Dreaming Eli

by JoMarie DeGioia

  “Then do it! Because unless you want to live out in the tent-cabin, this is the best option right now.”

  He thought for a second about the little structure out by the far lakeshore. Cozy didn’t begin to describe it. Even he would have a tough sell if that was one of his properties.

  “Okay, you’ve sold me.” He winked. “So to speak.”

  She clasped her hands, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Good! I’ll contact the homeowner and let him know. See if I can get you a friends and family discount.”

  Eli lost his smile but he nodded. “Thanks, Jessie.”

  He clicked out of the listing window and leaned back. Jessie was over at her desk now, talking in hushed tones but sounding perky and excited.

  Cypress Corners, and the Sales Center for that matter, was so different from anything he’d known before. It wasn’t just the weather, either. He glanced at his phone. He owed Bill a call, actually. But he had other considerations today. He was moving into Cypress. For real.

  There was a big benefit to moving out of the inn that he couldn’t ignore, though. If he rented this townhouse he wouldn’t have the ever-observant innkeeper watching his every move. And then maybe he and Caro could finish what they’d started out by the lake, with no worries of anyone being any the wiser.

  ***

  “Hey there, baker girl!”

  Caro looked up with a smile as her friend Jessie Brady bounced into coffee shop. The place was almost empty at this hour, thank goodness. It was nearly four thirty, and Caro sat at a table nursing her caramel macchiato. She was delaying going home. She’d gone straight home yesterday and her mother had dragged her downstairs and into another home style family dinner. Last night’s had been chicken-fried steak. Caro had tasted that lumpy white gravy all night. At least there hadn’t been some eligible pseudo-bachelor waiting at the impeccably-set table.

  “Hey there, yourself.” Caro used her foot to push out the other chair at her small table. “Sit, Pixie.”

  Jessie rested her hands on the back of the empty chair. “I will. Just let me grab one of what you’re having. It smells really good.”

  “Caramel with a dash of salt, Jessie.” Caro lifted her cup in salute. “Unexpected and delicious.”

  “Hmm, like somebody else I know.”

  Caro stared at her as she went up to the counter and gave her order to Becky’s brother Tom. He quickly made her drink and Jessie rejoined Caro. She took the lid off of her cup and closed her eyes as she breathed in.

  “Are you going to make love to that coffee?” Caro asked. “Or explain that cryptic statement you just made?”

  Jessie took a delicate sip and sighed before opening her eyes. “I was just speaking with the latest hot guy to fall into our midst.”

  Caro’s cheeks went warm but she raised her brows. “Oh? Who?”

  “Eli Graham, Caro.” Jessie snorted. “As if you didn’t know.”

  “So he’s…what did you call him? Unexpected and delicious?”

  “You tell me.”

  Caro fiddled with the corrugated cardboard sleeve wrapped around her cup. “Tell you what, exactly?”

  “Tell me what’s going on between the two of you?”

  Caro stilled. Jeez, had someone seen them out by the lake, making out like their ship was sinking?

  “Between us?” Oh, she was started to sound like an imbecile.

  Jessie leaned closer. “I know you went out with him on Sunday.”

  Caro peeled away some of the cardboard sleeve, saying a silent prayer that Jessie wasn’t talking about their dockside dalliance.

  “Yes, I did. We went to Old Town Village, although you probably know that already.”

  Jessie beamed and nodded her head. “I do. So tell me what’s up with you two?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Are you dating?”

  “We went out on a date, but I’m not sure if we’re actually dating.”

  “You shared a pizza at the tavern Monday night.”

  Caro splayed her hands on the table, staring her friend down over their coffee cups. “What, are you having me followed?”

  Jessie reached out and covered one of her hands. “No. But you know as well as I do just how clear the glass is in this particular fishbowl.”

  “True.” Caro straightened in her chair. “There’s something between us, but who knows what? We’re friends, sort of. I guess.”

  “Gee, what a lovely lukewarm sentiment.”

  “Jessie, you know me.”

  “I do.”

  “You know I don’t play, but I don’t have guy friends, either.”

