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)
“I handled that badly. I’ve seen the way Smokey looks at you, Ava. He is in love with you. There is no one else that he wants. Just you. Always only you.”
“I think you’ve mistaken your husband for that,” Ava said.
“I know Ugly Beast loves me, and I love him, but it’s different. It’s always so different.”
Ava didn’t want to talk about this, and she quickly went to the door where she saw people waiting. She wanted the distraction of customers.
“Ava?”
“Abriana, I get it, he loves me, and I love him. You’re right. I was seeing all the wrong things.”
****
Larissa looked at the large tree and smiled. This was going to be the perfect surprise for Ava. She pushed some of her hair out of the way and looked at her handiwork.
She loved Christmas. Always had.
Her dad always allowed her to decorate the tree. When she was a kid, it would look like a jumbled mess, but in recent years, since seeing the beautiful magazines and catalogs, she had created a masterpiece.
“It’s looking good,” Harlow said.
Larissa nodded. “I hope Ava likes it. I don’t know what color scheme she’d like.”
“It’s Ava, she likes anything. Trust me, Smokey is going to get some serious sex once we’re done.” Harlow winced. “Crap, am I supposed to say those kinds of words to you?”
She burst out laughing. Being the priest’s daughter certainly came with its interesting interactions. For the longest time, she had noticed how nervous everyone was around her. “I know what sex is, Harlow. Please, don’t worry about it.”
She wasn’t a prude.
A lot of people seemed to see her as some kind of weak, innocent, young girl they needed to protect. They didn’t.
She had lived alone with her father, had helped to take care of him. Had learned a lot about being a young woman on her own. Where other girls were getting advice on tampons and being guided by their mother, she had the mortifying experience of everything being told by her father. He’d been so embarrassed as he didn’t have the first clue.
Of course, he’d been so horrified by how little he knew, he drove them out of town when she was twelve, and they had to have the conversation with a woman in a pharmacy. Larissa had done her research and told her dad not to worry.
This was why she never had a boyfriend. No one wanted to do anything with the priest’s daughter. She had a big fat cross right across her person. Larissa had to wonder if there was a cross that she couldn’t see.
“I’m sorry. I open my mouth and it just vomits words.”
Larissa laughed. She adored Harlow. She was the only person who didn’t worry about what she said or hold back. Of course, she always apologized, but that was after the fact.
“That’s my bread,” Larissa said when her timer went off.
She wanted to fill the air with homely scents. Not the smells of cigarettes and beer. Homemade bread was always a winner. It certainly helped to make her mouth water. After stepping away from Harlow, she made her way toward the kitchen. She grabbed a pair of oven mitts and slid them onto her hands, opening the oven and then pulling out two, large loaves.
They looked so good. She placed them on top of the stove, closed the oven, and then eased each one out, giving them a quick test before placing them on a cooling rack.
“You bake bread!”
Larissa turned to see Big Dick sitting at the kitchen table.
“Yeah. Ava loves bread, and I think it will be nice for her not having to make anything this Christmas.”
“She owns a bakery.”
“Doesn’t mean that she has to do all the cooking when she comes here.” She didn’t know exactly when Smokey was going to finally share all of his plans with Ava, but the longer he left it, the bigger the surprise, she imagined.
Larissa smiled at Big Dick and then moved toward the door. There was a lot to do. She had several loads of laundry to fold and a bathroom to clean. She had also offered to organize Smokey’s office, but he wasn’t too interested in that.
She knew he had already given the men the hands-off speech. All of his club members had been different toward her after twenty-four hours of her working here. She imagined it was down to his respect for her father. They were always looking out for her, not that she needed it. She wasn’t any of these men’s types. She’d seen them all around town with the women who lived at the club. Not that she’d seen a lot of the women in the last few days. It was like they had all but vanished.
“You know you shouldn’t be working here,” Big Dick said. “This isn’t the place for someone like you.”