Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
Madison
Three hours later, I marveled over the speed and efficiency with which Mae could whip up a large meal. She’d made a delicious-smelling pulled pork roast and homemade buns. It’d been too long since I’d gotten to bake buns or bread. I hadn’t been able to keep up my sourdough starter once I moved into the bar.
Mae assembled tin pans full of food. “We can haul this outside. Tate said he’d get his boy to help him set up the tables in the shop.”
“The shop is nice enough to eat in?” I hadn’t meant to sound so astonished. Weren’t there mice? Bird nests? Feral barn cats?
“Oh, yes. We have enough get-togethers that it stays presentable.” Her smile was understanding. “At least the front half, where we can party, and we do like to party.” She drizzled a honey glaze over the carrots. “I can’t believe you can make that coconut cake on a dime. It tastes like it takes hours to whip up.”
I’d found all the ingredients. Mae did enough cooking and baking that she’d had the pudding mix and buttermilk, a few bags of coconut, and I’d found enough other supplies to make a chocolate cake for the coconut haters.
Did Teller like coconut? He’d said he liked baked goods, and I had thought of him and what he liked the whole time I whipped up the goodies.
I’d needed two cakes as soon as I realized she was inviting more than me and Teller. Apparently, Cruz and Lane were in town. They were out helping the guys. Since they were around, Mae said Myles, Wynter, and their kids would come over. She had called Tate and asked him to let Scarlett know about dinner, so Scarlett and their other two kids could come. The oldest boy was out helping with the cattle already.
And well, since everyone else was here—Mae’s casual words of warning—she might as well let Autumn, Summer, and Junie know too.
The entire Bailey brood was having a gathering and I was invited. Hell, I was more than invited. I was involved. All those people, all one happy family, and then me. My pulse kicked up and nervous energy zinged up and down my spine. I was the oddball, and I had no escape. I didn’t have a grudge against the family, but what if someone said something I took offense to? And then I ran my mouth? I shook my hands as if that’d help shed the anxiety. “Are you sure two cakes are enough? I can make some cookies.”
Mae looked like she was about to shake her head, but her gaze dropped to my hands. I had started clenching and unclenching my fists. “Cookies are never a bad idea.”
“I’ve never been able to perfect your chocolate chip recipe.”
Surprise flitted through her expression, and she reached into a drawer next to us. She withdrew a small cookbook that was full of stains. “I don’t have to look at it anymore, but that recipe is on page nine. Help yourself while I finish setting up the buffet.”
Delighted, I paged through the book and hit the recipe. At last! I frowned. Nothing in the ingredients stood out. Maybe it was this kitchen. I glanced out the window and my anxiety spiked. Pickups were pulling in.
Would Teller regret bringing me? Was he embarrassed? No, a guy like Teller owned what he did and that included bringing a stray home. And if that stray made some excellent cookies, that’d help offset anything I said.
My gaze landed on the chickens. That was it. Her farm fresh eggs. That was the missing key.
The back door opened.
“Knock knock.” Ruby entered. “Hi, Mae. Madison!” Her voice held so much enthusiasm it was my very own pressure valve. She rushed toward me but didn’t tackle me with a hug. “How are you? I heard about the bar. How awful.”
The good thing about my business spreading like wildfire was that I didn’t have to repeat stories. “Yeah, it’s not an expense I needed.”
She stuffed her hands on her hips. “Did you get pictures? I bet you could make a post with something like hashtag setback or vandals or didntneedthis and leave it at that, and you’d get some outrage. The public might flush out who did it.”
Ruby was only five years younger than me, but her innocence was a breath of fresh air. “I don’t think the public will care that much. It might give people more ideas.”
“I don’t know. Flatlanders is part of Bourbon Canyon.” She went to help Mae cover the food with aluminum foil. “I don’t mean to sound callous with my marketing brain, but you can build this into your story. Make it a comeback thing.”
“I’ll think about it.” I actually would. Surprised, I started digging through the cupboards. My first instinct hadn’t been to brush off her advice. She feared it was callous, but what it was was calculated. I had a shuttered business I was renovating to turn a profit. Ruby hadn’t steered me wrong yet.
“Ruby,” Mae said, “can you help haul these outside, and then would you mind seeing if Madison needs a hand with the cookies or the cleanup?”
“No problem.”
I kept busy while they transported the trays of food to the shop. No help was needed; I could make cookies in my sleep. Did Mae see that Ruby made me more comfortable? The thought warmed me from the inside out, gave me an unfamiliar sense of security.
Ruby made one more trip before stopping. She kicked her hip against the counter. “How are things going with Teller?”
“Fine.” I continued plopping globs of cookie dough onto the baking sheet.
