Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 135696 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135696 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Riggs left the brats, which were done, and had been for ten minutes, in the skillet and headed to the door.
He opened it, and he wasn’t pissed anymore.
Not even a little.
Because Nadia stood there, her hair done up in a bunch of big curls that looked great, and for the first time that he’d seen, she had makeup on. It was subtle but seriously fucking gorgeous. He could also see the soft green turtleneck coming out of her traditional trench coat that gave her an elegant outdoors vibe he liked too much.
But there was more.
She was holding a cake plate by its stem in her fist, on which were thick layers of some dark chocolate cake that looked moist as fuck, this topped with swirls of creamy frosting.
In her other hand dangled a plastic grocery bag he could tell held a gallon tub of ice cream in it, and outside, a six-pack of bottles of beer.
“I’m sorry. So sorry. I got a wild hair,” she said swiftly. “This stout cake is insane. Perfect for après brats. I took a walk around the lake, and you texted me with the time, and I got the idea, but I didn’t have the ingredients, so I had to run to town. I also didn’t have a springform cake pan, or a cake plate, so it was more running around than I thought it would be. I forgot to factor in cooling time so I could frost it, and as such, it all went haywire.”
He felt Ledger behind him, so he took the cake plate from her and handed it off to his boy, who also was no longer pissed, considering he was staring at the cake with big eyes like he wanted to shove his entire face in it (you could say Angelica wasn’t a baker, or a cook).
It was no longer raining, but it was still cold, so Riggs then reached out and pulled Nadia in before he took the beer and ice cream from her.
He’d closed the door by the time she launched in again.
“It’s incredibly rude to be so late. God, I’m so sorry. But I thought you guys would really like the cake, and once I started, I couldn’t stop. And I didn’t want to say anything, or it would spoil the surprise.”
“Honey?”
She nodded.
“Shut up. I was pissed. I’m not now because I like cake, and Ledge likes it more. So lose the coat and come in so we can eat.”
She smiled brightly at him in an easy, open and relaxed way he’d never seen from her, and for a second, he was stunned inert by it.
Her shrugging off her coat and hooking it on the hooks by the door, exposing her sweater was slouchy and bunched at her waist. But on the bottom, she was wearing skinny jeans that did incredible things to an already great ass, showcased her long legs and ended in spike heeled booties that made the crotch of his jeans suddenly uncomfortable, and that didn’t help matters.
She didn’t seem to notice as she pulled the beer and bag out of his hand and muttered, “I’m gonna get this in the fridge.”
She sashayed off, that ass swaying, which made shit even worse.
It took some effort, but Riggs got a handle on it and followed her.
He hit the kitchen as she was asking Ledger, “Did you get to fish today?”
“No. Dad and I kicked back with some beer and binged The Witcher.”
Her eyes sped to Riggs.
“Root beer,” he amended for his son.
“Ah,” she said, turning her gaze to Ledger and giving him a wink.
After she did that, she opened the freezer and shoved the ice cream inside.
Ledger watched her do this while Riggs watched Ledger.
Then his son looked at him and his grin was enormous.
Apparently, it didn’t take much with his kid, except a leggy blonde with a great ass and a fantastic head of hair, not that any of that would do much for him. But even at Ledger’s age, she wasn’t hard to look at. For Ledge, she was also a woman who could bake and brought ice cream along with beer, not to mention, took his dad’s back when shit went south without a moment’s hesitation.
She turned, clapped her hands together, and said, “What can I do to help?”
“Get yourself a plate since we’re ready to roll,” Riggs replied, then to his son, he said, “Ledge, show her the way.”
Ledger jumped off the stool he’d assumed and rounded the counter to go to the stack of plates Riggs had set out. His boy took one and handed another one to Nadia.
They all loaded up with brats in buns with whatever fixings they wanted, store bought macaroni salad, air fried curly fries, and Ledge and Nadia sat at the bar while Riggs dragged a stool around it to sit in front of them so they weren’t in a line, and they could talk while they ate. The lower cupboards were there, so he didn’t have anywhere to put his legs. But he had a direct line on watching Nadia, so he had zero fucks to give he had to eat twisted to his food.