Love's Liability Read online

  “I never acted like that, so what’s with you treating me like I could be the enemy?” he asked quietly. “And where’s your sister?”

  “Dead,” I managed, my grief choking me. “I don’t owe you answers, Linden.”

  He ignored what I said, cupping my cheek. “How did she die?” He sighed when I shook my head, trying to push him away. “I’m sorry for your loss, Zeke. She was a wonderful woman.” He blinked at me as I couldn’t swallow my rage fast enough at hearing that from someone with the last name of Henning. “And have you mated?”

  “No,” I bit out. “Enough, Linden. I will scream. Coming at me like this when I’ve asked you to—”

  Instantly he let me go and stepped away with his hands raised. “What happened to you, Zeke? What happened to the boy I knew who was going to make candies and chocolates while his twin took over their family’s florist company so they could make so many people happy with the best gifts ever?”

  Tears ran down my cheeks as I couldn’t keep them back anymore as I looked at him. “He grew the fuck up and realized he was an idiot to ever think life would go that well for him. His family wrote him off when he wanted to get a better education and train to be more than gardeners and servants to noble bloodlines. He became a father. His twin died. He died. He’s gone, so if you ever cared for him, leave it alone.”

  “Only a heartless person could,” he whispered as I headed back for the house.

  I ignored him and jogged off. Well, so much for checking on my equipment. Instead, I headed back to the kitchen and decided to work on some potential ideas I’d had floating around. It seemed like the best idea given how upset I was.

  Plus, I needed to possibly think of a game plan, as I doubted Linden would let this go. He wasn’t the type to walk away when someone was in trouble.

  Then again, I’d been fooled by someone with his last name before.

  I spent the next several hours working, but I wasn’t sold on the results. The ideas didn’t turn out bad but more not worth it. That was what I based my chocolates and candies on. They were sugar and fattening, and if they were, they had damn well better be worth the calories, and anything that my company made abso-fucking-lutely passed that test.

  I simply wasn’t sure these did.

  After cleaning up, I crashed for a few hours, waking when the twins crawled out of bed and tried to get up onto mine. They wanted to come up to snuggle but not wake me, which was sweet even if they failed. I rolled over and grabbed each of them in turn and pulled them up, their squeals a bit much on my tired ears. Still, I smiled and hugged them, muttering we were still sleeping.

  “Hungry, Dad,” Ethan told me as he peppered my face with kisses.

  I went to ask what they wanted when we got downstairs only to remember I had a meeting with Jayme—the vampire who had run here for sanctuary and was going to open a bakery—and Prince Mark, who was an actual, real fucking prince. Riiiighhhht. Okay then. But they wanted to meet with me, and I would need to buy from the bakery before the mall opened, so it was a meeting I needed too.

  “We’re eating at the cafeteria today,” I reminded them, smiling when they got excited. That place was always hopping and full of people, which was different to the twins, so the few times we’d been since the move, they’d taken it all in like an amusement park.

  It took a bit for the morning routine and to get them dressed in their colors for the week, Ethan checking himself out in the mirror in his pink outfit. The kid might have a future in fashion with the way he always paid attention even if he was way too young to know what was what. He cared enough to look, which I did not think most three-year-olds did.

  I wasn’t sure how we were getting there, and it was too far for them to walk, but apparently that was taken care of as one of the warriors a tad younger than me showed up on a four seater ATV. The twins looked at the thing in awe, totally thrilled they could ride on it.

  I, however, was ready to shit a brick, arguing that my kids couldn’t ride on something like that. Even if I had boxes to bring with us, I wasn’t feeling it.

  “We’re not going over mountains,” the guy chuckled. “I didn’t know the kids were so young, but I promise we’ll go slow and stay on the real roads.”

  I gave him a frown. “You want to go on the county highway? We went out of the subdivision and on county road to get to the camp.”

  “No, there’s a direct road that has a guard from the camp,” he explained. “They’re not the only kids now in the subdivision, and it was immediately brought up as a concern.”

