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Prologue
Fall - morning after Rhiannon’s birth
I needed some air. Just a few minutes alone.
I wasn’t used to all this peopling.
Ivy Beck, my bestest friend in all the world, had decided to have the most dramatic birth in the history of Crescent Cove—at least I was pretty sure it was. Right in the middle of Brewed Awakening’s library and craft corner. Luckily, the café had been closed for an impromptu ladies’ night. No alcohol for the ladies I hung out with lately, but we’d definitely been covered in glitter from our pumpkin decorating party.
I glanced down at my hands. I’d scrubbed most of the purple and pink paint and galaxy spray glitter off with the industrial strength soap at the hospital so I could hold Rhiannon for precisely seven minutes before Ivy demanded her back. I’d been there for her entry into the world—heck, my hand was still sore from Ivy’s freakishly strong hold. Then again, she did create vats of ice cream for a living, so I guess it wasn’t surprising.
Regardless, I’d been in the hospital all night. And I’d only gotten a precious few minutes with the little pink bundle of perfection. No one had wanted to leave Ivy alone until her husband arrived. Instead, we all took turns going in to sit with her, rotating through the waiting room like an actual princess had been born.
Rory, the princess’s father and song doctor-slash-producer, had officially arrived an hour ago, thanks to a private flight. Ivy didn’t even give him shit about using his status and money this time. Then again, there had been many tears since he’d missed the actual birth.
I’d agreed to be a coach with her brother, August, as a backup. I’d never truly believed I’d be tapped for the actual shindig. Especially with her overprotective husband trying to control every aspect of the last trimester.
“Kinleigh?”
I looked up.
“Could you help me post to Facebook again?”
“Didn’t you just post some pictures?”
“Well, yes. But these are prettier. Rhiannon’s all pinked up and sweet-looking. Isn’t she?” The older woman turned her phone toward me to show off one of the photos she’d snapped from the nursery. As Rhi’s grandmother and a queen bee herself, Annie Beck had been holding court in the waiting room between visits.
“Sure.” I stood and took her phone. She was entitled to her excitement, of course. I was just so tired I could barely see straight.
“Oh my God. Can we see her?”
“We heard what happened as soon as we got to the diner. Even Mitch let us go without bitching.”
Gina Ramos and her sister Gabby rushed in. They’d become quite tight with Ivy and I over the last few months. Of course the diner being right next door, as well as my usage of Hannah and Gabby’s food service—which I might or might not have used a freaking lot—could’ve had something to do with that.
But this was my chance.
I escaped down the hall while Annie showed them photos of the newest addition to the Beck-Ferguson clan. I got to use clan now because we had Irish people who’d actually been born in Ireland in the building. Rory’s parents were on the way and that would be another whole bag of crazy.
I followed the signs for the four seasons atrium on the swanky maternity floor. The hospital had been a revolving door of people at this point. Ivy was very popular in Crescent Cove.
And while all of them were amazing, the level of love, conversation, and merriment was exhausting. I’d been riding on adrenaline for… I looked at my Apple watch.
God, was that really the time? No wonder I was exhausted.
I picked up the pace when I spotted the glass door. It was chilly due to the endless panes of lightly tinted windows, but it was so much better than the waiting room decked out in pink and blue. Seriously, were those the only colors we could come up with in the myriad rainbow colors available to us?
A handful of nurses were clustered by the door. Some mindlessly scrolling on their phones, others quietly chatting. I took a left to find a quiet corner an
d slumped onto a bench. I lifted my face to the early morning sunlight struggling through the dense copse of trees, giving a lovely bit of privacy to the back of the building. We were in a new medical center just outside of town that catered to maternity and rehabilitation.
Huge, leafy plants were clustered around tables and weathered barrels were jammed with mums in half a dozen colors. I grinned at one of the trees decked out in flirty little bat lights. Macy, our resident Halloween obsessed café owner, would approve. I got up and pulled out my phone to take a photo of the lights so I could find them. They would be a perfect addition to my own shop.
A pair of battered boots stuck out just beyond the large white pot. I quickly backed up so I wouldn’t have to engage in any more polite chitchat, but I needn’t have bothered.
A light snore would be the only conversation.
August Beck had his ancient red hoodie pulled up to shade his eyes and his arms crossed as if he was chilled. Of course that only emphasized his ridiculous arms.
The ones I shouldn’t have been looking at.
Lately, he’d been the bane of my existence. His sister Ivy wasn’t only my best friend, she was also pretty much the sole member of my family. That phrase don’t shit where you eat had practically been created with me in mind.
And yet because we were alone, he was sleeping, and no one would know… I indulged a little.
His usually clean-shaven jaw was dark with stubble, which only made his stupidly perfect full lips seem even more tantalizing. No one knew how hard it was for me to ignore those lips. Especially since I shared an address with said lips—and they were attached to a distractingly attractive face. Even his lashes were long and lush. Where was the fairness? Add in the huge, mouth-watering body and my hormones had been on hyperdrive for well over a year.
I’d known him for far longer. I wasn’t going to lie to anyone, including myself, and say I’d never had improper thoughts about Ivy’s older brother. However, they’d been the fleeting kind that any woman had about an attractive guy.
Healthy.
Not obsessive in the least.
Until last year.
And it was all his fault. We shared the rent on a storefront on Main Street. Neither one of us could afford it on our own, but he took the bottom half and I took the top—Kinleigh’s Attic. I mean, c’mon, it couldn’t have been more perfect.
Except for the part where he was forever intruding on my space to fix things and making excuses to increase my security. Like it was any of his concern how I ran my business. He just kept showing up and taking over.
Now the scent of rain and sawdust made my girl parts get all tingly.
August’s scent.
And no amount of essential oils and incense got rid of it.
That part about his sister being my bestie? Yeah, that made things sticky. Well, actually, didn’t allow me to get sticky. Okay, ew…but relevant. Lately, all I could think about was mounting him on a pair of sawhorses at the back of his workshop.
The worst part was the little devil on my shoulder who kept whispering for me to just get him out of my system. Because most men never hung around long enough for me to get attached. Actually, no one had ever hung around except Ivy.
And that was exactly why I kept stuffing down these lusty daydreams. Even if facing my empty bed every damn night was getting harder and harder to do.
The door to the atrium slammed and August jerked awake.
Shit.
His sleepy eyes drifted down my body to where I clutched my phone before he arched an eyebrow at me. “You wouldn’t be taking pictures of me drooling or something, right?”
I laughed. “Bat lights beside you, actually. But it would make a good Instagram story. Drooling baby Rhiannon and Uncle Auggie are a matching pair.”
He sat up, stretched, and yawned so huge I could hear his jaw pop. “I’m so tired I don’t even care if you do.”
