Santa Baby: a Crescent Cove Romantic Comedy Collection

by Quinn, Taryn

  I looked around for my hobo bag—I’d brought it out here earlier for this purpose, I knew I had—but didn’t see it anywhere. Until a pair of work boots appeared at the edge of my peripheral vision right before a tanned hand held out my familiar navy leather planner.

  “Looking for this?”

  “Thanks.” I snatched it from Dare and nodded, not meeting his gaze. “You’re a male,” I reminded him out of the corner of my mouth as laughter broke out from the crowd. But it was hushed, as if they were giggling behind their hands at us.

  No, at me. Might as well be honest in my own head. I was the one who’d ripped apart the present and now I couldn’t even find my own belongings without Dare’s help.

  He’d helped me find a lot of things, including my uterus just long enough to plant a baby there.

  Maybe.

  If there’d been planting.

  If it had been him.

  God, it had to be him.

  “Are you okay, darlin’? You looked flushed. And you’re mumbling to yourself.”

  “I’m fine. Great actually.” He pushed a chair at me and I slumped into it gratefully. This had to be a heat-related illness. I’d forgotten sunscreen today, so I’d probably be burnt to a crisp to boot.

  Lovely.

  “I’m ready to begin,” I smiled at Ally and pretended I couldn’t hear the continuing laughter.

  Dare was not getting the hint.

  “You sure about that?” Ally asked, raising her brow at Dare. “The other guys are in the man-cave downstairs if you want to—”

  “How come he gets to be out here?” Seth’s voice rang out clearly from the back stoop. “We were banished, and the newbie to the crew gets an all-access pass?”

  Sage let out a giant sigh. “No. No men. Not you, Seth, not you, Dare—sorry—and definitely not my husband. Go play with yourselves or something.”

  This time, there was no mistaking the laughter, including from Dare and Seth. And even me, a little. Just a little though because sweet marmalade, I had an alien invading me.

  Possibly.

  Sage sighed heavily again. “Not like that. Filthy minds, all of you. Though you do you, boo. But I meant Xbox. Video games. Air hockey. Whatever men do when they’re alone and blissfully wedded, so blissfully they have no cause to bitch.” She pointed at Seth. “Right?”

  Seth held up his hands palms out. “Nirvana is my natural state, as is Oliver’s, I’m sure.”

  Dare shook his head. “Sure seems like a lot of fuss over a baby. Hope they plan on doing this for you too.”

  I didn’t look at him. Didn’t even acknowledge his existence. I was sure he was talking in the abstract. Besides, probably no one had even heard—

  “Oh my God, Kelsey, are you knocked up?” Sage’s voice rang out above the piercing throb in my right temple.

  “Presents time!” I called out cheerfully, as if Sage had never spoken.

  But no one was listening to me. Dare crossed his muscular arms and stood guard beside me as if I needed protection. He didn’t say yes, didn’t say anything at all. Didn’t matter.

  The die was cast, for the guests and for me.

  Because I made the mistake of meeting his gaze for a fraction of a second and I knew.

  He’d looked at the tests and reality was not on my side.

  The non-preggo side.

  Not like the universe could toss me a bone. A small celestial favor, just this one time.

  Hey, the girl works in a Catholic school. New job, new life, and she’s always played by the rules. This would be a spectacular screw-up at a not so good time.

  I didn’t even know who the father was. And that was patently ridiculous. I’d never ever slept with two men within the span of one month before—hell, within one year was a stretch—yet the first time, bam.

  Twinkle, twinkle, little star with a side of baby booties, please.

  Dare ran his hand down my hair and for a second, it was easier to just lean against him than to keep trying to be strong. To pretend I could handle all of this when it was clear I couldn’t. He’d overstepped about five hundred boundaries by insisting I take those tests, then obviously looking at the results even before I had a chance to.

  Even so, I was out of my depth and drowning. And I’d gratefully take the lifeline he was offering just by being there.

  Until he opened his mouth again.

  “Just saying, she’s been busting her ass for you, Sage. Hope you’re ready to reciprocate.”

