Recklessly Rogue (Royals Gone Rogue #4)

10. Ruby

Chapter 10

Ruby

I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket and pull it out praying it’s Henry.

I’m at the back door.

Thank goodness. I push through the swinging door to the kitchen and hurry to the back door to let him in. Surprisingly the cinnamon roll scented candle burning in the kitchen has convinced the men upfront that the cinnamon rolls are baking in the oven back here. But since we were an hour late opening, they’re getting grumpy despite having their coffee and their bacon and eggs already.

“He’s here,” I tell April, who's dishing up more bacon at the stove.

Personally, I think bacon can totally take the place of cinnamon rolls, but the guys in the next room don’t seem to agree.

“Finally,” she says with a smile. “I probably should learn how to actually make those.”

I give the younger girl a smile. “Sure, in all your free time.”

She shrugs. “I’d enjoy it. And Elliot is getting old enough now to be a helper.”

I know it’s not so much that April wants to bake as it’s that she wants all of the “these are amazing” and “you always start my day out right, sweetheart” exclamations to be about things she’s actually doing.

We’ve shared quite a bit about our backgrounds in the time we’ve been working together. Her parents weren’t big on encouragement and building her up and she now looks for external validation wherever she can get it.

That’s unfortunately why Christopher was able to charm her with easy accolades like “you’re so pretty” and “you’re so sweet” and “you make my life so easy”.

All of those things are true and I am sure Christopher meant them, but his appreciation of her is superficial and selfish. I am so glad April is finally seeing that. And while she eats up all of the praise from our customers, I want her to find something she truly wants to do for herself , not just for the admiration of others.

“I’m going to take this out to the guys and see who needs more coffee,” April tells me, picking up the plate of bacon.

“Sounds good. I’ll bring the cinnamon rolls.”

I watch her back through the swinging doors.

She’s another person I worry about leaving.

She’s not my responsibility. I know that. But I’m so proud of her for finally deciding to get away from Christopher and I feel like this is a precarious time to leave town when she could use a friend or an older sister type in her life.

I shove all of that away as I push the back door open for Henry.

It is okay for me to think about what I want. It really is. It’s not selfish.

“Here you go.” He immediately hands over a huge platter of cinnamon rolls. I note that he is also carrying a casserole dish.

“Did they send something else?” I ask as he steps past me.

He shakes his head. “These are Elliott’s pancakes.”

“You made Elliot pancakes?” I ask, surprised.

“I told him I would last night.”

“But…then you brought them down here?”

“I told him he would have pancakes this morning,” Henry says firmly as if that should be obvious.

Right. Henry Dean does what he says he’s going to do. “I’m sure he’ll love them.” And that’s true. Elliot will definitely love the pancakes Henry made. He thinks Henry is very cool. And…they’re pancakes.

“They’re shaped like airplanes.” Henry more or less mutters that.

I can’t help my smile. Or the way that makes me melt a little. “Oh,” I say softly. “That’s adorable.”

He frowns. “It would have been nice to have them in the kitchen at your house. I put the syrup in a separate container so it didn’t make them mushy, but we’ll have to reheat them and they’re not going to be as good. And he was supposed to make them with me.”

I know he’s irritated but that’s all adorable too. I want to hug him. And kiss him. And spread pancake syrup all over him. But I don’t say any of that.

Instead, I sigh. Because I kind of wish I was eating pancakes, of any shape, in my kitchen instead too. I mean, I could be watching this hot, grumpy guy cook. I could be drinking coffee instead of serving it to people.

I am not a morning person. I’m here because, well, I’m a fucking angel, I guess. I could not let April come down here by herself. Just in case Christopher got some stupid idea about showing up. And no, neither April nor I could ignore the people in the next room.

“Look, Henry, I don’t know what to tell you. The guys came to the bar like they always do. Dan let them in, of course. But he doesn’t know how to use the espresso machine, so he called April when it was a quarter after and she still wasn’t here. And as I told you, I figured you wouldn’t want her coming down here alone…without you or me anyway…so here I am.”

“Wait… Dan let them in?”

“Of course. No one else has a key. Other than me and April.”

“But…” Henry seems very confused. “I paid Dan a million dollars last night. He’s literally a millionaire now. Why would he come down and open up the bar he just sold?”

I shrug. “His friends and his favorite cappuccinos are down here.”

