Bad Taste in Men (Clover Park, Book 3) Contemporary Romance (The Clover Park Series) (21 page)

A short while later, after eating lunch and peach pie with Shane’s awesome vanilla ice cream, the men played a game of horseshoes while the women gathered under the patio umbrella to talk. Rachel’s gaze kept drifting to the men boisterously cheering whenever someone got a ringer. Bryce was on Shane’s shoulders, his fists buried in Shane’s hair. The two looked relaxed and happy together. Shane appeared to be talking to him because he’d occasionally look up toward Bryce.

“Trav brought me flowers this morning,” Daisy confided, her eyes lighting up. “He said it was just because he loved me.”

“Awww,” the women chorused.

“Ryan never brings me flowers,” Liz pouted.

“He brought you a puppy,” Rachel pointed out.

“True.” Liz smiled dreamily, looked over at Ryan, and sighed.

Maggie piped up. “One time Jorge got me goggles and a snorkel and hidden inside the snorkel was a little piece of paper that said, ‘Good for one trip to the Florida keys.’”

“Awww,” the women chorused.

“Jack got me this cross,” Gina said, holding out her necklace.

The women admired the necklace with a tiny diamond chip at its center.

“One time a guy gave me a singing telegram,” Zoe said. “And p.s. the guy who showed up was a terrible singer.”

They laughed.

“A guy once got a tattoo with my initials,” Amber said. “Of course, Al was also his name so maybe not such a compliment.”

“He totally lied,” Daisy said. “That was all for him.”

“How about you, Rachel?” Maggie said. “Any sweet or crazy thing a man ever did for you?” She looked over at Shane meaningfully.

Shane had invested in her café, but they knew that. Besides, it hadn’t been a romantic gesture, more like a business decision. At least that’s what he’d said. Besides that, she’d only gotten flowers and candy a few times from random ex-boyfriends on Valentine’s Day.

She shrugged. “I guess guys don’t get super creative with me. Just flowers and candy a few times.”

She looked away. Why should that bother her now? She was a practical person. She didn’t need someone on bended knee handing her a puppy or tattooing themselves.

She felt Liz looking at her and glanced over. Liz’s eyes were filled with sympathy.

“It’s no big deal,” Rachel said. “Next topic!”

Liz lowered her voice. “Shane made a big gesture by investing in your café. He didn’t have to do that.”

“That’s business,” Rachel said defensively. “He needed to diversify.”

“Don’t forget when he scared her stalker away,” Maggie said.

Rachel snapped her head around. “He what?”

“He didn’t tell you,” Maggie murmured. “Oh, dear, the cat’s out of the bag now.”

“I always suspected Ryan did that,” Liz said.

They all looked over to Shane, who now held a sound-asleep Bryce cradled in his arms.

Rachel got chills. Shane—sweet, sensitive Shane—scared that psycho Drew away?

“I thought it was the restraining order,” Rachel said.

“You didn’t think Shane had it in him, huh?” Maggie cackled. “He’s sweet, but I told you he’d kick ass when he had to.” She turned to the group. “I was there when Drew followed Rachel into Shane’s shop. Rachel, you went into the ladies' room, and Drew just sat there watching the door. Shane sat right down at that table and told him he knew Drew had a record and if he ever showed his face in Clover Park, he’d hunt him down and make sure he did hard time. He told him his brother was a cop.” Maggie nodded for emphasis. “I remember the hunt-him-down part because he sounded just like Al Pacino, all menacing and quiet-like.”

Rachel’s mind flew. She thought back to when Drew had finally gone away. It had been January, more than a year and a half ago. She and Shane hadn’t even been close friends then. Had he had feelings for her for that long? Enough to step in and help her like that? She’d been terrified of Drew, who’d seemed so nice at first only to turn violent. He’d punched her in the jaw when she was late to meet him one night for drinks. She’d run back to her car and drove straight to Liz’s apartment.

Drew had stalked her for two months, even after she told him she never wanted to see him again. He left long messages professing his love on her voicemail and slipped notes under her door that said, “I will never let you go.” He showed up at the oddest times at her apartment, at work, and at Shane’s shop, where she liked to get coffee. She’d filed a restraining order. She’d become paranoid and swore she saw him around every corner. It had turned her into an insomniac, every noise in the old building made her think he was breaking in to get at her again.

