to him. “I’m Lu, and no offense, but I’m not in the market for a family either.”

  He returned her handshake. “Hawk Savage, and no offense taken. I happen to think my little family is fine the way it is. It’s just HL who doesn’t think so.”

  Renee turned when Dave hit the bell in the serving window. “There are your burgers now.”

  She grabbed a small white sack from under the counter and bagged up Hawk’s order, handing it across the counter to him along with advice. “Well, don’t wait forever, Hawk. Eventually all that muscle will turn to flab, and what woman will want you then?”

  Hawk looked over at Lu with raised eyebrows.

  Holy cow, the man was solid muscle. His muscles had muscles. “You know, Renee, I don’t think Hawk is going to have a problem with that anytime soon.”

  “Thank you.” He pointed at her before turning back to Renee. “Besides, between work and the kids, I’ve got my hands full.”

  Renee patted Hawk’s hand wrapped around the takeout bag. “You’re doing a great job, but a wife would—”

  “I’ve got to go or I’ll be late picking up Heather. Lu, nice to meet you.” Hawk left to gather up his son.

  Shaking her head, Renee sighed. “Stubborn man. A wife really would make his life easier.”

  Lu’s gaze tracked Hawk and HL on their way out of the diner. It looked like they had more than bird names in common; they’d both lost someone they loved. Only Hawk had kids to worry about too. And what a bittersweet thought that was.

  She’d had plans. Big, long-ago plans. But she was putting together a different life now.

  “It’s hard to lose someone. Has his wife been gone long?”

  “Pretty much HL’s whole life, so almost six years now.” She lifted a tray of silverware onto the counter next to a stack of paper napkins and began making roll-ups. “Poor guy fell hard and fast for HL’s mama. It was fun to watch.”

  “That’s very sad.” Losing someone you thought you’d have forever. She knew his pain. And, lately, the pain that sliced as people began those subtle suggestions to start looking again. To find another human to love as if it were as simple as deciding to go shopping and picking them out off a shelf.

  “It is, but it’s been over five years and the stubborn man isn’t even willing to look again.”

  “Maybe he’s not ready.” Her gaze fell down to the napkin she was ripping to shreds in her shaking hands. “Besides, what are the odds someone will find true love twice in a lifetime?”

  “There are over seven billion people on this planet.” Renee waved one of the roll-ups in the air as she made her point. “Now, I’m no mathematician, but that sounds like a lot of chances to find love again.”

  “I guess I never thought about it like that.” A chance to find love again? It felt like Renee had opened a window and a gale-force wind had blown in and knocked her over.

  “Hawk deserves to find love again.” Renee looked up from her task into Lu’s eyes. “Heck, we all do, d
on’t you think?”

  Lu blinked at the question. She had no idea. She’d been so broken up over losing her soul mate that the absolute last thing she’d contemplated was finding love again. Did she deserve it? Or was it greedy to think she could find love a second time?

  It seemed like once she’d decided to work on getting unstuck, the universe was cooperating by putting all these possibilities in her path. And now she was more confused than ever.

  Chapter Six

  “Oh my. Look at this turnout.” Beatrice Simon glanced around her crowded living room with wide, blinking eyes. “Tynan, did you tell anyone you were attending our book club?”

  “Nope. Not a soul.” Why in the hell would I have done that? It was one thing to be blackmailed. Totally different for everyone—aka his brothers—to know he was being blackmailed. He looked around the room, surprised at the number of younger women in Agatha and Beatrice’s reading group. He’d expected more of the blue-haired set. “So, you’re saying this isn’t your usual crowd?”

  “We’ve had a rather lackluster turnout with the last few book selections. It looks like our erotic romance was a good choice. Plus, I might have mentioned Tynan’s attendance to a few young ladies here and there.” Agatha’s gaze moved up to his, her smile on the sly side. “This is going to blow Maisey Applethorn’s book choice out of the water.”

  “It’s not a competition, Sister.”

