Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
PENNY
The next morning, I pushed my cart into Colburn Restorations. It’d only been six hours since the Washing Machine Incident, and I had no idea what to expect. Would Ryder ignore what had happened? Did I want him to?
Grif was at the front desk and waved at me as I headed toward the kitchen. The man himself sat on the island, not unlike how he’d sat on the washing machine. Well, except he was fully clothed.
At the sight of me, he stopped thumbing through his phone and hopped down in one easy motion, crossed the room to me. “Glad to see you.”
I managed a casual shrug. “Where else would I be at six a.m. on a Wednesday morning?”
“I thought…” He shook his head. “I don’t know what I thought. That you might trade shifts or find a way to pretend last night didn’t happen.”
I sucked my lips into my mouth and he stilled. “You thought about doing both.”
“No.” I managed a laugh. “I thought you might.”
With a slow shake of his head, he lifted a hand and rubbed his thumb lightly across my heated cheek. “How could I forget the best time I’ve ever had in a laundry room? For the rest of my life, I’m going to get hard just walking into one.”
I snorted.
“I’m not kidding. You’ve ruined me for life.”
I realized I probably had one of those goofy smiles on my face. Since I couldn’t seem to control it, but didn’t want to stand there like an idiot, or worse yet, ask if the kitchen door locked so we could have a repeat, I began unloading food.
“Let me help,” he said.
“Not necessary.”
He stayed anyway, pointing out his favorites as I unpacked and set up, which turned out to be everything. In fact, he loaded up a plate as I worked—some breakfast casserole, a muffin, a stack of bacon, fresh strawberries—feeding me a bite for every one he took himself.
“Thank you,” he said when everything was set.
I raised my eyebrows. “For…last night?”
A filthy smile crossed his face. “I meant the food, although…”
“Don’t you dare thank me for… that ,” I said on a laugh, and accepted one more bite before heading for the door.
He caught my hand as I went to pass him and reeled me in. Once upon a time, I’d have resisted, felt nerves bunch in my throat, but my body went so willingly, it practically jumped him.
“I hope you know how talented you are,” he said, holding my gaze as his arms slid around me.
I playfully furrowed my brow. “We’d better be talking about the food.”
He kissed the tip of my nose. “Your grandma’s right, you know. You should be running your own business. A café, a restaurant, your own catering service, whatever you want.”
What I wanted wasn’t to be thinking about that right now, not when I was once again up against his warm, hard body. I curled my fingers into his collar and tugged his head to mine. He was smiling when his mouth collided with mine just as?—
Caleb and Tucker strode into the kitchen, shit-talking and jostling each other, though they nearly swallowed their tongues when they caught us.
“ Again? ” Caleb asked with a smirk. “Maybe you two should get a room.”
“Excuse me?” Ryder asked quietly in a tone that suggested he hadn’t actually missed what Caleb had said at all.
Tucker had found the bacon and was halfway through his second piece already, so his mouth was full when he helpfully answered for Caleb. “He said maybe you two should get a room.”
I was pretty sure the color on my face was tomato red. “I’m sorry,” I said. “That was so unprofessional?—”
“Please don’t be sorry,” Ryder said.
“ Absolutely do not be sorry,” Caleb agreed. “We like this guy smiling instead of chewing us out, so thank you for that.”
I’d also been smiling lately, and God help me, but I wanted more.
So. Much. More.
Which, of course, I wasn’t ready for and maybe never would be.
A sobering thought. I could feel the weight of Ryder’s gaze on me, but I didn’t meet it as Caleb headed toward the chafing dishes. “Tell me you made that breakfast casserole again,” he said. “The one that’s clearly got crack in it.”
I smiled. “No crack, but yes, it’s there.”
He clapped a hand to his heart. “Can I marry you and have your babies?”
I laughed, but Ry made a sound that might’ve been a growl as his brother began pawing through the fridge.
