Series: Little Cakes Series by Pepper North
Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Deke smiled at her as he locked the gate. “I had a great time here today, Rose.”
“Thank you so much for helping me out. You’re amazing.”
He shrugged his huge shoulders. “It was my pleasure. I’ve only been in town a few weeks. I haven’t yet decided what sort of job I want to do next. Any chance you’re in the market for a manager?”
Rose beamed. “Now that you mention it… I hadn’t considered hiring a manager until today, but your presence has made me think. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea. I talked to Adam when he was here earlier. He thinks you’d be an excellent addition to my team. I’ll need to crunch some numbers first and see what I can afford. Can you come in tomorrow? We’ll talk then.”
Deke held out a hand. “Sounds like a plan. I know I won’t make as much money as I was making in the big city, but the cost of living is significantly less in this town too, so I bet we can come up with something we can agree on.”
Rose shook his hand, feeling far lighter than she had all day, or perhaps in weeks.
“Need me to do anything else for you tonight?”
“Nope. You’ve been so much help. Go on home. I’ll just finish up some bookwork and be out of here in a few minutes.”
Deke narrowed his gaze. “You have someone to walk you out, right?”
“Yep.”
Deke dug into his pocket and produced a business card, which he handed to Rose. “In case you need to get ahold of me, Rose. It was a pleasure. I don’t remember when I’ve had this much fun at work. The day flew by. Seeing the faces of everyone as they go through the process of creating the perfect stuffie is so much fun.” He leaned in conspiratorially. “Especially the adults. This town sure has a lot of Littles living in it, doesn’t it?”
Rose nodded slowly, uncertain how he felt about that.
Deke winked at her. “Don’t you worry. I’m a Daddy myself. I enjoy helping Littles choose their new stuffie.”
Rose blew out a breath, relieved. It would sure be easier if she didn’t have to keep lifestyle secrets from her new manager. Another strong point in favor of hiring Deke.
“See you tomorrow.” He waved as he took off.
Rose was giddy as she went through the motions of closing up and getting the deposits ready. In no time at all, she was ready to go. As she headed through the nearly vacant mall toward the entrance where she had parked, she looked around for Johnny.
The man was nowhere to be found. By the time she reached the exit, she hadn’t seen him. She glanced outside. She could see her car. It was in her line of sight. She’d left the mall alone dozens of times, but that had been before she’d met her Daddy.
Adam had been adamant about making sure she had someone with her when she headed to her car. He would be furious if he found out she’d taken a risk.
She really wanted to get home though. She wanted to be able to spend every moment of the rest of her evening with Daddy, not waste ten extra minutes waiting for him to come to the mall to help her walk a few yards. Even though she knew there was a spanking coming her way tonight, she still wanted to get home.
While she was hedging, she saw the usual group of teenagers come into view. They were milling around in the parking lot. They appeared to be laughing and shoving each other good-naturedly. She knew they looked up to her and wouldn’t let anyone bother her.
Should she take the chance?
“You’re being silly, Rose. Just go get in your car. It will be fine.” She shoved through the doors and started walking briskly toward her car. An odd unease crept up her neck, but she tried to brush it off and walked faster.
Suddenly, she felt a presence behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw two young men jogging toward her. They’d obviously been standing near the entrance, possibly against the wall. Waiting?
Rose had her satchel over her shoulder and across her body. She clutched it tightly and continued walking.
“Hey,” someone shouted. She thought it came from the group of teenagers. “Leave her alone.”
When she let her gaze shift in their direction, she found about six of them running toward her. A second later, someone grabbed the straps of her satchel and tugged so hard she lost her balance.
Rose screamed as loud as she could, hoping to get the attention of anyone else in the parking lot.
“Let her go,” one of the teenagers yelled.
Suddenly, Rose was surrounded. The two men who were trying to get her bag had their hands on her, but the six teenagers were pulling them off.