  The gleam in Agatha’s eyes seemed to disagree. Tynan tried not to smile, because the last thing Agatha Simon needed was more encouragement. She might be in her eighties, but whether instigating something or just jumping into the fray, Agatha was often in the middle of things.

  “The History of Buttons? Please.” Agatha snorted. “Tynan, would you be a dear and bring in some of the chairs from the dining room?”

  “On it.” While he moved in dining room chairs two at a time, more women piled into the Simon sisters’ living room. He was on his third trip when Barbara Jewel accosted him.

  “Tynan Cates, you naughty man.” She latched her hands around his biceps once he’d set the chairs on the wool carpet. “Where are you sitting? I totally need to sit next to you so you can explain a few of the chapters to me. You know, maybe even some private tutoring . . . chapter three especially.”

  Oh, holy hell, chapter three had raised even his eyebrows, and he’d had his share of smoking-hot sex over the years. Discuss it with Barbara? Oh hell no. She was a man-eater of the worst kind. She liked to marry her victims before she spit them out. By Tynan’s count she was looking for number four now. Men didn’t call her Barbara the Barracuda for nothing.

  “Barbara, we could use your help serving the drinks in the dining room.” Agatha sent Barbara off with a firm hand before turning to Tynan. “You can thank me later. There’s Lulubelle.”

  Tynan did a double take toward the front door. Yep, there was the pixie, looking cute and all kinds of hot. In place of her normal work overalls, she was wearing tight jeans and a pink sweater. Damn, she might be pint-sized, but she still had some sweet curves. Curves he had definitely tried not to think about while he was reading some of the love scenes in the book.

  “Welcome, Lu! Come in, come in, dear.” She waved across the crowded room. “Tynan, go grab the cake box from Lu and take it to the dining room, please.”

  Lu looked a bit wide-eyed at the gathering. Tynan joined her near the front door, taking the cake box out of her hands.

  “Well, hello. So . . . romance books and a book club?” Her gaze raked him up and down. “Something tells me there’s a story here, or you’re more metrosexual than I had pegged you for.”

  “How did you end up here? I didn’t even know you’d met Agatha and Beatrice.”

  “I met them at the diner over the weekend. They said I’d be doing them a favor since they’d had trouble getting women to attend their book club meetings, but this sure looks like standing room only.”

  Tynan took her elbow, leading her into the room. He introduced her to women as they passed. Mrs. Frock from the grocery store. Candy Nguyen, the police dispatcher. Yvette Smith from the VFW. He leaned toward Lu and sniffed her hair. “Is it just me or are you wearing chocolate perfume?”

  “Dave let me use the diner’s kitchen to bake an Oh, Baby cake for tonight.”

  “What’s an Oh, Baby cake?” And good God, that eau de chocolate was making his mouth water. Not good.

  “Well, it has cho—”

  “Lu! Come on into the dining room and let me introduce you.” Agatha waved her hand in the air, beckoning her over. “Ladies, this is Lu. She’s new in town, so make sure you make her feel welcome.”

  “If everyone would go ahead and select some refreshments, we can move into the living room and get started.” Beatrice gently guided the ladies toward the table. “Lu was sweet enough to make the cake, so enjoy.”

  Tynan was assigned to pouring the wine and lemonade while Lu cut and plated slices of cake. Just looking at the soft, spongy chocolate cake had him pouring faster so he could get his hands on the big slice most of the ladies were eyeing with envy but were too polite to take.

  Once everyone had a drink, he grabbed his plate of cake and moved into the living room. Drawing on his special ops days, he planned to stand against the wall quietly, blending into the woodwork until the women forgot he was there. Hiding in plain sight while he absorbed his special view into the secret lives of a women’s book club. Did guys do book club? Somewhere in the world they probably did, right?

  His first bite of cake ruined his plans. The first luscious bite of the best chocolate cake he had ever tasted made love to his taste buds like a dirty, dirty hooker. “Oh, baby.”

  He moaned and all eyes turned his way. Just when he thought he had himself under control, the creamy sweet caramel with the lightest dash of salt hit him where it counted and he moaned again. “Oh, baby, is this ever good.”

