AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No, I’m good. I just have one class this summer, thanks to the screwy system at the university, so I just go in three days a week,” she tells me, rubbing her hand down over her belly. “I got to walk at graduation, but my diploma is blank until I finish it. I’m just happy I’ll be done when this one makes her arrival.”
“Oh! Did you find out the sex?” I ask, wondering what gossip I missed out on yesterday.
“It’s too early, I just have a feeling,” she says with a shrug. “My Gram says it’ll serve Gunner right to have a little girl.”
“She’ll never be allowed to date,” I add with a giggle, just picturing it.
“Well, I wasn’t allowed to either and look how that turned out!”
“Not too bad, if you ask me.” We share a smile, before my phone pings. I frown down at the message Royce has sent me and wonder how much I’m going to end up spending on car maintenance.
“Everything okay?”
“Apparently, I’ve been mistreating my car and instead of going to sleep, Royce started inspecting it.” I’m a bit distracted when I answer Riley, since I’m messaging him not to start ordering parts until I get to review the pricing.
Royce:I got ya. Don’t worry about it.
I let out a sigh, then frown when I see the knowing smile pulling at Riley’s lips.
“It’s out of your control, so just go with it,” she advises me, without needing to be told what’s going on. “They’re all like that and it’s how they show us they care about us.”
Now I’m the one fighting the smile that’s tugging on my lips.
“I really will be fine here, but could you do me one more favor?” I ask, not waiting for her agreement when I turn to start crafting a special breakfast sandwich for Royce.
After twenty minutes of Riley teasing me about the secret menu she wants access to, she leaves to drop off his coffee and breakfast before getting on with her day.
Shortly after I open for the day, the hostess from the steak restaurant, followed closely by the other two waitresses wander into the bakery. The hostess feigns surprise to see me there then launches into a full discussion about carbs with her two friends.
None of them are blatantly rude to me, but it’s the hostess’s ingratiating behavior that sets warning bells off with me big time and that’s when I start to wonderwhatexactly they’re all up to.
I pray for salvation when the bell above the door chimes. Unfortunately, it turns out to be the other girls that I know have hooked up with Royce. Thankfully, they seem to be rival groups and simply sneer at the hostess, calling her Vixen, of all things.
Thankfully, they’ve cleared out by the end of the breakfast rush and the rest of the day has a steady enough pace that I don’t have time to even think of crashing. It’s just before closing that Royce pulls up on his bike in front of the bakery.
He walks in, looking every bit as tired as I feel.
“I was wondering if there was anything you needed, since I’m going to keep your car for a few days,” he informs me as he locks the door and flips the sign.
“No, I just need to sleep,” I tell him as I open the register to pull out the larger bills and shove them in my pocket before I lock the drawer.
“Me too.”
Smiling at him, I reach my hand out and he eagerly crosses to me. I lead the way to the small apartment I live in upstairs, removing my apron and shoes as I enter.
“It’s not much,” I say with a shrug, looking around to make sure I didn’t leave anything embarrassing lying about.
He immediately sits down on my chaise lounge to start tugging off his boots, then neatly piles up his cut and belt. I’ve already slid under my comforter, too tired to care about the state of my clothes.
Royce is standing near the bed with his hand over the button on his jeans. “Um, my jeans are filthy from today, but I don’t want you to think I’m expecting sex.”
“Take them off,” I simply respond, looking up at his face. He quickly sheds his jeans and his T-shirt before sliding in and immediately pulling me up against his side.
The last thing I register is the smell of oil mixed with his perspiration, not anything that I’m used to in my apartment, but I’m happy he’s here.
*
My alarm clock shows that it’s just after three when I wake up alone, I smile when I make out the sound of the shower running; then full out giggle a few minutes later when Royce comes out with my robe tied around his waist.
