Watching kids can't be any worse than protesting outside a building while Pete hunts me before making me swim with the fishes.Josie's eyes widen behind the counter and she holds her hands up, waving them back and forth until Katy spins on her."Are you sure? Emma is in the terrible twos right now. Kids, man. This could last hours. Days."I've never protested anything before, but I don't think they last days. Katy didn't mention a camp-out. "It's no problem. I used to babysit all the time in high school," I lie.Katy bounces back behind the counter, eager with the recent development. "See, it will be fine and you can come. Harley will be a wonderful babysitter. The best."Not so sure on the best part, but it can't be that hard. I've kept a plant alive for six years, and Rocky doesn't have any complaints — none he's made heard, anyway.Also how has she figured out my name? What other info on me did Stella give everyone? We've never even had proper introductions, but still it
"Emma!" I scold half terrified of the mess and half relieved I found her.Stella perks up quickly. "Oh good, you found her."I found her and now I have to deal with her. Dred skates up my spine as she turns with a smile so large she could be the Joker's offspring. In her arms she cradles Rocky, who stares at me with wide eyes pleading for me to rescue him."I've got to go." I hang up on Stella, not giving her more of an explanation.Quickly, as if she senses her time of shenanigans is nearing an end, Emma turns and drops Rocky in the toilet. Water splashes over the edge and he yelps with the splash. I sprint into the bathroom, saving the wet pissed off dog at the exact second Emma finishes pressing the lever to flush the toilet.I clutch Rocky to my chest, the toilet water soaking my shirt. "No, Emma. We don't flush puppies."Emma claps, the powder caught on her fingers launching into the air in thick dust bubbles.Holy hell. What should I do?The back door opens and I
The sun hasn't risen. I check by lazily peeking open one eye a smidge. Elliot rolls over and places a soft kiss on my lips."Shhh. Not yet, too tired." Babysitting wears a girl out and even though Josie and Anessa relieved us of our baby duties by seven p.m., I fell into bed by nine and slept like the dead. But the sun isn't up yet, which means I don't need to be either. I'm a bank forensic accountant, I keep banker hours.Elliot laughs. "So, you forgive me for you misunderstanding my words?"I roll my eyes unable to keep up with the way he changes the sentence, but knowing he's twisted it. We had a long talk last night while the kids are watching a movie, and for a few minutes it felt like that could be our life. We could stay home in the evening, eating dinner together, and watch a family movie. Until Emma made another mad dash to the bathroom and had half the roll of toilet paper in the bowl before I got there. Kid is obsessed with toilets."Don't press your luck," I say cur
"Wow," I say looking out at the home, which makes my one-story bungalow seem like a baby house. I take that back, it's not that the house is big, but in this part of the state when you have an older large home, it means someone important lived there. The home is a cross between a Victorian building and a big white farmhouse. A porch wraps around the front and two sides as far as the eye can see. There's a second story and then what looks to be a third or smaller one up top with three little windows looking out onto the world.Someone important built this home, and it's easy to imagine the property being here longer than most of the residences in Pelican Bay."It's just you, right?" I ask as he opens the door to his truck and leads me up the dark-stained steps of the porch. Rocky wiggles in my arms, but I don't let him roam free."Sometimes my sister and her kids come to stay for the summers, but otherwise it's just me."He slips the key into the lock and pushes open the front d
I glance in that direction, but it appears so far away. "No time." Being here in his house together is a tremendous step in whatever this thing we're calling a relationship is. I'm not ready to christen his bed.My stomach clenches as he takes a nipple in his mouth while working to undo my pants. When we're both free, I raise one leg, wrapping it around his hip and leaving myself open for him. Elliot slips inside just as perfectly as every time we've been together. My back rests against the wall, keeping him leveraged as he pumps in and out, as his finger caresses the skin around my clit.My head hits his light gray wall as I stand on the tiptoes of my other foot. I waiver, my fingers digging into his shoulder as my core vibrates. His scent is everywhere, and it invades my senses. The orgasm grows fast and I press my back against the wall, wanting to get away but needing to be closer. It hovers between us, me not ready to finish yet.Elliot's forehead rests against mine and while
"Katy, what are you doing?" I ask. My free hand Katy isn't holding clutches on my chest trying to catch my breathing. This is not the time to sneak up on me."Come on," she says pulling me to the back of the bakery.I follow, my feet scuffing along the floor trying to hold her back. Tabitha, with her bright pink apron and her hair in a tight bun high on her head, watches the two of us shaking her head in disbelief."Wait. Where are we going?" I ask as Katy drags me behind the counter."To spy," she whispers, pushing her way through the metal swinging doors."What? Tabitha?" I point back to Tabitha at the front as the metal swinging door almost takes off my face.I push through and catch Tabitha waving goodbye as the door swings closed behind us. How did I end up in this situation?"I tried, but she's watching the counter.""Okay, okay," I say wrestling my arm free of Katy's grasp. "But where are we going?" I'm not breaking my promise to Elliot.Katy stops at the back
Her words get the first reaction from him, but only his forehead creases at the insult."You're only angry because you can't accept I'm not an asshole like you want."I take a step further away. "Okay, guys. I'm going now," I say taking two more steps to the back door. Neither of them turn or look at me. I slip back into the bakery, closing the door behind me leaving Katy to her own devices.The metal outside door closes behind me as I sneak through the door of the bakery. Tabitha's head pokes through the swinging metal doors as she holds them open with her hands nodding at me."Did you have a pleasant trip with Katy?""We gallivanted in the parking lot," I say pointing my thumb back to the lot as if she's forgotten where it is.Tabitha nods. "Katy is still on her I hate Pierce tour.""Hmmm. How long has that been happening?" I ask stepping to the kitchen when Tabitha returns to the counter.She leans over the workspace in the empty bakery when I take up a seat at the s
"They warned me you'd be trouble, but I didn't listen." Elliot backs out of his parking space in front of the bakery in his big black truck.It felt like fifteen minutes after Tabitha called for Spencer that someone arrived, but it was two. They took the envelope and the card and enclosed them into a Ziploc baggie before stashing it in a pocket. Then the real trouble began when Elliot walked in the bakery with his eyes dead set on me."Not trouble," I say, telling myself it's not a lie. Why would anyone say that? "I was minding my business with a cupcake." I hadn't even gotten the chance to tell Tabitha anything about my relationship with Elliot.Plus, Elliot had not found out about the brief detour I took with Katy as soon as I got there, so it wasn't fair for him to call me trouble."How did anyone even know you were there? Did you leave?"He turns left and I hesitate, staring at the ocean on the right-hand side of the truck. That's the wrong side for the direction we shoul