  Openmouthed faces blinked up at him and then, as if on cue, everyone dove into their own cake slices. There were sighs of “Oh my gawd.” Moans of “Oh, baby, baby, baby.” One woman even begged, “Lu, for the love of God, please take the job at Dave’s.”

  “If you don’t plan on staying in town long, I really must insist on this recipe.” Agatha’s voice rose over the chatter.

  Lu’s cheeks flushed a soft pink. “I’m very sorry, Agatha, but it’s a secret. I can’t reveal it to anyone.”

  Agatha’s gaze narrowed on Lu and then she nodded her head once, twice, and once more for good measure. Uh-oh. That never boded well. Tynan had known Agatha Simon his whole life and the woman was not afraid to go after what she wanted.

  “You just sealed your fate, young lady.”

  Lu’s eyes went big and she froze in her seat. “I’m sorry—”

  “It’s fine, Lu.” Agatha tapped her crystal wineglass with the side of her dessert fork. “Let’s go ahead and get started. Tynan, come take a seat. We’re so excited to get a man’s perspective.”

  Fighting Agatha was like trying to wrap your arms around a tornado: futile. Tynan pushed away from the wall and took a seat in the armchair next to her.

  * * *

  Lu wasn’t sure what Agatha meant by “you just sealed your fate,” but considering she was planning to be gone from Climax in about a week, it wasn’t something she had to worry about. Her gaze traveled around the room, taking in the group. Lu had read romances for years, but she’d never been in a book club. She’d read them voraciously after sneaking her first one off her mama’s nightstand back in middle school. Joe used to tease her about them; it was the only thing out of place in her tomboy life. She didn’t care. She’d loved the happy endings until she’d realized happy endings were a fantasy. At least for her.

  So when she’d met Agatha and Beatrice in the diner, she’d accepted their invitation to come to their meeting. She hadn’t planned to actually read the book they’d handed her but figured she might be able to glean a bit more information about Tynan there. If she’d known he was going to
be there, she could have saved herself the trouble of coming. She almost wanted to shove him out the door because that wouldn’t happen with him sitting basking in all the drooling attention.

  “Agatha, I just had an idea. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we started with a reading from the book?” The woman who had introduced herself as Barbara Jewel managed to devour Tynan with her hazel gaze while speaking. “Say Tynan, for instance.”

  Lu looked across at Tynan, wondering how he’d ended up here. Agatha raised her eyebrows at him and he hesitated before shrugging his wide shoulders. Maybe she needed to have a talk with Agatha. One arch of an eyebrow and Agatha got what she wanted from the man.

  “Sure.” Tynan sat up and reached his hand out to Agatha for her copy of the book. “I’ll read.”

  Barbara’s lips curved into a calculated smile. “Chapter three.”

  There was a round of sighs, coughs, titters, and even an “Oh lord yes!” from around the room. Lu hadn’t read the book, so she wasn’t sure what was going on, but she could guess.

  Tynan leafed through the book, glancing over a page or two. When he looked back up at the room full of eager women, he grinned a bad-boy grin and waggled a finger. “Oh, you naughty ladies, you. I remember that chapter now, but I believe I’ll start at the beginning.”

  Listening to Tynan’s deep voice was a decadent pleasure. His voice washed over her as she listened and had her feeling a tad overheated. When he came to the end of the first chapter, there was an outcry for him to go on to chapter two. Lu was totally hooked on the story . . . and Tynan’s voice.

  One elderly woman in the corner, her face squished up like she’d taken a big bite out of a dill pickle with too much vinegar in the pickling brine, snorted.

  “What’s that, Maisey?” Agatha leaned forward in her seat. “Speak up, dear. I can’t hear you over this crowd.”

  “Nothing. I was just remembering my wildly successful meeting last month. Between the cake and Tynan reading, you’ve almost managed to match it.” The woman, Maisey, looked over her bifocals at Agatha. “Almost.”