by L. A. Fiore
“You’re officially invited to all our dinner parties and you’re on dessert patrol because that cake was freaking awesome.” Ember said.
Darcy followed with, “Yeah, it was. The next one is at our house.”
“See you Monday, Avery.”
“Night, Trace. You’ve got a beautiful family.” My eyes moved to Lucien, “You both do.”
Trace’s arm slipped around his wife’s shoulders, his attention on Ember. Ember’s reaction was sweet. She blushed but at the same time it looked as if she wanted to climb her husband like a tree.
“Night, Avery.” Lucien whispered so he didn’t wake his daughter.
I didn’t really remember the walk to the truck or the ride home. I remembered Rafe walking me to the door though. He unlocked it for me and held it open and then he touched my face, his finger brushing lightly down my jaw before his thumb stroked my lower lip.
“Night, Avery.”
“Night, Rafe.”
Somehow I made it to my bed, fell face first without even changing. And when I dreamed, I dreamt of Rafe and me hosting a dinner party: one with his friends and mine, our child sleeping in her daddy’s arms.
Avery and I had plans to hit the nursery today but based on how late we got home last night and how tired she’d been, I wasn’t expecting to see her until later in the morning. I could get a few hours of work in.
Loki stood by the back door waiting for me to let him out, but it wasn’t nature calling that had him so eager. He and I shared the same affliction. Avery. He seemed to crave her company as much as I did. Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t drop my ass down on her front step until she came to let me in. Though, the idea held more appeal than it should. And here I snickered at the idea of Lucien being whipped. Who the hell was I kidding? He, at least, was getting sex from the object of his obsession, me I only got dessert—delicious as all hell dessert, but my cravings went deeper. Last night when she fell asleep with Emily and Faith, I had the strangest reaction to that. For a moment, it wasn’t Trace and Lucien’s kids but my own, ours, she cuddled with. That had never happened to me before, wasn’t even sure I wanted kids, but I felt the pull last night seeing her with Faith and Emily.
She lived here though and if it didn’t work out between us it’d be awkward. Of course, if it did work...
I stopped myself because I was beginning to sound like a woman. Grabbing a cup of coffee, I headed outside only to stop at the sight of Avery sitting on the front step of the carriage house. She was dressed for the day, jeans and sweater, her hair up, Chucks on her feet. As soon as she spotted me, she smiled and the thought of waking up to that smile every day hit me in the gut, in a really fucking nice way.
“Morning.” She stood and met me halfway.
“I wasn’t expecting you up so early with how tired you were last night.”
“I’m used to getting up early, my internal clock is still set to the days when I worked at the bakery at home.”
“Have you had coffee?”
“Yeah. Are you heading to your workshop?”
“I was, but only because I thought you’d still be asleep.”
She shifted, her cheeks turning rosy. I didn’t know why she was flustered or why the sight of her flustered had my balls tightening. But I did know I was fooling myself believing I had a choice when it came to Avery.
“I had a thought and if you can’t, I understand but the nursery opens at nine and after I wondered if you’d be interested in going to Coney Island with me. I’ve never been and I’d really like to see it.”
She seemed nervous, as if she was accustomed to asking for something and being told no. How could anyone say no to her? And how the hell was it that this vivacious beauty was alone?
“Yeah, I’ll take you to Coney Island.”
Her face just lit up but instead of bringing a smile, I felt really fucking pissed; enough that I asked her. “Where are your girlfriends?”
If she was taken off guard with that question, I couldn’t tell. “I have Jessica, we’ve been best friends since grade school, but she’s married with a toddler, so it’s hard for her to visit. We talk on the phone all the time and she and her family are visiting in December. But outside of her, I don’t have any other friends I’d climb out of bed for at two in the morning to help bury the body.”
“And the men?”
“What men?”
“Looking like that, there are always men.”
Her expression was comical; she thought I was teasing her.
“I’m serious, Avery. Where are the men?”
“Are you saying you want there to be men?” Annoyance rang through her words and I liked that I’d stoked her anger because, quite frankly, the thought of her with someone else stirred my own.
“No, I’m saying how the hell can there not be any.”
She understood that if the blush that covered her face was any indication. “Never found anyone worth the effort.”
I liked hearing that, enough that I did actually tease her when I said, “No surprise visits then from exes still holding a torch?”
“A torch for me, please.”
She’d done that before, the subtle disparaging of herself. I didn’t like it then, liked it less now. “You’re a smart, talented and extremely sexy woman. Whomever it was in your world who made you doubt that is a fucking asshole.”
Her eyes widened in surprise then turned warm, hinting at just how deep that comment hit. “Thank you.”
And seeing that look only pissed me off more. “Nothing to thank me for. Only saying what anyone, without their head in their ass, would see—a funny, smart and beautiful woman who makes some seriously incredible, kill all your friends to horde for yourself, desserts.”
Her pupils dilated, her cheeks turned pink again and her pulse pounded in her neck, I could see that from where I stood. She swallowed and I watched the movement of her throat, wanting to taste her right where her neck met her shoulder. It was so tempting I found I was actually leaning in. When my gaze shifted to hers, her tongue darted out to touch the corner of her mouth. Her voice was pure sex. “You think I’m funny?”
