Page 40 of Falling Stars (Wild at Heart #2)

BAYLEE

“Who’s my good boy?” I coo to Leo, who grins at me from his stroller.

On the couch, Maverick pretends to cough. “That would be me.”

I laugh and lean over to kiss him, but then he pulls me closer, and I fall into his lap. Shifting, I straddle him and grab his face. “You shouldn’t grab me like that. What if I hurt you?”

“What if you don’t hurt me? And now I can do this.” He nibbles my earlobe and neck.

Sighing, I thread my fingers through his hair. “I’m going to be late for work.”

He pats my ass. “Well, we can’t have that. The women of Wild Heart need you to beautify them.”

Grinning, I kiss him again. “Should I bring you lunch? Or are you heading to the high school today?” He’s meeting up with his old coach and talking to the team.

“That’s next week. But I think I can survive on my own for one day. I need to contact the building about installing an ice bath next to the pool.”

“Do you think they’ll let you do that? ”

He shrugs. “Can’t hurt to ask. I’d prefer that to having to drive somewhere to freeze my balls off.”

We both chuckle. “Good luck. You’re very persuasive when you want to be.”

He gives me a naughty grin and pulls me closer. “Persuasive enough to get you naked and make you come on my face?”

“Maverick!”

“Kidding. Kinda.”

With another laugh, I crawl off his lap. “I have to do Miss Rosie’s hair, and since she watched me almost give birth to Leo on the floor of the Field House, I feel like I owe her.”

His brows furrow. “Damn, Bay. I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help you.”

As happy as I am that we’re together, as much as I love this man, I can’t help but consider what it’s going to be like when he’s on the other side of the country again.

“All that matters is that you’re here now.

I survived, and Leo was fine. He came into this world screaming about the injustice of losing Mommy’s warm belly. ”

I check on him in his stroller, and he’s busy trying to eat his hand. Maverick joins me and tickles Leo, who giggles.

Once I’ve grabbed my diaper bag and purse, I give Mav another kiss. “See you tonight.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to open the salon with you?”

“Positive. I’m meeting Rory at the Blackbird, so I’ll have a buddy.” It’s better that I get used to doing things on my own again. And Rory doesn’t mind meeting me ten minutes early since I’m buying her coffee.

Mav slides his hand behind my neck and holds me close for a moment. He looks into my eyes and rubs his nose against mine. “Love you, Bay.”

Happily, I sigh. There aren’t words for the fireworks that go off in my heart every time he says those words. I stare up at him as a smile stretches my lips. “I love you too, Mav.”

As I practically skip to work, I get the sense that he and I can work through anything. That no challenge is too great if we love each other. He’ll always have me, and I’ll always have him.

I turn the corner to the salon and almost stumble when I see a crowd of people standing in front of Bumblebee. The last time people congregated in front of my shop, someone had put a rock through my window.

Pushing Leo’s stroller as fast as I can, I run down the sidewalk. “What’s going on?” I ask as I try to nudge through everyone.

Neighbors and friends give me sympathetic looks. “I’m sorry, Baylee,” Rory says. “I’m sure it looks worse than it is.”

What looks worse than it is?

When I reach the open front door, I gasp when I finally get a glimpse inside.

There’s trash everywhere. On the floor. On the receptionist desk. On every workstation.

And is that purple paint?

I park Leo behind the front desk and turn to Vera, who’s in tears.

She stops sweeping to hug me. “The back door was open when I got here a few minutes ago. I swear I locked it last night, Baylee. I swear.”

I squeeze her tighter. “I’m sure you did.” Vera’s my best employee. She works hard, she never complains, and she always helps out with Leo if she can. Honestly, she’s a saint. Her taking Leo to the park last night was an unusual lapse in judgment. She’s usually on top of everything for me.

Having to comfort her helps me keep my emotions in check. Part of me wants to crawl into a corner and cry, but the other part is fuming .

Someone cackles on the sidewalk. Estelle holds her hand to her mouth to feign concern. “Oh, my. Look at the mess. What a shame! Now everyone will know that when you go to trashy girls, you get trashy service.”

What does that mean? I’m not trashy. And my grandmother opened this salon, and she was the epitome of class.

Estelle smirks, but her younger sister Darla Sue looks embarrassed.

“What are you, ten?” Vera shouts. “Get the fuck out of here, you ho-bag.”

Bystanders snicker, and Estelle huffs and walks off. Darla Sue looks like she wants to say something, but Estelle shouts her name, and she scurries off like a frightened mouse.

“Did you call the sheriff?” I ask as I grab a trash bag to help Vera.

