Page 5 of Grumpy Single Dad

Thankfully, someone knocks on the door, causing Rye to yelp and turn into me for protection. It's instinctual between us as I grab her around the waist to hold her steady. I can only hope that she doesn't feel the hardness growing behind the crotch of my jeans.

The softness of her body against mine is better than I could have ever imagined. Her subtle floral and fruity scent washes over me like I'm walking through a meadow. She's like sunshine in my arms, but another round of hard knocks against the door snaps me out of this euphoria.

I shuffle Rye behind me as I unlatch my Glock, arm it, and approach the door to open it. She's only a few inches behind me. Her small fingertips clutch my shirt with every step. I want to feel her body against my back, but the fantasy has to wait. The door swings open to reveal a familiar face rather than an intruding stranger.

"Chase?" we both ask simultaneously.

I turn to face Rye, who locks eyes with me as we both ask in unison, "How do you know Chase?"

I holster my weapon after ejecting the bullet in the chamber to add it back to the clip. Chase steps out of the rain, puts a largecrate on the ground, and laughs. "How did you two hook up? Where's the munchkin?"

"Sleeping upstairs," I tell him as we embrace.

"How is this a thing?" Rye gestures with a finger between me and Chase.

I laugh. "We went to high school together, and he does work on my clients' cars."

Chase adds, "And now I also help manage this property. My fiancee runs the place. She said to come check on our sister. I'll happily let Maddie know that Rye's in good hands. It's such a small world. Maddie also said something about you having car trouble?"

"Yeah, I took Frankie to Whitewater. The rain flooded the grounds. Then my car just up and gave out on us about a block away from her ice cream shop. Well, it didn't give up so much as I gave up. There is a clanging noise that's gotten too loud to ignore."

"Are you parked near the curb or in the middle of the street? I can take a ride into town to haul it to my shop if you want."

Rye doesn't like the sound of that any more than I do as she protests, "Chase, stay with Maddie. There's already debris flying around from this storm. Something just crashed out there?—"

"Don't worry about me, Rye," Chase tells her. "I'll take a look out back on my way to the main house. Inside the box is a two-way radio. The channels are set to the ones in the main house, just in case things get a bit sketchy out here. The main road is flooded, but we should be all right since we're about a mile off."

"And thankfully, we're uphill from there. Don't worry about the car, Chase. I'll take care of it as soon as I can. Thanks for coming out here and for bringing this," I tell him as I stoop down to grab the crate.

"Yeah, there's some other supplies and a bunch of food in case the power goes out. It's likely that we won't get flooded, but if we have to get out of here, we'll need some rowboats. Keep the channels open, and I'll keep y'all updated." He tips his head to both of us." You two, have a good night."

Once he leaves, I start unpacking the box. Rye doesn't let me do it alone.

"I can't believe you know Chase," she says. "I can picture the two of you running around in high school, leaving destruction and broken hearts trailing behind you."

"We kind of kept to ourselves. I ended up with my high school girlfriend, married her, and then we had Frankie. We were divorced two years later. Frankie's mom, Shelly, took off when Frankie was around two. It's been seven years now, and not a peep out of her."

The moment I feel Rye's hand stroking my shoulder, I'm reminded that I'm doing the exact opposite of what I should. I want to keep my guard up, but Rye has this unarming sincerity about her. She pulls this protective beast out of me, making me want to bring her home with Frankie and me. Rye makes me feel free to express all of my emotions. Passion and lust are fighting for the top spot.

"I'm sorry, Dallas. It's been about seven years since my mom died. I understand holding a spot for someone who's not coming back."

"Shelly's definitely not coming back, but I don't want to talk about that. How do you come up with such amazing ice cream flavors? I know Frankie's going to want one named after her." My eyes drift up, where my daughter is still sound asleep.

"I will try just about anything that pops into my head. I've done matcha green tea with a coconut cream swirl and white chocolate chips. It did very well at a pop-up shop in LA, but not so much out here. I can offer my more eccentric flavors as specialty, made-to-order items. I guess I'm not afraid to fail."

"How long have you had the ice cream shop?"

"About four years now. It was rough in the beginning, but I finally have a system that works. I have good employees and a strong town that loves homemade ice cream year-round."

I walk to the freezer and pull out a small pint-sized carton of peach cobbler ice cream.

"This one is my favorite. Who thinks of adding peach cobbler to ice cream?" I ask with a spoonful hovering above the container. I move toward Rye and hold the spoon out to her.

She wraps her lips around it and moans with delight. "I forgot how good that one is."

"I really like the s'mores one, too. That graham cracker swirl with the dark chocolate chips is amazing."

She snickers and goes into the freezer to pull out another container of ice cream. "You should get it at On the Rocks. My oldest sister, Mackenna, well, we call her Kennie. Anyway, she and the bartender, Dean, are an item. Kennie worked a deal out for the bar and my shop. So he combined this s'mores ice cream with some coconut rum and made a mudslide milkshake thing.He torches a marshmallow on top, and oh my God, it's to die for."

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