Always Room for Cupcakes E-Book

Bethany Lopez

• Herausgeber: Bethany Lopez
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

One day I was be-bopping along jamming to the music in my head while wondering if my thighs could handle grabbing a cupcake on the way home. The next thing I knew, my entire world crashed and burned.

I used to wake up at night in a sweat, crying because I’d dreamt that my husband was cheating on me, or that he hated me, and resented my kids. He’d always hold me close and tell me it was all just a dream, that he loved me and our family and that he’d never let me go.

He was a f*cking liar.

Now I spend my days taking photos of scum just like him, trying to be a champion for other's being taken advantage of by the losers in our town, and my nights being a single mom to my beautiful twins.

I've got great friends who have my back, and a sexy, mysterious motorcycle man who keeps showing up when I need him. Maybe things are starting to look up, and one thing's for sure... There's Always Room for Cupcakes.

WARNING: THIS BOOK CONTAINS FOUL LANGUAGE, SEX, SOME VIOLENCE, AND SHENANIGANS. IF NONE OF THAT BOTHERS YOU, GRAB A CUPCAKE AND READ ON!

Leseprobe

Always Room for Cupcakes

Delilah Horton, Book 1

Bethany Lopez

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Epilogue

Keep reading for a look at book 2, Cupcake Overload!

Prologue ~ Cupcake Overload

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Also by Bethany Lopez

Always Room for Cupcakes

Copyright 2015 Bethany Lopez

Published December 2015

Updated Apr 2020

Cover Design by Makeready Designs

Editing by Red Road Editing / Kristina Circelli

Ebook Formatting by Bethany Lopez

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please don’t participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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I would like to give a shout out, and say "thank you", to Heather Hildenbrand. A smart, savvy writer, businesswoman, and mentor of authors, who I am proud to call a friend. Always giving and inspirational, I'm so happy to have her in my life.

Prologue

One day you’re be-bopping along, jamming to the music in your head while wondering if your thighs can handle grabbing a cupcake on the way home. The next thing you know your entire world crashes and burns.

I used to wake up at night in a sweat, crying because I’d dreamt that my husband was cheating on me, or that he hated me and resented our kids. He’d always hold me close and tell me it was all just a dream, that he loved me and our family and he’d never let us go.

He was a fucking liar.

Instead of being the sweet, affable, hard-working man he projected to me and the outside world, he was actually a cheating, vagina-licking asshole who only cared about getting off and being free of responsibility.

I’d gone from a sweet and caring housewife to bitter, hard-as-nails single mom, who worked her ass off to give her kids a quarter of the life they were used to. Putting my photography skills to use, I’d gone to work for a scumbag PI. He used me to dig up dirt on his clients.

I was happy to do it.

I was doing a public service for women like me who thought the men in their lives could actually be trusted and I really enjoyed my job.

I’d learned quickly that men suck, my children are my saving grace, and there is always room for cupcakes.

Chapter 1

“Get it in focus this time, Lila … none of that grainy shit you sent me last week. I need to actually see what’s going down, or in this case, what’s entering what.”

“Ugh, thanks for the mental image, Moose,” I said with a grimace into my cell. “It’s bad enough I have to see that shit through my lens, I don’t need you constantly talking about it.”

“Quit your bitchin’ and get me some good shots. This one’s a high roller.”

“Got it, boss,” I replied, and pressed end on the call.

My boss may be a creepy, low-life PI, but he’d taken a chance on me when my douchebag ex left me high and dry. So even though I regularly gave him shit, he knew I’d do anything for him.

Especially if that meant a more lucrative paycheck.

That’s why I was currently scrunched down in my caravan outside a seedy hotel, a half-eaten sandwich on my lap and my camera at the ready.

Moose got the clients, then hired me to get the goods. This usually involved taking pictures of men and women having affairs. But sometimes it was as easy as following them and snapping a shot of them being somewhere they weren’t supposed to be.

Being a wronged woman myself, I didn’t feel guilty about catching liars and cheaters in the act. I just wish I’d had an inkling there were problems in my own marriage and had thought to hire someone like Moose and me to get evidence against The Douche.

