CEO Daddy (Crescent Cove 6.50)

I tucked my phone into the stand I’d found in the pantry. No idea why it was in there, but then again, I often found weird things in the house. It was as if Asher had bought the house as is and forgot to finish filling all the rooms.

But the last owner had to have been a cook because the stand was the best thing on the planet. I was forever snatching my phone out of some puddle of sauce or pile of flour. With this thing? Well, it was official, I might actually marry it.

I quickly checked my site on my iPad and found seven more orders for this afternoon. I sent them to my label printer and for the first time since I’d opened Hannah’s Helping Hand Box, I had to turn off the delivery option.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get them all delivered.”

Since things had been going so well between myself and Asher, he’d felt comfortable enough to tell me what I was doing wrong in my business.

Looking at his gorgeous new tattoo had helped soothe my annoyance at his suggestions, I had to admit.

It had taken a few trips to the tattoo parlor, but now it was all done. Perhaps I spent a little more time than necessary making sure it was properly moisturized. Mostly because it was ridiculously thoughtful and hot in some crazy way I didn’t know how to explain. Ink had never been my thing, until my traditional, workaholic lover had gone ahead and done something so over the top and special.

Something for just us and our growing family.

That was Asher. He was so linear with certain things like business. Almost rigid enough to make me want to smack the crap out of him. Then he tossed me a sweet curve ball that left me confused and nursing a mushy heart that felt almost too full.

As my menu had been too full. I honestly hadn’t believed cutting it in half would help. In fact, Asher had told me to cut it down to five items.

I did it, simply to prove him wrong. And now—chaos.

Damn him.

“Thanks for helping me deliver. It’s going to be crazy, but I think if we both do it, we’ll be fine.”

The video shook a little and the sound of a slamming car door flooded me with relief. She was already on her way over, thank God. The vid righted itself. “I’ll be there in ten.”

“Bless you.”

Gabby gave me a thumbs up. “We’re good, mamacita.” Then the video went off.

I scooped up Lily and deposited her in the pack and play. She screeched her displeasure, and I gave in and gave her the puffed treats she loved. As well as her new favorite toys, a plastic bake set.

I couldn’t say I minded that she was taking after me in some regard, even if I wasn’t her mom. Though I felt like she was mine more every day. Asher too.

At least until lately.

Of course, he wasn’t around to help today. I probably should have called Bess, but if I was going to make this business a success, I needed to find my own balance. Then again if Asher had been around, I would have been happy to let him pitch in. I’d gotten way too used to him being home in the evenings, and that was on me. I only had myself to lean on—and Gabby. She never let me down.

Already, I was thinking about asking Gabby to become my partner, not just my helper with deliveries. That was if things kept on the same trajectory. I’d thought Asher might be interested in making my company a bit of a family business, but lately, he’d been

distant again. Working late hours like he had when I first started taking care of Lily.

Only this time, he continued to crawl into bed with me at night. No matter how exhausted we both were, there was no true sleep until he was curled around behind me in the deepest part of the night. It was the only thing I could hang onto at the moment.

Luckily, I was usually too busy to think about it most of the time.

Lily was walking now—not well, but just enough to get into trouble all the time. Between chasing after her and my slowly increasing customer base, I was in bed at almost the same time as Lily. Even if I wanted to stay up to have some adult conversations—or playtime—it just wasn’t happening.

“All right, baby girl. Let’s get this party started.” I flicked through the settings on my phone and found my packing playlist. It started with “Lay Your Hands on Me” by Bon Jovi and instantly clicked my brain into gear. By the time Gabby arrived, I’d packed up my beef stroganoff, spicy lemon shrimp, and half of the grilled veggie pasta.

She knocked on the back door to the mudroom and I let her in. “Hey.”

She swooped in and hugged me. “I can’t believe you ended up with that many orders in one day.”

“I’m convinced the universe likes to mess with me. I only changed the menu to show Asher he didn’t know what he was talking about.”

“We’ll give him the win since it tripled your sales.”