Series: Paige Michaels
Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45693 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45693 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Mateo met Deke’s gaze over Maya’s head. “If there’s a delivery tomorrow, I’ll try to get information from the person who drops them off, but that’s a long shot. I’ll pop you a text.”
“Thank you.” Deke took Maya’s hand and led her back through the dining room and out the front door.
Mateo followed them and locked up behind them.
As soon as Deke had Maya settled and was buckling himself in the driver’s seat, he turned to face her. “You okay? You’re fidgeting.” She was rubbing her hands together and bouncing her knees.
“It’s just those roses. If I hadn’t met you and someone had delivered them with no note for several days, I’d have been in a total freaked-out panic. Now that it’s sinking in, that panic is flooding in with it all at once.”
Deke took her hand and brought it to his lips to kiss her fingers. “I’m sorry, Precious Girl. I bet it’s innocent. Let’s go home. You’re so tired it’s exacerbating the situation and making it seem worse than it probably is. Tomorrow we’ll go see Daisy. Hopefully she’ll know who’s sending them, and that will be the end of it.”
“Okay.” Maya drew in a deep breath, released it slowly, and forced a smile. “Let’s go home.”
Chapter Twelve
When Deke’s phone rang at eleven the next morning, he glared at it from across the room. He and Maya had slept late and lingered in bed even later exploring each other’s bodies. The only reason they’d finally showered together and put on clothes had been because they were starving.
Now they were at the table, and Deke was feeding his Little girl breakfast. The ring tone made him cringe.
Maya glanced toward the kitchen counter. “Do you need to get that?”
Deke stiffened. “Yes.”
Maya giggled. “Then why are you just sitting there?”
“Because that’s the ring tone for my boss.”
“Oh.” Maya’s shoulders dropped. “I guess you better see what she wants. Life gets in the way sometimes. We got to spend fourteen hours in a row together,” she teased.
Deke growled. “We were sleeping ten of those.”
Maya reached over and cupped his face. “The other four hours were delightful.” Her cheeks turned pink.
The phone had stopped ringing, but now it beeped, letting him know there was a message.
Deke dragged himself from the table, snagged the phone from the counter, and dialed his boss without checking the message.
“Hey, Deke,” she said cheerfully, answering on the first ring.
“Rose…”
“Oh, crap. I’m sorry. It didn’t occur to me you might panic and think I was calling to ask you to work. It’s not that at all.”
Deke let out a slow breath. Thank God.
“I was actually calling to see if you and Maya wanted to go to Little Cakes today with Adam and me. I know Maya is important to you, and I feel bad that I haven’t met her.”
Deke smiled as he returned to the table. “I was actually planning to take Maya there today anyway. What time are you going?”
“How does two sound?”
“Perfect.”
“Okay. See you soon.” Rose ended the call.
Maya was searching Deke’s face. “You’re smiling, so it must not be too bad.”
“Not at all. She and her Daddy are going to Little Cakes this afternoon, and she wanted to see if we could go also so she could meet you. I’ve been talking about you nonstop for days. Rose is growing curious about the Little girl who’s captured my heart.”
Maya’s eyes went wide. “Your boss is Little?”
“Yep. Her Daddy is Adam. He owns a gumball factory.”
“That’s so cool. I wonder if he can get me some gumballs.”
Deke chuckled. “I’m sure he can one of these days.” He lifted his fork to feed Maya another bite of scrambled eggs. “Let’s finish breakfast, then we can spend some time playing. We’re meeting Rose and Adam at two, and I want to stop by Blooms by Daisy first.”
“Okay.” She opened her mouth to accept the bite.
Deke was glad she wasn’t still in a panic about the flowers today. A good night’s rest had calmed her. That and the fact that he’d done his best to distract her nearly every moment they’d been awake so far.
“Maybe we could play a game,” she suggested after she swallowed her bite.
“That sounds like fun. What game do you want to play?”
“I don’t know yet. I haven’t had a chance to explore everything in the nursery yet.”
“Are you full, Precious Girl?”
She nodded.
He wiped her mouth with a cloth and pushed the chair back. “How about you go pick out a game while I clean up the kitchen?”
Deke smiled as he watched Maya skip out of the room. She was growing more and more comfortable in his home with every passing day. Even though they hadn’t had a chance to spend many waking hours together, their relationship had progressed in leaps and bounds in the bedroom.
Maya was twenty-three. She had tons of energy. No matter how tired she was every night, she always perked up when he got her clothes off.