Contractor's Cookies (Culpepper Cowboys Book 9)

  Contractor’s Cookies

  Kirsten Osbourne

  Contents

  Copyright

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  About the Author

  Also by Kirsten Osbourne

  Copyright © 2016 by Kirsten Osbourne

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Introduction

  Felicity Quinlan has always felt like the odd duck. She was raised in a family who didn’t allow her to do much of anything, and her personality has always been suppressed. When she moves to Culpepper, Wyoming, she watches her cousins and sister fall in love one by one, until she is the last Quinlan standing. She hopes she’ll eventually find love, but for now she’s too busy working in the bakery she started with her sister and cousin.

  When Allen Jennings loses his first wife to one of the cursed underwear models that plagues Culpepper, he’s certain there’s something wrong. He isn’t sure if it’s with him, or human nature, but he knows he’ll never have someone who will stay by his side. When innocent little Felicity Culpepper comes at him, armed with three cookies every hour, he doesn’t know what to think. Will Felicity be able to convince him that some women do love forever? Or will they spend the rest of their lives hoping for the impossible?

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  1

  Felicity was the only Quinlan left living with Linda Culpepper. Now that wasn’t a bad thing, because Linda treated her like royalty, but sometimes—she missed her sister and her cousins. They were all married off now, though. She was the last Quinlan standing, and she hadn’t met any man who even began to turn her head.

  There had been some really good-looking men at the Culpepper town picnic on the Fourth of July, but it was a town full of cowboys, so of course most of them were gorgeous. Not one had made her heart go pitter-patter, though. Not the way Patience and Grace had described their feelings upon meeting their own true loves anyway.

  As the only single woman left of the three bakers, she felt it was her job to make the bakery all it could be. She would turn it into a prize for all of Wyoming to love. It was her destiny—because obviously none of the Cowboys of Culpepper were her destiny, as much as she wished she could find someone.

  She picked up the sheaf of papers she’d put together and drove to the bakery to meet with Arch O’Donnell and the building contractor he’d said he was bringing. She just wished she could remember his name!

  Walking toward the front door, Felicity called out over the roar of the daycare to Linda. “I’m heading to the bakery for my meeting!”

  Linda magically appeared out of the mess of loud children. “Do you need anything?”

  Felicity shook her head. “No, I made cookies yesterday and I’ll serve coffee or whatever they want to drink. I’ve got it. Is it still okay if I take your car?”

  “Of course it is. Keys are hanging by the door. Have fun!”

  Felicity smiled. “Thank you.” She was sure she held the record for longest time to stay with Linda out of all the Quinlans. She’d been there since May, and it was now August. Early August, but still August. Of course, she didn’t plan to set any speed records racing to the altar either. She just hoped Linda wouldn’t mind if she was still there in a few months…or years.

  She sighed as she got into the car and started it. “Maybe I’ll find my own place. Someone has to have a small apartment to rent or something.” Her favorite thing about being in a car alone, which had never happened before coming to Wyoming, was talking to herself. She could carry on both sides of a conversation, and people just thought she was singing along to the radio.

  She drove the short distance to Culpepper Confectionary Creations and stopped in front of the building. There was Arch, walking around with another man pointing things out.

  Arch was a nice man, and Grace and Patience had tried to push her toward him, but he just didn’t seem quite right for her. No, she needed something—different. She wasn’t sure what, but Arch O’Donnell was not for her.

  She gathered her things, got out of the car, and closed the door. “Good morning, gentlemen!”

  Arch turned, but the other man continued poking the wood at the side of the bakery. “Hey, Felicity. I brought Allen Jennings, the building contractor I told you about, with me.”

  “Oh, good. Thank you. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Jennings.”

  The man continued to stare at the side of the bakery. She thought she may have heard a grunt of greeting, but she wasn’t certain.

  Felicity refused to be offended. “Let me unlock the door, and we can go inside. I wish I could offer you chairs to sit in, but that’s the whole problem and the reason you're here. We do have a back room, but it’s pretty cramped back there.” She opened the door and stepped inside, automatically going to the thermostat to turn on the air conditioning.

  At first, Patience had been against having the AC installed before they opened the bakery, but when Felicity had reminded her about how hot it was going to be in there with six ovens running at once, she’d quickly caved.

  The two men followed her in, and she got a look at Allen’s face for the first time. She blinked twice. Had he come in with the influx of underwear models and just stayed to be a building contractor? Because if so, she wanted to find that photo shoot and ogle him in his underwear.

  She blushed at her thoughts. She never ogled men. Oh, but that man is worth ogling! She shook her head at herself, forcing her brain to concentrate on the business at hand.

  “We have stools I can pull up to the work table. Let me do that.” She hurried away to get the stools so they could have a real meeting, and she could get her hormones under control. That man—that gorgeous hunk of hot masculinity—was going to keep her very distracted. Maybe there was another building contractor they could hire, because if he stayed around, she would never get any work done!

