Chapter 1

 

Rico's lunch shift at Peach Tree Café was coming to an end when he noticed a great looking guy walk in through the door. Intense, brooding with dark hair, stunning blue eyes and nicely trimmed facial hair—he made Rico just stop and stare. The guy was searching for an empty table. Rico had his hands full with a tray of food, or he would have gone over to make sure the guy got seated in his section.

Rico was so busy admiring his dark good-looks and muscular build, that at first he didn't notice the little, blond girl at his side. She was very small. Maybe four. The guy was still hot, but Rico had to take a few points off for him having a kid. No matter how cute she was and how hot her dad, it was still a deduction.

Oh well, the dude was probably straight anyway. Magda seated the hot guy and beamed at the little girl. Rico sighed and went to deliver an order to a young couple who were looking over their photos from Peach Tree Hill. As he set down their food, Rico kept glancing in the direction of that guy. He just couldn't help it.

After taking the guy's order, Magda came over to the order window where Rico was hanging out. Right away, she let him know that she had noticed him eyeing her table.

"You want to steal him from me, don't you?" Magda accused him. Then she had a proposition for him. "That hunk seems like he's on a tight budget. I'll trade you for those tourists who just came in."

Rico took her up on her offer. He knew she needed money, and the three ladies who were waiting to be seated, seemed like they might be good tippers. Rico had no ulterior motives. After all there was a kid in the mix. It wasn't like he and this guy could sneak off somewhere to make out.

Rico went over to the hot guy's table and introduced himself to him and his little girl. "Hi, guys, I'll be your waiter. My name is Rico," he told them as he set a nice glass of chilled peach juice in front of the little girl and a glass of their special Peach Tree Café tap water in front of the gorgeous guy.

"What happened to Magda?" the little girl asked while her dad got busy talking on the phone.

"She switched with me because she liked that lady's hat," Rico told her. One of the tourists wore a big, straw hat with a pink ribbon on it, and it caught his eye.

The little girl turned in her seat to have a look. "It's a good hat," she said with understanding.

In the meantime, Rico heard her dad on the phone. Speaking in a gruff voice, he was saying, "So it went from 'You've got the job. Get ready to make the move.' To 'Hold up. There might be a snag.' Now it's, 'Sorry. No deal.' What the..." The guy stopped himself and looked at his little girl. He gave her a reassuring smile. Taking a deep breath, he continued on the phone. "Fine. Let me know if you hear of anything else."

He hung up and Rico promised to bring their order soon. When he went to the order window, he got to talk to Magda again. "You were right about the tight budget. Sounds like that guy had a job fall through," Rico told her.

"Who did?" his grandmother asked coming up behind them. She owned the café and she was always sneaking up on people.

"That guy with the kid," Rico told her.

"That's a shame," his grandmother said and looked over at the hot customer appreciatively. When Rico went to deliver their order, she tagged along so she could get nosy with that guy.

At the table, Rico set down two orders of grilled cheese and tomato soup, which came garnished with basil leaves. He pointed out the basil to the little girl. "Oh, no, some leaves fell in your soup."

"No. They're supposed to be there to make the soup look pretty," the little girl informed him, and just for a second Rico got to see her dad smile.

While Rico stood there with an empty tray and tried not to stare at him, his grandmother did proper introductions. Introducing herself as the proprietress, Dahlia Del Rio, she gave her name a seductive flourish that was so wrong. Then she decided to reintroduce Rico. Though he had already introduced himself as their waiter, Rico, she was now telling them, "And this is my grandson, Enrico."

The little girl repeated his name and peered up at him like he was an entirely new creature now. At least Rico got to learn the guy's name.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Mitch McEvers. This is my daughter, Sammy."

As she chatted him up, Grandma didn't tell Mitch what Rico overheard, just asked the guy what brought him to town. In no time she got him to spill about the job that suddenly fell through.

"And what kind of work do you do?" Grandma asked.

"I've worked construction. I've been a handyman for hire when I can't get anything else. I worked as a super too. That's what this job was, and it included a place to live," the guy said and his mouth twisted into a pained grimace.

It was clear how much it hurt to lose out on that job. As he talked, he encouraged his kid to eat, but didn't touch his own food.

"That's a real shame," Grandma said. "But if you think you might want some work right here. I'm in need of a handyman. I have a property out on the edge of town. Beautiful spot. It's a big, old house that needs fixing up. You could have a look. See what you think. Me, you and your girl can go check it out after you're done eating, if you like." Grandma was so pushy, but the guy didn't refuse.

"I could take a look," he said with a cautious expression in his blue eyes, like a guy who wasn't going to get his hopes up.

"And if you don't mind living on site, you can stay there too. It's perfectly livable," Grandma said.

"Until you start tearing the place apart," Rico threw in.

"I don't want to rip out anything. The place isn't falling down. It's just a little neglected. That house was built solid," Grandma said.

"If it's livable, that might work," Mitch said, still very guarded about the whole deal. He looked over at his daughter, who was pushing the basil leaf around in her bowl like it was a little boat. "For me I wouldn't care, but..."

Grandma could tell he needed to be reassured for his daughter's sake, so she told him, "The water and electricity are on. The appliances are in working order. The place is all furnished and everything. Move in ready, you could say."

The guy looked skeptical about that, but his kid was smiling up at Grandma and her big hair.

"But you don't have to take my word for it," Grandma told him. "We can all go over to the old Dunbar place and have a look. You too, Enrico."

That was a surprise. "Me?"

"I want you helping out. There's bound to be times Mitch here will need a hand," she said.

"OK," Rico said with a shrug and a glance at Mitch's chiseled features. No, those weren't the worst marching orders he ever got.

Grandma then turned to Mitch. "All right, I'll tell you what I have in mind when we see it, and we'll talk terms. Now I'll let you eat."

As they left Mitch and his daughter to their lunch, Rico could hear Sammy asking. "Daddy, are we gonna live in a big house?"

"We'll see. Eat your soup, honey," her dad told her, and Rico noticed how much softer his voice sounded when he spoke to her. It was still deep, but it had turned mellow like his rough exterior melted for that kid.

He even smiled sweetly. Maybe he wasn't as dour as he seemed at first. Maybe it was just the job situation that made him look so gloomy.

 

Away from their table, Rico asked his grandma, "How come I'm going with you?"

"Didn't I just tell you? You're supposed to pitch in. I have to keep you busy. Idle hands and all that," she said and waved her hand around vaguely so her gold bangles jingled.

"Is that what you're doing?" Rico asked, giving her the side-eye. She was always up to something. But Rico didn't mind helping out or getting to spend a little extra time with Mitch, listening to him talk about tools or whatever in that deep, sexy voice.