  “Except for Eli.”

  She shrugged. “Apparently.”

  “Are you going out with him tonight?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

  “Do you want to?”

  Caro managed a smile. “That’s the question, isn’t it?”

  Jessie pushed aside her coffee cup and folded her hands. “I’ve known you for a year and a half, and I’ve never really seen you date.”

  “I’ve gone out a couple of times. With a couple of guys.”

  “And that’s it?”

  “I guess.”

  “Like I said, I’ve known you for some time now. You always seem content, or at least very grounded. This conversation about Eli, though? You seem really confused, Caro.”

  Caro grew quiet as she mulled over Jessie’s words. “I guess I am. I really like him. Who wouldn’t? He’s fun.”

  “Yes, but there’s something else beneath the surface. I got that vibe last spring when I toured him and the other Chapman guy. Now that I’ve been working with him for a few days? I see it more and more.”

  “What are you saying, Jessie?”

  “Aren’t you curious to see just what’s beneath that yummy blond exterior?”

  “Yummy?”

  “I can say he’s yummy. I’m married very happily to my own yummy blond guy.”

  Caro smiled a little. “So I should just take things as they come and worry about it later, is that what you’re saying?”

  Jessie held up her hands. “Hey, I was totally clueless when it came to Noah, Caro. I didn’t even realize I loved him.”

  “Your story is nothing like mine.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not.” Jessie’s eyes darkened a little and her lips thinned. “We need to sit down and have a heart-to-heart. And soon.”

  “Now who has something else beneath the surface?” Caro teased.

  Jessie’s expression turned serious. “I think we all have things we’re hiding, don’t we?”

  Caro’s belly clenched as she recalled her own sad secret. “Maybe.”

  “One night you and I, Caro. We’ll get a big bottle of wine, maybe head out to the tent-cabin and have that conversation.”

  “I’ll consider it.”

  Jessie stood and placed the lid back on top of her coffee. “Max has soccer practice in about an hour. I’m grabbing some sandwiches at the market to bring to the field.”

  “Sounds like fun.”

  Jessie’s smile was back, as was the light in her big brown eyes. “It is! I love being a mom.”

  Caro’s breath stilled. She nodded mutely as Jessie left. Jessie was a mom, or at least a stepmom. Noah’s little boy was six years old and stayed with them in Cypress about half of the time. Caro had a front seat, along with the rest of Cypress, and had watched as Jessie had resisted falling for Noah. She knew her friend would have a hard time putting the reason into words.

  Something had happened to Jessie to make her hold herself back from that relationship. Something she was ultimately able to work through apparently, because now she was one of the happiest people Caro knew.

  Eli was so tempting. Light and teasing and so good for her, at least as far as her social life was concerned. He wouldn’t be the guy to push for more. Of that, she was reasonably sure. He’d said as much, hadn’t he?

  The trouble was, what if he did? Would she push right back
? Would she push him away or risk revealing her secrets, her hopes and dreams, to find out what they could have together?

  She sipped her lukewarm coffee without tasting it as she wondered for a brief second just how happy she could really be. Someday.

  Chapter 9

  Caro woke on Thursday morning and stretched on her bed in her apartment, staring up at the plaster swirls in the ceiling above. She’d almost called Eli last night, after she’d gotten home at last. Her conversation with Jessie had stirred things up inside of her, but that could be due to the anniversary she’d acknowledged Monday afternoon.

  She picked up her phone right as the alarm buzzed. Four o’clock. She smiled as she thought about Jane’s comment. Oh dark thirty. Some mornings it felt like that.

  “Another day, another dollar,” she murmured as she began her day.

  When she got to the bakery she found Jane inside already.

  “Morning, boss!” she called over the sound of whirring mixers.

  “Morning, Jane.” Caro donned her big apron and got to work.

  The morning flew by and by the time three o’clock rolled around she stopped long enough to take a breath.

  “Wow, busy day,” Jane observed. “Maybe we can use another kid during the week?”

  “Expand our workforce?” Caro grinned. “Maybe.”