  She reached for the first stool, but two huge hands came around her, lifting them out of her way and carrying them off to the counter where she and the other bakers stood to roll out dough and decorate cakes. She got the other stool and carried it to the counter, trying not to meet the contractor’s eyes, watching as he set the stools down. He’d know. How could he not know that all I can think about is how he’d look in nothing but his underwear?

  She took one of the stools and found herself directly across from Mr. Sexy himself. Wait—what is his name again? Oh, crap. I can’t remember his name. And he was just introduced to me.

  “Thank you for meeting with me today, gentlemen. I’ve already explained our predicament to Arch, but I’m going to briefly reiterate.” There. She sounded professional. She didn’t sound like a dumb, hick blonde from Kentucky. She breathed deeply and continued. “When we opened the bakery, we had no idea it would become such a popular breakfast destination. People come in here and sit in the windowsills at the front to eat—or they eat outside on a blanket—or they eat in their cars! We hear the same thing over and over. Our customers would like tables where they can eat their breakfast right here at the bakery.”

  Arch
nodded. “I’ve drawn up some plans, and I had Allen look them over to give me his opinion about whether or not they’re practical.”

  Felicity looked at Allen, noticing his eyes for the first time. She felt like she was melting into a little puddle. He had those shoulders and hazel eyes? She’d never be able to close her eyes without dreaming about him again! “And do you think they’re feasible?”

  Allen shrugged. “Sure. I can make it happen. I’ll have to knock out a wall, but that’s not a big deal. Arch is planning a little dining room at the front of the bakery. We’ll have to extend the parking lot further out but that’s the easy part.”

  She noticed he didn’t look directly at her as he spoke, but seemed to be focused on something about an inch above her head. “I see. How long would it take? Would there be an interruption of business?”

  “Some. What days are you open?”

  “We work Tuesday through Saturday, which is why I asked you to meet me on a Monday. How much of an interruption of business?” Felicity was proud of how calm her voice sounded as she talked to him. She brought her hand to her lips to check for drool, and when there wasn’t any, she wanted to raise her arms in victory.

  “What I can do, though it will be a little harder for me and cost a little more, is build the new area without removing the front wall. Then I can wait for a weekend to knock the wall out.”

  “Sounds perfect.” She looked at Arch. “May I see what you’ve come up with?”

  “There wasn’t really a lot to do here. I know you want glass windows around the new room, so I drew those in, and expanded the parking lot.” Arch set two pictures in front of her. One was of the outside showing how it would look, and one was for the inside. “Does that work for you?”

  Felicity nodded. “Yes, I think that’ll be fine.” She sucked in a breath, asking the important question. “How much?”

  Allen named a figure that was twenty-five percent less than they’d budgeted, and she breathed a sigh of relief. “When can you start?”

  “I’ll run to get supplies this afternoon, and I can start first thing tomorrow. We’ll expand the parking lot first.”

  “I’ll make up some pretty ‘Pardon our Mess’ signs.”

  Allen shrugged at her. “Do what you want.”

  “Well, I think this calls for a celebration!” She hurried into the kitchen and brought out the cookies she’d baked. “I can make coffee to go with them!”

  Allen shook his head. “I’ll take mine to go. I need to head to the supply store.”

  “Oh! Of course. I’ll just box them up.”

  “Me too,” Arch told her. “I have some work to do for the Savoys. Valerie wants a garage apartment built for her sister.”

  “Two bakery boxes coming up. Give me a minute.” She hurried to get the boxes and split the cookies she’d made between them. She wasn’t sure why, but her favorite part of baking was watching people actually eat her cookies, and she was disappointed not to get to see Allen’s face when he bit into her special treat for the first time. Thinking of a solution, she kept three cookies out, handing one to each of the men and biting into the third.

  Arch grinned, taking a big bite of his. “Amazing as always, Felicity. Your cookies are a real marvel.”

  Felicity grinned happily, her eyes going to Allen. He bit into his cookie and immediately raised an eyebrow at her. “These are pretty good. Thanks.” He then took his box and left the bakery without a backward glance.

  Felicity frowned after him, wanting to ask questions, but not even sure where to start. “Thanks again, Arch.”

  “Happy to work with you. And don’t worry about Allen. He’s been weird since his divorce a couple of years back.”

  Divorce? If he’d been divorced her parents would never approve. Remember, Felicity, you don’t need approval anymore. Besides, Mama would say to throw him down and jump him. It’s just Dad who would object. “I see. Well, thanks for your time.”

  She cleaned up the small mess she’d made and locked the door after Arch had left, her mind still on Allen. She was determined she was going to get to know him. Cookies. The way to a man’s heart was through cookies. What else would he need?

  After a quiet supper with just her and Linda that evening, Felicity helped with the clean-up. “Allen something-or-other is going to do the building work on the bakery. What do you know about him?”