  No one laughed this time.

  I didn’t speak. I was residing in another dimension, where my only recourse was to become mute.

  Ally cleared her throat and discreetly stepped aside as Sage lurched to her feet and propped a hand on her hip. “I appreciate everything Kelsey has done. She’s my bestie with Ally. They’re both amazing.”

  At Dare’s huff of breath and another stroke of my hair, I decided I needed to take the bull by the horns.

  “Let’s do gifts! Look at all these pretty things everyone got for Sage’s little one.” I grabbed the nearest item, which—shocker—happened to be the same foam block monstrosity. I let it go, but not fast enough to prevent spillage yet again.

  No one cared because Sage was staring down Dare.

  “You’re needed inside.”

  He planted his feet. “Nope, I think I’m good right where I am, thanks.”

  The back door opened and Oliver stepped out, earning Sage’s groan. “Jeez Louise, forget it. Who cares about baby shower protocol? Men and women, mingle freely! Just give me some damn cake before my water breaks.”

  Oliver hustled across the lawn. “Are you having contractions?”

  Sage gave me a beady-eyed look as if to say this is all your fault. And the worst of it was, it was my fault.

  All of it.

  From the mess with the foam blocks, to not being prepared to take names, to letting Dare just run rough-shod over my reproductive organs.

  “Just who do you think you are?” I demanded, turning away from Sage’s flushed cheeks to glare at the object of all my frustration.

  Dare and his ridiculously large dick had gotten me into this kettle. And he was making it even worse by being all broody and hot and acting as if he was my studly bodyguard.

  It was a baby shower, for God’s sake. Not a crime scene.

  At least not yet.

  “I think I’m involved in this situation, and I’m not about to let you push me out.”

  I frowned. What did that mean? The way his jaw locked made me wonder if this was the first time he’d felt as if he was being shut out of a…situation, as he’d put it.

  With Wes’s mom maybe? I didn’t know any of the story there.

  Not the time, Kelsey.

  Sage stepped forward, leaving a bewildered Oliver in the dust. “Situation, huh?”

  Sage and Ally exchanged a look.

  “Hey, guess what, everyone, change of plans. It’s too hot out here for the mom-to-be.” Ally shot me a loaded glance and quickly kept going. “Let’s move this party inside.”

  “Inside where?” Came Seth’s plaintive question. “You all aren’t allowed in the man-cave.”

  Ally rushed toward the back door. “Not now, Hamilton. Ladies, follow me.”

  Unfortunately, she wasn’t moving fast enough to prevent my mouth from detonating. Even as my lips opened, I knew I needed to shut the heck up and wait until the women dispersed.

  But with one look at Dare’s smug, self-satisfied expression, my panic and fear and frustration exploded.

  All over Dare.

  “You know what, Mr. Know It All? This baby may not even be yours!”

  Twelve

  The world fuzzed out of focus and I couldn’t hear for what seemed like forever. What did she just say?

  I took a step back, then another. Noise came rushing in and yet it was only birds and a distant speaker pumping out music.

  Pin drop moment in the flesh.

  Not mine.

  Not mine
.

  Maybe not mine.

  The maybe part wouldn’t stick. Just the idea that someone else had been inside her within enough time to plant a baby inside of her was like a seizing motor in my brain.

  “Dare, I didn’t—”

  I held up my hand and turned to escape. No fucking way I could stand there in front of all those people and listen to her excuses. Not now.

  Maybe not ever.

  Not yours.

  Seth stood on the back stoop, but he didn’t say a word as I passed. His eyes averted to the floor.

  Blindly, I swung the door open and headed through the house, then out the front door and down the stairs to the sidewalk.

  Return the car. Go home.

  Go home where you should have been this whole fucking time.

  I didn’t even remember the ride home, or backing into the bay at J&T’s. It was all a haze. Hell, I didn’t even know if the car had made the damn squeak that my customer had complained about.

  The only thought in my fucking brain was Kelsey.