It took me a minute to catch on to her teasing—caught in the haze of lust that seemed to have overcome both of us—I laughed out loud because to all her qualities, I had one more to add. She really was a goof.
“You’re a goof.”
“You’ve called me that before. I’ve been called worse.”
“Bring a jacket, it gets cold on the pier. I’ll get Loki settled and then we’ll go.”
“Okay.” She turned toward the carriage house, but stopped and called back at me. “I’d help you bury the body.”
Before I could reply, she disappeared inside. Pulling a hand through my hair, I looked down at Loki who stared after Avery in longing. “Yeah, I like her too boy, a whole hell of a lot.”
I learned something else about Avery while we shopped at the nursery. She could be a pit bull when she wanted to be. We decided to do the landscaping in phases, the first being the front yard. For the plants, the fertilizer, the mulch and the delivery the cost was upwards of two grand, she was determined to get it for just over a grand. Avery, who could have smiled and batted her lashes at the nursery owner and gotten whatever she wanted, chose to go another route. Tigress was a good description, unrelenting, unyielding and the cub she sought to protect was my wallet. And there I stood with this five foot two slip of a woman, going toe-to-toe with a man who seemed to derive as much joy from haggling as Avery. I should have felt emasculated, but instead I couldn’t keep from grinning.
“You sell them to us, you won’t have to store them, which leaves room in your greenhouses for new plantings.”
“Come Spring, people are more eager to plant after a long winter, I could double my prices and still sell.”
“Yeah, but we’ve got the long, cold winter coming and outside of Christmas with poinsettias and tree sales, you’re looking at a lean season. Plus, this is only phase one, we hav
e several phases and developing good customer relations will ensure we come here for not only the completion of our project but yearly maintenance and expansion.”
Her eyes darted to me, a grin tugging at her mouth. She was having the time of her life. Turning to the man, who honest to God looked a bit like Loki had this morning, I knew Avery totally had him.
“You drive a hard bargain young lady, but you’ve got yourself a deal. $1200 including delivery.”
“Awesome.”
“Let’s go write it up.” He led us into the greenhouse where he had the cash register, but peered at Avery from over his shoulder. “I’d have let you have it for $1000.”
Her smile was cocky. “I’d have taken it for $1500.”
To this, the man tilted back his head and roared with laughter.
In the car on the way to Coney Island, Avery was like a firecracker with a lit fuse, bouncing around in her seat. “I can’t believe he caved and so easily. I can’t wait to tell Mom.”
“Is she the one who taught you how to haggle?”
“Yeah, she haggles for everything including groceries at the Acme.”
“Seriously?”
“Oh, yeah. She’s a nut and it’s not that she needs to watch the budget, she just likes it.”
“Well, I think she’d have been impressed. I was, you enjoyed every second of that.”
“I really did. Now I’m hungry.”
Glancing at her, she was in profile as she looked out the side window. Wanting to see how her hair looked down, I reached for the elastic and tugged it out. The action caught her by surprise; her head turning to me in confusion, but shyness quickly took its place. Her hair was red, a dark mahogany red, thick, straight and long enough to fall past her shoulders. Beautiful.
“Why don’t you ever wear it down?”
“I’m usually in the kitchen.”
“Hair like that needs to be down.”
She didn’t reply, but she didn’t pull her hair back up either. I grinned.
“Will you go on the rides with me?” She asked some time later.
“Yeah.”
“First we need hot dogs from Nathans.”
“Nowhere better to eat.”
“With everything.”
“Agreed.” Her focus was out the side window again, her hair now curtaining her face—a definite negative to her hair down. “Avery?”
Our eyes met.
“I’d help you bury the body too.”
The sweetest smile touched her lips, the meaning behind my words not lost on her. And then she said, “That’s good because there’s probably going to be one sooner than later.”
I almost ran the truck off the road. “What?”
“My stepmother, I’m thinking about offing her.”
What was even more comical than sweet Avery plotting her stepmother’s demise was the expression on her face. She was completely serious. “She’s really that bad?”
“Yeah. She hates me and she’s a bitch. I want to stab her in the eye with her designer heels. I don’t think that makes me a bad person. I really don’t. I mean I’ve never wanted to kill someone with her own shoes before. It’s her, she brings it out in me.”
Yep, she was goofy.
He’d help me bury the body. I felt a bit giddy thinking about his declaration, but I didn’t have long to ponder his words because we were strapped in a roller coaster that was climbing high. I loved roller coasters because they scared the crap out of me. Rafe sat next to me, his body relaxed, his fingers not gripping the pole to the point that his knuckles stood out in drastic contrast like mine were doing. To look at him, you’d think he was sitting in his living room watching a ball game.
“Aren’t you even a little bit scared?”
Those eyes found mine. “No. Are you?”
“Terrified.”
Concern moved over his expression. “I thought you wanted to do this.”
“I do.”
“Even though you’re terrified?”
“Especially because I’m terrified. Makes the experience that much better, conquering the fear to experience the pleasure.”