“He’s been decent to you? You two seemed to clash before.” Sincerity oozed from her. She didn’t sound like she was asking to get the dirt.
I slid the baking sheet into the oven and faced her, adopting her position. “He’s been good about backing off when I don’t want his bossiness.” Never mind the superior kisses I couldn’t quit craving. I was already wondering how much better at other things he was. “He’s honest, and I need that.”
“Good. He’s always been good to me at Copper Summit, and he’s an amazing boss. They all are.”
“The benefits of being raised by decent parents.”
“I don’t know what your parents are like, but you’re a good person too.”
I smiled tightly. “Let’s hope I can be a good boss.”
“You’ll be terrific.” She grabbed another baking sheet and we loaded it up with cookies.
What was it with this family and everyone associated with them? Endless optimism and they handed it out like candy. I happened to like candy, and their confidence bolstered me.
After we swapped out the next batch of cookies, Ruby leaned against the counter again. “Your invitation came back to me. I was going to stop by Flatlanders and catch you, and if that failed, I’d just text your invite. I hope you can make the wedding.”
“You’re inviting me?” Ruby and I had been friendly, but she was more like a contractor I had hired. The girl couldn’t help but be bubbly and friendly, but to invite me to her wedding?
“Of course!” Her radiant smile lit the room. “I consider you my friend.”
Didn’t I just tell Teller I didn’t have friends? But I’d been baking with Ruby much of the afternoon. I was at a family party with her.
Holy shit, I had a friend.
The back door opened and Teller stepped through. His warm gaze immediately landed on me. “Smells good in here.”
My stomach dipped and flipped. He made it sound like he wasn’t talking about the food, but like I had splashed vanilla extract behind my ears and dabbed it on my wrists. “Cookies do that.”
“And cake from the looks of it outside.” He came closer to steal a cookie from the baking sheet. I scooted the pan out of his reach. “Hey now,” he said, chuckling.
I grinned and then caught the astonished way Ruby watched us, a flicker of delight dancing in her eyes. Teller and I must be making a hell of a domestic scene.
I jerked my hand off the cookie sheet. Teller narrowed his eyes and snatched a cookie without taking his attention off me.
“Cows are contained.” He chomped half the treat.
“Did you smile at them so they’d follow you anywhere?” I asked sweetly.
Ruby snorted. “No wonder they put the bulls in the pasture closest to your place.”
Teller swallowed wrong and started coughing. He threw his arm over his mouth and turned, his shirt pulling at his waist. He smelled like sunshine and warm grass with the pleasing undertones of horse sweat. I inhaled deeper.
“Sorry,” he rasped and grabbed another cookie. He handed it to me. “You tried one yet?”
“I made them.”
“Then the baker should get a taste too.”
Ruby’s eyes burned into me as I accepted the cookie. I hadn’t noticed the hunger grumbling in my stomach while I’d been busy in the kitchen. I took a bite and caramelized sugar and butter blasted over my tongue. My sweet tooth woke up and I moaned.
Teller stuffed the rest of his cookie into his mouth, watching me as I chewed.
I covered my mouth with the back of my hand. “I shouldn’t ruin my appetite.” I swallowed. “Your mom worked hard.”
“So did you. Have the cookie. She’s pretty damn excited about the coconut cake.”
“She had all the ingredients.”
“No way,” Ruby said. “You made it? That cake is legendary. I even heard about it before today. I’ll have to try some.”
My cake had a reputation? People gushing at the nursing home was one thing, but something good related to me circulating through the Baileys of all people? What universe did I wake up in?
Teller was watching me, like he knew this was a momentous moment for me, and he hadn’t heard Ruby’s declaration.
His name was shouted from outside. One of his brothers. “I’m needed.” He snatched two more cookies and rushed out the door, and didn’t that fill my chest with all sorts of warm goodness.
The beeper on the oven went off.
I wiped the crumbs off my fingers. “Oh, good. The batch is done. Should I put them on a plate and take them out right away?” I retrieved the perfectly browned rounds and set the pan on a trivet on the counter. “I don’t want to ruin Mae’s routine.”
“I think Mae will let a lot ride. Especially when Teller looks at you like that.”
Heat exploded in my cheeks. “What?”
Ruby touched her fingertips to her lips. “I shouldn’t have said anything. God, how awkward. I’m not usually like that, but then I’ve never seen Teller like that, and I’ve spent a lot of time in the tasting room with him. Oodles of women gawk at him, hit on him, practically flash him, and he’s aloof. The way he acted just now took me off guard.”
“He’s just being professional at work, but he’s a natural flirt.”
