Chapter 25
“Who needs treasure when you’ve got cookies and chaos?” ~ Jeremy
Jeremy
I whistle as I walk down the stairs in Eli’s house toward the kitchen for some coffee.
“Someone’s happy this morning,” Eli grumbles from where he’s laying with his head on the kitchen table.
“I nearly finished the Synq app.”
His head whips up from the table. “You did?”
“He’s obviously been inspired,” Paisley says as she sweeps into the room with a sleeping Stephanie in her arms.
“Enough with your matchmaking.”
She grins. “But it’s obviously working.”
“There’s no future for me with Parker. As soon as the New Year arrives, I’m leaving Smuggler’s Hideaway.”
Acid builds in my stomach at those words but I ignore it. Relationships aren’t for me. Not even with the woman I’m falling for.
She scowls. “You don’t have to leave. Eli lives here and he’s your CFO for Apparoo.”
“He doesn’t need to be in California to be the numbers man. I’m the CEO and head developer. I need to be there to run my team.”
She shrugs. “Move Apparoo to the island.”
Not a bad idea. I could see Parker whenever I want. Watch Stephanie grow up. Hang out with my best friend. All while I’m far away from gold diggers.
I shake my head. It’s an impossible dream. “Move a multi-billion dollar company across the country? Sure. Why not? I’ll snap my fingers and make it happen.”
She rolls her eyes. “You’re Jeremy Holland. You can make anything happen.”
Eli growls. “No flirting with my best friend.”
Paisley’s brow wrinkles. “I wasn’t flirting.”
“It was flirting.”
I let them argue. I know where I can find better coffee anyway.
When I arrive at Pirate’s Pastries fifteen minutes later, the place is packed. I manage to push my way through the crowd to Parker.
“What is happening?” I ask after I kiss her on her cheek.
“It’s the Mermaid Treasure Hunt,” she squeals.
My brow wrinkles. “I thought you weren’t participating.”
She beams up at me. “I won the gingerbread house contest. I used the prize money to pay for the moonshine.”
Damn. I wanted to pay for the moonshine. But she was adamant about not participating in the treasure hunt. My stubborn little princess is a pain in my ass sometimes.
“Parker!”
“Sorry. Cindy needs me.”
She starts to rush away but I shackle her wrist to stop her. “How can I help?”
“Are you sure?”
I growl. I don’t deign to answer her question. She’s my princess. Of course, I’m helping. “What can I do?”
She drags me into the kitchen. My eyes widen at the sight. There are trays of cookies on every single surface. It’s only been two days since I last saw her. How did she do all this baking in the meantime?
She points to the parchment paper. “Each sea salt caramel coin cookie needs to be wrapped and a small scroll affixed to the top of the package.”
I pick up a scroll and unroll it. “Not all treasure is hidden. Some is baked,” I read out loud.
“It matches the clue to find this spot on the treasure map. Golden coins and hidden loot, follow the scent of something sweet and cute. A pirate’s prize, a mermaid’s treat - Where sugar and sass and sea salt meet."
The clue is perfect. It points players to Pirate’s Pastries without naming it directly and is on brand.
“I should hire the Smuggler’s Hideaway tourist council for my marketing team.”
“Too bad no one on the council would move away from Smuggler’s Hideaway. Not even for the outrageous salaries you probably pay.”
If I moved Apparoo to the island, it wouldn’t be a problem. I stop those thoughts before I get carried away. No one’s moving to the island. Parker and I are together only for the season. Once the season is over, we’re over.
My gut rolls at the thought but I ignore it. I know better than to get attached to a woman. Even if the woman in question refused my help and managed to figure out a way to do what she wanted anyway. I can’t help but admire Parker.
“Parker!”
“I really need to go.” She pushes up on her toes to kiss me. “Don’t eat too many of the cookies.”
I’m not going to eat any cookies. Except when I notice the cookies are in the shape of old pirate coins and drizzled with sea salt caramel with a shimmer of edible gold dust, I can’t resist. She didn’t forbid me to eat any after all.
I stuff one into my mouth and moan as the flavor of shortbread and sea salt caramel melts in my mouth. Parker is a genius when it comes to baking.
I package cookies and attach small scrolls to the packages until my back aches. I moan as I stretch. I don’t know how Parker does this every day. She really is a princess.
“Put it down!” Parker screams.