Instead, I’d been clueless.

I thought my twelve-year marriage was perfect. I’d been a doting housewife who’d loved raising our kids, keeping the house spic and span and having a hot meal ready for our family dinners every night. My husband made good money, we had a nice house, and we lived in a neighborhood where the kids could play outside and we didn’t have to worry about their safety.

Then one day he was supposed to be out with his buddies watching the game at a local bar, when Elena, one of our twins, had a sharp pain in her stomach that wouldn’t quit. I got scared and tried to call him but he didn’t answer. Since our town was small enough that I could drive around it in fifteen minutes, I packed the kids in the car and went to the bar.

Imagine my surprise when neither he nor his buddies were there. Figuring I got the place wrong, I activated the phone finder app I’d installed on all of our phones and ended up in the parking lot behind Starbucks.

Seeing some movement in his car, I told the kids I’d be right back and jogged over to the vehicle, which, although it didn’t register at the time, had foggy windows.

Filled with worry over our daughter I didn’t think, I just acted, and yanked the car door open. That’s when I saw Slutty Shirley Finkle, legs spread wide, bare cunt lifted in the air, with my husband’s face buried nose deep inside.

“You mother-fucking son of a whore!”

Yup, I’m pretty sure those were the exact words I’d yelled in the Starbucks parking lot before snapping a picture with my phone and hightailing it out of there to get my daughter to the hospital.

Now, my kids and I lived in a shitty three-bedroom apartment in The Heights. I worked for Moose and picked up shifts at my best friend, Amy May’s bakery whenever I could. They saw their dad most weekends while I avoided him at all costs.

He’d humiliated me, broken my trust, and made me feel like an idiot for having such blind faith in him all of those years. I hated everything about him. His blond wavy hair, his chiseled jaw, and the stupid way he looked in a perfectly tailored suit. I wanted no reminder of the life we had together, except for our beautiful children of course, which was why I’d left all of our material possessions behind with him in the house we’d once shared.

As I watched a slick-looking middle aged man guide a heavily breasted, much younger woman into the seedy motel, I thought, this one’s for the sisterhood. I pumped my fist as I watched them walk back out of the office and down a few doors, then got ready to strike.

First floor … nice. At least this time I wouldn’t have to climb anything.

When I’d first started out about ten months ago, I’d been woefully out of shape. After being chased down the street by a heavyset woman wearing only a teddy and almost getting tackled, I’d decided it would be in my best interest to join a gym and take up running.

It made all the difference. Sometime I had to get creative, but, knock on wood, I always got the shot … even if it was sometimes grainy.

Taking pictures of people in the act is actually easier than you might think. People are stupid. Especially the ones who think they’re untouchable, they’ll never get caught, and their shit don’t stink.

I eased out of the van, looking around the mostly empty parking lot as I walked casually toward the door they’d entered. I even started whistling just to make myself more inconspicuous.

Hiding in plain sight actually worked.

“Thanks for leaving the curtains cracked,” I murmured as I slid up to the window, camera up and ready, and peeked inside.

Unfortunately for me, but fortunately for my pocketbook, they’d left the lights blaring and must have done some heavy petting in the car because they were already going at it.

“Sixty-nine … classic.”

I snapped quickly, making sure their faces were in frame as I captured each lick, suck, slobber, and moan.

“Gross,” I grumbled as I hurried back to my car.

One of the downsides of the job was that it sometimes took hours to get the sordid visions out of my head. On occasions like these, there was one thing that helped ease my pain.

I needed a cupcake.

Chapter 2

“You’re a genius,” I moaned as the chocolaty goodness hit my tongue.

Amy May was on the other side of the counter pouring me a steaming cup of coffee as I made love to one of her cupcakes from a cherry-red stool on the other side.