  “Okay, just go slow,” I worried, looking at the twins. “We can ride on it if you both promise to sit on me and hug tight.” I waited until they nodded before sitting in the front. It ended up that I put Evan between us, the warrior moving his arm around the toddler, while I held Ethan on my lap since he was the one to get into trouble faster.

  “They are so damn adorable,” the warrior, Falcon, said with a bright smile. “Everyone’s been talking about them and how sweet they are.”

  “Nice that the buzz is good about us,” I said nervously.

  He chuckled. “You make candy and have adorable twins. I think only heartless people wouldn’t be happy you moved here.”

  “Dad makes the best everything,” Evan boasted proudly. “I want to meet Evan.”

  I frowned. “Is there another Evan here? Is that what you mean?”

  He nodded. “The man with the doggies said I had to meet Evan.”

  “He means Drake,” Falcon told me. “He’s the warrior who trains the search and rescue dogs the camp has. He’s a sweet guy who has the gift of talking with animals, so it makes sense he trains them.”

  “Yeah, it does,” I agreed. I had to admit that from everything I’d seen, people did things smart at this place. I’d never spent time at any other warrior camp, but I’d known a few warrior bloodlines like Linden’s, and they did not always act that way. “Who is this Evan?”

  “Another warrior from here,” he answered. “He’s a good guy too.” He bounced his head back and forth as we approached the gate. “There really aren’t any bad warriors here. I heard they all moved on. Even when I was training here, there were only a handful of bullies. They thrive being around jerks, and people here wouldn’t put up with that.”

  “Nice to hear that.”

  It was. Moving there had been nerve wracking to say the least, and we needed it to work out.

  2

  There were two guys at the security gate who waved us through when we reached it. Evan didn’t really get the gesture and waved back, much to the amusement of all of us, and a few minutes later we were pulling up at the main building of the camp.

  “Do you need help with the boxes?”

  “Right, yeah, thanks,” I said as I slid out of the seat and set Ethan on his feet. I turned to grab Evan, managing to get him on my hip so I wasn’t trying to walk with both of them. I’d switch them later so they both got the exercise, but it was much easier to handle them this way when there were a lot of people around.

  “Can I ask what I’m carrying?” Falcon muttered as someone opened the door for us.

  “Ideas that had potential but didn’t make the standard to get added to the menu,” I admitted as we walked down the hallway. “They aren’t bad, they’re just not awesome, and we don’t ever waste food.”

  “Wasting food is bad,” Evan agreed, bobbing his head as did Ethan. “We didn’t try it though, Dad.”

  “I know, but there was stuff you guys can’t have,” I told them honestly. “I’ll play with ideas you guys can sample, I promise.”

  “So what are they exactly?” Falcon pushed. “And where am I putting them?”

  I shrugged. “Wherever people can grab them if they want. I make a potato chip chocolate bar, but I wanted to try some other options. I used honey barbeque chips and cappuccino chips. Cappuccino chips on their own weren’t great, but I figured it might still work. They’re not bad, just meh. For me, if it’s something I’
ll offer, it’s got to be way better than meh and totally worth the calories.”

  “Sounds like a sound business plan to me,” a deep voice praised from behind me.

  I glanced up and up at the tall warrior who towered over my shrimp five-five height. I had a moment to wonder if the twins would get that huge and make me feel short anytime I was around them before shaking it off. “There’s nothing wrong with being different or going against the grain, but I believe in making sure it’s damn good if you do.”

  “I’ve heard that about you, which is why I asked for the meeting.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “You’re Prince Mark?”

  “Just Mark is fine,” he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s not like we’re somewhere formal or in front of humans.”

  I nodded. “Sorry for not greeting you as I should or um, shaking your hand.” I sort of moved my arm holding Evan as if saying I had my hands full.

  “Prince of what?” Ethan asked him, glancing between us. “Which one?”

