Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 88263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“Good. Then I’ve done my job.”
“Bastard.”
He grins pulling me back down on top of him. “How about I buy a bed? I could get one delivered tonight.”
“You want to stay here?”
“Why leave?”
“The place is empty, for one.”
“That’s easy to fix, but why rush? I’d like to fuck you on every surface before we start filling it with stuff.”
I roll my eyes. “Like you’re marking your territory.”
“You are my territory, my love.”
“You keep saying that. The whole love thing.” I sit up, staring into his eyes. “Do you really mean it?”
“Yes.” He sits up, takes my hands in his. “Are you really still questioning it?”
“I don’t know. I’m just—”
“You’re getting used to the idea that this is for real.” He leans forward, kissing me so gently. “It’s all real, my darling wife. I love you. I’ve loved you since that first night.”
I nod, lean forward, and kiss him back. When we break apart, there are tears in my eyes. “Buy the bed.”
“I’ll make the call.” He stands, stretches, and sighs. “I’ll have them throw in sheets, pillows, and maybe some towels too. A shower would be nice.”
“We need soap. Shampoo.”
“I have a few calls to make then.” He grins at me and doesn’t bother getting dressed as he searches for his phone. When he finds it, he moves off toward the door.
“Nolan,” I call out before he can leave.
He looks back. “Yes, wife?”
“I love you too.”
He doesn’t move. He looks like I pulled a gun and shot him in the chest. Slowly, his face relaxes, and a huge grin spreads out like a sunrise.
“I knew you would.”
“Asshole. Always ready to ruin a nice moment.”
He walks over, scoops me into his arms, and kisses me. I laugh as he hugs me tight against him, grinning like a maniac. I’m smiling too as a huge stress lifts away from my shoulders, my decision made, my path chosen, and I know it’s the right one.
“Bed now,” he says. “Then more fucking.”
“Yes, please.”
He slaps my ass then walks out of the room, already barking orders to some poor asshole on the other end of the line.
I stand alone in the master bedroom. In my master bedroom. Where soon I’ll have a bed, and a husband that I love, and a future, and a baby. I press my hand against my belly, grinning to myself, laughing a little. There are no regrets. No hesitation.
Only this is right.
“Keely,” Nolan calls from downstairs. “Come here and let’s order something to eat.”
“Coming,” I call back, hesitating as I stare at the empty room, filled with only the smell of our sex and our clothes in a pile, then follow him down into the kitchen.
Chapter 44
Keely
They sit on the trays like puffs of heaven.
Each donut represented hours of work. Not only baking, but testing, refining, perfecting. Glazed, sugar, powder, crumb, vanilla and chocolate, sprinkles and cream-filled, cake donuts, twists, apple-filled, Boston cream, even a few bear claws. Maple buttermilk, toasted coconut, crumb cake, glazed devil’s food, blueberry and strawberry. Donut holes by the fistful.
And right in the center, the exact same donut I used to make with my grandmother. Vanilla with chocolate frosting and rainbow sprinkles. The perfect donut, with that ideal fluffy interior texture and that slight texture on the outside, the glaze a deep chocolate bite, masterfully dipped. Everything about them, perfect.
“I’m getting emotional,” I announce, staring at the trays. “I’m getting emotional over donuts.”
Jamila laughs as she puts an arm around my shoulders. “I think that’s pretty normal. I mean, it’s our first batch, right?”
“They’re perfect,” Ash says from her perch on a nearby workbench.
Bernie agrees. “Couldn’t have done better.”
“I could have,” Fulco grumbles.
I flip him off, but he winks at me, and I laugh.
The whole Smoke team pitched in to help make this happen. We don’t have a staff yet, though Jamila’s already going through resumes. In a few more weeks, we’ll have employees, we’ll have processes, we’ll have customers.
But for today, it’s only my family.
“Everyone, can I say something?” I turn to face them, feeling strangely nervous. All eyes are on me, and it hits me then.
I’m the boss here. I’m the one in charge, Jamila and I. Ash, Bernie, Fulco, they’re just my friends pitching in, but they’re looking to me for leadership.
It’s strange, being the one everyone relies on.
But for the first time in my life, it feels good.
“This better not be sappy,” Fulco says. “I do not have time for sappy.”
“Don’t be a prick.” Bernie punches his arm. He grimaces. “Go ahead, Keels.”
“I just wanted to thank you all for getting up at the crack of dawn to help make all this stuff.” I gesture at the deep-fried bounty. “Jams and I worked really, really hard to get the recipes just right, but we wouldn’t have been able to do all this in time without you three. So seriously, thanks.”