Taking Charge (Meet the McIntyres Book 1) Read online

  With a bottle of water on my side table and my Kindle charged, I sunk back against my pillows and moaned loudly. There was nowhere in the world as perfect as your own bed. I don’t care how many thread count your sheets are or which bird’s feathers stuffed your pillows. Home was where my bed was.

  ***

  Eight o’clock hit before I was ready. Running on very little sleep was usually a very dangerous thing when I was involved, yet today it was proving the opposite. I was on fire. The cabinets were filled, the coffee was brewing and smelling delicious, and I’d managed not to taste anything. A minor miracle, considering there were no less than four new recipes on offer.

  “Coffee! Need coffee!”

  My knees creaked as I found my feet to see Nate stumble through the door, his arms full of a sleeping Matilda. It was the most adorable sight I’d ever seen. I think my ovaries exploded at the sight. It was no wonder Josie was always going on about her sex life. If this was the object of her affection, I was impressed she managed to climb out of their bed long enough to put clothes on. Not only was he cradling her daughter, but the way his faded jeans clung to his thick thighs combined with the black leather jacket he wore, I found myself surreptitiously checking my mouth for drool.

  “Hey Nate,” I greeted him. “Just coffee this morning?”

  “And something yummy.”

  “One of those days?”

  “One of those nights, actually.”

  He offered me a half smile as he turned and headed for the corner booth. I watched his sexy ass go. It was hard not to. It was hard in all the right places.

  “Hot ass, hey?”

  Shit! I hadn’t even seen Josie come in, I’d been so caught up checking out Nate.

  “Um…” What the hell was I supposed to say? Lie and say I wasn’t looking? Tell the truth and admit I was checking out a girlfriend’s man? There was no right answer.

  Josie must have sensed my unease. Leaning over the counter as far as she could, she whispered, “It feels even better than it looks.”

  Shocked, I stepped back, my elbow collecting the stainless milk jug from the counter and sending it clattering to the floor. Immediately my eyes darted to Matilda. If she was sleeping, I didn’t want to be the one responsible for waking her. If the matching tired looks on Josie and Nate’s faces were anything to go by, they’d had a long night. And not one filled with toe curling cuddles, either.

  “Shit!” I cursed, scooping the jug up and rushing out the back to wash it out, Josie’s inadmissible cackle following me. Some days I wished she’d be the one to do something dumb so I wasn’t on my own. Obviously today wasn’t my day.

  Scooping up the tray of still warm lamingtons and the jug. Friends may have been there, but that didn’t mean I still didn’t have to get my shit done. “Right, one cappuccino and one latte, correct?” I asked from out the back. I knew Nate and Josie’s order off the top of my head. Always the same thing.

  “And one double shot flat white,” a voice I didn’t recognise replied.

  Rounding the corner, I came face to face with the smiling assassin. The smile knocked me sideways. If I’d been drooling over Nate’s tight buns a moment ago clad in jeans, then the sight in front of me stole my breath. The other day he’d been gorgeous. Hell, my vibrator was thankful for the rest it got while it’d been locked in my apartment. Every time I’d laid down, he’d been the image in my head. A delicious image that made everything tingle. And I mean everything.

  It was nothing.

  Not compared to the sight before my eyes.

  The silver tie hung slightly skewed and the top button of his white shirt was still undone, but it didn’t make him look messy. If anything, it made him utterly fuckable. While jeans looked good on his built frame, a suit…well, I’m surprised I was still wearing clothes and that they hadn’t melted from my overheated body.

  “Hi.” His deep, husky voice reached my ears and I had to grab hold of the counter to keep me steady.

  Of course, I’d completely forgotten about the tray of coconut covered lamingtons still in my arms. I felt like a spectator to my own disaster. The moment my fingers gripped the bench, two of my already scandalously short fingernails folded back, causing me to cuss before my hip collected the counter and the tray clattered. The lamingtons went up. The lamingtons went down. Chocolate, sponge cake, and coconut covered the floor, the front of the cabinets, the counter top, and me.

  No words came.

