Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 40942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
“He’s busy with the ranch,” Blakely said.
“Huh. All work and no play makes for a boring life,” Kiesha sang. “Now, about this Daddy Speed-Dating thing.”
“Yes? Is it not on or something?” There were an awful lot of cars in the parking lot. More than she’d expected.
“Ahh, doll, it was canned,” Kiesha told her.
“Oh.” Her shoulders slumped. But her disappointment was mixed with relief. What did she really think she was doing? She wasn’t even really looking for a relationship.
Right?
And meeting a Daddy Dom like that would be kind of weird.
“Yeah, I’m sorry,” Kiesha told her. “All of the Daddies nixed the idea. They said that it wouldn’t be safe unless everyone was heavily vetted. Yada, yada, yada, legal, boring talk I didn’t pay any attention to. End of the story, no arguments.”
“That wasn’t quite the way the conversation went,” Harry said calmly. Although she thought she heard him lightly slap Kiesha’s ass.
She could have been mistaken, though.
“I thought it was a great idea,” Kiesha said.
“That’s because it was your idea,” Harry replied dryly.
“Well, yeah, I have lots of good ideas.”
“I wonder how Grandpa Jack heard about it,” Blakely said. Why hadn’t she thought to ask him?
“Oh, probably from Aunt Marie,” Kiesha said. “They like to have good chats. Have you met her?”
“No.” Blakely started to shiver in the cold.
“Perhaps we should move this conversation inside,” Harry said.
“Sure,” Kiesha agreed, but didn’t move. “Aunt Marie owns the Little store on the outskirts of town. She’s also a nudist. Not sure if that’s relevant, but I like to warn people. Anyway, she and Jack have always been good friends. Wonder why she didn’t tell him it was off. Oh no, wait! She’s on her annual nudist week-long trip.”
“I’m not sure I want to know the details of that,” Harry said. “Do they go into the woods and commune with nature?”
“Nah, they go to Florida and commune with a beach. Way warmer. Apparently, being a nudist is quite difficult in a colder climate.”
That made sense, Blakely guessed.
“Okay, that’s fine,” Blakely said. “I probably would have chickened out, anyway. It was nice to meet you both.”
She attempted to step away, but Kiesha still held her hand.
“Come inside with us. You’ve come all this way and I know some great single Daddies.”
Uh oh.
“Uh, well, that’s okay. You guys were coming out for a nice night, and I don’t want to put a damper on that.”
“Pfft, you’re not.” Kiesha waved a hand in the air dismissively. “We’ve just come for a couple of drinks for Noah’s birthday.”
“Who’s Noah?” she asked as Kiesha tugged her inside.
She guessed she was going in.
“Oh, he’s the guy who owns The Wishing Well. But Noah’s not important.”
“Hey, I happen to think I’m very important.”
Blakely jumped and turned to see a tall, lean man with a trimmed beard standing to their right. He was smiling, so she guessed he wasn’t too upset at what Kiesha said.
“Noah! Happy Birthday!” Kiesha let go of Blakely to throw her arms around the other man.
Harry leaned into Blakely to speak in her ear. “If you want to run, go now. I’ll cover for you.”
She stared up at him with her mouth open in surprise.
He winked. “Or stay. It won’t be too painful, I promise.”
Kiesha turned back and grabbed her hand. “Oh, sorry, Blakely. That was rude of me. Blakely, Noah. Noah, Blakely.”
“Hello, Blakely,” Noah said warmly. “Welcome to The Wishing Well.”
“Noah?”
Noah spun as a gorgeous, tall woman with dark, curly hair walked over to him. He wrapped his arm around her, staring down at her with a besotted look. The rock on the woman's left ring finger told the world that she was taken.
And from the look on Noah’s face, he was the one who had put it there.
“Hello. Who are you?” the woman asked her.
Oh. That was direct.
“Cleo!” Kiesha said. “That was kind of rude.”
“It was?” Cleo asked.
“I’m Blakely.”
“Are you new in town or something?” Cleo asked.
“She’s working for Jack Hill. Well, for his grandson, Stafford,” Kiesha said.
“Ahh, Stafford is such a hunk,” Cleo said.
“He sure is,” Kiesha said, bouncing on her toes with enthusiasm.
“Hey!” Noah said.
Harry just shook his head and wrapped his arm around Kiesha’s waist. “I think I need to meet this Stafford.”
“He doesn’t leave the ranch much . . . well, pretty much never unless he needs some supplies or something,” Blakely said.
“All work and no play is going to make Stafford a boring guy,” Kiesha said. “He needs to be more like me. I live my life about ninety percent play and ten percent work. And no one has ever called me boring.”
No. Blakely was certain that no one could ever accuse Kiesha of being boring.
Thirty minutes later, Blakely’s head was whirling.
And it wasn’t because of the Apple Pie martini she’d had. Which was absolutely delicious. She’d gulped it down. Probably not the smartest idea she’d ever had.