She nods. “He’s on his way.”

“What is this stuff?” It’s purple and sticky.

Vera points to the back door where I can see our overturned trash bins that were stacked neatly in the alley last night. “It’s the hair dye you used yesterday on your last client.”

What the fresh hell ? I take a deep breath to calm down so I can think. “I need to reschedule our morning appointments before we clean up. That way people don’t waste their time coming down.”

She nods and, after a few phone calls, we get back to work.

The sheriff arrives with Paige on his heels. Her mouth drops open as she surveys the mess. “If I find the asshole who did this, I’m going to singe their eyebrows off with a lighter before I feed ’em to the pigs.”

The fury in my best friend’s eyes is something I’ve never seen before. She’s little but fierce.

Sheriff Reynolds shakes his head as he takes notes. “I didn’t hear that. ”

She marches up to him and pokes him in his chest. “You’d better figure this out. This is the second time someone has trashed Baylee’s salon. First that rock through her window and now this.”

“Darlin’, you’re not supposed to touch law enforcement.” He’s like everyone’s grandfather. I’m not sure people around here take him that seriously.

“This is bullshit! Baylee works her butt off, and then someone does this?”

I drag her away from the sheriff before he gets his feathers ruffled. “It’s okay, Paige. We’ll get this cleaned up.”

“Sure as hell will. I called in the cavalry.”

“What does that mean?”

I don’t know why I bother asking because the words aren’t even out of my mouth before the four Walker brothers storm in looking like avenging angels. Maverick immediately stomps toward me and wraps me in a hug. “Baby, I’m so sorry. I knew I should’ve come with you this morning. Fuck.”

I don’t know whether it’s his sandalwood scent or the comfort of having his arms around me, but that’s when I lose it. I burrow my face in his chest and try not to cry.

“I got you,” he murmurs in my hair. “We’ll take care of everything, and then I’ll watch Leo this afternoon. Give you a little break.”

I hiccup. “But you have things you need to do.”

“Nothing’s more important than you and Leo.”

Jace emerges from the side area where we wash hair. “Got a problem over here. That asshole shoved wads of hair down all the drains. We should probably get a plumber.”

My throat closes up. “I don’t have the money for that. For all the appointments we lost today. For repairs.”

Mav motions to his brother. “I’ll cover it. Get our guy over here ASAP so Bay doesn’t lose any more business this week. ”

Misery swallows me whole. “I don’t know how I’ll repay you for this.”

He gives me a tender smile and wipes my tears. “How about a big bowl of puppy chow, and we’ll call it even.”

Snotty, I laugh. “That’s not fair.”

“Love isn’t fair, Bay. It doesn’t keep a tally, and you don’t owe me. I’m happy to help.”

Rhett pats my shoulder. “Let me check what tools I have in the truck. Beau and I might be able to handle the sinks. If it’s too gnarly, we’ll call our plumber.”

“Thank you.”

He gives me a crooked smile. “Anything for our little sister.”

Maverick squeezes me. “She ain’t my little sister. That’d be gross.”

His brothers chuckle.

After I compose myself, we all get to work. We make quick progress, but I can’t get the hair dye off the floor, even after I use powdered bleach. Panicked that the stains in the tile and grout aren’t coming out, I scrub harder.

Vera kneels beside me. “Let me run across the street to buy some baking soda and vinegar. It’s a little trick your mom taught me.”

I’m flustered for not thinking of that myself. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

Two hours later, everything’s almost back to the way it was. I can still see the dye in a few places, but we’ll keep dousing it with the baking soda mixture to see if it lifts up. And Rhett and Beau fixed the sinks by opening the elbow thingy underneath what they called the p-trap and draining it.

Mav pushes Leo’s stroller over to me. “What time should I feed him?”

“He’s probably hungry now. Let me feed him, and then you can give him a bottle this afternoon when he?— ”

Mav motions to his head. “When he does that ear thing.”

I smile. “Yeah.” I love that he knows Leo so well.

Leaning over, I get Leo out of his stroller and kiss him. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. You’ve been such a good boy today.” Then I turn to Mav. “Is this okay? I’ll try to hurry.”

“Take your time, babe. I’ll work on your floors.”

I lean up and kiss him. “I love you.”

The smile he gives me is breathtaking. “Love you too, gorgeous.”

Paige squeals. “Are we saying ‘I love you’ now? Yes!” She pumps her fist, and I laugh.

As I look at my friends, I realize that although I might not have my mom to help me with Leo like I thought I would, I still have an amazing family who supports me.

Not to mention an incredible boyfriend.

Maybe today isn’t so bad after all.