Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 26738 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 134(@200wpm)___ 107(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26738 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 134(@200wpm)___ 107(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
After climbing behind the wheel, he drove all the way to her bakery and was surprised to see that the shop was closed.
Tapping the wheel, he growled. She had gone home. Once he’d reversed the car, he took off, heading toward their home. Their very vacant and dull-looking house because he hadn’t got the fucking decorations out of the attic. Instead, he’d been planning a secret fucking Christmas for his woman.
He pulled into the driveway. After climbing out of the car, he found the door locked.
“Shit, fuck.” He shoved his hand into his jeans pocket, pulled out the key, and let himself into the house. At least she hadn’t changed the freaking locks.
“Ava, baby. Ava!” He called out her name. She wasn’t in the kitchen or the living room. He checked the whole downstairs, and she was nowhere to be found.
He made his way upstairs and found Umberto in his bedroom. His son was playing with some of his teething rings in his crib. A few teeth had come through, but more were still to come.
He saw the camera was turned on, and he quickly moved toward the bathroom, and sure enough, there was Ava.
She was sitting up in the bath and already wiping her face. “Smokey,” she said.
He went to her, sinking to his knees beside the tub and touching her face. “I am not, I swear to you, Ava, I am not having an affair.”
“Abriana came to you.”
“I’m pleased she fucking did.”
“I—look, I want to take this shower and then I’m going to go decorate the house. I got the decorations from the attic.”
“No, fucking no,” he said. “Damn it. I didn’t go into the attic on purpose. I don’t want us to have Christmas here. I want—this was supposed to be a surprise, but I’ve got everything at the clubhouse.”
Ava frowned. “At the clubhouse.”
Smokey ran a hand down his face. “I was hoping to make this wait for as long as possible, but I know how important the bakery is, and I was trying to make this work for you, and instead, all I’ve done is mess it up.” He shook his head. “I’ll grab Umberto, and we’re going to the clubhouse. I’m not keeping it from you.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Yeah, I do. You need to see that I was trying to make this right with you,” Smokey said. He kissed her lips, loving their plump feel against his.
Smokey fucking loved this woman. It took every single ounce of his strength to get to his feet and walk away. His very naked woman was a turn-on, but those tears were crushing to a man’s ego. He didn’t want his woman to cry.
It was nearly Christmas, and he’d somehow messed up something that was supposed to be magical and turned it into a freaking nightmare. What kind of asshole did that?
He did, clearly. He was a fucking asshole.
Smokey returned to his son and eased him out of the crib. At first, Umberto was not happy about being disturbed. He hummed to his son, kissing the top of his head, and he reached out to grab the bag filled with diapers, along with a change of clothes, and anything else that his son might need. He was no longer the small boy but growing by what felt like the hour.
He wanted to go check on Ava, but instead, he went to the kitchen to grab a couple of the prepared milk bottles Ava had already expressed. Placing them in the bag, he had everything ready as Ava came down in a pair of sweatpants and a shirt.
Her hair was a mess, and her eyes were bloodshot. “I think it’s best if I stay here.”
“No, I want you to see.”
He went to her, taking hold of her hand, and then walked outside toward the car.
It was so freaking cold, and he got his son strapped into his car seat. He made sure to cover him with a blanket as he didn’t want him to catch any kind of cold.
Once he was happy, he saw that Ava had already climbed into the front seat.
This wasn’t how he wanted the surprise. He had planned a whole big elaborate plan, where he picked her up from the bakery and claimed that he needed to head back to the clubhouse for some business.
Everyone was going to be waiting, and once he brought her in, it would be like a surprise. It sounded so perfect in his head, but now, it didn’t. Now, it fucking sucked.
He was such an asshole.
Ava continued to sniffle, and he reached out, grabbing her hand.
“Abriana shouldn’t have come to you.”
“I’m glad she did. I had no idea you even thought I was having an affair. I promise you, Ava, I will not cheat on you. No woman even compares to you.”