Carly's Second Chance Daddy

Book 1: Lost River Littles

by Stella Moore

Genres: Contemporary Romance; New Adult Romance

Synopsis

Giving her the second chance she deserves, could mean losing his one chance at true love…

From the moment Matt Crawford lays eyes on Lost River’s gorgeous newcomer, he’s consumed with the need to take her as his own.

And when she submits to his strict discipline with delightful abandon, he knows he’s found his perfect Little girl.

But her bright smile hides a devastating secret, and it turns out the best way to love her, might be to let her go…

 

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Release date: August 15, 2023

Print pages: 302

Sample

Chapter 1

 

It hadn’t taken long for her to grow bored with the interstate. As a child, she’d been the epitome of the ‘Are we there yet?’ cliché during long road trips. And by ‘long’, she meant anything more than a half an hour on the road.

Apparently, she wasn’t much better as an adult. She’d left her tiny little Nebraska hometown with grand ideas about a life-changing trip, which would end with her settling down somewhere new and exciting for a fresh start. But she’d barely even made it across the state line before she’d decided to ditch the ‘recommended’ option on her GPS for a more scenic—though, to her disappointment, not much more interesting—route.

Which was how she found herself far off the beaten path, several hundred miles and a three-day drive from the only home she’d ever known when her car began to shake. Then lurch forward, before the engine simply gave out right there on the side of the road.

“Well, fuck,” she muttered, turning the key several times in the hopes of bringing the ancient vehicle back to life before giving up and yanking the key from the ignition. “What are we supposed to do now, Toby?”

The well-loved stuffed dog in her passenger seat simply stared back, unblinking. Toby was great for many things, including endless bouts of middle-of-the-night tears, but he wasn’t a whole lot of help when it came to offering suggestions. He just sat there in the passenger seat, watching her intently, waiting for her to come up with a plan.

Blowing out a frustrated breath, she scanned their surroundings. Not only were they a good way off the interstate, they seemed to be a good way from… everything. The road was fairly straight and flat, making it seem as though she could see for miles and miles.

And what she could see was a whole lot of nothing, unless you counted the towering pines on either side of her.

Shit.

Grabbing her phone from the cup holder, she tapped the screen and stared at the dozens of icons, silently debating the best choice of action. If she called her dad, he would come running to save her. But he was back home in Nebraska, so even if she wanted him to come to her rescue, she’d still need to find somewhere to stay for a day or two until he could make it to South Carolina.

More to the point, she didn’t actually want him to come. It felt too much like admitting defeat, and there was that little voice in her head whispering that if she went back home now, she’d never find the courage to leave again.

“Dad is out, which means Mom and everyone else back home is out. So that leaves whoever is nearby.” Which, as far as she could tell just then, was absolutely nobody. “Maybe there’s a gas station up the road. Worth a try, right, Toby?”

Taking his silence as agreement, she opened the map on her phone and searched for the closest station. Thank god she at least had cell service out here. And much to her relief, the map showed the was indeed a gas station a little over a mile away. Maybe they had a tow truck, or at least knew somebody who could cart her little car down to a garage.

She hit the button to call the station. After about five rings, she was ready to give up when a gruff, obviously annoyed voice answered. “Hello?”

So much for that famed Southern hospitality she’d always heard of. “Hello. Hi. Ah, I’m broken down on the road about a mile away and—”

“Hello? Anybody there?"

Dammit. Pulling her phone away from her ear, she glared at the single tiny bar in the top right corner of her screen. “Hi, can you hear me?”

“Ma’am, I can’t understand a word you’re saying. You’ll need to call back.”

When the call ended, she let out a short, frustrated scream. “Forget it! Toby, we’re walking. Come on.”

Fueled by her growing anger at the situation, she grabbed the little white dog and settled him inside the cavernous tote bag she used for a purse. Danny had always teased her about it, but it had proven handy over the years, especially when there’d been so much paperwork and stuff to haul everywhere. Not to mention the dozens of bottles of medications he’d needed toward the end.

Tears blurred her vision and she wiped angrily at them as she reached for the door handle. “Get a grip, Carly,” she muttered to herself. “Crying on the side of the road isn’t going to fix anything. Grow up.”

