Uncontrollable

by Shannon Richard

  “I hope no one else is foolish enough to bring chocolate chip cookies to the bake sale tomorrow.” Grace shook her pretty blond head as she peaked into the mixing bowl. “That’s like trying to bring a knife to a gunfight.”

  As Grace was—in Beth’s humble opinion—Mirabelle’s best baker, she was going to take that compliment to the bank.

  Grace and her grandmother Lula Mae were the owners of Café Lula, a quaint little place out on the beach that had some of the most glorious food Beth had ever put into her mouth. Lula Mae’s fried chicken was unrivaled and what she could do with pastrami on rye should be illegal.

  “Oh really? And what are you making?” Beth asked as she fished the corkscrew out of a drawer.

  “I had to bring my A-game with you around now,” Grace grinned. “I’m making double fudge cupcakes with cream cheese ganache frosting.”

  “And there goes my waistline and all my cash,” Beth groaned. Grace’s cream cheese ganache frosting was God’s gift to any pastry. Beth was probably going to end up buying more of those damn cupcakes than anyone else.

  “I can’t help your waistline, but as for your cash?” Grace pulled a Tupperware container from the purse that hung from her shoulder. “I brought you the frosting leftovers,” she said before she turned around to stick it in the fridge.

  “And this is just another reason, on a long list of reasons, as to why I adore you.” Beth pulled out four wineglasses before she grabbed the open bottle and started to pour.

  “And that,” Harper said, pointing to the now very full glasses, “is one of the reasons that we all adore you.”

  “You guys weren’t planning on going anywhere for a while, right?” Beth grinned as she passed the glasses around. “You don’t need to get back to relieve your babysitters or anything?” She looked between Hannah, Harper, and Grace.

  “Are you kidding?” Hannah asked as she twirled a strand of her strawberry blond hair around her finger. “Mama Shepherd takes her grandmother duties very seriously. When she gets baby Nate for a night, she keeps him the whole night.”

  “Lula Mae is the exact same way with Rosie,” Grace said about her own grandmother, who was Rosie’s great-grandmother.

  Grace and Beth had a number of things in common. They’d both learned how to bake at the hands of their mothers…and they’d both lost those mothers when they were young. Grace had been ten years old when her mother Claire had been taken from this life. The breast cancer had been aggressive, only giving her seven months from the time of diagnosis.

  Neither Grace nor her older brother Brendan had ever known their respective fathers. After their mother’s death, they’d been raised by their grandparents, Lula Mae and Oliver King. Grace understood a lot of what Beth was dealing with, and had always been there with good advice.

  “Well, I’m not quite to the point of being without Sofie for a whole night.” Harper shook her head. “But my parents were thrilled for an evening of babysitting. Liam and I will probably have to kick them out of the house when we get home tonight.”

  Grace laughed as she picked up her wineglass and held it in the air. “Well, no matter how it happened, here’s to still getting a girls’ night!”

  “Cheers!” everyone said in unison as they clinked their glasses together and took a sip.

  Beth had barely swallowed when Mel looked at her pointedly. “Spill.”

  “So to catch the three of you up on what Mel knows,” Beth looked between Hannah, Harper, and Grace, “Tripp kissed me.” That was the second time she’d said it out loud and she still didn’t really believe it. “We got interrupted by your brother-in-law,” she looked pointedly at Hannah, “I left…and Tripp followed and kissed me again.”

  “Finn walked in on the two of you making out?” Hannah’s eyebrows rose high over her black, plastic-framed glasses. “Well, this just got way more interesting than I was expecting.”

  “Yeah it did.” Grace nodded.

  “Start from the beginning, Beth. And leave nothing out,” Harper said before taking a hefty sip of wine.

  Beth followed Harper’s lead, taking her own fortifying drink before she launched into the story.

  * * *

  When it came to sports, Tripp’s favorite to play was baseball. When it came to watching? It was hockey, hands down. Had been since he was six years old.

