A Splash of Vanilla (Three Sisters Catering Book 3) Read online

  “If you’re having some, sure, I can always eat,” Mick replied as I took containers out of the fridge. “Do you cook?”

  I looked up at him briefly as I made us each a plate.

  “Yes, actually, I do. I know Millie’s the chef in the family, but our mom taught us all to cook. In fact, when we were little, she would put us in charge of a special night. So, say it was Valentine’s Day, and it was my turn to cook, I would have to make up a menu, find recipes, and go shopping with her for ingredients, then she’d help make the dinner that night. At first, we were annoyed by it, well, Tasha and I were, Millie always loved it, but, as I got older, those became my favorite days. When it was just me and mom putting together out dinner for the night.”

  I lifted the cartons as I put them back in the fridge.

  “Millie just made me these because she knew I’d be putting in a lot of hours, with both her and Tasha gone, and she wanted to make sure I was eating a proper meal.”

  “Sounds like you and your sisters are all pretty tight. With each other, and with your ma.”

  “Yeah, we are. We all miss her . . . It’s nice that we have each other to take care of.”

  Once I’d heated up our food, we took it to my small square dining room table, and settled in.

  “So, what do you say . . . You, me . . . dinner?” I said again, once he was relaxed with his food and drink.

  Mick grinned at me and asked, “Do you think we’d be a good fit?”

  I nodded eagerly.

  “Yes,” I practically shouted. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten that kiss. I mean, did you black out? Think it was a dream? Have an out-of body-experience? We are definitely well-suited.”

  He chuckled.

  “Yeah, I was there, and I definitely remember. But, although chemistry is necessary, it isn’t everything. Do you think we have enough in common, in other areas? I mean, I’m an Irish brute, who sometimes deals with lowlifes and solves problems with my fists . . . You’re an amazingly smart and sexy as hell woman, and have more class in your little finger than I have in my whole body. I’m beer and pizza and your champagne and caviar . . .”

  I looked at him sharply, ignoring the happy beating of my heart over the way he saw me.

  “I hope you’re not trying to insinuate that you’re not good enough for me, or that I’m somehow better than you, because that’s insulting to us both,” I said, practically baring my teeth when he grinned. “And, for the record, I hate caviar and love pizza . . .”

  Mick chuckled and held up his hands.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend, I just want you to know what you’re getting into. It’s not all finding lost fathers and nights at the bar with our friends . . . You’ve met my ma, well, I try and spend time with her every day. She won’t let me move her in with me, but I hate the thought of her being lonely in that place, even if it’s where she wants to be. Some women I’ve dated have found it hard sharing me and my time with my ma.”

  “Those women are assholes,” I said back without thinking. “I’d give anything to be able to see my mom every day, and there’s no way I’d begrudge you spending time with yours. As for the rest of it, that’s what dating is, right? Getting to know each other? All I’m asking for is the chance to get to know you.” A thought hit me and I reached out to take his hand. “What if we did a day in the life?”

  “What’s that?”

  “Monday’s my next day off. What if on Monday I spend the whole day with you, as your shadow, so to speak, to see how you live your life day to day. Then, whenever you have a free day, you can shadow me. This will give us a more in-depth view of what makes each other tick. Kind of a crash course in getting to know each other.”

  “Sounds weird. Have you done this before?”

  “No, I saw it on TV. It was actually about people shadowing other people to see if they’d be a good fit for a job, but I thought it sounded cool and would work for relationships, too,” I admitted. “Not only would it give us more one on one time together, and let us learn more about each other, it would let us see how we would fit into each other’s lives. Then, once we’ve both done our shadow days, you can let me know if you’ll accept my invitation to dinner or not.”

  “You’re serious?” he asked.

  “Completely. I like you, Mick, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to show you that we should do this thing. What do you say?”

  “I say, all right. Let’s do the thing.”

