Page 3 of Bad Boy Bakers, Vol. 2

Chapter Two

The moment Cash spotted Hadley’s familiar, purple-streaked espresso brown hair, everything inside him lifted and brightened with relief.

He itched to cross the room, haul her into his arms and erase the distance he’d put between them.

Somewhere, deep down, a part of him had watched her walk away yesterday and worried she wouldn’t come back.

People had done that often enough in his life.

But not Hadley. Never Hadley.

She was bold and brash and unapologetic in how she lived. Cash recognized that if she was really through with him, there’d have been a declarative announcement about it at earsplitting decibel, probably with considerable profanity and significant possibility of projectiles of convenience.

Instead, she was here.

Oh shit. She was here.

Did this mean she’d come around to his way of thinking? Recognizing that they had to clear the air with Holt if they were going to continue? Or had she driven all this way with some intention of stopping him?

There was no way to ask her, and her very presence threw a big ass monkey wrench into his plans.

“—daughter, Maddie. And my wife, Cayla.”

Cash dragged his focus over to the pair of pretty blondes, the one in Holt’s arms, a miniature of the woman beaming in his direction.

He plastered on a smile to hide the inner turmoil.

“Nice to meet you both, finally.” And he meant it.

These two might have become Holt’s family through a marriage of convenience meant to protect Cayla and her daughter from the ex-husband that had been released from prison back in the spring, but they were truly his now.

They’d given his friend a place to land, and Cash would be forever grateful for that.

Holt deserved that kind of happy ending after all the shit he’d been through in his life and his military service.

And so did he. Cash couldn’t stop his gaze from shifting back to Hadley. He wanted to be her safe place to land. Wanted her to be his. It took all his training to bury that emotion down deep instead of reaching out to touch her, claim her, anything to reassure himself that she was still his.

“Didn’t know you were coming down.”

Her gray eyes sparked with mischief rather than temper, and that was enough to tell him she wasn’t here to fight. “It was spur of the moment. You know me.”

He certainly did. Far better than her brother could possibly be aware.

“Too bad you didn’t communicate,” Cayla said. “Y’all could’ve carpooled down together.”

Hadley scoffed. “And let Mr. High and Mighty control the stereo? No, thank you. Seven hours of the same three bands is not for me.”

“And seven hours of eighties throwbacks is better?” Cash shot back, relieved to fall into the familiar dynamic.

She gave an imperious lift of her chin. “It was the best music decade. Full of power ballads and full-bodied rock and roll.”

“You keep telling yourself that, sweetheart.”

Holt rolled his eyes and set Maddie down. “They’ve been having this argument for fifteen years.”

“Two words.” Cash pointed to Hadley. “Tone. Deaf.”

She sniffed. “You just can’t appreciate my vocal stylings.”

“Is that what you’re calling your caterwauling now?” Holt asked.

Maddie tugged at his pant leg. “Daddy, what’s caterwilling?”

Daddy. Damn. Holt really had landed himself a real live nuclear family.

It wasn’t something he’d had growing up.

Wasn’t something either of them had had.

It meant something to Cash to see it was possible.

That it could really work. It made him feel like this thing he wanted wasn’t so insane or out of reach as it had felt on the drive down.

“Caterwauling,” Holt corrected. “You ever hear a couple of cats fighting?”

Maddie shook her head. “Uh-uh.”

“Well, it’s not a pretty sound. That’s what your Aunt Hadley sounds like when she sings.”

The subject of their teasing stuck her tongue out.

The kid’s eyes got big as saucers. “You mean… she can’t sing good like you can?”

“Can’t carry a tune in a bucket,” Cash informed her. “Your dad got all the musical talent in the family.”

“Not that it ever stopped Had from trying.”

Hadley crossed her arms with a huff. “What I lack in skill, I make up for with enthusiasm.”

Cayla snickered and shot a significant look at her daughter. “Sounds like someone else I know.”

“Maybe my genes will win out with the next one.” Holt grinned and tugged his wife in for a kiss.

“The next one?” Cash blinked and glanced at Cayla. “Are you—?”

She just smiled. “Not yet. But that’s the plan.”

“Wow. Congrats. Good luck with that.”

Another kid. On purpose. Cash couldn’t quite wrap his brain around it.

