Page 42 of Christmas in Quincy (The Edens 0.50)

“Really?”

“Really.” I nodded. “They’re the best thing I’ve had in my mouth. Except you, baby.”

A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “Okay.”

“My next favorite are your muffins. Any kind. Though the morning muffin with the carrots and ra

isins might be tied for top spot with the blueberry.”

Her eyes softened. “I’ve never seen you eat the morning muffin.”

“I have.”

“When?”

I shrugged. “Whenever you sent stuff with the guys on duty. But I don’t let myself eat much of anything you bake.”

“Why?”

“Because it would give too much away. I worried that if I showed how much I loved your food, everyone would see.”

“See what?”

“That I’m in love with you.”

Her breath hitched. “Austin.”

“I love you, Cleo.” Saying the words loosened something in my chest. Something that I’d been holding in for far too long. “I’ve been in love with you since the day I walked into the bakery and spotted you, covered in flour and blueberry stains on your fingers.”

“But that was . . .” Her forehead furrowed. The beginning. I’d been in love with her from the beginning. “All this time?”

I nodded, bringing a hand to cup her cheek. There was no use pretending. We were in this together now, vulnerabilities and all. “I need this job with your father. My team, my family, they depend on me. It was easier in a lot of ways to just stay away from you. Pretend it would go away. But it never did. And now there’s no pretending. I’m not giving you up.”

“I’m not giving you up either.” Cleo brushed her fingers through my hair, letting them drop and curve around the shell of my ear.

Her touch was electric. My cock stirred beneath the sheet and I stretched for her, but she spun off the bed before I could pin her to the mattress, taking the sheet and leaving me stark naked. The quilt was somewhere on the floor.

She swiped her phone from the nightstand and started punching at the screen. Then it flew to her ear as she spun around, realizing that I was naked.

Working out was a regular part of my life and I worked hard to keep my body in shape, mostly for the job but also because exercise helped me sort shit in my head. Cleo’s appreciation was a nice bonus.

Her eyes widened as they drifted down my flat stomach to my growing arousal.

I smirked.

“Hi, Dad.”

My smirk dropped and I leapt off the bed, rounding the end and grabbing her towel from where we’d dropped it earlier. Then I wrapped it around my waist because there was no way I could be naked in the same room as Cleo while she was talking to Ray.

He said something on the other end of the line that made her roll her eyes.

“I understand you’re upset. Get over it.”

I blinked, surprised by the sharpness in her tone. I’d never heard Cleo speak to Ray with that kind of defiance.

Good for her.

“I’ll be back tomorrow. But there’s something important I need to speak to you about and it can’t wait.”