  Jane sipped her coffee from the shop next door. “You know, Tom said he’d like to learn how to bake.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yep. Said he’s tired of just handing out plastic-wrapped biscotti.”

  “Biscotti.” An idea came to Caro and she smiled.

  Jane chuckled. “What are you thinking?”

  “How about a pumpkin walnut biscotti for the Fall Fest?”

  “That would give us almost two weeks to perfect it.”

  “And Sweet Escape serves nothing that isn’t perfect,” Caro said with a grin.

  Jane got that familiar thoughtful expression and slipped on the glasses she kept on a chain around her neck. “Let me see.”

  As she thumbed through their box of recipes, Caro hid her smile. Of course they kept their recipes on the computer, but Jane always said she preferred the recipe cards in the funky green box. The little pink lady bug in the corner of the lid seemed to like the attention, too.

  “We did something for the holidays last year…” Jane began.

  Caro snapped her fingers. “Yes! The peppermint almond biscotti, drizzled with dark chocolate. Oh, that was good.”

  “And popular. If we really ramp up the cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, leave out the peppermint of course, and sub chopped walnuts for the almond, maybe.”

  “And switch out the dark chocolate for white?” Caro added.

  Jane gave a firm nod. “We just might have something there. It’ll take a little experimentation.”

  “Which you know we can’t stand, right?” Caro teased.

  Jane smiled. “Okay, boss. We’ll hit this tomorrow.”

  “Sounds great. Thanks, Jane.”

  They both left out the back door. As she watched Jane peddle off for home, she was once again seized by the distinct urge to avoid going to her own. Walking around the building, she stood and stared at the Fitness Center across the street. Pulling out her phone, she thumbed through the center’s app and brought up the schedule of classes. There was a Yoga class starting at four thirty. Tapping to confirm attendance, she slipped the phone back in her pocket and returned to her car.

  She always kept workout stuff in a bag in the little trunk, or at least workout clothes and a yoga mat. She wouldn’t need her favorite running shoes or the super-supportive sports bra she liked to use when she ran. Nope. Just her mat and easy-peasy, comfy clothes to stretch or bend. And breathe.

  Shouldering her bag and tucking her mat under her arm, she shut the trunk and hurried over to the Fitness Center. She hadn’t practiced yoga in almost a week, and she’d missed it. She didn’t even care if today’s class was strengthening, relaxing or energizing. It could be general stretching or Vinyasa or Ashtanga. She just knew that it would feel good to focus on her breathing, which she’d often heard was what yoga was truly about. Breathing with some stretches and poses around it.

  An hour later, after stretching and breathing and tightening her core, she felt like she had more space inside of her. Space to move and breathe, and some of her sadness receded to the back of her mind. There had been three other women attending the class whom she recognized enough to nod hello, and her favorite yogi had led the practice. On her mat, an island to herself as she’d followed the older woman’s instructions, she’d found a little bit of clarity.

  She thanked the instructor, wished the others in the class a good night, and walked out into the hallway. And right smack into Eli.

  “Caro, hi.” His smile was wide and bright. “What are you doing here?”

  She patted the mat rolled up under her arm. “I’m done, actually. Yoga.”

  “I’m hitting the weight machines.”

  She ran her gaze over him. He looked really good in his workout clothes. He wore a sleeveless T-shirt in a dove gray and a pair of loose shorts in shiny navy blue. His legs looked strong but his arms looked even better.

  “You work out with weights?” she asked, unable to think of anything more clever to say.

  “A couple of times a week, yeah.” His gaze took her in head to toe, and she felt a shiver that had nothing to do with the overactive A/C in the Fitness Center. “You?”

  “Nope. I run and do yoga. Sometimes grab a Zumba class.”

  He brushed his golden waves back off his forehead and nodded. “I run, too. And swim. Yoga and Zumba? Not so much.”

  “Mmm hmm.”

  “So what are you up to later?”

