Total pages in book: 248
Estimated words: 236036 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1180(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 787(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 236036 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1180(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 787(@300wpm)
She laughed and kissed him again. “I like this rough working vibe you’ve got going on, Daddy,” she said in a low voice against his ear. “It’s been giving me all kinds of naughty thoughts.”
He chuckled. “Has it now? Good thing we’re going to be moving into our private cabins then.” In fact, Ma was waving everyone over with a handful of old-fashioned metal room keys, which jangled merrily over her head as she shook them. They moved over to stand at the back of the group.
“I’m so proud of all of you! I know this week has been rough—not just because of all the hard physical work you’ve been doing, but also because we put a deliberate separation between you. And some of you”—she looked around at the guests with narrowed eyes—“really struggled with this. Yes, we did notice our dark corners were getting an awful lot of traffic.”
An amused laugh rolled through the audience. It was easy to find it funny now that the separation was over.
“But we had good reasons for it, and I bet some of you have figured out at least one of them,” she paused, raising an eyebrow to the audience.
There was more laughter, and a few guests shouted out answers, mostly funny ones. Allegra remembered the phrase Carter had jokingly used. “Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder!” she called.
It was Ma’s turn to laugh along with the guests. “You got it, kid!”
Allegra pointed at Carter, giving him the credit. “Blame him.”
Carter rolled his eyes and gave her butt a light smack, as everyone turned to look at them. He really didn’t love being the center of attention and ducked his head to hide his face.
Ma just shook her head, grinning. “But you all made it through the week, and I hope each of you have learned a greater appreciation for your lover. As of now … your cabins are waiting for you. I will ask that you, uh, wait to get too involved in each other. We have a lovely dinner planned tonight up at the main house, and I wouldn’t want any of you to miss it.”
Pa appeared behind her with a clipboard and began calling out last names. As they came up, he checked them off, and Ma handed them a key. Ally accepted it with an excited grin and began dragging him off to find their cabin.
It had only been a week. They’d gone a week without sex before. Not often, it was true, but occasionally when they were both wrapped up in heavy workloads, or sick. But this week had felt endless. “We should wait to do anything,” he warned her.
Ally shot him a look. “Are you kidding? You don’t really think she expects us to keep waiting now that we don’t have to… do you?” Her lips pouted when he nodded.
“Pretty sure she does. Maybe it’s a test?” He looked at the identical row of storybook cabins with their gingerbread trim. They were new, since he’d lived there. Probably built specifically for the romance aspects. Each one had been painted white like a picket fence, but the trim colors came in a variety of pastels, and the delicate lace curtains in the window at the front matched the shade.
“This is so cute!” Allegra said, stopping short in front of the one with teal accents and a brass number eight on the door. She slid the key into the lock and then stopped short in the doorway with a faint sound of surprise.
He gently moved her out of his way, so he could see. After a second of silence, he said, “Wow. This is … not what I expected.” The upgraded bunkhouses had been nice, but this felt like some kind of an elevated reward, and it didn’t match the old-fashioned innocence of the outside.
They moved inside and began to explore.
Between the king-sized bed with padded headboard, and the two-person jacuzzi tub that shared the main room, it had an almost Vegas honeymoon vibe, but with more focus on comfort. He leaned down to stroke the luxurious bedspread, pleased with the softness of the velvety fabric. It was definitely not the standard hotel bedding.
White rose petals had been sprinkled across the covers and stood out nicely against the deep wine shade. There was a bottle of champagne chilling in a silver ice bucket by the bed as well. “Glad we followed the rules now?” he asked, turning to grin at her.
She didn’t look at him; she was too busy poking around in the fancy basket of bath supplies. “No. Well, maybe. This is really nice though.”
“We sure didn’t have anything like this when I was here. Everyone slept in the bunkhouses. Or had their own place to go to after work.” He wandered into the bathroom to take a look. There was no tub in there, not that they needed a second one, but the glass shower was fancy with nozzles on every wall, and steam functions. “Come look. I’ve always wanted a shower like this.”