“Ry, if you drank my chocolate milk again, I’m gonna kick your ass.”
“ You drank your own chocolate milk, dumbass. And what are you, twelve?”
Caleb sent a grin toward me. “You’re probably wondering if we’re really brothers since he’s such an ass and I’m not. I’m also clearly the better looking one.”
They were all ridiculously good-looking.
Ry put his hand on Caleb’s face and, despite Caleb having two inches and a lot more bulk to his muscles, Ryder gave him a push. Right into the wall.
I sucked in air, a little worried about Caleb’s pretty face since he was wearing his glasses as always. But he just laughed and shoved free, resettling his now crooked glasses on his face before retaliating by pulling some sort of hockey move that put Ry face-first into the wall.
Tucker snorted.
Ryder moved so fast I barely caught it when he kicked Tucker’s leg out from beneath him, causing him to hit the floor like a 7.0 earthquake.
Caleb started laughing. He laughed so hard, he had to bend at the waist, hands on his knees. Ryder chuckled, watching Tucker give him an evil grin and rise to his feet.
“Are you guys going to fight like children?” I asked.
“Like children?” Caleb scoffed. “No.”
“At least not right now,” Tucker said. “Last time we ended up with a hole in the wall and Ry took the repair cost out of our paychecks.”
“Translation.” Caleb hitched a thumb in Tucker’s direction. “As the baby brother, he’s afraid to fight either of us.”
I doubt that was true, seeing as Tucker seemed the most dangerously built of the three of them. And sure enough, he just snorted.
“I’d take you both on to prove otherwise, but I’ve got a meeting.” He pointed at Ryder. “You too. The police finally assigned someone to the missing materials case. He’s in the conference room.”
“But first,” Caleb said, “you’ve gotta little something right here…” He pointed to Ry’s mouth. “Oh, my bad, it’s just lip gloss. Nice color choice. Makes your eyes pop.”
Biting my lip, I turned away to grab my cart, just barely catching Ryder smacking Caleb upside the back of his head.
Caleb then stuck his foot out and tripped Ryder.
Tucker rolled his eyes at me. “They were both dropped on their heads as babies.”
Caleb flipped him off, then smiled at me. “Never did thank you for patching Ry up. He tried to tell us it was just a paper cut.”
“We know he did something stupid,” Tucker said. “Care to enlighten us?”
Ryder raised his brows at me. Not trying to stop me. Not trying to direct me. Just giving me carte blanch to do what I wanted.
“Those paper cuts can be brutal,” I said.
He grinned.
Tucker sighed. “He’s taken you to the dark side.” He looked at Ry. “Two minutes in the conference room.” And then he was gone.
“Paper cut, my ass,” Caleb muttered to Ryder. “Remember that time you screw-gunned your hand to the ceiling? You claimed that was a paper cut too, in spite of needing like a hundred stitches.”
I gasped in horror, and Ry grimaced. “ Thirty ,” he corrected. “And I didn’t start that bar fight, I just finished it. Which, if I remember correctly, saved”—he pointed at his brother—“ your pretty face. You’re welcome.”
A laugh escaped me before I could stop it, but I turned it into a cough when Ry slid me a look before turning back to his brother. “You deal with the Anderson job yet? The holdup with the plans?”
“Yep, I sent you an email about it.”
“How about the McQueen?—”
“ Also solved and in your email.” Caleb found something that pleased him in the fridge, or so I assumed because he whooped with joy, then pulled out the last piece of chocolate birthday cake, which I’d made earlier in the week for Bill’s birthday.
“ Score .”
“Eat that and die,” Ry said. “I have plans for that cake.”
“I can make more,” I said.
Caleb grinned at me as he hugged the cake to himself like a firedrake with a treasure. “Don’t worry, he can’t take me.”
“I’ve taken you a thousand times,” Ry said .
“In your dreams.”
Ryder eyed the time. “Don’t you have an early meeting with Caltrans?”
