Read Batter Up (Bachelors of Buttermilk Falls Book 1) for Free Online

going to sound funny, but would you mind if we traded tables?” She pointed to an empty booth behind him.
    “Sorry? You need me to move?” He put the phone back to his ear, not taking his eyes off Emma. “Hold on, Tina.”
    “Yes, I sit here every Sunday.”
    He glanced around at the empty tables and booths in the restaurant. “And you can’t sit at any of those?”
    “No.” She realized she sounded a little OCD but didn’t care. “It has to be this one,” she said meekly.
    “I see. Listen, I’m on an important call. You’ll need to sit somewhere else today.” The stranger turned back to his laptop, completely ignoring her. He continued his phone conversation.
    Emma huffed. Was he really not going to move? He clearly didn’t belong in Buttermilk Falls. Guys from this town never displayed such rudeness.
    “Fine.” She slid into the booth behind him, opened her paper, and stared out the window. The view from her new vantage point would be fine, but that was hardly the point. It wasn’t her table. It wasn’t the place that her father would see her outside the window and recognize his daughter.
    Who the hell did this egotistic out-of-towner think he was? She cocked her head and studied his backside. He didn’t look familiar. Maybe he was someone’s distant relative just passing through.
    She scooted all the way inside the booth to get a better look out the window. It was one minute to two o’clock. She held her breath and watched. A minute later she let it out and frowned. The scene outside was always the same.
    Disappointed, she glanced one last time at the stranger. He stood and gave her a smug smile. “Table’s free.”
    “No, thanks.” Stupid ass. “Say, how do you feel about the color green?”
    “Sorry?”
    “Oh, nothing.” She narrowed her eyes and sipped her coffee, watching him pay his check. Too bad she couldn’t channel her deceased grandmother and turn this handsome jerk into a frog.

4
    E mma slid into her car and reached in her visor for her black sunglasses. Another Monday. Luckily, her shift didn’t start until noon. It was Abby’s turn to open the bakeshop, a nice opportunity for Emma to do some work around the house. Even though the calendar said July 22, she still hadn’t pulled all her summer clothes out of storage. Feeling accomplished, she headed to work.
    Pulling out, she glanced over at the cottage next door and shook her head. Caitlin’s black BMW sat in the driveway. It had sat there all weekend. Still no sign of the mystery bachelor her arch rival had managed to snag. God knows what they were doing inside.
    She hoped he wasn’t any of the guys who would stop by tonight. The last thing she wanted was to see Caitlin’s name swirling in her batter.
    Not that she had much control over the matter. The enchanted mixture seemed to have a mind of its own. It had been two months since the mysterious letter J incident. It hadn’t made sense that night, and it still didn’t. Emma chalked it up to Abby being a beginner.
    She drove down the gravel path to the main road that took her to the heart of town. Five minutes later, she pulled into the Sugar Spoon. It was another gorgeous summer day with highs in the mid-eighties. Not a cloud in the sky.
    Their customers were enjoying the new patio furniture she and Abby had purchased last month. She waved to Mr. and Mrs. Davis, an elderly couple who always stopped by the bakery for a sweet treat after lunch at the Star Lite. They’d been married for over fifty years, and Emma was pretty sure Mr. Davis had been one of her grandmother’s first bachelors to benefit from Batter Up back in the day.
    She parked in the back next to Abby’s blue Honda Civic and entered through the bakery’s rear door. Abby came barreling over, her eyes wide.
    “Emma! Finally! I’ve been waiting for you to get here.”
    “Someone’s excited.” She cocked an eyebrow. “What’s up?”
    “Wait till you get a load of the guy sitting at the counter.”