“These retired guys come down here every morning to drink cappuccinos ?" he asks, distracted for a moment.

“A couple of them. Dan especially. Will likes lattes. With hazelnut syrup, and no, don’t try to sneak in the sugar-free kind, he will know and he won’t drink it. Charles drinks straight-up espresso.”

Henry runs a hand over his face. “What the hell is going on around here?” he mutters. He drops his hand. “I’m glad you at least didn’t take Elliot to daycare.”

I unwrap the casserole dish. Those are definitely airplane-shaped pancakes. A lot of them. God, that’s adorable . I put a few on a plate and put them in the microwave to heat up. “Oh, we did take him to daycare.” I wait for Henry’s reaction. I know I shouldn’t mess with him, but it’s so fun.

He’s so buttoned up and so used to being in charge and there’s just something about seeing him out of his element that I enjoy so much.

I’ve been picturing the scene with him on my porch with Mandy, Ada, and Cecelia for the past thirty minutes. And grinning.

“ What ?” he exclaims. “Dammit, Ruby. I didn’t want you all down here where Christopher could easily get to you. But dropping Elliot off at daycare without proper security in place was…”

I think it’s good he trails off before he finishes that sentence.

“We have security in place,” I tell him. “There’s even a trained bodyguard.”

“There’s a bodyguard at Elliot’s daycare?”

I turn to face him. “One of the best. Or so he tells me.”

“ I will be vetting any security around you, April, or Elliot.”

I cross my arms. “Of course, the three people he’s supposedly looking after right now, left the house this morning and were gone for forty-five minutes before he even realized. Actually, he never did realize. I’m not sure how long it would’ve taken if I hadn’t called him.”

His brows slam together as realization dawns. “Where is Elliot?”

I take the warm pancakes from the microwave and hand them to him, along with the covered container of syrup.

I point toward the door that leads to the main room of the bar. “In the daycare.”

Henry looks like he has a lot more to say—and I’m sure he does—but instead of saying any of it, he turns on his heel and stomps out into the bar.

I’m smiling imagining Elliot’s reaction to Henry and the pancakes as I unwrap the cinnamon rolls, warm them up slightly in the microwave as well—not enough to melt the frosting, but enough for them to be nice and gooey—and carry them out into the main room. I hum as I move amongst the tables, distributing them to our not-so-patient patrons.

“Man, smelling these baking has been killing me,” Charles tells me.

I grin at him. That is a really good candle. “I know. Thanks for waiting without complaining at all .”

He laughs. “I’m sorry.”

I pat him on the shoulder. He seems to be having a good day but his memory decline makes me so sad. Some days he doesn’t remember a funny occurrence from the week before or one of the kids’ names which bothers him and hurts the little one’s feelings. The kids are all patient and kind and we’ve explained that Charles can’t help it and it doesn’t mean he doesn’t care. It’s still hard sometimes.

Yes, I worry about leaving him too.

“I know I say it all the time,” Will tells me as I set a cinnamon roll on the plate that held bacon just a few minutes ago. “But these are better than Mandy’s. I’ll deny it if you ever tell her though.”

He does say that all the time. And I’ve already told Mandy and she laughed and rolled her eyes. “They are the best cinnamon rolls in town,” I tell him with a nod.

“These look amazing, sweetheart,” Will calls to April.

She gives him a big grin.

Henry comes back into the room through the wide doorway that leads from the backroom Dan converted into a playroom eighteen months ago. He had plenty of volunteer help. Will was in construction before he retired, Ben had sold insurance but had done plenty of home improvement projects over the years. Even Charles was very good with a paintbrush.

The women who come in every morning after their three-mile walk contributed ideas for color schemes, more hands for painting, and had gathered so many books, gently used toys, and colorful cushions that we’d needed to build additional shelves and storage units.

The room has big windows that look out onto an open field that has never been built up. Dan owns that land as well. I’ll have to ask him if Henry got that acre or so of grass and weeds with his million dollars.

Dan and his buddy, Paul, who had originally built the bar, had used the room for an office and extra storage. But it’s been a long time since Dan sat at a desk for any length of time and he’s not the type of guy to hole up in a back room alone. So I suggested he stick a tiny desk in the storeroom behind the bar and that he turn that big back room into a room for a few kids. When I mentioned that April would be able to work more shifts and longer hours if Elliot could come to work with her, Dan had easily agreed.