  “Denmark,” Mark answered as I bit back a smile. Ethan had meant which Disney movie, not which country, but got a real answer. I was impressed when he nodded like he understood but gave me a look that he clearly didn’t. “Do you mind if I sample what wasn’t good enough to you?”

  “Not at all. I need to get them some breakfast.”

  “I’ll find you when Jayme gets here,” he replied.

  I nodded and headed to get us breakfast, switching the twins so Ethan was on my hip and Evan was holding onto my jacket. He didn’t need my hand and wouldn’t wander off with this many people. It wasn’t as if Ethan was a bad kid, far from it, but he was three and curious.

  “Oh, you two are so cute,” a woman cooed as she moved over to us. “I could just eat you both up.”

  Evan’s eyes went bug wide as he moved closer, bumping against my legs. I opened my mouth to explain, but Ethan reached out and tried to shoo her away. “No eating us!”

  “She didn’t mean really,” I promised, rubbing my hand over Evan’s hair. “She meant kisses and tickles. You guys like that.”

  “Not strangers,” Evan muttered, wrapping himself around my leg.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you guys,” she muttered, shooting me a guilty look. “I’m Alexis. My brothers are warriors here. Seth is dating Jayme who you’re meeting with, I think. He said the confectioner with the cutie twins.”

  “That’s me,” I confirmed. “It’s okay. They’re just not used to so many people and a lot of strangers.”

  “No, it’s good. They should be leery of strangers.” She smiled at both of them. “We’ll get to know each other and then we won’t be strangers, okay?”

  “If Dad says okay,” Ethan blurted when Evan didn’t say anything. He let his brother lead but was quick to jump in if Evan was uncomfortable. Basically they were the cutest brothers ever who had each other’s backs.

  She didn’t push, giving a wave before heading off.

  Our tray was getting a bit full and I was having trouble managing when I saw Linden across the cafeteria watching us. He stood like he might come over, and I cursed under my breath at the bad timing. Being on his radar was the last thing we needed, and I was still annoyed that I’d picked the one place a Henning was when my life goal had been to be far away from that family.

  “Mom sent me over to help,” Gary told me as he took the tray. “She’s swiping us free chocolate and saw you were having trouble.”

  “Perfect timing, thanks.” I asked him to add a few things, still balancing the bag I always had of stuff the twins might need, along with one twin on my hip and another wrapped around my leg. Honestly, I might have preferred their double stroller, but it would have been too much in such a confined area, and they got tired of it fast with all the excitement.

  We sat down, and I got them situated, thanking Gary before he met up with Lynx. Moments after the twins started happily chowing down, Jayme hurried over with a tall warrior. I only knew him because someone pointed him out to me when saying he wanted a meeting, and I would guess the other guy was his boyfriend, Seth Curry. They introduced themselves before sitting, and I was right.

  A few moments later, Mark came over with his tray and a man he introduced as Henrik that handled most of his business affairs. I bobbed my head as everyone got situated, still a bit confused and too tired to try and figure it all out.

  “I’m missing several pieces of why you asked for this meeting, but I will need cakes, so forgive me for being blunt,” I said, unsure of how else to get things straight.

  Mark simply smiled at me. “I own a few liquor companies and labels of fruit wines. Jayme agreed to make some booze balls and recipes for me instead of just rum balls, and they’ve gone over well.”

  “And made you think of booze chocolates and candies,” I surmised, bobbing my head. “Makes sense.”

  “And someone said you had an enrobing machine,” Jayme blurted, his cheeks heating at the attention.

  I gave a slow nod as I studied him. He had obvious signs of previous abuse, giving me more than nervous looks, but more afraid like he was waiting for a smack he was so used to getting. I couldn’t help but glance at Seth, wondering if any of that had to do with him, but the look of love he was giving Jayme that was gentle and tender made my gut sure it wasn’t him.

  “Yes, and I have a multi station depositor among other machines I don’t mind letting you use as long as you learn them correctly and take care of them,” I offered.

