Daddy in Disguise (Crescent Cove 7)

I snorted.

Rylee tied her apron on. “Seems like I’m having a better day.”

“It’s been busy.”

Not as busy as when the abstastic dude next door had gotten a zillion likes on his photos—the number of likes on the post was somehow still growing, I’d just checked—but we were doing okay.

“Didn’t sleep, huh?”

“Do I ever?” I finally locked my espresso portafilter under the correct chamber. It took three tries.

Rylee shoved me out of the way. “Go upstairs before you burn your-damn-self. You look like death.”

“Thank you.”

She huffed out a breath. “Don’t make me worry about you.”

“I just need a few hours down. I’ll be fine.” I wasn’t sure what I was going to do about the kid. I couldn’t leave her alone here. I was responsible for her.

I dug out my phone and tossed off a quick text to Gideon about when he was relieving me. I didn’t want to bug him, but I was nearly crosseyed.

My phone buzzed in my hand.

2PM. Sorry, he got held up. I’ll make it up to you tonight. Promise.

Yeah. About that date, buddy.

It’ll be worth it. Don’t back out—you already said yes.

I hung my head. When I looked up, Rylee was standing in front of me. “What?”

“You’re on your phone.”

“Yeah. So?”

She snatched it out of my hand.

“Hey.”

She thumbed through the texts. “Date?”

I plucked it out of her hand. “What of it?”

“You have a date with Gideon? Holy crap. It’s about freaking time.”

“Would you help a customer or something? That’s what I called you here for.” I did not want to have a conversation about my date. I didn’t even want to define what things were between us, let alone dissect it.

“What are you wearing?”

“Clothes.”

She rolled her eyes. “What kind of clothes?”

I glanced down at my jeans and sugar skull fox shirt I was wearing. “Whatever is next in my drawer.”

“You wound me on nine different levels.”

“Yeah, well, my girl genes got ground up with my All Hallow’s Eve blend three years ago. I had to sacrifice them to the dark lord.” About the time my ex ground my heart to dust. Seemed fitting that I’d create my darkest and best coffee ever.