Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 38962 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38962 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
“Not liking this, not at all,” JW grunts out his response. He walks in, and I move to shut and lock the door behind him.
“You and my whole family. I also don’t own the place.” I shrug my shoulders, leaving it open to interpretation. JW places my purse and his duffle bag on the couch then walks to the kitchen. He makes himself at home, pulling the contents out of each bag. One in particular looks a lot like one of Mrs. Johnson’s reusable canvas-type style with a bunch of farm animals on it. The others are plastic like you’d get at a grocery store.
“Still, can you at least arm it to deter someone?” He looks up from taking out a plethora of vegetables, a large loaf of bread, a few condiments, and lastly meat wrapped in butcher paper.
“Nope, the keypad only lights up; it doesn’t do anything else. Dad looked at it, and my landlord looked at it, too. The tenants before me did the addition. Therefore, said landlord, who is a really nice lady, said it’d be out of my pocket. Dad offered money. I told him no. He looked at it and said it was above his paygrade.” JW in my kitchen, taking care of me in the form of dinner, I would have never thought this would happen. He’s in his signature white cotton shirt, worn-in jeans, and boots. His hat might not be on his head, but it left him with a little bit of hat head. Still, it doesn’t deter him from looking deliciously hot right now.
“I’ll take a look at it after dinner. In the meantime, I’ll stay here or you can come out to the ranch.” I don’t say anything at first. His eyes meet mine, arms flexing as he works methodically. You’d think he’d been here a million times with how he finds everything to put together dinner. “I’d prefer you stay at my place, but I know your shop is closer to yours. Figure we’ll exchange keys, and you can keep me apprised on where you’re laying your head at night.”
JW has the ability to knock me out of orbit. I rock back on my heels, stopping me in my tracks to where I want to be. As humanly close to him as possible, the only thing blocking my path is me and the peninsula counter. “Joseph,” I breathe out his name, his real name, not what others call him, but what I call him.
“Damn, love when you say my name. Like it a fuck of a lot more when you’re moaning it.” My knees weaken with his admission, and I’m spurred to move my feet faster.
“I have a spare key in the kitchen drawer, and are you sure?”
His hand wraps around my waist, and he wedges me between his big body and the kitchen counter, almost like he’s scared I’m going to escape his hold.
“Told you this mornin,’ baby girl. I’m going to be wherever you are. I’d prefer my place, but I’m not going to uproot you with all this bullshit going on right now. I’m all in. Might have taken me a minute worrying about how you’d take me being me. I’d have shielded you from it, bit it back down, and been okay. Last night, we clearly got a good understanding of one another. So, yeah, I’m sure, Maeve.” His hands move to each side of my body, bracing them on the counter, dipping his body down in order to be at eye level. He’s making sure his words are sinking in, which they absolutely are.
“Then I don’t care where we sleep, my place or yours. My hours have changed. I won't get there while it’s still dark out, not yet at least. Tomorrow, I’ll pack a bag and head to the ranch after I close Whisked Away.” I’ve yet to tell him that his mom and Case made an appearance. We made batch after batch. Case has entered his toddler age, and it brought back a slew of memories when Ryan was that age. The only difference is it’s taking him a bit of time to get the hang of things, Catherine looked at me when I noticed, she shrugged her shoulders, but I saw the worry on her face. I gave her hand a quick squeeze then we were back to baking cookies. I didn’t have Whisked Away then, yet I still made sure we baked something together every chance we got. Now she’s older, and it’s not as much fun unless she sees it happening on an app and it’s a trend. Either way, I’ll make time if she’ll give me the time of day. When Mrs. Johnson and Case left, I had a full heart, a great day, and they had box after box of cookies to share with the family at the ranch.