  I looked down at my own jean-covered legs and could see the sticky chocolate coating. Glancing up, I saw his devilishly handsome shocked face. With his mouth gaping, his stubble covered jaw looked even more sexy. The urge to ignore the mess, jump the counter, and into his arms was out of control. When the image flashed through my mind of him licking the chocolate coconut mix from my body, I felt my cheeks burn.

  “Shit, Payton, are you okay?”

  I’d completely forgotten any one else was here. So caught up in my own dirty thoughts and the stranger’s hypnotic stare, I’d blanked out. Now Josie was beside me, taking the shaking jug from my fingers and nudging me backwards.

  “I-I’m fine,” I stammered.

  I wasn’t fine. I was anything other than fine. There were only two possible things that could make it better. Either a blast from the icy spray in my shower, or I needed to get laid. And I needed to get laid now. It’d been too long without the weight of a man pressing me down into the mattress.

  As the thought crossed my mind, I once again met the stranger’s amused gaze. The sly smirk playing on his lickable lips made me shudder. Thank fuck he couldn’t see into my dirty mind and read all the outrageous things I was dreaming of doing to him.

  “Payton!” Josie snapped her fingers in front of my face, shocking me back to reality. “Go upstairs and change. I’ll get this cleaned up.”

  “Oh. Okay.”

  Carefully, I stepped over the pile of crumbled cake and headed out the back door. When I pulled open the screen, I could hear the booming laughter as it echoed. I recognised it instantly. Nate. I’d never live this down.

  As quick as I could, I climbed the stairs and stripped off, tossing the dirty jeans and polo in the hamper and pulling on a spare. Thankfully, I’d done washing and they were almost dry. Sure the jeans were still damp around the waist band, but I don’t know how long I could trust Josie alone in my bakery with that hunk of man. Stuffing my feet back in my runners, I was back down the steps as fast as safely possible.

  Slipping in the back, I heard the jingle of the bells above the front door. Someone was coming in. Or leaving. I found myself hoping it wasn’t the latter. I wasn’t ready to stop ogling. I may have made a mess and completely embarrassed myself, but I didn’t care. It seemed this guy, whoever he was, he was always going to see the absolute worst version of me. The klutzy, embarrassed version. It didn’t matter. One look at him and I knew he was way out of my league, but damn he was pretty to look at.

  “F me, Payton,” Josie laughed as she dusted the tops of the two mugs with a hearty dose of chocolate powder.

  The woman was obviously a machine. In the short time I’d been gone, the counters had been cleaned and the floor mopped. Now she was playing barista and making her own coffee.

  “What?”

  “I had to cover Matilda’s eyes,” Nate added, only fuelling my mortification.

  There was no use bothering to try and deny it. Yep, I wanted to do all manner of dirty, filthy things to him right here in the middle of the bakery, yet it didn’t mean I had to divulge the extent of my perversion to my friends.

  “Shut up!”

  Josie offered me a wide, sneaky smile before carefully carrying their drinks across to the table. Needing some caffeine to steady my nerves, I whipped myself up a skim flat white before putting a couple of my signature cinnamon scrolls on the plate and dropping them in front of Nate.

  “Do you know who that was?”

  “No.” The admission felt dirty. I had no idea who he was, not really. Sti
ll, it didn’t dampen my desire.

  “Derek does,” Josie piped up unexpectedly.

  “What? How?”

  Josie didn’t reply, instead she just pointed out the window.

  I hadn’t fainted. Not up until that moment, but I swear to god the guys in this god forsaken town were trying to kill me today. I was on the verge of spontaneously combusting or having the elusive and highly embarrassing untouched orgasm where I sat. Squirming in my seat, I tried to get myself under control. It wasn’t easy.

  On the other side of the glass, the sexy stranger embraced Derek like they were long lost friends. When Derek stepped back, Mia slipped under his arm and pressed herself against him. I wasn’t the only one who was acting like a bitch in heat. I completely understood Mia’s dilemma. Derek was dressed in his blue police uniform, his eyes shielded behind dark glasses. I didn’t miss the handcuffs that dangled from his thick black belt.

