Baby Daddy Wanted (Crescent Cove 5)

The café door opened again and I forgot what I’d asked as a familiar blond walked in. I started to smile at Sage until she let out an inhuman squeal and threw herself at Murphy.

I expected him to gently set her back. Murphy didn’t do public displays of affection like that, or at least I assumed he didn’t. Instead, he picked her up straight off her feet, wrapping her in a giant bear hug that made me curl my toes into my ballerina flats and my hands into fists.

Since I was still gripping my frosting tube in one hand, that was not good.

A stream of baby pink frosting shot out of the tip and made a beeline right for Lucky’s deep green shirt.

“Fuck, I’m sorry,” I gasped, making a couple of the town biddies look up in shock and irritation from where their book club was discussing their latest choice in the reading nook.

If it was Christian Grey-related as I thought I’d heard as I was refilling their drink orders, they shouldn’t have been so dismayed by the word fuck.

“Easy there,” Lucky said as I grabbed his shirt and attacked the splatter of frosting with a napkin. A dry one. “Think you’re gonna rub a hole right through to my six-pack, beautiful.”

I kept rubbing, though I paused long enough to turn to the sink for some water before I resumed my fruitless efforts. Now he had a giant wet spot too.

And Murphy was still embracing Sage, who was pressing her hands against his chest and smiling up at him with rapt attention while he spoke.

Unless he was offering her the best deal ever on a new addition for her house—not that she needed a good deal, she’d married a dude made of freaking money—I was probably going to burst a blood vessel.

But since I didn’t know what he was offering her, I just kept rubbing Lucky’s shirt. Hard enough to rip my napkin and not help the spot at all.

“Hey there, it’ll need some kind of cleanser to remove it.” Lucky sighed when I didn’t pause. “Yeah, okay, you do what makes you happy.”

“Vee, I need a coffee and to get back to work,” Mrs. Buck said from behind Lucky in line.

“Looks like she’s trying to set up that babymaking right here,” someone else muttered.

I ignored them all. My attention was focused on destroying the fibers of Lucky’s shirt while I watched Sage and Murphy chat like best friends out of the corner of my eye.

Now she was showing him baby pictures, unfolding a long string of them contained in plastic that resembled a fold-out credit card holder. He was smiling and pointing to different ones, listening intently as she rambled on.

I’d always liked Sage. A lot, in fact. Sure, I was a wee bit envious that her big problem in life now was having so much sex with her gorgeous husband that she had to continuously worry about having an unplanned baby, but them’s were the breaks. She was a great woman and I was happy for her that she’d found love.

What I wasn’t happy about was that she’d also discovered extreme buddydom with Murphy. Mainly because watching the two of them chatting felt as if Sage had been granted the keys to a city I had barely even located on the map, never mind explored.

God, why was I so…well, obsessed with Murphy now? I’d always thought he was a sweet guy, but this was bordering on foolish.

And I was about to tear a hole in Lucky’s shirt with my incessant scrubbing with my holey napkin and like three drops of water.

Dear God.

I jumped back and shook my head. Lucky’s green shirt now had a huge blot of water on it and little brown pieces of napkin had stuck to the material. “Dammit, I’m so sorry.”

“No harm, no foul, beautiful. Wonder what they’re talking about, huh?” Lucky leaned on the counter, clearly unconcerned that he looked like he’d just spilled a drink on himself. “My guess is it’s about that baby of hers. This town is all about babies. Why do you think that is?”

“Wrong person to ask, Luckmeister.” I smiled tightly and tossed the wadded-up napkin into the trash. “Did you forget I’m the town’s poster child for wanting a baby? And without a man, no less.” I pretended to smack my cheeks. “How dare I?”

Lucky barely blinked. “Well, can’t say it’s without a man, now c

an you?” His smile was slow and did not elicit the butterflies in me he was probably hoping for. “I wouldn’t be opposed to—”

“Hey there, Vee.” Sage popped up beside Lucky at the counter and clasped her hands over her heart. “So sorry to cut the line, but Moose and I are parched, and this guy seems to be hogging all your attention.” Sage elbowed Lucky hard enough to make him grunt. And move aside. “Just a couple of tall coffees, pretty please?”

I sent Sage a grateful glance for interrupting whatever Lucky had been about to say, then I made the mistake of looking at Murphy. He was staring at the back of Sage’s head as if her bouncy blond curls held the answer to world peace.

“We’re out of coffee.” I smiled at Sage. When her perfectly cheerful face fell, I let out a forced laugh. “Just kidding. Anything for you and Moose,” I enunciated carefully.

Finally, he looked up and met my gaze. For a second, just one, his perceptive light brown eyes burned into mine and my heartbeat raced. His lips parted, and I swore he was about to say something profound. Like…