  Linda grinned. “Did someone finally catch your eye?”

  Felicity blushed. “I don’t know how I managed to speak coherently around that man! He’s made of handsome and sexy all wrapped into one very large package.”

  “He’s also made of heartbreak. His wife ran off with one of the underwear models.”

  “Really? I thought he might be one of the underwear models.”

  Linda laughed softly. “No, I’m afraid not. I think he could do it though.”

  “I’m sure he could. I wouldn’t mind him stripping down so I could check and make sure though.” She leaned against the counter, sighing after putting the last dish into the dishwasher. “I’ve never seen anything that affected my hormones quite so strongly.”

  “Get to know him. He’s a good man. Just make sure you don’t hurt him. He was a good friend of Kolby’s growing up, and it broke my heart when Wendi treated him so terribly. She even left their son when she ran off.”

  “That gorgeous hunk of manhood has a son?”

  Linda nodded. “I think he’s nine or ten now. Good kid. He’s doing some kind of football camp right now, but he should be home soon.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “Tristan. You’ll like him.”

  “Oh, I doubt I’ll get a chance to meet him. Allen’s going to do the building work on the bakery, not have me over for a sexy picnic on his living room floor.”

  Linda grinned. “He really does have your imagination running wild, doesn’t he? Be careful not to go down the lane, skipping along after Chastity, into sexual lala land.”

  “I’ll do my best.” Felicity sighed. “I think I need to go vegetate with some Netflix and a root beer tonight. I very much need root beer in my life.” She’d never had a root beer before moving to Wyoming, but she’d found root beers very much to her liking.

  “Try not to think about him. Drool over Jesse Savoy instead.”

  Felicity shook her head. “Nah. I’m on Team Bob. Jesse was always too blond and pretty for my tastes.”

  Linda laughed. “Okay, you drool over Bob. Roy’s going to be here to watch television with me in a little while.”

  Felicity nodded, knowing that meant she would want to stay in her room for the rest of the evening. She’d accidentally walked in on the older couple kissing once, and it wasn’t something she wanted to repeat. “Let the electricity be with you.”

  Linda just gave her a blank look.

  “You know…he’s an electrician?” Felicity sighed. “No one ever gets me.” She walked back toward her room thinking about how funny she was. She just wished she could find a way to express the funny in her head. Why, she could be a comedic baker! There was so much call for that in the world!

  Felicity went into work early the next morning. Patience and Grace usually opened, and Felicity would close with Rikki, a new employee, in the afternoons. She wanted to be able to tell her co-workers about the plans for the bakery. She’d even asked Rikki if she would be willing to work some extra hours that day, just so all four of them could talk before the bakery opened.

  They were all there at five, and Felicity had the plans in hand. “This is what we’re doing, and it’s only about seventy-five percent of budget. We’ll have plenty of money left for chairs, tables, and even a bit of decorating.”

  The others looked at the drawings and Grace nodded. “I think that’ll be perfect.”

  Patience grinned. “Absolutely wonderful. Especially since you took care of it yourself.”

  Rikki wrinkled her nose. “I’m going to be cleaning all those tables several times per day, won't I?”
<
br />   Felicity laughed. “You are low woman on the totem pole.”

  “No matter. I’ll be the best darned table cleaner this bakery has ever seen!” Rikki grinned.

  Felicity was glad to see the woman was getting calmer and calmer by the day. The more she got used to working with the three bakers, the more comfortable she became with the situation. “Are Valerie and Jesse around this week?”

  Rikki shook her head. “No, but some guy came by yesterday to draw up plans for my garage apartment, and he kind of freaked me out.”

  Felicity put her hand on Rikki’s arm. “Was it Arch?”

  “Yeah, I know he’s safe. Jesse had him investigated because he knew he’d have to be around some when they weren’t, but I just—I can’t seem to be around men yet.”

  “Come stay at Linda Culpepper’s until Valerie and Jesse are back in town. She loves having company, and I was just thinking how much I missed having my sister and cousins living there.”

  Rikki shook her head. “I can’t invite myself to stay with someone I don’t know.”

  “You didn’t. I invited you.” Felicity looked at the clock on her phone. It was after six, so she knew Linda would be up, preparing for her day with munchkins. “I’m going to call her and ask permission, like I haven’t talked to you yet.”

  Rikki protested, but Felicity waved her off.

  When Linda answered, Felicity said, “Hey, Linda. Can I invite Rikki to come and stay for a couple of weeks? Her sister and brother-in-law are in Texas filming.”

  “Oh, of course. She’s such a sweet girl. I enjoyed meeting her at the bakery.”

  “Okay, I’ll bring her with me when I come home tonight. Thanks!” Felicity looked at Rikki. “We’ll go pick up your stuff after we close and take it over to Linda’s.”

  “But—”

  “If you don’t come now, you’ll hurt Linda’s feelings. You don’t want that!”