Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 121210 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121210 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
“Was she his mistress?” I ask, instantly intrigued.
“She wishes.” She scoffs. “Let’s just say she tried her best to be his mistress, but he wasn’t taking the bait.” She nods knowingly toward the candles. A silent, You just focus on that, dear. “Be back in a jiffy.”
“Okay.” I laugh and make a show of taking another candle out of the box. “I’ll keep unloading candles.”
Grandma winks and scoots off at a near jog to find Melba. I look around at the booths and people around us inconspicuously, but I’m not much in the mood to talk to anyone for real. I don’t want to have to answer questions about the candle-making process or if Rose has a special batch today.
And trust me, everyone in this damn town wants to know how Rose makes her amazing candles.
I still can’t believe the con she’s managed to run without anyone ever finding out. Most of the time, she leaves the manufacturer stickers on half the damn things, and I have to find them and peel them off when I go through them.
I guess no one suspects a sweet old lady like her to be running such an elaborate scheme.
I bend over to grab more candles from a box, and a warm hand glides across my ass in a deliciously familiar way. Thankfully, I’ve gotten a lot less gun-shy and a lot more familiar with Clay’s touch in the last couple of years, and I have exactly zero doubt it’s him from the first sensation.
I stand up and back into his arms, and he wraps me in a hug that makes everything in the world feel right. “You know, baby, I’m really starting to hate how you sneak out of my bed in the mornings without saying a proper hello or goodbye.”
I smile and turn to face him, placing a gentle kiss on his lips to make the frown go away. “I know. But I didn’t want to wake you when you didn’t even get done closing everything down downstairs until three.”
“Don’t matter to me. Wake me up.” He gets quiet and waggles his eyebrows. “Wake me up in a special way, and it really won’t matter. Come to think of it, that’s how I want to wake up every morning, no matter the time.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m not an alarm clock, Clay.”
“You should be. You work ten times better and sound a whole lot sweeter.”
“That’s nice.”
“That’s nice?” He narrows his eyes, even though he’s still smiling at me. “Babe, it’s a whole lot better than that. Have you had a chance to think more about what we talked about last week?”
“Last week?” I question innocently, even though I know damn well what he means. Clay wants me to move in with him, and while there’s nothing more I would love, I also feel incredibly torn. I like living with Grandma Rose. We have a routine and a dynamic that works. Plus, she’s not exactly a spring chicken anymore, and I like the thought of being close to help if she needs me.
“You know what I’m talking about, Jose.”
I nod and admit, “I do.”
“Sooo…what do you say?” He squeezes my hips affectionately. “I want to go to sleep with you every night and wake up with you every morning. I’m tired of missing you.”
At that, I melt a little, relenting enough to agree. “I’m tired of missing you too. I just… It’s more complicated than that.”
I kiss him on the lips again, hoping to put an end to the conversation as Grandma Rose comes back to the table and opens up her cash drawer to get ready. The market officially opens in five minutes, and if the past is anything to go by, we’ll be flooded in no time.
“Hi, Grandma,” Clay greets, still holding on to me but leaning around to give her one of his biggest smiles. The two of them are chummy, a bond built between them immediately when he came out into the kitchen in his underwear to her in her nightgown one night about a year and a half ago. I guess sharing space in your skivvies is a level of personal you can’t come back from.
“Hi, Clay sweetheart,” Grandma says, her voice kind and loving in the way it always is with him. “Are you here to help or just loiter?”
My grandma, ladies and gentlemen, the sweet little ballbuster.
A chuckle escapes Clay’s throat. “I’m completely ready and willing to help.” He sets me aside and walks around me, but when he looks back with a twinkle in his eye, I start to get worried. He turns back to Grandma and keeps talking. “And there’s something I could use your help on, too.”
“Clay, what are you doing?” I ask, but he ignores me.
“Is that right?” Grandma replies.
“Yep. See, I’ve been trying to convince your beautiful granddaughter to move out of your house and in with me, but she’s concerned—”