  Mick

  IT WAS FOUR FORTY-FIVE IN the morning when I pulled up outside Three Sisters fully expecting to have to wait for Dru, or possibly wake her up. Instead, she was waiting outside, chipper and bouncing on her heels in excitement.

  Fuck, she looks great.

  In yoga pants and a tank top that showcased her curves and left nothing to the imagination, with her hair pulled back into a ponytail and her face devoid of makeup, Dru was absolutely stunning.

  Before I could open the door to my Jeep and go around to help her in, she was already seated with her seatbelt on, her face turned toward me with a smile.

  “Good morning!”

  Now, I got up this early because it was my routine, and the only time I could fit in my workout. That didn’t mean I liked it, nor was I used to being met with a ray of sunshine before the sun had even come up.

  Still, I couldn’t help but grin in the face of Dru’s exuberance.

  “Morning,” I replied, my voice still gruff with sleep. “You ready?”

  “So ready. I barely slept, I was so nervous and excited,” she admitted, laying it all out with absolutely no guile.

  I liked that.

  “I hope you got enough to make it through the day, cause it’s gonna be a long one,” I warned.

  “Aye, aye, Captain,” Dru replied saucily, turning back so she was sitting right in her seat as I took off toward the gym.

  I chuckled, and we spent the rest of the trip in relative silence, with the tunes of Pink Floyd filling the void.

  We parked and walked inside, and I cannot lie, I enjoyed the view of her ass in those yoga pants. So much so, that I had to think of the time I saw a man masturbate with an orange when I was on a case.

  That always did the trick.

  By the time I showed her where the women’s locker room was, my body was back to normal and I’d made a vow not to look below her neck until she was changed for the day and out of those pants.

  We put our things up in our respective locker rooms, then met back out in the common area.

  “I usually warm up, sometimes run or do some lifting, then spar. You can use whatever you’d like . . . I’ll give you a heads up when I’m going to shower.”

  “When you say spar, do you mean you’re going to fight someone up there in the ring?” she asked, her eyes wide.

  “Yeah, I mean, it won’t be as serious as if we were actually fighting, but we’ll be throwing punches.”

  “Oh . . . can I watch?”

  “Sure, if you want. I’ll let you know when it’s my turn.”

  Dru nodded, then left me to go get on the treadmill, while I went to the mats and started stretching out. Once I was done with that I did some work on the speedbag, and then the punching bag.

  An hour later, I caught Dru’s eye and lifted my chin toward the mat. It was time for my sparring session.

  I peeled off my sweaty shirt, wiped myself off with my towel, and held out my hands to get them taped up. Once I was ready, I stepped into the ring and hit gloves with Tank, one of the professional fighters at the gym.

  He and I often sparred together, since we were in the same weight class.

  I was so focused on what I was doing, which was important if I didn’t want to get my ass kicked, that I didn’t remember that Dru had been watching until I ducked under the ropes and hopped down onto the floor.

  I took a long drink from my water bottle, wiped the sweat from my face, and turned to see her standing behind me, kind of glassy eyed.

  “What’d yo
u think?” I asked.

  Without warning, Dru stepped up to me and reached up to cup my face and bring it down, meeting my lips with hers.

  With my adrenaline pumping and the woman who’d been keeping me awake at night in my arms, I responded with fervor, my hands going down to cup the ass I’d been appreciating all morning.

  After a few heated moments, I became aware of a high whistle and pulled back, panting out breaths as I looked up to find the coach watching us with a scowl.

  “Not in my gym, O’Donnelly,” he said gruffly, then turned his attention back to the boxers in the ring.

  “Sorry,” Dru said, pulling my attention away from Coach and back to her blushing face.

  “Never apologize for a kiss like that,” I said with a grin, letting her go before we got reprimanded again and I got on Coach’s bad side.

  She smiled, cheeks still blazing, and took a step back.

  I tried not to notice her breasts heaving with each heavy breath, and failed. So much for not looking below her neck.