Her resolve to walk to the gas station wavered the instant the car door swung open. Heat, heavier and more oppressive than anything she’d felt in her life slammed into her with the force of an NFL linebacker. It was so tempting to climb back into the relative coolness of her car and just wait to see if someone came along.

But without air conditioning, the heat would turn her car into an oven before too long. And since she wasn’t particularly keen on being roasted alive, she forced herself out of the vehicle.

It didn’t take long, however, for her to realize she was going to be baked like a turkey either way. How did people live like this?

She’d just about decided to stretch out in the ravine beside the road and let nature have its way with her when the loud rumble of a vehicle reached her ears. A moment later, a giant, dark green pickup truck passed her and pulled onto the shoulder, blocking her path.

Stopping several feet from the truck, she reached into her purse, her fingers seeking out the pepper spray her mama had bought her when she’d told her parents about her plans to move away from home. She was pretty sure mama had envisioned her using it to fend off muggers and rapists in the dark alleyways of whatever big city she eventually found herself in, not some redneck in a truck that just screamed he was compensating for something, but Carly imagined

it would do the trick either way. Just as the truck’s driver side door swung open, her fingers wrapped around the slender tube and she gripped it tightly.

But it wasn’t some big, scary looking man who stepped down out of the truck. It wasn’t, in fact, a man at all. The woman who jumped to the ground was almost comically short next to the huge truck. Her dark hair was cropped close in a style that managed to come across as practical and whimsical at the same time, and her eyes were hidden behind large aviator sunglasses.

“That your Toyota back there on the side of the road?” Her voice didn’t match her pixie-like appearance. It was deeper than it should have been, smooth and rich like honey.

Still keeping her distance, Carly forced a polite smile. “Yes. Unfortunately.”

“Did you call for a tow?”

There was more amusement than curiosity in the question, which had Carly’s brows drawing together in aggravation. “I tried, but the service out here sucks.”

“That, it does. It’s better in town if you’d like a ride.”

When Carly hesitated, the other woman closed the distance between them and held out her hand. “I’m Edie. Well, Edith, but nobody calls me that.”

Releasing her death grip on the pepper spray, Carly stepped forward and tentatively clasped Edie’s hand in hers. “I’m Carly. Carly Peters.”

“Nice to meet you, Carly. Now that we’re no longer strangers, would you like a ride into town or would you prefer to cook yourself to death out here in the sun?”

“That depends. Are you going to kidnap me and keep me in your basement, then chop me up into tiny pieces?” It was a joke, but just barely. Carly wasn’t sure exactly what the statistics on female serial killers were, but the odds were probably in her favor that Edie was a perfectly normal, non-homicidal woman just looking to help out a stranger.

Probably. But that small sliver of a percentage was worth the extra caution, as far as Carly was concerned.

“Nah, too much work.” Letting go of Carly’s hand, Edie waved down the road, though what she was waving toward Carly wasn’t exactly sure. “If I need to get rid of a body, I’ve got pigs.”

“I-I’m not really sure if you’re joking or not.”

Edie’s grin flashed, but with her eyes still blocked by the sunglasses, Carly wasn’t sure exactly how to read her wide smile. “About the kidnapping?"

Yes. About the pigs, no. They’re vicious little bastards and are hands down the best way to dispose of a body.”

“That’s… good to know, I guess.”

“Right? But they’ve been fed today, so I promise you’re safe with me. If you want, I’ll take you into town and call Matty to come tow your car to his garage, get him to take a look at it for you.”

She still wasn’t sure it was the smartest idea, climbing into a vehicle with a complete stranger in the middle of nowhere. But Edie seemed to know people who could help, so it did seem smart to leverage her knowledge. And Carly was fairly certain she could take her in a fight if it really came down to it. As long as the pigs didn’t get involved. There was also the whole ‘being baked alive’ thing to consider, which was what ultimately prompted Carly to follow the other woman over to the hopefully air-conditioned truck. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“Not a problem at all. Hop on in.”

Reaching back into her purse, Carly ran her hand over Toby’s fur for comfort before climbing up into the giant truck. Cold air blasted her in the face and she nearly wept with joy as her rescuer climbed in through the other door. Glancing over, Carly watched with amusement as Edie peered over the steering wheel. “How do you even drive this thing?”

