Page 3 of Bad Boy in Her Bed

Epson was, despite its multitude of street lights, a small town at heart.And at the heart stood the gossip.

Pulling into Tracy’s Doghouse’s parking lot, she eased in beside Birch and took a moment to refresh her lipstick in her rearview mirror.

During their weekly calls, her own mother sprinkled in the rumors of those Baker boys over the past decade, the stories littered among updates of marriages and divorces, deaths and births.None of the brothers, save Winter, had a name outsideone of those Baker boys.

At least, not until today.

Birch.Baker.

Angling her mirror, she watched him walk around the back of her car, nervously wiping his palms on his jeans before flexing his fingers and shoving his hands into his back pockets.

He was dangerously gorgeous.

His hazel eyes were ringed with a brilliant emerald, standing out against his chestnut-brown hair and a strong jawline accented by a scruff that hadn’t seen a razor in a few days.A grey t-shirt did little to conceal his fighter’s build or the ink running down the length of his arms, peeking out along the collar.His jeans were faded and well-worn, sitting precariously low on his narrow hips and threatening to drop further below the band of his black boxers with every step.

He was a beautiful break from the tailored suits, khakis, polos, and manipulative assholes she’d been surrounded by for the past few years.

Getting out, she stepped aside as he closed her door for her.“I keep expecting Tracy’s to be shuttered every time I come here,” she stated, leading him into the diner and instinctively walking straight to the booth she used to frequent as a teenager.“The good places always seem to go under when the chain restaurants move into town.”

He cleared his throat as he slid into the red booth across from her, his back to the wall and the table quivering with the steady bouncing of his knee.“Sam’s Diner went under last fall.Murphy’s Pizza went down, too.I think that was two or three years ago.”

A server approached them to take their drink orders and Birch hunched his shoulders a fraction, as though trying to make himself less visible while he muttered a polite request for a coffee.

Jocelyn waited until they were alone again and opened her menu, glancing over it to watch him scan the restaurant.“You won’t get in trouble for walking away from your work in the middle of the day, will you?”

“Nah.Ryder was already on his way to prep for a client when I texted him, so we’re good.”Drumming his fingers on his closed menu, he gave her a lopsided grin and she realized right then and there why every woman in Epson was warned about those Baker boys from the time they could walk.“Business lunches are one of the benefits of being the boss.”

“Then we better make this meal legitimate.”She smiled.“Tell me about how you got into the tattoo business.”

He licked his lips and shifted in his seat, his eyes darting to the couple being sat at the table beside them.“I started with some pretty rudimentary stuff in high school.You know, basement tats on friends using cheap guns and black ink.Then I had a couple years to focus on my drawing skills before Ryder and I decided our best chance to get jobs around here was to create them ourselves.”

Reading between the lines, she put two and two together with the updates her mom had provided a few years back.

Birch must have been the other Baker boy who spent a good chunk of time in jail.

Mulling it over while they gave their food orders, she sat back and sipped at her coffee, deciding not to broach the whole incarceration topic.“From what I saw in that album, you two have been busy.”

“Yeah, it’s been decent,” he replied with a shrug.“I built my clientele list by giving cover-up discounts to everyone I tatted up back in high school and it kind of grew from there.”

“Smart move, using a marketing campaign to eliminate evidence of your worst work,” she teased with a smile, pleased when he grinned back at her.“So, Birch Baker, do I make you nervous, or are you always this tense?”

Chapter Two

Birch choked onhis coffee, his coughing fit buying him a few seconds to think of a response that didn’t make him sound like some washed up thirty-one-year-old loser still hung up on his teen years.“Ah, yeah, a bit of both,” he replied sheepishly, gripping his mug and hoping for the distraction of a refill.“I mean, I’m kind of a wound up guy on the best of days.And you’re, well, you know, you’re Jocelyn Carter obviously.And around here, hanging out with a Baker is still considered social suicide, so…” He trailed off for a moment then smirked at her, hoping to lighten the mood before their meals came.“Plus, you’re smoking hot.Most guys probably lose a few brain cells whenever you walk by.”

“Social suicide,” she echoed, cocking a brow.“Are you worried about damaging my reputation or yours?”

Thanking the server as she set down their lunches, he scoffed.“Let’s just say one of us is a pariah around here, and it isn’t you.Doesn’t matter for how long you leave Epson, you return to the exact same position.”Not wanting to dwell too long on how low his position in town was while sitting across from the cream of the crop, he took a bite of his burger and changed the subject.“Speaking of returning, what brought you back?”

“Work,” she stated, eying her BLT with such hunger he envied the sandwich, briefly contemplating what it would be like to have the same unrestrained desire turned his way.“I do accounting for a firm based out of New Jersey and I need to be on site here to track down a number company, gather some information, and review it.Entertaining stuff, I assure you.”Taking a bite, she moaned in appreciation and his appetite for food disappeared, replaced by a completely different craving.“This is so damn good.”Her gaze zeroed in on his burger.“How’s yours?”

Setting it down, he grabbed his knife and sliced it, nudging half onto her plate.“Try it for yourself.”

She passed him the other half of her BLT and sampled the burger, pointing at it wordlessly and giving the thumbs up until she swallowed.The conversation turned to an easy back and forth about the new restaurants in town while they reminisced about old favorites that had closed down.He caught her up on the troubles the new east side subdivision was having with their water system and she explained the insanity of the New Jersey freeways.

Sighing as she finished the last of her BLT, she eyed his fries.“I swear Tracy must put some kind of drug in these.Or she has a deal going with the devil.I can’t go more than forty-eight hours from the moment my feet hit Epson before I’m chomping at the bit to eat here.”

“So I take it you just arrived?Is it a big job?”he asked, curious about how long she’d be in town, wondering how much free time she’d have, and knowing it wouldn’t matter because once this freak accident of a lunch was over, they’d both be returning to their respective sides of the town’s water tower.

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