  “We share,” Evan said firmly. “Dad needs cakes.”

  “You got it,” I chuckled, pushing his plate closer. “We like chocolate covered cookies too, don’t we?”

  “Pink ones,” Ethan blurted.

  “Green ones,” Evan argued.

  “Both,” I quickly cut in, knowing how the twins got. I waited until they nodded before focusing back on Jayme and Mark. “I would need to taste the alcohol and need some sort of baseline of what you’re thinking.”

  Mark frowned. “Oh, those liquor filled ones are popular.”

  I smiled at him. “Right, but there’s a huge range on either the cream or jelly ones, plus there are gummies or cherries soaked in brandy that are the centers. Depending on the booze or wines, you could have a range if you’re willing to do refrigerated with fruit options.”

  “That’s a greater range than the liquor balls,” Henrik said, his tone pleased.

  “Dad, balls,” Ethan exclaimed. The others chuckled like a kid talking of playing or whatever, but the twins were exceptionally good at staying focused when talking about business. It was candy after all, so yeah, that kept kids’ attention. He grabbed his sippy cup that had juice in it. “Dad, balls! Pure yay balls!”

  Evan gave a cute squeal and agreed, “Pure yay balls, Dad!” They started chanting it together, and on the third round I finally got what they meant.

  “You little smarties,” I chuckled, leaning over and kissing Ethan’s hair first. “You’re right.” I smiled at the confused faces. “They’re talking about puree. I make fruit purees for taffy flavors, but I was exhausted the other week and put it in the freezer instead of the fridge. It was going to take too long to defrost, so I scooped out frozen puree balls like tiny sorbet scoops and added it to the hot candy.”

  “You could freeze the boozy puree and then enrobe it like a truffle,” Jayme put together. “Yeah, if it was thick enough chocolate, nothing would leak out as long as you kept it refrigerated. That sounds really good.”

  I nodded, it did. “Or make it a thicker cream. It depends what type of booze because like soaking cherries in brandy takes a month, but with some alcohols you can’t do that without something bad growing on it. Wood barrels for sure.”

  Jayme beamed at me. “You really know your stuff. I don’t normally get to talk shop like this besides with Manny. He’s seriously good at any cuisine, whereas I prefer bakery goods more.”

  I nodded. “You still have to learn lots of those basics to build enough to have y
our specialty.” I went to say more but flinched when I felt Ethan in pain, turning to him.

  “I’m okay,” he announced, knowing why he had my attention like that. “Bit my tongue.” He stuck it out as if showing me, giggling when I smiled.

  “Your gift is to sense pain?” Seth surmised.

  I nodded. “I haven’t had it long, and honestly I didn’t catch it at first as I was so focused on twin babies. I thought I was just being an overprotective dad, but then realized it wasn’t empathy, but I could really feel when they hurt sometimes.”

  He nodded. “Two here have the gift that will help if you need it. They’re both doctors and handle all the medical care here.”

  I bounced that around in my head. “Yeah, that would be a good use for the gift. I didn’t think of it.” I shrugged. It wasn’t as if I had much time to sit around and just play with my gift or count my toes… Which Evan showed when he spilled his juice all over, which was impressive since it was in a sippy cup, but he knocked it just the right way that the lid came off.

  He apologized, ducking his head in embarrassment that he did it during a meeting, but smiled when I gave him kissy faces and quickly cleaned it up. I listened to the pitch and line of products, agreeing to play with some ideas as long as he knew I couldn’t drop everything for it. I adored Jayme, smiling when he muttered excitedly about ideas for cakes or cookies that he wanted to make.

  And more that he wanted to cover in chocolate or make for my needs. He was going to come over to Proximo’s with lunch and then he could see what I currently offered, as I knew there were at least some boxes coming of product, probably a case of each. I didn’t want to move everything, and that was why the store had sales, but I didn’t want to be completely out either.

  I couldn’t shut off that part of my worrying nature that would allow me to be completely without product.