Now the adults take turns spending an hour or so in the room with the kids, reading, playing, doing crafts or music—depending on the adult and their particular interests and skill level—or supervising snacks or naps. Yes, Charles and Will thumb wrestle over nap time. And take a nap on the sofa back there while the kids sleep.

Mandy donated that sofa as soon as she found out about the kids’ room and nap time.

Henry locates me immediately across the bar and strides toward me.

“Come with me,” Henry says as soon as he’s close enough for me to hear his low, gruff command.

“I’m—” I look around, trying to come up with an excuse not to obey, only to find that with the cinnamon rolls finally here, everyone has finally settled into their morning routine.

It’s not only the kids in the back room who have regular activities here. The adults spend their time in various ways. There’s a three-hour block of crazy game shows on television, there’s chatting, gossiping, and arguing that must be done, and crossword puzzles and a gigantic jigsaw puzzle that must be worked.

I sigh, then look up at Henry. He has a strange expression on his face. He doesn’t exactly look happy, but he’s not angry. He looks a little…befuddled.

I love that word. I also love that look on Henry Dean.

That is definitely a new look, and a new feeling I’m sure, for this man. He is always in complete control, in charge. People listen to him without question.

But Big Dick’s bar in tiny little Emerald, Ohio, full of retirees and preschool kids, bacon and cinnamon rolls, cappuccinos and jigsaw puzzles, has him a little flummoxed.

Yeah, I definitely like that word for him too.

I try to follow him, but he falls in next to me, his big hot hand settling on my lower back.

Dammit. How can even that simple touch make me feel warmer?

I slept like crap last night. I’d known I would, but it was even worse than expected. Knowing he was right on the other side of the wall, in my bed, I could not get the images of him out of my mind. I wanted so badly to tiptoe into the room, slide between the sheets next to him and say fuck it. Yes, it would make it harder to get over him. But I’m not so sure that getting over him is in the cards anyway.

He guides me toward the swinging door into the kitchen.

April is behind the bar, now making fruit smoothies. The four ladies who walk together every morning, always stop in for smoothies and to “catch their breaths”—ie, catch up on the gossip and give their friend Maggie a chance to flirt with Dan.

“You okay for a minute?” I ask April.

She smiles and waves me away. “Of course.” She handles this crowd by herself every day.

“‘Morning, Ruby,” Wendy says. “I haven’t seen you down here this time of day in a long time.”

“I know.” I look up at Henry again. “Unusual morning.”

Henry holds the kitchen door open, waiting for me to pass.

“I’ll say,” Wendy agrees, checking Henry out with obvious interest.

I wonder what everyone is saying about Henry. I wonder how April is going to explain him. I wonder how Dan is going to explain the guy who now owns the place.

“Oh, um, Henry?” April asks.

He looks over at her.

“I need to place our weekly supply order today. Food, napkins, toilet paper, stuff like that. Dan said that since you?—”

Henry has already dug his wallet out and he tosses her a credit card. “Get whatever you need.”

April catches the card and looks from it to him. “Do you want to look the order over before I place it?”

“No.”

“Oh.” She seems confused.

“I have no idea what you need here. You’re the expert,” Henry tells her. “Get whatever you think you should get.”

“Oh.” She looks surprised. Then pleased. She grins. “What if I buy a new car?”

“Do you need a new car?” Henry asks.

Her smile drops at his not-kidding-around tone. “No. I mean…no. I would never do that.”

“If you need a new car, we can talk about that,” Henry says.

I pinch his side. “Lighten up,” I whisper.

He clears his throat. “But for now, just get whatever the bar needs. And the kids. Whatever they need.”

“I want to try caramel syrup!” Will calls. “Sneak some of that on the list. Dan wouldn’t let me try it.”

“You don’t need two kinds of syrup,” Dan grouses. “This isn’t a damned coffee shop.”

“Isn’t it?” Henry mutters. “Definitely get caramel syrup,” he says. “Vanilla too.”

“Oh yes, vanilla sounds good!” Will calls.

Henry rolls his eyes but the corner of his mouth tips just slightly. No one else sees either thing, but no one else is studying him as if he’s the most incredible thing they’ve ever seen. The way I am.

April smiles at him. “I’ve got it covered. I promise we won’t go too crazy.”