  “What do you say we go get cleaned up, then I’ll take you to breakfast?”

  “Sounds perfect,” Dru said, then turned and headed toward the lady’s locker room.

  I took a moment to finish my water and watch her walk away, before turning toward the men’s locker room.

  I needed a cold shower.

  Dru

  I STAYED UNDER THE COLD spray until my lips were quivering, but I still couldn’t get the sight of Mick’s muscles out of my head.

  When he’d taken off his shirt and got up into the ring, I’d felt like one of those cartoon characters with their tongue hanging out, that had to be rolled back up and into their mouths. Then he’d started to move, and the way his muscles had bunched and bulged was enough to make this independent business woman swoon like it was eighteenth-century England.

  I’d never been someone who watched MMA fights or boxing. I wasn’t a fan of violence or people getting physical when they got angry, but after a few minutes of watching Mick, I knew I’d had it all wrong.

  It was beautiful.

  He was beautiful.

  Mick had told me his father had been a professional fighter, and although I didn’t think he ever had, Mick had obviously put in a lot of work and training. He was full of grace and precision, and watching him up there had done things to my libido I hadn’t known was possible.

  I don’t know if I could handle watching him in a professional fight, where he and another man were trying to annihilate each other, but I could watch him spar all day.

  This kiss had been pure instinct. Driven by lust and the need to put my hands all over his body. The timing and location sucked, but keeping my hands to myself was out of the question.

  I was a little calmer now that I’d frozen the hormones right out of my body, and I was pretty sure I could get through the rest of the day without attacking him again. Unless he got into a random sparring match during the course of business . . . then, all bets were off.

  Mick had said to dress casually, so I’d brought jeans and a pretty blouse to wear for the rest of the day.

  “Hey, you ready?” Mick asked when I came out of the locker room.

  “Yes, I’m starving.”

  “Let’s go feed you then.”

  Ten minutes later, we were seated at a small diner near his office, with a pretty older waitress wearing her hair up in a bun with bright-red lipstick serving up coffee.

  “I’ll have four eggs over medium, the roasted potatoes, bacon, and a side of fruit,” Mick said, and I felt my eyes widen at his order.

  But, I guess when you had a body like his to maintain, you needed all the fuel you could get.

  “Can I have the Greek omelet, please?”

  “Coming right up,” the server said, then left us with our full cups of coffee.

  “So, how are the honeymooners doing?” Mick asked, taking a sip from his black coffee, while I added cream to mine.

  “Tasha and Jericho still have a week in Bali, so I’m sure they’re doing fantastic. The last pictures she sent were from some kind of monkey sanctuary, or forest . . . I don’t know, but she had a monkey on her shoulder and looked like she was freaking out.”

  Mick chuckled and asked, “And Jackson and Millie?”

  “They actually got back in last night.”

  “If you need to take a break from the day to go see them, I totally understand.”

  “Oh, no, you’re not getting rid of me that easily,” I said with a laugh. “I’m sure they’re exhausted, and want to spend the day with Kayla. Tomorrow will be soon enough for me to stop in and hear all about their trip.”

  Mick nodded.

  I leaned forward on the table and asked, “So, what else is on the agenda? Are we going after any bad guys?”

  “Sorry, nothing that exciting,” Mick replied with a grin. “We’ll go by the office, see if I have any new calls or updates on current cases, do some admin, then stop by the grocery store and pick up stuff for Ma. When I told her you’d be with me, she asked me to pick up sandwich stuff so we could have lunch with her, I hope that’s all right.”

  “Yes, of course it is. I like Dottie a lot. She’s hilarious,” I replied, excited at the thought of seeing Mick’s mom again.

  “I don’t know how hilarious you’ll find her when you realize her current goal in life is to see us matched up.”

  I looked into his beautiful eyes, trying to decipher whether or not he minded her plotting to get us together. By the way they were crinkled up at the sides, I didn’t think he minded too much.