  As Kingsland was less than an hour away from the home of the Jacksonville Stampede, he’d gone to many games growing up. His dad had always gotten awesome seats and without fail, Tripp and his best friend Landon would scream themselves hoarse by the end of every single game.

  It was a pretty exciting time to be a Stampede fan. They were the reigning Stanley Cup winners and were having another awesome season on the ice. Tonight they were playing the L.A. Kings, and it promised to be a good game as both teams were dominating that season.

  Yet, Tripp was only half paying attention to the action on the screen in front of him. Why? Because he couldn’t stop thinking about Beth.

  Couldn’t stop thinking about how her body had curved into his, about how she had felt perfect up against him. Couldn’t stop thinking about how she’d put her hands on his skin. How she’d sighed in pleasure when he’d kissed her. How she’d moaned when he’d touched her. Couldn’t stop thinking about how she tasted.

  He was going to need to pour the ice-cold beer he was drinking into his lap in about a second.

  “Yo! Tripp!” someone shouted as they jostled his shoulder.

  He pulled his gaze from where he’d been blindly watching the game and looked across the bar at Nathanial Shepherd. Shep was Finn’s older brother, and except for Finn sporting glasses and shorter hair, they looked ridiculously alike.

  The Shepherd family owned the Sleepy Sheep, which was an institution in the small town. It had an Irish pub feel with its mahogany walls and floor, and the dollar bills that were signed and stapled to the ceiling. It had been built by Shep and Finn’s grandfather right after World War II and was holding strong even after all these years. It had even been expanded to include a brewery next door.

  The business was still family owned and operated, and most nights, some Shepherd or other was working behind the counter. Even Finn pulled a few evening shifts when he wasn’t too busy with his day job.

  “What the hell is going on with you?” Shep asked as he placed his hands on the bar and leaned forward.

  “My brother just scored for the second time tonight, and while everyone in this bar is losing their shit, you’re over here on the moon,” Liam said from Tripp’s right.

  Not only was Liam a country musician who was married to the beautiful Harper James, he was also younger brother to Logan James. Logan just so happened to be one of the star players for the Jacksonville Stampede.

  “So why is that?” Shep asked.

  Finn was sitting to Tripp’s left, and the second Shep asked the question he coughed into his hand. “Beth.”

  The other Shepherd brother wasn’t working that night and was instead enjoying a beer while he watched the game…and apparently throwing Tripp under the bus. Well, that had taken no time at all.

  Shep’s gaze moved from Tripp to Finn in an instant. “What do you know?”

  “Our friend here has finally gotten his head turned around by a woman.”

  Tripp looked at Finn, now wanting to throw his beer somewhere else. “Really, Finn?”

  “What do you want from me?” He shrugged. “I walked in on the two of you making out like there was no tomorrow. That’s your own damn fault.”

  “You were kissing Beth?” This question came from Bennett Hart, who was sitting at the corner of the bar.

  “Sure was,” Finn answered. “She gave him pie, too.”

  “Is that a new euphemism for something?” Liam asked.

  “Not one that I’m familiar with,” Jax Anderson grinned.

  Jax was a Deputy Sheriff for Atticus County whose beat was in Mirabelle. He and Tripp worked with each other every once in a while. When
Tripp had first met the guy three years ago, he’d been pretty damn reserved and not quick to smile.

  But that was before he’d married Grace.

  Besides Tripp and Finn, all of the guys who were hanging out there were married. They were all perfect examples of settling not being a part of settled down. Each and every one of them had fallen hard for the woman in their life.

  So it would stand to reason that if Tripp were going to ask for advice from anyone, it would be from his friends. But knowing his friends, it wasn’t going to be necessary for him to ask. They’d be offering their advice up in no time at all. Just as soon as they started prying in three…two…one…

  “So? Beth?” Shep grinned from across the counter. “This is an interesting turn of events.”

  “Because she definitely wasn’t a member of the Tripp Black fan club,” Finn said before he took a sip of his beer.

  “Yeah.” Bennett leaned forward and rested his elbows on the bar. “But that was before he went out on the lake and saved Grant.”