“I trust you, April,” Henry says.

Her eyes widen and her smile says she’s touched. “Thanks, Henry.”

Damn him. He’s so…good. And I don’t think he even knows how much that meant to her. Dan had her do all the ordering too, but he always checked the order over, even after her working here for three years.

Henry nudges me into the kitchen and lets the door swing shut behind us.

“There are three other kids in that room with Elliot,” are his first words to me.

I nod. “I’m aware.”

“Are they April’s friends’ kids?”

“Yes. Two belong to Taylor and one belongs to Amber. The kids are friends of Elliot’s obviously.”

“How much do they pay for daycare here?”

I think he already knows the answer. “Nothing.”

“Because April is just watching them while she works and her boss is okay with it?”

I lift a shoulder. “Basically. I mean, we all help watch them. The kids are never back there without an adult.”

“Is this place licensed as a daycare?”

“Is the room in the back of the bar, filled with hand-me-down toys and supervised by retirees and two bartenders licensed as a daycare?” I laugh. “No. We’re pretty much just babysitting for friends.”

He steps closer and lifts a hand to cup my cheek. “It was your idea, wasn’t it?” His voice is low and rumbly now.

The sound causes a warm tingle to start in my chest, then move through my belly to my pussy.

I nod. “Yes, initially. Generally. I told Dan I thought it was a good idea. He agreed. We all pitched in to make it happen. We still do.”

“Everyone does it because they like you.”

I shake my head. “Dan might have agreed because he knows I have good ideas. But everyone does it because they like April . And Elliot. And the other kids. The older people really like spending time with the kids. The kids like spending time with the older people. All day long they get a variety of people reading to them and playing with them and telling them stories. Sarah is teaching them how to tie their shoes. Ben teaches them about animals. It’s like having eight additional grandparents.”

Henry just stares at me for three heartbeats. Then he mutters, “Dammit, Gem,” before he leans in and seals his mouth over mine.

I don’t think there’s ever going to be a time when Henry Dean is going to kiss me and I am not going to respond.

I am stubborn. I have a temper. I know who I am and what I want.

But I am not stupid. And I am not strong enough to resist the wave of lust and longing that goes through me whenever this man touches me.

I kiss him back. I open my mouth when his tongue demands it. I moan when he cups my head, and tips it back. I sigh when his fingers tangle in my hair. I arch closer when his tongue strokes over mine and heat licks through my body.

He kisses me for long, delicious, devastating-to-my-panties minutes.

Finally, he lifts his head. He takes a deep breath, staring down at me. “How am I supposed to get over you?” he asks. “Your big heart, the way you dive in to help, the way you just meet people where they are… there’s no way I could ever ignore you, Gem. That’s never going to work.”

My heart thumps against my chest.

“Henry.” But I don’t say anything else. I’m not sure what to say.

I love that he knows that I had the idea for the daycare, and I love that he finds that attractive. It’s just like the things he does that I find attractive.

The way we care about other people and try to impact the world around us is what draws us together, even more than the intense chemistry between us. The way we go about fixing things is different, of course, but I love his heart too.

“We need to make a plan for April and Elliot,” he tells me. His voice is firm, almost as if he expects me to argue with him.

“I know,” I tell him. We do need a plan. The sooner April and Elliot are safe and secure, the sooner Henry will focus back on Cian, Scarlett, and Mariah. And the sooner I can focus my attention on my move to New Orleans.

He stares at me for another long moment, then lets go of me and steps back.

“Is she able to sit down and talk soon?” he asks. “Or tonight?”

“We can do it here. She should have all the smoothies made.”

Henry runs a hand over his face. “I guess you should introduce me to everyone,” he says, not sounding all that enthusiastic about it. “Then you and April and I need to talk. She can’t leave, I assume?”

“Not unless her new boss is going to take over the shift,” I say giving him a little grin.

“He doesn’t know how to run the espresso machine either,” Henry says dryly.

“Well, they shouldn’t have any more coffee, anyway. We need to switch them over to water. Will doesn’t drink enough water as it is. And Ben will start on soda if you let him but just because it’s diet, it still has caffeine. He doesn’t need all of that.”

Henry gives me a look. “I’m not going to memorize what they all need and don’t need to be eating and drinking. No matter how intimidating their wives are.”

