Page 15 of Sugar and Spice
“Sure he was. In the bakery, and then in Carey’s. I nearly had a heart attack trying to get down there. You trying to put me back in the hospital?” he asked, and I turned with a gasp.
“That isn’t funny, Daddy!”
“Sure it is,” he laughed, and then he stopped, sobering up with a shake of his head. “Listen, the best way I don’t blow your cover with whatever it is that you say you want with Austin—which peanut, I gotta tell you seems real fishy to me, especially when there’s a television crew following the two of ya around town-” I bit my lip and avoided his eyes while he continued speaking, because he was right, it was plenty fishy.“-is that I don’t be here. So I’m gonna head on over to the cafe and get some coffee while you settle into the day.”
“But I want you there. I just don’t want you to tell Bunny all my secrets,” I told him.
“I don’t even know what's a secret and what isn’t, and I don’t much like that either,” he confessed. My heart sank. He was the reason I had come back to Clarity just a year after I’d made a break for it. I’d had it all then, even been attending pastry school, but...it hadn’t been more important than him.
Nothing was.
And now here he was looking at me like a kicked puppy and talking about secrets.
“I promise, I’ll tell you everything as soon as I’ve got a handle on it, Daddy.”
“I know, peanut.”
“But until then-”
“I know, I know,” he said holding up his hands and backing away in the direction of the cafe, “You’re a happily married woman to that shit-for-brains kid.”
I laughed, because he was right. Austin did have shit for brains. As for kid? I paused, glancing towards Austin and hated to admit that the man looked good. He always had, always would, I suspected. That was pretty fucking annoying to know. He knew it too, and had never shied away from using his good looks to his advantage. Making nearly every woman he met trip over their feet to talk to him.
Well, every woman but me. I’d been too consumed with wanting to throttle the man. But after not one, but two kisses from him? I got why women fell at the man’s feet. I cleared my throat and waved my hand goodbye to my Dad who was ambling away already. I shoved my hands in my pockets and sucked in a deep breath. Those kisses had changed how I saw Austin. He wasn't just an annoying asshole, he was now...attractive.
“Fuck,” I muttered, watching him turn his head. The sun caught in his hair making the dark strands gleam in the light. No doubt his green eyes would be piercing as well, andyup.He had just caught sight of me and I could see they were plenty striking. The man was gorgeous. Big and strong, dark hair that fell over his forehead in easy waves that he normally kept tied back. I had threatened to cut that gorgeous hair off more than once. Tan skin, high cheekbones, with lips that were full and soft. I knew that personally from having them on mine within the last twenty four hours. He raised a big hand in a wave. God, that man had hands that told you he worked with them, big and strong. They had to be with the amount of dough the man worked. I may or may not have noticed them more than once in all of our fighting. I raised my hand to return his wave, but that was when I noticed that it was his left hand he greeted me with, and I saw that he was wearing a dark silicone wedding band.
“Oh shit!” I looked down at my left hand and groaned at seeing my bare finger. How had the wedding ring not come up before now? Now when Bunny and Co were right behind Austin? We were not going to pull this off, not even with keeping my Dad from blabbing on camera. I thrust my hands back into my coat and plastered as natural a looking smile as I was able onto my face as I ambled through the town square that looked like Christmas had thrown up all over it. How many fake trees and reindeer were really needed to set the mood? In Clarity, the answer wasall of them.
When I was a few feet away from him Austin came forward, pushing through the crowd, his own backpack bouncing on his back as he wove his way toward me. “Morning, baby doll.”
I made a face, but pulled it back just in time. Bunny had just lifted her head and grinned at me. “Morning, Daisy,” she called to me.
“Good morning, ah,everyone,” I said when I couldn’t land on a nickname that didn’t sound ridiculous to me.
Austin caught me around the waist and pulled me into him. “I picked up your ring from the jewelers after that last accident,” he said, his voice practically booming. He lifted his hand showing me a thin gold band. He angled it, making sure Bunny saw him, and I had to turn my face away to hide my near laugh at how loudly he was announcing to everyone around us.
“Thanks,honey bun,” I said, deciding to give Austin a little taste of his own medicine. I had to give the man credit, he handled it better than me, all right. Austin leaned in close and kissed my cheek, all the while slipping the ring on my finger with the practiced ease of someone who had done it countless times before.
Austin interlaced our fingers together and brought them up, kissing my knuckles. “Ah, that’s better. Missed seeing it on you.”
I smirked at him, but let him keep holding onto my hand for...reasons.“Missed wearing it.”
“All right, all right, don’t waste all the good stuff before we’re rolling again!” Bunny called out to us. She came up right beside us and sighed, giving us an approving nod. “You two look great together, you know that? I checked over the footage from last night and this is going to be sensational when we release our feature on you and Clarity.”
Sensational. That caught my attention and I tore my gaze away from Austin to look at the small woman. “What do you mean?” I asked.
She waved a hand at me. “Nothing, Daisy. Nothing at all, but it does bring me to something I noticed. Something I think would be a really smart move for us in our feature.”
“And what’s that?” Austin asked, an arm moving to circle around my waist while he looked down at Bunny with a raised eyebrow. He knew something was going on, same as I did. I was glad to know we were on the same page.
“Well, after looking over the footage I decided to take this show on the road.”
“The road?” I asked, not sure I liked the sound of that. There was only one road in and out of Clarity, which made her declaration concerning. “What road?”
“We’ve only got the one,” Austin added, echoing my thoughts. I jerked a thumb back at him in agreement.
“Exactly. Just the one,” I said, holding up a finger for emphasis.