“Shit. Yes.” Caleb pointed at me. “Don’t listen to him. I’m the best of the brothers. Think about the marriage thing. I’m serious.” And then he was gone as well.
Ryder sighed. “My brother’s a time waster and a pain in my ass.”
“Don’t talk that way about my future husband.”
He grimaced, and I laughed as my phone buzzed an incoming call from Kiera.
“Problem?” Ryder asked when I groaned.
“Nope, not at all.” I gave him what I hoped was my most professional I’ve got this smile. “It’s your sister. I need to take it.”
“Of course.” He moved to the coffee station on the other side of the room.
Drawing a deep breath, I answered my phone with a chipper “Good morning.”
“You didn’t check out when you left the kitchen, which as you know is required,” Kiera said.
“Where are you? Never mind, it doesn’t matter as long as you get to the Yaeger Building in the next hour.
They’ve got a breakfast meeting with a new, big client today, which is important to me because that client is looking for a catering service. Don’t screw this up.”
There was something about Kiera’s tone that always insinuated the entire world was on her last nerve, but it was still uncomfortable to be the face of that world and take the brunt.
I eyed the clock. I had plenty of time. “I won’t screw it up.”
“Great, and when you get back, you can review our company policy on checking in and out here at Hungry Bee.”
“Perfect.” I disconnected. “ Perfect? ” I repeated and then knocked my phone against my forehead a few times. “I’m going to get myself fired for being stupid.”
“Take East River Street, less traffic this time of morning,” Ry said.
Oh good, he’d heard everything. I grabbed my cart and headed to the door.
“Penny.”
“Yeah?”
“Kiera won’t fire you. I’ve tasted your cookies.”
I turned back and our gazes met and locked. We both knew he’d tasted more than my cookies…
“You don’t fire a woman like you. You keep her and hold on tight.”
“I’m…not always someone people hold on to.”
“Then those people don’t deserve you.”
Unable to go there, I moved to the door. “My job isn’t like yours. Just about anyone can cook or bake cookies.”
“Not me.”
I looked back. “You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t believe you’re actually bad at something.”
He snorted. “I’m bad at plenty of things.”
“Name one.”
“I’ll name two. Cooking and baking.”
I took my phone from my pocket, scrolled through my recipes, found my favorite—and easiest—cookie recipe. Double chocolate chip.
“Air drop?”
He blinked, then pulled out his phone. A second later, his phone buzzed that he’d received my text. “My favorite and most simple cookie recipe,” I said.
He paused. “You want me to bake you cookies?”
“I want you to bake you cookies. So you can see how not hard it is.”
He stared down at the recipe I’d sent him, then back at me, his eyes crinkled in amusement. “What makes you think I’m capable of pulling this off ?”
“You restore historical monuments to their former glory with incredible precision and loving care. What makes you think you can’t make a few cookies?”
“I guess we’ll see.” He looked at me for a long beat, as if debating with himself over something.
“Kiera’s going through a really hard time right now,” he finally said.
“She isn’t herself. I’m not excusing her behavior, because it’s not okay how she talks to people.
I just know deep, deep down past that thick skin of hers, she’s got a really soft heart. ”
“You don’t talk about her much.”
There was a hesitation, then he said, “Auggie was her husband.”
My stomach hit my toes. “Auggie, business partner Auggie?”
Mouth grim, he nodded.
“She lost her husband,” I breathed. And he’d lost his best friend…
“And the father of her children.”
I covered my mouth with my hand, sick for all of them, for Kiera, for Ryder, but especially for the kids, because I knew firsthand the pain of losing your dad young.
“I’m so sorry.” Three words had never felt so inadequate.
With Kiera, I’d mostly tried to stay off her radar, but now I wanted to give her a hug.
The woman was just trying to keep her head above water while being tied to a cement block of fate, struggling to keep her family from drowning as well, and wanting to accomplish that all on her own.
We weren’t so different after all.