Always in my Heart (The Subzero Series, #2)
Read Always in my Heart (The Subzero Series, #2) Online
Authors: Rebecca Elise
Tags: #Romance, #romantic comedy, #New Adult, #Contemporary Romance
Always in my Heart
Subzero Series Book two
By: Rebecca Elise
Always in my Heart
Subzero Series Book Two
Rebecca Elise
Published by Rebecca Elise
Copyright © 2013 Rebecca Elise
Cover by RE Publishing
Cover Photo by Branislav Ostojic
This novel is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to people either living or deceased is purely coincidental. Names, places and characters are figments of the author’s imagination. The author holds all rights to this work. It is illegal to reproduce this novel without written expressed consent from the author herself.
All Rights Reserved
Table of Contents
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
Epilogue
T
hat’s it. I am officially going to disown my father. I mean seriously. Has the old man completely lost his mind? I’ve always had a close relationship with my parents but not this close. Never, ever in any way, shape or form have we been this close. Another glance inside the brown cardboard box and utter annoyance courses through my veins all over again.
My father’s first reaction to my boyfriend, Tyler, wasn’t exactly warm and fuzzy. I think he hoped I would meet some young professional hot shot that wore three piece suits and played golf on the weekends. That’s probably what most fathers want for their daughters. Instead, I showed up with the tattooed drummer of a rock band that sported a bright blue Mohawk and an appetite for shenanigans that was bordering on unhealthy – but my parents didn’t need to know about that part.
It was quite obvious that my dad was hoping Tyler was part of some bad boy phase I was going through – he’s not – and he was less than thrilled when I announced I was moving out of the condo I shared with my sister and into a place with Tyler. But this...this is absolutely ridiculous.
I shake my head as a knock sounds at my front door and I open it up to let my sister, Chloe, in. She follows me into the kitchen, sets her purse on a barstool and grabs a bottle of water out of the refrigerator. She twists of the top, takes a sip and holds it out to me. I shake my head.
“Your father has lost his mind.” I say.
Chloe laughs. “Why do you say that?”
“He sent me and Tyler a housewarming gift.” I point to the cardboard box sitting on top of the kitchen counter.
Chloe glances inside the box and her brown eyes widen as she covers her mouth with her hand, trying hard to not spit out the sip of water she just took.
“He sent you guys a box full of condoms? I told you he is worried you are going to pop out a couple of smurfs.” She sounds about as horrified as I feel.
“Yeah well I am gonna ship these bad boys back with a note that says he is a little too late just to freak him out.”
I go to close the flaps on the box when Chloe puts her arm out to stop me. She grabs a handful of condoms and drops them into a pile on top of the granite countertop.
“Hey you may want to hold on to some of these unless you want to be nine months pregnant, waddling down the aisle on my wedding day.”
I pull a disgusted face. She has a point there but I’d rather spend money on my own birth control than use the dad issued ones that are currently in my possession. I grab the ones Chloe just littered my countertop with and toss them back into the box where they belong. Out of my line of vision!
“Hey, I brought something.” She says, quickly changing the subject.
“What’s that?” I ask.
Chloe sets a green and white striped paper shopping bag down on top of the counter next to the cardboard box of fun. I recognize the logo on the bag right away. It’s from The Bake Depot, which is one of my favorite stores in the entire world. Unlike my kitchen challenged sister, I am a fabulous cook. Baking though, that is my passion. When I’m happy, I bake. When I’m angry, I bake. When I’m sad...well, then I could outfit the entire city with enough pastries for a week.
My love for baking started when I was five and I would sit on the counter and watch my grandmother make her famous red velvet cupcakes and coconut macadamia fudge. I loved how creative she was. She was always looking for new flavors to try. She would use whatever she happened to find in her pantry. That’s the way I liked to bake. Just toss in anything and hope it tastes good.
“You’ll have to look inside and see.” Chloe teases.
I peek inside the bag and see a bunch of boxes of airbrush color. I pull them out and there is every color I could possibly want – bold colors, bright colors, shimmery colors, pastel colors.
“They are to go with the airbrush kit that Jack and I ordered for you.” She says, flashing me a beaming smile.
“Wow...Thank you! You so didn’t have to do this but...thanks.”
She shrugs. “We’re excited for you and we wanted to do something nice.”
“Yeah, that and you want me to make your wedding cake.” I tease.
“The thought has entered our minds. How long do you have until the bakery opens?”
“About three weeks.”
I have been working in bakeries since I was sixteen. I started out as a cashier but by the time I was seventeen, they were letting me help out in the kitchen. At first it was just doing little things like mixing dough or fillings and rolling fondant but it wasn’t long before I was doing the fun stuff like making sugar flowers and sculpting decorations for specialty cakes.
The owners of the bakery, Claire and Warren, thought I showed so much potential that they helped pay the tuition for me to go to The New York campus of The Culinary Institute of America where I received my Bachelor’s Degree in Baking and Pastry Arts. I just had to promise to go back and work for them when school wasn’t in session and for one year after graduating. I ended up working for them for two years after graduation, until I moved here. I found a job at another bakery almost immediately. Now, after years and years of saving, I am finally opening up a place of my own. I put a down payment on the building about a month ago and have been working hard getting it set up and hiring a great staff. Now I only have three weeks to go and
Abigail’s Sweet Treats
will be open for business!
