Lei’d with Cupcakes
Copyright 2017 Bethany Lopez
Published March 2017
Smashwords Edition
Cover Design by Makeready Designs http://makereadydesigns.com/
Editing by Red Road Editing / Kristina Circelli
Proofreading by KMS Freelance Editing
Ebook Formatting by White Hot Formatting
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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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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Other Titles
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Epilogue
Too Tempting Chapter One
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Books by Bethany Lopez
Young Adult:
Stories about Melissa – series
Ta Ta for Now!
xoxoxo
Ciao
TTYL
With Love
Adios
Nissa: a contemporary fairy tale
New Adult:
Friends & Lovers Trilogy
Make it Last
I Choose You
Trust in Me
Indelible
Contemporary Romance:
A Time for Love Series
8 Weeks
21 Days
42 Hours
15 Minutes
10 Years
3 Seconds
7 Months
The Lewis Cousins Series
Too Tempting
Too Complicated (Coming April 2017)
Romantic Comedy/Suspense:
Cupcakes Series
Always Room for Cupcakes
Cupcake Overload
Lei’d with Cupcakes
Women’s Fiction:
More than Exist
Short Stories:
Christmas Come Early
Leap of Faith
Cookbook:
Love & Recipes
Love & Cupcakes
Children’s:
Katie and the North Star
To everyone I was lucky enough to meet over the years at Utopia (UtopYA) Con. I’m so sad that this is the last year of the con, but so grateful that Janet had the vision and passion to make the con possible. I wouldn’t have been able to meet so many wonderful authors, bloggers, and readers without it.
Keep on lifting as you climb!
Everybody dreams of a Hawaiian vacation…
They sell you on the drinks with little umbrellas, dolphin watching, and long walks on the beach. Which probably happens, if you’re that lucky schmuck living out your dream with your destination wedding, but if you’re a fish out of water PI like me, there’s no time for relaxing, because trouble is never far behind.
Instead of cocktails, I ended up dealing with the seedy underbelly of The Big Island.
And, I didn’t see one damn dolphin while undercover on a boat that was spilling over with drug dealers, kingpins, and pedophiles.
I did get to take that long walk on the beach, but that resulted in me and Cade getting busted by his parents, while we were all butt-ass naked.
Which leads me to the other issue, meeting Cade’s family. Elin and Elena think they’re the coolest people outside of Snapchat, but it’s hard to meet the parents when your boyfriend is in his late thirties and has never had a serious relationship.
You want to talk about grandbaby fever … His mom was foaming at the mouth at the thought of Cade reproducing, and, although the thought of little bad-ass babies who look like Cade is appealing, we’re definitely not ready to take that step.
I’d never missed my girls so much in my life, but Amy May, Bea, and Carmen are all dealing with issues of their own, and can’t come to my rescue.
The only thing that may help me with this “vacation” is if I could get Lei’d with Cupcakes.
“We have started our descent into Honolulu. We should touch down in twenty minutes, and the local time will be three fifty-eight.”
I looked to my left to see Elin and Elena sleeping like angels, even though an hour ago they’d been fighting like rabid raccoons. Then, to my right, where Cade was passed out cold.
You’d think a large man like that would have a hard time getting comfortable in a standard coach seat, but as soon as he’d sat down, Cade closed his eyes and was knocked out. Cold. I couldn’t keep my five-foot seven-inch frame still in the seat long enough to doze. My knees hurt, the seatbelt annoyed me, and I swear I could hear every sniffle and sneeze for twenty rows.
So, while the loves of my life were snoozing happily, I was trying to find out how many mini liquor bottles it would take for me to get drowsy. It was just my luck that now that I was feeling happily buzzed and ready to nap, we were about to land. So, not only was I going to meet Cade’s family with no sleep, there was a good chance I was going to be drunk.
“Miss, can I take your trash?”
I swiveled my head to find one of the stewardesses holding open her bag for me to dump my empties in.
Are we still allowed to call them stewardesses, or is that no longer PC? What the hell are they supposed to be termed now? Oh, yeah, flight attendants. I don’t know why everything has to change…
“Darlin’,” Cade muttered, his voice rough with sleep. “You’re talking to yourself.”