“I think he’s a learned flirt—except when he’s with you. It’s natural.” Ruby ran her lower lip through her teeth as she considered me. A divot formed between her brows. “Sorry. I’m just rambling. I’ll text you that invite. I really hope you can make it.” She scurried out the door.
What the hell? Teller didn’t look at me differently. Sure, there wasn’t the annoyance anymore. And sometimes, he got that concerned crease when he was worried about my safety. Then there was the humor. His seriousness, like when we were discussing his expenses. The perplexed encouragement he’d given me when he’d tried to talk to me about making Flatlanders a bakery.
What exactly did Ruby think she saw?
The memory of him calling me Mad Maddy while a breath away from my mouth surfaced. His low voice when referring to my moans. His hooded eyelids when I was straddling him on the couch. Those moments were each a fluke.
Flukes weren’t supposed to happen repeatedly.
Even if Ruby was right, I wasn’t interested in being temporary. I wasn’t going to be just another date. A fling. Anything more than that left me with a pounding heart and flashbacks to catching Damien with Wendi in our bed, her mouth wrapped around his cock.
I’d had my trust broken countless times. My heart too. There wasn’t enough of it left to survive Teller’s interest.
Teller
Having Madison at the family gathering fucked with my mind. My attention kept homing in on her. My personal beacon.
She was nervous, her hands so tightly her knuckles turned white as she chatted with Mom, Wynter, and Ruby. Summer, Autumn, and Scarlett were part of the girl group too, but they were chatting among themselves. Everyone had a piece of coconut or chocolate cake. Both were about gone, and they’d been fucking delicious. Myles and Wynter’s little girl, Elsa, was wandering around with chocolate frosting smudged over her chubby cheeks. Chance had inhaled most of the cookies and was getting himself another plate of pulled pork.
Now Madison was fiddling with the end of her braid. She glanced around, saw that flies were loving the empty container of veggies, and she jumped to roll it up and throw it in the trash. From there, she didn’t go back to the group but scurried around and rearranged food trays, consolidating them or stuffing them in the trash. I paid close attention when she was bent over the garbage bin, making sure it wasn’t overflowing. Her ass was cupped nicely by her jeans.
“I think we’ve lost him.” Tate’s words tugged at my attention.
“He doesn’t even know how lost he is,” Tenor replied.
I scowled at both of them. “What the hell are you two going on about?”
“I was asking you if the shipment of rye showed up on time or if you’re still expecting it.”
“It’ll be here Monday.” The pull to watch Madison roam the shop was strong.
“Third time in a row it’s been late,” Tenor pointed out. “Might be time to look into it more.”
It was on my to-do list. The supplier was as local as we could get for rye, and we were all about weathering the storms of family issues, climate change, and business hurdles, but three times was becoming a pattern. Especially when there was little communication and we were left hanging. If it wasn’t for Tenor’s tedious inventory programs, we might have gaps in our supply. “I’ll talk to them this week.”
Tate’s girl, Brinley, skipped to Madison and tugged on her hand. Madison’s expression transformed from determinedly busy into a radiant smile. She even kneeled down to Brinley’s level and propped an arm over her knee to chat with the girl. I heard Brinley ask if she had kids. Madison told her she had a nephew that was around her age, and he’d think this picnic was fun.
“And he’s gone again,” Tate muttered.
“You and her a thing?” Tenor asked.
I gave him an incredulous look, but the feel of her lips tingled against my mouth and the taste of her danced on my tongue. Her weight had been pleasing while she’d been on top of me, and not because it’d been a while since I’d had a woman that close. Strength radiated from her, yet she’d been uncertain. She had crawled over my lap like she couldn’t help herself, and for Madison Townsend to let me kiss her like that, to turn over the power while she possessed it all? Well, I was hooked.
However, the way she had scrambled off me, looking angrier at herself than me, didn’t hook me at all. “No. There’s nothing going on.”
Both guys studied me. Myles and Gideon approached, each holding a glass with a finger of Copper Summit Original that Mama swore paired well with the coconut cake. She hadn’t been wrong.
Myles was still dressed like the rest of us in his jeans, T-shirt, and cowboy boots. Same with Gideon. Two guys who had worn suits for their careers—Myles still did—fit right in. Meanwhile, Madison probably itched with the feeling of standing out. Until my niece had cornered her.
Now she was letting Brinley tow her away. There was a newly chalked, massive hopscotch board on the cement pad in front of the shop. Would Madison hopscotch?
I leaned over to see around Tate better and Myles chuckled.
Myles took a slow sip from his bourbon. “I’m not sure what you were talking about, but there is most definitely something going on.”
“That’s exactly what we’ve been saying,” Tenor said.
I glared at them both, then at Gideon for good measure since he was nodding.