“Well you have to let me know when it opens. I want to buy the first cupcake!” Chloe says.
“You know we open at like seven in the morning right?”
Chloe gives me a deadly serious look. “Hey! Anytime is cupcake time.”
I shake my head and laugh. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if she bought a cupcake for breakfast. She would rationalize the purchase by choosing a cupcake with fruit on top since, you know, anything is healthy as long as you top it with fruit.
We hear a noise at the front door and moments later Tyler comes rushing in. He has an excited look on his face and his beaming smile makes my heart do flips. Chloe looks back and forth between the two of us smiling at each other likes fools.
“Alright, well if you’re home than mine probably is too so I’m out of here. See you guys.” She grabs her purse and waves over her shoulder as she walks out.
Tyler throws both of his hands up in the air. “I have some massive news.”
“Is that your new version of hello?”
Tyler pulls his drumsticks out of his back pocket, twirls them between his fingers and places them on top of the counter. He walks towards me confidently and places his hands on my bottom. Then, in one swift movement, he picks me up and I wrap my legs around his waist.
“My apologies love. Hello my dear, sweet Abigail. How
was
your day?”
Tyler walks forward until my back presses up against the pantry door. I open my mouth to talk, but before I have a chance to say anything, he crushes his mouth against mine. My lips part and his tongue slides in as he deepens our kiss.
“That’s more like it,” I say, pulling my head back. “My day was good. Now tell me about your massive news.”
He sets me back down but keeps his arms wrapped tightly around my waist. “Yes – it’s massive, huge, gigantic, unbelievably massive...”
“You already said massive like three times now. How about you just spit it out?”
“Right, so have you ever heard of a group called Stardust?”
“Ummm, yes...they
are
a New York based band you know.”
“Well they have asked us to record a couple tracks with them for their upcoming album!”
“Tyler! That’s amazing! When do you start recording?”
“They arrive in two days’ time. We’re writing a couple songs with them too. This album is going to be completely brill and I’m so...do you have any idea how hot female rockers are?”
I smack his arm and give him a look of mock disgust. “Please try to remember when you are around these hot female rockers – or any females at that – that you, sir, are in a committed relationship.”
Tyler grins and leans down to give me a kiss. “I could never forget that. I love you Abby.”
“Yeah, yeah I love you too.”
“Do you have any idea what this could do for Subzero? We’ve been waiting so long for our music to be heard round the world and this could be exactly the thing we need. Maybe we could go on tour opening for someone. Maybe even Stardust. Then in one or two years’ time we could be headlining our own tours.”
“Oh good, then I can deal with hot female rockers
and
groupies.” I say sarcastically.
Tyler frowns. “Wouldn’t you come with me if we ever went on tour?”
“Of course I would but do you think some skanky, rabid groupie would let me stand in her way if she really wanted to get to you?”
“Well, it doesn’t matter what some random groupie wants. The only groupie I want is you.”
“Good because I’m telling you right now, if I catch you with some groupie, I’m taking off with the first roadie I see and...”
Tyler’s hands fly into my hair and he silences me by pressing his lips firmly against mine. His brown eyes look wild when he pulls back.
“I don’t even want to
think
about you and some other guy. I’d hate to have to unleash my mental on the poor bastard.”
“Your mental?” I say with a laugh. “Now that would be a sight worth seeing.”
I love Tyler. I do, more than anything in this world...but he’s not the most intimidating guy. He has nice muscle tone but he’s not exactly built...actually even with the slight muscle definition that he does have, he is still a bit gangly. He’s a decent height but definitely not looming over anyone. To top it off, he’s a bit goofy and he has blue hair. Who does he really think he is scaring with his lanky blue self?
He holds his hands out in front of him and looks at me with a serious look. “Woman, you have no idea what these hands are capable of doing.”
I grab his hands, pulling them back to my waist as I move towards him closing any distance left between the two of us. Lifting up on my toes, I lean in and whisper into his ear. “Actually, I think I know
exactly
what your hands are capable of doing.”
Tyler quickly licks his lips as he stares down at me with half lidded eyes. “You think? How about I show you so that you can be absolutely positive?”
“Oh I am absolutely positive but please, who am I to turn down the opportunity to be pawed and pushed to the edge of ecstasy by the one and only Tyler McDermott?”
Tyler cocks his head to the side and lifts one of his eyebrows. “Are you messing with me because I still can’t tell sometimes when you are being sarcastic and when you are being serious?”
I throw my head back and laugh. “Oh okay, Mr. I once shaved my name into a complete strangers head and then proceeded to decorate it with spray paint...you have a hard time telling when people are being serious?”
His lips turn up into a giant smile. “Not people, just you. You have this biting sarcasm that surprises me still sometimes. You’re my feisty little firecracker.”