“Huh?” I asked, turning to take in my gorgeous mountain of a man.
“You’re mumbling something about stewardesses, but, babe, they don’t like to be called th
at,” Cade replied, then shifted and closed his eyes again.
I blinked slowly, wondering how Cade knew so much about it, then turned my focus on the map in front of me.
I’d been watching the damn thing for hours. Tracking those little dots as we flew over the ocean for what felt like an eternity. I’d never considered myself a bad flyer before this flight. Maybe it was the prospect of meeting Cade’s family … Of introducing them to my kids, and what it all might mean.
I mean, it’s a pretty big deal, especially since Cade has never brought anyone home to meet the parents before. It felt huge, like this one trip had the potential to change everything.
And that was pretty scary.
After all, I’ve only been divorced a little over a year. Shouldn’t I be sowing my wild oats or something?
I turned my attention back to Cade and smiled.
His scruff was a day old; his long, dark hair was starting to come out of its rubber band, and was wildly framing his face, but even with his eyes closed, he was the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen. And any wild oats I had in me, had definitely been sowed by him.
Truthfully, before he’d rode up to me on his motorcycle, I hadn’t been interested in dating anyone. So, although things seemed to be progressing quickly, there was no other man, shit, no other person, in this world I’d rather be with until the end of my days.
I’m not sure how long I sat there pondering that epiphany, but in what felt like a matter of seconds, the wheels touched down with a bounce and we were taxiing down the runway.
“Elin, Elena, get up. We’re here,” I said softly, leaning over to touch them each gently on the arm.
They both shot up, eyes wide, with grins on their faces, making me wonder if they’d been faking sleep, then turned to me and asked excitedly in unison, “We’re in Hawaii?”
Being the mother of eleven, almost twelve, year-old twins, you’d think I’d be used to them doing things in unison like that, but no … That shit is freaky every time.
“Uh … yeah, we just landed,” I replied, then shushed them when they started chattering excitedly and bouncing in their seats. I shrugged, knowing there was no use in trying to contain their excitement. They’d done a pretty good job of keeping a lid on it up until that point, so why not let them have a little fun. After all, who knew if we’d ever get another trip to Hawaii.
“Cade,” I whispered, leaning to my other side and running my hand down Cade’s arm. “We’ve landed.”
He grunted, then said, “Wake me up when we’re at the gate.”
I rolled my eyes, then, five minutes later when we pulled into the gate and they turned off the fasten seat belt sign, I woke him up again. This time, Cade immediately unfastened his seatbelt, stood right up, and stepped into the aisle.
Then, he proceeded to stretch. His black T-shirt came up, revealing his glorious stomach, and gave me a bird’s eye view of his happy trail.
Once I’d tucked my tongue back into my mouth and got a good eyeful, I turned to make sure the kids were gathering all of their belongings from the seat pocket in front of them, and were ready to get off the plane.
When it was our turn to disembark, Cade pulled out suitcases down from the overhead compartment, and we started off the plane. First Cade, with his well-worn leather backpack slung over one shoulder and a ratty Army-green duffel in his hand. Then Elin and Elena, with their Harry Potter and Star Wars rolling bags, and finally me, trailing behind with my new hard-case roller, wondering why I’d been in such a hurry to land when all I wanted to do in that moment was run back to the plane.
With every step closer to the arrival area, my stomach grew tighter and my buzz started to fade. By the time we stepped out of the corridor into the open space, filled with happy sounds and tons of people, I was ready to upchuck the six tiny bottles of vodka that had seemed like such a good idea in-flight.
I looked up in time to see a tall woman hugging Cade tightly, while a handsome, older version of Cade was placing leis around the twins’ necks. I plastered a smile on my face, and as I joined the group, all eyes turned to me.
Cade’s mother’s face lit up as she looked to him and said, “Nice job, Hiapo. She’s got great hips.”
The trip from the airport to Cade’s family home was luckily pretty short. It was, however, along a long and winding road. Everyone else was talking happily while I stared out the window and cursed myself for drinking.
It’s horrible when you have a buzz and you really don’t want to.
I really wanted to make a good impression on Cade’s parents, but all I could do was pray that the car would stop soon and this roller coaster of a ride would be over, before I did something really embarrassing. Like throw up in the back seat of Cade’s dad’s car.