  I was tangled up over a woman again, though Kelsey sometimes seemed more like a sweet younger girl in so many ways.

  I’d fucked the holy hell out of her twice. But someone else had too.

  And I didn’t even know why that pissed me off so much. I wasn’t that guy. Judgmental like the people in this goddamn town? Nope. That wasn’t me. And yet, my fingers were welded to the steering wheel and I was still staring at the wall of tools sightlessly.

  I pounded the dash and got out. Anger sprang out of my pores like noxious gas. I needed to get rid of this before picking up my kid.

  How?

  Pound it out into Kelsey.

  No.

  No, that definitely wasn’t happening. That was why I was in trouble in the first place. My dick didn’t know how to stay in my pants when I was near her. Even now, the thought of her long legs wrapped around me had me half hard.

  And the baby…

  The anger swelled in my head and chest. I grabbed the long crowbar and stalked to the back door of the garage and out into the back loading area where stacks of tires waited for recycling.

  I swung at the largest stack of truck tires. The satisfying bounce back emptied the noise out of my head. I slammed into the stack until the reverberations in my biceps and triceps left me tingling and numb. My hand burned and my wrist sang with each blow. Sweat coated my shoulders and arms.

  Finally, my hand gave way to the punishment and the crowbar clattered to the blacktop. I dropped to my knees and growled through heaving breaths until the spots dancing in my vision cleared.

  The golden setting sun off the water speared down the alleyway chased by shadows and the cloying scent of burnt rubber and oil. A steadying scent. My life was connected to this garage.

  Once upon a time, I’d wanted to own my own garage and pit crew, but now I liked being able to walk away each night. Sure, I had overtime coming out my ass lately, but it was because I asked for it. Because it helped me catch up when the cascade of shit came down on me from the fixer upper I’d bought when Wes was born.

  He was my entire world. Even beyond Katherine and her endless unhappiness, my little boy had always been the best thing in my life.

  And maybe part of me wanted more.

  You could have more.

  I shut my eyes against the thought and forced myself to stand. I went back inside and washed up at the large basin on the far wall of the garage. I checked my phone, swiping away the messages from Kelsey.

  I couldn’t go back there right now. The wild anger was too close to the fringes of my brain. Instead, I texted my mom to let her know I was on my way.

  Dinner with my kid. That was what I needed to focus on, not Kelsey Ford and her huge brown eyes.

  The horror in her expression when she’d shouted that the baby might not be mine was forever burned on my retinas. Horror that she had to have a man like me in her life forever? Or horror that it might not be mine?

  I didn’t know.

  Yeah, I didn’t have it in me for questions like that right now.

  I grabbed my denim shirt and shrugged it on before locking up. Main Street was quiet. The whole town rolled up on Sundays by dinner time. Shops either opened for only a few hours after church or not at all. Lights were still on in the cafe, but the delivery truck wasn’t taking up the entire area anymore.

  I climbed into my truck. It was a quick drive to my parents’ house, but the last of the sun’s rays were disappearing into the brush when I drove up the gravel lane leading to the sunny yellow ranch with white shutters and trim.

  My pop painted it every three years so it always looked fresh. Maybe some of the trim was a little more worn these days, but my family made do with what we had. I’d learned that from my old man.

  The screen door slapped and the sound of pounding feet followed by the scrape of Sandy’s toenails as she scrabbled after my son brought me back to center. Wes hopped down off the last stair and came tearing at my truck. No coat on, of course. He got that from me—forever warm. But without the sun, the October chill quickly crept into the air.

  I stepped out of my truck just in time to catch Wes as he flung himself at me. He was getting a little too big to catch, but I was secretly glad he still was excited to see me. Working so much left my kid a little more sullen than I liked to admit some days.

  I hoisted him up on my hip. “Hey, bud.”

  “Dad, wait ‘til you see what I did with Grampa today. It’s so cool.”

  “Oh, yeah?” The scent of burning leaves clung to his shirt. “Did you help in the yard today?”

  “Yeah! How’d you know?”