Gideon swirled the glass, then wafted it in front of his nose. “You should marry her and figure it out later.”
“That only worked for you and Autumn,” I said.
Madison tried to navigate the hopscotch board and lost her balance after three jumps. Brinley squealed with laughter and Madison tossed her head back, laughing.
Fondness filled Tate’s expression as he watched his daughter coax the shyest party guest into trying again.
Elsa ran over, clapping her little hands together. Brinley put her hand up like a stop sign, but Madison said something I couldn’t hear. Elsa jumped into her arms. Madison lifted her to her hip and then tried again slower, careful of jostling Elsa too much.
Delighted giggles rang from the group.
Junie, holding Emma, wandered over and got in line next. Emma waved a chubby arm at the girls. When Madison reached the end, she turned and surprise lit her face, but she smiled at Junie.
“Isn’t there a saying about little kids?” Gideon asked. “That they can sense your energy?”
When we all stared at him, he glared at us. “Bite me. I’m married to a schoolteacher and babies everywhere adore her. We can’t go to the grocery store without some kid giving her googly eyes.”
“I think that’s just you,” Tate joked. “But, yeah. I’ve heard something about that too.”
The kids were probably nicer and less judgmental to Madison than most adults.
Jonah carried Eliott to the edge of the cement pad and set him down. The toddler darted over to get in line.
“I hope you know, Madison,” Jonah said, his tone serious, “Teller holds the record for the number of back-and-forth runs on Brinley’s hopscotch boards.”
Madison lifted her gaze, catching mine. A smile curved her lush lips. “Is that so?”
The urge to impress her over a stupid kids’ game that Mama would make sure generations after her knew how to play was strong. And I could be a competitive prick. “I’d tell you that it is, but I’d hate to intimidate you.”
A dark brow ticked up. “Big words for a guy who’s staying as far away from the game as he can.”
A chorus of “oh” and “whoa” rang around me. Fuckers. The challenge was one I couldn’t resist, and they knew it. I’d jumped so damn much I could barely walk the next day, but I was the reigning record holder.
Good thing I hadn’t had any bourbon with the cake. I’d need every ounce of my balance for this. “Once Junie shows us that her agility onstage is nothing but a performance, I’ll put you all to shame.”
“I tripped once, Teller,” Junie said with pretend outrage. She beckoned Rhys over to hand off Emma.
“Are we hopscotching?” Hannah called as she skidded to a stop next to her dad.
Rhys nodded. “Teller issued a challenge.”
“Can we play nine square after this?” Bethany asked after she jumped into line. The PVC nine-square court was set up next to the shop.
I reached the group. “I’d hate to show everyone up in that game too.”
The girls all started arguing with me. I wasn’t boasting. My height gave me a wicked advantage in nine square and uncles weren’t supposed to let their nieces and nephews win.
Madison handed Elsa to Wynter and finished her run, making it down and back three times. She was grinning when she came to stand by me. With the sun shining off her hair, giving it a blackened-brass luster, she was as breathtaking as ever.
My heart stumbled over itself as I drank her in. She was dressed more like me and the guys than my sisters, who favored shorts and summer dresses, but I didn’t care what she wore. She was so goddamn beautiful it hurt.
She hooked her thumbs in her jeans pockets. “You talk a big game, Bailey. You gonna live up to it?”
“Since I ate half of that chocolate cake, I’m going to have to.” I winked at her and enjoyed when the blush in her cheeks spread down her neck. How far down did it go? “The real question is, what do I get if I beat you?”
“I’m not a betting woman.”
My presence in her life said otherwise. “If I beat you, then you have to make me a batch of cookies every week until we’re done with Flatlanders.”
She clucked. “Punishments aren’t supposed to be something I enjoy. What if I win?”
“I’ll name our next special batch after you.”
Her lips parted and shock darkened her eyes. “You can’t do that.”
“I’m the boss.” I shrugged. “One of them. Wynter won’t mind. She and Ruby will figure out how to market it based on the name.”
We shuffled farther up the line.
Junie let out a whoop. “Five runs!”
“How would that work?” Madison asked, folding her arms. Her shirt was thin enough I could make out the outline of her bra. Was she wearing a black sports bra like last time? “Copper Summit Townsend? Copper Summit Madison? Neither roll off the tongue.”
She would roll right off my tongue, smooth and silky, as rich as our top-line Copper Summit Gold. “Mad Maddy Summit.”
“ No . You can’t.”
“It’ll be robust, strong, and expensive. A quality bourbon. One of our finest.”
Her mouth dropped open. She snapped it shut. “You’re kidding.”
“I’m serious. You can be there when we taste it.” I swayed closer to her. “If you win.”