Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33504 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33504 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
After breakfast, she got up and started to assemble the burritos. It was going to make a lot, but she had plenty of room in the freezer. It would make a convenient breakfast—there went that word again—for when the ranch hands returned. She was happy to make them in advance.
Lord didn’t leave.
“Are you going to spend the whole time in the kitchen?” Lord asked.
“Like you said, I didn’t come to one of those breakfast announcements, and I bought a lot of food, and I don’t want it to go bad. I’ve got to finish preparing it.” She continued to wrap, and was shocked as Lord came to join her.
He was wiping his hands on a towel and had rolled up his flannel sleeves. “Where do you want me to start?”
“You don’t have to do this,” she said.
“I know. I’m the boss. What I say goes, but right now, I want to help you, so let me help you.” He winked at her.
She nibbled her lip but then nodded. “Okay, okay.” She hesitated for only a split-second, because she needed all the help she could get.
She spread out the pans in front of them, showed him how to build and wrap, and they also secured them in aluminum foil. After, she placed them in a bag and labeled them. Next, she placed them in the freezer. With Lord helping, they were able to get through the breakfast sausage fast. This meant moving onto the other meat.
This was a little easier to deal with, as she didn’t have to cook the chicken. She got Lord to divide it into portions as she worked on a quick citrus-spice marinade. They went into the freezer as well.
Lord kept asking after each one, if that was it, and of course, it was a full grocery shop, with the intention of feeding the ranchers for a good, long time.
Next was ground beef. So, they worked on meatballs, Salisbury steak, and then seasoned a whole bunch of it as taco meat. With Lord’s help, they were able to get through most of it before lunchtime.
“Fuck me, that is a lot of work,” Lord said.
She smiled.
“Have you got more?” he asked.
“No, no, I’ve got some vegetables, but I think you and I can use them.”
“Wait, we just processed a lot of meat. Are you saying we’re not going to have any meat for our own dinner?” he asked.
The fear in his eyes at the thought of eating a vegan or vegetable rich meal, was hilarious. She managed to stifle her laugher.
“We’ve got meat. It just means you’re going to have to eat a lot of vegetables as well.”
It had been a long time since she last cooked for only two people. Cooking for the ranchers reminded her of why she wanted a large family. Her brothers had been much older than her and left home not long after they turned twenty-one. For a long time, it had been just her and her parents.
She would watch large families—brothers and sisters, families that just seemed to flourish. The strangest thing was, she had grown up in a quiet household, and she hated the quiet. She liked the noise of the ranch, the hustle and bustle of activity.
One look at Lord, and the memories came flooding back. The saddest thing was, she missed him and was still attracted to him. What did that say about her? She didn’t want to be attracted to a guy who saw her as a convenience.
“Stop it,” Lord said.
This made her jerk her head up in shock and turn to look at him.
“I was a dick, okay, but you’ve got to stop thinking about it. I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean any of it.”
“Then why did you say it?”
****
Lord didn’t want to admit the truth. He didn’t want Blake to know he had deep feelings for Astrid. He also didn’t want to admit it had been one of the greatest nights of his life.
Astrid coming to him, opening the door, and kissing him back. She didn’t fight him as he carried her to his favorite spot. Making love to her, feeling her virginity tear beneath the pressure of his cock. It would stay with him forever. He fucking loved the feel of her. The beauty.
She was everything.
All his life, he never had to rely on anyone. He never needed another wolf, and he didn’t even miss his family. They didn’t matter to him. He’d been a recluse. For the first time, someone else mattered. Astrid mattered to him, but the real truth was, she had mattered to him all those years ago with her head in a book. That was why he kept going to the library, to catch brief glimpses of her to know she was all right. He wanted to take care of her. To protect her. And he wasn’t used to feeling any of this. He felt ... weak. Useless.