  “Fuck me,” I muttered.

  “Yep.”

  Shit! Once again I’d been caught up in my own head and forgotten about other people. I shouldn’t be allowed out in public. Not ever. This was just another prime example of why.

  “Excuse me. Are you two right there?”

  “What?”

  “Gawking.”

  “We’re…not?”

  “Really?”

  I gulped. The lie got caught in my throat. I was. Blatantly. Unashamedly. I was checking out that suit-clad ass, my mouth watering, and Derek in his uniform. Guys in uniform were all sorts of delicious. Mia was one lucky girl.

  Wiping my mouth on the back of a paper napkin, I swallowed a huge gulp of the scalding hot coffee, it burning my tongue. This was ridiculous. I was out of control.

  “Morning!” Mia called out cheerily as she practically skipped inside, Derek not two steps behind her.

  “Morning,” I grumbled. Damn, I was a moody bitch.

  “So Derek,” Josie began. I watched her eyes as she checked Matilda was still conked out on Nate’s shoulder. “Who the fuck is that sexy ass piece of man? And how do you know him?”

  I hadn’t seen Derek in a million years. Or at least that’s what it felt like. I’d been a couple of years behind him at school and he was always surrounded by his mates, so we hadn’t really crossed paths. As we’d gotten older, I’d seen him here and there, but when I left, he’d moved away. I’d been one of the witnesses on the day his whole world went to shit. I’d seen it. It was like a train wreck I couldn’t look away from. No one could. I didn’t go to Spencer’s funeral, but I’d caught up with Derek a couple of weeks later. Well, when I say caught up, I mean, I’d dragged his drunk ass out of the bar in the early hours of the morning and put him to bed. A week or so later, he packed his shit up and left town. I’d had no idea he’d come back. Fuck, if I was in his position you couldn’t pay me enough to step foot back in this town. Ever. I couldn’t begin to imagine the ghosts that haunted the poor bastard.

  Running into him in front of the bakery again did have an upside. The other morning, when he’d wrapped the curvy little baker up and carried her off like a knight in shining armour, I’d wanted to rip his arms off and beat him with the soggy ends. I’d never been a possessive bastard before, and I wasn’t sure why I was now, but I found myself unable to help it. Now though, knowing it had only been Derek…well, that changed everything. He’d just introduced me to his fiancée, a tiny little ball of energy Mia. The wedding was a couple of weeks off and I’d just scored an invite. I wouldn’t go, but it felt good to be asked. What that meant though for me was more important. Payton wasn’t his. He’d just been doing his job. Of course he was. That was Derek. He hadn’t changed a bit. Always responsible.

  Jumping back in my truck, I dropped my to-go cup in the holder and took a huge bite of my croissant. The groan that slipped from my mouth was unexpected. It was delicious. I couldn’t help thinking about what Payton would taste like. Sweet enough to give me a damn toothache, that was for sure. Not that that was a deterrent. In fact, if anything it made me want her even more. Dropping the pastry on the seat beside me, I adjusted myself, cursing the pants which were proving more than a little tight in all the wrong places. Forcing myself to think of my day ahead, I fired up the ute and reversed out of my parking spot.

  With the music blasting, the window rolled down to let the cool morning air whip around my head, I focused on the empty road ahead of me. I was all alone on the dead straight stretch right up until the road started to twist and turn. It was right at the same time I got stuck behind a slow ass road train, laden down with stinky cattle. The smell alone made me want to gag, but at the same time, it served as a painful reminder. This was home. This was what I knew. Where I belonged. The city definitely possessed appeal; the night life, the food, the women, the freedom, but it wasn’t for me. This was my home. Always had been. I’d just forgotten it for a while.

  All I had to do was keep it.

  Fight for it.

  Make all the problems go away.

  “Fuck!” I slammed my hand down on the steering wheel in frustration.

  I couldn’t believe it’d come to this. Dad was too far gone to be any use. After our heart to heart, he’d seamlessly slipped back into the bastard I recognised. His only solace was at the bottom of the bottle. He blamed everyone and everything for his troubles and couldn’t see a way out. He didn’t even want to try and find one. That was up to me now. I had to find one. If I didn’t, if I couldn’t, we’d lose everything. Holly would have to come home. Connor would be looking for a new home. And I…well, I wasn’t important right now.