  “Good guess,” I murmured and gave Sandy an absent rub along her silky ears. The Golden Retriever leaned against my thigh, pinning me against the front quarter panel of my truck. “Hey, girl.” Soot clung to the fur around her eyes and mouth. “I’m guessing you guys did a little bit of leaf raking.”

  “Wow, you’re really good at guessing.” Wes wiggled to get down and he and Sandy ran around the house. He stopped and backtracked, peeking around the corner of the porch steps. “Come on!”

  I trudged after him. Hunger was gnawing a hole in my gut, but if my kid wanted to show me the bonfire my old man was probably creating, who was I to say no?

  Sure enough, Wes was running circles around the picnic table in the backyard. When he spotted me, he started jumping up and down. Jesus, the kid didn’t stop until his cheek hit the pillow at night. He ran back to me, dragging me toward the wide barrels at the edge of the yard. “C’mon, I want to show you.”

  The snap and pop of fire licking up into the sky evened me out just a little more.

  Normalcy.

  Fall in Laurel was in full swing. It was the next town over from Crescent Cove, with a decidedly more country feel than the small town I lived in now. Land went back for acres, but instead of rolling grass, it was full of brush and woods. A creek ran along the back of my parents’ property and a tire swing as old as I was hung from the massive oak that rained down a metric fuck-ton of leaves every year.

  And from the smell of things, a lot of them were ash already.

  “Pop.”

  “Hey, there you are. I thought you were only working a half day today?”

  I shrugged and glanced over to make sure Wes wasn’t too close to the hot metal bin. Eyes so much like mine were wide with little fires flickering in the pupils. Great, I’d have to add fire to my watch list for Wes. He was far too curious for his own good sometimes.

  I shoved my hands into my pockets. “I need to tell you something before you hear about it at the shop tomorrow.”

  “That sounds ominous.”

  I gave him a look then glanced down at Wes. “Hey, why don’t you go see if Gram will give you some cookies to take home?”

  His blue eyes got even wider. “Yes! We made chocolate chips.” He raced off, sneakers pounding up the porch stairs.

  “Now I’m worried.”

  I s
ighed. “Yeah, today took a bit of a hard left. I’m not really sure what to do about it. I’m still thinking on a lot of it, but…” I gripped the back of my neck. “Fuck.”

  “Not like you to go on without spitting it straight out.”

  “I know. It’s hard for me to say. I swore I’d never be so goddamn stupid again and here I am.” I met my father’s eyes. Again, so much like mine, only more weathered. They had deeper creases at the corners and his hair and beard were more white than blond these days.

  “Well, shit.”

  I winced. “That obvious?”

  “Last time you came at me with that look on your face, you told me I was going to be a granddad. Before that, it was that you rolled your car on the track. Pretty sure both of them cost the same in the end.”

  I huffed out a laugh. “Ain’t that the truth.”

  “Who’s the girl? Please don’t tell me it’s Jody.”

  “What? God, no.” I didn’t think I actually had a laugh in me, but the idea that I’d hook up with the ticket girl at my father’s pizza joint was laughable. “Is she even eighteen yet?”

  “Why the hell do you think I asked? She’s got huge hearts in her eyeballs for you, boy.”

  “God, really?”

  He shook his head. “So, who’s the girl?”

  “Teacher.” I cleared my throat. “Wes’s teacher.”

  “Miss Ford?” My dad blew out a startled breath. “Wow. When did that happen?”

  “You don’t really want a blow by blow, do you, Pop?”

  “I am partial to redheads.”

  I could feel my cheeks flush. Christ, my mother was a redhead. Well, she had been once upon a time. Now she was more of a salt and sand. “Let’s just say it was a weak moment.” More than one, but I really didn’t want to get into details, for fuck’s sake.

  He shoved his hands deeper into his Carhartt jacket. “I raised you to be careful.”

  “And we were. But hell…” How the hell did I tell him it might not even be my baby? I didn’t want my dad to think less of Kelsey. The whole damn town was probably talking about her already. “It’s between me and another guy.”