Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 100367 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100367 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
“Are there people out there who don’t? There are carbs involved. Of course I do. Want me to make some fresh sourdough French bread?”
“This is the best day of my life,” Harper says, and then glances at Belle. “I mean, aside from you, baby girl.”
It’s a fun afternoon, with all four of us in the kitchen. I bake while Tucker cooks, and Harper chats with us. We have Belle lying on a cushion on the countertop so she can listen, but she really just sleeps through it all. This precious baby has me wrapped around her itsy-bitsy finger. Which I can’t resist nibbling on every time I walk past her because, despite being swaddled, she keeps pulling her right arm out of the blanket.
Just as we’re getting dinner on the table, Blake arrives from his shift at the clinic. He’s only back at work a couple days a week, but when he walks in and sees his baby, you’d think he’s been away for a month.
“I kind of love how smitten you are,” I say to Blake as he smooches on Belle’s bald head. “It’s very sexy. And super adorable.”
“Call another man sexy again, Duchess,” Tucker says calmly before kissing the top of my head. “And see what happens.”
Blake chuckles and bounces the baby on his shoulder. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine.” I shrug and can’t hold back the wince when the material of my shirt snags on the wound. “I’m healing. It’s starting to get itchy.”
“I’ll have a look before I leave,” he says.
I don’t argue. Because honestly, I actually don’t mind having these people look out for me. It’s new, but it’s also kind of nice and is just another reason that I feel like I belong here. Once dinner is over and the dishes are done, Blake follows me into the guest bathroom on the main floor and closes the door behind us. I turn my back and pull my shirt up, watching in the mirror as he looks me over.
“You’re healing nicely,” he says with a nod. “You can put your shirt down. Still using the cream?”
“Yeah, especially at night. I finished the antibiotic today.”
He nods again and opens the door, but we don’t step out right away.
“Are you happy, Darby? Here, with Tucker, with your job. All of it.”
I frown up at him. “Yeah, I’m happy. Probably the happiest I’ve been, actually.”
“Good. I’m just making sure.”
“Stop flirting with my girl,” Tucker calls out, and I hear Harper laugh.
“He flirts with everyone,” she says as we walk out of the bathroom. “He’s harmless.”
“I’m not harmless to you, sugar,” Blake says to his wife. “Come on, let’s try to get the baby to actually sleep tonight.”
“We can try.”
We say our goodbyes to the two of them, and then I remember that I have a project started in the cabin.
“I have to go out to finish some salves,” I tell Tucker. “It’ll take me a couple of hours.”
“Can I watch?”
I grin, excited at the idea of Tucker watching me be crafty, and nod eagerly. “Sure. I might even put you to work.”
“I’m all yours.”
His smile is sexy, and it makes my stomach tighten. He hasn’t touched me sexually since last week when I got hurt. He’s still incredibly affectionate, and isn’t afraid to put his hands on me, but sex has been off the table, and I need it back.
I need it back bad.
Even though I’ve had access to him, more than usual, I miss the intimacy of sex with this man. And given that, before him, I was never with someone more than once, well, it’s new. And I don’t hate it.
“What are you going to do with this cabin in the long term?” I ask Tucker as we walk inside, and I grab my apron and loop it over my head before tying it behind my back.
“I haven’t decided,” he says. “Maybe it’s your new salve workshop.”
I laugh and grab my beeswax and the pot I’ll use to melt it in. I get it all set up on a burner so the wax will melt and I can mix it with the oil I already have steeping with herbs.
“It feels like a waste of space to only use it a few times a year.”
“I don’t really have a use for it right now. Maybe Zack will start staying out here more often when he visits.”
“You could use it as a vacation rental.”
Tucker winces. “I don’t want strangers out here with you and my animals. I wouldn’t risk you like that.”
My heart stutters and I turn to him. He’s sitting on the other side of the counter, out of the way, so he can watch my movements.
“Why would I be at risk?”
“People I don’t know don’t get to camp out on my property and have access to you, Duchess. It’s not about me being controlling or an asshole, it’s because we’re in the middle of nowhere, and you’re here alone quite often. I may have cameras around the house and barn now, but I can’t hear you if you scream when I’m out with the herd. I don’t trust people to respect what’s mine.”