I was trying to focus on breathing, and enjoying the gorgeous scenery around me, when we took a sharp right, then dipped down a steep hill and pulled to a stop. I turned in my seat, looking back at the hill we’d just come down, and wondered how in the heck you’d drive back up that thing.
I was still pondering this when everyone else exited the 4Runner and started grabbing bags out of the back.
Cade’s family home was a modest bungalow surrounded by lush trees, bushes, and flowers. As I did my best to carry my large suitcase over the rocky ground, I noticed a sitting area surrounding a large open pit. There was a hodge podge of places to sit. A couple chairs, a few logs, and a large leather bench seat that must have come out of an old car from the fifties.
“We spend more time outside than in,” Cade said from beside me. “We’ll cook there, sit around with a drink, or just spend hours talking.”
“Oh,” I replied, then turned my head to smile up at him. “Is that the ocean I hear?”
Cade lifted his chin toward the house.
“Yeah, I’ll take you out back once we put our stuff down.”
I followed Cade through the front door, which led right into an open area, where you could see the living room, dining room, and kitchen, where Elin and Elena were currently planted. They were sitting on bar stools, eating cookies, while telling Cade’s parents about the flight.
And, as if they’d known them five years, rather than five minutes, Cade’s mother and father were smiling at my children and listening to their every word.
My heart warmed at the sight, and although I wanted to go join them, I followed Cade down the hall to put my bag down and give myself a minute to get my shit together.
“We’ll be in here,” Cade said, pausing at the threshold of a room before walking inside.
I followed behind him, taking in the large bed, well-worn dresser with trophies scattered across the top, and the row of lockers against the wall.
“This is your room?” I asked, even though it was pretty obvious.
“Yeah.”
“I’m in here with you?” I asked, my eyes darting back out into the hall.
“Yeah.”
I dropped my bag by the bed and walked up to Cade, lowering my voice to say, “I can’t sleep with you in your parents’ house.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Cade asked as he took out his rubber band and pulled his hair back to secure it again.
“We can’t have sex in your parents’ house.”
Cade turned his face toward me, eyebrows raised.
“Lila, I’m thirty-eight years old. I’m pretty sure they know I fuck.”
My eyes widened and my face went red.
“Don’t talk like that, my God … Just because they assume, doesn’t mean it should happen in their house. It’s rude.”
Cade chuckled and replied, “All right, darlin’, I’ll keep my hands to myself, in the house, and we’ll see if you can do the same.”
I placed my hands on my hips, offended that he thought he could control himself, but I couldn’t.
“Well, where am I going to sleep then?”
“Here, Lila,” Cade said, his smile indulgent. “My sister, Alani is sharing her room with Elena, and El
in is on the couch. You’re in here with me, unless you want to sleep outside, or on the floor somewhere.”
I scowled at him, but he just grinned and stepped up close. Close enough that I could feel his heat, smell his spicy scent, and had to tilt my head up to look at his fully mouth.
“What’s the matter, don’t think you can keep your hands to yourself?”
“Shut up,” I grumbled, causing him to laugh.
“C’mon, I’m hungry,” Cade said, changing the subject as he grabbed my hand and pulled me from the room.
I took one last look at the bed over my shoulder, wondering how in the hell I would manage to keep my hands off of him at night, before turning back to pay attention to where we were headed.
Elin and Elena were still in the same spot, except now they had milk to go with their cookies.
“Mama,” Cade called once we hit the open area. “Please tell me you have some poi and laulau ready for me.”
Cade’s mother just beamed, then turned to pull some covered dishes from behind her and placed them on the counter.
“Aloha au ia ‘oe,” he said, before kissing her on the cheek and letting go of my hand so he could uncover the dishes.
“Lila, can I get you something to eat or drink?” Cade’s mother asked.
“You gotta try these cookies, Mom,” Elin mumbled, holding up the cookie in his hand.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” I said, then turned to reply to Cade’s mother. “I’d love some water, thank you.”
“Here, you have to have some pork laulau,” Cade said, his mouth also full. “This shit is the best.”
“Swear jar!” Elin shouted, his mouth still full.
I turned to Cade’s mom with a smile and said, “I give up.”