He’d never thought about children. He wasn’t a guy who’d thought much about the future.

Not beyond the end of the week. The month.

The mission. For so much of his life, there’d been no guarantee that he’d have a future.

But being with Hadley had made him dream about it.

He could see her in his future. Wanted her as his wife.

But he hadn’t thought beyond that to what their life together would look like.

Obviously, that wasn’t something he could decide on his own.

He had to actually have a conversation with her.

And there were all those pertinent details, like telling her he loved her and asking her to marry him, and so on and so forth.

Talking about the future that they’d been very careful to tiptoe around all these months as she’d slowly, inexorably become entwined in his life.

He wondered how she’d feel about the idea of family.

Of kids. Was she as leery of all that as he was?

With what they’d both come from, he wouldn’t be surprised if she also felt a bit at war with herself over the subject.

Would they be doomed to repeat the mistakes of their parents?

God knew they’d had terrible examples. Or would they make better parents because they knew the things not to do?

It hardly mattered. The entire subject was very much getting ahead of things. They simply weren’t there yet, and he needed to slow his roll. But standing in this cozy kitchen, with his brother of the heart and his family, for the first time, Cash thought he wanted to look into all of it.

Hadley glanced up and down the hall of The Misfit Inn. Cash’s room was on the third floor—a fact she knew courtesy of the innkeeper’s excessively romantic, matchmaking teenage daughter, whom she’d met on a prior visit.

Thank you, Ari.

So long as she was quick, nobody would be around to see.

Tugging a couple of bobby pins from her hair, she bent to the lock, sliding them in and carefully working the tumblers.

Five seconds later, she slipped inside, quietly closing the door.

Cash wouldn’t be far behind. She had maybe a five- or ten-minute lead on him leaving her brother’s house.

Slipping the pins into her pocket, she prowled the room.

The queen-size bed butted up against the one flat wall.

The rest of the room was octagonal, in the turret of the old Victorian that had been converted to a B and B.

Lace curtains hung at the many windows looking out over what she knew would be a gorgeous view of the Appalachians once the sun rose.

For now, the dark pressed in, lending a sense of intimacy to the space.

It was a romantic room. One of the few in the inn with an en-suite bath.

A clawfoot tub was tucked inside, next to a pedestal sink.

Under other circumstances, she’d have run a bath and been waiting for Cash when he got back.

But at the moment, they needed to clear the air. She had apologies to make.

Exhausted from keeping up the just-friends act all through dinner, Hadley dropped onto his bed to wait, snuggling into the soft down comforter and cozy pillows.

What felt like seconds later, a rough male voice rasped in her ear. “Who’s this sleeping in my bed like Goldilocks?”

She blinked her eyes open, realizing she’d fallen asleep.

Cash braced himself over her, his eyes full of amusement and heat. “Did you steal a key?”

Her lips twitched. “Who needs a key? I was taught to pick locks by one of the best.”

As that had been him, he was hardly in a position to argue.

He huffed a laugh.

Before he could pull back, she reached up to stroke a hand along the dark scruff of his cheek. “I’m sorry for walking out yesterday. It seemed a better alternative than raging at you.”

“I could’ve handled it better. Springing that on you right after you woke up, before you’d even had coffee, was not my brightest decision.”

To say Hadley wasn’t a morning person was a vast understatement. Her business stayed open late, so she started late, and she liked it that way.

“Notes for the future,” she quipped.

His gaze turned serious. “You want there to be one?”

Her heart began to pound out a drum solo.

How could she say an unequivocal yes? No matter how much she wanted it, the idea of admitting it out loud absolutely terrified her.

So she deflected. “I don’t want there not to be one.

And I get where you’re coming from. Why we have to tell Holt.

That’s why I came down. I thought if I was here, the explosion wouldn’t be quite as big.

Because I really don’t expect him to take this well.

That was part of why I didn’t want to tell him in the first place. ”

“It’s why I let you talk me out of it. But that was the coward’s way, and now we’ll have to deal with the consequences.”

“Deal with them over here.” She tugged him down onto the bed, loving the brief feel of his weight covering her before he rolled over, pulling her into the shelter of his body. As it was exactly what she’d wanted, she snuggled in with a sigh. “That’s better. Missed you last night.”

His lips brushed her temple. “Missed you, too.”