Amy May was a Midwestern girl who’d married her high school sweetheart, Jason, and traveled with him when he joined the military. She’d always had a love of sweets and had picked the brains of bakers all over the world. Amy May had fused everything she loved into one kick-ass idea and opened her bakery on Main Street. Even if she didn’t own the only bakery in town, her diner-inspired motif coupled with her assortment of French, Italian, and Polish pastries, in addition to her sinfully delicious cupcakes, made her the town treasure she is.

“Rough morning?”

“You have no idea,” I said with an eye roll, popping the last bit of cake in my mouth. “I’ll spare you the gory details.”

“What else you got on tap today?” she asked, pulling her shoulder-length, dirty-blonde hair back into a small tail at the nape of her neck.

“Headed to the library to shoot these pics over to Moose, then see if I can get a line on this chick who’s been supposedly working for Clarice’s Nail Salon. The husband says no money ever comes in … Should be pretty low-key.”

“Kids with you?”

“Yeah. They don’t go to The Douche’s until Friday this week.”

“You wanna come over for dinner?”

“Nah, it’s burger night at Casa Horton, but I’ll take a rain check.”

“Sounds good, babe, see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” I replied, standing up and picking up my trash. I’d tried to pay my bill when Amy May’s had first opened only to be told I got the best friend discount for life.

It’s a good thing I’d found exercise, or my ass would be the size of a house. As it is, it’s only about the size of a singlewide.

“Thanks, girl.”

Amy May gave me a little wave, then blew me a kiss and I was gone.

Rather than drive twenty minutes to my place in The Heights, I usually worked out of the Greenswood Public Library. It was only a couple blocks from Amy May’s and was a nice quiet place to do what I needed to do.

“Hey, Clare,” I called, keeping my voice loud enough for her to hear the greeting, but low enough so she wouldn’t shush me.

Clare had been working the desk at the library since the first time I’d stepped foot in it to check out Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends. I’d been eight and could have sworn Clare was a hundred.

She still looked exactly the same.

I wandered through the aisles, back to the workstation I’d claimed as my own, and logged in. After sending Moose the pictures, I checked my email, then signed off.

Moose’s “office” was actually his screened-in back porch, so I tried to keep all of our communication over the phone and through email, only going to his place if it was absolutely necessary. Not to say that I didn’t feel safe around my boss or anything; he was just a little creepy, so I felt better with things this way.

Moose shot me a text saying he got the photos and he’d just driven by the nail salon and saw our next perp’s car.

Now, I’m not a cop, and the clients aren’t always correct in their accusations, but still, I had to call the people we were spying on something, so I called them perps. I sure as shit wasn’t going to remember all of their names so perp was just easier. Plus, I thought it made my job sound cooler, like I was actually doing something that made a difference.

Ater reading the text, I turned on my heel and headed down the street toward Clarice’s, wishing I’d worn sneakers instead of my boots today. I’d gone for style rather than comfort, which was never the smart choice, but the boots paired with my skinny jeans and long pullover sweater looked much better than sneakers.

“Hey, Lila,” Clarice said in greeting when I walked inside.

“What’s up, Clarice?”

“Same shit different day.”

“I hear that,” I replied.

See, although my town was small, I’d managed to keep a lid on my side job. The town loved to talk. And with the way I’d caught my husband and Slutty Shirley Finkle, promptly left my cushy home in The Woods for a shitty apartment in The Heights, then started working for my best friend… they had plenty to talk about when the subject of me came up.

This was good for me and for Moose because it meant people never suspected when I was around that there was a possibility I was looking into them. I didn’t know how long that shit would last, but I’d been lucky so far …

No one really suspects a single mother of twins who drives a minivan and has an ongoing love affair with cupcakes to be sneaking around and capturing their bad deeds on camera.

I looked around the salon and, not seeing the perp, I walked up to Clarice and whispered, “Can I use your bathroom? Sorry to bust in since I don’t have an appointment, but I think I just started my period.”

“Yeah, girl, of course.”

“Thanks,” I said sheepishly, then pushed through the curtain into the back room.

I tiptoed quietly, pulling my camera out of my oversized Coach purse, one of the few things left over from my previous life.

Keeping my eyes peeled and my ears open, I searched the back.