He was not a lightweight either. He was stocky and strong. Shane could’ve been hurt. Because of her.

“Shane was just…” Rachel trailed off. “He was helping out a friend.”

She swallowed hard, her brain racing through the times she’d been with Shane since moving back to Clover Park two years ago. How friendly he’d been when she’d come into his shop, the extra hot fudge he always gave her when she had a bad day, the many times he’d come into her shop and bought big, expensive cookbooks, which she now realized he didn’t need; he created his own recipes. He remembered exactly how she liked her coffee, her favorite ice-cream flavor, her favorite pizza toppings.

Maggie knocked on Rachel’s head. “What, is this made of wood? Open your eyes, girl. Shane does not like confrontation. Never has. For him to go up against your nutso stalker means he cares about you. A lot.”

Rachel’s heart started pounding as the shock wore off and the hard truth sank in. It was the most romantic, selfless gesture anyone had ever done for her.

“It’s no puppy,” Liz teased. “But I think Maggie’s right.”

Rachel felt a little sick. Then suddenly Shane was there, right next to her, holding a sleeping Bryce in his arms. She blinked rapidly as Shane morphed from the familiar guy she knew with the sweet, dimpled smile to fucking heroic. Hero with a big, glowing capital H. And he was holding a baby in a perfect cradle, so naturally, like he actually knew how to hold a baby. Her heart did an uncomfortable flip-flop.

“I’ll tuck him into his crib,” Shane told Daisy.

“I’ll take him, thanks,” Daisy said. Shane transferred Bryce to her arms. “I guess all the excitement wore him out.”

Daisy left, and all the women smiled and stared at Shane. Rachel couldn’t take her eyes off him. Hero with a fucking capital H.

He looked from one face to another. “What’s going on?”

Maggie smiled widely. “We’re just appreciating your studliness.”

Shane turned scarlet. “Uh, okay. On that note…” He went back to the yard with the men.

The women burst out laughing, all except Rachel, who stared after him in wonder. Had Shane really had feelings for her for the past two years? All this time while she’d been going out with losers and telling him all about her dating disasters, all that time he’d had feelings for her? What took him so long to say anything?

She thought back to the way she’d responded when he’d asked her if she ever thought about being more than friends. She’d shot him down. And she’d told him to forget their kitchen counter kiss ever happened while she replayed it frequently in her head. The memory of his kisses came back to her at odd times, in the shower, just before she went to sleep at night, when she unexpectedly saw Shane come into the room.

Her gaze traveled back to him where he was playing horseshoes. He missed. Trav’s friend Rico said something to him, and Shane laughed good-naturedly.

She had to talk to him. Thank him. Tell him how much it meant to her that he scared away her stalker. Wow. Just wow. Shane was…amazing.

~ ~ ~

As the party wound down, Shane found Rachel and offered to walk her home.

“Yeah, let’s go,” she said.

They headed down the sidewalk. The sun was nearly set, but the air was still warm. A perfect end-of-summer night.

“Was it nice to see your dad?” Rachel asked.

“Yeah, it was good.”

“Your brothers weren’t too keen on him.”

“It’ll take time.”

She smiled and looked up at him. Just kept looking.

“What?”

“I heard something at the party that surprised me,” she said.

He instantly felt wary. Now what had Gran told her? The woman was determined to embarrass him. “What?”

She stopped walking and looked at him with a strange, almost dreamy expression. “Maggie said you’re the one that got Drew to stop stalking me. I-I didn’t know, but thank you. Thank you so much.”

He shook his head. “I told Gran to forget she ever witnessed that.”

“I think she just wanted me to know that someone had done something really great for me. I can’t thank you enough. Drew terrified me.”

He regarded her steadily. “You have bad taste in men.”

“I do,” she said. “But not anymore.”

And then she kissed him. Right there on the sidewalk. It was a soft, tentative kiss, and he let her take the lead, knowing if he did, he wouldn’t be able to stop.

She pulled back. “How many other good deeds have you done behind my back?”

He grinned. “You’ll never know.”

“Shane!” She shook her head. “Now I have to come up with something to even the score.”

“No objections here.” He took her hand, entwining his fingers in hers. They walked in silence for a few moments. “Are you all-in now, Rach?”

She didn’t respond at first, and his heart stuttered.

