Claiming Holly (Holiday Cove 1)

“Oooh! Good boy!” She squealed and bent over to plant kisses all over the top of his head. He licked her face and she stood up quickly, wiping his messy kisses off of her cheek. “So, what do you want to do? Are you hungry? I’m starving! I’ve been driving since four am and was too excited to stop for breakfast on the way up. I just wanted to hurry up and get here!”

“Oh, all right. Well, we can make something here if you want.” I crossed from the foot of the stairs to the kitchen.

“Here?” Rachel said, a hint of confusion in her voice. “Why would we eat here, Holly? It’s vacation! We eat out, have drinks at every meal, and sleep in late! That’s kinda how this whole vacation thing works.”

I hid behind the open door of the fridge and pressed my eyes closed. The only places I’d gone to were now tainted with memories of Jack.

“Come on, let’s go to that coffee shop you’ve been raving about all week! I want to try the cinnamon thing you had.” Rachel came over and tugged me away from the fridge.

Going to Carly’s was the last thing I wanted to do, but I couldn’t turn Rachel down without coming up with a good reason. I contemplated telling her I’d seen a rat in the bathroom on my last visit, or something equally as outlandish that would detract her interest, but she was racing out the door before I could get my story straight. Hunter chased after her and I sprang into action to grab his leash and get to him before he ran off again.

The morning rush was in full swing when we got to Carly’s. “Wow, this place must be good,” Rachel commented as we squeezed through the door without smacking the front door into the customers on the other side. We got in line, and I looked over the counter to see Carly and her part time girl running around filling orders as quickly as possible.

“Maybe we should go somewhere else…” I suggested.

Rachel shook her head. “I’m not leaving until I get a slice of whatever it is that I’m smelling right now. Yum!”

The coffee shop was always a mix of delicious smells, freshly roasted coffee beans, steamed milk, and an assortment of sweet treats that Carly had whipped up from scratch that morning.

As we neared the counter, Carly caught sight of us, and waved at me. I waved back, but my stomach churned, hoping she wouldn’t ask me about Jack, as he’d been with me the last time I’d been in. When it was our turn, Carly instructed her assistant to go ahead and help the next in line, and she pulled us over to the case. “You’re a welcome sight, Holly,” she greeted with a wide smile.

“It’s good to see you too, Carly. This is Rachel, she’s the friend I told you about,” I explained, gesturing at Rachel.

“Nice to meet you Rachel.”

Rachel smiled. “This one’s been telling me all about your shop! Would it be weird if I asked for one of everything?” She asked, eying the display case.

“You just let me know, honey,” Carly replied, chuckling. Her eyes shifted away from Rachel to me, and my cheeks went hot under the scrutiny of her gaze. “What happened to Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome? I thought it was really sweet of him to stop in and let you sleep in the car the other day.”

Rachel’s head jerked up and whipped to look at me so fast I was momentarily afraid she’d injured herself. “I’m sorry…what?”

Carly’s smile faded away as the confusion grew on her face.

I sighed and looked over at Rachel’s wide-eyed expression that made her look like a Disney princess that had been lost in the woods.

“I’m sorry, girl, I didn’t know.” Carly said. “I’ll get two vanilla lattes going.”

She extracted herself from the situation and hustled to the espresso machine. When she was out of earshot, Rachel repeated what Carly had said, “Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome?”

“Jack McGuire. More accurately, Lieutenant Jack McGuire.”

Her eyes went even wider. “The guy from the beach?”

“I’ll explain…later,” I said, casting a glance around the crowded shop. I dropped my gaze to the case, studying the pastries with renewed intensity. “I’m thinking of the lavender scone.”

Rachel huffed but she let me off the hook long enough to place our order with Carly. Rachel paid for the meal, and we took everything to go since Rachel wanted to get a head start on soaking up some sun. We started back toward the house after untying Hunter and got about three feet away from the coffee shop when Rachel practically pounced on me. “Okay! You can tell me now. What am I missing? Last I knew, you were worried he was some player type guy since you saw him at the bar. Obviously, I’m missing some critical deets here.”