Chapter 33
Lila
The last night for January’s book club selection had the shop packed tighter than ever. Usually, I set up large tables near the back of the shop and pushed them together with folding chairs, but I had to squeeze in even more today. Every seat was taken, and the air was filled with chatter.
Mia had set up a plastic T-Rex skeleton over the pastry case and wrapped its skull in fairy lights. I was pretty sure she had stolen it from her parents’ Halloween decorations, but it was pretty cool.
The smell of espresso mixed with butter and vanilla filled the room with warmth despite the drizzle outside.
Voices rose as everyone eagerly talked over each other about the last chaotic chapters.
Finishing a book was always exciting because it was a surprise, and there were no more secrets or withheld details.
It was a no-holds-barred kind of conversation.
“It was absolutely terrifying,” Mrs. Callahan declared, pearls bouncing as she gestured with her half-eaten brownie. “That poor lawyer was eaten right off the toilet! And those children, goodness gracious. I’d have fainted on the spot.”
Janice gave her a scathing look, but I pre-empted her. “Now, Janice. Let’s get you another cupcake. Remember our rule.”
She rolled her eyes, but kept her mouth shut, as Mia took my cue and ran to get her a cupcake.
We had a very strict rule about not shaming people for watching the movie and sometimes coming to book club just for the social aspect.
It was important to me that everyone was welcome.
I wouldn’t have Janice or anyone making snide comments to others that might make them feel small.
Janice, in particular, needed concrete positive reinforcement sometimes.
I loved her, but she could be a bit of a busybody.
When I rang the brass bell, the sound cut through the noise. “Okay, final thoughts before we wrap up Jurassic Park for good?”
Hands shot up. Jesse from the hardware store scratched his beard. “I still say Hammond got what he deserved. Greedy old coot. No sense bringing back lizards bigger than trucks.”
“You mean dinosaurs,” Mia laughed, rolling her eyes as she passed another latte across the counter.
“Same thing,” Jesse fired back, earning more laughter.
I couldn’t help but smile, but as the laughter died down, the inevitable happened.
“So, what’s next?” Mrs. Callahan leaned forward, eyes gleaming like a schoolgirl with a secret. “You can’t keep us in suspense, Lila.”
Several others chimed in, voices overlapping. “Yes, what’s the next book?” “Give us a hint.” “You know we won’t last a week without knowing.”
The pressure made me grin, but I shook my head. “No spoilers tonight. You’ll have to keep your eyes open around the shop over the next few days. Look at the displays, check the postcards tucked into the stacks, and maybe see what the pastry case has to say.” I gave a smirk.
Groans and protests filled the air, but also laughter. They knew the game. Every month, I left breadcrumbs, sometimes as obvious as a themed drink, sometimes as subtle as a phrase scrawled on the chalkboard menu. They might moan and groan, but they loved the mystery of it.
“Tease,” someone called out, and I bowed dramatically, earning more laughter.
From the back, Briggs leaned against the wall near the windows, arms folded, eyes scanning the room as if danger might lurk behind the cupcake tray. He looked professional as ever, but when my gaze caught his, he dipped his chin in the barest of nods.
Redhawk had come up empty-handed on the security camera footage in town. In fact, I was fairly certain the entire investigation was at a dead end. I wasn’t sure why Briggs was even still here.
East had claimed a spot near Maggie, keeping her company while she held court from a cushioned chair by the pastry case with Sage.
Maggie looked radiant now, her laughter bright, while he lounged at her side with one boot hooked over the other.
He didn’t talk much, just listened, that unreadable gaze of his flicking often to me.
Sage kept tossing me knowing looks every time my eyes brushed over her brother, which was too often.
It had been a week of nights under the Holt farmhouse roof, of catching his gaze across Maggie’s table, of him sneaking into the guest room. Nights that were blowing my mind. He was quickly ruining me in all the best ways.
When the crowd finally thinned, hugs were exchanged, plates scraped clean, and promises made to search for hints, the shop fell quiet. Briggs offered to walk Sage to her car, with Maggie giving East a pointed look that promised he wouldn’t be gone long.
That left the two of us in the softened quiet, the hum of the espresso machine the only sound. I wiped a streak of frosting from the counter, though the surface was already spotless, just to keep my hands busy.
His boots thudded softly across the floor until he was close, his warmth brushing over my skin. “You wore yourself out tonight.” His voice was rougher than it had been in front of everyone, low enough to catch in my stomach as his arm snaked around my waist into the flesh there.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re stubborn.” His mouth touched the edge of my temple, placing a kiss there. His breath feathered across my skin, and I was helpless. Already, everything loosened inside me. East had some magic power to turn me on just by being close to me. “Let me help you, sugar.”
“And you’re bossy,” I shot back, tilting my chin to look back at him, turning in his arms. “How are you going to help me, hmmm?”
The corner of his mouth curved. They stayed steady, dark, like he was weighing something. “Needy?”
Silence stretched. My pulse thundered, too loud in my ears.
The kiss was careful at first, but I knew how it went now.
My hand rose of its own accord, curling in the front of his shirt, and the care shattered.
His mouth deepened against mine, sure and hungry, until the counter pressed into the small of my back and every thought scattered.
We broke apart breathless, too soon, his forehead resting against mine, his hand firm at my waist.
“This isn’t smart,” I whispered, though my lips ached for him still. “I’m at work. Briggs is going to be back any second.” My eyes darted to the door.
“No,” he murmured, pressing against me so I could feel how hard and ready he was. “But I can’t keep my hands away from you, and you’ve been so far away all night long. I’ve been good.”
And standing there in the quiet of Chapter & Crumb, the taste of him still lingering, it was impossible to argue. “True. You were.”
