Who's the Daddy (Crescent Cove 3)

The little unit had a stackable washer and dryer in one of the precious closets of the apartment. But if that meant I didn’t have to schlep laundry up and down the stairs, I’d sacrifice a closet every single time.

And that meant I had to leave the washcloth in here.

Yeah, sure, Kelsey. Keep telling yourself that.

Was it wrong to wonder what he smelled like with a bit of me on him all day?

Stupid girl.

He’d probably gone home and showered off my girl scent right away. What guy wanted to smell like blood oranges? I was surprised I wanted to smell like it. I’d been the vanilla girl all my life.

Safe.

But Sage had dragged me into Bath and Body Works and we’d been testing out all the scents. Somehow I’d ended up with a basket full of citrus scents because of course, there had been a sale.

There was always a sale.

And I was always a sucker for it.

I squished the fresh orange foamy puff and activated all the shower gel bubbles. Between that and the steam I felt marginally better.

I shoved Dare firmly into the back of my head as I packed up for school. It was technically September, but Crescent Cove certainly hadn’t gotten the memo.

It was definitely sundress weather.

And since we didn’t have to dress for the classroom yet, I took the opportunity to drag a cute summery dress out of one of the few boxes I’d opened in my bedroom.

I had tons of room in there because…no bed.

But at least I’d look cute.

The big red poppies probably should have clashed with my strawberry hair, but there was enough green and white to offset my skin and abundance of freckles. I didn’t bother with much makeup since it would probably melt off my face.

I stepped into a pair of cute sandals with a blocky heel, grabbed my purse and teacher bag—aka bucket bag I could fit a small child in—and headed down the stairs. I had to use my butt to get the door to stay closed.

Guess I’d have to talk to my landlord about that one.

No time for that now.

Crescent Cove was about as safe as you could get anyway. The school was only a ten minute drive from my new place. The brick and mortar school had gotten a fresh coat of paint on all the white wood accents. The church spire had been recently renovated as well.

I’d never thought I would work at a Catholic school, but I liked the kids and the sisters were surprisingly sweet. Mostly.

“Hey, Kelsey. So good to see you back again this year.”

I smiled at Jenny Pollock. “Kindergarten for the win this year, huh?”

“Yeah. The classes have gotten smaller, but gosh, I love these kids.”

I frowned. “Really? We were overrun last year.”

She sighed. “Yeah. We lost a few kids to the public school across the lake.”

“Oh.”

I tried to ignore the twist in my belly. I had just up and moved my entire life to Crescent Cove because of this job.

We caught up with the other teachers making their way up the miniature steps made for children. We had our first meeting in the auditorium with both the principal and vice principal.