Molly McAdams - Sharing You

Jace came into the kitchen talking on his phone and grinned at me curiously before kissing Kinlee’s head and snatching a red velvet cupcake. “Sweet, I’m glad you’ll be here. Yeah, man, see you soon.”

“Who’s coming, babe?” Kinlee took a piece of his cupcake and shoved it in her mouth before helping me arrange the rest of them.

“Brody. Guess the bitch is letting him out of the house without her for once.”

“Oh, thank God. I thought you were about to say she was coming too.”

Jace gave his wife a horrified look. “Uh, no. She’s not allowed here, and she knows that.”

Kinlee was shaking her head back and forth as she said in a softer tone, “Well, I’m glad he’s coming. It’ll be good for him to get out. We haven’t seen him in a long time. Poor guy.”

“Um, who is Brody?” I asked sheepishly. Not like it was my business, but Kinlee had sat in my lap to finish arranging the cupcakes, so it wasn’t like I could leave the conversation.

“Jace’s brother—”

“Jace, you have a brother? How did I not know this?”

“’Cause his wife’s a bitch and doesn’t let him do anything other than work,” Jace said around the rest of the cupcake.

“That must be hard for him if y’all— you guys —don’t get along with his wife.”

Kinlee turned in my lap, her eyes wide. “No way. Honestly . . . bitch is practically a compliment for that woman. Brody doesn’t even like her.”

“Then why is he with her?”

“He—it’s just been difficult for them,” she said, eyeing Jace, and I saw him nod his head at her. “It’s really sad. Brody’s the nicest guy you’ll ever meet, but he’s just stuck in this marriage with her. And it’s wearing on him—every time we see him he looks a little worse. Like she’s just making everything that makes Brody Brody disappear.”

“Shouldn’t have married her,” Jace said with a small shake of his head.

“Babe, he was just trying to—”

“He shouldn’t have married her,” Jace repeated, then walked toward the living room when there was a knock on the door.

Kinlee sighed and leaned her back against the table, still facing me. “Jace hates Olivia. Well, we all do, but I think he hates her more than anyone. Jace and Brody were inseparable growing up, probably because they’re only a little over a year apart, but like I said, we almost never see him anymore. And it’s all because of her.”

I just nodded my head and kept my mouth shut. I knew from experience there could always be some underlying situation that kept a bad couple together. And Brody and Olivia were married—it wasn’t like he could just break up with her . . . or disappear like I had. Obviously, whatever was going on with them, Jace and Kinlee knew all about it, but I doubted they realized how hard it must be for Brody to have his family so against his wife. Whether he liked her or not.

“Hey, KC, I’ve got someone I want you to meet,” Jace said on his way back in.

I rolled my eyes and let Kinlee know that I was going to kill her as soon as this barbecue was over. I’d been in a relationship for six years before getting here, and then I was trying to start my business. I didn’t have time for, or want, a relationship then or now. But Kinlee and Jace were set on setting me—oh, holy firemen buddies.

“Which one?”

Kinlee, still in my lap, leaned back to whisper, “The cute one.”

“Right.” I nodded. “Which one?”

She laughed and stood up to hug each of the guys as Jace started the introductions. “KC, these are some of the guys on my crew: Josh, Craig, and Aiden. Guys, this is Kinlee’s friend KC.” Before I could say anything, Jace whispered, “Aiden, this is the girl I was telling you about—”

“With the bakery, right,” Aiden said with a bright smile. “It’s great to finally meet you.”

Finally? Really now? I glanced at Jace and shot him a glare as I stood up before turning to look at Aiden. “Nice to meet you too.”

Aiden was even taller than Jace’s six-one frame and had kind brown eyes and short buzzed hair that made his handsome face look rugged, and God it worked for him. He was wearing a loose gray V-neck shirt that seemed to add to his looks rather than make him look feminine, like it did Charles. And while he wasn’t bulky, his muscled arms promised a hell of a lot to look at underneath that shirt.

A slow grin tugged at his lips, and I realized I was just standing there staring at him. Turning away quickly to hide my embarrassment as Jace left to answer the door again, I began gathering up the boxes to break down.

“So Jace said you just moved here?” Aiden grabbed the last two boxes off the table and followed me toward the kitchen counter.

I risked a glance at him as I nodded. “Yeah, about eight months ago.”

“Where are you fr—Oh, KC. I thought your name was Casey.” He looked at the top of the cupcake carrier for another second before flattening the box and moving on to the last one.

“No, it’s just my initials, but I’ve gone by KC forever.” If eight months could be counted as forever .

Before he could ask another question about my name, one of the other guys spoke loudly. “Oh, hell. Aiden, you need to try these.”

Aiden smiled and tilted his head back toward the kitchen table. “Which one do you recommend?”

My mouth popped open, then immediately shut. “The—” I worried my bottom lip as I looked over the four different cupcakes. “You really—” I started pointing toward the triple chocolate and quickly brought my arm back. “Well, this one—”

“That good, huh?” He chuckled and flashed that bright smile at me again.

“Well, I made all my favorites today. You can’t ask me to choose between them.”

“Then I won’t.” Grabbing one of each, he set them all out in a row in front of him and pulled another chair toward him. “All right, let’s do this.”

I laughed out loud and grabbed a knife before moving to take the seat next to him. “Trust me, you’d regret it if you ate all of them.” My cupcakes weren’t exactly small, and they were rich—he would go into a sugar coma in about half an hour if he finished those off. I grabbed the triple chocolate and cut it into fourths before handing him a piece and cleaning off the knife.

“Oh, damn,” he said with a groan. He kept chewing until it was gone. “Was that—” He looked at the rest of the cupcake. “Is that pudding in the center?” I smiled and started cutting the chocolate peanut butter one. “You put pudding in a cupcake?”

“Yeah, my ma—Um, my aunt Barbara and I wanted something different than the normal crème or custard that usually goes in the center.” I looked back into his brown eyes and shrugged. “It’s messier, but it works for that one. And that’s the only cupcake I do that with. All right, try this one. It doesn’t have a filling.”

He tasted the next two cupcakes, and after groaning or grunting his appreciation for each one, he kept pointing back to the “pudding cupcake,” saying it was still his favorite. But the red velvet was next, and it was a customer favorite, so . . .

“I thought you were going to be eating these with me. If I’m picking my favorite out of the bunch, you need to pick your favorite too—or at least your favorite for today.”

I laughed uneasily. “Uh, no, I’m good.”

Aiden nudged my side and pointed at the banana nut cupcake he’d just tried. “You’re this incredible baker and you don’t even eat your own food?”

“Oh, no, she does,” Kinlee spoke up for me. “She just doesn’t when other people are around. Well, people other than me.”

Aiden’s face fell. “You’re not one of those girls who won’t eat in front of guys, are you?”