  Hopefully that meant he was finally giving up the resistance and willing to give us a shot.

  “I’m sure I won’t mind,” I said softly.

  Mick opened his mouth to respond, but when our server dropped our plates in front of us, he looked at her and said, “Thanks.”

  I gave a little internal sigh, but thought, It’s okay, we have all day and I’m not giving up.

  “This looks great,” I added, placing my napkin on my lap as I got ready to dig into my omelet.

  “Yeah, as I was saying, after we leave my ma’s, I have to do some recon for a client. He says his ex stole their dog, so we’ll see if we can spot the pup and get some pictures of the dog and the ex together.”

  “Oh, cool, you mean we might get to do a stakeout?”

  Mick looked like he was holding back a smile when he replied, “It’ll probably be as easy as looking in the backyard, but maybe you’ll get your wish and we can sit in the Jeep in front of the house for a few hours.”

  “Goody,” I said, clapping my hands together before picking up my fork. “I can’t wait.”

  Mick chuckled again, making my insides quiver and my hormones unthaw.

  Little did he know, if I got what I wanted, this day in the life would transition into a night in the life . . .

  Mick

  I LOOKED UP AND OVER my computer screen to see Dru studying my record collection, her pointer finger moving over each spine as she read the titles.

  Honestly, I thought she’d be bored to death by now, but as soon as we’d arrived at my office, she’d volunteered to check the messages on what she called my Jurassic answering machine, as well as my voicemail on my cell, and write down any pertinent information. This freed me up to work on my report for a client whose case I’d just finished.

  By the time the report was done and emailed, she’d completed the transcription and handed off the information to me, so I could call back those I needed to.

  Now I was just finishing up some email correspondence and ensuring I had everything for our case later in the day, and Dru had busied herself by checking out my office, commenting as she explored.

  “This leather is so comfortable.”

  “What kind of stuff do you have recorded on your DVR?”

  “Ohhh, I love this Beatles album.”

  Surprisingly, her commentary wasn’t distracting; instead I found that I liked having her in the office while
I worked. Her presence was soothing, and I loved to listen to her talk, even if she was mostly just muttering to herself.

  I was in danger of becoming addicted to Dru and we hadn’t really even begun yet.

  “You ready to head out?” I asked, logging off my computer.

  “Yup.”

  We loaded up in the Jeep after I locked up my office, stopping at the local market to pick up Ma’s grocery items before heading to her assisted living facility.

  Once we were there, I knocked lightly on the door before opening it and announcing we were there.

  “Druscilla, come in dear,” Dottie said as we stepped inside.

  She was sitting in her chair watching a courtroom show, but I noticed that her hair was done and she was dressed.

  “Hello, Dottie, it’s so good to see you again,” Dru said, crossing to give my ma a hug.

  “You look lovely,” Ma said, her weathered face beaming.

  “Thank you, so do you.”

  “Hi, Ma, it’s me, your dutiful son . . . What, no greeting?” I asked jokingly, secretly pleased that she liked Dru so much.

  Although, I guess it had been years since I’d brought a woman I was dating to meet her, so it wasn’t surprising that she was holding on to the possibility of Dru and I dating with both hands.

  “Pshhh, I see you every day,” Ma retorted. “Let me enjoy some girl time.”

  I shook my head, but left them be and went to her small kitchen to set out the sandwich stuff and chips, and put everything else away.

  “Want me to make the sandwiches?” I asked when I was done.

  “Yes, Mickie,” Ma said, waving her hand at me dismissively, too intent on her conversation with Dru.

  “I’d ask what you want on it, but don’t want to get my head bit off,” I muttered to myself as I put together the turkey sandwiches.

  I placed the three plates of sandwiches, a big back of chips, and three waters on the table, then looked over at Ma and Dru to see them still leaned in close, talking softly and smiling like long-lost friends.

  “Lunch is ready,” I announced, then went over to help Ma out of the chair and to the table.