  “This is true.” Jax nodded. “That was a significant catalyst for such a big change of opinion.”

  “But to go from thoroughly disliking someone,” Finn said, looking at the guys, “to letting them stick their tongue down your throat? That’s a pretty big leap.”

  “Also true,” Liam agreed.

  “And what about this pie?” Shep asked.

  “Which we should all take into account,” Bennett interjected, “is in addition to the cookies she’d already made him.”

  “Beth made him cookies, too?” Jax’s reddish brown eyebrows rose up high.

  “Which ones?” Shep asked, looking at Bennett.

  “Chocolate chip.”

  “Damn.” Finn groaned before he finished his beer. “Those bad boys are unrivaled.”

  “You guys going to talk to me while you talk about me?” Tripp asked.

  “I don’t hear you chiming in to help us decipher this new development.” Shep shook his head as he grabbed Finn’s empty glass and slid a full one into its place.

  “We have precious little to go on here. Since we’ve known you, you’ve been almost virginal,” Bennett said.

  Finn choked into his beer.

  “I’m glad this is so much fun for all of you.” Tripp frowned. The thing was, he couldn’t exactly contest what Bennett had just said.

  Well, he couldn’t argue with his friends about having very little to go on when it came to his love life. Since he’d moved to Mirabelle he hadn’t been in a single relationship serious enough to bring a girl around to any of his friends. Sure he’d dated, but it hadn’t gone any further than casual.

  As for the virginal part? He could contest that. It might’ve been a few months since he’d had sex, but he wasn’t anywhere near celibate. But come to think of it, he hadn’t brought a woman home with him since he’d moved into the new house. Nor had he gone home with anyone.

  Well, that was an interesting fact.

  “Okay, all kidding aside.” Shep placed his elbows on the bar and leaned over it. “Do you want to date Beth?”

  “I don’t know.” He definitely wanted to keep kissing her. That was for damn sure.

  “Well, you’re going to need to figure it out.” Bennett was looking pretty seriously at Tripp now. “You know anything with her isn’t going to be simple or casual. Not when she has three kids involved.”

  “I’m fully aware of that.” This thing with Beth, whatever it was or could be, was already so damn complicated. Was that something he even wanted to get involved with?

  His mind flashed to the memory of her in his arms, her back pressed to the brick wall as he’d kissed her. He could still feel her hands in his hair.

  He wanted something. That was for damn sure.

  “And we also need to factor in Beth. Who’s to say she even wants to date you?” Finn asked, raising his eyebrows at Tripp.

  Well, that was a fair point. Who was to say that she wanted to date him?

  “Hmm,” Jax hummed. “I think that’s something we can find out. We’ll just have to ask our wives what they learned tonight.”

  “What are you talking about?” Tripp asked.

  “Hannah, Mel, Harper, and Grace are all hanging out with Beth,” Shep answered. “They’re most likely drinking enough wine to float a raft.”

  “Probably a small ship,” Liam agreed.

  “Should be easy to get any information out of them at this point.” Jax looked down at his phone. “Especially as Grace just texted me that she has a tipsy. She also sent this picture,” he said, sliding his phone across the bar to Tripp.

  But before Tripp could pick it up, Finn snatched it. “Let me see that.” He studied it for a second before he turned to Tripp, grinning as he handed over the phone. “Well damn, look what’s in the background.”

  His eyes immediately landed on Beth when he looked down at the screen. Her smile was genuine, reaching all the way up to her eyes, which seemed even bluer than he remembered.

  Was that a trick of the camera? Or just something that happened when she was happy? The need to know the answer burned his brain.

  He slowly took in the rest of the picture. Grace’s arm was wrapped around Beth’s shoulder and they were both holding glasses of wine. Then his eyes caught on the background, where trays of cookies cooled on the counter behind them.

  Chocolate chip cookies.