  She might have said something in answer but she wasn’t sure. She tried to follow what he was saying but he looked so good. Dragging her naughty eyes up over his sculpted muscles, she looked him in the face. That was a mistake. His eyes held a tenderness along with that glint of sensuality she’d seen a couple of times by now. She completely lost her train of thought.

  “Hmm?” She tried again. “What?”

  He laughed, a secret, low rumble that made her tingle. Oh, she’d made space in her yoga class, all right. Space for wicked thoughts and desires that, at the moment, felt just right.

  “I’d ask where your mind went Cupcake, but I’m pretty sure I can guess.”

  She licked her lips. “Oh, you can?”

  He nodded as he reached for her. He just held her hand, gently stroking his thumb over the back of it. Yet her body heated and her breasts tingled. Oh, she’d made some space all right.

  “Your mind went to that swing out by the lake,” he said.

  The swing. The lake. She swallowed a moan. The kiss.

  Some of the things Jessie had said yesterday whispered in her ear once more. Maybe she should get to know Eli a little bit better. Learn what was beneath his sunny exterior. Right now that sounded like a fantastic idea. She took a breath and jumped right in.

  “How about getting together after your workout?” she asked.

  ***

  Eli stared at her for a beat, and then nodded. “That sounds really good to me, Cupcake.”

  Her blue-green eyes sparkled up at him. “What should we do, Graham Cracker?”

  She placed a delicate hand in the center of his chest, not stroking, not moving, just resting it there. His heart pounded and his body reacted. Really glad for his loose shorts, he covered her hand with his.

  “How about coming to my townhouse?”

  She lifted her hand away from him as she blinked in obvious confusion. “Your what?”

  “My townhouse.”

  Her brows knit. “You moved?”

  “Not yet, but I signed the lease this afternoon. I have the keys.”

  A smile curved her full lips, and he was seized with the desire to kiss her crazy right here in the hallway. The fact that she wore some sexy-as-hell tight workout clo
thes wasn’t helping him at the moment. Her breasts were caressed in Lycra and her bared belly was smooth and strong looking.

  “You have the keys,” she said.

  He gave her a slow nod. “No furniture yet, but I can rough it if you can.”

  She laughed, a light sound he hadn’t heard from her since they’d been up high on that Ferris wheel. “I hear a dare in there, Eli.”

  “Maybe.” He winked, knowing he was turning on the charm. When her pretty eyes widened he knew he had her. Well, not completely. For dinner, at least.

  “So where is this new place of yours?”

  “Just a few doors down from Jessie and Noah Brady,” he said. “The other end unit in that row.”

  “Oh, I’m glad you took it. That one’s been empty for months now.”

  “That’s what I’d heard. So, come by around seven?”

  She nodded. “Do you want me to bring anything?”

  He smiled. “I don’t have anything yet, Cupcake. Bring whatever you like, as long as your sweet little self comes with it.”

  She shook her head at his ridiculous come-on line but her eyes danced. “Okay. I guess the electricity is on, or do you need candles?”

  He just arched his brows and she slapped him right in the center of his chest. This time she let her hand drift down over his abs before pulling away from him.

  “The electricity is on,” he said.

  She nodded. “Go work out. I’m going home to shower and I’ll meet you at your new house at seven.”

  He held in a fist pump, managing to simply nod as she walked away from him. Her ass looked amazing in those super-tight yoga pants. Sucking in a breath in an effort to cool his jets, he turned away and headed into the weight room.

  After forty-five minutes he was ready to give it a rest. His muscles were humming and sweat streamed off of him and, while he’d initially anticipated working out for an hour or so, he now had a date tonight.

  Nodding to another guy coming into the weight room as he exited, he headed for the men’s locker room to shower and change into the cargo shorts and a T-shirt he’d shoved in his bag this morning. He’d left his SUV at the Sales Center, but as he walked back he passed it and went into the town market. It was nearly empty when he walked inside, and a glance at the posted business hours showed him the reason. They were only open for twenty minutes longer. He went to the case holding prepared foods and grabbed up a couple of sandwiches. He crossed to the chips and snacks aisle and a display at the front of the store caught his eye.