Playing With Trouble (Desire Bay 1)

She couldn’t give in yet. She had to try to make this work. Maybe if she just spent a bit of her time understanding the warehouse, made a calendar or something to keep track of all the orders so she wouldn’t make this mistake again, everything would be okay. Her father would see she could run everything, and Jake would see she was capable. She also needed to show Jake she could bring in money and support herself and the shop.

She grabbed

her phone and made the one call she’d been mulling over.

“Hi, Cal, this is Laura Baughman. I understand you’re looking for a landscape designer and floral supplier for the new subdivision. I’d like to set up a meeting . . .”

She grabbed a pen out of her purse and wrote down the meeting time and date Cal suggested. This was her shot.

She glanced around again, her short breaths echoing in the stillness. And she didn’t know if it was the drafty bar or the spot in her chest that was more hollow.

“I’m back!” Erica announced happily, walking into Jake’s house. “How was your day?” she asked. Jake looked up from the coloring book he was working on with the kids at the kitchen table.

“Great!” the twins said in unison and ran toward her.

“It was a good day,” Lexi said. “We rode in the dump truck to a bar so Uncle Jake could be mad at a pretty lady.”

Erica’s eyes went wide; then she glared at Jake. “What?”

Jake pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s not as bad as it sounds. The bar was technically closed.”

That didn’t seem to make Erica feel better. “Seriously, Jake?”

“I had no choice,” he said. “Russ called and the sawdust didn’t get dropped off, and I couldn’t find my crew, so we took care of it.”

“We?”

The twins nodded, and Bella piped up, “Yep! We helped. It was awesome.”

“They were perfectly safe the whole time,” Jake assured.

“Why don’t you two go wash up and you can watch cartoons for a few minutes while I talk to Uncle Jake.”

The kids ran down the hall, and Erica took a seat next to him.

“I’d never put them in danger,” he said. And he meant it. Those kids and Erica meant more to him than anything.

“I know that,” she said and nudged his arm. “I get that you have to work, but what’s this about going to the bar to be mad at a pretty lady?” she asked. “Care to elaborate on that?”

“Not really,” he said.

“Well, too bad, do it anyway.”

With a deep breath, Jake replayed the situation and how he’d ended up staring at Laura Baughman at Goonies. While he left out the sleeping-with-her part, he did say that she was living in the camper outside.

“The woman is a pain in my ass, and it’s getting worse,” he said.

Erica smiled, clearly loving his torture.

“You like her,” she said.

“Just a crush that dies hard.”

“I’ve never seen you this riled over a woman before. I like her already.”

Jake shook his head. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”

“I am. And I think you’d do a great job running the company, but Laura clearly doesn’t know anything about the warehouse.”