At her shout, I run into the café. A man has a gingerbread house lifted in the air. Parker is glaring at him.
“I found it! It’s my treasure,” the man slurs.
I make my way to Parker and shove her behind me. Drunken men can’t be trusted and nothing will happen to Parker on my watch.
“Put down the gingerbread house,” I order the man.
“No. It’s mine.”
“It’s not yours. It’s Parker’s.” And no one steals from Parker. No one.
“Nuh uh. It’s the final treasure. I won the Mermaid Treasure Hunt.”
Parker tries to push past me but I block her. She’s mine to protect. And I will protect her. From drunken guests, asshole parents, whoever threatens her will deal with me.
“There is no final treasure,” Parker says. “And you can’t win the treasure hunt.”
“What’s the porpoise of a treasure hunt if there’s no winner?”
“Porpoise? I think you mean purpose.”
“Whatever.” He dismisses me with a wave of his hand and the gingerbread house nearly goes crashing to the floor.
“Unless you want your treasure hunt to end in the ER, put the gingerbread house down.”
“Is the ER on the treasure map?”
He looks back at his crew and sways. The gingerbread house tilts toward the floor. No one is dropping Parker’s hard work on my watch. I snatch the gingerbread house from him.
“Hey! You stole my prize.”
I pass the gingerbread house to Parker before confronting the drunk again. I stalk forward and he’s forced to back up until he’s at the door to the bakery.
“You will leave this bakery and not come back until you’re sober, do you understand me?”
He stares up at me with his mouth hanging open.
“Unless you want to visit the ER for real.”
Someone from his group grabs his arm and pulls him away. “We got it.”
I follow them outside and watch until they’re out of sight. Only then does my heart rate slow down to normal. I can’t handle the thought of Parker being threatened or her not being safe.
I’ve never been protective of a woman before but Parker isn’t any woman. She isn’t spending her days dropping thousands of dollars on shoes she’ll only wear once. Or wasting hours scrolling on social media.
She works hard and she doesn’t want my money. She wants to do it all on her own. I couldn’t admire her more.
“I knew you loved snow,” Parker says as she wraps her arms around me from behind.
“What?”
She giggles as she motions to the sky. “It’s snowing. It’s why you’re standing outside, isn’t it?”
“Yep. I love snow.”
I’m obviously lying, but she doesn’t call me on it.
“Too bad it’ll be gone in a few hours. The snow never lasts long on Smuggler’s Hideaway. Except for last year. We had this big snowstorm. They had to cancel the treasure hunt. Although some people decided they could bike in the snow anyway.” She laughs. “They couldn’t.”
I spin around and envelop her in my arms. “Have you always loved snow?”
“Yeah.” Her sigh is wistful. “When I was young, my parents and I would go skiing for a week in the winter. Until they realized I preferred to lounge by the big fireplace in the cabin with a book and a hot cocoa while they skied. When I stopped skiing, they went without me.”
I scowl. “They went without you?”
“It was okay. The previous owner of Pirate’s Pastries would watch over me for the week. Alice taught me how to make sugar cookies and frosting, and hot cocoa.”
“Where’s Alice now?”
Pain fills her bright blue eyes. “She died two years after I bought the bakery from her. Breast cancer.”
I squeeze her. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” She glances up at me, tears glistening in her eyes. “Alice was ready to go. Her husband was gone and most of her friends had gone as well. It was her time.”
“I can still be sorry you miss her.”
She sighs. “I do. She taught me everything I know about baking.”
I’m glad Parker had Alice in her life. Alice was probably more of a mother figure than her real mom, who went skiing without her. Her parents are assholes.
She taps my mouth. “No scowling when we’re standing outside in the snow.” She buries her face in my shoulder. “Today was a good day.”
“Yea?”
“I introduced thousands of people to my cookies. I watched my temporary boyfriend go all territorial on me. And now it’s snowing. What more could a woman want?”
I tip her chin up. “How about we go warm up with some of your famous hot chocolate?”
Her eyes sparkle. “I have some moonshine leftover.”
“Lead the way, Princess.”
I follow her into the bakery with a grin on my face. Smuggler’s Hideaway is magical. I wouldn’t mind living here.
The thought should scare me. But it doesn’t.
Nothing can scare me when I’m holding hands with Parker. Including the thought of moving my company across the country.