  Tripp forced himself to look up from the screen, trying hard to maintain some sort of poker face. He was pretty sure he was somewhat successful, which was good as there were five sets of eyes on him. But really, it wasn’t one of the easiest things he’d ever done, especially since he was now thinking that Beth probably smelled like those damn cookies again.

  “You think if we went over there we could snag some of her cookies?” Finn asked.

  There was something about the way Finn said her cookies that had Tripp wanting to slug his friend in the face.

  “No, I don’t,” Bennett shook his head. “She’s making them for the high school bake sale at the Spring Fling. You want them, you’re going to have to buy them.”

  “Well, I know where I’m going to be tomorrow.” Finn waggled his eyebrows. “Buying all the cookies.”

  “Not if I get there first,” Tripp said before he could stop himself.

  Yup, he was fucked. He wasn’t going to be able to maintain any semblance of a poker face when it came to Beth.

  It wasn’t possible, not anymore.

  Chapter Nine

  Control

  Beth looked into her nearly empty wineglass, swirling the last few sips around and around. The strands of star-shaped lights that ran around the porch ceiling twinkled through the glass and seemed to float in the last of the liquid.

  After the last batch of cookies had been pulled from the oven and left to cool, they’d all moved out to the back porch. Hannah and Mel were sitting in the hammock, their feet resting on the floor as they rocked slowly, careful not to spill their wine.

  Harper was laid out on the love seat, her feet propped up on one armrest, her head on the other. Grace and Beth had stationed themselves in the matching chairs, and the table between them and Harper now held two empty bottles and a third whose contents were slowly dwindling.

  The other thing that was dwindling was the tray of brownies that Grace had whipped up and then slathered with the cream cheese ganache frosting. They’d needed something to soak up all that alcohol.

  “You know Beth, you aren’t going to find the answer to my question in the remnants of that wine,” Harper said.

  The question? What Beth was going to do about her sexy neighbor.

  Hannah laughed. “This isn’t like tea leaf reading.”

  Beth looked up at her friends and grinned. “Ohhhh, that would be fun. Finding answers in an empty wineglass.”

  “An empty wineglass?” Grace asked. “I don’t think any of us have had an empty glass all night.”

  “True,” Mel nodded. “Now answer the qu
estion.”

  Beth sighed, shaking her head. “I have no idea what I’m going to do.”

  “But you like him. You liiiike him.” Harper’s emphasis on the word like was totally and one hundred percent true.

  It was that thrilling—and more than slightly terrifying—flip-in-her-belly kind of like. Beth hadn’t felt it in years. Those chasing days that happened right before something started.

  Could a something start with Tripp?

  “How did this even happen?” Beth asked, so beyond confused. It had just crept up on her out of nowhere. He’d just crept up on her out of nowhere with his sexy sexiness.

  “Are you seriously asking how it happened?” Grace shook her head pityingly. “You looked at the man. That’s how it happened. You were just too stubborn to realize it before.”

  “I am not stubborn.”

  “All right, Pinocchio,” Mel said. “You can keep lying to yourself if you want to. Let us know how that turns out for you.”

  “Ugh,” Beth groaned.

  “Though I will say, you know what I really appreciate when it comes to this whole thing with Tripp?” Mel asked.

  “What’s that?” Beth turned to look over at her friend.

  “His little line of not being done kissing you.”

  “I was a pretty big fan of that, too.” Beth leaned her head back and looked at the ceiling, remembering exactly what it had been like to be kissed by Tripp. And if she was really honest with herself, she was pretty happy that he wasn’t done. She sure as hell wasn’t ready for that new development to be over.

  Not even in the slightest.

  But could she do it? Be in a relationship and be a mom? She had no freaking clue. She’d obviously never done it before. She was already trying to juggle so many things…one more ball could have everything tumbling down.

  “Well, if you want my suggestion on what to do”—Harper’s voice floated on the night air—“I think you should do him.”

  “What?” Beth’s head came up so fast she probably gave herself whiplash.

  “Oh, yeah. Do what Harper said,” Hannah agreed before she brought her wineglass to her lips.