  As I passed over the bridge and into town, I slowed up. The streets were covered with people shuffling every which way. Mothers pushed strollers towards the park, while teens, dressed in their uniforms, snuck cigarettes. They thought they were being discreet. Idiots. The puffs of smoke that followed their every step gave them away. Hiding the cancer stick in your hand was one thing, but the cloud of smoke that followed them was unmistakable. Not to mention the disgusting smell. Winding up the window I tried to block it out before I gagged.

  Checking my phone, I had ten minutes before my appointment. Suddenly my hands were sweaty. I didn’t want to do this. I had more thoughts in my head than I could handle. What if I couldn’t do this? Everyone was counting on me. They all believed I could do it. I didn’t. I had absolutely nothing. Pulling into the vacant spot in front of the solicitor’s office, I stopped and jumped out, wiping my hands on the seat of my pants.

  In my pocket, my phone vibrated. With anxious fingers, I pulled it out and checked my messages, It took me three attempts to enter the passcode to let me in.

  Connor: You got this.

  That little shit must have read my mind. After the conversation with Dad, things became a lot clearer for me. Everything had gone to shit and he’d let it. Things hadn’t been good for a while, but when Mum walked, Dad just gave up fighting. The moment he did, things had nosedived quickly. Connor had done his best to keep the place afloat, and I still had no idea how he was paying for Holly’s school, but that was the least of my problems right now. Right now I had to figure out how to give Mum what she wanted and still save the place. I didn’t have a clue where to start, but the family solicitor had been the only thing I could think of.

  Straightening my tie in the side mirror, I buttoned the top button. It felt like a noose. I’d never get used to wearing a suit. Even though I’d done it every day for years, it didn’t mean I liked it. Maybe it was just another sign that I’d tried desperately to ignore.

  “Here goes nothing,” I reminded myself as I locked the ute and bounded nervously up the steps.

  Pushing the heavy glass door open, I immediately felt out of my depth. Everything was so neat and tidy…not something I was used. I may have only been home a couple of weeks but already I felt like a bull in a china shop. The white plush carpet beneath my feet made me tremble with worry. I may have been wearing the only pair of black leather shoes I owned, but that didn’t mean t
hey were clean, even though I’d done everything to avoid stepping in shit on my way in.

  “Good morning, sir,” a perky little thing asked. She could have been my twin. At least the female equivalent. From where I stood, I could see her red hair pulled back in a slick pony tail, not one strand out of place. But it was the white shirt beneath the black suit jacket that had my jaw clenched. It pulled tight across her chest, the buttons straining. “How may I help you?”

  Thankfully her high pitched voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard. Shivers broke out and swept down my spine, cooling me instantly. “I have an appointment with Amanda Sullivan.”

  “Your name?”

  “Beau McIntyre.”

  “Oh yes. Here you are, Mr. McIntyre. If you take a seat, Amanda shouldn’t be long.”

  “Thanks.”

  I barely recognised my reply. My voice was gone. Fuck, I didn’t want to do this. Not really thinking, I found myself crossing the room and sinking into the oversized black leather lounge chair. Needing a distraction, I grabbed the nearest magazine and started flicking. Photos and words were a blur as I flipped pages, not really paying attention to anything.

  “Mr. McIntyre?” a sweet, seductive voice called my name breathlessly.

  Dropping the magazine, I found my feet and looked at the woman summoning me. She wasn’t what I was expecting. Although she was dressed in a simple pair of well-fitting jeans and a flowy blue top, it was the flat shoes that surprised me the most. She didn’t fit the corporate, uppity appearance of the office she inhabited.

  “That’s me.”

  “Come on in.” She waved before turning and heading down the hall.

  With my heart about to burst through my chest, I dropped my head as my eyes tracked the sway of her ass towards her office. A moment later I found myself seated opposite with a cluttered, messy desk between us.