A sniffling sound had me turning right. I peeked around the corner just in time to see my perp bending over a table, getting ready to snort the three lines of coke she had cut out.

I’d spent an entire day trying out different cameras until I’d finally found one that didn’t make a sound when a picture was taken and still came out with quality images. That meant I could lift my camera, get my shot, and be gone without the cokehead even realizing I’d been there.

After I got a couple shots, I decided it was best to sneak out the back rather than show my face in the storefront again. I slowly pushed the back door open and eased out.

“Who the fuck are you?”

I whipped my head up as I was shoving the camera back in my purse and saw a strange man standing by a rehabbed old Camaro, smoking a cigarette.

“Uh … a friend of Clarice’s. I was just using the bathroom,” I managed, not sure who the guy was or what my next move should be.

“Yeah?” he asked, throwing his cigarette to the ground and taking a step toward me. “You need a camera to do that?”

Shit.

Before he could make another move, I secured my bag on my shoulder, turned and took off like a shot.

I hit Main Street, cursing myself for wearing the damn boots when the sound of a motorcycle pulling up along side of me caused me to turn my head.

My first thought was, where the hell did the bike come from?

Then I realized it wasn’t the slimy guy from behind the salon. The bike came to a stop and the most dangerously beautiful man I’d ever seen rumbled, “Get your sweet ass on the bike.”

Huh?

I stood there for a moment, wondering what in the hell was happening, if I should get on this strange man’s bike, and if I was offended or flattered by his sweet ass comment.

“Darlin’,” he prodded.

I turned my head to look behind me and saw the slimy guy standing at the side of Clarice’s and made a quick decision to accept … his offer of a ride and the compliment. So, I swung my leg up and over the bike, settled my front to his back, and curled my arms around the thick bulk of his muscled body.

Tingling head to toe from the adrenaline and the close contact with a seriously hot man, I couldn’t stop my lips from spreading into a grin as we took off down Main Street.

Chapter 3

As we came to a stop at a park outside of town, I was subtly inhaling the scent of leather and spice and wondering how the hell I’d ended up here.

Funnily enough, I wasn’t scared. I didn’t feel a vibe that said he intended to hurt me in any way. Mostly I was curious, and, if I was honest, a little turned on.

Once the bike came to a complete stop, I reluctantly got off but had to keep one hand on the seat while my legs stopped shaking.

“Uh … thanks,” I mumbled as he kicked the stand down and turned his dark eyes to me.

Are they black? Is it even possible to have black eyes?

Everything about him was dark. His eyes, his hair, his deeply tanned skin. He wore a trimmed beard, which only added to his dangerous look, and had what looked like shoulder-length wavy hair, which was pulled back off of his face. Paired with motorcycle boots, jeans that fit like a glove, and a black leather jacket, the man was a billboard for raw male sexuality.

“Anytime, darlin’,” he said with a small smirky smile. “I’ve seen you around.”

“Huh?” I asked, apparently having lost my ability to speak in actual words.

“I’ve seen you around… on the job, so I’ve kept my eye out.”

Crap! Did he mean he knew I was spying on people? I guess I wasn’t as covert as I thought I was.

“Shit!” I muttered, then wondered how the hell he’d seen me, when I’d never seen him before in my life.

“Don’t worry your cover’s still good. I’ve only seen you, ‘cause I’ve been looking.”

“You have?”

“Yeah. I saw you a couple weeks ago, walking down Main, and I gotta say, one look and I knew I wanted to see more … So I’ve been paying attention. Those assholes you follow are more worried about getting into whatever trouble they can find, than paying attention to some hot mom in her soccer van. You gotta be careful though, darlin’, a light as bright as yours won’t be hidden for long.”

“You saw me a couple weeks ago?” I asked, still stuck on that, not yet ready to think about my bright light.

He nodded. “Then again at the motel on sixth, in the parking lot of the Applebee’s, and going into the bakery with your kids. Gotta say, that last time you were walking and laughing with your kids and when your blue eyes hit me as you were going inside, I knew … I’ve been waiting for an opportunity. Got one today.”