“Years of practice,” Edie said as she shifted gears and pulled back onto the road. “The real question is, how do you drive that hunk of metal back there? From the looks of you, that car is older than you are.”

“A couple years short, actually. But it’s been reliable up until now.”

“They always are until they aren’t. How far are you from home, honey?”

“Far enough.” Getting a ride from a random woman in the middle of nowhere was one thing. Giving out personal information was another.

But if Edie was put out by her non-answer, it didn’t show. “And what brings you all the way out to Lost River?”

“My almost-as-old-as-me hunk of metal.”

Edie laughed, a loud, delighted sort of whoop that seemed to fill the cab of the truck. “Smartass little girl. I like you.”

Some of the tension between Carly’s shoulder blades eased. Maybe she wouldn’t end up being fed to Edie’s pigs after all. “Do you live around here?”

“I do.” Glancing over, Edie shot her another one of those wide smiles. “You know how every town has that eccentric old widow everyone is friends with but also sort of scared of at the same time?”

“Not outside of Hollywood, no. Why? Is your aunt the crazy old widow or something?”

“I said eccentric, not crazy. And no, that would be me.”

“Oh.” Grief, still raw enough to make her want to scream but familiar enough to be comforting in its own strange way, welled in Carly’s chest. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. It was years ago. Pastor Jim tells me Ken’s in a better place now, but I’m pretty sure he’s still hanging around the house, making sure I’m taking care of myself. He still gets cranky if I skip lunch.”

Growing increasingly concerned about her rescuer’s state of mind, Carly simply sat and stared at her for a moment before asking the question burning on her tongue. “Your late husband gets mad at you if you don’t eat lunch?”

“He gets his knickers in a twist over any number of things.” Edie snorted out a laugh. “Just last week Farmer Moody found a litter of puppies in his barn, no mama in sight. I spent all day taking care of them and finding them a good foster home. Managed to go the whole day without drinking a drop of water. Came home and found the tap running. I don’t know how he knew, but he knew, and I got the message loud and clear.”

“I see.” She didn’t really, but then, who was she to judge how someone else processed their grief? Lord knew there were plenty of people back home shaking their heads at how she’d chosen to deal with hers.

By the time Edie had finished her rambling story, they’d reached the edge of a town that looked like it had been plucked right out of a Hallmark Christmas movie. Adorable little Craftsman style homes lined the road, each with their own neat postage-stamp square of grass, and most of them surrounded by an explosion of colorful flowers. They weren’t perfect, though, not in the way they might be in a movie. Almost every yard was littered with toys, and several had small children running and playing and hollering the way only kids experiencing the joy found at the tail end of summer vacation could.

Longing was an ache low in her belly, and she forced her gaze away from a little blonde

blonde girl with a head full of curls twirling in circles in her front yard, the poofy purple skirt of her princess dress flying around her as she spun.

And then those sweet little houses gave way to what she supposed would be called the town center. Rows of shops, with a restaurant here or there, and a surprising number of people milling about. Like the homes they’d just driven past, it was quaint, but not quite Hollywood perfect. Which suited Carly just fine. She’d had enough of living her life like it was some kind of movie.

“Did you have lunch?”

Edie’s question drew Carly’s attention away from two women arguing in front of a florist shop. “Not yet. Are you going to tattle on me?”

Unbothered by the teasing, Edie shrugged, another of those easy smiles stretching across her pixie-like face. “I might. But since I haven’t eaten either and I’d rather not get home and find all my kitchen cabinets hanging open again, we’ll stop in at Joe’s. We can call Matty from there. Odds are it’s going to take him a bit to get out to your car anyway, so we might as well enjoy the wait, right?”

“Um, right. Yes.” It beat sitting on the side of the road, or walking through the thick South Carolina humidity, that was for sure. It could get hot back home in Nebraska, but nothing like what she’d experienced in those few minutes before Edie had picked her up.

That same wall of heat and humidity smacked her in the face when she hopped back out of the truck, but at least this time she was somewhat prepared for it. Not that it was any less miserable, but at least she had time to brace herself for said misery.

From the outside, Joe’s Diner didn’t look like much. In fact, other than the sign itself, there wasn’t much to distinguish it from the shops on either side.

The inside wasn’t really anything that special, either, if she was honest. Cool, for which she was eternally grateful, and loud in a way that told her people came here to enjoy each other as much as the food.