The shop still hummed with the echo of his kiss. My breath was shallow, my lips tingling, the taste of him lingering even as the door chime snapped me out of his arms. He cleared his throat, gave me a little wink, and stepped behind me slightly, probably to hide the bulge in his jeans.
Wade filled the doorway first, broad-shouldered and purposeful, rain clinging to his jacket. He gave his brother a slight eye roll. Briggs followed, his expression all business.
“Evening,” Wade said, voice clipped. His eyes flicked once to East, then to me, sharp enough that it felt like he’d read everything in the room. But he didn’t comment. “We’ve got an update, Lila. Figured it was better to keep you posted.”
I definitely preferred that, even though my stomach was doing somersaults. East’s hands came down on my shoulders, and his fingers began to dig into the muscles that had tightened there. “I’ll be alright,” he whispered.
Briggs closed the door behind him and set his Stetson down on the nearest table. “It won’t take long. Wade and I have just been verifying some things.”
I leaned into East, feeling the comfort he was giving as I tried to breathe. “All right.” My voice came out steadier than I expected.
We pulled inheritance records, old deeds, family ties.
Briggs and Rhodes have been looking through your grandmother’s property holdings.
Everything is clear—except for one detail,” Wade said as he opened a folder that he’d clearly been stuffing full of photocopies and random notes.
Very old-school of him. I’d tease him right now if I had any spit left in my mouth.
The paper gleamed under the soft lights, stark black type against a white background. My eyes caught on a name I hadn’t seen in decades. A name that didn’t belong in my shop tonight, in my life at all.
My father’s.
The room tilted. My hand braced the counter to keep from swaying. East moved closer, putting his arm around me. “You’re okay, sugar. Breathe.”
“He’s still listed as living,” Briggs said, careful.
“We’ve double-checked. I’m sure you’re not surprised.
” The tone was still gentle. “Looks like he’d dropped off the map for a bit.
Did some time here and there.” Air seemed to seep from the room.
“He’s actually still on parole from the last time he was in jail. ”
Oh my God, my father was a criminal and a terrible person.
I mean. He abandoned us. What kind of person does that?
Someone who was morally corrupt, that’s who.
I could never get over the betrayal of him living some kind of life without a care while we struggled.
My mom died, and I was left all alone. Thank God from my Grams.
Briggs’s voice continued as if my mind wasn’t racing a mile a minute. “He resurfaced on paper about five years ago. Tax records, utilities.”
East swore softly under his breath. The sound was low, dangerous, vibrating in my bones.
“He walked away from us.” The words rasped out. “He doesn’t get to come back now.”
Wade’s jaw tightened. “The law might not see it that way. I don’t think this is about what he gets. It could be about what he might want. And that’s the problem. We wanted you to know what we found.”
The quiet stretched, heavy and thick, until even the shop seemed to be still around it. The scent of sugar and coffee lingered, mocking in its comfort.
“Grams had a will.” The words were desperate, but I already knew that the will wouldn’t hold up.
If Milton Merrick wanted to put a claim in for the little blue cottage that I’d grown up in, then that was a done deal.
Grams’s chicken scratch on a piece of paper wasn’t all buttoned up like it should have been.
Briggs cleared his throat. “Knowing who stands to gain gives us a clearer picture.” His gaze held mine, steady. “This doesn’t prove anything, but it points us in a direction.”
“Not ruling anything else out, but this widens the circle. A lot,” Wade agreed.
I felt East’s hand brush my arm, a tether against the pull of panic. I didn’t dare look at him, not with Wade watching. But the contact steadied me.
“I can’t…” My throat worked. “I can’t wrap my head around it.”
“It’s just one more angle, Lila,” Wade said. His voice softened, though the steel never left it. “But you need to be ready for the possibilities. He’s not gone. And if he’s the one behind this, he knows more about you than we’d like. He would have been familiar with the inside of the cottage.”
The words lodged deep and sharp.
“Okay. Thanks for telling me.” I was vaguely aware of East talking to his brother, murmuring as they discussed it.
I slumped against East’s side, trying to let it sink in before Wade and Briggs left the room, their departure leaving silence that stretched on.
Rain whispered against the windows, soft and steady, as if the whole town were listening.
A warm hand slid over mine, folding my fingers into his. “You’re shaking.” His voice was low, not a question, but a truth.
The denial came to my lips, brittle and thin. “I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.” His thumb swept over my knuckles, slow, deliberate. “And you don’t have to be. Let’s start practicing saying when we’re not fine.”
The tightness in my chest eased just enough to let a sob slip out. My forehead bent toward him before I could stop it, resting against the hard plane of his chest.
He didn’t move for a moment, just let me press there. Then his arm came around me, pulling me in until there was no space left between us.
“East…” My voice broke on his name. “If it’s him—if he’s been out there this whole time …”
“Then he’s a coward who left, and you’re stronger than he’ll ever be.” His mouth brushed my hair, close enough that warmth rippled down my spine. “You’ve made your own way. You’re a hell of a woman. Nothing that man is or has done has anything to do with you.”
The words should have been enough. But the way he said them—raw and protective—made something dangerous unfurl in me. My hands curled into his shirt, needing more of that strength, more of him.
His lips found my temple, lingering there. Then lower, brushing my cheek. When I tilted my face up, his eyes caught mine—dark and burning with everything neither of us dared speak aloud.
God, I was falling in love with this man.
The kiss that followed wasn’t frantic like before. It was deep, deliberate, and made my knees weaken. His hand cradled the back of my head, threading through my hair and anchoring me as if he knew I might otherwise drift away in the storm.