“I’m getting there,” she finally said. “I just—”

He cut her off before she could make some lame-ass excuse. “No guts, no glory.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered.

“Make your move after the grand opening, or I’m going to pull out all my best moves, and you won’t know what hit you,” he teased.

She didn’t laugh. Instead she sounded dead serious. “Okay.”

“Okay? For which one?”

“Both.”

He grinned. “Okay, then. It’s a date. Tomorrow night, there will be a move one way or the other.”

“Just shut up about it,” she said, sounding pained.

He wrapped an arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “You got it.”

Chapter Seventeen

The morning of the street fair, Shane and Rachel got up early to set up at the café. Shane supervised as their new employee, Tanya, and Rachel prepared the first batch of coffee, iced coffee, and iced tea.

“We’ve got it, boss,” Tanya said. “I was making coffee in my sleep from all the practice we did over the last week.”

“I had a night like that too,” Rachel muttered.

Shane nodded. “Good.”

That was the secret to his employee training. He had them perform the task over and over, tasting as they went so they knew exactly when something was done to perfection.

Rachel bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. Her ankle was completely healed now. “Shane, I’m so nervous! I can’t believe we did it in six weeks! It’s here! The big day!” She frowned. “What if no one comes in?”

“They will. We’ve got a primo location.” The fair was on the street centered right in front of the café.

“Ahh!” she squealed; then she hugged Tanya and hugged him. He hugged her back, wishing he could stay and hold her like that. He settled for breathing her flowery scent.

“I’ve gotta set up at my shop,” he said, releasing her. “Break a leg!”

He worked with his trusted ice-cream guys, Manny and Sam, to load up and move the ice-cream cart he’d rented into the street. Barry and Gabe had set up several white tents for shade. Liz and Daisy were tying festive balloons in front of each shop along Main Street. Barry had his staff setting up the kiddie games as well as an inflatable slide and bounce house. He glanced at the banner hanging across Main Street with The Dancing Cow in big letters and gritted his teeth.

The fair was a smashing success. They’d never had so many people come to check it out. Barry had gotten the word out in a big way. Shane spent the day scooping ice cream and greeting kids with their faces painted like lions and bears. He spotted a few wacky glasses, so he knew the kids must have been up by Barry’s shop too. He saw a steady stream of families heading into the café, and even some people headed to Book It, where Liz was running the register for the day.

It seemed the iced coffees were a huge hit. A lot of parents sipped those as they walked around, helping their kids with the fishing in the kiddie pool game, the bean bag toss, the lollipop pull, and the inflatables. The tricycle race around a small track at the end of the street was a huge hit too.

“Three vanillas, please, Mr. Softee,” Trav said, grinning at him. Bryce reached out for him, and Shane gave him a baby high-five.

“Hey, Bryce,” Shane said. “Tell your dad to live a little with some more exotic flavors.”

“Da-da,” Bryce said.

Daisy joined them with Gran and Jorge, who wore wacky glasses with Hawaiian leis. Great. Another convert to the Barry camp.

“Shane, your new café looks great,” Daisy said.

“It’s fabulous!” Gran exclaimed.

“Thanks,” Shane said. “It seems to be doing well.”

“Of course it is,” Gran said. “Everyone knows your food is the most delicious around. Can I get some of that new coffee ice cream?”

“I’ll take chocolate mocha,” Jorge said.

“You got it.” Shane scooped up the ice cream for his family and handed them out.

Trav handed him a twenty. Shane shook his head. “On the house. Go buy some picture books for Bryce with that money.”

Trav stuck it in the tip jar. “Buy yourself something pretty.”

Shane shook his head. A few minutes later, Rachel’s parents stood in front of him.

Mr. Miller greeted him jovially. “How’s business?”

“Good, thanks,” he said. “How are you guys?”

“Just fine,” Mr. Miller said.

Mrs. Miller beamed at Shane.

“What can I get you?” Shane asked.

“Rachel’s over the moon you two have a café together,” Mrs. Miller said.

Mr. Miller turned to his wife. “I never heard her say that.”

Mrs. Miller ignored that. “Over the moon. How do you feel about celebrating Jewish holidays?”

“Rita!” Mr. Miller chided.

“Uh, I like celebrating Jewish holidays?” Shane said. “I never have before, but I’m sure it would be good.”