I laugh. I love those ladies. “I suppose you could go out and announce to everyone that the bar is closing down. If you really want to keep April from working.”

He grimaces. “I was informed I’m not allowed to shut the bar down.”

I am not surprised to hear that. “It’s not just a bar, Henry.”

He glances toward the swinging doors. “I know. It’s a damned community center that just happens to serve alcohol at night.”

“Pretty much,” I agree. “How did you not notice the huge table with the five-thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle on it before today?”

His gaze roams over my face. “Because when I’ve been in here before, I’ve been very focused on something else.”

Me.

He’s been so focused on me before that he didn’t take in details of the room we were in.

Yeah, the idea of ignoring him really was a stupid one.

“Why don’t they just hang out at an actual community center? Or go have breakfast at the diner or the coffee shop in town?” he asks.

That’s an interesting question. But it’s got a pretty simple answer. I tuck my hands into the back pocket of my jeans. “My father.”

Henry seems surprised for only about two seconds. Henry knows all about my father. I told him about my family and our history when we were first getting to know each other. Then he learned even more when Scarlett refused to let Henry tell Cian where she was. Then he really saw up close how Mariah was affected by our family issues when Henry brought Cian to Emerald.

“These men don’t get along with your father?” Henry asks.

“These men and their families don’t go to my father’s church. They didn’t want to become a part of his congregation and give him money. They don’t agree with the amount of power my father has in town and they don’t like the way members of the church try to manipulate and intimidate everyone in Emerald. So they’ve found the one place in town they can come and spend time and not be confronted.”

“Confronted?” Henry asks. “What do you mean?”

My father is the pastor at the church where just a little over half of the town worships. If you aren’t a part of that church, you are considered less than by the members of that church and are reminded of that any chance they get.

My father and I have never been close. He turned his back on my mom—a fling he’d had with a girl passing through town just as he was building his church—when he found out she was pregnant. He and I have only spoken a handful of times, and I don’t regret that. My mom and my stepfather made up for any gaps my father left. But I resent the way he came between Scarlett and me in high school, and I will never forgive him for the way he made Scarlett feel and the way he publicly shamed her when she got pregnant with Mariah. Many of those issues stayed with her until very recently. Some might stay with her forever.

“Members of the church work all over town,” I tell Henry. “And they hold Bible studies and mini-services they call “Live Rights”—reminders of how to live right every day no matter where you are—in places like the diner and the coffee shop. It’s supposedly for the people participating, but they make a point of sitting right in the middle of wherever they are and being loud enough that everyone can hear.”

“Every single day?”

“Yep. There’s a group each day in each place, sometimes just two or three people, sometimes more, but it’s every day, all over town,” I say. “And they do it during their breaks at work too. So even if you don’t go to the church and you don’t have time to stop at the diner or the coffee shop, there’s a good chance you’ll walk into your breakroom at work, and there will be three or four of them talking about a Bible verse or praying, or whatever.”

“They’re essentially going out and preaching to everyone all the time.”

I nod. “Sounds innocuous, I know. It probably even sounds good and godly to some. But it’s just so in your face and the louder they get when you’re there, the more you know they judge you.”

One corner of his mouth curls up. “Are they loud when you’re around?”

I smile. “ Very .” Henry knows I don’t give a rat’s ass what my father, or his followers, think of me. Everyone knows that, actually.

His smile almost looks proud. He glances at the door leading back out to the bar. “So these men and women come here to avoid that?”

“Yeah. Dan doesn’t let them do that here. One group tried. He cranked up Highway to Hell on the jukebox and played it until they stopped talking. He offered them coffee and rolls then, but they just wanted to pray for everyone. He told them fine, but if he could hear one word of it over at the bar, he’d sing Highway to Hell, acapella, and nobody wanted that. They left soon after.”

Henry is outright grinning now. I love his grin.

“Dan isn’t religious?” Henry asks.

“It’s not that. It’s just the whole having it shoved down your throat. And that they take over everywhere . You can’t avoid it. It really should be something people choose , you know. They know how to find the church if they want that.”

“That church is very hard to miss,” Henry says.

I laugh. My father’s church is big and gaudy and right on the edge of town as you come in on the main highway.

Henry takes a breath. “Let’s go talk to April. We need to get a plan in place.”

“Okay.”

I don’t warn him that this isn’t going to go his way either. He’ll find out soon enough.