His focus moved to my mouth and I suspected he was thinking about doing his own conquering. I didn’t know what was going on between us, but I didn’t want it to stop. Hell, I wanted so much more, wanted him to kiss me, wanted him to unleash what he seemed to be holding under very tight control.
And then we crested the top of the drop. Peering down, my stomach moved up into my throat, my heart pounded so hard it hurt and then we were falling. And even screaming my head off, I felt Rafe’s hand covering mine, his fingers threading through my own. And in that moment, I knew I was falling in love with him.
I felt off-balanced when we exited the ride and it had nothing to do with the roller coaster. Crushing on Rafe was cool, flirting with Rafe was fun, liking Rafe was wonderful, but feeling the way I did about him scared me a bit because I’d never been in love. I suddenly found myself in uncharted water and I wasn’t entirely sure how to navigate it.
“You okay?”
I was okay, terrified, but definitely okay and also not ready for him to know just how far I’d fallen so I tried for cool. “That was fun.”
“I think I’m deaf in my right ear.”
“Sorry.”
“Worth it though. You weren’t kidding that you liked roller coasters. You game to ride another?”
“Are you kidding? You’ll have to drag me out of this place.”
“All right. Then let’s do it.” His hand reached for mine again, linking our fingers, before pulling me to the next ride. Maybe I wasn’t falling in love, I may have already fallen.
“Hungry?” Rafe asked as the gates to the park locked behind us. We really had stayed until they kicked us out. My love of roller coasters reached a whole new level, sitting next to Rafe, his big powerful body pressed against mine while he held my hand. And now he wanted to feed me. Best day ever!
“Yeah, starving.”
“Pizza?”
“I could get a slice.”
“Not a slice. They don’t do slices where we’re going.”
“So you’re saying I have an excuse to eat more than one slice of pizza. Yeah, let me work up an objection.”
Rafe laughed, I loved his laugh. We started for his truck; he reached for my hand. My eyes flew to his. “I’ve held it all day, don’t see any reason to stop now.”
The distinct ‘splat’ noise was my heart. “Again, let me work up an objection.”
When we reached the pizza place I was seriously disappointed to see the line was down the street because my stomach was growling.
“That sucks.”
“What? The line?”
“Yeah.”
“Not a problem.”
“Based on that line, we won’t be eating until midnight.”
“True, if we were waiting in the line.”
“We’re not waiting in the line? Are we going to sneak in?”
“You want to cap off the day of haggling and near-death experiences with a felony?”
“If it means I get pizza that’s worth waiting in a line like that, oh, hell yeah.”
Humor looked back at me. “I know the owner.”
“Even better.”
He parked in the employee parking, before coming around and helping me down. Again he took my hand and led us to the back door. It opened; the man that greeted us was huge, with tats down his arms, and the most incredible dark brown eyes. Seeing Rafe, he smiled before pulling him in for a hug.
“Hey man. How are you?”
“Alcide, I’m good. This is Avery, Avery the man behind the pizza.”
That fairy godmother—unbelievable. “Hi.” Kind of lame but the man looked like Adonis and the scents coming from his kitchen made me want to weep.
To say I was surprised when he yanked me close and hugged me hard would be fair. “Nice to meet you, Avery.”
“Likewise.” I didn’t say more since at that mom
ent a pizza must have just been pulled from the ovens because the mouthwatering smell that wafted out to us had me blurting out. “Oh my God, that smells incredible.”
“Let’s get you settled, so you can dig into a pie.”
“I really like this plan.”
Walking through the kitchen to the dining area, I took it all in—the wood-burning stoves, the simmering sauce, the mouthwatering toppings. “I could live back here. I mean seriously, drag in a mattress and I’m good.”
Rafe’s eyes caught mine. “Goof.”
Alcide led us to a table in a corner and though the place was packed, the location felt intimate.
“Beer?” Alcide asked.
Rafe looked at me for agreement before he said, “Yeah.” He didn’t even open the menu. “Do you trust me?”
“Yep.”
“Large pie, garlic, onion, ham and olives.”
“You got it.”
Watching as Alcide walked away, I asked, “How do you know him?”
“He lived at St. Agnes for a time.”
“St. Agnes?”
“The orphanage where I lived when I was a teen. Alcide’s parents died in a car crash, he lived with his grandmother but when she died, he didn’t have any other family. It was a good place and Sister Anne was wonderful, until she died. Cancer. Lucien was very close to her. He still has an annual event every year to raise funds for St. Agnes. Anyway, Alcide’s grandmother left him a nice nest egg, he opened this place.”
“And based on the crowds and the scents, he has a success on his hands.”
“Yeah, he keeps it simple, doesn’t do all the fancy toppings and crusts, just your basic pie with the best ingredients available. It works.”
“I can’t wait to try it.” Catching his eyes, I added, “Thank you for today. I haven’t had this much fun in a long time.”
“Me too.”
On the way home, I had trouble keeping my eyes open. The pizza had been incredible; we ate the whole pie. I had never eaten an entire pie in my life, but we devoured it.
“Alcide has another loyal customer. That was amazing.”