Total pages in book: 6
Estimated words: 5847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 29(@200wpm)___ 23(@250wpm)___ 19(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 5847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 29(@200wpm)___ 23(@250wpm)___ 19(@300wpm)
I shut my computer down and make my way to the kitchen and head straight to the freezer. I pull out some ground beef, making a note on the dry erase board outside the freezer, so Chef Tony knows it’s gone. I pull out a skillet and get the meat browning before getting a pot to boil water in. I grab a box of pasta and some spices and get to work. Spaghetti was a go-to in my house growing up because it goes a long way. Ten people in one place equals a lot of cheap meals, but cheap doesn’t mean disgusting or unfulfilling. My mama taught me how to stretch a dollar, and even though I am making some money now, I will always live by that rule.
Once the sauce is going strong, I hunt around for something to make for dessert. Not finding anything ready-made, I grab the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies. I would make some Christmas sugar cookies but Logan hates Christmas. It’s weird how scroogey he is. Again, I make a note of all that I am using. I even find some Italian bread that will go perfectly with the meal.
I finish dinner and set it on the round employee table in the back of the kitchen and put my used pans in the dishwasher. I grab Logan the beer I’ve seen him drink at parties and an ice-cold cherry coke for myself. I was told it didn’t use to be on the menu until I asked for it, but I am so glad it’s here now. It’s my guilty pleasure and the one thing I am addicted to. I’m not old enough to drink, but I think a beer might take the edge off right now. The closer it gets to that hour mark, the more nervous I get. What if he hates my food?
“Is it ready?” Logan asks as he comes into the kitchen. The temperature has suddenly risen about a million degrees.
“Yes, sir,” I reply.
“Great, I’m starving. It’s still really snowing out there. Ansel Jones from channel 13 says it’s already dropped twelve inches and isn’t slowing down anytime soon,” he says as he pulls my chair out for me. I sit down and wait for him to do the same. My stomach flutters a little bit because I am a firm believer that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.
“I couldn’t find anything fresh for a salad,” I murmur.
“This is perfect,” he says.
“Well, dig in,” I say, grabbing a piece of bread.
“Thank you for this, Miss Reeves.”
“Um… just this once, could you call me Elora?”
“I don’t think I should,” he says, twirling some pasta onto his fork.
“I don’t have a boyfriend,” I blurt out. What the fuck is wrong with me today? I have zero cool on an average day, but I am surely hitting negative numbers here. He chokes a little on the bite he just took.
“What do you mean?” he asks, after a drink of his beer.
“I don’t have a boyfriend. I never have,” I reply, looking down at my lap. Suddenly, his fingers on my chin, lifting it to his gaze. I suck in a breath. It’s deep, and it hurts.
“Why did you lie?” he asks, still not saying my damn name.
“I had to.”
“You had to?”
“Yes, for sure, I had to. Have you seen you? I couldn’t sleep with my boss, no matter how much I wanted to,” I say, my words spewing out of my mouth like lava. I feel my face flush, and I know from experience that it will be a bright scarlet color. All I can do is bury my face in my hands.
“Elora,” he says, his voice slow and melty to the point that I have no choice but to look at him.
“Yes?”
“You should eat your dinner,” he says, and my heart deflates. I could swear I hear it, like in an old cartoon.
As if it wasn’t mortifying enough to blurt out the fact that I am practically in love with him, to know he doesn’t feel the same is utterly humiliating. Instead of fleeing like I want to, I take slow, methodical bites of my food, counting down the minutes until I can escape to my room for the night and cry myself to sleep.
Great, I’m going to have to quit now.
Chapter 3
Logan
What the fuck? This is the best fucking thing I’ve ever heard. I am about to throw her little ass down on the table and make her mine, but I decide that she’ll need her strength for all things that I will do tonight and every night going forward.
I try to make small talk with her, but she focuses on her meal. This is the best spaghetti I have had, and when I tell her that, she doesn’t say anything.