But if that food tasted half as good as it smelled, she was in for a treat. A greasy,

tummy-cramping treat, she imagined, but her mouth was already watering. After almost two days of subsisting entirely on whatever could be found in a drive-thru, she was ready for some real, honest-to-goodness cooking.

Without bothering to wait for a hostess or waitress or anything, Edie strode in and claimed a booth off in the far corner of the diner. Curious glances flicked their way as they passed occupied tables, and several people nodded a greeting in Edie’s direction.

Small towns really were pretty much the same wherever you went, Carly mused with more than a little bitterness as she slid into the booth opposite Edie. It was odd being the interloper for once, instead of the town sweetheart. But as much as she hated the stares and the whispers, that anonymity comforted her.

Here, nobody knew a damn thing about her. People might look at her with curiosity, they might wonder about her, and about what she was doing here. And if Edie was the eccentric figure she’d painted herself to be, they might even wonder what crazy thing she’d gone and gotten herself into now. But Carly found solace in the one thing missing from their curious looks. The one emotion she had never been able to stand seeing in the faces of people she’d known her entire life. The thing she’d escaped by running almost a thousand miles from the only home she’d ever known.

For the first time in years, nobody was looking at her with pity in their eyes. And she finally felt like she could breathe again.

 

Chapter 2

Matt Crawford was on the other side of town when he got the call. Sandwich in one hand, barely tasting the ham and cheese as he hurried it down his throat in the few minutes he had for lunch, he reached into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out his insistently buzzing phone.

“Yeah,” he grunted around a mouthful as he pressed the device against his ear.

“Hey, Matty. Need a favor. There’s a Corolla over on sixty-one, about a mile east of old man Faulkner’s, that needs a tow.”

“Can’t today.” Even as he spoke, his mind worked through who in town had a Corolla, and more importantly, how much of a fuss they were going to make over having to wait in line.

“It’s kind of an emergency. We have a visitor.”

“We always have visitors,” he argued back. Being as close to Charleston as they were, plenty of tourists wandered through on their way to or from. Enough to keep the town coffers pretty full from what he understood, but not so many that it disturbed the peace. Which was just how he liked it.

“Consider it a personal favor, then.”

That had his eyebrows winging up in surprise. It wasn’t often Edie McDowell asked for a favor, at least where an animal wasn’t concerned. What was it about this mystery visitor that had her reaching out?

It was his own curiosity more than anything that had him agreeing. “All right. I’ll see what I can do, but it might be a while. Does this visitor of yours need a ride anywhere?” Might as well offer to play chauffeur while he was at it.

“Got that all taken care of. Thanks, Matty. I owe you one.”

“I’m holding you to that,” he grumbled before ending the call and shoving the phone back in his pocket, all the while mentally arranging what needed to be done right away and what could wait until he got back.

At his feet, Elmo chuffed softly, his round eyes peering directly into Matt’s soul before moving to the last bit of sandwich and back to Matt’s face. Not even bothering to sigh, Matt held the sandwich out. With a grace most people wouldn’t have attributed to a dog his size, Elmo plucked the treat from his owner’s hand and seemingly swallowed it whole.

“You could at least do me the honor of tasting the food you steal from me, you big oaf.”

Elmo didn’t bother pretending to be ashamed. His goofy face split into the wide pitty-grin that had been Matt’s downfall since the day Edie had brought him in the shop and all but forced Matt to adopt him.

Well, he’d let Edie think she’d been forcing him. In reality, it had been love at first sight. But that was a secret Matt was determined to take to his grave.

“Come on, ‘Mo. Let’s go tell Jack what’s up.”

The sound of metal clanging against metal greeted him as he stepped out of the cool office and back into the sweltering heat of the shop. A southern man born and raised, he was used to the brutal summers, but there was no doubt it was still absolutely vicious in the garage.

Scowling down at the faded and peeling blue paint of the sedan he was currently attempting to breathe new life into, Jack Hanson wiped his hands on the oily rag he kept on him at all times. Jack was a solid forty years Matt’s senior, built like Clemson’s entire defensive line, and the best damn mechanic Matt had ever known. He was eternally grateful Jack had come with the garage when Matt had purchased it from the previous owner. ...